Worried about all star bus sharing using a wheelchair

[josiekiera97]

Hello. Me and my twin sister have a trip booked at the end of March (28th-31st) in to the beginning of April (1st-12th) to WDW from the UK. We just cancelled the beginning universal Orlando part of our trip and decided to do more days at Disney however the only value hotel we could get this short notice was all star movies where we are staying for 4 nights before moving to pop century! I have done some research and the bus order for sharing is sports, then music and then movies, so we will be last on the route but my concern is since I use a wheelchair how do I get on the bus so was wondering if anyone had any insight to this. If the bus is full of people from the previous 2 all star resorts but the wheelchair/ecv spaces aren't taken what happens? do they still let me on? do they make others get off/out the way so I can board? Does anybody know how often they use shared buses? My worry is that we will be waiting for ages for a bus that I can get on since we will be at the end of the route. We usually stay just at pop century which doesn't share buses so have never had this issue before and the parks appear so crowded at the moment I'm worried we will waste ages waiting for an empty enough bus. We aren't early risers so usually set off to the parks between 10 and 11am but are stay til park close kinda people. Please help, any advice/information is needed to stop me being so anxious about this!

 

[lockets]

I can't speak for those resorts but Coronado Springs let me use the wheelchair section of the bus even if people were sitting there. They got up and moved even if it meant they had to stand. Sometimes people were asked by the bus driver to temporarily disembark to give me more room to "parallel park" the ECV along the wall where they strapped me in. Then they re-boarded and in some cases had to stand around me which didn't bother me or seem to bother them. People were really curteous and the bus drivers were also very good about making me feel safe and cared for.

 

[Her Dotness]

My DH uses a powerchair, and we've experienced what lockets described.

The bus drivers are very good at helping you get onto the bus safely and securing your chair once you do.

In fact, drivers will tell those waiting for the bus with you that they must wait to board until the driver has you on the bus and ready to ride.

Try to focus on what a magical time you'll have. I think you'll look back on your trip and wonder why you spent this time anxious.

Have FUN.

 

[bdgrbckr13]

Sports is not scheduled to open until March 31st. So no buses going there now. And during busy times each resort will have dedicated buses. But during "off" times they do share. My wife and I came back at 1pm today with one other person on the bus. They dropped him off at Music before dropping us at Movies. But there are non-Disney buses being contracted to help and they don't provide wheelchair service. So there may be a longer wait for a bus that does. Our observation this week is that service seems about the same. Perhaps a little longer wait but not much different.

 

[lockets]

In fact, drivers will tell those waiting for the bus with you that they must wait to board until the driver has you on the bus and ready to ride.

Yes this is true. once they arrive at your stop for pickup they load wheelchairs first via back door while the line waits to board because they keep from door closed. You wheel up a ramp that they place at the back door and get settled in first. Then they let everyone else on.

 

[lanejudy]

Whether or not the driver will ask others to move is a toss-up, sometimes they do sometimes they don't. And if the people refuse to move, the driver is unlikely to make them. That said -- the buses at All Stars typically only share during mid-day when it isn't as busy. At park-opening there are usually dedicated buses. By mid-morning as you mention, it likely is not going to be a problem unless there already happen to be 2 other mobility devices onboard or in line ahead of you.