Overwhelmed mom planning trip for Oct/Nov '04

[Gary M]

To make room reservations use the toll free #: 1-800-828-0228

BAT and BAP are the two room discount codes mentioned before. Call the toll free # and make sure you don't miss the room discount. Tomorrow is the last day. I know this is a repeat of what others have said, but the savings can be very large.

 

[denapoli]

Good Luck with your planning, it can be overwhelming. It would be great if you could take advantage of the discounts codes by October 10th, if it really is too hard to decide by tomorrow, which I usually have a hard time deciding on then in your particular case I would suggest making two reservations. You'll know shortly after that which price range you will feel more comfortable with and then just cancel the reservation that you don't want.

I would also vote for the Contemporary wing rooms or the Wilderness Lodge if you can swing it. The convenience and location of these two resorts for the Magic Kingdom is great. I have a feeling you will be most focused on the Magic Kingdom and will be there definitely more than on day because of your child's age. But I see that this is also a few $ over your budget.

If you can't swing either of these two resorts then I would suggest thinking about maybe staying in a value resort rather than a moderate especially the Pop Century since it is brand new. The pictures I have seen look great of this resort and it is more centrally located than the All Star Resorts. Also I would suggest this because you will have to use the buses anyway even if you stay at the moderate resorts or use your car if you want. So why pay more for a moderate if you have to get to all the parks by bus or car anyway. At these resorts you can request a refridgerator with a daily charge of about $10 so you can pick up some food and the food courts have big selections. If you can swing the Contemporary or Wilderness Lodge I believe the refridgerators are now complimentary with the rooms. Both of these resorts also have Food Courts.

Good Luck, I am happy you are going to be able to take a trip do Disney with your family. Have a great time.





I suggest you look into the scooters also. But I don't know anything about them or have any experience with them. But it also sound to me like you are a candidate for handicapped access including being able to bypass the lines. Again I have no experience with this but there is a great web site that I have seen on this site that would probably give you all the information about this. Please don't feel that you are not entitled to this access because you may not be visably handicapped.

 

[zumbergc]

I would highly recommend getting the scooter, we tend to just get the wheel chair, however its just myself & my husband.
Since you are going to need lots of breaks, you might need more breaks than your son. Which may mean they might stay in the parks later than you, or you go in for a nap and they stay out in the parks for some extra time. This wouldn't probably be possible in a push wheel chair, unless you are use to pushing your self.

About renting from the parks, off site, or hoping for a push chair at the resort.
It better to have a definite wheelchair by renting one off-site. The resorts do offer complimentary wheel chairs, but they only have so many at the hotels. If you didn't get one, you would be left with a long walk from the park gates to the buses, and around your resort, and then going thru the wheel chair line every moring to get a chair, which use to be the same as the stroller line.

The scooters at the parks, not guarenteed to get one either, or if you left one park and then hit another park, you have no guarentee that a scooter would be there for you to use. So thats why I highly recommend renting offsite.e We've had good luck with walker mobility.

Ask over on the disAbility area, they have great answers. Also ask for a disability guide map when you first head into the park.
It guides you as to where the entrances are different for those in wheelchairs, scooters. We've only ever been offered the guide once, and now we know where most of the entrances are so we don't worry about it. Just ask a cast member near the entrance of the ride. Some ques aren't friendly to wheelchairs, many are but there still are some that aren't, and getting stuck in a mess of ropes is not fun. Jungle cruise is one, wheelchairs, head to where the exit for the ride is, way to the left. Crowd of people there the first couple of time we were attempting to get on the ride, and we never saw the wheelchair sign. Of course on the jungle cruise there is only one boat that the special people get on, and sometimes we arrive just after its left. We have bad luck about the jungle cruise boats and have a long wait.
Connie

 

[SueM in MN]

Originally posted by denapoli
I suggest you look into the scooters also. But I don't know anything about them or have any experience with them. But it also sound to me like you are a candidate for handicapped access including being able to bypass the lines. Again I have no experience with this but there is a great web site that I have seen on this site that would probably give you all the information about this. Please don't feel that you are not entitled to this access because you may not be visably handicapped.

I just wanted to clarify that having a wheelchair, ecv or disability does not allow you to bypass lines (although this is a common misconception). Most lines are wheelchair accessible. Sometimes there is an alternate boarding area for people with disabilities because the regular boarding area is not accessible. If this is the case, usually you are routed there just before the line gets to the regular boarding area, after waiting in line with everyone else.
You can get information about rides/accomidations for disabilities by going to this link to the official Disney site's disabilitiy page. There are links at the top of the page to the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities for each park. This is a downloadable version of the information that zumbergc's post mentioned. The link about disabilities that someone posted from allearsnet.com is a copy of the wheelchair information from the official Disney site page.

Here's a link to the disABILITIES Board FAQs thread. It has information about the pluses and minuses of renting wheelchairs or ecvs from the various sources. There is also contact information for the off-site rental places and information about borrowing from the resorts.
If you don't need a roll in shower, raised seat toilet or to be able to drive a wheelchair up to a sink, then you would probably be best off not getting a handicapped room. If you don't need one, there are more options about where your room can be located. If you do have some special needs that you need accomidation for, you can contact the Special Needs Reservation number at WDW at Resort Reservations: 407-939-7807 (TTY: 407-939-7670)

Regarding getting rest, you will probably find that you don't get as tired using an ecv and might need less resting time. If you need to lie down, you can go to First Aid in any of the parks and ask to lie down on one of their cots. They are in quiet, dim cubicles separated by curtains. For MK days, another alternative, no matter where you are staying is to take the monorail to one of the MK resorts and rest on one of the couches in the lobby. THe lobbies are huge, with many comfortable chairs and couches. While you rest, your DH and child can either stay at the park or check out the game room at the resort, have some ice cream, etc.

You did say that you have a handicapped parking permit. One thing to be aware of is that there is no tram service from the handicapped parking area to the park entrance like there is for the regular parking. If you have an ecv/wheelchair with you, this isn't an issue, but it can be a long walk if you don't.

There is a link in my signature to the disABILITIES Board if you have more questions.

 

[momloveson]

Thanks everyone. We've got our resort and park tix. We're going with 2 places... First Pop Century for 3 nights, then French Quarter for 4. All the suggestions really helped. Plus, when I talked to the reservation guy he told me both places have very comfortable beds...a big MUST for me because of my pain issues. The FQ seems as quaint as possible and my son will LOVE the slide.

DWV said they will do a special cleaning of our rooms before we get there so hopefully asthma won't be an issue. Will see. I was shocked they would even offer such a service.

The BAP code saved us a small fortune. Can't believe the prices we got and all of our days were available without any trouble. We come in right after the SOAP weekend and leaving before thanksgiving, so I'm hoping the lines wont be horrific. Will plan on taking advantage of the fastpass thingy when we need to.

So much we can see, but going to keep the park visits at 4 in the 8 days. This should allow plenty of recouperation time by the pool


Again, you guys are so awesome and helpful!!! You've really helped an overwhelmed mom regain (some) of her sanity.


P.S. Can someone tell me how to add a vacation counter countdown to my posts?

 

[Candleshoe]

Last year on my first trip to WDW I tore something in my knee. Long story short is I used a wheelchair several times. If your DH is up to the push I would say that a regular wheelchair is better then a scooter. I did both. With the scooter, dh had my 3.5yo in the stroller and it was a devil of a time staying together. Plus she wanted to be in my lap and it's not allowed. With the wheelchair she *could* sit in my lap and we stayed together as a family unit. The downside is DH had to push me. He was okay with it though because it really works out much better for a group with 1 mobility challenge and 1 preschooler.


Also, (and this is just my opinion) I would say MGM is much cooler then AK. So if you knock it down to just two parks go MK and MGM. My opinion of course

Good luck! Enjoy your trip, I'm sure you will!

 

[travelin' tigger]

Just go to the Technical Support forum (near the bottom of the list) and look for the thread called Get Your Coutdown Timer here. It will walk you through the whole process.

Glad everything worked out - have a great trip!!!!

 

[nigel-bigel]

Just wanted to add that we also rented a scooter from Walker's and had a great experience! The service was top-notch and having the scooter really enabled my mother to enjoy her trip.

Scooters are available at the parks, but they don't have many, so it's first-come, first-serve.

It was a little cumbersome getting on and off buses w/the scooter. If you wanted to go back to the hotel mid-day and rest, one option would be just to leave the scooter at the park, take the keys with you, and then pick it up upon your return.

Also, don't write off MGM - my girls love it! The Disney Playhouse show, the Great Movie Ride (cover his eyes during Alien), the Muppets in 4-D, The Little Mermaid Show, The Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground, The Backlot Tour, etc... your son will have a great time there!

Have fun! Nicole