billsfan
Lets Go BUFF-A-LO
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2004
- Messages
- 604
We traveled to Disney this past year from Saturday December 10 - Friday December 17. It was Me(33), My DFi(33), My Mother(I can't tell you her age or I'll have to kill you) and DFi's Mother(I can't tell you her age or I'll have to kill you). DFi's mother now has alot of problems with her knees. She cannot walk for more than about 50 ft without having to stop and/or sit. She also cannot use stairs and/or step up or down too easily. I received alot of great info for our trip from this board and I would like to share the experience we had at Disney.
My mother and DFi's Mother flew out of Buffalo to Orlando on Southwest and me and DFi flew out of Akron/Canton to Orlando on Airtran. We arrived to MCO about 1 hour before our mothers' flight landed. We went over to their gate to meet them as they got off of the plane. (We didn't need to get our bags because we were using DME). My mother at Buffalo set up to have a wheelchair waiting at MCO for DFi Mother. A represenative from Southwest showed up about 10 minutes before they arrived with the wheelchair. After everybody else got off the plane he took the wheelchair up the the ramp to the plane and met our mothers. He then brought DFi's Mother down the ramp and then offered to push her to baggage claim and I told him it wasn't needed that I would be fine. I offered him a tip for his assistance and he refused to take it.
When we arrived to the DME counter I checked us all in and then we went to get in line for the bus to the Grand Floridian. The cast member at the front of the line asked DFi's mother if she could transfer onto a normal bus or if she would need to stay in her wheelchair. She told her she could transfer. We were moved to the front of the line and were able to board the bus first. The driver of the DME express was able to "kneel" the bus but there were three pretty large steps to step up. DFi's mother had a little difficult getting up these steps but she did make it. We sat in the first row of seats so we didn't have to walk to the back of the bus. Arriving at the Grand Floridian she had a little easier time stepping down the steps than stepping up the steps.
Let me start by telling you we rented a push wheelchair for our vacation. My DFi broke her wrist about a month before we left rollerskating (I am still picking on her for this) and there was no way I was letting my mother do any of the pushing. I pushed around my DFi's Mother the whole trip. If you are planning to push some around WDW for a week in a wheelchair make sure you are in good shape! Me and my DFi had been to WDW three times before this and I never had a problem running around WDW for a whole week. At the end of this vacation I needed another vacation. WDW has some major inclines to climb in wheelchairs and also there is alot of walking to do. I think next time we go we will be renting a scooter for the week for DFi's mother.
I had ordered a 22" wheelchair from Walker Mobility that was to be delivered to our resort for DFi's mother to use all week. I went into the Grand Floridian and checked at the information counter as to where to pick up the wheelchair and they directed me to Bell Services. I went to the bell services counter and let them know I was to have a wheelchair delivered for us to use and they asked where from and what name was it under. They returned about a minute later with the wheelchair. I was quite impressed with the wheelchair. It did have a couple of scrapes around the rims and the fronts of the foot rests were a little beat up but everything worked well. I will be renting from Walker again when we go to WDW in 2007. The price was right and the product was good.
Getting around the GF in a wheelchair was quite easy. We stayed in the Conch Key building on the 4th floor in a lodge tower room. All pathways around the GF were wide enough for the 22" wheelchair. The only place we had problems getting through was right by the gingerbread house. They had a rope barrier set up right around the corner where they sold the gingerbread from the gingerbread house. The path that was set up for passing by the gingerbread house was just wide enough for the wheelchair. There were many a time when we entered the pathway and turned the corner and the people comming the other way had to turn around to let us through. We did have one small incident here where we turned the corner and this man just stood there as we approached. He was talking to someone in the line for the gingerbread standing in the pathway. I said excuse me once, he looked at me and then turned back and continued talking to the person in line. I said excuse me a second time and he said "Just go around". I then informed him there was no room to do this. He then looked at me again and then he pushed himself into the roap barrier shoveing into the other people in line and then said, "You have enough room now". He was A**h*** #1. We only came across one more A**h*** this trip and I will tell you about him later. All cast members and most other poeple were quite pleasent.
Our first night at WDW we had dinner scheduled at the POLY. We decided to take the boat from the GF to the POLY since our building was right by the boat dock. I already knew that the MK/CONT/WL/FW boats and the Epcot/Epcot Resort/MGM boats did not have any steps up or down to get on the boat because of the DIS but I didn't remember reading anything about the MK/GF/POLY boat. This is a smaller boat that one must first step up then step down a step to get into. This was quite difficult for DFi's mother to do. This was the last time Me and DFi's mother took this boat. We stuck to the monorail the rest of the trip.
After dinner we went over to the MK since they were open to Midnight that night. We arrived to mainstreet right as the 1st Spectromagic parade was ending. It was quite impossible to to move so we sat tight until the crowd broke up a bit. We then made our way to the castle to watch Wishes. When we arrived all of the wheelchair sections were already full. We found a spot to stand to the right of the concrete circle that was in front of the castle. About 10 minutes before Wishes started It got pretty packed in front of the castle. First I thought DFi's mother wouldn't be able to see the fireworks because all of the people standing in front of her. I thought about moving but decided not to when she not to worry about it and also I don't believe we could have moved from that spot if we wanted to. When the fireworks started I asked DFi's mother if she could see and she said she could see just fine. I was a bit tired so I sat on the ground beside the wheelchair and also could see all of the fireworks just fine.
After the fireworks we made our way to Fantasyland and went to ride "it's a small world". We were directed to the exit and we then went down the ramp to where the boats unload. The cast member then asked DFi's mother if she could transfer. She told him yes and the next boat that pulled up we got into. DFi's mother had no problem stepping into the boat but the seats are so low and since there is not a lot of room in front of the seats she had a difficult time sitting on the seat. I could tell that she was in a bit of pain because her knees were bent so much so I slid all the way over to the other side of the bench seat and helped her put her legs up on the bench so her knees were not bent at all. If someone in your party has trouble bending their knees I would suggest to them not to try to sit on the bench seats on "it's a small world". (Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountian at the MK also have seats that are pretty low that might be hard for someone with bad knees to sit in) There are boats for "it's a small world" that one can stay in their wheelchair but I do not believe that there are any boats for the Pirates of the Caribbean where one can stay in their wheelchair. I do know on Splash Mountain everyone must transfer.
After we got off of "it's a small world we headed over to Frontierland. The park was quite dead. We found a bench for our mothers to sit on and Me and DFi got them some popcorn and drinks and went off to ride some rides until the 2nd Spectromagic parade started. When we arrived back our mother had moved up to the ropes to watch the parade. My mother said a castmember had wheeled DFi's mother over to the rope to watch the parade.
When we left the MK I discovered the first great incline we had to climb up. The ramp to the Monorail is a bit steep. After a long day of travel and walking around the MK this hill seemed like it would never end. I decided I would take a break half way and stop. This was not such a good idea for me. It was a little bit difficult for me to start up again. The rest of the week when we went to the MK I decided not to stop on this incline any more.
We discovered one last little difficulty this day when we returned to our room. The beds at the GF are quite high. DFi's mother was having quite a bit of trouble getting up into the bed. We solved this problem by putting the extra large decrative square pillows that were on the bed onto the ground so she could step up onto these to help her into bed.
I will continue my post tomorrow or Monday for or experience the rest of the week.
My mother and DFi's Mother flew out of Buffalo to Orlando on Southwest and me and DFi flew out of Akron/Canton to Orlando on Airtran. We arrived to MCO about 1 hour before our mothers' flight landed. We went over to their gate to meet them as they got off of the plane. (We didn't need to get our bags because we were using DME). My mother at Buffalo set up to have a wheelchair waiting at MCO for DFi Mother. A represenative from Southwest showed up about 10 minutes before they arrived with the wheelchair. After everybody else got off the plane he took the wheelchair up the the ramp to the plane and met our mothers. He then brought DFi's Mother down the ramp and then offered to push her to baggage claim and I told him it wasn't needed that I would be fine. I offered him a tip for his assistance and he refused to take it.
When we arrived to the DME counter I checked us all in and then we went to get in line for the bus to the Grand Floridian. The cast member at the front of the line asked DFi's mother if she could transfer onto a normal bus or if she would need to stay in her wheelchair. She told her she could transfer. We were moved to the front of the line and were able to board the bus first. The driver of the DME express was able to "kneel" the bus but there were three pretty large steps to step up. DFi's mother had a little difficult getting up these steps but she did make it. We sat in the first row of seats so we didn't have to walk to the back of the bus. Arriving at the Grand Floridian she had a little easier time stepping down the steps than stepping up the steps.
Let me start by telling you we rented a push wheelchair for our vacation. My DFi broke her wrist about a month before we left rollerskating (I am still picking on her for this) and there was no way I was letting my mother do any of the pushing. I pushed around my DFi's Mother the whole trip. If you are planning to push some around WDW for a week in a wheelchair make sure you are in good shape! Me and my DFi had been to WDW three times before this and I never had a problem running around WDW for a whole week. At the end of this vacation I needed another vacation. WDW has some major inclines to climb in wheelchairs and also there is alot of walking to do. I think next time we go we will be renting a scooter for the week for DFi's mother.
I had ordered a 22" wheelchair from Walker Mobility that was to be delivered to our resort for DFi's mother to use all week. I went into the Grand Floridian and checked at the information counter as to where to pick up the wheelchair and they directed me to Bell Services. I went to the bell services counter and let them know I was to have a wheelchair delivered for us to use and they asked where from and what name was it under. They returned about a minute later with the wheelchair. I was quite impressed with the wheelchair. It did have a couple of scrapes around the rims and the fronts of the foot rests were a little beat up but everything worked well. I will be renting from Walker again when we go to WDW in 2007. The price was right and the product was good.
Getting around the GF in a wheelchair was quite easy. We stayed in the Conch Key building on the 4th floor in a lodge tower room. All pathways around the GF were wide enough for the 22" wheelchair. The only place we had problems getting through was right by the gingerbread house. They had a rope barrier set up right around the corner where they sold the gingerbread from the gingerbread house. The path that was set up for passing by the gingerbread house was just wide enough for the wheelchair. There were many a time when we entered the pathway and turned the corner and the people comming the other way had to turn around to let us through. We did have one small incident here where we turned the corner and this man just stood there as we approached. He was talking to someone in the line for the gingerbread standing in the pathway. I said excuse me once, he looked at me and then turned back and continued talking to the person in line. I said excuse me a second time and he said "Just go around". I then informed him there was no room to do this. He then looked at me again and then he pushed himself into the roap barrier shoveing into the other people in line and then said, "You have enough room now". He was A**h*** #1. We only came across one more A**h*** this trip and I will tell you about him later. All cast members and most other poeple were quite pleasent.
Our first night at WDW we had dinner scheduled at the POLY. We decided to take the boat from the GF to the POLY since our building was right by the boat dock. I already knew that the MK/CONT/WL/FW boats and the Epcot/Epcot Resort/MGM boats did not have any steps up or down to get on the boat because of the DIS but I didn't remember reading anything about the MK/GF/POLY boat. This is a smaller boat that one must first step up then step down a step to get into. This was quite difficult for DFi's mother to do. This was the last time Me and DFi's mother took this boat. We stuck to the monorail the rest of the trip.
After dinner we went over to the MK since they were open to Midnight that night. We arrived to mainstreet right as the 1st Spectromagic parade was ending. It was quite impossible to to move so we sat tight until the crowd broke up a bit. We then made our way to the castle to watch Wishes. When we arrived all of the wheelchair sections were already full. We found a spot to stand to the right of the concrete circle that was in front of the castle. About 10 minutes before Wishes started It got pretty packed in front of the castle. First I thought DFi's mother wouldn't be able to see the fireworks because all of the people standing in front of her. I thought about moving but decided not to when she not to worry about it and also I don't believe we could have moved from that spot if we wanted to. When the fireworks started I asked DFi's mother if she could see and she said she could see just fine. I was a bit tired so I sat on the ground beside the wheelchair and also could see all of the fireworks just fine.
After the fireworks we made our way to Fantasyland and went to ride "it's a small world". We were directed to the exit and we then went down the ramp to where the boats unload. The cast member then asked DFi's mother if she could transfer. She told him yes and the next boat that pulled up we got into. DFi's mother had no problem stepping into the boat but the seats are so low and since there is not a lot of room in front of the seats she had a difficult time sitting on the seat. I could tell that she was in a bit of pain because her knees were bent so much so I slid all the way over to the other side of the bench seat and helped her put her legs up on the bench so her knees were not bent at all. If someone in your party has trouble bending their knees I would suggest to them not to try to sit on the bench seats on "it's a small world". (Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountian at the MK also have seats that are pretty low that might be hard for someone with bad knees to sit in) There are boats for "it's a small world" that one can stay in their wheelchair but I do not believe that there are any boats for the Pirates of the Caribbean where one can stay in their wheelchair. I do know on Splash Mountain everyone must transfer.
After we got off of "it's a small world we headed over to Frontierland. The park was quite dead. We found a bench for our mothers to sit on and Me and DFi got them some popcorn and drinks and went off to ride some rides until the 2nd Spectromagic parade started. When we arrived back our mother had moved up to the ropes to watch the parade. My mother said a castmember had wheeled DFi's mother over to the rope to watch the parade.
When we left the MK I discovered the first great incline we had to climb up. The ramp to the Monorail is a bit steep. After a long day of travel and walking around the MK this hill seemed like it would never end. I decided I would take a break half way and stop. This was not such a good idea for me. It was a little bit difficult for me to start up again. The rest of the week when we went to the MK I decided not to stop on this incline any more.
We discovered one last little difficulty this day when we returned to our room. The beds at the GF are quite high. DFi's mother was having quite a bit of trouble getting up into the bed. We solved this problem by putting the extra large decrative square pillows that were on the bed onto the ground so she could step up onto these to help her into bed.
I will continue my post tomorrow or Monday for or experience the rest of the week.
