Sprained Ankle

[lovedoggies]

So guess what, about 3 weeks before our trip and my husband sprained his ankle. We still want to go, but my question is this:

Can he rent an electric wheelchair? Do you have to have a note or something from the doctor? I am sure we could get one, if its needed.

He should be able to walk a little bit, but not very far. He is suppose to keep all weight off of it. He has crutches but they will not be very comfortable after the first hour or so. If we cant get the electric wheelchair, what other options do we have? I am not strong enough to push him in a regular wheelchair. He is over 200 lbs and I am only about 95 lbs.

Do they run out of wheelchairs? Should we rent one on our own? We only have a small car so we cant bring it with us, but maybe have one delivered to our hotel (Grand Californian)? Anyone know?

Thanks

 

[DisneyDynomite]

You do not need a doctor's note, anyone can rent one. We do it for me and my daughter and share it. I can not walk the whole day around the whole park and she has mild Cerebral palsy and tires easy.

They can sell out, but that is usually during peak time, but I have never seen it happen.

 

[cutedisneygirly]

If you want to rent a wheelchair from the GCH, it costs $30/day and you are charged for the whole day you check in. Not sure if you can rent an electric one from there though.

 

[KirklandTutu]

My husband was very glad that he did not go with the choice of using a wheelchair or ECV when we went to Disney three weeks after his ACL surgery. He wasn't allowed to put any active weight on it (standing still was fine, somewhat), but decided that going on crutches would be a better choice. He never really got that tired, every where we went someone was offering him a seat, though half the time he didn't take it. It was easier for him to get around rather than mess with the hassel of figuring out how to use an ECV...and there was no way that I was going to push him around in a wheelchair.

Using the crutches allowed him alot more mobility and gave him more speed around the park. Honestly, it was hard for me to catch up with him once he had honed his vaulting technique. I'd give him my park ticket and send him on ahead to get fastpasses while I caught up. It was also alot easier for him to deal with getting in and out of vehicles (if we had had a wheelchair, we would have also needed to carry crutches at the same time for a lot of things), it was easier to navigate tighter places, and it was easier to avoide the running over small children scenario. Sometimes I thought people were more accomidating because of the crutches than without.

He also liked the fact that the exercise of it made him feel that he deserved more of the naughty food treats that Disney has to offer. I liked the fact that by the end of each day, his pecs and arms were looking mighty fine.

 

[fairycat]

I sprained BOTH ankles a few years back and because of the severity I actually rented a standard wheelchair off site because I could not walk the distance to the front gate to rent one. I will tell you go with the ECV wheelchairs are a pain to push at DL and worse when it is raining and if you are not use to them. It is a pain but its better then finding out he needs it in the middle of the day when they are all gone. Quick healing to him.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I think you would do best by renting an ECV from on off-site company and having it delivered to your hotel. That way, your husband can use it not only around the parks but also to get to and from the front gates and at Downtown Disney. We rented one for my dad in August when we stayed across the street. We were thinking of renting him one each day at the parks but he was glad to have it for the trip to the gates. My dad can walk short distances and stand in lines. But walking around the parks all day wouldn't have been possible (he's 82, diabetic and has sore legs all the time). It wasn't a problem parking it outside of rides and restaurants. It had a key that he would take with him so no one could take it for a joy-ride. The company we used was Deckert's Surgical Supply at (714) 542-5607. They were great! They delivered the ECV right to the hotel lobby and picked it up when we were done with it. It only cost $35/day.

 

[Zena Wright]

You also might want to check in at City Hall on Main Street and get a handicap pass for your husband. It allows him and your party to stand in a shorter line and it makes it alot easier for your husband especially if he uses crutches that way he won't have to be on his feet for to long.

We needed to use it once and it was really nice, I wish the wait in lines were always that short, lol.


Aloha Zena

 

[50sjayne]

I went one time on a sprained ankle- I was about 2 weeks healed. It was a trip we'd been planning for months-- 5 days. I ended up alternating between crutches and a push wheelchair- I appreciated the exercise using my arms. We also got to go to the front of the lines--that was before fast pass. I'm on my feet all day at work so I needed to heal-- worked out allright.

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

My boyfriend inuured his knee 3 days before my birthday trip to Disneyland. He knew have much I wanted to go so we went anyway. We rented a regular wheelchair and got a guest assistance pass from City Hall. It is kinda a pain to manuver the wheel chair through a crowd, but all in all we still had a great time. I have seen the wheel chairs sell out before so make sure you get there early and get one first thing.

 

[KirklandTutu]

You also might want to check in at City Hall on Main Street and get a handicap pass for your husband. It allows him and your party to stand in a shorter line and it makes it alot easier for your husband especially if he uses crutches that way he won't have to be on his feet for to long.

We needed to use it once and it was really nice, I wish the wait in lines were always that short, lol.


Aloha Zena

We didn't get a handicap pass. DH went into the experience planning to go about things just like people without any special needs. It was the CMs who kept grabbing him and telling him to go down the fastpass side or up the entrance.

No matter what, though, make sure you ride Space Mountain. The wait sometimes is longer if you have a special need, but it's worth it to experience how they load the ride.

 

[PrincessMommyof2]

Glad to see this posted. My hubby just had knee surgery on Friday and we go to DL on Tuesday (this has been planned for months, the DL trip that is). He will be using crutches, no brace. I'm just worried that someone will bump his sutures when we're in line.

 

[KirklandTutu]

Glad to see this posted. My hubby just had knee surgery on Friday and we go to DL on Tuesday (this has been planned for months, the DL trip that is). He will be using crutches, no brace. I'm just worried that someone will bump his sutures when we're in line.

DH didn't have an issue with anyone bumping, people really steared clear, if any kids were wandering, their parents yanked them back. It was like DH had this amazing reverse magnet. His big concern was that he wouldn't have enough mobility in his knee for alot of the rides. I think the only ride he had issues with was Pooh and some of the older Fantasyland rides. The issue wasn't getting into the vehicles, but the amount of clearence on the ride vehicle itself, for the knee while sitting was uncomfortable. We had to just ride in different seats and he had to go sideways. DH got to 90 degrees mobility right before the trip, that was his goal.