Wheelchair

[Fryan08]

Hello everyone I have a question. We leave for Disney in 9 days (yeah) but a member in our party has dislocated her knee cap and may be on crutches or in a wheelchair when we arrive.

I have never had this situation before and was wondering how do we do this!! Does she need anything special from her doctor to rent a wheelchair while there? Just want to make sure we have all of our bases covered before we arrive.

 

[Hopefully]

Hello everyone I have a question. We leave for Disney in 9 days (yeah) but a member in our party has dislocated her knee cap and may be on crutches or in a wheelchair when we arrive.

I have never had this situation before and was wondering how do we do this!! Does she need anything special from her doctor to rent a wheelchair while there? Just want to make sure we have all of our bases covered before we arrive.

There is tons of helpful info on the disAbilitles thread here on the DIS.
She does not need any kind of doctors note etc to rent a wheelchair. But they are first come first serve, so there is always a possibility of them running out. I don't think it happens often with wheelchairs though.
Have you considered renting a wheelchair for your length of stay from an offsite vendor? That way you have it all the time. There is tons of walking other than in the parks themselves. Getting to and from transportation or the parking lots, around the resorts etc. With an off site rental you have it for everything.
Again the disAbilities thread list vendors and recommendations.
Good Luck

 

[Betty Rohrer]

do not need doctor note but I would look at an offsite rental as most are cheaper and you can use outside of parks. can not take park rental out to transportation and end of day when it will be most needed waiting for transportation whether you drive yourselves, use buses, boats or monorail there will be a wait with no sitting

 

[JennyDrake]

I highly recommend Walker Mobility and you DEFINITELY want an off site rental so you can be guaranteed a wc AND have it all of the time.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Also consider an ECV rather than a wheelchair. Pushing or self navigating a wheelchair over the great distances at WDW can be daunting.

 

[allie_to_you]

You won't need a doctor's note to rent a wheelchair. I have had to rent a wheelchair from Disney before and I just have to say that the manual wheelchairs at Disney world pretty much suck and the ECVs are expensive! Plus, you have to return them at the end of each day/park and pick up a new one at the arrival of whatever park you are at.

I would definitely recommend renting from some place off-site whether you go with a manual wheelchair or an ECV. They will deliver the wheelchair to your resort (on or off-site) and pick it up when you are done at the end of your trip. That way, you have it for your entire trip wherever you go and you get a wheelchair that will be easier to push throughout the parks (I second the use of an ECV since pushing yourself or even having someone else do it gets very tiring, very quickly)

 

[tobikaye]

If the person is not comfortable with an ECV, I would still suggest looking into renting a wheelchair offsite or from somewhere near home and bringing it with you. The wheelchairs at WDW are difficult to push, hopefully an offsite rental would not be as difficult.

As a note, in no one is used to pushing a wheelchair, plan to trade off often or bring some type of gloves, such as batting, goalie, or biking to wear. When I first started pushing my sister's wheelchair, I always had blisters. Even now, since it is a hit and miss when she needs to use hers, I will get blisters if it my hands start to sweat.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Go to the disABILITIES Forum. Look especially at Post #2 of the general sticky. You can get directly there by following the link in my signature.