Wheelchair and Pirates of the Caribbean

[jmartinez1895]

I have a question that I hope that one of you may be able to help with. We use a stroller as a wheelchair. Every time we ride Pirates when we get off we have to go all the way outside to the stroller parking to get ours. We asked the last tiem we rode if they could place it anywhere closer and we were told that all strollers must be parked outside. Because our son was very reday to ride and he was light enogh for us to carry we did not push the issue.
I am just curious if they can leave it closer that this or if ther is a diferant way to get to it that may be closer. What if a person with major mobility issues was riding ( or can they)? Thanks for any input.

 

[Chuck S]

Even though we travel with our own manual chair (and this may vary by season) we have been asked to transfer to another manual chair supplied at the queue entrance area...if your GAC lists Stroller as Wheelchair, you would probably need to do the same.

At the exit of the ride, there is another supplied manual chair waiting, then you go up an elevator to the park walkway level, and you have to go back and trade it for your own personal wheelchair (or in your case, stroller).

 

[jmartinez1895]

Thanks for the reply. Next time we I'll be sure to ask them for assistance.

 

[MattDisney]

They can take you to a back entrance so that your wheelchair will be waiting for you when you get off. My daughter has her own wheelchair that has been specially made to help her sit. If she transfered to a regular chair she would fall out.

We have had issues on more than one occasion where a cast member said we had to transfer to a regular chair and park her chair. It was a long drawn out discussion, however, when they saw she has very weak trunk control and physically cant sit very well, they allowed us to keep her in her personal chair.

 

[SueM in MN]

They can take you to a back entrance so that your wheelchair will be waiting for you when you get off.

They don't need to take you to a back entrance to have the wheelchair waiting. They may, but usually don't take guests to the back entrance to the boarding area because it involves bringing them into a backstage area. We have brought DD's wheelchair to the boarding area of Pirates many times, each time thru the regular line.

Like the previous poster, our DD is not able to sit in one of the attraction wheelchairs. We have been asked to have her transfer to the attraction wheelchair, because that is easier for the CMs. When we explained she can't sit in one of those, we have been able to bring DD's wheelchair to the boarding area. Sometimes, we have been asked to come back at a time when they have CMs available to move her wheelchair from boarding to exit.

If you can use one of the attraction wheelchairs, it is much easier, which is why they want people to switch to one of the attraction wheelchairs if at all possible.

The reason for the change to an attraction wheelchair is how Pirates was constructed. Some attractions have guests using wheelchairs board at the exit, or the exit is close to the boarding area, making it easy to get wheelchairs from boarding to exit. THis is not the case at Pirates.

The queue for the Pirates is quite long and can be blocked off to be a fairly straight line to the boarding area when few people are there or many twists and turns so it can hold lots of people. There is not an easy way to get wheelchairs from the boarding area to the exit, which is actually in a different building and down one floor from the boarding area.
It is not possible to board at the exit because right after guests get off the boats, the boats go up through a passage that is just high enough for the boats.
It can be difficult sometimes for the CMs to get the wheelchairs all the way from boarding to the exit in the time that the guest is on the ride. With attraction wheelchairs, this is not a problem, as long as there are a few attraction wheelchairs waiting at the exit. This can be a problem with guest's own wheelchairs, as the wheelchair may not always make it to the exit before the guest does.
We have not had a problem and DD's wheelchair has always been waiting for us when we got off.

 

[mommy2allgirls]

When I rode in June with a wheelchair I stayed in my chair the whole time utnil I got to the boat and then they said it would be waiting for me when I got off. It was there as we got off along with other peoples chairs. We did have to ride the elevator up but found it to be no hassle. I thought this was the norm. I am going in a couple weeks and I wonder hwo it will be

 

[SueM in MN]

When I rode in June with a wheelchair I stayed in my chair the whole time utnil I got to the boat and then they said it would be waiting for me when I got off. It was there as we got off along with other peoples chairs. We did have to ride the elevator up but found it to be no hassle. I thought this was the norm. I am going in a couple weeks and I wonder hwo it will be

The norm is to ask if you can use one of their wheelchairs in the line to boarding and have one of their wheelchairs at the unload area to use.
If you can't do that, they will work with you to bring your own wheelchair to boarding and unload.

This actually works much more smoothly than how they used to do it years ago - which was you could bring your own wheelchair to the boarding area only if it was small and/or light enough to fold and throw into the back seat of the boat.
Now, they are basically prioritizing which guests need their own wheelchairs and which guests are able to use a 'generic' park wheelchair. This allows them to standardize things a little more and concerntrate the assistance on guests who can't access the ride without it.

Regarding the 'back entrance access' that was mentioned by another poster earlier -
there are 2 boarding areas, both in the same area on opposite sides of the water. When the lines are long, both boarding areas are used. there are actually 2 mostly parallel queues. When lines are short, they only use one queue and one boarding area. When it's busy, they use both.
Guests using wheelchairs use the left side queue as you enter the attraction. That leads to the more open boarding area that allows more room for boarding and also allows the CMs to get the wheelchair moved.
In the past, when it was not busy, they mostly used the right side queue. Since it is difficult to get a wheelchair out of that boarding area, the CMs would need to get the guest with a wheelchair to the left boarding area. If there is a CM there, the greeter CM can just route people with wheelchairs or other special needs to the left queue, even though most guests are entering the right queue.
If there is no CM at the left boarding area, that would be when they would send a CM with the guest the backstage area to that boarding area.
In our last few trips, it has not been that busy and we noticed they were using the left line for all guests.

 

[mommy2allgirls]

weird I wonder why they let me go all the way maybe it wasn't too crowded that day I don't know

I do think the normal way is more productive for everyone all around, at least it sounds like it is

 

[jmartinez1895]

Thanks for all of the info. My main issue was that they let my son stay in his stroller all the way to the boat, but when we got off we had to carry him all the way outside because they put it outside after we got on the ride. THey never offered us a wheelchiar, so next time I will know to ask.

 

[OneLittleSpark]

When you get to the ride exit, there should be a row of MK wheelchairs against the wall, which you can use to get back to your chair / ECV / stroller. Just make sure you ask a CM which are the chairs you can use, so you don't accidentally take one that somebody rented for the day!

These chairs are the standard adult folding wheelchairs, so won't provide him with much support at all. I don't know how much trunk control he has, but if he's not able to keep himself sitting upright, you may need to hold him in the seat for the journey back to your stroller.

Another option that might work, would be tipping the chair backwards into a wheelie on the large back wheels. That way the seat and back would be at an angle, so gravity would stop him falling out. If you try this, do be aware that the seat and back are two different pieces, so there is a gap he might slip into a little. It won't be big enough for him to fall through, so it shouldn't be anything worth worrying about for such a short journey.