Wheelchair options - Universal and Disney

[sarabguerra]

We're headed to Universal/Disney in February. Staying at Aventura at Universal. We will not have a car. We're doing 3 park days there and 2 at Disney (HA & MK). Our 15 year old has some recent physical challenges that will effect her ability to sustain the standing/walking needed for all day park touring. This is in addition to significant anxiety and PTSD for which we will seek a DAS and equivalent at Universal. (*note her siblings have autism and need their own accommodations). She can walk and stand for probably 1/2 the day with slight to moderate pain. She can transfer to rides without assistance. Using a chair would reduce her pain and prevent having to cut our days short.

I'm kind of overwhelmed with choices and options and looking for others' experiences successfully navigating within and between the two resorts with a wheelchair, if an EVC is better, on or off property rentals, etc. She's anxious about being an extra burden by needing to be pushed, making it harder to navigate crowds and access transportation.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[RoseGold]

I don’t see how this works without a car. I can make a lot of suggestions, but they’re going to require a car.

You can rent or even buy some fantastic mobility options, but I don’t see how you’d get between Disney and universal and the airport without a car. If you arent staying on site, you’ll have the additional issue of transport to parks.

 

[katmu]

I visited both Disney and Universal in May, and rented an ECV from an offsite vendor. They dropped it off at my Disney resort on my arrival day and then picked it up and transported the ECV over to Universal for me when I moved over to Universal. I had a rental car to get between Disney and Universal. I stayed onsite at both Disney and Universal so that made getting to the parks easier. I was able to stay in the ECV through most of the queues at Disney with a few exceptions, such as Pirates. At Universal, she will need to transfer to a manual wheelchair provided by Universal so let the team members at the entrance know that she needs a wheelchair. My son was with so I had someone to push me through the queues at Universal so that helped. I hope this helps a little

 

[lanejudy]

Unless you have access to one at home to bring with you, an ECV is probably not an option. There used to be 1 vendor who would rent to older teens, the rest all require the ECV user to be at least 18 yrs old. I personally would rent a manual wheelchair that can be used to/from the resort. It can be folded on the WDW buses like a stroller if she doesn't want to sit in it. She (or anyone in the party) can push it around the parks and park it if she prefers to walk for a bit.

You will probably need a rental car or taxi to transfer from MCO to WDW to Universal and eventually back to the airport.

 

[sarabguerra]

Thank you for your help! I hadn't even realized they would restrict user age for a ECV, but that makes total sense now that I think of it.

I contacted Tony Hines earlier for our transfers to and from MCO to the hotel at Universal. She won't need the chair for our travel days. She can handle the walk to CityWalk from our hotel or use the resort transportation options without the chair as well.

I found a company that rents a smaller transport chair that might make it easier all around. At 4"8" and 100lbs, she can easily fit in a smaller chair. They look like they fold more like a stroller. We had planned to use an Uber/Lyft to get to WDW from Universal and back for the two days we're headed to MK/HS. Should we go the route of a taxi instead? Or, since she can handle the walks at the start of the day, just plan to rent a manual wheelchair at WDW?

 

[RoseGold]

Because she's small, an idea is bringing a stroller and getting DAS to mark it as a wheelchair so you can use it in queues. You can park for a while if you don't want to use it the whole time.

A beefy jogging stroller or similar would fit in a normal Uber, which might help many of these issues. I also find a jogging stroller easier to push than a manual chair, especially a flimsy cheap one. Maybe try to borrow a jogging stroller locally and see if that would work?

 

[lanejudy]

Because she's small, an idea is bringing a stroller and getting DAS to mark it as a wheelchair so you can use it in queues.

I don't think a "small" 15-yr-old would fit in a standard stroller, and most rental special needs strollers can be pretty bulky besides looking stroller-ish. A smaller (pediatric) wheelchair would be perfect for a small teen.

OP - I recommend a regular pediatric wheelchair with the larger back wheels as opposed to a transport chair with 4 small wheels; it will be more comfortable for a full day of use. There are a couple of Orlando vendors who rent the smaller-sized wheelchairs.

 

[ZJ5/9D47]

Most comments I’ve seen is people using an Uber or Lyft to get from UO to WDW.

Getting to Aventura from the airport there is the hotel-run Super Star shuttle, private transportation, Uber, Lyft, etc. I spend $2 and use the public Lynx bus since it is just me in my wheelchair.

Aventura can use the Sapphire Falls boat transportation. I think they have a bus route too but that dumps into the main security line which can get crowded at certain times of day. Wheelchairs travel easily on both.

I prefer the walking path when going to Islands of Adventure. The wheelchair ramp for the boatsis on the Universal Studios side.

You can call ahead for Universal’s disability pass and if approved they’ll give you a reference number. Just call the “guest services” number.

 

[sarabguerra]

Most comments I’ve seen is people using an Uber or Lyft to get from UO to WDW.

Getting to Aventura from the airport there is the hotel-run Super Star shuttle, private transportation, Uber, Lyft, etc. I spend $2 and use the public Lynx bus since it is just me in my wheelchair.

Aventura can use the Sapphire Falls boat transportation. I think they have a bus route too but that dumps into the main security line which can get crowded at certain times of day. Wheelchairs travel easily on both.

I prefer the walking path when going to Islands of Adventure. The wheelchair ramp for the boatsis on the Universal Studios side.

You can call ahead for Universal’s disability pass and if approved they’ll give you a reference number. Just call the “guest services” number.

Thank you for this information! I had no idea you could call ahead! Will definitely do that to ease our first morning in the park.

I don't think a "small" 15-yr-old would fit in a standard stroller, and most rental special needs strollers can be pretty bulky besides looking stroller-ish. A smaller (pediatric) wheelchair would be perfect for a small teen.

OP - I recommend a regular pediatric wheelchair with the larger back wheels as opposed to a transport chair with 4 small wheels; it will be more comfortable for a full day of use. There are a couple of Orlando vendors who rent the smaller-sized wheelchairs.

There's no chance DX will ride in a stroller, but they looked at all the options and we took some measurements with the help of PT and found an 16-18" wide chair will do. Found the thread with the approved UO vendors and will reserve from them for use at UO. Think we'll just rent a manual from Disney on those two days to avoid the hassle of transport.

Fingers crossed all the new therapy, braces, etc will make needing the chair less likely.

 

[KPeterso]

I was just in WDW with my Mom. We rent her an ECV there, but we also took our manual wheelchair for the airport and a few outings (10/1 at MK, dinner at Topolino's, some arrival day exploring). We used UBER for some of those things and I would be there with the wheelchair folded and ready to go and the drivers were so helpful loading and unloading it into the car for me (although I am used to it from home). I would just rent a regular manual wheelchair and be ready when the UBER/Lyft drivers arrive and it will only maybe a minute or 2 to the pick up or drop off.

 

[sarabguerra]

I was just in WDW with my Mom. We rent her an ECV there, but we also took our manual wheelchair for the airport and a few outings (10/1 at MK, dinner at Topolino's, some arrival day exploring). We used UBER for some of those things and I would be there with the wheelchair folded and ready to go and the drivers were so helpful loading and unloading it into the car for me (although I am used to it from home). I would just rent a regular manual wheelchair and be ready when the UBER/Lyft drivers arrive and it will only maybe a minute or 2 to the pick up or drop off.

This was so helpful. Thank you!