ride cars, entry method

[zaksmom]

We will be going to WDW this fall. We have been there many times and my son has not been interested in the FantasyWorld rides. He wants to do them this time, "before they close them" he says. He uses a manual wheelchair, does not sit independently, and has slight contractures behind the knees so he is not able to straighten his legs completely. My concern is that, not being familiar with those rides, we will stand in line and not be able to figure out how to get into the car. (This happened a few years back when I took him with me on a business trip - so I was by myself in MK - we got stuck trying to get on Dumbo! Only the help of another visitor to the park getting unstuck and out after the ride was finished prevented disaster!) I want to be proactive this time and know what I am up against. I am looking for descriptions of the width of the door into the car, if the floor is moving with the car or do the car stop for loading, can two adults and a small teenager fit in one seat ( easier to support him), if the entry and exit are the same place - so the chair will be there when we get back? The rides I'm interested in are Snow White, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh specifically. That's a lot of questions - thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[teri]

Welcome to our board, zaksmom!

First, please click on the link in my signature to get to the disABILITIES FAQ. Look at the information about the GAC, in particular, to see if that will be of help to you.

There is some information about rides on this website, on one of the links from the home page to some generic Disabilities Information which may be helpful to you. I am sure Sue will come by with a link to the most appropriate post that describes entry into rides as well. Also, you can get Guidebooks for Guests With Disabilities from Guest Services. If you are making travel plans through CRO, ask them to transfer you to Special Services, they may be able to get the books to you in advance. If you are working through a travel agency that specializes in Disney travel, such as Dreams Unlimited, your agent maybe able to get these booklets for you as well.

We really do need to put that ride info into the FAQ! Please feel free to ask any specific questions you may have, and stick around our board... we have lots of experience in making Disney vacations more enjoyable and relaxing for the whole family.

 

[lisapooh]

Pooh ride has a wheelcahir accessible ride vehicle. No need for him to transfer. One person can ride with him in the jump seat.
I don't think Peter Pan be stopped. Exit is not at the same spot and wheelchair is not at exit. You are on a moving walkway and the wheelchair is outside that walkway.
Snow White they stop the ride vehicle and the wheelchair can be brought right up to the vehicle.
Interesting thing I saw on Haunted Mansion is that they can stop the walkway and move the wheelcahir right up to the vehicle plus they have a vehicle that has a wider entryway so a person can slide right onto the seat.
Wish they would point these tings out in the Guide for people with Disabilities. That booklet is rather useless in my opinion as it doesn't give anything but very basic information. Nothing about special ride vehicles, sizes of doors, can ride be stopped, etc.

 

[zaksmom]

Thank you. This is quite helpful. I find that most printed info is not detailed enough for my planning purposes. When we get back, I'll have my son relate his experiences with the different ride cars and entry to the rides. He really wants to ride Peter Pan. Looks like it may be difficult. But you never know, his dad and I have gotten him places no kid has gone before!!
Thanks again. This forum is a great find.

 

[lisapooh]

Please do. We get more usable information from this board than we get from Disney.

 

[Michigan]

Peter Pan used to be my oldest DD's favorite ride but it's a no can do anymore. She is 11 years old and has Spina Bifida, her legs are also contracted and won't go straight. The Peter Pan ride can't be stopped that means you have to carry a heavy child and walk on a moving sidewalk at the same time then try to throw them in the seat before the point of no return.

On a good note the new Aladin ride has a carpet that the wheelchair can go on. We will be there Oct 1-5 and I can't wait to see how it works.

 

[SueM in MN]

Welcome.
Our DD also can't stand or walk and uses a manual wheelchair. She's 5 feet tall, about 80 pounds and we have to lift her into all the rides. She's very spastic and when she is excited, she extends, so it's like putting a standing mannequin (with slightly bent knees) on the rides. She has been on everything at WDW at one time or another except for Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Rock n Roller Coaster and Kali River Rapids.
I agree with lisapooh that the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities is fairly un-helpful. One of my treasures is a Guidebook that is no longer in print called Handicapped in Walt Disney World. It actually is also fairly unhelpful, because the author is a paraplegic with good balance and very good upper body strength. He does list the door measurements of some rides (but not the ones you wanted). He kind of says everything is accessible ("like getting in a car") so, accessibility really depends on what abilities you have to work with. The more people we can get experiences from on this board, the more likely it is that someone will find information about whether the ride is accessible for them.
Like lisapooh said, Winnie the Pooh has a special car that the wheelchair can go right on with another member of your party riding in a seat in the car. It's great.
For Snow White, the moving walkway can be stopped to let you on. The car seat is a bit higher than a wheelchair seat and there is a small lip on the ride car that you have to get over. IMHO, it would be no harder than getting into a car. On our last trip to WDW, we saw 2 paraplegics get themselves into the car with very little trouble. We haven't had trouble getting DD into the car since the walkway can be stopped. It would be kind of tight for 3 people. You do enter and exit at the same place.
Peter Pan is a totally different story. The exit and entrance have recently been re-designed and it looks more accessible, but it's not. You enter at the exit and the wheelchair will be close to where you entered. The moving walkway can't be stopped (we asked) and the car (styled like a ship) is a little hard to get into. The whole front swings away. That makes more space, but there isn't anything solid in the front to grab on to. 3 people could fit on it. My DH didn't have a lot of trouble getting DD on, but he had lots of trouble getting off. He almost ran out of walkway before they got out of the car. He was in one car with DD. I was 3 cars behind him with our other DD. In retrospect, I should have been on the car ahead of him, so I could help them get off (although I don't know if that would have helped either). If you need some time to watch the boarding process to figure out what to do, tell the CM to come back for you in minute or two. Planning how you will get on and off is very important and watching for a few minutes might make a lot of difference. We decided that our trip last March was DD's last trip on Peter Pan. She's not only too heavy, but too long and stiff to get on.
Another thing to think about is your stamina. We find that MK makes us more tired than the other parks and Fantasyland makes us the most tired. We try to hit that area when we are all best rested and we alternate things we need to transfer her out of the chair for with things that she can stay in for. The other thing to remember is that all the rides in Fantasyland are very short (2 minutes and less). You barely get settled and it's time to get out. If you can go during a non-busy time, the CMs may allow you to stay on for 2 ride cycles. That's a really big help with all the energy you will be expending to get on and off.
if he has any more rides you'd like to know about, just ask and we'll try to answer.

 

[zaksmom]

Once again, thanks so much!!! I will do my best to add to the information you all have here with our personal experiences this fall. We are also trying out the zero entry pools since we are staying at both the Polynesian and the Animal Kingdom Lodge - we'll see if the aquachair is available , etc. Thanks again - the details are great!!!

 

[Safari Steve]

As far as Haunted Mansion goes, the car (#2) which has the wider entryway (actually just built without a left armrest) is the only car that we are allowed to stop the ride on. So it really doesn't matter if it's mentioned because it'll be there no matter what. Also, the reason we don't publicize our ability to stop the ride is because it would greatly increase the number of people asking for ride stops. We can also slow the ride, and we ask the individual guests about their need/capabilities to assess the best route.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks Steve. That's probably why no one has ever asked us if we wanted the wider car. Because they were already stoppin ght ride for us.

 

[zaksmom]

Wow this is great!
My DS (I figured this out, Duh) is very excited by this information. He wanted to know if there are any plans to have wheelchair accessible boats on the JC and POC rides - did I get those abbreviations right? He says that maybe he'll write a book about going to WDW for people with CP. He'll probably do it too. He writes all the time. Hey, maybe there's a job possibility here. Hmmmm. At the very least he says he'll write something for this board. Thank you. We are going to be there Oct.26 thru Nov5.

 

[Safari Steve]

Discuss your access needs/transfer capabilities with a CM at the Jungle Cruise.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Safari Steve

you say 'the reason we don't publicize our ability to stop the ride is because...'

Fair enough, I understand why you do it, however, Disney's policy in this respect has prevented me from riding Tower of Terror on my last two visits because I didn't know I COULD ride it. (I would need to transfer from my wheelchair)

The failure to make disabled facilities known is arguably a breach of the ADA, or at least will be once theme park rides come under the remit of the ADA, which I understand is soon.

I have just looked up ToT in the current Guide for Guests for ddisabilaties. based on your information, that guide is wrong and needs amplification, perhaps along the lines of the description for Star Tours where it is stated that a wheelchair can be brought into the ride vehicle for a sliding transfer. I am not getting at you personally, but I think this policy of not making facilities fully known is dubious.

Next time I visit (soon) I will have to make my own personal survey of access. In any case, I will probably enjoy the pre-ride presentations.

Andrew

 

[SueM in MN]

We are frequently asked when we are boarding a ride, whether or not not we will need to have it stopped. We have also had CMs decide as the watched us gettting DD out of her wheelchair that they WOULD stop the ride, whether we felt we needed it or not. CMs at the "greeting position" have also been helpful with information, sometimes volunteering that they can stop the ride, if necessary. I have also seen people with no visible disability commenting that they don't like the moving walkways and wish they could have it stopped. I think that kind of stopping is what Safari Steve is referring to. The CMs have to balance their need to keep the ride loading with people's needs for stopping it, and try to stop the ride when necessary, but not when it's unecessary. If a lot of people are asking for it to be stopped who don't really need it, the ride will be stopping often, loading less people per hour and making people upset because it is always stopped and making other guest mad at people with disabilities because our needs are interfering with their touring time.

Now, for the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities, it has so little boarding info that it really is not useful for anyone who is non-ambulatory. Being on this Board for as long as I have, I don't think there is a way they could write a consise Guidebook that gives boarding info about each ride that would be helpful to everyone (Although they really should improve what they have). One of the problems is that how accessible the park is depends on your abilities and each person is so different. Even two people with the smae diagnosis, will have very different needs. I have talked to paraplegics who found the parks were totally accessible to them and I have talked with people who had weakness on one side of the body, who found it very challenging to get into many of the rides. We are in the category of "quite challenging".
I think the best info is form places like this, where someone can ask, "how did you do this? What did you find worked based on this particular ability".

My wish list would be some sort of computer kiosks with information about each ride, including a picture of the ride car with dimensions of the opening and height of the seat; maybe a picture of just the car and a picture next to a wheelchair to help judge sizes, a description of the boarding area and process. Things like: is there a moving walkway, do you enter the car from the left or right, will the exit be from the same side, is there a special wheelchair car, can the wheelchair be brought into the area for a sliding transfer. It would also be helpful to know which rides have similar boarding. That way, if you have successfully ridden The Pirates ride, you will know what other rides will be the same. They could easily have a kiosk like this in Guest Services where you could print up some information that would be tailored to what it is important for YOU to know. Another kiosk in each "land' listing those rides would be nice. Even just a laminated sign or something like that would be nice. An actual ride car to try out might be too much to wish for, but would be helpful for some people.
WISH*WISH*WISH*

 

[lisapooh]

Steve,
Unfortunately the only question I have been asked is if I can walk a few feet. Never been asked if I can safely manage a moving sidewalk. If I am with family and I have someone to suppot me I can but if I am alone it is risky. The assumption is that if you can walk a few feet you can safely negotiate the moving walkway. Maybe castmembers need to stop assuming and ask a few more questions to make sure their disabled guests can safely board.
One time a castmember assumed because I can walk I should go through to the stretch room. Well that was a disaster! I ended up falling after another guest kicked my cane from under me. Now I flat out refuse to go that way. I'm not endangering myself because castmembers can't take the time to ask questions that assure my safety.

 

[JudithM]

Since the Haunted Mansion came up ... I do NOT like the turnstiles at the entrance. They do NOT accomodate wide guests very well at all. The one time I asked to go to HM & not use a turnstile I was directed to the exit ... well, you miss a lot of the attraction.

 

[SueM in MN]

In Haunted Mansion, there is a back way in to the "Stretching Room" that you should have been offered the opportunity to use. As you come in the hall to the exit, there is a door to the left in the hallway. We have never used it, because DD can't walk at all, but we have heard lots of people asked if they want to use it. The upside of it is that you get to see the whole attraction. The downside is that you need to be able to stand for the whole "stretching room scene and walk long enough to board the ride the usual way. That's where lisapooh almost got knocked over. When I have heard people asked if they wanted to go in there, I don't think it was explained to them how long and in what circumstances they would need to stand and walk.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

I will second SueM's suggestion that there was more information about the design of ride cars. I can often make a sliding transfer, though I usually have trouble standing up to transfer unless there are lots of handrails in exactly the right positions. I have often wondered whhether it would not be possible to construct a transfer cage, some kind of fenced eclosure big enough for an ECV and a special wheelchair that would fit right into the ride with a safe lockdown system. Then I could spend as long as I needed making the transfer, then get whisked straight onto the ride without delaying everyone else.

In passing, I sould add that on Test Track at least there is a car out back they call the 'practice bucket' you can try out before getting on line. (I could have gotten in fine, but not out). They also let me into the stretch room once in my wheelchair, just to see the Haunted Mansion pre-show - I even got to stay for the un-stretch after everyone else had gone through to the ride proper.

And my own wish, is for a virtual ride attraction. A room set aside at each park for wheelchair users with a big screen showing film of all the rides I cannot get into, like Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Space Mountain, RocknRoller Coaster, Dinasaur, Pirates, Splash Mountain and so on.

Andrew

 

[LindaDVC]

One thing I would like for non- accessible rides is a virtual reality waiting area.
D-Husband had never seen the inside of Epcot's spaceship earth.
Last trip I carried the video camera to show him what the attraction is like.

I understand why some rides are not accessible but it would be nice if an alternative expereince was available.

Linda

 

[LindaDVC]

Andrew I hadn't noticed until after posting your suggestion about virtual reality show!
I obviously think it is a great idea!!!
Hope Disney does too!

Linda