Wheel Chair Complaint - we will never go back

[marlasmom]

My husband is limited in his walking ability. He rented an ECV at Disney and everything was just fine. Imagine our surprise that to get an ECV at Universal involved our walking a very long way (parked at the end of a row in the garage) and well into the park. Had we known we would have rented a push wheelchair to get into the park and then traded for the ECV. I mentioned this to them, one woman said well everyone brings their own and another said, well we have to figure out how to prevent people from loading them into their cars. (Hello - Disney manages). BTW while my kids (adult and 10 years old) liked Universal, they all agreed that they like Disney far better. So do I. This was outrageous.

 

[marlasmom]

Bumping - just want to point out again that there are no ECVs available until you walk from parking and through City Walk and a good portion of the park. There are wheelchairs available at the end of the parking area but no ECVs. We did not know how far the walk would be.

 

[Robinrs]

Marlasmom:

I am so sorry you had to go through this. I also have problems walking long distances and have had issues with the "CityWalk" to the parks.

Maybe a quick note the "powers that be" at Universal with your concerns would help. It is amazing how little they know about their visitors concerns unless we tell them.

-------------------------

MOM
Mother of Michael

Proverbs 3:5-6

<font color=red><marquee behavior=alternate>Rejoice in the Joy of the Season!</font></marquee>
<font color=purple>Co-Moderator of the Community and Universal/IOA Boards</font color=purple>

 

[lagasan]

I agree that the walk is tooooo long. I've heard that some people use valet parking. Does anyone know where that is located? I'm guessing it's under the movin walkway... where it crosses the road.

I think Universal needs to get a trolley system going. With space reserved for elderly and handicapped. Maybe they can buy the old double decker buses from Epcot!

 

[MKPcm]

This policy is no different than disney. ECV are not allowed out of the park. If you go to the Magic Kingdom, the first place to pick up a wheelchair is at Mickey's gift station at TTC. However most people don't know this. And ECV are available only inside the park.

That is a longer distance from the MK parking lot to the Magic Kingdom that it is from the Universal parking stucture to either Universal park

 

[JoannaOhio]

I didn't see this thread until I had already written about several other complaints in another thread - but I wanted to add even more comments about the rental wheelchairs here.

I don't need a chair in my daily life, but the walking in the parks is just too much for me. Before going to IOA (Dec. 22), we had spent 4 days at WDW, and I was quite happy with their push wheelchairs. The one we got at the rental desk in the garage at US/IOA had a vinyl mesh seat and back. The seat was much shallower than any other wheelchair I've ever used - and very saggy. The chair was obviously quite old, with no tread on the tires.

By the time we reached guest services, I knew I couldn't cope with that chair all day. Fortunately, we were able to exchange it for another with slightly firmer seat (leather-look vinyl), but the seat was still too shallow. And my dear daughter didn't even mention the fact that the handles were too short and too low - until we visited SeaWorld on Christmas Day, and she raved about how much more comfortable their chairs were to push.

I was also quite offended by the US rental policy. They charged a dollar more than WDW and SeaWorld - AND - they insisted on running a credit or debit card through their imprinter, for a $50! deposit if the chair wasn't returned to the same rental desk. Although they reassured me that they would give me the imprinted slip when I returned the chair, I was still quite anxious. If it somehow "accidentally" got posted, it would have overdrawn my checking account.

Although my daughter and granddaughter and I will probably make another trip together to Orlando in 2 or 3 years, I'll stay at the rental condo if they choose to visit US/IOA. I enjoyed Seuss Landing and Grinchmas, but there were too many inconveniences to get me back there.

 

[Puffy2]

this is a good post/thread to read. I have some questions:
1. If you stay at a UFS hotel (Hard Rock, etc...) can you get an EVC there? and use it for the parks?

2, Are there other ways to handle this issue of all the walking? Take a cab? Valet Parking? Who out there knows the answers????

 

[Robo56]

If you are staying onsite at one of the Resorts you can arrange to have a Scooter delivered to your onsite hotel from an offsite vender. One of the venders is Walkers Mobility. www.walkersmobility.com. I used them a few years ago and it was very easy. They go by your weight and their scooters were very comfortable.

You can get on the Water Taxi with these scooters and yes you can use them in the parks.

They will come and pick the scooter up when you are finished.

 

[bumbershoot]

This is a post originally from 2000...jinkies.

I’m assuming some sort of spam bumped it up between the 2001 post and today’s reply.

 

[Robo56]

There is a drop off area right near Universal Studios Park for those with wheelchairs or those who need wheelchairs once entering the Parks. You need to be going South on Universal Boulevard and then you make a Right onto Celebrity Circle. You are then with in a very short walking distance to the entrance of Universal Studios.

This is a drop off area only and you can not park there.

For those who are longtime Universal Orlando attendees like myself this is the circular drive behind HRH that everyone was dropped off or picked up when it rained. Now everyone has to go to CityWalk bus area for that.

 

[Robo56]

I see that now bumbershoot.

Hope this helps some who might be having questions about this though.

 

[macraven]

A complaint from 18 years ago

Lol

But many thanks to Robo for sharing info that will help others now

And her info is up to date

Reading through this thread I can see how the darkside has listened to their guests and made improvements to correct things

Closing the thread