Wheelchair at Animal Kingdom

[Simba's Mom]

I wouldn’t plan on too much self-propelling either unless you are an experienced wheelchair user. Self-propelling is a lot more demanding than most people think, particularly if you are not in a chair that is made for it. Your standard rental chair is not.

I pretty much self-propel all around WDW in a custom chair except at AK. DH has to take over after a while because the constant inclines and bumps take a toll.

Definitely take your crutches and do what you can.

Actually I was wondering if the wheelchairs in the WDW parks are all self-propelling, or are they the kind you can push, but have small wheels (I think those are called "transport chairs". For example, I was at Winnie the Pooh recently, and they said I'd have to transfer to a wheelchair for the line. However, I didn't have anyone to push me, and I don't think the wheelchair is self-propell-able (small wheels), so a CM was nice enough to push me. Since I can't guarantee that at Pirates, I've never done that ride. But if the wheelchairs are self-propelled-able, I can do that.

 

[mamabunny]

With a "transport chair" (the kind that has four small wheels) you can try to "peddle" if you have control of your feet/legs by simply putting your feet on the ground, and "walking" (while sitting in the chair) forward with your feet. My Mom did this towards the end of her life; she couldn't walk after her strokes, but could (and did) peddle almost everywhere she wanted to go as long as it was relatively level. She had long enough legs that she didn't have to sit too far forward for her feet to reach the ground. If your legs aren't long enough, it could be a tip hazard.

Of course, with a standard wheelchair, the larger back wheels have the hand rims that you grasp to self propel.

 

[gap2368]

So how bad is the FOP hill to get into the ride? Is it ToT steep? Magic Kingdom Monorail steep? Or just pretty steep? I'll be doing it next month solo and I get around fairly well but I do avoid the Monorail hill because it's just too steep, I'd rather walk to the Contemporary and catch the monorail there.


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sorry to tell you this but the ride itself is on the second floor it is above the river ride it self. ( might be the 3 floor) and it goes up from there ( so floor 3,4,5) there is a pretty steep hill outside the queue area, and then a kind of steep hill inside this is the FP line. ( now I did do the standby queue during preview and really do not remember how steep this one is).

after the ride where you go down the steepest part is outside there is a switchback ramp ( I think 3 back and forth) to get out so no elevator that you can use Or I am like 99.99% sure there is no elevator.

 

[Simba's Mom]

With a "transport chair" (the kind that has four small wheels) you can try to "peddle" if you have control of your feet/legs by simply putting your feet on the ground, and "walking" (while sitting in the chair) forward with your feet. My Mom did this towards the end of her life; she couldn't walk after her strokes, but could (and did) peddle almost everywhere she wanted to go as long as it was relatively level. She had long enough legs that she didn't have to sit too far forward for her feet to reach the ground. If your legs aren't long enough, it could be a tip hazard.

Of course, with a standard wheelchair, the larger back wheels have the hand rims that you grasp to self propel.

Thanks for that reminder about the transport chair. I can "peddle" myself. It's just that in the dark Pirates queu, I've got no balance and I'm afraid I'll trip and fall. This would work perfectly. Pirates of the Carribean here I come!