Transfer to DW Snow White ride car question

[zaksmom]

We have not tried this transfer for about 10 years. Haven't been interested in the ride. My memory was that it was hard then, but I can't remember why. I did a search on this forum and found one that said it was "tricky" and another that said something about one car with a small difference making a transfer easier (I couldn't tell for sure but this could have been talking about DisneyLAND).

After a couple of phone calls to special services for info, we have agreed to take our son on the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour in Magic Kingdom. He is a real fan of Walt Disney the man and soaks up any information he can get on him. It talks about his inspiration, history and creativity. One of the highlights of this tour is riding Snow White before opening, once regular and once with the lights on and with narration by the Tour Guide over a head set. He is willing to sit this part out just to get to hear the rest of the tour (he is already sitting out the ride on the People Mover, but there is no CM narration on that part of the tour - just the ride) I want to try to get him on this part of the tour.

I would like to get the experience of others getting into this ride. I know each person's strengths and needs are unique, but by hearing the descriptions of others I can use that info to see how feasible this might be for us.
Any advise would be helpful. Even -- "Dont try it."
Thanking you in advancel
FYI: my son is a 27 year old disney nut with cerebral palsy. He relaxes well when he transfer him. We can still get him on HM and SSE, but it is hard. One person in the ride car and one outside kind of handing him off and guiding his feet in.

 

[disnutnat]

My husband is a quadriplegic and I can tell you that Snow White is one of the rides that we just skip. He can transfer onto many of the rides himself, or with some help from me, but Snow White is a difficult one. The cart that you ride in is up higher and it is narrow to get into. We have had a friend come with us one time and picked my husband up like a baby (under his legs and arms), and helped him into Snow White, but this was still tricky. I like to always say that where there's a will, there's a way. You may be able to do this transfer with your son, you just need to decide how important it is and if it is something that you really want to do. Can your son help with the transfers at all? Even a little help on his part can make a world of difference. Either way, good luck and I hope you enjoy your trip!

 

[SueM in MN]

I will post more this evening, including a picture of the ride car. As far as I know, there is not a special ride car that open wider. I have ridden it recently, in April 2011, but we have not brought DD on it in in a number of years.

It is not an easy transfer and I'd a lot if work to go to for a 90 second to 2 minute ride. Under the circumstances you are talking about, it might be doable.

 

[BillSears]

Because of the future closing of this ride I decided to check and see if they had a car with a cut away or door like they do in DL. If they had the larger opening I would be able to make the transfer and ride it before it was shut down. Unfortunatly WDW does not have one. So it'll be a tough squeeze to make it into the vehicle.

 

[WheelieBigDisFan]

While I have never been to WDW I frequent DLR. I am not sure if they are the same, but from the posts above it doesnt sound like it unfortunately. I rose snow white last week and they have a special transfer car where the side guard in the back flips up to allow for easier transfers and also has a grab bar mounted to the car so you have a stable handle/grab point to use during the transfer.
I hope you are able to get your son onto the ride for the tour! Good luck.
Mandy

 

[zaksmom]

thanks for the replies. taking your advice into account.

 

[Mary976]

We skip it. It's tough for DD because it's a narrow opening AND it has an armrest. Here's a link to the ride car from allears.net: http://allears.net/tp/mk/mk_snow6.jpg

Anyway, if you have extra time (because it's just people on the tour) and are going to go through it twice, it might be worth it to give it a shot.

Mary

 

[SueM in MN]

We have not tried this transfer for about 10 years. Haven't been interested in the ride. My memory was that it was hard then, but I can't remember why. I did a search on this forum and found one that said it was "tricky" and another that said something about one car with a small difference making a transfer easier (I couldn't tell for sure but this could have been talking about DisneyLAND).

After a couple of phone calls to special services for info, we have agreed to take our son on the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour in Magic Kingdom. He is a real fan of Walt Disney the man and soaks up any information he can get on him. It talks about his inspiration, history and creativity. One of the highlights of this tour is riding Snow White before opening, once regular and once with the lights on and with narration by the Tour Guide over a head set. He is willing to sit this part out just to get to hear the rest of the tour (he is already sitting out the ride on the People Mover, but there is no CM narration on that part of the tour - just the ride) I want to try to get him on this part of the tour.

I would like to get the experience of others getting into this ride. I know each person's strengths and needs are unique, but by hearing the descriptions of others I can use that info to see how feasible this might be for us.
Any advise would be helpful. Even -- "Dont try it."
Thanking you in advancel
FYI: my son is a 27 year old disney nut with cerebral palsy. He relaxes well when he transfer him. We can still get him on HM and SSE, but it is hard. One person in the ride car and one outside kind of handing him off and guiding his feet in.

It would not be easy, but it might be doable for these reasons:

• You would be riding before opening, so no pressure from other guests.
• You would be riding twice in a row, so would not be getting in and then having to get out before you have recovered from getting in.
• The ride comes to a complete stop for boarding and unloading.

It does have a narrow opening; this is a good picture of the actual opening.

SpaceShip Earth does have a transfer car with a wider opening, but if you do not request it, they don’t alway send you to it. If you are able to get him into the regular SSE car, the opening is about the same width.

One thing to keep in mind is that the boarding onto Snow White is lifting to the right to get in and to the left to get out (the opposite of SSE; the same as HM). For some people that does make a difference.

Since you have not ridden Snow White in a long time, I would suggest you or another member of your party ride Snow White on a day before your tour. That might help you to decide if it is doable or not.

We do not ride Snow White with our DD, who is also a 20 something with CP. The reasons we don’t ride it are:

• The ride car has a very low back, so little support.
• Our DD has a lot of spasticity and as she gets excited, she can’t relax and gets more spastic.
• When DD is excited, she is not able to bend at the hip, so it is hard to get her into a seated position.
• She also has a lot of athetoid movements of her legs when she gets excited (although, interestingly, not at other times). So, we end up with legs flying all over the place.

If he won’t be able to ride, I wonder if he will still be able to hear the tour guide? If so, he might want to watch some youtube videos beforehand. SInce it’s a dark ride, it’s not the same as actually being on it, but at least would give him some idea.
This video looked pretty good:
http://youtu.be/K6Jd5423Veg

This one actually shows the boarding:
http://youtu.be/GTGShz5Vdzo

(it is part of a huge interactive group of WDW videos that simulates a trip to all the WDW parks - there is a link to the whole video in post 3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread).

 

[zaksmom]

Thanks everyone for your help. I like to be proactive and now I have much better info. And thank you so much for all the time and detail you took with your response, Sue. I know for many of us time is at a premium and the gift of yours is appreciated. Thanks for the links and pictures.
It does look like a hard transfer. My son has pretty tight hamstrings - contracture in right -so his legs won't slip through easily - getting him through the opening looks to be the hardest part for us. That and supporting his 150 or so pounds!
Good idea to do the ride before the tour to eye ball it. Great advice. Why didn't I think of that?
Thanks again