Saratoga Springs in a wheelchair or electric scooter?

[surgefest]

Have anyone ever stayed at SSR in a wheelchair or a scooter?? OR with someone who was in one? Just wondering how everything was. Were there any challenges?? Are the elevators on the ground level or each building??? I know its probably a rare case but at Hilton head our 1st floor room was up a flight of steps. Also are wheelchairs and electric scooters welcome on the boats that go from DD to saratoga and OKW????? Thanks!

 

[Mickiethepooh]

I have not stayed there but I can tell you that all Disney resorts are completely accessible. and yes the boats can handle wheelchairs and scooters.

 

[daisyduck123]

We spent 8 nights at SSR in May with DH using a scooter (he had broken his big toe the day we left for WDW).

We stayed in The Springs, 2nd floor.
DH just drove his scooter right onto the elevator.
The elevator was on the ground floor.

We had rented one from Walker Mobility.
It was somewhat of a pain disassembling & assembling the scooter to go to & from the parks each day (we never use the buses) because it is rather heavy. We had also rented one for my DFIL for the week, but he hated disassembling & reassembling it to put in his car & he ended up just renting a scooter at the parks each day.

No, DH did not have any trouble getting the scooter around SSR.

One night, I rode DFIL's scooter & DH rode his, & we just toured all over SSR.
What a nice time!!

The front desk had told us to just leave the scooter in the hallway each night & charge it out there, using one of the outlets. That worked for about the first 3 nights. The next night, DH noticed that the outlet out there had no power. He tried the other outlets out in the hall & none of them worked!! From then on, he just parked it in our room & charged it in there.

 

[Ali and boyz]

we are just back from out 2nd trip at SSR . my son is quadrapletic and there was no problems what so ever getting him round in his wheelchair either on the resort of in the room / elevator

 

[Disneylvr]

We too are concerned about the use of an ECV at SSR, not because our daughter uses one but our friend who is sharing the 1 bedroom villa with us has RA and will be using one. She will need to use it on the buses. Is that going to be a nightmare for her? I know that she is very concerned.

 

[Shorty82]

We too are concerned about the use of an ECV at SSR, not because our daughter uses one but our friend who is sharing the 1 bedroom villa with us has RA and will be using one. She will need to use it on the buses. Is that going to be a nightmare for her? I know that she is very concerned.

I doubt she'll have a hard time, Walt Disney World is very handicapped friendly. All of the busses are equipped with either lifts or ramps depending on their age (newer busses have ramps) and can carry two people in a WC or ECV. As long as she can manuver the ECV decently well both forwards and backwards she should have little to no trouble with the busses. The driver will help direct her and will strap the ECV down. WC and ECVs board first and exit last so she'll have the room to manuver on the bus without running into other passengers.

 

[Disneylvr]

I doubt she'll have a hard time, Walt Disney World is very handicapped friendly. All of the busses are equipped with either lifts or ramps depending on their age (newer busses have ramps) and can carry two people in a WC or ECV. As long as she can manuver the ECV decently well both forwards and backwards she should have little to no trouble with the busses. The driver will help direct her and will strap the ECV down. WC and ECVs board first and exit last so she'll have the room to manuver on the bus without running into other passengers.

Actually she had problems with Disney buses just last year at POR. 3 or 4 would pass her by because they didn't have room for her. Have these new buses just been added to the fleet in 2007? I think she became concerned about this trip after reading reviews and several guests complained about the poor/infrequent bus service at SSR. I think she is afraid she may have very long waits to get to and from the theme parks.

 

[Shorty82]

Actually she had problems with Disney buses just last year at POR. 3 or 4 would pass her by because they didn't have room for her. Have these new buses just been added to the fleet in 2007? I think she became concerned about this trip after reading reviews and several guests complained about the poor/infrequent bus service at SSR. I think she is afraid she may have very long waits to get to and from the theme parks.

The problem with POR is that Riverside and French Quarter share busses. I don't know if SSR shares busses with any other resorts but if it doesn't then there are more chances of being able to get right on.

I don't know how long they've had ramp busses, a good while, over a year, I believe. There's no way of knowing what the bus will have until it pulls up. Hopefully the bus service has improved at SSR.

 

[Ducky4Disney]

I'm glad to see that people haven't had a problem with an ECV at SSR. What about in the villas? We will have a 2 bdrm and ideally, I would like the 2nd bdrm to be UA and the 1 bdrm part not to be. Any idea if that configuration exists? Should I call SSR directly to find out?

D4D

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Here's an unofficial website with information on the rooms at SSR:

http://www.kingdom-travel.com/Walt_Disney_World_Resorts/Disney_Saratoga_Springs_Resort_Spa.shtml

If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll find plans of the rooms. I'm not sure if all of them are laid out in exactly the same way, but I would guess you would find very little variation.

As SSR is a new resort, and was built after the ADA came into effect, it should be nice and wheelie friendly. I'm afraid I can't offer any first-hand experiences of the place, but I would think everything should be fine.

If you have particular room requirements, such as ground floor or close to the bus-stop, make sure they are listed on your reservation as "for medical reasons". They deal with medical issues first, when reserving rooms, so you are much more likely to get what you need this way (please note: needing a pretty view of the lake is not a medical requirement ).

Be warned that the boat service may not be able to take wheelchairs / ECVs if the water level is at the wrong height. I have never had this happen to me, nor have I ever heard of it happening to anyone else, that I can remember. It only happens in very extreme circumstances, but I just wanted to warn everyone, in case this became an issue during your stay.