new experience with transportation with ecv and a warning

[Pats Dragon]

Just returned from a trip, staying at the swan. This trip every bus driver seemed to go out of their way to be kind to scooters people. We walked to the yacht club for mk days but mears had ramps on their buses and there was no problem going anywhere. I never had to use a lift. For people accompanying you, the walk from the swan bus stop at Disney Springs is very Loooooong. Swan room was large enough for a rollaway and a scooter. Rented the scooter from Gold and it was waiting for me. Swan allows drop off without you there. I forgot to charge my scooter one night and still made it through the park with only losing one bar. Elevators would have been hard for me by myself but there was never a wait. I highly recommend the Swan resort. It is amazing.

The warning is that due to social distancing, if you take the monorail from the MK, you will have to stop on the hill with your scooter. I started sliding backwards which was definitely scary. I increased power and quickly went up the exit side and a very nice cm named Keith made room for me.

This trip, Disney and Swan personnel seemed to be extra kind to scooter users, more than normal.

 

[mamabunny]

Just returned from a trip, staying at the swan. This trip every bus driver seemed to go out of their way to be kind to scooters people. We walked to the yacht club for mk days but mears had ramps on their buses and there was no problem going anywhere. I never had to use a lift. For people accompanying you, the walk from the swan bus stop at Disney Springs is very Loooooong. Swan room was large enough for a rollaway and a scooter. Rented the scooter from Gold and it was waiting for me. Swan allows drop off without you there. I forgot to charge my scooter one night and still made it through the park with only losing one bar. Elevators would have been hard for me by myself but there was never a wait. I highly recommend the Swan resort. It is amazing.

The warning is that due to social distancing, if you take the monorail from the MK, you will have to stop on the hill with your scooter. I started sliding backwards which was definitely scary. I increased power and quickly went up the exit side and a very nice cm named Keith made room for me.

This trip, Disney and Swan personnel seemed to be extra kind to scooter users, more than normal.

I'm glad you had a positive experience - except for that scary bit on the hill at the MK Monorail!

It's a good reminder for everyone; personal mobility devices don't have "brakes" like a car does. So, if you are on a very steep hill, or ramp, (going up or down!) and you have to stop, you may need to try and turn so that you are 90 degrees to the path of travel (so you are parked cross-ways, not headed uphill or downhill). Obviously, this isn't easy to do, and a lot of folks around you might not understand why you needed to do that. Plus, doing that turn across every 6 feet or so while progressing up the ramp would not be fun at all!

ECVs and powered wheelchairs do have the ability to kind of stop in place, but will need to try and keep creeping forward very very slowly to prevent rolling backwards when going up. (Turtle speed for the win!)

Had you been going downhill, it's possible that the electronic braking would have been sufficient - and you could have even possibly used reverse to (very carefully, very slowly) help hold your position going downhill. Luckily there aren't too many places at WDW where that's required at all right now.

There are mobility devices that do have a form of electronic braking built in for hills and ramps - but those tend to be for full-time use (like a motorized wheelchair) and it's typically found in a very specific type of device.