Suggestions?

[MK032197]

Last year we rented a wheelchair for my mom from a company in Orlando. Everything went well the only issue was we ordered a "wide" wheelchair for more comfort and found it extremely heavy when it had to be lifted on the bus. Does anyone have any suggestions? We do need to have a wheelchair available all the time not just while in the parks and my mom is not comfortable with the option of the electric scooter!

 

[Chuck S]

I never lift Mom's manual wheelchair onto a Disney bus, we always use the ramps or lift and she remains in her chair on the bus. Hers is a standard width chair, but they should be able to accommodate the wider models.

 

[syko]

The ramps on the WDW buses can not take a wide wheel base chair, neither can the monorail ramps.

My DH has to hold and lift one side of my chair as it is off the ramp, some CM's tell us off for this, but once they realise I can't get on if we don't they look the other way.

Things are getting better in WDW though, there are a few restrooms that I can get in to now, as they have made the doors wider.

 

[Chuck S]

The ramps on the WDW buses can not take a wide wheel base chair, neither can the monorail ramps.

My DH has to hold and lift one side of my chair as it is off the ramp, some CM's tell us off for this, but once they realise I can't get on if we don't they look the other way.

Things are getting better in WDW though, there are a few restrooms that I can get in to now, as they have made the doors wider.

Odd that the ramps aren't wide enough. Several years ago we had a cousin in a wide base chair with us, and it worked fine on the older bus lifts. If the newer ramps are too narrow, they need to re-design them.

 

[syko]

The ramps are up to ADA code, my chair is wider.

 

[MK032197]

The issue is not the width of the chair it is how heavy it was! Any suggestions for a lighter weight chair? Th model she had was a stylus but I wasn't sure if the wide model was significantly heavier than the regular?

 

[MK032197]

Does anyone know if you meet the weight requirments can a transport wheelchair be used as opposed to a regular wheelchair?

 

[syko]

I don't see why not, but it would be very hard to push all day with the small wheels.

 

[OneLittleSpark]

I would second (or third) the suggestion to use the lifts and ramps on the buses. That way you will not have to lift the chair at all, and your mother can avoid the steps. If she doesn't want to stay in the wheelchair on the bus, you are allowed to use the ramp, then transfer to a seat and fold the chair. Just make sure you hang on tight to it, or those things can go roaming!