October 2-7 WDW Trip w/ Scooter

AnninIowa

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Jun 21, 2005
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Hello! My dad (79) and I (37) were at Disney World from October 2-7. This was the first time my dad used a scooter, so thought I would let everyone know how it went.

My dad fell and broke his upper thigh (close to the hip) two years ago, plus he has arthritis and sore feet. Therefore, even though he doesn't use a scooter at home, I insisted he use one on vacation.

For the plane ride, I made him take his walker. While he doesn't use this at home, either, I wanted him to have it so the flight attendants would see he needed a little extra help. It's a walker with wheels, breaks on the handles, and a seat. Let me tell you, that seat was helpful in hauling our carryon, lol! The walker did what I wanted in letting him board before everyone and have a few extra minutes to get to his seat. The walker was tagged and waiting for us when we arrived at both our layover and in Orlando.

I booked aisle seats for us so that we were sitting across from one another. I have found this gives my dad a little more leg room and helps him get up and down out of his seat with more ease.

We used Magical Express this trip. We stayed at AKL. The walker was stored with the luggage on our trip to the resort.

I rented a scooter from Buena Vista Scooter. It was delivered our first full day, October 3. I went outside to the valet area at 8 am and they brought it out for me, also showing me how to use it. I drove it back to the room and gave my dad a quick lesson. Very easy to use!

There are designated handicapped areas at the resort bus stop. In the mornings, there was also a cast member present who would come over and assure us that my dad would board the bus without any issues. When the bus came and the driver saw someone was waiting in a scooter, he/she would tell the other people waiting that the scooter needed to board first, then the front bus door would close and the back would open. The driver went to the back of the bus and lowered the ramp, always directing my dad how to drive the scooter in and get it situated. Only 1 driver told my dad he could stay seated in the scooter - the other drivers insisted he sit in a regular seat. After his scooter was secured, the drivers told me to board. Then the front door was opened for the other guests.

Once at the park, the driver waited until all the guests had gotten off and then came back to unhook the scooter and help my dad drive it off. Every driver was very kind and friendly about it - my dad had been so worried, but the drivers all put him at ease! :goodvibes

In the parks, we had the easiest time with the scooter at Epcot as the wide pathways made navigating easy. For Soarin', my dad drove the scooter all the way into the attraction, and then left it in front of his seat. A cast member then moved it out of the way. At Living With The Land, he went through the wheelchair line (even though the ride was walk on and no one was in line, lol!), boarded and the cast members moved the scooter. At the American Adventure, we rode an elevator up to the second floor and were led in first through the back row where my dad parked the scooter and then took a regular seat. For Illuminations, we went to a designated wheelchair spot in the back by Germany. The cast member there was very sweet and friendly. I didn't know this spot existed until I just stumbled upon it. We got in there at 7:30 as I thought we needed to stack a spot, but could have come right before the show as there was plenty of room. I was able to let my dad rest there while I grabbed us some snacks. The view of Illuminations was great - in fact, we could also see Wishes at MK going on at the same time! :goodvibes

My dad also navigated the Magic Kingdom fairly well with the scooter. Most of the attractions had scooter parking...or at least scooters seemed to just park with the strollers. For my dad, who can walk short distances, this worked out great. He parked his scooter and was able to walk the line...although most of the time, we were directed to walk through the wheelchair line. The only tricky attraction was Philharmagic. We were told he could ride his scooter right in, which he did....but it was packed and he was with everyone else. I wished we would have parked the scooter outside and had him walk the line for that one. We went to Wishes, but that night he decided to walk and didn't even bring his walker :scared1:....but he ended up doing just fine. I honestly couldn't imagine taking a scooter into MK at night for the parade or Wishes - I guess the thing to do would be to wait until everyone else leaves the park before trying to exit. I know there are handicapped viewing spots at MK, but now sure where they are. We watched the fireworks as close to the exit as possible, then made our way to the bus where we were one of the first in line, so he did get a seat. Otherwise, I would have waited for a second bus as there was no way he could stand.

We went to DTD a couple of nights, but he walked both of those since we stayed on the West Side and there wasn't too much walking. After being in the scooter all day, he actually looked forward to walking a bit!

The only park we had problems with was Animal Kingdom. The crowds were very low on our trip, and I picked park days avoiding EMH. However, with the narrow, bumpy walkways at AK, there were bottlenecks at every turn. Plus NO ONE would move for the scooter. You would think a mini car driving towards you would make people move or stop, but no. We ended up spending twice as long as we normally do at AK just because it took so long to get anywhere.

Also at AK, they board all the scooter/wheelchair guests together. You drive your scooter thru the line and then wait in a seperate area until they have enough people to fill one truck. For those who can walk some, I recommend parking your scooter outside the attraction and walking the line. The wait to board a truck was 4 times longer than the standby line.

I honestly wouldn't take my dad to AKL again with the scooter. For someone who doesn't normally use one, it was just too much (for him, at least).

The scooter was due back the morning after the last rental day, but I actually returned it the night before. I just dropped it off to the valet, and that was it! The scooter fit inside our room just fine, too - the little hallway leading into the room was just the right size for the scooter, plus we had room to walk around it if needed.

All in all, having the scooter was a lifesaver! For anyone with mobility issues, even if you don't normally use a walking aid, I would highly recommend one! A few times when my dad needed to stretch his legs, I got to drive it, too. It's actually a lot of fun! Disney makes it so easy, that there is no reason to suffer by walking when you can use a scooter! :goodvibes
 
Thanks for the review.

A couple of things -
the handicapped viewing areas for parades and Illuminations are all marked on the park maps. Your experience with Illuminations viewing was that it was not busy, but you can’t tell on any given day just how busy it will be. When we went in March of 2011, that particular viewing spot was full by 45 minutes before Illuminations started, so we had to view from somewhere else.

There is also a special guidemap for guests with disabilities for each park. You can usually find them at the park map kiosk at the front of the park. If they don’t have one there, you will be able to get one at Guest Relations or at the wheelchair/ECV rental area in the park.

For ECVs on the buses, it is safer to get off the ECV and sit on a bus seat, especially with a 3 wheeled ECV. No matter how well the driver ties down the 3 wheel version, it is still possible to tip over, just because it has 3 wheels.

For Living with the Land, the regular line has some sharp turns, which are difficult to make with an ECV or wheelchair (they need approximately 5 feet at a corner to make a turn). The wheelchair entrance goes along the outside of the regular line and has many less turns.

The Safari at AK is a long walk in - I have not measured it, but my guess is more than 1/4 mile. Many people are just not able to make that. For the wheelchair/ECV line, there is a dedicated loading and unload area so that the guests load there, leave their wheelchair/ECV there and come back to the same place to unload. The ‘regular’ Safari tram load at one place and unloads at a totally different place. The wheelchair line is notoriously long. We once waited over 40 minutes there at a time where the regular line was walking on as fast as they could and some trams were being sent out half full because guests were not walking to load fast enough.

Glad to hear you all had fun.
 
Thanks for the details. I'm trying to learn all I can about navigating on an ECV since this will be my first time too.
 
Thanks for your report AnninIowa! I´m going to Disney with my mum next January and she´ll be using a scooter (she has arthritis) so it´s great to hear that you had no problems with your dad using one!:goodvibes
 

Thanks for your trip report! We are going the week after Thanksgiving for the first time since my wife's MS diagnosis. She doesn't have the energy to walk in the parks but can do short distances. We are doing a wheelchair this trip, it may make us do a scooter the next! I glad you mentioned AK, that is the one park I didn't think would work well due to the tighter walkways and rougher paths.
 
Thanks for the details. I'm trying to learn all I can about navigating on an ECV since this will be my first time too.
Check out the disABILITIES FAQs thread if you have not checked it already. It is near the top of this board or you can use the link in my signature to get there.

Post 11 has information about the special disabilities park maps. It also includes access information, including the ‘Mobility Entrance’ (in most cases, you will be going in the regular line). There is also information about attractions where guests using an ECV will need to transfer to a wheelchair.
Be sure to pick up a disability park map, because things do change from time to time.

On page 2, there is more information, including a post about each park with more information about transfers, a post with a list of attractions with warnings and another about stairs and moving walkways.
Thanks for your trip report! We are going the week after Thanksgiving for the first time since my wife's MS diagnosis. She doesn't have the energy to walk in the parks but can do short distances. We are doing a wheelchair this trip, it may make us do a scooter the next! I glad you mentioned AK, that is the one park I didn't think would work well due to the tighter walkways and rougher paths.[/QUOTE]
My FIL would only use an ECV in certain parks because of the tightness, etc.
And, from our experience with a wheelchair for many years, I would suggest new ECV users start at Epcot if possible.
Epcot has the widest walkways, which makes it less congested and easier for a new user to become comfortable. It also has large distances between things, with a number of hills and declines, which make a wheelchair more difficult to push for some people (although wheelchairs really are designed to push with little effort).

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is probably next easiest. Most of the walkways are wide and even though it is busy, there is pretty good traffic flow around. You do have to watch for curbs in many areas, so it may be easier to just walk in the ‘street’ and only go up on the sidewalk when you want to visit a shop. There are some areas with steps, but if you look around, you will always find a ramp nearby. The ramp itself may be hidden by a building, but in those cases, there is a wheelchair symbol pointing toward the ramp entrance.

Magic Kingdom is the one park where my FIL would not bring an ECV. It is a very busy park and there are many children, who tend to move out in front of an ECV or wheelchair without warning. Some of the pathways are narrow (this may be much improved when the new Fantasyland is finished). There are also some areas with curbs and sidewalks. On Main Street, be aware of the trolley rails. You want to stay away from them when driving up and down Main Street and the circle in front of the Castle. When crossing them, cross at a right angle (so go straight across). If you go parallel to them, they are wide enough to catch a wheelchair or small wheel on an ECV.

Animal Kingdom was a park where my FIL did rent an ECV because of the distances to go between things. The main problem with navigating AK, whether on foot or on wheels, is that the pathways are narrow for the amount of traffic and some of the main parts of the park are dead ends where you need to come out the same way you came in. This means large amounts of traffic going in opposite directions at the same time. Camp Mickey-Minnie is the worst because when Festival of the Lion King ends, there is a huge crowd of people leaving on the same pathway where guests are coming in for the next show. The end of Asia, near Expedition Everest has the same difficulty. Although you can enter Africa from either Discovery Island or Asia, most people enter thru the bridge from Discovery Island. Going to the Safari, Jungle Trail or Rafiki’s Planet Watch bring you to another set of dead ends, with more traffic going in opposite directions over the same pathways.
 
Thanks for sharing.

I would like to add a few comments on AK. It's going to take longer around that park; because, it's 5 times bigger than MK. The ground surfaces are better taken slow on tortoise speed; until, you get through the crowded areas.

The AK park is one that I feel the extra magic morning hour really pays off for the Safari ride. The crowds are not as bad; everyone does not want to get up early. We get a fast pass for the Safari ride followed by doing the regular line right off. We get two rides out of it that way early on. You have two groups in the morning; those who head for the Safari ride and those who go to Expedition Everest. This splits the early morning guests in half basically. Add to the fact that the general public is not there that first hour and it makes the Safari ride tolerable.

I think you had a really good trip overall with the crowds. Most find the navigating a bit tough with a scooter; because, there are so many people that ignore the scooters and cut by or whatever. If AK was the only bad experience you did well.
 
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Thanks for your trip report! We are going the week after Thanksgiving for the first time since my wife's MS diagnosis. She doesn't have the energy to walk in the parks but can do short distances. We are doing a wheelchair this trip, it may make us do a scooter the next! I glad you mentioned AK, that is the one park I didn't think would work well due to the tighter walkways and rougher paths.

The first time we went to WDW after I was unable to do the walking, we rented a wheelchair. At first I was OK with it & didn't mind being dependent on my husband to push me everywhere...for several years even when I tried walking, I always had to hold his arm so I was used to not being able to go where I wanted, when I wanted. It got old real quick. Then we rented a scooter in Hawaii once after talking with a lady who was using one & I was thrilled. For the first time in years, I was free to go where I wanted...as long as there were no stairs, which I hadn't been able to manage for years anyway... & not have to focus all my concentration on just walking without tripping or loosing my balance. I was able to enjoy my surroundings. After that, we rented one for the zoo, & then decided to buy a small one. I've used it at WDW twice with no problem. I'm a nervous person & didn't think I'd like driving it in crowds but I love it. I've never run in to anyone...I set it on slow speed in crowds & watch closely. Most of the time you can just wait a little & the crowds will thin out after a show or parade. I've never had anyone be rude to me but I've never used the buses...maybe that's why. Sometimes, reading these discussions, you'd get the idea that using a scooter at WDW would be a terrible but I haven't experienced that at all.

If she's able to drive one, I really think your wife would enjoy a scooter instead of a wheelchair. We just got back from a cruise. My husband somehow managed to forget the charger for my scooter. I blame the fact that he was trying to watch a football game while packing. I even asked him if he put the charger in the pouch on my scooter after charging it & he said he did. I'm sure you can relate to how men sometimes just answer their wife without really listening to the question when they're focused on a football game. Anyway, we had to conserve my scooter power for the airports. Guest services on DCL were so helpful & loaned us a WC for the cruise. I was thankful, but I missed my scooter so much. As far as worrying about running into someone on a scooter, I feel much better knowing I'm in control & not the person pushing me in a WC...my husband several times got close to hitting someone. I had to admit, after attempting to propel the WC myself a few times, that it was an old WC in bad shape that pulled to the right, so I understood his problem steering it. Getting around the ship was not easy in the WC. He'd be trying to hold a door open & push my WC through over small bumps in the doorways. Thankfully, there were usually kind people nearby who rushed to help. Speaking of kind people, I never encountered any of the rude people at the elevators I'd read about here on the cruise discussions. Even teenagers asked if I needed on the elevator a few times when I was waiting alone for my husband. I commented so many times about how much easier it would be if I had my scooter, I ended up making my husband feel worse than he already did for not packing the charger. I wasn't intending to do that...we were just trying to decide if we'd like to book another cruise & I was just thinking that I would enjoy it much more if I had my scooter. I'll make sure that charger doesn't get forgotten again.

Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to let you or anyone else who hesitates to try a scooter at WDW that if you get one of the small easy to maneuver ones, it sure beats a WC...at least in my opinion. Of course, that's unless your condition would make it not a good idea to drive one. If your wife can walk short distances, she can park it & walk for restaurants & restrooms or some rides which will make using it even easier than it is for those that need to stay on it.

Another thought: I would advise against the advice given by some to try the scooters at grocery stores. Those scooters are huge & hard to maneuver & would make anyone not want to even attempt one at WDW. I'd rent a smaller one & try it at a mall or something.

I hope your trip goes well & your wife is able to enjoy many more trips to come.
 

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