purchase ecv?/airplane questions

[kazzy3]

Hi folks. We are going in 1 month!. I rented ecv for 1st time last year and did not have a good experience w/ Buena Vista. We have been deciding what to do. Should we depend on being able to rent from parks? Try another company for a weekly rental? Rent a w/c? Purchase a w/c? Very overwhelming and frustrating these decisions and added cost. I am traveling w/ my DH and my parents and 3 DCs. Younger 2 will be in a sit/stand carriage. Family felt I was "running away" from them in my scooter last year. I got so many bangs and bruises from the poor quality scooter and being jostled in crowds.
My DH saw a man w/ a Pride Go Go. We may purchase it. Having a scooter all the time would improve our family's quality of life. May not be able to afford it right now but on the other hand if I were to rent at WDW and then for 2 other occasions in the next few months it would pay for itself. I am half venting and half asking for advice I guess. Has anyone had experience w/ the Pride Go Go or any other travel scooters? Has anyone had a particular negative experience purchasing one from a specific company? Also, on airplanes, would the scooter stay intact and would I leave the keys or do I disassemble? If disassembled how do you manage to keep the parts together? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have impaired mobility, fatigue, dizzy spells and shortness of breath/pleurisy from Lupus. Thanks to everyone on this board. I have learned much from you already.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Hi and to disABILITIES!

I have recently done a couple of round trips to the West Coast with my ECV. And others have had similar questions to yours.

Here are a couple of links to some reports which may help.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2291941

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2229018

 

[kazzy3]

thank you!!

 

[Bete]

I'm in the same situation. I love the heavy duty version of the GO Go scooters. It's called Elite Traveller Plus. It's available as a 3 or wheeler. These have a better battery and will last about 25% longer then the lower end models with mileage. They can go for about 13 miles which I think will be enough for Disney for us. Also, they have a weight capacity of 300# and the best one goes up to 350#.

I was ready to buy and I found a newer rental place called Apple Scooters in Orlando who carry the model we want to buy. Their rate is $155 a week and $12/ day after the first week, not including tax. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of reviews about this rental place yet. I'm going to be doing this on our December trip. Because of the much lower rate I felt it was worth a try. Also, they have other ones to rent. I felt this was a great way to decide whether or not to buy one. Heavy, heavy duty scooters can go 25 miles on one charge, but they are not too portable in my opinion.

 

[clkelley]

Also, on airplanes, would the scooter stay intact and would I leave the keys or do I disassemble? If disassembled how do you manage to keep the parts together? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have impaired mobility, fatigue, dizzy spells and shortness of breath/pleurisy from Lupus. Thanks to everyone on this board. I have learned much from you already.

As far as airplane transportation, the scooter stays totally assembled. You keep the key. You take the scooter through security and drive it to your gate. You then gate check the scooter. They put it in Freewheel mode and put in underneath the plane. They then deliver it back to you at your destination gate. If you have a connecting flight, they prefer to just transfer it directly to the next plane, and have you use the in airport wheelchair service, but if you have a long connection time, you can request to have it brought to you when changing planes and give it back to the gate folks at your next plane.

 

[kazzy3]

thanks, k

 

[Schmeck]

As far as airplane transportation, the scooter stays totally assembled. You keep the key. You take the scooter through security and drive it to your gate. You then gate check the scooter. They put it in Freewheel mode and put in underneath the plane. They then deliver it back to you at your destination gate. If you have a connecting flight, they prefer to just transfer it directly to the next plane, and have you use the in airport wheelchair service, but if you have a long connection time, you can request to have it brought to you when changing planes and give it back to the gate folks at your next plane.

There have been a lot of posts on this forum about scooters getting pretty beat up and damaged when the owner didn't remove as many extra parts as possible before letting the airport staff have the scooter. It's always a good idea to bring the scooter manual with you, take photos of the scooter before you hand it over (to document the state it is in) and to remove as many loose parts (baskets, footrests, etc) as possible.

 

[peemagg]

I have the Go-Go Traveller Plus 3 wheeled scooter of my own and I love it! I am using it almost daily and have never had a problem with the battery running out of juice for me. I even took it to Disney in May and it lasted with no problem the whole day in the parks.

As far as putting it on the plane, what we did was had another duffle bag that held all the loose parts, rain covers, armrests, cane holder, and the charger and anything else we needed for the scooter. Because this bag was medical equipment it was allowed to get on the plane for free. We just kept it with us and when we got on the plane it went up in the bins. We took pictures of the scooter at all angles while sitting at the gate waiting to board so that we had proof of the condition if there was any damage. We had no problem at all. We were even preboarded to allow the baggage handlers time to load it underneath.

The scooter itself is great for a travel scooter. I would look at how you would be using it mostly and how you are going to transport it to decide which will be the best for you. The Go-Go Traveller Plus comes apart real easilly and fits into the trunk of at least a midsized car. We have put it into a Ford Fusion with no issues. The heaviest piece is around 39lbs and I think that is the rear wheel assembly. It breaks down into 4 pieces. You take the seat off, remove the battery. drop the tiller, lift a latch by the seat post and seperate the rear wheels from the deck and your done. Couldn't be simpiler

 

[kazzy3]

thanks for this detailed info and sharing experienc

 

[clkelley]

There have been a lot of posts on this forum about scooters getting pretty beat up and damaged when the owner didn't remove as many extra parts as possible before letting the airport staff have the scooter. It's always a good idea to bring the scooter manual with you, take photos of the scooter before you hand it over (to document the state it is in) and to remove as many loose parts (baskets, footrests, etc) as possible.

Oh yeah. We removed the armrests from our scooter long ago, and DH has to carry a CPAP anyway, so his carryon bag includes the CPAP, scooter basket, and charger. His rain cover is a gas grill cover, and we just put that in our checked luggage. Nothing else on his scooter is removable except the seat.