Wheelchairs: Disney vs Third party

[princesslover]

I’ve been pretty set with our plan to rent a chair at the parks when we go with my 75 year old Mom. But then I started thinking about doing rope drop and having to stop and deal with grabbing the rental as we get in the park.

On the other hand, not really loving having to load on boat/monorail either. Likely no busses this trip).

I know there are various options but is there a clear best choice here? (My mom can’t operate a scooter so please don’t suggest that.)

Thanks!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I’ve been pretty set with our plan to rent a chair at the parks when we go with my 75 year old Mom. But then I started thinking about doing rope drop and having to stop and deal with grabbing the rental as we get in the park.

On the other hand, not really loving having to load on boat/monorail either. Likely no busses this trip).

I know there are various options but is there a clear best choice here? (My mom can’t operate a scooter so please don’t suggest that.)

Thanks!

remember that the park wheelchair can not go out gate. that can be a long walk from monorail or boat and again at end of day back. there are very few if any benches for waiting for transportation. you will be in line for chair while other rope droppers are heading straight to the rides. also for monorail is mom going to handle the ramp up or down at the park. I would go with the offsite rental over stopping as you enter the park. wheelchairs roll on to monorail with a moveable ramp at the door. also larger boats are also roll on so no folding needed. granted you said no buses but most larger boats you also roll on without folding

 

[scrappinginontario]

I recommend renting from offsite company so you have it with you all the time. There is a lot of walking at Disney that is outside the gates of the 4 parks.

 

[princesslover]

Thank you both. Has anyone used Buena Vista rentals? They say you have to be there for drop off as well as return which is concerning because we will be leave very early on departure day and their earliest pick up time is 8:15. Not very convenient.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We’ve used Buena Vista in the past and really liked their service but, that was before Disney had vendors of record. I would recommend looking around the disABILITIES forum as I guess they would have information about the vendors who are allowed to leave mobility devices with luggage services.

 

[bluecruiser]

Scooterbug is Disney's only "featured" provider. They're the parks and hotel vendor for wheelchairs, ECVs, and strollers. Because of that they're the only vendor that you don't have to meet to pick up/drop off a wheelchair. You can do a length-of-stay rental from them, just like offsite vendors. I don't have any experience using them, but you can check out the details at their website (which I linked to their name above).

After a quick look at their website it appears all-day rentals from them are similar in price to daily rental prices at the parks.

 

[GXIncognto]

We just got back from a trip where I rented a wheelchair for my wife because she is recovering from surgery. I would definitely recommend renting one for length of stay rather than at the park each day, as it provides a lot more flexibility. We rented from Scooterbug due to the convenience of being Disney's "preferred" vendor that is allowed to drop off and pick up with bell services at the hotel. The process was super easy and the price was $115 for a 12 night trip, which I thought was very reasonable. You may be able to find something better or cheaper if you go with another vendor but you do lose the convenience of just picking it up and dropping it off with bell services.

The one drawback of having a wheelchair the whole time was the process of loading and unloading it from our rental car. That was a pain in the butt. Getting it on and off the monorail was a bit of a hassle as well, but the ferry was no problem. We didn't use any of the smaller boats. Getting it through security wasn't that bad as my wife could stand and walk herself through the metal detector...I'm not sure what the process is like for somebody that can't really get out of the wheelchair.

 

[kathy884]

remember that the park wheelchair can not go out gate. that can be a long walk from monorail or boat and again at end of day back. there are very few if any benches for waiting for transportation. you will be in line for chair while other rope droppers are heading straight to the rides. also for monorail is mom going to handle the ramp up or down at the park. I would go with the offsite rental over stopping as you enter the park. wheelchairs roll on to monorail with a moveable ramp at the door. also larger boats are also roll on so no folding needed. granted you said no buses but most larger boats you also roll on without folding

We were offsite and rented scooters on park days for my 85 year old dad in the park. In the handicapped parking area they had transport chairs I could use with dad till we got to the scooter rental place. And after dropping of the scooter they had transport chairs where I could take him back to the car. This was wonderful. It is not a guarantee, but we had that on each of our Disney park days.

We didn't want to mess with lifting an offsite rental scooter in and out of the car and putting it together. Sometimes it was just me and dad and I can mess myself up if I try to lift more than 35 pounds. Other times we had seven in the minivan and would not have had room for a scooter.

 

[princesslover]

Thank you everyone! I ended up renting a wheelchair from Scooterbug. You can’t beat the convenience of bell services drop off and pick up. And peace of mind of getting to the park all set to go and not worrying about availability.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

We were offsite and rented scooters on park days for my 85 year old dad in the park. In the handicapped parking area they had transport chairs I could use with dad till we got to the scooter rental place. And after dropping of the scooter they had transport chairs where I could take him back to the car. This was wonderful. It is not a guarantee, but we had that on each of our Disney park days.

We didn't want to mess with lifting an offsite rental scooter in and out of the car and putting it together. Sometimes it was just me and dad and I can mess myself up if I try to lift more than 35 pounds. Other times we had seven in the minivan and would not have had room for a scooter.

you were way luckier than we were never have we found a transport chair for MK to the gate and also never on the way back either

 

[kathy884]

you were way luckier than we were never have we found a transport chair for MK to the gate and also never on the way back either

Both our days we were at Epcot for Flower and Garden, and that's a long walk. I was thankful and relieved to have the transport chair as dad's walking ability has gotten way worse. We did Epcot for two days and SeaWorld for one day with dad on this trip. At SeaWorld we didn't have this convenience. It's not as far a walk, but was a challenge for dad.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Both our days we were at Epcot for Flower and Garden, and that's a long walk. I was thankful and relieved to have the transport chair as dad's walking ability has gotten way worse. We did Epcot for two days and SeaWorld for one day with dad on this trip. At SeaWorld we didn't have this convenience. It's not as far a walk, but was a challenge for dad.

just be prepared that parking lot transport chairs are not always available