Wheelchair Report!

[gjki]

Just wanted again thank everyone for your pixie dust and tell you about our trip to Disney.
We were there 1/25 - 2/2. My daughter tore up her knee a week before our trip, so we had crutches and a wheelchair.

Security at St. Louis and Orlando airport was tight and because her leg brace made every machine beep they did a body search on her. But we had left plenty of time so all was well.
American airlines asurred me repeatedly that they would have a wheelchair available for her -
they did after we told them again and waited. She could not sit in the bulkhead seat because they were the emergency exits and she just turned 13 (at Disney)

We stayed at POR we got a wheelchair from them when we checked and kept it for our entire visit. We took it on the buses, she would hop on the bus and we would fold the chair and carry it on. They took an imprint of my credit card for a $250 deposit, which they signed off on at the end of our visit. The wheelchiar was a God send. No long walks to and from bus stops to the wheelchiar rental place etc.

There were some disappointments and lots of staring but my daughter learned alot about judging and being judged. Appearences are sometimes decieving. The good outweighed the bad.

I'll try to answer questions about rides and shows or whatever.

 

[teri]

I am so glad that you had a good trip!

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for sharing. I was wondering how things turned out for you.
Glad to hear that everything went well, despite her injury.

 

[colleen121]

Hi glad your trip went well!!!


I would love to know more about what rides and things were accessible, what to avoid etc. I have CP and use a manuel chair to get around. But i can tranfer and walk a few steps with raillings
Thanks

 

[gjki]

I do not know if it was because of the low crowds, but we had, with few exceptions, very
good CM's that gave her all the time she needed. She went on every ride she wanted to
Tower of Terror - 9 times, Rock-n-Roller - 8 times. Aladdin, Winnie the Pooh, Tea Cups etc.

We would take her to the entrance, a CM would tell us where to stand then when we
got close to the ride vehicle, she would walk the few steps and get on.

At Star Tours and Haunted Mansion you will miss the pre show.

At Kali River Rapids we had to wait for them to pull a boat to the side and tie it down
before she was allowed on, but since there were few people in line they let us to stay
on for 3 trips in a row.

Hope this helps.

 

[teri]

colleen, take a look at the information in the Disabilities Information Disabilities Information section of the DIS site, especially the section about mobility impaitments. It gives the transfer information for most rides, and it is pretty up to date.

I am pretty sure SueM and others had a very nice long descriptive post about accessibility of various rides about 6 weeks ago, maybe... hmmmm..... wonder if we can find that and bump it...

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't know if this is the thread you are thinking of , teri, but I did put some pretty detailed info about getting on rides.
What rides are you most interested in, Colleen? My DD has CP. She can only walk with us holding her up, but we have been to WDW about 20 times in the last 15 years. She has been on everything except Space Mountain, BTMRR and Rock n Roller Coaster.
There are a few rides that have railings in the boarding area, but they are mostly there to keep the crowds in line right before boarding and they won't be very helpful for boarding. If you have some rides you are especially interested in, I can search my memory bank for how the boarding is and I'm sure some of the other posters can add on too.

 

[JudithM]

Glad to read al went well with the use of a wheelchair. Hope your daughter's knee gets better soon.