Wheelchair on bus and in line

[Pamnkevin]

So my 71 yr old father will be using a wheelchair for the first time ever during our trip. He is not disabled but is older and has trouble getting around and standing for an extended period of time. He does not plan on sitting in it at all times but using it more for support.

So I know not all busses are wheelchair accessible, so will we be allowed to fold it and bring it on any bus like a stroller or are we limited to the other buses.

And in the lines that are too narrow for wheelchairs...will he be permitted to enter through a different way until the rest of the party meets up with him at the ride?

 

[dawnhaze]

Actually, all the park/resort buses are wheelchair accessible (at least that I've ever seen), it's just for the Magical Express to/from the airport that you need to request an accessible bus ahead of time if you need one. But yes, you can fold the wheelchair to take it on the park buses if you want to, he doesn't have to use the ramp/lift if it isn't a necessity for him.

At the very few queues that can't accommodate a manual wheelchair (Big Thunder Mountain comes to mind, among others), he should be given a return time on a little paper card to come back with his party through an accessible entrance after the current wait time for the attraction has elapsed. (This is not the DAS, this is attraction-specific, and it hasn't been the most consistent thing in my experience, but I hear they're getting there.)

 

[blondietink]

Yes, you will be able to fold up the wheelchair and take it with you on the buses. Both of my DS's use wheelchairs due to heart defects, and we do this all the time. They can walk for short distances and folding it up to take on the bus saves a lot of time and space. We just wait in the regular bus line and when we come to the cutout for wheelchairs, we stay there. Many times when a bus comes, they will motion for us to go on the bus first through the back doors.

 

[WheeledTraveler]

All of the buses within WDW are accessible with at least 2 spots to tie down wheelchairs or ECVs. You do always have the option of boarding and folding the wheelchair with him sitting on a bus seat as well (or folding it an carrying it on, but that can be heavy). Some Magical Express buses have lifts. If you put on your reservation that you need a bus with a lift, they should have one (remind them when you check-in at the ME desk). If the bus there at the time doesn't have a lift you will have a choice between waiting for a bus with a lift or folding the wheelchair and sticking it in the area under the bus where bags are carried and having your father walk on. The stairs onto DME buses are very steep so if stairs are a major problem, you may want to just wait for a bus with a lift (recent reports have said that more and more of the buses have lifts).

Most queues are wheelchair accessible so everyone will just go through the queue together. On the few queues that aren't, he'll either be sent directly through the alternate entrance (with up to 5 other members of the party) or be given a return card with what time your group can come back so he can use the alternate entrance. My understanding is that return time cards are not necessarily given if the wait time for the regular queue isn't very long and there isn't a back-up on riders needing the alternate entrance. I believe if he's given a return time card, he has to show up within the hour after the time on the card. He can hold return time cards for multiple rides at once. Unless you have a very large party, the group won't need to be split up at any point.

Please note that there is no accessible way to access Tomorrowland Transit Authority. The queue is a moving walkway on an incline so if he can manage that (the walkway also cannot be slowed), he can leave the wheelchair in stroller parking to ride. Otherwise your group probably will want to skip it. Most rides with moving walkways can slow the walkway, although it seems that more recently CMs have not wanted to slow/stop some of the moving walkways. The moving walkway at Peter Pan is the only one, other than TTA, that cannot be stopped at all.

 

[Pamnkevin]

Thanks everyone. Great information...this helps a lot. Guess I was reading about DME when I heard there were limited busses. He will be very happy to hear about the line options too. Especially where they'll give you a pass for a later return. Thanks again

 

[YayHeyNoWay]

FYI, on our last trip, my daughter uses a wheelchair. We were at the bus stop at our resort, waiting for a park bus (not DME). An almost full bus pulled up to the stop, and the bus driver said there is no room for her & her wheelchair on the bus, we have to wait for the next one.

I looked inside, saw people sitting in ALL the wheelchair spots, the ones where the chairs fold up for a wheelchair or down to sit in.

There is a sign right above them that says people must give up their seats for wheelchair guests, but the bus driver said it's optional! :-/

Nice passengers ended up offering to get up, but can you believe the driver said that? I would have argued if I needed to.

 

[YayHeyNoWay]

FYI, on our last trip, my daughter uses a wheelchair. We were at the bus stop at our resort, waiting for a park bus (not DME). An almost full bus pulled up to the stop, and said there is no room for her & her wheelchair on the bus, we have to wait for the next one.

I looked inside, saw people sitting in ALL the wheelchair spots, the ones where the chairs fold up for a wheelchair or down to sit in.

There is a sign right above them that says people must give up their seats for wheelchair guests, but the bus driver said it's optional! :-/

Nice passengers ended up offering to get up, but can you believe the driver said that? I would have argued if I needed to.

I think I should post this somewhere more centrally, so other people know about it.

 

[Gracie09]

I think I should post this somewhere more centrally, so other people know about it.

The bus driver can ask but not require people to move. The people sitting there could have had an medical problem that made it difficult or impossible for them to stand on a moving bus. They could have been on a ecv and opted to sit in a seat instead of on the ecv as it is safer. You can't tell by looking at someone if they have a disability that requires they sit on a moving bus

 

[YayHeyNoWay]

The bus driver can ask but not require people to move. The people sitting there could have had an medical problem that made it difficult or impossible for them to stand on a moving bus. They could have been on a ecv and opted to sit in a seat instead of on the ecv as it is safer. You can't tell by looking at someone if they have a disability that requires they sit on a moving bus

Thanks for your reply. I totally get that about invisible disabilities. But that was NOT the case here. The people were fine getting up, but the driver had not bothered to ask. Why have the sign if they have no intention to use it? There was no other wheelchair or ECV on this bus.

I will quote you the sign:

PRIORITY SEATING
Passengers must give up
those seats to guests using
wheelchairs / scooters

Nothing about medical problems or being impossible to stand on a moving bus. I am going by the sign, and I do not wish to debate you on this. Just letting other people know that some bus driver(s) won't bother to enforce the sign placed there by Disney. I feel that passengers to whom this applies should know to speak up about it, that is all.

 

[disney david]

Thanks for your reply. I totally get that about invisible disabilities. But that was NOT the case here. The people were fine getting up, but the driver had not bothered to ask. Why have the sign if they have no intention to use it? There was no other wheelchair or ECV on this bus.

I will quote you the sign:

PRIORITY SEATING
Passengers must give up
those seats to guests using
wheelchairs / scooters

Nothing about medical problems or being impossible to stand on a moving bus. I am going by the sign, and I do not wish to debate you on this. Just letting other people know that some bus driver(s) won't bother to enforce the sign placed there by Disney. I feel that passengers to whom this applies should know to speak up about it, that is all.

Why should the driver have to ask if their a sign posted it not placed their by Disney it required by federal law on every single bus in the us. So you can read the sign to quote it so why can't the guest seating in it the first place couldn't read it not to seat in it. You speaking tip but don't know what you speaking up about you think these signs are posted by Disney their not the company that makes the buses have to put them on the bus to make them complaint with federal laws your speaking up about the driver but not speaking up about guest taking personnel response ability. and not sit in those seats because they see the signs or get when they see a guest waiting to load so they should get up on their own. Again all the driver has to do by federal law is ask a guest that it then go by company policy. Yeah the driver shouldn't said it was optional he was wrong.

 

[lizard1]

Thanks for your reply. I totally get that about invisible disabilities. But that was NOT the case here. The people were fine getting up, but the driver had not bothered to ask. Why have the sign if they have no intention to use it? There was no other wheelchair or ECV on this bus.

I will quote you the sign:

PRIORITY SEATING
Passengers must give up
those seats to guests using
wheelchairs / scooters

Nothing about medical problems or being impossible to stand on a moving bus. I am going by the sign, and I do not wish to debate you on this. Just letting other people know that some bus driver(s) won't bother to enforce the sign placed there by Disney. I feel that passengers to whom this applies should know to speak up about it, that is all.

In my experience, they will ask people to move, as long as there are seats for them to move to. Keep in mind you are asking them to move 4 people in order to get a WC/ECV on the bus because the person in the chair is supposed to transfer if possible. Not loading the WC on an almost full bus is the same thing as not being able to load all of the people at a stop because there isn't room on the bus for them. Loading a WC or ECV (ECV more so) can be a safety concern for other passengers because they have to get it positioned correctly on the bus, which requires room for maneuvering. Also, while their signs state one thing, they are not required to force passengers to move, they can only request it...how do you know that none of those others had invisible disabilities? I don't think this is a case of drivers ignoring Disney's policy, but rather a case of the bus being too full to safely load a WC/ECV. Now, if they would load everyone else at your stop and THEN tell you there was no room, that is another story (and has happened to my parents and sister before, even when they were the first people at the bus stop).

 

[YayHeyNoWay]

Oy, I am not trying to engage in an argument or debate over anything.

You are making assumptions that I merely made assumptions. That I took the situation at face value only, that all of your suggested "what if's" were not looked into by me. I live this life with my disabled daughter, I am not new at this.

I could go on and on about all the facts that were there, including that the bus was NOT full, people were simply sitting in those seats. There was no other mobility vehicle on the bus. The people were fine with getting up.

The driver said, "the wheelchair seats are occupied, you need to wait for the next bus". He is the one not enforcing the sign, by telling us there is no room for us. There was plenty of room, just that people were sitting in the seats. I said, "Can't the people get up?" And he said "It's optional, they don't have to". Even though the sign says they "MUST".

I do not even care who placed the sign there; if there is a sign about a rule, then the driver is in charge of it. It's not anarchy on buses. But if it were, and the driver has no authority, then I should be able to board the bus and request that the passengers get up for my disabled family member. But I was not. The sitting passengers overheard the situation, and gladly offered.

Boy, people can be so blindly passionate about defending situations they did not even witness. Just take this as advice to be aware of, sheesh! This is the disabilities forum, we are all in the same boat, gosh.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

In my experience, they will ask people to move, as long as there are seats for them to move to. Keep in mind you are asking them to move 4 people in order to get a WC/ECV on the bus because the person in the chair is supposed to transfer if possible. Not loading the WC on an almost full bus is the same thing as not being able to load all of the people at a stop because there isn't room on the bus for them. Loading a WC or ECV (ECV more so) can be a safety concern for other passengers because they have to get it positioned correctly on the bus, which requires room for maneuvering. Also, while their signs state one thing, they are not required to force passengers to move, they can only request it...how do you know that none of those others had invisible disabilities? I don't think this is a case of drivers ignoring Disney's policy, but rather a case of the bus being too full to safely load a WC/ECV. Now, if they would load everyone else at your stop and THEN tell you there was no room, that is another story (and has happened to my parents and sister before, even when they were the first people at the bus stop).

That's exactly what I was going to say. Not boarding wheelchairs when it's the first stop or the bus is mostly-empty is one thing, but where the bus is already almost full because it serves multiple locations (i.e. all three All Stars) it's literally unsafe to board a wheelchair. It's not even just a matter of making people move out of the seats so they can fold up and fit a chair/scooter, they would literally have to de-board half the bus to be sure the wheelchair didn't hit anyone as it boarded. It's a scenario I see a lot with my local city buses - there is space for two wheelchairs (with seats that fold up to accommodate them), but when the bus is already mostly-full so that a wheelchair literally could not get on and to the seats without injuring someone, the driver will not board the wheelchair.

The law says a driver cannot prioritize non-chair passengers over chair passengers, but there are situations where they literally cannot adhere to that. For example, a mostly-empty bus that already has two wheelchairs/ecvs cannot board a third chair but can board a bunch of passengers without wheelchairs. The same applies here.

That being said, the overfull buses are a problem for people who need mobility devices, in particular where the bus makes multiple stops and therefore can't prioritize wheelchairs. But that's not the bus driver's fault, it's all WAY above his pay-grade.

 

[Gracie09]

Thanks for your reply. I totally get that about invisible disabilities. But that was NOT the case here. The people were fine getting up, but the driver had not bothered to ask. Why have the sign if they have no intention to use it? There was no other wheelchair or ECV on this bus. I will quote you the sign: PRIORITY SEATING Passengers must give up those seats to guests using wheelchairs / scooters Nothing about medical problems or being impossible to stand on a moving bus. I am going by the sign, and I do not wish to debate you on this. Just letting other people know that some bus driver(s) won't bother to enforce the sign placed there by Disney. I feel that passengers to whom this applies should know to speak up about it, that is all.

The thing with invisible disabilities is they are invisible. If people saw my husband before his back surgery, they would have seen a man pushing a stroller and not standing on a bus. What they would not have seen is that he was essentially using the stroller as a walker because his back was so bad he could walk completely upright. There is no way he could have handled a moving bus without sitting down, so if there was a seat he took it, if not we waited until a bus came where there was a seat. He was just as entitled to a seat in any area of the bus as any other person.

 

[YayHeyNoWay]

The thing with invisible disabilities is they are invisible. If people saw my husband before his back surgery, they would have seen a man pushing a stroller and not standing on a bus. What they would not have seen is that he was essentially using the stroller as a walker because his back was so bad he could walk completely upright. There is no way he could have handled a moving bus without sitting down, so if there was a seat he took it, if not we waited until a bus came where there was a seat. He was just as entitled to a seat in any area of the bus as any other person.

But that was NOT the case here. The people were fine getting up. As I said.

 

[OurBigTrip]

But that was NOT the case here. The people were fine getting up. As I said.

I think the bus driver should have asked, but had they said "No", there was nothing he could have done.

 

[Goofy14sure]

But that was NOT the case here. The people were fine getting up. As I said.

Did you get to board or did you have to wait?

 

[OurBigTrip]

They could of called for another bus or he could of called dispatch let them know what going on and asked for a manager to come to the scene. The manager would then explain to those guest they have to give up the seats or exit the bus. But that would take longer then getting a new bus and cause the driver more problems. So that why you may have some drivers not push the issue and just try to call for another bus instead of first asking the guest to get up.

I said absolutely nothing about pushing the issue - asking is not pushing the issue. And in this case, had the driver asked, it seems that the already seated guests would have gladly given up their seats.

It takes 30 seconds or less to ask and get a response, after which the driver can call for another bus. In this instance, that 30 seconds would have yielded good results for everyone and a happy guest. It's not a lot to ask.

 

[disney david]

I said absolutely nothing about pushing the issue - asking is not pushing the issue. And in this case, had the driver asked, it seems that the already seated guests would have gladly given up their seats.

It takes 30 seconds or less to ask and get a response, after which the driver can call for another bus. In this instance, that 30 seconds would have yielded good results for everyone and a happy guest. It's not a lot to ask.

Yeah I never said they driver shouldn't ask the guest to get up he should ask. I was responding to you saying their nothing else can be done I was saying what can be done if they don't get up. Not what should be done instead of asking the guest to get up.

 

[utterrandomness]

But that was NOT the case here. The people were fine getting up. As I said.

May I ask how you know that?