Wheelchair and crowds

momz

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
We are visiting the world over New Year's, Dec 27-Jan2. I am debating if I should use my wheelchair. I don't normally use it at home, but occasionally will use a cane for balance. I am worried because my balance gets worse as I get tired. However, I'm concerned that a using a wheelchair in extreme crowds may be harder than navigating with a cane. I also have my husband and teenage kids to help me.

If in a chair, will I spend my entire vacation looking a people's backsides (or frontsides)? Also, does a larger crowd make wheeling it impossible (impassable)?

I'm torn on whether to bring it or not. We are driving and it takes up a lot of cargo space.

Another concern is the busses. I cannot stand on the bus, there's no possible way, I would fall undoubtedly. But, if using just a cane, will it be possible to get a seat? Do I have to have a more obvious visible sign of disability in order to get a seat? With the extreme crowds, I'm sure the busses will be packed with people standing.

I have a lot of worries. Please tell me how you have managed either with a cane or a wheelchair. What are the plusses and minuses of each?
 
As for the busses the driver can ask if someone will give up there set but most of the time if there is no set left you will need to wait for another bus
 
Yeah, what gap said about the buses - if there are no seats, wait for the next bus.

Unless you have a really long torso, yes, you will have bottom-eye views. Consider a rollator instead.
 
I would use your wheelchair. With two other people in your party you always can trade off with who can help push. Also, you can have one in the front breaking the path for you to get through.

You can walk with using your wheelchair like a walker if you want to do so. Also, you can stand holding on to your wheelchair when viewing a parade or fireworks.

When it comes to bus service no one is required to give you a seat. Having the wheelchair will get you on the bus first and then you will have a seat for sure. At the end of the day it is even more difficult to get anyone to give up a seat. Everyone is tired.

The average walking is 6 miles in a park including ride queues. Some can do 10 miles if they are there from opening to closing. This can be taxing if you don't normally do that amount of walking.
 
We are visiting the world over New Year's, Dec 27-Jan2. I am debating if I should use my wheelchair. I don't normally use it at home, but occasionally will use a cane for balance. I am worried because my balance gets worse as I get tired. However, I'm concerned that a using a wheelchair in extreme crowds may be harder than navigating with a cane. I also have my husband and teenage kids to help me.

If in a chair, will I spend my entire vacation looking a people's backsides (or frontsides)? Also, does a larger crowd make wheeling it impossible (impassable)?

Not gonna lie... sitting in/on any mobility device, you are going to see a LOT of butts (fewer fronts) when it's that busy at Disney. However, you have to weight your options here: Try to find the humor in looking at that many butts - or - the toll that doing what our family calls "The Disney Shuffle" - that slow, halting walk in a crowd - will take on you.

There are fewer and fewer quick, easy places to sit in the Parks now; although Disney is making more planters and low walls that you can perch on, anything that remotely resembles a place to sit will quickly be covered by... butts. So it's your butt (standing) up or yours sitting down, looking at everyone else's - your choice. If you choose to walk, and there is absolutely no place to sit when you get tired, what will you do?

I'm torn on whether to bring it or not. We are driving and it takes up a lot of cargo space.

Rent one when you get to Orlando. (Well, make rental arrangements ahead of time) but don't feel the need to bring your personal chair unless it is an ultralight custom, or has some other special compelling feature you can't get on a rental. Bring along your gel cushion (if you use one).

Another concern is the busses. I cannot stand on the bus, there's no possible way, I would fall undoubtedly. But, if using just a cane, will it be possible to get a seat? Do I have to have a more obvious visible sign of disability in order to get a seat? With the extreme crowds, I'm sure the busses will be packed with people standing.

I will be honest - at that time of year, I would not expect a busy bus driver to be able to pick you out of the crowd and offer you disability based boarding because of your cane. Additionally, depending on which Resort you stay at, you may have to wait for 2, or even 3 buses just to get on. Can you stand - at the end of a long, Disney day - for that long? Having the chair will give you a place to sit while you wait for the bus, and you won't have to worry about being too tired to stand.

I have a lot of worries. Please tell me how you have managed either with a cane or a wheelchair. What are the plusses and minuses of each?

I have my own personal ECV that I travel with. I no longer have the option to just use my cane. My observations are based on the perspective of someone who has been doing WDW from a seated position for several years now, my most recent trip in September of this year (2018). Sitting down at Disney is *not* fun, and it's not what anyone wants, but what you will have to remember is that the average Guest at WDW will walk between 3 and 10 miles per day. That's in addition to all of the standing and waiting. Be honest - can you handle even a "light" Disney day?

I say take the chair (or rent one) and then you don't have to worry. You won't arrive back at the hotel, sore and hurting and trying to get comfortable and sleep on an unfamiliar bed. Because you won't be hurting, your family may actually have a better time - and they won't have to stop all of the time so that you can find a place to sit. They won't have to worry about slowing down so that you can keep up. They won't have to worry about overdoing it if they want to stay for the Kiss Goodnight.

You don't have to sit the whole time in the wheelchair. You can get out, and push the chair (using it like a walker) and you can even park it (just ask a Cast Member where the best spot is to leave it) and walk around an area for a while. But have the chair so that if you need it, you have it - and you and your family can just go on and have fun.

Whatever you decide, I hope that your holidays are as magical as you wish them to be! :)
 
I am worried because my balance gets worse as I get tired.
Please don't take chances with your balance issues - from someone who has fallen way too many times. I went to the doctor using no mobility devices to have a nerve conduction test - I fell down walking about 4 feet to the test room which resulted in 7 stitches to my lip (and lots of blood all over the place).

I fell earlier this year and was so lucky to "only" have a broken collarbone. A hip fracture would have been so much worse. I must have had 10 falls in the past year - yes it has taken me a long time to learn that I just can't do what I used to be able to do. When I went for a physical a few months ago the doctor asked me if I'd fallen in the past year - I had to tell her that my last fall had just been less than an hour earlier walking with a rollator in from the parking lot. It took my DH, a physical therapist and a doctor to get me back up.

I am not implying that you have as many issues as I do - but less than 2 years ago I could walk 3 miles at a brisk pace quite easily. Falls are so dangerous. Please be careful. Most of my falls had to do with loss of dignity thank goodness. But sometimes people die. The daughter-in-law of a friend (only 40 and very healthy and fit) tripped at her brother-in-law's home and hit her head. Her BIL is a not only a doctor - but is a highly respected head of a department at a major hospital. Even with having a well qualified doctor right there the fall was fatal.
 
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