Wheelchair rooms at OKW?

[colleen costello]

HI folks. Can anyone who has stayed in a wheelchair 2-bedroom at OKW tell me what they are like? We are going in March with my parents and trying to decide whether or not to request such a room. Mom uses a wheelchair but is not confined to the chair. I spoke to Disney today and they will only guarantee a wheelchair room. Otherwise, they will not PROMISE a ground-floor or elevator access room.

Here are my concerns. First, we don't want to take a wheelchair room from someone who really needs one! Mom can walk; she has asthma and bad knees and just can't walk far or climb more than a few steps. I have stayed in wheelchair rooms at other hotels (not purposely) and the showers were hard to use. If you are standing in the shower, the spray hits you in the shoulder or butt. Also, we have 2 small children and really do need a bathtub. I would have thought only ONE bathroom was wheelchair-friendly, but reservations today said otherwise.

Help! Can anyone describe these rooms, and are there enough to go around for us to tie one up? It bugs me that they just can't promise us a ground-floor room! I figured someone out there could advise me on how to go from here.

 

[SueM in MN]

We have been DVC members at OKW since 1993 and always request a first floor room or one in the buildings with elevators. They WILL tell you that you are not guaranteed a first floor room unless you take a wheelchair accessible room, but they DO fill the medical requests first before the general requests. So the chance of you NOT getting a first floor room is very low. Also at OKW, a lot of people request a second or third floor room because they like not having anyone above them. Make sure that your reservation confirmation form says FIRST FLOOR FOR MEDICAL REASONS (or something very similar) and you should not have a problem.
When you check in, ask if it is on the first floor when they give you the room number; if it's not, you can ask for another room assignment. But in 9 years of going there, we have not had a problem.

We have posters who do stay in the totally accessible units. We usually just stay in a regular room since DD is not very large and doesn't need all the features. The regular 2 bedroom room is plenty big to drive a wheelchair around in. I have been told that there are also different levels of handicapped accessibility. The fully wheelchair accessible rooms have roll in showers, rollunder sinks, some changes in the kitchen to make everything accessible to someone seated in a wheelchair. There may also be handicapped accessible rooms that have raised seat toilets, grab bars by the toilet and the bathtub, but not the roll in showers or other wheelchair features. The general layout and size of the rooms is the same whether regular, wheelchair accessible or handicapped accessible. Even in the fully accessible rooms, you still have one tub - the whirlpool in the master bathroom. The master bathroom is actually 2 rooms. One is a room with a sink in a long counter, toilet and shower. The other part of the master bathroom has a closet, another sink and a whirlpool tub.

 

[colleen costello]

Thanks, Sue! You can get answers to everything here on the Dis Boards! I DID tell them our request was for medical reasons, and I normally know they will fill the request. But with all this new "first come first served" weirdness, I wasn't sure.

I also suspected that in a 2-bathroom unit, ONE bathroom would have a tub. The lady at the 800-number swore otherwise. That's why I asked you all!

Thanks for the help.

 

[SueM in MN]

Even with all the "first come first served" experiment they have been talking about at OKW, I don't see how they can NOT assign rooms ahead of time for people with medical needs. If you have a wheelchair or absolutely can't climb steps, it's not like you can use a 2nd floor room if they give you that.
From what I have read, the "experiment" is to try to be able to actually have a room people can get into right away when they check in. With the assign ahead of time system, if you came at 3pm, "your" room might not be ready. There might be another room that pretty much meets your requests that is ready, but it's assigned to someone else, who won't actually arrive until 6pm. The experiment allows them to give you the room that's ready.
LindaDVC can answer the questions better about the fully wheelchair accessible room. It's been a long time since we stayed in one, but I do remember it still had the whirlpool tub. You may actually find that some of the features (raised seat toilet and grab bars) are helpful for your mom. If so, don't fell bad requesting the handicapped room.