Touring with a Wheelchair

[dthogue]

We will be taking my mother with us in December to WDW. We have never toured with a wheelchair before. Does anyone have any tips/suggestions, things I need to know about touring with a senior citizen in a wheelchair. She can walk some, but not very far and can't stand for more than a few minutes.

We will be there the week before Xmas, so I expect crowds and would like to make this trip as easy as possible.

Thanks,
Tammy

 

[Pooh67_68]

Try asking your question on the disABILITIES board, they are very helpful over there with these questions.

 

[Chuck S]

If you are using a standard wheelchair, and will be doing the "pushing", be sure to be very watchful. People, especially on busy days, tend to come to a full and complete stop in front of you when you are least expecting it. Take your time, don;t rush from show to show. If your Mom is able to get out of the chair and in to a ride fairly easily, you shouldn;t have many problems. My Mom also requires a wheelchair in the parks. Most, but not all, queues now are w/c accessible, there are a few shows where alternate loading areas are required, just ask the CMs that normally are outside of every attraction.
Other than that, WDW is very wheelchair friendly and we rarely have any problems.

For counter service food areas, I usually wheel Mom in so she can see the menu, then when she decides what she would like, I park her at a table and go back to wait in line and order/pickup food. While most fullservice restaurants accomodate wheelchair pretty well, Alfredo Di Roma (Italy) is VERY tightly spaced, and I would not recommend it. Liberty Tree Tavern (Magic Kingdom) will escort your party in through a side door (although it is rumored that this restaurant will be going through a rehab, and will be converted to better access.

 

[HollyJoy]

Hi Tammy!

We will be in WDW this December as well! My FIL will be going with us, and he is in a wheelchair as well. I've found lots of good tips over on the disabilities board. You should check it out!!

 

[gilld]

We took my Mum in a wheelchair over Christmas 1997. Having the wheelchair itself wasn't a problem, Mum could walk a few steps like your Mum, but can't stand for longer than a minute or so. However, the large numbers of people there made it very hard and VERY SLOW to get around. As said, people tend to just stop in front of you and then complain if you bump into them. If you try and leave a space in front of you someone will fill it!

The downside was we all got tired pushing her..she's fairly heavy...but the upside was we got on most of the rides via the disabled entrances with little or no queuing.

Accept that many of the public will be annoyed at you manouvering the wheelchair, but, the CM's were just great. I'm sure you'll manage.

 

[SueM in MN]

Originally posted by gilld
The downside was we all got tired pushing her..she's fairly heavy...but the upside was we got on most of the rides via the disabled entrances with little or no queuing.

Accept that many of the public will be annoyed at you manouvering the wheelchair, but, the CM's were just great. I'm sure you'll manage.

Most of the queues are wheelchair accessible, so you will be waiting in the same lines and for the same amount of time as other guests (these are called Mainstream Lines). The 2 newest parks, AK and the Studio, were built with all Mainstream lines and the queues at the other parks were renovated to be Mainstream as they built new rides or renovated older ones.
For some rides, wheelchair users need to board at the exit (for safe boarding and to have their wheelchair both for boarding and getting off). In most cases for these rides, you will wait in the regular queue until just before the line gets to the boarding area; at that point, wheelchair and ECV users are pulled off to wait at the exit for boarding.
You can get to the disABILITIES Board by following the link in my signature. At the top of the board there is a FAQs thread with a lot of "wheelchair touring" info.

 

[dthogue]

Thank you so much for the very helpful information - I will be sure to check out the disABILTIES board for more info.

Tammy