Rules regarding wheelchairs and Disney Transportation

[maroo]

While I think that it is admirable that Disney did this...If it was my friends/family that were waiting...we would ask the CM to let the rest of the people load (unless it was, in fact, against the law). We would hate to have other people wait just because we had a disabled member of our party?

I get the whole equality thing...but it just seems sorta crappy for the people waiting? The party with the w/c will already have to wait?

We will be staying at the AKL in December. There is a conference in Disney that will attract disabled guests (as it is focused on a particular disability)...I wonder if Disney will take that into consideration for the buses going to that resort? The conference resort is CSR.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Just to add, I do believe that any driver who refuses on some canard to not load a disabled individual on a pretext that his bus lift is broken, should be disciplined or fired. Also, another bus should be called if there are more disabled waiting than room on the bus.

I respectfully disagree. This would provide the disabled Guest/s extraordinary service or treatment in comparison to the other Guests - unless it was Disney's policy to have a second bus called ANY time there are Guests left waiting at a bus stop... which it's not.

However, if the lift is broken - and it happens (it happened to me more than once on my last trip - the driver DOES call for another bus. With the older buses, with the lifts with the 'lip' on them, the mechanism is extremely fussy. If it doesn't sense absolutely flat ground for whatever reason, it will not work.

Of course this doesn't excuse the driver who claimed his bus was too full for me - not that the wheelchair spots were taken, but that there were too many people on the bus for him to allow me to board - yet took all the on-foot Guests. Nor does it excuse the driver with such a bad attitude (okay, fine - combined with my perhaps slight oversensitivity) that I demanded to be let off the bus before she could tie down the ECV...

 

[aubriee]

We will be staying at the AKL in December. There is a conference in Disney that will attract disabled guests (as it is focused on a particular disability)...I wonder if Disney will take that into consideration for the buses going to that resort? The conference resort is CSR.

When is this conference at CSR? We'll be at CSR Dec 12th-20th. We won't be at the conference, but will have my mom with us in an ECV.

 

[maroo]

When is this conference at CSR? We'll be at CSR Dec 12th-20th. We won't be at the conference, but will have my mom with us in an ECV.

eek.

It is an MPS conference. Mucopolysaccharidosis.

Many of the people affected with the disease are able to walk - but I am sure there will be lots of wheelchairs - especially since many will take a chair for the long distances of WDW.

I think the actual conference is Thursday - Saturday (ETA - the Thurs - Sat that you will be there)? But the discounts on the rooms go that week before and a few days after, I believe.

It should not be big conference. MPS is rare. But it is a national or maybe international conference?

My hunch is that CSR is so big...that you probably won't even see them? We are actually staying at AKL and making a "vacation" out of it. But I was staying at CSR, I think I would call Disney Transportation and at least mention it. Disney is wonderful with the way they handle disabilities and I am sure they will do everything in their power to put the buses with 3 HA spots on that route for the week? Once they gauge how many people are in wheelchairs for the conference.

I think they have conferences like this a lot in Disney. It is a great destination for families affected by disabilities.

 

[Janell]

The three times I have been to WDW, we have had a person on an ECV in our party. There have been a time that the lift didn't work. The bus driver still loaded people on and called for another bus, which was there with in 5-10 min.

I have been on an ECV, been the third in the ECV line. The bus loaded the first two. I was told the bus driver called another bus(which again showed in 5-10 min) The bus driver loaded other people on the bus till it was full.

I have never seen it where they wouldn't allow the non-wheel chair guest on because a wheel chair was still waiting.

 

[aubriee]

eek.

It is an MPS conference. Mucopolysaccharidosis.

I think the actual conference is Thursday - Saturday (ETA - the Thurs - Sat that you will be there)? But the discounts on the rooms go that week before and a few days after, I believe.

It should not be big conference. MPS is rare. But it is a national or maybe international conference?

But I was staying at CSR, I think I would call Disney Transportation and at least mention it. Disney is wonderful with the way they handle disabilities and I am sure they will do everything in their power to put the buses with 3 HA spots on that route for the week? Once they gauge how many people are in wheelchairs for the conference.

QUOTE]

Thanks for the heads up! We currently have a request in for the Cabanas, which means we would catch the bus at Bus stop four (third stop). I may call down there and change our room request to Casitas 4 or 5, so we'll be at Bus stop two (first stop).

The three times I have been to WDW, we have had a person on an ECV in our party. There have been a time that the lift didn't work. The bus driver still loaded people on and called for another bus, which was there with in 5-10 min.

I have been on an ECV, been the third in the ECV line. The bus loaded the first two. I was told the bus driver called another bus(which again showed in 5-10 min) The bus driver loaded other people on the bus till it was full.

I have never seen it where they wouldn't allow the non-wheel chair guest on because a wheel chair was still waiting.

Same here!

 

[disfan07]

I thought the rule was if they can't load any at all than they don't load anyone.
so for example if they get to a bus stop and they can't load any wheelchairs or ECVs than they can't load anyone but if they get to a bus stop and there are 3 people in ECVs but they can only load 2 than they could load other people.
That was the case we ran into last time we stayed at Assp once.
There were 3 people on ECVs but the bus only fit 2 so they loaded the 2 adn than loaded the rest of the people. We were not able to get on (too many people) but there was another bus there in like 10 minutes so i dont know if the bus driver radioed for another one or what but no one seemed to be upset over it.

 

[thop529]

I have always been teated very well by the bus drivers at WDW, except for 1 time.

Never in my life have I encounterd such a lazy human being. I think you could have heard me screaming at him clear back to Ohio. He humiliated me, by telling me it didn't look like there was anything wrong with me that I needed to be in a motorized wheelchair, he told me to come up the ramp backwards, I tried to explain to him that I knew my chair and how it worked and I wouldn't flip, he then told me I wasn't getting on "His bus". I looked at him and said..."Watch me" I pulled on, got in my space. When he was tying my chair down he was actually trying to find something to break on it. A few people on the bus were even making comments to him about things. He barked something at them, and when he was done tying the chair down he growled at me.

I got off that bus at my resort and went right to the front desk. They helped me get in touch with the supervisor, and the supervisor told me that wasn't the first complaint they had about that driver that day. He was a not job.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I have never had this experience, the bus drivers ALWAYS pack the buses just as full as they possibly can. We have only had one where the ramp didn't work and the bus driver honestly made every attempt possible to make it work and when he couldn't, he called for another bus, I think the other passengers were mad, but the bus driver didn't seem to care.

I believe it was Dec 08 at AKL, there was me and an older lady both of us on ECV's at the bus stop, the bus driver loaded the lady as she was at the bus stop first, then told me he couldn't load me, because of the space he loaded her on, I was not letting him leave without getting me on, because we had already waited a long time for the buses to start running, but we had a breakfast ressie, and I don't believe there was anyone else waiting, except the 4 of us. I have never had such issues, except that stay at AKL.

Suzanne