We flew with her Chair.... and the Balloon :)

[mykidsintow]

Well I bit the bullet and decided to fly with my daughters permobil playman robo. Very expensive power chair with hydrolics. I knew Disney wouldn't be fun for her without her independence. I called the airline beforehand (NO HELP). I called the wheelchair company for suggestions (NO HELP). I asked for suggestions here... and that was honestly the most help I had, but really its live and learn, right?

So we arrived at the airport and I took a stroller because I had been told by the airline and on here that we would have to leave her chair at the baggage checkin. Nope.... I sent it on home with my friend. We arrived and they said we could take it right back to the gate with us. Cincinnati (where we flew from) and Orlando both have elevators right by the gates now. Sometimes they have to drive it down the wing to where the elevator is located, but her chair was taken 10 mins before we boarded and returned to us about 10 mins after we landed right at our gate. Everyone was very very helpful and helped me with bags and with her, etc. It was AWESOME and her chair got not a scratch. We actually watched them all the way down the hall, watched it come around in a pickup and get loaded from the back of the pickup into the plane on the luggage belt through the window. I know accidents happen and well who knows maybe we won't be as lucky next time, but I won't hesitate taking her chair again. I did recline her seat to make it as small as her chair goes. I didn't take off or disable any joysticks, but did show them how to use it. I couldn't imagine pushing that chair up the belt its way too heavy so maybe that does change how accidents happen. I did slow it down and off they went.

We also rode the hot air balloon. I am not sure if anyone has loaded pictured yet of the accessability of it. My daughters chair BARELY fit, but it did fit and up we went (I would have carried her otherwise). So if anyone hasn't seen or is curious I can load pictures of the balloon. I took pics of them loading and unloading her.

Overall a WONDERFUL trip..... I am post-disney-depressed....

 

[dclfun]

I'm glad you had a great trip and that the chair did too! I've flown now r/t 4 times with my Permobil C-500. On the last trip to Chicago someone had some fun with the controls and broke it. When they brought the chair up the ramp the seat was elevated to it's full height ( they broke the belt), the tilt was all the way back and the recline was all the way up, the footrest was all the way out. None of this made sense as it made the footprint as large as it gets. I had to drive my chair with my knees up to my neck for a day until it was fixed. Fortunately SW was great in getting a company to send out a repairman the following day ( I arrived on a Sunday). They also had to repair my vent battery as when the tilt was used they tilted it too far back and cracked the case, breaking off the connector to charge it. I would still travel with my power chair as I really don't have a choice. I also don't blame SW- it was just one person who did the damage- and this person happened to be in Orlando. I'd think a child's chair would be easier to transport and less likely to be damaged- my chair also has a high back and headrest that makes it more difficult to get through the door of the baggage area plus of course it's an adult sized chair. The CS rep at SW guaranteed me that they would replace my chair if necessary. Little did they know the potential cost!---Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

Glad to hear things went well. From what I have read before about power wheelchairs and checking them, it's kind of luck whether or not your gate is close to the elevators they use to take wheelchairs and ECVs up and down from the plane. If the elevator is farther away, you may need to board earlier and wait longer on the plane for it to be delivered.

No one else has reported about going on the balloon, so I would be interested in any pictures and other information you want to share.
We saw the balloon on our recent trip, but it was very windy and the only times we saw it in the air were times we were not at Downtown Disney.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Welcome back, great to hear everything went without a hitch!

 

[brown1442]

Thank you so much for posting this. I am having serious cold feet about taking my son's chair with us and its not NEARLY as fancy as your daughters. I am glad to hear that everything workd out okay!! You've given me some confidence that I can bite the bullet too!!

Hot air balloon sounds fantastic!! What a neat experience!!

 

[mykidsintow]

Here are the pictures of how they load and unload chairs from the balloon. It has an open circular walkway so while my daughters chair could not turn around at all, she was loaded on one side and drove around, unloaded on the other. Her base is pretty large. I can take measurements if anyone needs specifications, but nothing any larger could possibly fit.... hers barely made the turn to get into and off of the balloon while she did have space around the walkway.

You can see there is a ramp onto a platform and then you turn to face the balloon. They then crank the platform until it is even for you to drive across the bridge and onto the balloon. It was overall very quick and simple.

I wanted to add also we had no issues with buses this trip. Well, ok we had one minor issue. One bus loaded us right up and when it was time to "disembark" the doors to the ramp would not open and we were kinda stuck. Oops... we eventually pried them open (the bus driver with my help). It was kinda funny