question regarding how you are treated if son is in wheelchair

[eeyorelor]

Ok my hubby boss said " oh they will bend over backwards for you since son is in a wheelchair" I said oh yeah i dont expect anything special ..From what i was told before they only let you in the front of lines if you have maw {make a wish} shirts or badges....Any way do they let people in t he front of lines if son is in his wheel chair... I know they will send us to a different part whith the wheel chair ..But i didnt expect anything special... Other question he has issues with loud noises ..Do the rides say if they are loud?Or an age level ?Thanks lots of this has been said to me and id like to no before we go next month ....

 

[LindsayDunn228]

I can help you with this one. I was injured when I was 6 and have a spinal cord injury (I'm 26 now), so my Disney experiences are from a chair Ok here goes. A lot of rides have an alternate entrance for wheelchairs. If the line is accessible, you have to wait in line with everyone else, you don't get put in the front of the line. But thankfully, it's been my experience that Disney lines move pretty quick.

As far as the noise, you really have to ride them yourself to find that out. If you have questions on specific rides I could tell you more. But then again, what isn't loud to me might be loud to your son. What is his disability? (If that's too personal, don't worry about it). Get a disabilities guide pamphlet at the park entrances. They help a lot. Plus they tell you if you have to get out of your chair or if you can stay in it.

Oh, as far as the MAW, I have no clue. Never heard of it until I was an adult.

If you like you can e-mail directly at LindsayDunn228@yahoo.com.

 

[Laurajean1014]

Most of WDW treated my husband very well when he had to use an ECV on a trip. He was awaiting back surgery.

It was the WDW guests that were very obusive. A woman at the Contemporary complained to the other guests that my husband was faking his "illness." And that she was pissed because the bus driver took extra time to compensate for my husband and his EVC.

I, being quite opinionated, approached her and told her that her "ignorance was showing for everyone to see." As well as, other things.......

 

[SueOKW]

No special treatment generally. There are special places to park for parades. Many of the shows are too loud for my son, but the rides aren't.

Good luck!

 

[SueM in MN]

You are right. The only people (besides certain celebrities) who get front of the line access are children on WISH trips (generally kids with life threatening health conditions) and people on things like ventilators who have a limited battery life for their life support equipment. 15 years ago, your boss would have been right, but that was not as a special "perk" for people in wheelchairs, it was because very little was accessible thru the regular lines.

All of the Fastpass lines and most of the other lines have what is called "Mainstream Access". That means that the lines are wheelchair accessible and wheelchair users wait in the same lines with everyone else. As they added Fastpass and renovated rides, they added Mainstream Access where ever they could.
MK and Epcot are the oldest parks, so some of their attractions do have alternate, separate wheelchair entrances. In many case, though, you will wait in the regular line for most of the line length and will be routed to the wheelchair entrance either just before the regular boarding or at the point where the regular line has stairs or something else that makes it impossible for a wheelchair to continue.
MGM and AK were totally built with Mainstream Access, so you will almost always be waiting in the regular line.
If you go to the disABILITIES FAQs thread near the top of this board, you will find one post that has some links. One link is to a past disABILITIES Board thread about boarding rides. Another link takes you to the official Disney website's disability information page. That contains links to the text of the Guidebooks for Guests with Disabilities for each park that LindsayDunn228 mentioned.
For noise, one suggestion I've made that people have said was helpful is to look which attractions are not recommended for Service Animals. In a lot of cases, the reason they are not recommended is that they contain sudden or loud noises. Another thing people have done to help with noise is using ear plugs or earphones. Some kids tolerate using them really well and are able to enjoy rides that would otherwise be too uncomfortable.

 

[eeyorelor]

Thank you to all , I did not expect anything special , but as i said my hubbys boss said it to me and like Sue said maybe 15 yrs ago when they may have been there..I will def. look at the signs about the service animals to see ..I do have ear plugs ready to go also since he FREEKS out over fire works... Im sure we wont be sitting in the special area for that lol.. Dont want to upset him any more than the character may...Boy this is going to be something to see how this trip goes ...Driving with 5 ..Im sure this will be the one and only trip we will make as a whole family... lol thank you and god bless ... :

 

[Michigan]

Depending on your son’s age he might get more attention from the characters then he would if he wasn’t in a wheelchair. Sometimes they take just your family back to see them at the character tent. We also have been waiting in line to meet characters and we wouldn’t have made it to the front of the line before they left and a CM has pulled us out of the line to see them.

If you son can’t walk and is to heavy to lift and transfer on the rides you will in most cases wait longer because you will have to wait for a wheelchair accessible car.

 

[JoyMouse]

My youngest DD uses a wheelchair,and we've always been very pleased with the treatment at WDW. The characters often give extra time and attention, and one time at the MGM Rock & Roller Coaster, a CM gave her a small stuffed Mickey since she couldn't participate in the rilde.
The noise isn't a factor for us, she has severe hearing loss...
Good luck, We've done great there with the whole family, I bet you will too!

 

[cathie]

My friend Steve has been treated like royalty during almost all of our WDW trips. Steve uses a large power wheelchair with vent attached, (he has muscular dystrophy). On a couple of rare occasions that a cast member was rude to Steve & our family, Disney compensated our family with a free character breakfast ( and nothing rude has happened since!) I think most people are compassionate & understand the limitations some disabled guests have. Disney seems to have improved in this area. Enjoy your trip! Cathie & The G ang

 

[babybelle]

There are special areas for parades however we had a really bad experience at MK. We had a GAP for my daughter, aged 3 at the time, who has severe epilepsy and global development delay. We felt grateful to be able to take advantage of the disabled parade areas so we put our kids near the front and stood at the back.

Much to our horror 2 adult woman, one on an ECV bragging to her friend about how her 'weight' was an advantage, parked right in front of our small kids and proceeded to moan when one spilled their soda.

Do some adults not have any sense of manners - who sits in front of a 3yr old kid?

 

[eeyorelor]

I do have to say we were treated very well.. At animal kingdom they treated us like one said like roylaity... Every line we went to there was a cm waiting and took us right where we needed to be ...I was very shocked as i asked on here if there was anything special they do well they did above and beyond...Then again we havent gone tooo many places with his wheel chair ..We dont do much so ths defiently felt different... But at magic kingdom there didnt seem to be as many cm's around to send us in the right direction..I know in liberty square we went on the steam boat and there was know one there tilll we went through the line and then we were told hubby and wheelchair had to go down below...`That made me a little mad since he had to fight back around every body to get around ..I know there werent as many cm's there so they didnt know but i think they need to put up bigger signs or something...I am going to send them some new suggestiuons... The one day we were coming off the monorail and a security guard saw us and said hed take us right at the chain and wed skip all the bag check..[Long line ] So right there he checked us out and sent us on our way.. That was great I told a big thasnk you to him since we didnt need the hassle of the long line and then to go through all our stuff and then dig for the tickets made it soooo much easier ..And it was our last day to get 10 extra mins was gold to us ....lol .

 

[SueOKW]

Welcome back - glad it was a successful trip!

 

[seashoreCM]

take advantage of the disabled parade areas so we put our kids near the front and stood at the back.

Much to our horror 2 adult woman, one on an ECV bragging to her friend about how her 'weight' was an advantage, parked right in front of our small kids...

Do some adults not have any sense of manners - who sits in front of a 3yr old kid?

Next time put your kids at the front, not near the front.
And you and the kids' uncle need to ready at a moment's notice to both help your kids and teach others manners. If during these moments you yourself are on the wrong side of the rope, CM's are more likely to help ou.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm