Handicapped parking availability

[geniegirl]

My parents will be spending 14 days in May – they are staying at POR and are a bit leery about the bus system. They don’t what to have to wait in the heat for a special bus and are not very coordinated so I fear that they may have problems with the bus system.

Their plan is to use their car to travel back and forth to the parks but they are not early risers – will there be any parking left in the mid morning that will be beneficial for handicappers?

I want them to have a special trip – they have tried 6 times since 2000 to make it to Disney but each time there is another health problem that prevents they from going. This time though we have decided to join them for part of trip in hopes that a family trip will make it more successful venture. I just don’t what them to get discouraged.

 

[mom22belles]

getting acessiable parking when we arrived at a park in the afternoon. Actually it was really only MK and MGM that we had problems. At MGM we where forced to walk in from the regular lot ( a good 5 min. walk). FIL can not transfer on to the tram .

Nancy

P.S. We had no problems at night time wither

 

[SueM in MN]

Welcome to disABILITIES.
I need a little more information to answer your questions.
First, what sort of disabilities do they have?
Will they have a wheelchair or evc (or more than one) with them?
If they have wheelchair or ecvs, is it going to be a problem for them to be repeatedly getting them in or out of the car?

They don’t what to have to wait in the heat for a special bus and are not very coordinated so I fear that they may have problems with the bus system.

I'm not sure what you mean about a special bus. Almost 100% of the buses are equipped with lifts or ramps to load wheelchairs and ecvs. Each bus can hold a total of 2 wheelchairs/ecvs.
I'm also not sure what you mean about them not being coordinated - do you mean they willl have trouble physically climbing the bus steps and getting on the bus or are they concerned about the process of getting a wheelchair/ecv on the bus?

Their plan is to use their car to travel back and forth to the parks

There are a lot of internal roads at WDW and the way to get from the individual resorts to the parks and back can be a little difficult to determine sometimes. Is that something that they will have a problem with? If they are leaving the parks at a busy time, it can sometimes become difficult to get out of the parking lot and it's fairly easy to get disoriented and head in the wrong direction or end up in the wrong lane and have to exit somewhere you don't want to.

will there be any parking left in the mid morning that will be beneficial for handicappers?

There are no trams to bring people from the handicapped parking to the park turnstiles in any of the parking lots. There are wheelchairs available to go from the parking area to the park entrance (at least, they are supposed to , but no guarantee that there will will necessarily be a wheelchair there). So, if they have problems walking and don't have their own wheelchair or ecv, it's often better to park in the regular lot and use the trams (if they can climb one step to get onto the tram). You can ask the parking lot CMs (each one you come to) to direct you to an area close to the tram stop to minimize the walking needed.

The handicapped parking at AK and the Studio are basically in the same place as the bus leaves people off. The lot at the Studio is not very big, so it is possible it could be filled as the other poster mentioned. We've had problems in the past finding parking at AK; the front 6 or 7 rows have been full when we have gotten to the park at 10 am or so.
Epcot, the bus stops are not that close to the entrance, so it would make the most sense to drive there. Again, they will get closest to the entrance if they park in the regular lot and take the tram. We have been there several times in April/early May when a good portion of the handicapped parking lot was covered with tents that were being used for a national high school science/robotics competition. That cuts down on the handicapped parking and the handicapped parking area was actually closed by 10 am several times.

For MK, since they are staying on site, it is best to take the bus. The bus leaves you off very close to the park turnstiles. Anyone who drives to MK has to get to the TTC (by tram, if you park in the regular lot or a long walk, if you are parked in the handicapped lot). At the TTC, you take a boat or monorail to get basically where the bus leaves you off. There is a long, steep ramp to get up to the monorail.