surprise! surgery before trip; can i get a wheelchair?

[kirkharrod]

We had an unfortunate surprise this week. My wife (DIS ScarletFire) will need a mastectomy 3 months before our planned trip to WDW in April. We will probably want to get her a wheelchair in the parks in order to save her energy. Since her injury will be "hidden", do we need to bring a doctor's note to get a wheelchair in the parks? And what is the deal with navigating the queues with a wheelchair?

Thanks for anyone that can help.

 

[dcmbshafe]

Here's a link with some information you might find useful. Good luck!

http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/mobility.htm

 

[luvsTink]

So sorry to hear about the need for mastectomy.

I hope that all goes well.


anne

 

[Tigger&Belle]

It would be cheaper to rent from an offsite place for the duration of the stay unless there will be a lot of days you don't go to the parks and don't have a need for a wheelchair those days.

We rented a wheelchair for my mom after a nasty fall at MGM (she wasn't seriously hurt, but her elbow was very swollen, sore, and she got a very bad bruise) and the CMs will advise you about what to do when going through the queues. Very often you go through the regular line, sometimes a special entrance and sometimes the exit (which is a pain since we felt that we were salmon swimming upstream, but that only happened 2-3 times). My mother did get out of the wheelchair when she felt like it and we knew which queues were especially long and which ones had a lot of standing (ie, a lot of preshows).

Best wishes to your wife!

T&B

 

[phillybeth]

Tyr posting on the DISabilites board right here on these forums.
No, you don't need a doctor's note for a wheelchair. However if your DW thinks she will be spending a lot of time in a chair it might be easier to rent an ECV ('scooter') from an offsite rental company- there's info on the rental companies on the DISabilities board. That way you won't get stuck pushing a chair- believe it or not there are HILLS at WDW and the pusher can get tired very quickly. Also she will have it available at your resort, DTD or anywhere else you want to go.
The WDW website has a link for people with disabilities so you can read up ahead of time. Also when you get to the parks go to Guest Relations and get a copy of the brochure so you have it with you for reference.

 

[slimplaw]

You may also inquire about a wheelchair when you check in at the resort(if you stay at a Disney resort). We did this at OKW 2 weeks ago and they loaned us a chair for the length of our trip. Check with guest services. If they have a chair, they'll loan it to you.

 

[SueM in MN]

Sorry to hear about the need for surgery.
If you follow the link in my signature to the disABILITIES Board, you can get lots of info about touring WDW with a wheelchair.
Here's a link to the disABILITIES FAQs thread. It includes info on all the different ways to get wheelchairs (park, off site and from your WDW resort), plus some of the pluses and minuses of each and info about ecvs (scooters).
There is also a link in that thread to the official Disney site, where you can access the Guidebooks for Guests with Disabilities (which is what phillybeth mentioned). All of the FastPass lines and most of the other lines are wheelchair/ecv accessible. The Guidebooks give a little more detail (they are not very detailed) about each ride. Also, the park maps have an icon that tells whether the ride is one where you can stay in an ecv or a wheelchair for the entire experience or if a transfer needs to be made.

Have a great trip.