New beds at CBR; too high? Other resorts?

[goofieslonglostsis]

We just spend 2 weeks at CBR earlier this month. We got 2 rooms that went through the refurb, so now have the Nemo theme. Nice look, could use a refurb, but ehm...... the beds. They are High. Not high, but High. Or at least, I found them to be so. And I'm not meaning the high state of mind.

Last year, no problem transferring out of my manual chair or powerchair. This year; it felt like climbing a hill. Now, I can understand beds being higher than my manual chair. Been there, done that, still do that and wear the t-shirt. But not even on the same heigth as my powerchair? It's not like I've got a particularly low powerchair, rather would say it's a bit higher than usual. Didn't really expect that one in a accessible room!

Anyhow, I mentioned this at the resort and allthough attempts were made, it didn't work out for me. I sent a kuddos mail to guest relations about a week ago addressing some of the CM's that took great care of me during my who-wants-to-be-sick-at-wdw-impression. In that, I also mentioned liking the refurb but having real problems with the new beds and it's height.

Long story short, the CM that responded will be talking it over with me further after new years. I will be asking her about AKL and AKV as I'll be staying there next year. And unlike this year, will not be travelling with anybody able to help me where need be to climb the hill, correction, bed.

It did leave me curious though; did anybody else run into this at CBR or any other resorts? Anyone had more or less problem with this after a recent refurb? With AKV being new (I'll be staying at Kidani), it does make me wonder. I'm pretty sure it will be taken care of, but curious none the less.

 

[BillSears]

Was the room you had a roll-in shower room? I believe the beds in the standard rooms are all pretty much the high beds but the roll-in shower rooms are supposed to have lowered beds.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Yep, roll in shower. I actually compared the bed to the 2 queen beds in the standard room my mom and her friend were in. They were exactly the same height.

Which did puzzle me. Didn't think of it to ask if this was now standard in all of the rooms with roll in shower, or it was 'just' a mistake in mine. Should've done that, but will ask the CM I'll talk to.

 

[SueM in MN]

This came up a couple of months ago. I am at work and can't search for the thread.
My recollection is that the new draft guidelines for accessible rooms do address bed height. Those guidelines are not in effect yet.
The old guidelines did not address bed height. Some hotels chose a lower height on their own, but in the abscense of any standards telling what height to use, there is no consistency.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Thanks for the heads up, Sue. I'll do a search on my own and see what I can find.

 

[Schmeck]

We stayed at AKL many years ago, but I do remember the beds there being rather high. My inlaws had the accessible room next door, and their bed seemed high as well.

 

[arminnie]

When I stayed at a studio at OKW I remember thinking - gosh I'm not physically disabled - but boy are these beds HIGH.

I have an older friend who has traveled with me. I was so glad she was not with me as she would never have gotten up on that bed.

 

[SueM in MN]

Here's a link to the older thread that talked about bed heights.

Apparently the reason that bed heights were not addressed in the old guidelines was that only permanently attached items were included. Not furniture or other movable items.

From what I could find, the new guidelines are not yet adopted.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Thanks for posting the links, Sue. Wasn't able to find it myself with the search function that has a mind of it's own.

Eventhough the new guidelines aren't in affect yet, it does surprise me big time to find these higher beds in very newly refurbed rooms. At a resort that previously had lower beds in the rooms with roll in showers. Somehow you would think common logic would prevail, but I guess that was a wrong way of thinking. Yet another question on my list, why not be proactive if we know this is coming sooner than later and they are refurbing anyway? Why make things more difficult?

 

[kaytieeldr]

I stayed at SSR and OKW in September/October. I was supposed to have accessible rooms with roll-in showers in both cases - not so much for the showers but because my earlier stay at OKW indicated that this studio type does have lower beds.

Well, at SSR I first got the entirely wrong room. High bed, standard tub. After some time on hold with Member Services, the Resort Manager called me and explained this and offered to move me to the 'right' room. The right room was right - roll-in shower and a bed I could access without a ladder. Oh, and MS ensured I had the same type of studio at OKW.

Nope. Roll-in shower, sure - but standard-height bed. This time I called the Front Desk directly* and they were not aware of any different-height beds. They offered to see if the studio I'd had on my earlier trip was available, but I REALLY liked my current location. So in a couple of calls, I was in touch with engineering. The only solution they could offer, which worked for me but would not for everyone, was to remove the bed frame. Yes, then the bed was lower than normal - but at least I could get in and out without a pickax and clampons

*Yes, I know - I'm not actually talking to the Front Desk but a general call center

 

[loadsapixiedust]

We just stayed in accessible room (tub rather than roll-in) at CBR but the bed was low and very soft, not at all comfortable for me.
We moved from there to a (roll-in) accessible king room at POR with connecting standard room. The beds in the standard room were very high, the accessible room had a much lower bed. These were the comfiest beds I have encountered at WDW, very nice.
This is the bed in the accessible room no 4103 in CBR Jamaica

Here is DS by the king bed in the accessible room no 1732 Alligator Bayou

This is the standard room, you can see the beds are roughly the same height as the top of the cabinet housing the fridge.

I wish I'd remembered my tape measure now so I could have posted more precise info.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Loadsapixiedust; just as I suspected, you guys stayed at a CBR room that hadn't been refurbed yet.

Good to hear you guys had a great stay at CBR and POR.

 

[dclfun]

The rooms I've had at AKLV have had beds that would require one to pole vault to get into them from a chair. My chair fortunately raises 8 inches or I'm not sure what I would've done, even though I had help. One room was a fully accessible one bedroom villa in Jambo with roll in shower and the other was a value studio villa in Jambo. I did meet with the design team over this and other challenges and they said they were going to use my suggestions so they don't have the same issues with Kidani. We have an accessible studio on opening day of Kidani so I guess I'll find out. I know OKW has the really high beds too. I had a refurb room in October at CBR but the king bed I had there was much, much lower than the one at AKLV. Maybe I had a refurb room with an older bedframe?---Kathy

 

[Talking Hands]

The height of the beds are a real issue with me being VERY short. I asked at CBR for a stool to get up on the bed and was told no for liability reasons. Well, the only way i could get on the bed was to use a chair to climb on and then onto the bed. Wonder what their liability would have been had I fallen getting into the bed. I know that there is a kit for little people that has a stool, a grabber and a extender to reach a light switch. Disney needs to provide those for guests who are little like I am. Although I am not a dwarf, I am short enough to join Little People of America.

 

[JudithM]

Four years ago at OKW I realize about 10:30 p.m. that the bed was higher than usual. I have knee problems & getting a running start was definitely not an option . The new mattress came up between my hip & my waist. I called housekeeping & eventually the runner brought me a stool from their warehouse. Since then I get a stool after I get to the room at OKW.

At that time I had a long chat with the then new head of housekeeping. OKW had recently gone to the deeper mattresses, but the bed frames were (& still are) the same.

Twice last year we had the pleasure of staying at POP Century. Because of the ECV, I was able to get a room with a king size bed. We had an opportunity to have a nice discussion with one of the housekeeping building managers when we had to change rooms. She was all set to have a lower mattress put into the new room, so somewhere Disney does have lower mattress!

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Kathy, did you room have one of those beds with the small pilars at the end corners of it? The new high beds (or at least the ones we had ) didn't. Maybe that could be a point for us to tell the difference which bed is high and which is low?

Like you, I have a powerchair with seat elevation, but to be honest do not like it one little bit to have to be using that one to be able to go to bed. The last few things I tend to do before hitting the bed are things I do in my manual chair. Which then leaves you with the option of either a second transfer or climbing into bed with all risks associated to it.

I'm very curious to hear about your Kidani experience, but you'll probably already know that.

The more experiences I read about this, the more puzzled it leaves me. How come the difference, even within one resort and same style of furbing and type of room? Why not notice this is being a problem, if I read about how many people even on the DIS only don't like it and talked to CM's about it.

 

[Schmeck]

The more experiences I read about this, the more puzzled it leaves me. How come the difference, even within one resort and same style of furbing and type of room? Why not notice this is being a problem, if I read about how many people even on the DIS only don't like it and talked to CM's about it.

The beds are not always a problem for those with disabilities though - my mom would relish a higher bed (her's at home is adjustable, and she keeps it very high) so that she would be able to get in and out of it without the deep knee bend that just about cripples her for the rest of the day.

How did they decide the 'proper' height for an accessible bed? Is it all based on wheelchair heights? What about the disabled who are not wheelchair bound, like my mom?

 

[SueM in MN]

The more experiences I read about this, the more puzzled it leaves me. How come the difference, even within one resort and same style of furbing and type of room? Why not notice this is being a problem, if I read about how many people even on the DIS only don't like it and talked to CM's about it.

My personal guess is that the differences come from the different types of mattresses, rather than the actual height of the bed frame.
10 yrs ago, mattress heights were pretty consistent. Then they started getting all those pillow top mattresses and extra-cushy pillowtop mattresses. Those are higher (and the cushier they are, the higher they are).

Besides that, there are different foundations on the beds. With the 'older style' mattresses, the foundations were pretty standard in height. Most that I have seen were about the same height as the mattress.
When you buy one of the cushy mattresses, the foundations are often thinner to make up for the extra height in the mattress.
But, if you have a pillowtop mattress on an older foundation, you will end up with a very high bed. We don't have foundations on any of our beds at home (we have platforms and/or slats), so we got a cushier mattress our bed was not that much higher (it was on the low side to begin with).
When my BIL and SIL got a new mattress and put it onto their own old foundation, their bed got really high. It's high enough that I would have trouble getting into it and I am tall with long legs. My SIL actually uses a small stool to get into her own bed since they got the new mattress.

The beds are not always a problem for those with disabilities though - my mom would relish a higher bed (her's at home is adjustable, and she keeps it very high) so that she would be able to get in and out of it without the deep knee bend that just about cripples her for the rest of the day.

How did they decide the 'proper' height for an accessible bed? Is it all based on wheelchair heights? What about the disabled who are not wheelchair bound, like my mom?

There are no heights in the current guidelines. Since the new ones are still draft, I don't know for sure what they will end up with. I believe the bed heights in the draft guidelines are the same as the toilet heights in the older guideline.
They do use focus groups of people with disabilities and professionals dealing with disabilities for coming up with the guidelines/proposed guidelines.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

The beds are not always a problem for those with disabilities though - my mom would relish a higher bed (her's at home is adjustable, and she keeps it very high) so that she would be able to get in and out of it without the deep knee bend that just about cripples her for the rest of the day.

How did they decide the 'proper' height for an accessible bed? Is it all based on wheelchair heights? What about the disabled who are not wheelchair bound, like my mom?

Based on wheelchair bound and or use would seem logical imho, because we are talking about lower beds. The higher beds are standard available within the standard rooms. Maybe it's me, but if heigth is 'just' the main problem, this could be resolved by using a standard room. If need be by adding the toiletseat raiser and showerseat or transfer bench that WDW can provide. For those needing more aids, the accessible rooms would come into the discussion. Maybe it's really me, but I think it would be easiest to furb those rooms towards the needs of the majority of needs for that room and be adjustable for the other needs. Like Talkinghands said for instance; having special packages for smaller people. Or in this case; having standard aids to raise a bed to a higher level. Which would be a lot easier to do in a safe way than to lower a bed to 'average wheelchair heigth'.


Sue, I'm going to look for some photos of the room we had this time, as it would be great to compare to the ones Loadsapixiedust posted earlier. If my memory isn't failing me, in this particular situation it wasn't the mattrass that much. Think it's probably the same height or almost as last year. I remember thinking to myself 'djeez, this bedframe is a lot higher than last year, hmm why did they do this?'

The mattress definately could be a probably explaination for some though. So far I was thinking the 'cause' of the difference between LAPD's and my experience was a new bedframe. At least our frames were different. But than again, there is Kathy's experience in an also refurbed room within CBR and having a low bed. Sure makes for a nice puzzle.


OK, found a pic. It's not the greatest by far (was trying to get a shot of Nemo for my Nemo-loving Dad), but since I only ended up making about 30 pictures during that week it's something at least. I'll see if mom or her friend have got better pictures. At least we can see the mattrass, frame and the heigth compared to the night stand.

 

[SueM in MN]

The mattress definately could be a probably explaination for some though. So far I was thinking the 'cause' of the difference between LAPD's and my experience was a new bedframe. At least our frames were different. But than again, there is Kathy's experience in an also refurbed room within CBR and having a low bed. Sure makes for a nice puzzle.

One of the other variables - just to make the puzzle harder to solve.........

Some people who need an accessible room need space underneath the bedframe for a Hoyer (or other type) lift that they are bringing along with them or renting at WDW.
The height of the top of the mattress may not be all that important to the person using a lift. The space underneath the bedframe would be the most important thing to them. I know some of the hotels had either solid platforms under their beds or had bedframes with a smaller distance. If a shorter bedframe was replaced with a higher one to make room underneath and none of the mattresses were changed, it would make the top of the bed higher.
It all makes me think it would be nice to have some rooms with adjustable beds.

The new draft guidelines do address both the total height of the bed and the space underneath. Once the guidelines come into effect though, it won't necessarily mean all rooms immediately comply.

One of the biggest problems is that whatever type of access you are talking about, people who don't need it often don't understand what it means, what not having it might mean to someone and why it's important (since it means nothing to them).