WL Barrier Free Rooms

[dizzyintx]

Hello,
My DH just surprised me with a upgrade on our ressies for our 25th anniversary. We were staying at the ASM, he changed it to the Wilderness Lodge! I have always wanted to stay there and will still be happy even with the transporation problems. I was overjoyed with ASM, but now I'm walking on clouds. With our medical bills we are lucky to be going at all. He was going to surprise me, but couldn't keep it quiet until Nov. I realize that the water level might be a problem, but I have a couple of questions.

1) Do they have busses running to MK or the TTC? If not what does a person in a power chair do?
2) Does anyone know where the barrier free rooms are? He requested a standard room.
3) How do I back the chair up to the buses? I never backed up and it seems to me, that it's not made to back up, I would fall out or at the least get a wheel stuck. It's much easier to go up a ramp forward.
4) Has anyone in a w/c ever been on those little boats, I think there called water sprites. That doesn't look right but I can't recall what their called. Anyway, how's the transfer into them? I can walk a bit with assistance.

I am so glad I found this board. It does takes some of the pressure off. Thank you!

 

[SueM in MN]

I'm sorry your question got missed for a while. I'm bumping it up for some answers.
I will answer what I can:

1) Do they have busses running to MK or the TTC? If not what does a person in a power chair do?

We stayed at VWL for part of our vacation last year. The CMs at the front desk told us that there was bus transportation to MK if the wheelchair could not go on the boat. If I remember right, you took a bus to the TTC and from there you would take the boat to MK, or a monorail to MK or Epcot. It would be longer than taking the boat, but do-able.

2) Does anyone know where the barrier free rooms are?He requested a standard room.

I don't know the answer to this, but in general, they are spread thru out resorts, not localized in one area.

3) How do I back the chair up to the buses? I never backed up and it seems to me, that it's not made to back up, I would fall out or at the least get a wheel stuck. It's much easier to go up a ramp forward.

Most of the buses have lifts, which you do need to back on to, but it's not that hard and you are not backing up that far. My DD does it to get onto the school bus every day. You might want to practice backing up - you could tape off a parking spot in your driveway and practice backing into it. The lifts are a flat platform (the bus's back steps unfold to make a platform) lowered to ground. The platform is even with the ground and you just back onto it. Once you are on, there is a little piece on the front of the platform that raises up in front of your front wheels. The driver raises the lift and it stops flush with the bus floor. Then you back off and into the wheelchair spot on the bus. The driver will use straps on the bus to tie down your wheelchair. You can help by knowing places on the front and back of your wheelchair where the straps can be safely attached. In general, the spots have to be part of the actual frame of the wheelchair, not pieces that could come off. Like, you would not want to tie down to swing away footrest, but you could use the frame part of the wheelchair that the swing away footrests fasten to. If you can't figure out, your wheelchair equipment company should be able to help. We use bright colored tape to mark the "safe" tiedown areas on DD's wheelchair. Much easier to say to the driver "look for the hot pink tape" than "you can use that piece at the front that sticks out in back of the footrest".
The newer buses have ramps and you are right, it is hard to back a wheelchair up a ramp, especially a long ramp. Power wheelchairs are not really made to back up a ramp. The front wheels are on swivels, so they go where the back wheels push or pull them. The back wheels steer by applying more or less power to a wheel, so when backing up, it's harder to control where you are going and it's easy to not back straight. You can ask to drive up the ramp (the driver may say it is against WDW policy and not allow it) or you can ask them to send a lift bus. ECVs can't be driven forward up a ramp becasue they are so back-heavy that they can easily tip.

4) Has anyone in a w/c ever been on those little boats, I think there called water sprites. That doesn't look right but I can't recall what their called. Anyway, how's the transfer into them? I can walk a bit with assistance.

I have nver ridden one, but my DH and a foreign exchange student we had did ride them. The sit very low into the water, so you would need to be able to step down into the boat from the dock (and back up again when you get out). They are quite small, so you may have some difficulty with getting in and out. You can always go down to the dock to scope them out and see if you think you could manage.

Here's some pixie dust for a great trip.

 

[dizzyintx]

Thanks Sue for all the information!!

 

[winniedapooh]

We stayed in a barrier free room last Oct. and it was on the first floor Woods View. It was a great room with a nice quiet view. As for wheelchairs, I believe you can go on the boats, but if I recall there was a sign stating that they may not be able to ride if there were too many people or water levels or something. Sorry, I can't recall what the sign said exactly. Happy 25th.

Faith, trust, and pixe dust to you.

 

[SueM in MN]

As for wheelchairs, I believe you can go on the
boats, but if I recall there was a sign stating that they may
not be able to ride if there were too many people or water
levels or something.

It's the water levels and it's not always a problem. If the water is too high or too low compared to the dock, the boat will be too high or too low for a wheelchair to dive aboard. They do have portable ramps, but they are sometimes not enough to make boarding possible. They can also do things, like load the wheelchair first if they need the boat to be floating higher in the water or load the walking passengers first (so their weight will push the boat down farther in the water).
When we were there a year ago, the water was high and we had to lift DD's wheelchair a few inches to get it on. This wasn't too much of a problem for DH and me since DD isn't very heavy. we saw someone else get out of her wheelchair and walk aboard, then they lifted the wheelchair on and she got back in. It would have been a problem though with a power wheelchair or someone bigger than our Dd who could not get out of the wheelchair.