Room request for a disabled child

[5 at disney]

Does anyone know if it is necessary to call ahead to request a room type for a child w/ a disability. My son uses a stroller as a wheel chair and cannot climb stairs. Do I need to phone ahead to ask for a ground floor room?

 

[mcco5543]

yes, you must request it with your reservation. And I would do so immediately IMHO.

 

[SueM in MN]

make sure that they note that you need a ground floor for MEDICAL reasons. It should say something to that effect on your confirmation slip.

With a child, you probably don't want an actual handicapped accessible room unless you need a roll in shower. Even now, at 5 feet tall, my DD's feet don't touch the ground when using the raised seat toilet in the roll in shower rooms. When she was small enough to lift into and out of the tub for bathing, we just made sure to get a ground floor room. Now that she is older and heavier (and we are older and weaker), we do get a room with a roll in shower.

 

[mrsksomeday]

I would suggest calling the resort a couple of days in advance as well just to confirm. When we went to POR in November we had a mess at check in.

My b/f has Cerebral Palsy, has been to Disney World 8 times and knows how to talk to special services about reservations. When we got there the CM told us we didn't have a handicap assessible room with a roll in shower like we had requested. She told me flat out that we had not talked to special services, we argued back and forth. We finally got things straightened out, but I will make sure to always call and confirm things over and over again.

 

[SonicGuy]

We have two children in wheelchairs and are staying at the Poly in September. Is ground floor necessary? I assume there are elevators? I hate being the picky type of guest that asks for about 45 different room requests. I prefer to keep it simple (non smoking) and let pixie dust fill in the rest!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I think the only buildings without passenger elevators are at Caribbean Beach (all buildings) and Old Key West (Most buildings). Everything else has elevators, so this should not be a problem.

 

[BCV23]

We have two children in wheelchairs and are staying at the Poly in September. Is ground floor necessary? I assume there are elevators? I hate being the picky type of guest that asks for about 45 different room requests. I prefer to keep it simple (non smoking) and let pixie dust fill in the rest!

Do your children need rollin showers or grab bars in the tub or by the toilet? If so, I would call and explain their needs. You will be put on hold and a room that fits your needs will be blocked for you...at least in our experience. I would not leave that up to chance.

All the accessible rooms we've had at the Polynesian have been on the first floor in Rapa Nui. All buildings have elevators with the exception of Nuie but there is a bridge to that building from Raratonga which does have an elevator. However, the elevators are small especially in the original longhouses and I don't think that two wheelchairs would fit at one time.

Have fun at the Polynesian. We love it. BTW when you go to Epcot make sure to just walk over to the TTC to board the Epcot monorail. You might also find the ferry a convenient way to get to the MK if you end up in Rapa Nui. The TTC is closer than the Great Ceremonail House and you can roll right onto the ferry.

 

[whgrn]

I've found out the hard way that if you make a special request, you need to confirm, confirm, and confirm again. As a previous poster mentioned, make sure it is noted that the request is for MEDICAL reasons. Confirm a couple weeks in advance, then a few days in advance. One time on here I'm pretty sure someone gave the number for the folks who assign the rooms, and I called them 2 days before we went to confirm our request. The woman I talked with, who was wonderful, told me there was NO sign of the specific request we had made and confirmed!!! Fortunately, she took the initiative to make sure our needs were noted and accommodated. Don't feel like you're being a pest--you are just making sure that your children's needs are being met!

Have a great trip!

 

[madenon]

First of all; my complements on the board, it is great!!

It's very informative to read about the need to reconfirm and check over again. Normally I'm not that concerned, but this time I'm travelling alone with a power wc for the first time. It's still a bit of figuring out how things will go with the power wc, and with none there to help me if there are practical problems, I'ld like to make sure everyting is arranged proparely.

Anyway, I've got 3 questions on this subject;

- what is the phonenumber of the department that assigns the rooms Like whgrn is talking about?
- when already requested a disabled room with roll in shower and having stated I'm permanently using a power wc, do I still need to state I need the room for medical reasons? ( I mean; it should be pretty logical that I don't use the chair because I'm a demanding person. )
- at the Movie Resort, fridges aren't standard in the rooms but can be rented. Are there fridges standard in the disabled rooms though?

 

[SueM in MN]

First of all; my complements on the board, it is great!!

It's very informative to read about the need to reconfirm and check over again. Normally I'm not that concerned, but this time I'm travelling alone with a power wc for the first time. It's still a bit of figuring out how things will go with the power wc, and with none there to help me if there are practical problems, I'ld like to make sure everyting is arranged proparely.

Anyway, I've got 3 questions on this subject;

- what is the phonenumber of the department that assigns the rooms Like whgrn is talking about?
- when already requested a disabled room with roll in shower and having stated I'm permanently using a power wc, do I still need to state I need the room for medical reasons? ( I mean; it should be pretty logical that I don't use the chair because I'm a demanding person. )
- at the Movie Resort, fridges aren't standard in the rooms but can be rented. Are there fridges standard in the disabled rooms though?

We have been coming to WDW for 17 years with DD in a wheelchair and have never confirmed over and over. Maybe we have been lucky, but we have not had problems.
The biggest thing is to make sure you have been clear what you need and then make sure that the written confirmation you receive states those things.
There are handicapped accessible rooms that have a regular tub with grab bars. There are also fully wheelchair accessible rooms with roll in showers, roll under sinks and raised seat toilets with grab bars. As BCV23 mentioned, when you make your reservation for one of those types of rooms, they will check to make sure one that meets your needs is available and they will block it for you. The confirmation you get should say something about "handicapped guest" or something similar. Your confirmation may not have all the information that is listed in the WDW computer, because there may be more lines in the computer than are able to print out on the confirmation. But, the confirmation sheet should give some indication of your needs.
The phone number for Special Reservations is listed in the disABILTIES FAQs thread.

If all you need is a room on the first floor, then you will probably not deal with Special Reservations, but do have to let the CM making the reservation know. That's where the "Medical Request" comes in. "Medical Requests" are assigned rooms before rooms are assigned for other people with the same request.
Also, when listing your requests, list the most important ones first. The CMs assume that the one you list first is the most important, so if they are not able to fill all the requests, they will at least try to fill the first one listed.

 

[madenon]

Thnx for the answer, Sue! I called them yesterday (another department was so kind to put me through) and again; no hassle at all. They did block a room with roll in shower on my behalve. Can't wait to check it out myself.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

Remember, too, that you can fax your needs to the room assigners about 4 days prior to your arrival.

Explain what you need (i.e. first floor room [if there are no elevators]) and why you need it (i.e. disabled person in a wheelchair or ECV) - but be really nice about it and don't make demands (i.e. no saying, "You must give us [this] and [this]," but say, "Due to a disability, we are requesting [this] and [this],").

The reservations people may not always do your request correctly or understand that some medical conditions need certain things (i.e. they may say it isn't guaranteed), so having it in writing on the fax which the room assigners will see is a good back-up plan.

 

[madenon]

Good tip about the back-up, Ms Butterfly, thnx.

I've been checking out the sticky threads but either I'm looking with my eyes closed, or is it correct that I couldn't find the faxnumber in there?

 

[Piper]

First of all; my complements on the board, it is great!!

It's very informative to read about the need to reconfirm and check over again. Normally I'm not that concerned, but this time I'm travelling alone with a power wc for the first time. It's still a bit of figuring out how things will go with the power wc, and with none there to help me if there are practical problems, I'ld like to make sure everyting is arranged proparely. QUOTE]



I am travelling alone to WDW with my ecv for the first time also. I plan on making one more check on my ressies about 5 days before I leave. It is a little scary to know that you don't have anyone else to depend on if something doesn't work out. But I am confident that all will be well for both of us!

 

[madenon]

Hi Piper, I know all about the small worries and I know we both will be fine. My experience with travelling alone with a visable disability (been travelling alone with a manual wheelchair before) is that people literally bend over backwards to make sure I have a great time. And sure, there can be a mix up or mistake. After all; everyone is only human. But as long as people are willing to fix it, that's the most important thing. As my experience has been so far, I'm not afraid at all of the CM's not willing to help with whatever.

Only 7 more weeks for you to go, you lucky you!

 

[SueM in MN]

Remember, too, that you can fax your needs to the room assigners about 4 days prior to your arrival.

Explain what you need (i.e. first floor room [if there are no elevators]) and why you need it (i.e. disabled person in a wheelchair or ECV) - but be really nice about it and don't make demands (i.e. no saying, "You must give us [this] and [this]," but say, "Due to a disability, we are requesting [this] and [this],").

The reservations people may not always do your request correctly or understand that some medical conditions need certain things (i.e. they may say it isn't guaranteed), so having it in writing on the fax which the room assigners will see is a good back-up plan.

If you are staying at one of the Home Away from Home (Disney Vacation Club) resorts, they have written to DVC members that they will not accept faxes.

 

[Charleyann]

I requested a fully acessible room with roll in shower. We are doing two hotels for our trip December. Special Services have already told us what buildings we are in . Mighty Ducks building two (all star movies)overlooking pool and the 50's section, building 3 overlooking the lake in Pop Century!

Can't believe they know already and shared this with us?!

Charleyann