renting wheelchairs

[AndBsmom]

My husband and I are taking my 83 year old mother-in-law to Disney this December. We won't be staying on property because my son doesn't live very far from Disney. Although she is in good health and due to the fact that there is so much walking, I feel we should get a wheelchair for her (not for any special privileges, just to get her from point A to point B faster). My question is do I need to reserve a wheelchair in advance (who would I call for this), or do you think it would be safe to just take our chances when we get there. If we wait and take our chances, where do we rent them and any idea as to cost?

Thanks

 

[SueM in MN]

Welcome to disABILITIES. I would agree that renting a wheelchair for an 83 yr old is a good idea. WDW involves a lot of walking. Most people assume that having a wheelchair gets you "special priviledges", but in most cases, you will be waiting in the smae lines for as long as everyone else . The main priviledge is that the person with the wheelcahir can bring it in line with them.
You can rent wheelchairs at the parks. They can't be reserved ahead of time, so it's first come, first served. Here is a link to the DIS page about touring with mobility disabilities, which includes information about renting wheelchairs at the parks.

You might want to look into renting from one of the off-site vendors. That way you could be sure she would have a wheelchair available and you could use it to go other places to. If you have a van or a car with a large trunk, you would be able to transport a wheelchair from place to place. Here's a list of places that DIS posters have reported renting from:
Care Medical:
http://www.caremedicalequipment.com/

Walker Mobility:
1-888-726-6837
www.walkermobility.com

RANDY'S Mobility is in Kissimmee 407-892-4777
http://randysmobility.com/

Colonial Medical
http://www.colonialmed.com/about_cms.html

You might also want to look into an ecv (also called electric scooter) for her. It's a power vehicle, so the person driving it has to have good eye sight and feel comfortable with driving it, but it allows for more independence and no one would need to push her. You can rent them (limited quantities) at the parks or from the companies listed above.

 

[cupcake]

Also note that, if you are renting from the parks, there can be significant walking/standing involved before you can get to where the rental wheelchairs are. There is a new test program that has wheelchairs to borrow for this purpose. I asked for one when I returned my wheelchair after struggling in on foot. I assume you could ask the CM directing parking to get it on th eway in -- the day we drove to MGM the CM had us park in the closest area and it was still a major hike. When we drove to AK, my dh dropped me off and picked me up, and then parked. I also rented an ECV (from Walker) for another portion of our recent trip. If you can fit a folding wheelchair in your car, I would highly recommend just renting offsite. The rental wcs from WDW are variable in terms of comfort & condition and since there's so much to see and do it's great not being limited or taking the time to deal with renting. Cost is comparable.

Have a super trip!
Cupcake

 

[AndBsmom]

thanks for the information - now if we can get my mother-in-law to agree to it, we'll be all set