What size wheelchair (manual) does Disney parks have?

[Alice777]

My son wants to rent manual wheelchair for me for our Disney World trip in December. He is trying to figure out what size he should rent.

From my understanding, standard size is 18" (seat width size?) I'm around 145 lbs and 5'4". He thinks 18" width seat might be little tight.

I have tried wheelchair in Universal but don't know what size it was.

Does anyone know what size Disney World parks use?

Thank you

 

[dcassetta]

We rented a wheelchair for my sister-in-law a couple of years ago when her leg was in a cast. I do not know the exact measurements, but It appeared to be a standard size wheelchair just like you might see at a hospital. She is taller than you but also weighs more and the chair was perfectly comfortable for her.

 

[midwestdee]

If you’re staying onsite, Scooterbug is the only vendor you don’t need to meet in person for pickup/drop off. I rented a standard wheelchair from them in June. It was ready for pickup at POFQ (at bell services) when we arrived. I dropped it off the night before we left. You should be fine with the standard wheelchair. Renting at the parks can be very time consuming.

 

[mamabunny]

Plus, if you rent from offsite, you will have the chair to use at your hotel, Disney Springs, or other non-WDW locations.

 

[Groot]

The regular size wheelchairs Disney uses seem to be 18” in seat width. They do have wider chairs and those look like they’re 20”-22” in seat width.

 

[SueM in MN]

The wheelchairs you can rent from an outside vendor will generally be more comfortable and there are different widths available. The park rental ones are probably 18 inches wide and some are larger. When we took my mom on her last trip a few years ago, the chair she got at the park was not very comfortable because it was too wide. The seat was an issue, but also the footrests

To measure a comfortable width, have her sit down, then use a tape measure to measure the widest part of her hips or thighs. You want to add an extra 1-2 inches to that measurement to give room for shifting and moving around. So, if she measures at 16 inches, an 18 inch wheelchair should be comfortable.
This is a good picture I found online on how to do it. The person in the picture would be good in a 16 inch width - which you can find at some of the offsite rentals.


My mom was about 5 foot 5 and around 120 pounds; we got a WDW wheelchair for her because she was only going to EPCOT. She would have been more comfortable in a 16 in width, but the parks didn’t (? don‘t) have wheelchairs that narrow.
The biggest issue she had was what this photo from 2 Foolish Mortals I found shows - the footrests were so far apart toward the sides of the chair that her leg and hip position was very uncomfortable