Wheel Chair versus ECV

[katybugsmom]

Hey everyone!
I have a couple of quick questions:
We are going back to the World next month. I've used an ECV from Walker Mobility for our past two trips, but I want to try something different for this trip. I hate boarding the buses at WDW with an ECV and thought I might try using a wheel chair and renting it at the parks each day. I don't use wheel chairs or ECV's at home so I wasn't sure if I would be able to use a wheel chair all day without my arms killing me. I can get up and walk and stand in line for a reasonable amount of time, but I can't do all the walking since I had back surgery.
Any feedback you can give me will be extremely helpful!
Thanks for everything!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If you are not experienced in using a chair you will need pushers. Most people tend to do 8-12 miles per day at WDW. And there are hills! And the Disney rental wheelchairs are not lightweight.

If you are going to use a chair, I would suggest seeing about renting one at home and bring it with you. It would cost a lot less than from Disney and would probably be better.

 

[lovetoscrap]

If you would have to power the wc yourself I would say no way, particularly if you have back issues. The wc you rent at the park is meant to be pushed and only self powered for very short times/distances, like into the bathroom and back out. You will be in an awkward position and the likely hood of your arms/hands even making it one day is pretty slim. If you aren't sure, go to your local Walmart/Target and use a wheelchair there and go around the store (on their flat smooth floors) for an hour or two. Before I had my scooter I tried it a few times with a personal wheelchair that was in ideal shape and could barely make it to the back of the store for milk and back to the front to pay.

If you look at wheelchairs and those that use them you will see that the type that is meant to be manually powered by the full time user are a very different design from those that you would rent. They generally have a low back, no arms and are much lighter weight, and I would guess are usually custom fit. And those that use them full time have amazing upper body strength built up to be able to power them.

Getting around WDW is the real stamina/ strength killer. The distances are huge and there are many more slopes/hills than you would imagine, not to mention the uneven ground. Unless you have someone that is in good shape to push you will need to just get an ECV.

If you were looking to get one to just hold on to while you walk and then to sit in and self propel in the lines that might be possible, but in your situation I can't imagine that there is any way that it would work.

 

[KPeveler]

The short answer is, NO, you will not be able to push yourself all day. The WCs they rent at WDW are not meant to be pushed by the person in them, they weigh a ton, and are not adjustable.

I use a wheelchair in daily life (an ultra-light Quickie Q7 - total weight is 15 lbs), and I cannot push myself all day in Disney. It took me almost a year before I could even do functional all-day use. (By contrast, the park wheelchairs should weigh up to 50 lbs)

If you have someone to push you, great. If not, you will not be able to push yourself...

 

[Bete]

with trying to do a wheelchair on your own; it takes time to get the muscles for it. Besides with a bad back I would not advise it. I have an alternative, but it will be more expensive. If the bus part of the ECV experience is getting to you, you can rent Disney ECVs at the parks. Of course, you are looking at $50/day for the pleasure. Now, you will still have to contend with getting back to the buses from the parks and getting around the resort. In those circumstances a wheelchair might work if someone is willing to push you in those situations. Again, you have another expense. The wheelchairs can be held where you pick up the scooter in the parks for you. We did this a few times ourselves; because, we did not want to deal with charging the scooter, putting it in the room all the time, and getting it on and off the buses/monorails. After a while, we changed our minds and it has gotten a lot better, now. We changed our minds as we started to venture out more away from Disney and using our car with a scooter. At that point it was just better to have a scooter all the time.

If the reason you don't like scooters with the buses is because you have difficulty with getting the scooter in place on the bus you will get better at doing this each and every time you do it. Another way is to have someone else try to get it in place on the bus for you. Believe me, no one likes this part. We had to do this for someone we know. They were bad in tight places, didn't want to park it at the rides, and did not like going in reverse, either. I was calling out my hubby for taking so long to do it one day and then I tried for him and I never mentioned it again to anyone.

With an expensive vacation a few more dollars really doesn't matter when you consider the whole picture. You just have to decide what's best for you.

 

[katybugsmom]

Thanks everyone! I guess the wheelchair is out and I'll rent an ECV when we get to the parks.
We are always at a park when it opens or very soon after so I don't think they will run out before I get one. We do have park hoppers this year, but I don't think we will be leaving one park and going to another very much except when we have reservations, etc. I can walk some-I teach 4 year old Kindergarten and I'm on my feet all day although by 8:00 at night I'm beat(but who isn't!!!)
I really don't want to rent and ride the buses with an ECV if I can help it! Two years in a row was enough-if it was just me I would do it, but I can't see putting my DD11 and my DS5 through it another year. DS didn't notice anything last year, but my DD did and the looks and whispers upset her a lot.
People can be very cruel even when they don't really mean to be.
I've never really had a bad experience in the parks-a child ran out in front of me, but of course she didn't mean to-what child in WDW is really paying attention where they are going with so much to look at?!?! I try to be very careful and stay out of the way as much as possible.
Thanks for listening and the advise! I really appreciate it!

 

[peemagg]

Another idea if you want to get away from the bus "looks", you could always rent a car.

 

[Bete]

in case you don't know you are allowed to go to another Disney park and get a Disney scooter there for no additional cost. You need to take a voucher given where you return your scooter at the first park and bring it to the second park. The only issue is whether or not you will be able to get a second scooter at the second park; since, it will be later in the day. Worse scenario you can be put on a waiting list and they will contact you by cell phone when it's your turn for the second scooter. You can also have someone in your party to check for you at the rental place every now and then to see if it's your turn if you don't have a cell phone. I've never done it this way myself, but maybe a CM in the park would have a way to call the rental place to check for you if you are without a cell phone. We only had a problem once this way at Hollywood Studios and we didn't have a cell phone years back. What we did is stay closer to the front of the park; until, we could get one. It was about a 1-1/2 hour wait. We use to rent from Dinsey all the time for about 10 years and we would go for at least 10 days on each trip. I don't think one wait in all that time is too bad. We do go during non-peak times and I think that makes a big difference, too.

Another tip with park hopping and scooters is to go to the second park after the parade is done. Many scooters are returned at that time. This is why we only had one problem in all the years we did it.

 

[katybugsmom]

in case you don't know you are allowed to go to another Disney park and get a Disney scooter there for no additional cost. You need to take a voucher given where you return your scooter at the first park and bring it to the second park. The only issue is whether or not you will be able to get a second scooter at the second park; since, it will be later in the day. Worse scenario you can be put on a waiting list and they will contact you by cell phone when it's your turn for the second scooter. You can also have someone in your party to check for you at the rental place every now and then to see if it's your turn if you don't have a cell phone. I've never done it this way myself, but maybe a CM in the park would have a way to call the rental place to check for you if you are without a cell phone. We only had a problem once this way at Hollywood Studios and we didn't have a cell phone years back. What we did is stay closer to the front of the park; until, we could get one. It was about a 1-1/2 hour wait. We use to rent from Dinsey all the time for about 10 years and we would go for at least 10 days on each trip. I don't think one wait in all that time is too bad. We do go during non-peak times and I think that makes a big difference, too.

Another tip with park hopping and scooters is to go to the second park after the parade is done. Many scooters are returned at that time. This is why we only had one problem in all the years we did it.

Thanks for the advice! I think my best bet is to rent an ECV in the parks, keep my receipt and hope I get one if we hop. I just bought Tour Mike so maybe we won't be park hopping much at all! Thanks again!

 

[Eeyore5]

If you have a car, you can also drive to the parks and transport your ECV in the car. That is what I am going to do for the two parks I would need to take a bus to. The boat and monorail are easier to deal with then the bus, so I will use them.

 

[nancyjane]

I always had a problem getting my mother's walker (it doesn't fold as compactly as most) into the trunks of various rental cars. I have a recurring problem and there is a small chance I'll need to rent a scooter or wheelchair while I'm in Disney. We're staying off site and plan to rent a car. Are there any particular chairs or scooters that are easier (or impossible) to get into car trunks?

 

[peemagg]

I would go with one of the smaller travel ECV's like Pride Go-Go Elite Traveler Plus scooter. I know that fits in the trunk of a Ford Fusion just fine.

 

[katybugsmom]

Cars won't work for us this time! We are taking the train down and using a towncar service from the train station to Disney and back. We usually never leave the World so we didn't see the need for renting a car, but thanks anyway! We may end up doing that the next time we travel to Florida-unless we enjoy the train so much we go that route again! We will have to wait and see!