Scooter or Wheelchair Rentals?

[darby74]

I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation on where we might rent a scooter or wheelchair for an upcoming trip to WDW. We're celebrating my wife's grandmother's 80th b-day and staying at the Animal Kingdom Villas for 4 nights. She's not as mobile as she used to be and we want to make it easy for her to see our daughter enjoying the parks. We'll probably be going to 2 parks a day for 3 days. Does Disney rent these at each park? Can we get one and keep for the whole trip? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks for the help.

David

 

[dianeschlicht]

If you call the resort directly, they will put you in contact with several good off site rental agencies who will bring the carts right to the resort and have them waiting for you when you check in. We have used CARE, but there are others. I seem to remember that was the least expensive one though. I just called the resort to get the info, but you might try googling for the Orlando area too.

 

[SueM in MN]

If you check in the disABILITIES FAQS thread, near the top of the thread list on this board, you will find a list of the companies that DIS posters have had experience with and recommend for both wheelchairs and ECVs.

WDW does rent wheelchairs and ECVs in the parks, but those are not allowed to be taken out of the park. They have some wheelchairs for loan at the resorts, but those are not able to be reserved ahead of time and there is not a guarantee that one will be available when you get there.

If she has never used a scooter before, she may be more comfortable renting from Randy's Mobility (contact info listed in the disABILITIES FAQs thread). Unlike the other companies, Randy's requires that you be there for the delivery so they can explain and demonstrate it for you. They also are able to deliver it directly to your room, rather than just leaving it at Bell Services for you to pick up.
Depending on her experience driving, sight and hearing, she may be more comfortable with a wheelchair. It does take a certain amount of vigilance to drive a scooter, especially if it's busy or in congested parks like MK. All of that makes some people nervous driving the scooter and they would be more comfortable with a wheelchair (even though they give up some indepenence). If she has never driven one before, you might want to take her to a grocery store or store like Target, which usually have some for customers with mobility/endurance concerns to use.

 

[Mrsjvb]

One issue we had with renting directly from the parks themselves is that save Epcot, the WCs were all physically past the gate, and we all know how much fun it is trying to negotiate the mass of humanity just inside especially at park opening, and if you don't know which side guest services is on, you could be pushing through from one end to the other. the other issue was being made to swap from one chair to the 'courtesy' chairs to get up to the monorail. Also, I found no place to get a WC at DTD, and that is a fairly large stretch of real estate.

They do offer multi day packages at $8/day as opposed to the one day price of $10, but that is for manuals only. Both manuals and ECVs are first come first served. One morning we got there just as the park opened and the guy ahead of me in line shelled out the money for FOUR ECVs. you can use the pass multiple times on the day it is stamped, so if you start the day at MK, in the evening you can trot on over to Epcot , and if a chair is available, you can still get one on that day's pass.

As for ECVs being dangerous if you aren't used to them, I witnessed first hand a woman at Tiki Room literally smash a plastic piece of her ECV into tiny bits trying to situate herself for the show. she impaled it on the edge of a bench. She also ended up blocking the exit for a good long while, as she could not figure out the controls, so people could not exit at the end of the show.

We have already decided that next time, we are renting one from outside and will have it with us at all times, although I am mobile(for now) and it would make it quicker when it comes to transferring to and from buses and monorail.

 

[SueM in MN]

As for ECVs being dangerous if you aren't used to them, I witnessed first hand a woman at Tiki Room literally smash a plastic piece of her ECV into tiny bits trying to situate herself for the show. she impaled it on the edge of a bench. She also ended up blocking the exit for a good long while, as she could not figure out the controls, so people could not exit at the end of the show.

We just got back and DH along with a CM had to help a woman who got her ECV hung up on a rug that was placed in front of a door to catch the rain people were tracking in. She caught a corner of the rug on her front tire and then could not figure out what to do. If she had backed out, she would have been out easily, but she kept trying to 'power' over it by going forward because she didn't know/couldn't figure out how to put it in reverse.
So, where ever you are getting it from, practice going forward and backward and turning in both directions before you venture out with it.