What size rental car for an ECV?

[sherreis]

DH will need to rent an ECV for our trip and we are staying onsite. All of a sudden, he's asking me to price rental cars when we are there. Last trip, we had our minivan so it wasn't a problem taking the ECV apart and putting it in the back.

What size car can accomodate an ECV if we take it apart?

He is thinking he would like to avoid Disney transportation, depending on the price. We were not happy with it on our last trip but that was Thanksgiving week.

I think the price of the rental will help him decide which resort to stay at. We're currently staying at POP but I got a PIN code today and we can upgrade to CSR for $98 more or we can save $238 by staying at POP.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I think you would probably have to have at least a midsize. We have only used our transportation on one trip, all other times we rely solely on Disney transport because most of the time, it is very reliable, and saves our gas.

Suzanne

 

[sherreis]

Thanks Suzanne. That's what I thought and DH thought we could get away with something smaller. He's just so afraid of a repeat of our last trip which was the first time we stayed onsite and the first time using a rented ECV. On our first morning, we went to the bus stop at CSR for MK bright and early so we could arrive way before RD. After waiting a long time a bus finally came and the driver told us he couldn't load a ECV and another bus would come. We arrived at the bus stop at 8 AM and by 9 AM another bus had not come. Can we say not a good start to our trip? DH turned around and told us to go to the park without him and he would stay at the resort all day. Finally, we called Scooterama and they were able to talk us through taking the ECV apart to put it in our van. Size didn't matter in the van cause we had so much extra room from taking the seat out for the trip down. We did try the busses one other time and DH just didn't like the "everybody looking at me" feeling he would have. We drove to the parks everyday after that.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Last month I was at DL and had rented a Pride Celebrity-X. My rental car was a Cheverolet Impala four door sedan and I had no problem fitting the ECV in the trunk.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We had a similiar problem when we stayed at Fort Wilderness and Dh and I picked up the ECV's (without taking them apart) and loaded them in the minivan we had driven down, but the Fort has its own issues anyway. I have learned to stay at the smaller resorts because it seems like there are less issues with transport.

We also have to deal with people staring. My mom and I are the ones that use the ECV, mom of course doesn't get the looks I do, since she is older than me and sometimes carries a cane, but I get the looks. I am a very large woman, who has had knee surgery with a repeat injury as well as plantar fasciitis in both feet, so I rent an ECV. I dare somebody to say something, because I won't hold my tongue. We mostly get looks when we get off of them after they are on the bus, but that is for safety reasons and have been instructed to do so by the bus driver. I don't care what other people think, they don't know me and I would certainly swap them these problems anyday. I would love to be able to walk around WDW with Dh and hold his hand, instead of staring at other peoples behinds all day long

Good Luck.

Suzanne

 

[sherreis]

We had a similiar problem when we stayed at Fort Wilderness and Dh and I picked up the ECV's (without taking them apart) and loaded them in the minivan we had driven down, but the Fort has its own issues anyway. I have learned to stay at the smaller resorts because it seems like there are less issues with transport.

We also have to deal with people staring. My mom and I are the ones that use the ECV, mom of course doesn't get the looks I do, since she is older than me and sometimes carries a cane, but I get the looks. I am a very large woman, who has had knee surgery with a repeat injury as well as plantar fasciitis in both feet, so I rent an ECV. I dare somebody to say something, because I won't hold my tongue. We mostly get looks when we get off of them after they are on the bus, but that is for safety reasons and have been instructed to do so by the bus driver. I don't care what other people think, they don't know me and I would certainly swap them these problems anyday. I would love to be able to walk around WDW with Dh and hold his hand, instead of staring at other peoples behinds all day long ]/b]

Good Luck.

Suzanne

suzanne,

Very well put! That's all DH talked about the week we were there - he couldn't see the parks but he saw lots of behinds. Hopefully, October will be better for us. DH can get up and walk as well. But, if walks for any length of time, he'll double over with pain. I wouldn't want to trade him or you and I hate when I see the threads where the ECV bashing starts. Unfortunately, there are people who abuse them at the parks and that ruins it for the people who do need them. I yelled at my brother when I found out that he used one on his last trip. My brother is healthy but needs to lose a lot of weight (as do I) and I told him that he needs to walk.

 

[everylastbreath]

We rented a mini van (Toyota Sennica) and had no trouble fitting ECV along with 6 pieces of luggage (along with a stroller and about 4 carry on's) plus 4 adults and a child in a car seat. Didn't even have to break the ECV down, just popped the seat down and loaded right in. We did not use the 3rd row seats.

 

[everylastbreath]

We also have to deal with people staring. My mom and I are the ones that use the ECV, mom of course doesn't get the looks I do, since she is older than me and sometimes carries a cane, but I get the looks. I am a very large woman, who has had knee surgery with a repeat injury as well as plantar fasciitis in both feet, so I rent an ECV. I dare somebody to say something, because I won't hold my tongue. We mostly get looks when we get off of them after they are on the bus, but that is for safety reasons and have been instructed to do so by the bus driver. I don't care what other people think, they don't know me and I would certainly swap them these problems anyday. I would love to be able to walk around WDW with Dh and hold his hand, instead of staring at other peoples behinds all day long

Good Luck.

Suzanne

Anyone who has traveled with someone who uses an ECV knows that they would never be used by someone who didn't need one, anyone who things it is a "recreational" vehicle has never been with/on one, it is difficult to navigate thru crowds, everything takes twice as long to do with one, and anyone who said to me "well at least you got thru the lines quicker" - my reply is- the amount of time it took us to get/do something I could have waited on the line! No time saved, most of the handicap cars for the rides where few and far between, so you waited twice as long as the normal line. you move so slow you would never cover the same ground as someone walking normally.

Anyone who would say or think this has never needed an ECV or gone to a park with one.

 

[sherreis]

I emailed scootarama the other night after posting my oiginal question. I figured might as well get a price and ask about the car size. Price for the week was $210. As for car size, they suggested midsize or bigger. I priced rentals using all the codes from mousesavers and the cheapest I can get is $163/week for a compact and I have a coupon for a free upgrade so we could get the midsize for that price. Right now, DH is leaning towards not renting a car, using ME from MCO, and using Disney transportation and we'll stay at CSR with the PIN instead of POP.

Thanks everyone.