I just had a great trip back from BWV with 8 of us using a 2BR and a studio. My parents were with us and my mother uses a walker to get around. However, in WDW she uses a wheelchair to go any significant distances because she can't go far using the walker without having to rest. She has her own wheelchair that we can fairly easily set up and take apart to fit in the trunk of her car.
When I made the ressies 11 months ago (I made them day by day because I wanted a standard view and needed specific dates because of school vacation week), I put in the following room requests: non smoking, close to the elevators, and if possible, have the rooms close to each other. I did say when I made the request that my mother was in a wheelchair and that was why I wanted a room close to the elevator.
I didn't send a reminder to the room controller (I have done so in the past) because I wanted to see if the official system worked. Unfortunately when we got there, we found out that we were at the farthest possible location from the elevator, rooms 3004 and 3006 (actually, room 3002 was farther, but it was the only one). This posed a real problem for my mother in terms of her independence, because if we had been close to the elevators she could have used the walker to go to the lobby and possibly even the boardwalk. As it was, since we had to push her in the wheelchair, she only went out once in the morning when we went to the park, and then didn't go out again that day. That plus the fact that we had two kids in strollers, made for an interesting pusher to pushee ratio.
When I complained to the manager, she said we should have put in the request for medical reasons. However, my mother said absolutely not, because the technical definition for medical reasons is for someone who doesn't have anyone to help them get around, such as someone on crutches who doesn't have a wheelchair. And since my mother gets a little ticked off when she sees people abuse the handicap parking spots that she really needs, she's a stickler for the rules.
So what do you think that I should have done? I don't think I would put in a request for medical reasons because she did have people to push her. But do you think that I should have faxed the room controller and explained our situation?
On the bright side, I didn't gain any weight on the trip
, and the weather was beautiful.
When I made the ressies 11 months ago (I made them day by day because I wanted a standard view and needed specific dates because of school vacation week), I put in the following room requests: non smoking, close to the elevators, and if possible, have the rooms close to each other. I did say when I made the request that my mother was in a wheelchair and that was why I wanted a room close to the elevator.
I didn't send a reminder to the room controller (I have done so in the past) because I wanted to see if the official system worked. Unfortunately when we got there, we found out that we were at the farthest possible location from the elevator, rooms 3004 and 3006 (actually, room 3002 was farther, but it was the only one). This posed a real problem for my mother in terms of her independence, because if we had been close to the elevators she could have used the walker to go to the lobby and possibly even the boardwalk. As it was, since we had to push her in the wheelchair, she only went out once in the morning when we went to the park, and then didn't go out again that day. That plus the fact that we had two kids in strollers, made for an interesting pusher to pushee ratio.
When I complained to the manager, she said we should have put in the request for medical reasons. However, my mother said absolutely not, because the technical definition for medical reasons is for someone who doesn't have anyone to help them get around, such as someone on crutches who doesn't have a wheelchair. And since my mother gets a little ticked off when she sees people abuse the handicap parking spots that she really needs, she's a stickler for the rules.
So what do you think that I should have done? I don't think I would put in a request for medical reasons because she did have people to push her. But do you think that I should have faxed the room controller and explained our situation?
On the bright side, I didn't gain any weight on the trip
, and the weather was beautiful.
By the time I got to BWV I was exhausted, so I took a 45 minute power nap before doing everything Disney. When I woke up I literally could not move--I have never been more terrified in my life! I inched my fingers along the mattress to grab the telephone cord to call for medical help--I had torn the muscles away from my ribs on my right and from my backbone on the left, and my butt was involved somehow, too. I had to use a wheelchair to get around, and I refused most of the time, so basically I stayed in my room. Fortuneately, I had been put into a handicapped room, 1078, I think, right next to the elevator, so I could at least bathe! I felt SOOOOO self-conscious in that wheelchair! People don't talk to you when you are in a wheelchair, either, they talk as though you aren't there, and no one makes eye contact with you
No wonder your mom resists using one!!
