Rule Against Kids Riding on Laps one wheelchairs?!

[BillSears]

I'm a full time manual wheelchair user and the only way for me to carry something is in my lap. I've carried my Daughter and Granddaughter in all sorts of places and never had an issue. I've done both at WDW and the comments from CMs have all been positive. I think the rule is there to prevent the ECV/wheelchair renters who have no experience at all from doing something that might be dangerous to them. For me my lap is no more dangerous than anyone else carrying their kid and a lot less dangerous than a kid on the parents shoulders.

 

[gap2368]

I'm a full time manual wheelchair user and the only way for me to carry something is in my lap. I've carried my Daughter and Granddaughter in all sorts of places and never had an issue. I've done both at WDW and the comments from CMs have all been positive. I think the rule is there to prevent the ECV/wheelchair renters who have no experience at all from doing something that might be dangerous to them. For me my lap is no more dangerous than anyone else carrying their kid and a lot less dangerous than a kid on the parents shoulders.

You use a manual wheelchair the op had an electric wheelchair

 

[Hoodie]

Honestly? It's a poor parenting decision. As others have mentioned, it's been Disney policy for years that wheelchairs and ECV are single rider only. What are you really teaching your children by ignoring security and park rules? Of course you can continue - but also do not complain if you are escorted out of the park and not allowed to return.

 

[Mrsjvb]

I'm a full time manual wheelchair user and the only way for me to carry something is in my lap. I've carried my Daughter and Granddaughter in all sorts of places and never had an issue. I've done both at WDW and the comments from CMs have all been positive. I think the rule is there to prevent the ECV/wheelchair renters who have no experience at all from doing something that might be dangerous to them. For me my lap is no more dangerous than anyone else carrying their kid and a lot less dangerous than a kid on the parents shoulders.

your manual chair is within compliance. the OP has a motorized chair, which falls under the same restrictions as an ECV.. one pax per and no towing anything .

 

[kamik86]

I can understand why disney would have this policy where others don't. I was run into by an ECV before because someone had no idea how to drive. (no I didn't stop in front of them I was standing directly in front of a display for the past 5 min and she ran into me hard enough that if I wasn't there she would have crashed into the display). In most other places people in a wheel chair use them often. I don't really hear about people renting an ECV just to use at the mall. (my mall used to rent strollers but no longer even does that). Target in the mall has a few but those ones are really slow compared to the disney ones.

For someone that uses a wheelchair all the time safely carrying a child with you is probably not going to be a problem but it would be MUCH harder for disney to police that only people in their own wheelchairs not rented ones can carry a child on their lap.

 

[pfalcioni]

I would be less concerned about the policy and more concerned about the fact that your kids now think it's okay to ignore employees who are following company guidelines and rules.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Hello,

We are currently on vacation at Disneyland. My husband is a quadriplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair. We always bring a stroller, but occasionally one of our two younger children rides on his lap.

Twice now, at security, one of the officers has told my husband that our child has to get off his lap and that disney has a rule against kids riding on laps in wheelchairs. Both times we have completely ignored hem and told our kid (whichever one was riding) to get back on if they want as
This is obviously a parenting decision.

We are both horribly offended at this overreach. Our kids have ALWAYS ridden on my hsuband’s lap periodically while at Disney and we have gone for the past seven years straight (to both DL and WDW). We have never heard of this before.

Is this new?

Nope, not a parenting decision. A park policy that you can ether choose to follow or not go to the parks. A parenting decision is one that only impacts your child. This policy is to protect everyone (parent, child, and other guests) from accidents.

People seem to forget that even though Disney is a publicly traded company on the stock market, it is private property. As long as they are not discriminatory, they can make whatever policies they choose. And this policy is not discriminatory, it is only inconvenient for some.

 

[mickey&minniealways]

Hello,

We are currently on vacation at Disneyland. My husband is a quadriplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair. We always bring a stroller, but occasionally one of our two younger children rides on his lap.

Twice now, at security, one of the officers has told my husband that our child has to get off his lap and that disney has a rule against kids riding on laps in wheelchairs. Both times we have completely ignored hem and told our kid (whichever one was riding) to get back on if they want as
This is obviously a parenting decision.

We are both horribly offended at this overreach. Our kids have ALWAYS ridden on my hsuband’s lap periodically while at Disney and we have gone for the past seven years straight (to both DL and WDW). We have never heard of this before.

Is this new?

I bet the OP never expected this much of a reaction. But this is not a new rule. They are not singleing you out or your parenting decisions. It is a safety rule. For everyone not just your family. Sorry if this is harsh but it is reality. They are protecting not just themselves but all park goers.

 

[mamabunny]

I'm a full time manual wheelchair user and the only way for me to carry something is in my lap. I've carried my Daughter and Granddaughter in all sorts of places and never had an issue. I've done both at WDW and the comments from CMs have all been positive. I think the rule is there to prevent the ECV/wheelchair renters who have no experience at all from doing something that might be dangerous to them. For me my lap is no more dangerous than anyone else carrying their kid and a lot less dangerous than a kid on the parents shoulders.

@BillSears, you surely know that I am one of your fans, but I disagree with you here.

In addition to the OP's husband having a motorized device, she states he is a quad; I would infer from that that he does not have the ability to use an arm (or hand) to help balance/hold the child on his lap in the event of any kind of incident.

And while I would certainly agree with your point that it is less dangerous to hold a child on your lap when seated than on your shoulders, the main argument here is *not* about where it is safer to hold a child, but that Disney's rules clearly say one device, one rider, and the family was asked twice to respect that rule.

We have all seen Guests at Disney Parks misbehave, and generally not follow the rules. I take exception in this case because, by the OP's own admission, they encouraged their children to break the rule that they had just been informed of (twice).

In the spirit of open discussion, would you have tried to carry your daughter & granddaughter had you been a quadriplegic? Would you have asked someone to seat them on your lap, or would you have encouraged them to climb on and ride on your chair, knowing that you could not catch them in the event of any incident, whether it was related to other humans around you, or terrain?

And regardless - if it was the rule where you were, would you break the rule, and encourage your littles to ignore a direct request by an employee to stop?

I believe that at the end of the day, Disney has implemented rules that are in place for everyone's safety. Disney is an expert in theme park safety; they work very hard to keep all of their Guests happy (and hopefully as healthy as when they arrived), and when you consider how many Guests they welcome every day around the world, they have an amazing safety record. I'm sorry that it obviously offended this mother - but I'm glad that those CMs were looking out for the safety of her kids, her husband, and everyone else around them.

 

[LilyWDW]

It really is simple.

The rule exists. If you want to play at Disney then you need to follow the rules at Disney.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Hello,

We are currently on vacation at Disneyland. My husband is a quadriplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair. We always bring a stroller, but occasionally one of our two younger children rides on his lap.

Twice now, at security, one of the officers has told my husband that our child has to get off his lap and that disney has a rule against kids riding on laps in wheelchairs. Both times we have completely ignored hem and told our kid (whichever one was riding) to get back on if they want as
This is obviously a parenting decision.

We are both horribly offended at this overreach. Our kids have ALWAYS ridden on my hsuband’s lap periodically while at Disney and we have gone for the past seven years straight (to both DL and WDW). We have never heard of this before.

Is this new?

Well don't be surprised if your kids think following your rules is optional. After all, you've just shown them it is.
Having a disability doesn't exempt you from the rules. By he way lap rides are allowed on non motorized chairs. But I don't suggest it. Having pushed someone around in a non motorized chair, it's a work out.

 

[DisneyOma]

As far as Disney policy goes, this is a grey area. I actually called them about this issue on my previous visit, and got a similarly wishy-washy answer. Basically, the rule is that wheelchairs should be single rider, but Disney will determine if everyone seems safe. I was babywearing my infant daughter in my wheelchair, and we were generally fine, but ran into issues with transportation (actually got a manager called on me because they wouldn't let me board the bus, even if I would transfer to a regular seat - the manager ended up apologizing profusely).

I think that it is harder to argue for the safety of an older child who isn't being worn or strapped in with the adult. For example, when my daughter outgrows my baby carriers at around 2 years old, I won't try riding with her anymore.

The other side, the definitely-not-a-grey-area side, is when you switch from talking about a manual wheelchair to any type of power chair or ECV. Disney's policy on these is clearly that they must be single occupancy.

The manager just apologized to get make the conflict go away. The bus driver was correct in not letting you board while the baby was strapped on, You might say that you were not going to stay in the wheelchair, but you could have been lying. If you had stayed in the wheelchair, with it strapped in, and with the safety belt on, it wouldn't have been safe to have the baby strapped on.

I was told by a manifest that if the child head is below your head then you were ok to have the child on your lap. If the child head was at your chin or higher then you were not

What's a manifest?

 

[gap2368]

The manager just apologized to get make the conflict go away. The bus driver was correct in not letting you board while the baby was strapped on, You might say that you were not going to stay in the wheelchair, but you could have been lying. If you had stayed in the wheelchair, with it strapped in, and with the safety belt on, it wouldn't have been safe to have the baby strapped on.



What's a manifest?

auto correct manger

 

[yesdnil]

The manager just apologized to get make the conflict go away. The bus driver was correct in not letting you board while the baby was strapped on, You might say that you were not going to stay in the wheelchair, but you could have been lying. If you had stayed in the wheelchair, with it strapped in, and with the safety belt on, it wouldn't have been safe to have the baby strapped on.

I really love how I came in here to give very clear firsthand experience of the situation to explain the exact situation and its rules, according to Disney, but you came in here to focus on one parenthetical aside in my post and disagree with my assessment of the situation. You certainly don't know the details of the situation like I do, and my point was that we ran into one person in the course of several days who gave us a tough time and called their manager to kick us out of line. The manager told them flat out that they were wrong and that I wasn't violating any rules.

But you do you, random person on the board who doesn't know me. Judge away. I'm sure your internet experience trumps my real world experience.

 

[grnflash]

I really love how I came in here to give very clear firsthand experience of the situation to explain the exact situation and its rules, according to Disney, but you came in here to focus on one parenthetical aside in my post and disagree with my assessment of the situation. You certainly don't know the details of the situation like I do, and my point was that we ran into one person in the course of several days who gave us a tough time and called their manager to kick us out of line. The manager told them flat out that they were wrong and that I wasn't violating any rules.

But you do you, random person on the board who doesn't know me. Judge away. I'm sure your internet experience trumps my real world experience.

Have you read your original post? In it, you focus on disagreeing with the rule (which is fine) and blantantly having your children disregard it (yeah, not so fine.) Those are the facts of your post and others will comment on any or all of the points in your post. Not liking people’s comments doesn’t change that....kinda like not liking Disney’s rules doesn’t change those either.

 

[gap2368]

Have you read your original post? In it, you focus on disagreeing with the rule (which is fine) and blantantly having your children disregard it (yeah, not so fine.) Those are the facts of your post and others will comment on any or all of the points in your post. Not liking people’s comments doesn’t change that....kinda like not liking Disney’s rules doesn’t change those either.

I see nowhere that the PP said to her kids to disagree infact it sounds like her child is a baby or atlest small ebought to use a baby career ( or what ever it is called) and from what I have heard if the child's head is below your chin then you are fine to have the child on your lap ( and as long as the child is not in the way of the controls) I really see nothing wrongwhat this PP said or did but the OP yes what they did was very wrong in a few ways.

 

[SirDuff]

Have you read your original post? In it, you focus on disagreeing with the rule (which is fine) and blantantly having your children disregard it (yeah, not so fine.) Those are the facts of your post and others will comment on any or all of the points in your post. Not liking people’s comments doesn’t change that....kinda like not liking Disney’s rules doesn’t change those either.

The person you're responding to is not the OP.

 

[grnflash]

The person you're responding to is not the OP.

Yikes! My bad!

 

[yesdnil]

Have you read your original post? In it, you focus on disagreeing with the rule (which is fine) and blantantly having your children disregard it (yeah, not so fine.) Those are the facts of your post and others will comment on any or all of the points in your post. Not liking people’s comments doesn’t change that....kinda like not liking Disney’s rules doesn’t change those either.

I'm not the original poster, just someone who came by to post the exact explanation of the rules as I was told by Disney officials, which is that 1. Carrying children with you on a manual wheelchair is allowed on a case by case basis, as long as Disney employees think everyone seems safe. And 2. Carrying children with you is never allowed on any type of electronic mobility device.

 

[alizesmom]

I see two issues here. 1) Is it safe to carry a child while in an electronic mobile device? I don’t have any experience so I can’t answer but I have noticed that mobile devices in the stores around me state no riders. 2) is it ok to disobey the rules Disney has set up just because you disagree? I say no. If the OP believes that then why can’t a person smoke wherever they like? Line jump? Wear obscene shirts?