Wheelchair Availibility at Parks

[jweber5215]

Hello,

My family (my DH, 2 DDs and DS and me) will be visiting WDW in November and we will be bringing my 73 year old mother with us. She is in good health but has problems walking or standing in line for any length of time so we are planning on renting a wheelchair for her. We won't need one all the time, just for those longer days at the parks. My question is how readily available are wheelchairs at the parks? We plan on arriving no later than an hour after opening at each park. I don't want to risk not having a wheelchair available for her, and I'll go ahead and rent one from one of the Orlando companies mentioned here on the boards if there is a chance that we might not be able to rent one at the parks. Also, does anyone have experience with park hopping and whether or not the park would still have a wheelchair to rent later in the day. I don't know how often we would do this but it will help make my decision to know.

Thank you for any input and for all the messages here on the board. This will be my mothers first time to WDW and we want to make this a great trip for her.

Jennifer

 

[SueM in MN]

Glad to hear that this board has been helpful to you.
I can't directly answer your questions since my DD has her own wheelchair, but I can give you a little more information. Hopefully someone will be along who can give more.
November would usually be a slow month except around Thanksgiving. So your chances of getting a wheelchair at the parks, would be much better than during the middle of Spring break or Christmas season. From what I have read, they don't often run out of wheelchairs, especially if you are going to the parks by an hour after opening. ECVs are in shorter supply.
Some people have taken the phone contact info for the medical equipment companies with them. That way, if you feel you need to rent one from outside, you willl have the information handy. Another thing to think about is the resort. You may be able to borrow one from your resort, if you are staying on site. Some people have had good luck with that, others have either found no wheelchairs available, or what is offered is not appropriate for them - like an extra wide size when they need a regular one.

 

[cupcake]

I would think you will be fine. In fact, I don't even bring mine (I have a folding wheelchair bc I only have problems walking or standing for extended periods of time). There have always been plenty of wheelchairs even when we park hopped and weren't getting them first thing in the morning. The only time I ever had a potential problem was over New Year's. At the Magic Kingdom, there were people waiting when we returned mine and guest services said to get one from our resort for subsequent days just in case (park was at capacity). My resort was out but they borrowed one for me from another resort. They were very helpful. Also, for Epcot, there is a tendency for people to enter at future world and leave at the world showcase so if you come in the evening, there is a small chance that if it is very crowded someone might have to walk all the way over and get a wheelchair (again, saw this happen when we returned a wheelchair at the world showcase during that same New Year's trip). Maybe the moral is just not to go when it is super crowded! Honestly, even if it's pretty crowded, I would not worry. Have a fun trip!!

Cupcake