WDW Resort that requires least walking distances...

[Minnie's Pal]

Can anyone recommend the WDW resort that would require the least walking distance? Basically, a resort that is the least spread out.

My father is disabled but he is able to make it to the parks to get a motorized wheelchairs most of the time without us using a wheelchair on the buses etc. But the less walking, the better. Any suggestions...

 

[phillybeth]

IMO the resort with the least walking to get to the buses/monorail would be the Contemporary, in a Tower room. Regardless, a Disney vacation is a LOT of walking. Please try and talk your father into renting an ECV (I assume that's what you mean by a motorized wheelchair? A 'scooter' like is available at Walmart and such) so he will have it all the time.

 

[Minnie's Pal]

(I assume that's what you mean by a motorized wheelchair?)

Yes, the right words just left me.

But I did just get a laugh out of imagining my Dad with a motor attached to the back of a regular wheelchair speeding him around the parks!

 

[KPeveler]

if you rent an ECV from off property chances are you will be spending less money, and he will be guanateed to have one. if you spend a morning at the hotel and then go to the park, you may find that there are no ECvs available. i suggest getting one from off-site

 

[SueM in MN]

Staying at any of the monorail resorts means you can ride the monorail to MK and to Epcot (switching at TTC for Epcot). At the resort, you will walk on at the same level that the monorail resort is at, but at MK and the TTC, they have very long, steep ramps to get from ground level to monorail station level. I have heard they are renovating the monorail stations at MK to make them less steep and also add an elevator, but those won't be done for a while.
Driving an ECV onto the monorails is fairly easy, so if you/he decide to rent from off-site, you would have an easy way to get to 2 parks.

There is information about rental of wheelchairs and ECVs in the disABILTIES FAQs thread.

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Those listed so far are all deluxe resorts. I don't know what your budget is, but if you were looking for a moderate, Port Orleans French Quarter is the smallest, but there is still a bit of walking. Just wanted to throw that into the mix.

 

[ducklite]

Either Contemporary Tower or GF Royal Palm Club would be the least amount of walking.

Anne

 

[kimysbug]

Hello
We were in the same boat as you and decided on the poly as it is a monorail hotel.
We were going to rent mom a scooter off site but we were just given one so we are bringing it with.

Good luck

 

[twinmum]

Further to Ducklite's post, we stayed at the GF RPC in Nov. One of our twin sons (age 8) was cerebral palsy. He used his w/c in the parks, but he used his walker when we went to dinner (and once to a character meal at Ohana...and he walked between the GF and the Poly and it was a lot cloer than I thought). Generally we took the monorail over to one of the mother resorts on the monorail, although we also walked around the GF to Narcoosies. It was good for him to get out of the chair each day and move around. I worry about his hips when he is in the w/c all day.

We found access to the monorail and all around the GF to be easy, and the distances were shorter than we imagined based on the pictures and maps we had seen. I agree that the ramps are STEEP and he needed close supervision. (Are those ramps really ADA compliant, asks this Canadian? It was hard to manage the chair with my little man in it, can't imagine with an adult!)

The distance from the RPC lounge to our room, however, was about the longest you can get - if you choose this oprtion. you may want to ask for a closer room. We were in 4401 and I don't think it gets much further than that! Nice room though...

 

[Cheshire Figment]

(Are those ramps really ADA compliant, asks this Canadian? It was hard to manage the chair with my little man in it, can't imagine with an adult!)

No, they are not ADA compliant and probably never will be. The TTC and the MK station were built prior to the existence of the ADA. The way the stations are constructed they could not be modified without totally shutting down the monorails for a period of several months.

 

[Harvestmooner]

We stayed at POFQ with my Mom with MS in a wheelchair and my Dad with walking and heart issues and the size of the resort was very managable!!! Only one bus stop, not far to the pool. We rented a scooter from off property and my Dad used it around the resort, which just made it easier for him and us.