Disney Trip: Less than Week and Very Anxious

[Disneybride8603]

Hi everyone,
I am desperate for some information about my family’s options for our upcoming Disney trip. Let me preface by saying that my husband and I are flying down to Disney from Indiana, a week from now, to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We got married there last year. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to celebrate due to me getting a serious infection the day after and spending time in the hospital. So this is our "real" honeymoon! I do not normally have to use a wheelchair. However, I broke my foot this week and won’t be able to walk and must keep the foot elevated. I already have a wheelchair here with elevated legs. I have visited Disney World in a wheelchair in the past. I had to use a wheelchair for a year while awaiting spinal fusion. We have already made arrangements with the airline.
Here comes the tricky part: My parents live in the Orlando area and we will be renting two rooms for 3 nights at the Caribbean Beach Resort. My mom suffers from pretty severe scoliosis and also a growth hormone condition (She is also awaiting a spinal fusion for nerve entrapment.) As a result, she must use an ECV if she is to get around Disney. She doesn’t use one in her “normal” life, so we are considering renting one before arrival. I just have a lot of concerns about how we are going to get to and from the parks, especially the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. My DH and I are bringing our two dogs down with us and need to be able to easily get to Epcot at least twice a day (We will probably borrow mom’s car for this and go alone). Are there any arrangements that we need to make before we arrive? With CB being such as it is with bus transportation the only way to the parks, I am more than a little concerned about the time it will take to transport. My mom drives a PT cruiser, and my thoughts are that maybe the scooter rental places also rent a car loading platform for the scooter?? Does anybody know? Also, are there reasonably priced taxi services that could accommodate us? Augh! I am feeling anxious about the whole thing. Any suggestions for this predicament and words of advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for “listening”! Sorry so long.

 

[GeekChic]

welcome to Dis! in the immortal words of Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

i am a bit confused about the dog situation (are they service dogs? are they staying with relatives while you're at WDW or in the kennel?) i know non-service dogs are not allowed in the parks.

Other than that, I would recommend renting an ECV from an off-site company that will deliver it to your resort and have it waiting when you check in. I have rented a manual chair from Care Medical before and had a great experience and plan on using them again for our upcoming trip. But there are other companies too, i'm sure someone will be in here soon with the info for you. it's also linked in some of the other threads, if you poke around you'll find it. Care rents a ton of stuff, they may have something in the way of ramps, it would be worth giving them a call! If you put Care Medical Orlando into Google their website comes up with contact info.

WDW busses are able to accomodate chairs and I would imagine ECV's too though I have never loaded onto a bus on one so again i'm sure one of our ECV using folks will have more info. I know more than one chair can fit on a bus at a time, but it does take some time to load/offload. they even have a bus now that tilts down on hydrolics, it's amazing! DH is an engineer and was fascinated by it.

It would be worthwhile for you to call the hotel and ask them some of these questions to, to help alleviate your fears. Don't stress too much, you're going to WDW, you'll have a great time! Disney is wonderful at helping to accomodate the needs of their guests on wheels.

geek

 

[Talking Hands]

You can rent from Walker or Care Medical. I would advise renting from offsite as I don't think the park ones have elevating legs. They can also rent an ECV for your Mom. If she is meeting you then have her meet you at the hotel and you can all take the bus. Each bus that is equipped (most) can handle 2 ECV, W/C.
Renting a lift is not a feasible option as they require considerable installation. Mine took half a day to install.

 

[dclfun]

I also have a question about the dogs. It sounds as though they are staying in the WDW kennel near Epcot. Are they also coming on the plane? Kathy

 

[cupcake]

To add to the mobility info already posted, if you need to elevate, you will absolutely want to rent offsite. I needed to unexpectedly elevate during one trip and they were not able to accommodate me (although the Disney folks were very nice and called the resorts and parks to try to get me an appropriate wc). They do supposedly have some with the leg attachment, but I would not count on getting one. Also the footrests on the WDW wcs are notorious for being non-adjustable, with bolts that are frozen into place. So even if you got one, it might very well not work for you.

You can absolutely take ECVs on a bus (there are spots for 2 wcs/ECVs). If you find that you are in a spot on the bus loop where the buses are crowded, you can have Guest Services give the transportation people warning at least 45 minutes before you want the bus and they will make sure you are accommodated. This is not an issue at the other end as the buses picking people up at the park are empty and you will board first. They also tend have extra buses available at the parks to deploy if they get a big rush.

Last but not least, congrats on your honeymoon! Have a great time and please do not worry, you & your mom will do fine.

Cupcake

 

[Disneybride8603]

Thanks to everyone who replied! I was really worried that everything would be so crowded and they would only be able to accomodate one wheelchair on a bus. As for the rentals, my mom has rented her ECV from Care and then I already have a wheelchair up here for myself.

As for the dogs, no they are not guide dogs, they are pets. We have two italian greyhounds (9 & 12 lbs). We have experimented with leaving them behind before, but they do not do well in kennels or with pet sitting. Each time we have tried this, they stop eating and get ill from being so stressed. So, they always travel underneath the seats on the airline and then we kennel them at Epcot. If we are able to visit them daily, then they will continue to eat and for some reason they don't seem as traumatized!

Thanks Cupcake for helping me understand how the busses work. Each time we've been before we have always relied upon our cars/monorail.

 

[mbb]

Congratulations...and have fun!!