Stroller vs. child's wheelchair for 6 year old...

[rbuzzotta]

My 6 year old was just diagnosed with Spina Bifida Occulta. Her legs ache as does her back when she walks for prolonged periods of time. She needs to sit down and rest.

We have been to WDW numerous times and on our last trip in December she was getting too big for the strollers. We told her our next trip she was walking!! (this was before her diagnosis). We will get a stroller for my 4 year old and was wondering if I should get a child's wheelchair for my 6 year old!

Do you have to prove disability to get a child's wheelchair? (should I bring a doctor's note) I will attempt a double stroller in the parks but would like to be prepared if she is too big for it and I need the wheelchair.

Thanks and any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[SueM in MN]

The parks don't have children's size wheelchairs for rent and I would not recommend renting an adult one for a 6 year old. I've seen kids in them, but they don't look comfortable with the armwrests up by their shoulders and their legs sticking straight out in front of them.
They do have larger strollers at the parks. Safari Steve (a MK CM) says they sizes that will fit up to a small 12 year old. That is probably the way to go if you just need it for the parks.
If you want to rent a child size wheelchair or a special needs stroller so you can have it whenever you need it, here are the places that DIS posters report renting wheelchairs/ecvs from:
Care Medical:
http://www.caremedicalequipment.com/

Walker Mobility:
1-888-726-6837
www.walkermobility.com

RANDY'S Mobility is in Kissimmee 407-892-4777
http://randysmobility.com/

Colonial Medical
http://www.colonialmed.com/about_cms.html

I think that Colonial and Care used to list on their websites that they rented children's wheelchairs, but I couldn't find it. There is another site that rents children's equipment, www.all-about-kids.com. I have heard that they rent children's wheelchairs and special needs strollers. You don't need a doctor's letter to rent a wheelchair.

 

[rbuzzotta]

Thank you for the quick reply Sue. We really don't need the wheelchair for the entire trip as we will be taking it slow (we will be there for 2 weeks!). I wasn't aware that there were different size strollers in MK. We have always gotten a double and last trip DD's legs were hanging out.

Do I just request a larger one when we get in line for the stroller rental or do I request one in advance (if so how).

Maybe I should PM Safari Steve.....

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[SueM in MN]

From what I have read, you just ask for a larger size stroller at the rental counter. I'm not sure about the size of the double strollers, but I've seen some pretty big kids looking pretty comfortable in the larger size single strollers.

Here's a link to Deb Will's page about strollers. It has pcitures of what they look like in case you haven't seen them before. They don't have info about the different sizes, but I have seen more than one size in use at all the parks.

I'm not sure if Safari Steve is around tight now. I thought I read something from him saying he was doing to be gone for a while. I haven't seen him around lately, but it wouldn't hurt to PM him.