Our experiences at Universal Studios with a wheelchair.

[kylieh]

We've just had 3 night and 2 days at Universal, staying at Portofino, Express Passes. I thought I'd provide a quick update on our experiences, pretty much all positive. My DD16 has hEDS with hypotonia uses a wheelchair and/or walking cane depending on the distance we need to travel.

We had a deluxe club room, semi-accessible I'd guess you'd call it. Had rails all throughout the bathroom, but a shower over bath. I hadn't requested anything special other than a room near the elevators so she could go to the club room for example without using aids. The hotel obliged and we were one level up next to the elevator lobby. We really appreciated it.

The boat to and from the parks was fine, they put a ramp between the boat and dock to get on and off. There is room for a wheelchair at the front of the boat and their guests to sit with them. DD sat in a normal seat and we folded the chair when needed is to allow more room as the space is shared with strollers and ECVs.

My criticism is where you get off the boat at the parks. The ramp from the docks is rather steep and I wasn't strong enough to push her up so we did need to get her out of the wheelchair to push her up. I'll update if I can find the picture of it.

The parks are generally pretty good. All of the attractions we went on were good and attendants were helpful about using the elevators or sometimes the exit to enter the ride. The stores in both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade are really tight to move around and we mainly left the chair outside. We had no issues in other stores. Forbidden Journey has a stationary loading dock (we didn't realise this before going), the first time we weren't offered it and DD had a bit of trouble getting on and off quickly. The second time she was offered the stationary platform. Totally worth it, she could take her time etc. It loads from a different area.

We had a magical experience as loading with an Express Pass and a Wheelchair doesn't allow you to go through the wall to get on the train. One of the station attendants mentioned this to us, then held back the regular line for a couple of minutes so we could go through it and get the picture.

DD was happy with how everything went, she never felt different or if she was causing an issue in a wheelchair.

Any questions ask away, we've just arrived at Disney for the next part of our holiday.

 

[kaytieeldr]

My criticism is where you get off the boat at the parks. The ramp from the docks is rather steep and I wasn't strong enough to push her up so we did need to get her out of the wheelchair to push her up. I'll update if I can find the picture of it.

If you were among the first off the boat, ask to be last if you go again. The boat will be lighter, so zit higher in the water, so the ramp should be less steep.

If the boat was already pretyy empty, next time talk to the captain about having people stay onboard on the opposite side from the ramp, again to make the boat more level with the dock.

 

[RaySharpton]

Thank you for your report. I haven't been to Universal Studios in decades. I want to go back and maybe stay in one of there resorts for several days, but I just don't want to waste my money if it is not as accessible as Walt Disney World.

 

[Selket]

Thank you for your report. I haven't been to Universal Studios in decades. I want to go back and maybe stay in one of there resorts for several days, but I just don't want to waste my money if it is not as accessible as Walt Disney World.

I think from the reports I've seen, they do much better with manual wheelchairs and the type of electric wheelchair you have vs. the regular rental ECV's. I personally don't want to go back after my experience there a few years ago.

I'm definitely glad that op's daughter had a great trip!

 

[shocker]

Forbidden Journey has a stationary loading dock (we didn't realise this before going), the first time we weren't offered it and DD had a bit of trouble getting on and off quickly. The second time she was offered the stationary platform. Totally worth it, she could take her time etc. It loads from a different area.

I'm glad you reported this, I've been to US Hollywood many times but not Orlando, since HP was added. At USH, there are 2 adjacent moving sidewalks in the same direction at different speeds!! Ugh, I don't think its easy for the very agile! You have to step on one, get oriented then step to the second to load.

When exiting, there's only 1 moving sidewalk (one speed), BUT you have to traverse sideways from a moving object to a still object (instead of in a linear fashion like a moving sidewalk at an airport) & I still find it easier to hop from the moving sidewalk to the still walkway.

I'm considering taking my parents & know my father would not do well loading & unloading & I'd never seen wheelchair access. So, I stopped a CM & asked last time I was there & he explained the stationery platform area to me. Since its out of site, its not intuitive.

 

[DisneyOma]

The boat to and from the parks was fine, they put a ramp between the boat and dock to get on and off. There is room for a wheelchair at the front of the boat and their guests to sit with them. DD sat in a normal seat and we folded the chair when needed is to allow more room as the space is shared with strollers and ECVs.

My criticism is where you get off the boat at the parks. The ramp from the docks is rather steep and I wasn't strong enough to push her up so we did need to get her out of the wheelchair to push her up. I'll update if I can find the picture of it.

When you say the ramps from the dock - from the dock to the boat, or the floating dock to the fixed dock?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Boat to dock.

 

[kylieh]

When you say the ramps from the dock - from the dock to the boat, or the floating dock to the fixed dock?

After you get off the boat there is a landing and a set of stairs to get up to the park entries and City Walk. It is that ramp that I'm referring too. I found the picture - it was on my daughter's phone.

 

[DisneyOma]

After you get off the boat there is a landing and a set of stairs to get up to the park entries and City Walk. It is that ramp that I'm referring too. I found the picture - it was on my daughter's phone.

That's a fixed ramp, not sure why it seemed so steep? It has to be ADA compliant, so it shouldn't have been too steep? It does look really, really long though. Was it the length that was an issue? Too bad it couldn't have been designed with a few landings to rest on.

 

[RaySharpton]

I know what you mean about long or steep ramps. I have seen some manual wheelchair users struggle going up the Magic Kingdom Monorail entrance the Ticket and Transportation Center Monorail ramps, too.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I know what you mean about long or steep ramps. I have seen some manual wheelchair users struggle going up the Magic Kingdom Monorail entrance the Ticket and Transportation Center Monorail ramps, too.

Yeah, all those monorail ramps were designed and built pre-ADA.