First time traveling with electric chair

[autumnblue]

My upcoming trip to WDW in October could be the first time I travel with my electric chair. I'm not quite sure what I want to do, I have two options.

I believe that I am going to take Amtrak on this trip and I can't afford to rent a lowered floor mini van. I was wondering if someone would be willing to share their experiences with the following.

If I take my own electric chair is there a transportation company that has accessible shuttles from the Amtrak station to WDW and offer shuttles from WDW to places like sea world and about how much do these shuttles cost. I could also bring my manual chair and rent a car for a trip to SeaWorld but I really hate being pushed around.

Option two: Bring my manual and rent a car and a scooter. My scooter always needed a lift but a few of the rental sites say that they have some that fold up into trunks. Any experience with rental cars and rental scooters. Also what costs have you incurred doing this.

I've also never dealt with Disney buses and I wondering how frustrated I'm going to get if I stay at the pop Century and I want to eat at the Poly. Sounds like it could take forever.


Any help will be greatly appreciated


Thanks

Autumn

 

[SueM in MN]

I only have time for a quick answer.
We have not been brave enough to bring DD's power wheelchair to WDW yet, but are toying wiht doing it this year.
Though we have not used them, I know that some DISers have used Mears or Yellow Cab to get to and from airport, hotel to Sea World, etc. Hopefully one of the experienced people will post.
For getting from one WDW resort to another, there is no direct route from resort to resort. You can ask at your resort for them to contact WDW Transportation for you to see if you can arrange one of the WDW lift vans ro take you to and from those resorts.
We use the bus transportation a lot with DD's manual wheelchair and find it works well to get to the parks, but we have not gone from resort to resort.

 

[Sarahsmom85]

I can not answer your questions because with my DH we either rent or take our own transportion or we do not go. He has had very bad experiences on bus so we don't even go there. I am looking into the Mears too. I need to get from the airport to the hotel we are getiing the day before our villa is ready. I am checking the price if it is too much then we will just extend our van rental one day.
Will let you know the cost when I find out.
Linda

 

[pugdog]

we have used mears several times now and have never had any problems with them. they only have 6 vans for the area so sometimes you might have to wait alittle bit if you don't pre plan your times. they are $28 r/t from the airport to WDW and about 10 to 12 each way to seaworld.universal and such. the prices are per person. it's alot nicer to use mears and not worry about driving and traffic and just sit back and relax during the ride.

 

[maduusa]

We used Mears last year, and it was great. We were told that it would be about a 20 minute wait since they had limited vans with lifts, but my daughter and I ran back into the airport to use the restroom, and when we got back, they were loading my hubby already. The year before, we took our ramped van, and I enjoyed riding and looking out the window versus trying to be navigator, read all the signs and digging for cash at all of the 20 plus toll booths.

We stayed at the All-Star Music last year, and we didn't think the trips to and from the parks were too bad. The bus drivers were all great. They kept the front door shut until the four of us were loaded and my huby was locked down. There was one time that a driver could not get the ramp to come out, and he got on the radio and asked someone to get there as soon as possible. The year before we ran into about a dozen broken ramps. When we want to go anywhere other than the parks, we usually go to Magic Kingdom and use the monorail or the boats. Both are completely accessible.

chel

 

[clkelley]

A friend an myself used Mears in December to go roundtrip from Ft. Wilderness to Universal with two ECVs and it was so easy!! The driver's were professional and courteous and were right on time!!

First of all the day before you want to go, pick up any house phone at Disney or your room phone and dial "0". Ask for the operator to connect you to Mears.

Once you connect with Mears, tell the person that you need disabled access and what type of equipment you have transportation to Universal , Sea World, wherever from your resort and let them know what time you need a pickup.

The cost is $13 RT per person cash only to the driver, and since you are using the disabled vehicle you will probably have a private trip. (We tipped $1 each way per ECV)

About two hours before you are ready to leave Sea World, call the number on the return voucher to schedule your return back to Pop Century. They will pick you up at the same place they dropped you off.

I don't have any information about round trip transportation from the Amtrak station. The online booking system at www.mearstransportation.com does not include the Amtrak station, but I'm sure if you called them, they would quote you a price.

As far as the Disney buses, I'm not real fond of maneuvering into the spot with the ECV, but the drivers are always really nice and patient. One thing I've started doing is disengaging the drive and just pushing the ECV into place. This may not apply to you however.

Hope this helps.

Carol

 

[dizzyintx]

We used Mears w/c transportation to and from the airport. They were great, I can't say enough good things about them. When going from resort to resort, it is very easy to take your resort bus to the ticket and transportation center and transfer there to the momorail or the bus to whatever resort you want to go to. VERY EASY though not fast.

It is also pretty easy to get into a bus, the only people I saw having problems were people that were not use to driving scooters and had rental ECV's. Even then the drivers were very helpfull.

Delta was our only problem and we won't even go there in this thread. LOL

 

[autumnblue]

Beyond the fact that hate to fly period I'm really quite scared about flying with my electric chair. At least on the train I can see it and know it isn't being misused. I've heard horror stories about chairs being disassembled by the airlines and not reassembled properly. I'm also really concerned about transferring into those seats on the plane, not a lot of front room for transfers.

Autumnblue

 

[clkelley]

Oh definitely use the train if that is what your most comfortable with!! You will have to call Mears directly to arrange transportation from Amtrak, as there is no online information about the Amtrak station on the Mears site.

On a side note, we had an excellent experience with flying with hubby's ECV last april on Chataqua airlines and ComAir. (Delta Connection) They gate checked the ECV both directions and they did not have to disassemble it. Of course, not having to change planes probably helped immensely.

Carol

 

[maduusa]

We had no problems flying either, and my hubby is a quad. The aisle chair (aka g-string chair) was a little small for him, but the guys that worked for the airline did all the lifting and transferring and whoever was doing the check-in counter double and triple checked on the chair and let us know it was safely on board. They were really great about preboarding us in plenty of time to get everything settled. And when we thought that they had broken a piece of his chair (which we found the broken piece in the driveway when we got home), they gave us a claim form and said to have whoever normally works on his chair just bill them. We flew American last year. We are trying Southwest this March.


chel

 

[Sarahsmom85]

Today must have been my day for strange phone calls. I just called to talk to someone at Mears. I was interested in finding out the cost from airport to hotel. But because I haven't chosen a hotel yet, we keep going around and around. She kept saying if it is a hotel we service. I though that was very strange. Shouldn't they service any hotel. I would think if you picked a hotel they didn't service we'd be stuck at the airport. You can't just pick up an electric chair and stick it the trunk.
Then I called the van rental place and the man I talked to before was giving me different prices and saying I was renting a EVC van. I so no a lower floor mini van, I want to rent it for an extra day. He's like I don't know if we have anymore. Then he tells me his son is in charge. I will call his son and figure this out. If we can't rent a handicap van then are vacation is over. My husband needs van since we are staying off site.

*maduusa* my DH is a quad too, we are both from Springfield, different states. Small world I will PM u.
LInda

 

[SueM in MN]

Sarahsmom85. those were strange phone calls.
I know that Mears serves all of the WDW official hotels. The only thing that I can figure out is maybe they concentrate on the close to Disney and International Drive area hotels (because it would be more effecient for them to not go to the more downtown Orlando hotels or some that are far out.)
And, I can't figure out what the van company is about. The only thing I can think of is that maybe many of the vans are rented by people who are either renting or bringing ecvs, so that company maybe doesn't have a lot of experience with people who have power wheelchairs?????

I'll be curious to see how the van story turns out.

 

[maduusa]

Sarah'smom85, what company are you trying to rent the van from?


chel

 

[Sarahsmom85]

This is who I was calling.

http://www.discountmobilityusa.com/vanrentals.html

There is another one listed but I think they may be one in the same, because I called and then I e-mail the other and it was the same person. There adds are the same.

I will give them a few days to get back to me then I will call again.

 

[pugdog]

youcan also use rainbow wheels . we have used them in the past and will use them again when we fly down next time.

 

[videogal1]

Originally posted by SueM in MN

I know that some DISers have used Mears or Yellow Cab to get to and from airport, hotel to Sea World, etc. Hopefully one of the experienced people will post.
For getting from one WDW resort to another, there is no direct route from resort to resort. You can ask at your resort for them to contact WDW Transportation for you to see if you can arrange one of the WDW lift vans ro take you to and from those resorts.
We use the bus transportation a lot with DD's manual wheelchair and find it works well to get to the parks, but we have not gone from resort to resort.

I just stayed off-site at the Sheraton Vistana Resort for a week, then at the Disney Beach Club for 5 nights.
When doing the pre-vacation research on transport companies I came across so many negative reviews (mostly relating to their circuitous pickup and delivery routes and slow response times) about Mears that I was astonished to see they were still in business. I looked at their website, however, and noticed that they had a fully-equipped lift van in their fleet.
To make a really long story short, I tried arranging transport to the parks and Downtown Disney this month and Mears is the only transport that had a lift van available at any hour. Because it is reserved for special trips (for those needing medical vehicles transported) you won't have the problem of sharing a ride with a dozen strangers going to a dozen different places...And, they are CHEAP! All of the other transport companies stopped using lift vans because of the prohibitive insurance rates. Or so I was told by a Coast to Coast driver who refused to transport me.

 

[SueM in MN]

Actually, my MIL and FIL use Mears every time they come to WDW (not to transport an ecv - I'm still working on FIL to try to get him to rent one ).
Anyway, although many people complain on the boards about the numerous stops and round-about routes, MIL and FIL seldom have had to stop at more than one hotel before they get where they are going. To get people to the resorts, Mears often uses 10-12 passenger vans and they group people together, so that one van will be going to Epcot resorts, one to MK resorts, etc. If you wnat to go directly to your hotel and not stop anywhere else, they are not the way to go. But, if you don't mind seeing other resorts, they are not that bad.