No waiting for handicapped?

[Mommy26]

I was told yesterday that becuase my father in law has a handicapped parking insignia, none of us will have to wait in line at any of the rides.

Is this true?

 

[awdfan]

True? Not really. One year I had to use a wheelchair at the park, and some rides (emphasis on some, not all) allow wheelchair users to enter the ride at the exit line. However, we still had to wait our turn for our party to be seated on the ride. It wasn't the same amount of time that we would have had to had we stood in the regular line, but it wasn't instant walk-on access.

Again, this is only with some of the rides/attractions. You can get a map from the wheelchair rental place that has a list.

 

[Mommy26]

I thought that sounded odd. My FIL isn't even that disabled, he had a hip replacement and has trouble walking. He will probably want a wheelchair.

 

[awdfan]

I would definitely recommend a wheelchair if he's had hip replacement and has trouble walking. That's a lot of territory to cover! I found a link that shows what rides/attractions are wheelchair accessible, which ones require the guests to transfer out of the wheelchair and which have ambulatory requirements but my post count is too low to post links. You can find it at Disneyland's main site. I also meant to say in my original post that I don't think that by just flashing his handicap parking pass he'd be able to bypass any line. I've never seen that happen.

 

[audrabolster]

True? Not really. One year I had to use a wheelchair at the park, and some rides (emphasis on some, not all) allow wheelchair users to enter the ride at the exit line. However, we still had to wait our turn for our party to be seated on the ride. It wasn't the same amount of time that we would have had to had we stood in the regular line, but it wasn't instant walk-on access.

Again, this is only with some of the rides/attractions. You can get a map from the wheelchair rental place that has a list.

Yep, sometimes the wait will not be long, but once I was getting off Pirates and there was a cast member telling people joining the line the wait was over an hour!

 

[toocherie]

You might want to check over on the Disabilities board . . . . there are a lot of threads discussing this over the years. Waits can be just as long if not longer for those in the "handicapped" line.

And may I also suggest that if you can swing it that you rent an ECV (scooter) rather than a wheelchair for your FIL--it will give him some independence to go where he wants to go rather than having to wait to be pushed by someone else. (Think of it as another ride! LOL). They are not hard to operate at all. I have two replaced knees and on those days when my OA/fibro is kicking up will rent one to make the park more enjoyable.

The cost is $35 a day (as opposed to $10 for a wheelchair) but they will also charge upfront an extra $20 deposit which is refunded at the end of the day when you return the ECV.

 

[grumpyvet]

I took my parents to DL on December 20, 2007. My dad has a myriad of health issues, but can transfer from his wheelchair to a ride with some difficulty. At each ride we were asked if he could transfer...so don't know the story if the person cannot.
There is a pamphlet available that tells how to enter each ride with a wheelchair. I picked mine up from DLH on a previous visit, but I found somwhere...here or mousesavers or the disneyland site (sorry can't remember) the list of how to get on each ride. I think that they will let up to 5 other people accompany the whellchiar individual.
Some you go in the normal queue..so no faster, ie. SOarin' and ToT. Others you go through the exit, like Toad/Alice/PeterPan...so are faster. If you are planning to do SM...don't go up the "hill" to ask the CM where to enter!!!!! Tough push. (learned the hard way!!!).and you go thru the exit!!!! (they have you line up along the wall opposite to the bathrooms)
I also urge you to get an ECV if you can. We brought our own wheelchair, so probably a bit better than the ones you rent, but it made for a long day for me to push him. It went okay, but we were all over the parks and there are plenty of gradual hills. I swim 4-6 miles every week, so I have the POWER...and it whipped my butt, so unless you have multiple pushers....ECV!!

Have fun!!

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We went in October with my brother who is in a wheel chair (he has his own, so we didn't have to rent one). Only 5 people in the party can go through the exit or disabled entrances with the person (including the disabled person).

There were waits involved. Some were worse then if you did the stand by line (like POTC). Some were fast, or no wait really at all. A lot of the times they can only have so many wheel chair person on the ride at one time. So you have to wait for them to come back. It was also frustrating because depending on the CM there will be different rules. Buzz was like that, one minute they told you to use the Fast Pass line, the next they insisted you go through stand by. Sometimes it seemed like they had you wait, just so that you had some kind of wait (Peter Pan). Which we didn't mind. It was harder for us because my brother is also mentally disabled (does not handle long waits well) and couldn't sit in the sun for long because of medications.

 

[toocherie]

Yes, you're absolutely right that there is a limit on some rides as to how many handicapped people can ride; at Haunted Mansion we had to wait with my Mom (who is not able to walk more than just a few steps) because there were two handicapped people on the ride in the mansion and that is the max.