We just got back late last night from WDW. We had rented an ECV for my mom and also used a rental car most of the time to avoid the buses. However, the day we went to MK we used the bus and had several problems during the day. First off, we were staying at AKL. When the bus arrived early that morning at Jamba House, it had maybe ten people on it, that had boarded at Kidani Village. We saw the bus driver look at us, as he pulled up, but he just opened the front door and started to let people on. I went to the front door and told him we had an ECV that needed to be loaded. He looked back towards the back and said he had people sitting in the handicapped seats and he could not ask them to move. The people sitting there heard him and said no problem, they didn't mind moving to the empty seats. Right in front of me the driver actually told them that he couldn't ask them to move and if they wanted to stay there they could and we'd just have to catch the next bus.
He just didn't want to deal with a
scooter and made no secret of it and acted really put out when the other guests volunteered to move.
Even after everybody else was loaded there were still empty seats on that bus, so no one was standing. I know they can't make someone stand so an ECV can get on and wouldn't even expect them to, but doesn't the bus driver usually ask guests to give up those seats if there are other empty seats available?
This driver actually encouraged the guests to stay in those seats, even after they started getting up on their own. It was just really weird.
Later that morning the standby wait for Jungle Cruise was 5 minutes, so we decided to ride. A CM saw us and motioned for us to get in the handicapped line. We told her my mom could get out of the ECV and step down into the boat, but just couldn't walk very far. She told us to wait at the rope and she'd get us on the next boat. She then left us down there at the handicapped rope and apparently forgot about us. After the seventh boat, we started trying to wave one of the CMs over, but they just kept ignoring us. After a couple more boats went by, I finally got a CM's attention and he mouthed, "Oh my God. We forgot you were standing there. We'll get you on the next boat." However, he then left (apparently on break) and several more boats went by, at which time we finally gave up. I just released the rope so my mom could get out and we left. As we were leaving, I looked back to check the current wait time and it was still 5 minutes. We had easily waited 30 minutes and never did get on. The CMs just kept ignoring us.
My mom has always been able to ride her ECV through the Buzz Lightyear queu, but this time they made her transfer to a wheelchair and I had to push her through the queu. Not a big deal really, just a little annoying.
At the Haunted Mansion, we told the CM at the beginning of the line, that we needed to skip the stretching room (both because of the ECV, my mom's claustrophobic issues, and the fact that her eyes don't adjust from bight to dim lights and she wouldn't be safe to drive into the stretching room, plus she'd need the walkway stopped so she could board). The first CM said it wouldn't be a problem and to just tell the CM at the door, which we did. He told us to go to the right, not go into the stretching room, and to wait for another CM to let us in the back hallway. There was another ECV waiting over there and then another came in behind us so we all waited until they got almost everyone into the stretching room. Another CM saw us and asked what we were doing and when told we needed to avoid the crowd in the stretching room, sent us down the back hallway, where we waited for awhile until another CM came in and saw us. He then told us all to back up and that we had to go through the stretching room with the next set of guests. When all three parties informed him we needed to skip the stretching room, he said they were no longer using the back hallway and we had no choice but to join the crowd in the stretching room. When I told him my mom's eyes would have trouble adjusting to the dark light and she wouldn't be able to see to drive her ECV safely in that crowd, plus she would need the moving walkway stopped, he said that she probably would not be able to ride that particular ride then. When I told him we had always been able to skip the stretching room in the past and had had the walkway stopped, he said they no longer did either. One of the ECV's went on in, but we and the other ECV left, so didn't get to ride Haunted Mansion either.
That whole day it just seemed like the CMs did not want to deal with
ECVs. We were very polite, but it was really hard to be so after we had trouble for the fourth time that day. We didn't have a single problem at any of the other parks, just MK.