Ok, I did it! Rented the ECV for our trip!!!

[anewvance]

Ok, this will be my first ECV trip and I am nervous! But I figure might as well be nervous of the stares and comments than be nervous that my leg will give out at any time and be in horrid back pain. I just hope everything runs smoothly. I called OKW hotel to ask for a 1st floor and they said they'd try their hardest, but I have the scooter rented and will NEED to plug it in!!!! If they don't put me on the 1st floor I'll demand it plugged into their lobby all night, lol. I am just hoping with transporation and other things, it won't be to much of a bother with a 2 year old and 1 year old. I am going to my orthopedic surgeon on Friday and asking for a note of some sort to give to Disney to request a GAC for special seating in shows and pavilians that I chose not to ride the ECV into as I CAN walk, just not for long and far and stairs are a huge NO!!! ARGGGGGGGGGG, can you tell I am nervous about this??????????

 

[teri]

Calm, calm, calm..

You have an excellent chance of getting first floor accomodations at OKW, don't worry.

I hope you have a relaxing, fun, restful vacation. OKW is my favorite resort at WDW.

 

[JudithM]

I've had a GAC & used an ECV for the last five trips to WDW - most recently last week. For a couple of days last week I only had a GAC & no ECV (first day my choice; 2nd day no ECVs at EPCOT by 10:30a.m. on Mother's Day ). CMs were very helpful about letting me sit in handicapped sections, etc. I have never needed a note from my doctor. Last week though I had my old GAC & the CM took it backstage, brought me a new GAC & said she could not give me back the old one.

 

[SueM in MN]

If you call back and tell them you need first floor at OKW "For Medical Reasons", those requests are filled first and are pretty much guaranteed. If there is time to get a new confirmation sheet back, it should state something about first floor for medical needs. We have not ever had a probelm with getting first floor when they knew it was for medical needs.

As teri and Judith said, you don't need a GAC to take the ecv or ecv into any lines or wheelchair seating areas with you. That's Disney policy. Most, but not all, rides have an exit pretty close to the entrance. You might want to rethink going into shows without it though. Some of the shows, like ITTBAB, have quite a long way to walk to get from the entrance (even the fastpass entrance) to the actual seating area. Also, most shows have an entrance on one side of the building and the exit is on another side. It's easy to get turned around and not be able to figure out quite where you are in relation to where you left your ecv or find that the exit is farther than you can walk to get back to the ecv. Before you go into a show without your ecv, you should ask the CM at the entrance where you will exit, how long the wait in line will be and how far the walk is from the entrance to the boarding area.

One DIS poster said she was asked for a letter from her child's doctor to get a GAC, the child had autism, so there was an invisible disability in a child who did not appear to have any problems. No one else has posted that they were asked for a letter and many people have posted that they tried to show a letter to the CM at Guest Relations, but were told it was not necessary. I asked a CM (told them that I was a Moderator on a discussion board for people with many kinds of disabilities) and I was told that a doctor's letter was not necessary. They said that usually when people have one and insist on showing it to them, it isn't useful because the doctor generally just states the diagnosis (in medical language with no translation) and there is no information about what types of assistance people need or things they need to avoid. If it's easy to get one, I guess it is a good idea to have one in case you are asked, but chances are that you will not even be asked about it.