Opinions needed

[Rista1313]

For those who have stayed at both. Hubby can walk, but I don't want to take up all his walking mojo in the resort. We need to save it for the parks!

Would you take a Pop Century preferred room over a little mermaid standard room at Art of Animation?

Pros/Cons?

Thanks!

 

[arminnie]

Anyone who has limited walking mojo probably needs some type of mobility assist at Disney. Choice of resort is not really significant. Maybe a cane, maybe a walker, or maybe even a scooter or wheelchair.

Sometimes I don't use anything. Sometimes I use a cane, sometimes a walker, but at WDW I need an ECV.

 

[Rista1313]

Anyone who has limited walking mojo probably needs some type of mobility assist at Disney. Choice of resort is not really significant. Maybe a cane, maybe a walker, or maybe even a scooter or wheelchair.

Sometimes I don't use anything. Sometimes I use a cane, sometimes a walker, but at WDW I need an ECV.

He will have his cane, but it doesn't give him unlimited walking. We are going to take an afternoon siesta to hopefully recharge.

The back up plan is to get an ECV at the park only if he needs it. I know it's more expensive, but we are willing to pay the extra rather than to haul one on the buses.

 

[arminnie]

I don't find it a problem to haul one on the buses. In fact - I love the fact that I can get anywhere on the buses without having to lift anything.

I think people vastly overrate how difficult it is to get on the bus with an ECV. If one truly isn't comfortable trying to park it, it is very easy to dismount, put it in freewheel, and just push it into a parking place. If you can park a shopping cart at a grocery store you can manually park an ECV.

 

[lanejudy]

The Little Mermaid rooms at AoA are much further away from the bus stops than POP preferred. You might want to pull up a map of each resort to see the layout. When is your trip, though? POP is currently undergoing a big renovation with refurbishment of all the guest rooms. I believe 3 buildings are done as of now, one is under construction, leaving another 6 still to go; and I don't believe any of the preferred rooms have been done yet. So it could be hard to get a preferred room at POP depending on your timing.

I would really reconsider getting an ECV for length of trip. An off-site vendor is much less expensive than in-park rentals; in fact, I think you can probably get one for a week for about the cost of 3-4 days in-park. Plus you'd have it for around the resort -- even preferred rooms may not always be "close" to the buses.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

He will have his cane, but it doesn't give him unlimited walking. We are going to take an afternoon siesta to hopefully recharge.

The back up plan is to get an ECV at the park only if he needs it. I know it's more expensive, but we are willing to pay the extra rather than to haul one on the buses.

also remember the parks do run out if ECVs at ties esp in afternoons. I would get one to get around your resort. plus nothing is worse than waiting for transportation at end of day with no where to sit and wait, than includes either the ferry monorail or trams to your car depending on which park you are at. I have had to get one on and off buses and if that is your reason for using park rental would not be my choice even if was same price

 

[Rista1313]

The Little Mermaid rooms at AoA are much further away from the bus stops than POP preferred. You might want to pull up a map of each resort to see the layout. When is your trip, though? POP is currently undergoing a big renovation with refurbishment of all the guest rooms. I believe 3 buildings are done as of now, one is under construction, leaving another 6 still to go; and I don't believe any of the preferred rooms have been done yet. So it could be hard to get a preferred room at POP depending on your timing.

I would really reconsider getting an ECV for length of trip. An off-site vendor is much less expensive than in-park rentals; in fact, I think you can probably get one for a week for about the cost of 3-4 days in-park. Plus you'd have it for around the resort -- even preferred rooms may not always be "close" to the buses.

Enjoy your vacation!

We are going the first week in May, so they should be close to being done with reno by then hopefully. I saw a sight last night that said May of 2018, but that could be may 31st.

The hard part is my hubby prefers to walk, so he doesn't really want an ECV unless he needs one.

Right now preferred rooms are open. Just waiting for my travel agent to get with me to book it. She's swamped with all the hurricane stuff!

 

[jo-jo]

My DH has bad knees (bone on bone). Walks at home, last few trips we got a disney WC. DH doesn't want an ECV, he wants to walk from time to time. At times he has to walk, I can't push him up some of those hills. But I push him perhaps 60% of the time. The other big thing is , he always has a chair. We stop to watch a street show, I can sit on a curb. DH couldn't get up or down for that, so in the past we skipped the show.

This trip we are getting a WC from Walker Mobility. Last trip we had a few issues, with disney WC, plus the wait every morning when you enter the park.

 

[maxiesmom]

My concern would be the long walk to the bus stops at the parks. The values are the ones farthest from the park gates, and Pop is almost always the one the farthest away. I'd probably go with Pop, but keep taxi/uber money at the ready.

 

[mamabunny]

@Rista1313 tell your hubby this:

That ECV that he doesn't want to use? It's nothing more than a tool to preserve and improve his mobility while on vacation. Does he refuse to wear eyeglasses if he needs them? Those are a tool to improve vision. He already uses a cane to support his mobility - that's a tool as well. The ECV is just a different tool.

As @arminnie said above, it's not that difficult to get a (standard rental) ECV on and off the buses - the drivers are very helpful, and by the end of your first round trip you will be an old pro. A standard rental ECV is nimble enough to get on and off the buses fairly easily. We will be glad to give you *tons* of tips for first time riders (or you can just use the "Search" box up at the top of this page and look for "first time ECV")

And, as @Betty Rohrer pointed out - often the Parks do run out of ECV rentals by afternoon, and you would be "stuck" waiting for someone to return one. At $50/day, it's typically far cheaper to just rent from an outside vendor and have it delivered to your Resort hotel.

I *love* the independence of having an ECV at the Resorts - I can get up early, and motor on down to the QS to get my morning coffee and a muffin, and enjoy myself while certain other people in my party take FOREVER to get ready! LOL The size of my Resort - or where our rooms are located - is no longer an issue. Want to do two or three Parks in one day? OK, just point me to the buses. Plus, I can go all over Disney Springs (which has nearly doubled in size now) and I can easily keep up with my family - in fact, most days I am still ready to go when they are ready to go home!

But the greatest "gift" that I get from using the ECV is that when I wake up on the last day of my trip, I am no worse off than I was on the first day. I have not lost my stamina, my ability to enjoy myself, or my happy memories due to pain and stiffness and swelling that has only increased every day of my stay at WDW. Instead, I am able to return directly to my life at home with no down time to recover from my vacation.

Obviously, it's his choice. If he refuses to rent an ECV in advance, if I were in your shoes, I would have the phone number for a rental agency in my smartphone. Walker and Buena Vista (and other rental agencies) can deliver directly to the Parks in a pinch - and then pick it up at the hotel when you are ready to go home.

 

[powellrj]

My DH has bad knees (bone on bone). Walks at home, last few trips we got a disney WC. DH doesn't want an ECV, he wants to walk from time to time. At times he has to walk, I can't push him up some of those hills. But I push him perhaps 60% of the time. The other big thing is , he always has a chair. We stop to watch a street show, I can sit on a curb. DH couldn't get up or down for that, so in the past we skipped the show.

This trip we are getting a WC from Walker Mobility. Last trip we had a few issues, with disney WC, plus the wait every morning when you enter the park.

Has he thought about a rollator? That way he always has a seat and it's a great aid to help with walking.

 

[jo-jo]

Has he thought about a rollator? That way he always has a seat and it's a great aid to help with walking.

Then he would have to be under his own power the whole time. His knees wouldn't take walking 4 or 5 hours a day. You figure leave the room about 9 am if he walked 4 hours, spent a total 2 hrs sitting between 5 min rides and 20 min shows, spent an another hour eating lunch/resting. That would still be a short disney day. He'd never make it. Walking a 1/3 mile at home wears him out.

But thank you for the suggestion. My sister used one for several years at home.

 

[Kaytie]

There's this https://www.amazon.com/CONVERTIBLE-TRANSPORT-Individuals-Caregivers-Capacity/dp/B00PQ36PAU or this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I649X22/ref=twister_B01J7UO734?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
He can use it when he wants, and you can push him when he needs.

 

[powellrj]

There's this https://www.amazon.com/CONVERTIBLE-TRANSPORT-Individuals-Caregivers-Capacity/dp/B00PQ36PAU or this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I649X22/ref=twister_B01J7UO734?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
He can use it when he wants, and you can push him when he needs.

I have one of those and I have been very unhappy with it. Someone pushes me a few feet and I go flying out. It may just be me, but we only used it once as a transport and now I just use it as a rollator.

 

[Bete]

My best reasons to have a scooter are no pain, getting around quicker, lasting longer in the parks, and getting to sit rather than walk.

Lasting in the parks longer is the crucial one. You pay for park tickets. If you can do more in the parks then you get better value.

An offsite rented scooter can be used to get from park to resort transportation and all around the resort. This makes it quicker everywhere you go.

 

[arminnie]

For all the people that need an ECV but who want to walk - one can leave the ECV and walk as much as one wants to.

Before I became as disabled as I am now I used to park the dvc before going on a ride, into a store or bathroom, etc.

 

[persimmondeb]

There's this https://www.amazon.com/CONVERTIBLE-TRANSPORT-Individuals-Caregivers-Capacity/dp/B00PQ36PAU or this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I649X22/ref=twister_B01J7UO734?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
He can use it when he wants, and you can push him when he needs.

We have this. It's a good rollator but a terrible wheelchair. Hard to push and the person in it really needs to hang on or they can bounce out, plus it's not comfortable for anyone involved. We had my Dad in it at AK using the wheelchair mode far more than usual, and it was particularly awful for me to push, because while I'm strong and have a lot of stamina, I'm tippy and it's nowhere near as stable to push as normal transport chair (we used one boarding Amtrak and it was night and day--loaded Dad up with bags, hung the canes on the handles, and off we went).

 

[johnsgrl]

For all the people that need an ECV but who want to walk - one can leave the ECV and walk as much as one wants to.

Before I became as disabled as I am now I used to park the dvc before going on a ride, into a store or bathroom, etc.

Exactly!
I started out using an ECV between lands and would park it and walk for a while, and it helped extend what I could do and spared my family from me yelling "wait for me" a lot.
Now I use it for lines, shows and moving around my resort.
Last week we were there for a quick two day trip and flew so I brought my rollator instead of the ECV, figuring I could make it two days if I had the ability to sit when needed. Yeah, Nope. I was in such pain we cancelled all of our fastpasses for day 2