Wheelchairs on castaway cay

[Rona]

How have people been able to handle this?

 

[jdb in AZ]

From Trip Advisor:

My adult daughter is a walker/wheelchair user and it was great to see that Castaway Cay truly is fully accessible, as we had been told. We used our own wheelchair to exit the ship, and were able to walk all over the island on the paved paths. When we wanted to go directly on to the sand, there are multiple highly visible spots all over the island where you can pickup a sand wheelchair. We just left our wheelchair with the attendant, exchanged it for a sand wheelchair, had fun on the beach, then got our own wheelchair back. You can move around from beach to beach this way if you want to - use your own chair on the paved paths to get from one beach to the next, then when you get to the beach, turn in your chair for a sand chair - it was much easier and more straightforward than I had thought it would be. Like everything else, Disney does it right.

We very much enjoyed the adults only beach, Serenity Bay. There is a bar there and a BBQ - only for those over the age of 18 - so if you are traveling without children, you can go straight there and spend the entire day. We even had a cabana massage there, so idyllic, in a cabana directly on the beach, the sound of the waves and the palms surrounding you, lovely!

 

[clten]

We took my parents that had limited mobility to castaway cay with their wheelchairs. When we had a cabana, we just used their travel wheelchairs as we were only moving on paved paths until we were at the cabana. If we needed a sand wheelchair (we didn't, my parents were able to walk the short distance to the water from the cabana) the cabana host offered to have one/two waiting for us.

When we didn't have a cabana, we did leave the ship with their travel wheelchairs and did use the sand wheelchairs on the beach themselves. If you never used a beach wheelchair, they do allow you to move on the sand - just not easily! There seem to be plenty available, I know we didn't have a problem getting two of them when we needed them.

Some things I've learned - if you are leaving the ship at a busy time and there is a crowd for the tram, it might be better to skip the tram. It takes about the same amount of time to take the path to the main part of Castaway Cay as it does to take the tram. Each tram has one area for wheelchairs and if there is any crowd, it is difficult to get around them. If there is another wheelchair party waiting, you'll probably have to wait for the next tram.

If you use the sand wheelchair, choose your beach location with thought. There are parts of the family beach where the beach part is wider, some where it is more narrow - so depending on how close to the water you are intending to be more or less sand to cross to get from paved path to water. Also some parts that have more chairs/umbrella obstacles than others. So really look at the map of Castaway Cay to see where you want to be and send a scout ahead if you can.

 

[dcassetta]

The one thing I would add to the excellent posts above is to look at the beach area you're interested in and the slope of the beach going into the water. I find generally the SB side has a little bit of a steeper beach, so someone with mobility issues would find it more difficult to enter and exit the water.

 

[Rona]

Thank you everyone so much! This information is very helpful! My husband has wheelchair/walker and I really would like for him to have a fun day at the beach with the grandkids. If anyone has a suggestion for a good shady spot please let me know. We are sailing January 7th.

 

[lady9]

There are umbrellas all over the beaches. Each umbrella has 2 loungers and 2 chairs. This provided much needed shade. There are some trees but we found the umbrellas to be adequate.

 

[Rona]

There are umbrellas all over the beaches. Each umbrella has 2 loungers and 2 chairs. This provided much needed shade. There are some trees but we found the umbrellas to be adequate.

Thank you so much, we can't wait to go!