Renting ECV at parks every day?

[Mickeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

Hey everyone, planning a trip for my extended family including my father in law who likely needs a scooter. He is generally mobile and does not require a scooter in day to day life however probably can't walk all day at the parks. I was hoping the folks in this forum might be able to answer a few questions I had:

1. Is it possible to rent a scooter directly from the park each day?
2. If yes, are advanced reservations required or can we show up and rent every day?
3. I've seen that there are a number of scooter companies in the Orlando area who will drop off/pick up at WDW hotels. Is the benefit to using those mainly price? If my FIL can get to the parks it seems like it would be a gigantic hassle to arrange to bring a scooter to get from the hotel to the park.

Thank you!

 

[gap2368]

Hey everyone, planning a trip for my extended family including my father in law who likely needs a scooter. He is generally mobile and does not require a scooter in day to day life however probably can't walk all day at the parks. I was hoping the folks in this forum might be able to answer a few questions I had:

1. Is it possible to rent a scooter directly from the park each day?
2. If yes, are advanced reservations required or can we show up and rent every day?
3. I've seen that there are a number of scooter companies in the Orlando area who will drop off/pick up at WDW hotels. Is the benefit to using those mainly price? If my FIL can get to the parks it seems like it would be a gigantic hassle to arrange to bring a scooter to get from the hotel to the park.

Thank you!

1 yes it is possible

2no first come first served they do run out

3 yes the are much cheeper to rent sometimes smaller so easer to use if staying on site and using Disney transpiration I would recomand renting off site ( I have used Golds and love them ) The buss driver will help you load and unload most with out asking


I want to say park rentals is like $85 prepay with a $20 key deposit

 

[Genie+]

There are advantages and disadvantages to either method.

For the daily in park rentals, you do ned to carve out time each day to fill out the forms and pay to pick it up. They cannot be reserved. They are generally more expensive. They don’t help when getting around outside the parks - for some people doesn’t matter much but if at a sprawling resort it might matter or if the family plans walking from BLT to MK a couple times, etc. I will add that they can run out, though a waitlist will be made where they can text you when one comes available again. You can park hop, but you’ll need to drop off EVC at one park and pick up another ECV at new park.

The outside rental companies are usually around $200 per week, maybe a bit more. They can be scheduled. We’ve always found pickup and dropoff easy. The need to keep it charged daily is harder - the daily scooters take care of that part. If you have a vehicle, it is not easy to keep putting in/out. If you’re taking WDW transportation, you won’t have to worry about physically loading/unloading.

 

[Simba's Mom]

When you rent in the park, if you have the ability to park hop, you don't need to pay for a scooter again when you go to the second park (assuming a scooter is available at that second park. However, you can figure that if you rent scooters on 3 days in the parks, you'll pay about what you'd pay for a 5 day off-site rental. And with in the parks rentals, that's the only place you can use the scooter-in the park. With an off-site rental you have it all around the resort-hotels, etc.

 

[Miffy]

One other thing: Please ask your father-in-law if he'd want and/or use an ECV. Even someone who might need one might not want one for any number of reasons.

 

[lanejudy]

I want to say park rentals is like $85 prepay with a $20 key deposit

Yes, $65/day rental fee plus a $20 deposit is refunded when the ECV is returned. The $20 deposit is at the theme parks; Disney Springs and the water parks have a $100 deposit.

 

[Mickeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

Thank you everyone!

 

[BigOnDis]

For the past two years, I have rented exclusively in the parks. I don't need a ECV for normal getting around, but cannot do that much walking in one day. My thinking was that I didn't want to worry about the transportation of a rented ECV and would just pick one up in the parks. The reality was that I stressed every morning about them running out of ECV's before I got one and that I would miss out on the day, so I made my way into the park early every morning and took the extra time to get through the rental process. Also, while you can park hop with one rental fee paid per day, you are subject to the availability at the next park, and in my experience at least, there never was one without a considerable wait.

This year I will be renting from an off-site company and especially since we are staying at BLT, plan on riding over to the MK whenever I want to and having less stress. I have read enough that convinced me that there is not really a concern with transportation as cast members are experienced to help.

 

[lanejudy]

3. I've seen that there are a number of scooter companies in the Orlando area who will drop off/pick up at WDW hotels. Is the benefit to using those mainly price? If my FIL can get to the parks it seems like it would be a gigantic hassle to arrange to bring a scooter to get from the hotel to the park.

The advantage to third party rentals is two-fold: 1) lower price. 2) guaranteed to have the equipment each day and all day. In-park ECV rentals tend to run out by mid-morning at which point you are stuck either using a wheelchair (might be OK if there is someone to push) or waiting around for a unit to be returned and charged up. Plus as mentioned if hopping and/or planning to leave mid-day and return.