Renting scooters without disabilities

[kb9tfz]

My wife and I are not truly disabled but we are both obese with foot and ankle problems. We are considering renting scooters from an outside company for the 5 days we will be in WDW parks. I have done Disney before with this weight and in two days my feet and legs are shot so we figure we would just use them to get around. In no way do we plan on trying to use them to get special treatment. We also don't want to rent within the park since there is a limited number and we don't want to take from those with disabilities. I have a few questions though.

1. Is it a problem for us to just leave them at ride/attraction exits out of the way and enter the normal line on foot?
2. Is it a problem to leave them outside of restaurants, again out of the way?
3. Will any WDW bus work for us or would we have to wait for special buses?
4. We will be celebrating our honeymoon and have Memory Maker so will be getting our pictures taken at every possible opportunity, will the photographers allow us to stand with the scooters out of frame or is that too much to ask? (That may be considered special treatment)

Thanks!

 

[Goddesstree]

CMs at each attraction/venue can direct you where to park your ECVs.

Buses at WDW are accessible, but you may have to wait for 'the next bus' if you want to get 2 ECVs on the same bus, especially is someone else with a mobility device is ahead of you.

Not sure about photographs - thinking you should park the ECVs and then approach the photographer?

 

[wdw4rfam]

And yes you can rent one without a disability, and shouldn't have a problem with any of those things. If it will improve your trip, do it. And remember, only ugly people make ugly comments

 

[denisecolby]

I see no problem with this at all. There is no rule that you have to even have a disability to rent a scooter. Renting a scooter has it's own set of problems such as cost, having to charge it, the possibility of having to wait on buses, letting groups of pedestrians go before you so you don't trample them ect. If you think that the pros to using one is worth whatever the cons of not using one would be, then by all means use one.

 

[SueM in MN]

My wife and I are not truly disabled but we are both obese with foot and ankle problems. We are considering renting scooters from an outside company for the 5 days we will be in WDW parks. I have done Disney before with this weight and in two days my feet and legs are shot so we figure we would just use them to get around. In no way do we plan on trying to use them to get special treatment. We also don't want to rent within the park since there is a limited number and we don't want to take from those with disabilities. I have a few questions though.

1. Is it a problem for us to just leave them at ride/attraction exits out of the way and enter the normal line on foot?

Tell the CM at the ride entrance or at the stroller parking area that you want to park the ECV and walk in line. Ask where to park; it may be with the strollers, but they may have another area.

2. Is it a problem to leave them outside of restaurants, again out of the way?

not a problem.
Ask where to park. What looks out of the way to you might actually be a traffic route or area that needs to stay clear that is not obvious to you.

3. Will any WDW bus work for us or would we have to wait for special buses?

As other posters mentioned, all buses have space for at least 2 ECVs, but you may have to wait if those are already occupied or other guests are at the stop with wheelchairs/eCVs before you.

4. We will be celebrating our honeymoon and have Memory Maker so will be getting our pictures taken at every possible opportunity, will the photographers allow us to stand with the scooters out of frame or is that too much to ask? (That may be considered special treatment)

Thanks!

That's not a problem. Just park the ECVs near to the photographer and ask where to stand. People do it frequently.

 

[jmartinez1895]

4. We will be celebrating our honeymoon and have Memory Maker so will be getting our pictures taken at every possible opportunity, will the photographers allow us to stand with the scooters out of frame or is that too much to ask? (That may be considered special treatment)

Thanks!

Our son uses a wheelchair while we visit WDW and he hates to be in it for photos. We have never had a bad experience wit the photographers being patient while he gets up and we put the chair to the side. When there is a line for a photo op we will tell the photographer as soo as it is our turn that he does not want ot chair in the photo. When there is no line we will just approach and ask where the best spot to leave the chair so it's not in the photos is. We have on a few occasions had other people not realize that we where about to have or photo made try to get into the spot while we are getting out of the chair, but the photographer was always polite and told them it was our turn. Be sure to let they know you want your photo, but you are going to park first, that way should someone else come up the photographer can handle it for you.

 

[kb9tfz]

Thanks for all the responses, yes that does make sense to ask on parking them.

 

[The Hunchback]

If you approach the photographer on the scooter, they will photograph you with it. Park it out of the way and stand in line for the photo.

I have a lot of photo's with my husband, the scooter, and I. Took me a while to figure this one out.

 

[Toffeewoffy]

I parked my scooter just beyond the 'set' a couple of times, and once I parked behind the photographer. Where you leave it depends on the set-up of the photo op.

 

[Gamegrl1]

We also don't want to rent within the park since there is a limited number and we don't want to take from those with disabilities.

OP - I sure appreciate how considerate you are. When my mom and I went to WDW last winter (first time) I had a foot injury (still have...sigh...hoping it is only temporary) and after limping two days, decided to rent an ECV in the parks for the remaining three days. I recall being nervous that the parks would run out but they didn't (we got there really early). So I am thankful that you folks are arranging to rent from off-site so that there are enough to go around. See, I could walk enough to get around the resort so I decided to just rent ECV's in the parks and not have to mess with getting a scooter on the bus. But it would've been awful to not have one because I was in pain if I had to go more than a short distance. A wheelchair would've been so restrictive, plus I would've had to have my mom push it and she is 67...she shouldn't have to push my 160lbs around all day!

Do take the advice of a PP who said to ask a CM where to park it if you get off it to go in somewhere, like a ride or restaurant. Once I parked mine outside a ride, not realizing it was not a good place to park and a CM moved it! It took almost 1/2 hour to find again (in the dark) and that's no way to spend your precious time at the World! Have a terrific vacation!