Handicapped Rooms - Have you ever heard?

[Disney Bumfords]

I'm concerned!

As discussed on a previous thread, my daughter broke her ankle severely and needs to have surgery this week. When she returns home from the hospital she will be unable to put any weight on that leg until the cast is removed.

We have reservations for a Standard Room w/AP discount at the AKL. I called and asked if we could have a Wheelchair Accessible room and they told me sure, no problem. She even put me on hold and checked with Special Needs department. That was wonderful, my mind was at ease. UNTIL - I started reading some threads and saw that the only wheelchair accessible are with King Beds. THere are four of us.

So I called back and the women that first pulled up my reservation told me that we had reservations for TWO ROOMS?!?!?

Have you ever heard of such a thing?

So I questioned it again, and she transferred me to "Special Needs" and the woman I spoke to there seemed a bit irritated I explained to her that I was concerned and she told me that I should not be and that they will accomodate the # of people in our party.

Do you think they are going to give us two rooms - adjoining???

 

[D L and K's Mom]

That's exactly what they will do....give you 2 ajoining rooms. They never promise that they will be ajoining though. We have never had a problem though. We have a special needs child and they give us 2 rooms because the hotel can't accomadate 4 people in 1 handicapped room. It is illegal to discriminate since if you didnt have a handicapped person the room you could all stay there and it would be fine. I heard that the are really cracking down on this as many people are using this as an excuse to get 2 rooms. I have no idea how they can check up on this but I think I read it here.....did I??? Anyone else hear this?

 

[Disney Bumfords]

That's exactly what they will do....give you 2 ajoining rooms. They never promise that they will be ajoining though. We have never had a problem though. We have a special needs child and they give us 2 rooms because the hotel can't accomadate 4 people in 1 handicapped room. It is illegal to discriminate since if you didnt have a handicapped person the room you could all stay there and it would be fine. I heard that the are really cracking down on this as many people are using this as an excuse to get 2 rooms. I have no idea how they can check up on this but I think I read it here.....did I??? Anyone else hear this?

Have you stayed at the AKL and received the two rooms? I can't imagine not having adjoining rooms since the two children are minors.

Gosh - what will we do with all that room?

Were your two rooms in the Standard rooms or did you receive an upgrade?

This is all so new to us now with our DD16 in a wheelchair.

Thanks!!

 

[D L and K's Mom]

From what I understand the rooms with the king beds are there so you can get around them in a wheelchair. The rooms with the two double beds have a regular shower and you can't get a wheelchair around them. The king rooms have a roll in shower. I asked them about this and asked would not it be cheaper to build some handicapped rooms with 2 beds and they said it is not in the plans. Your daughter will probably be able to use either room with crutches but it will be easier for her to just walk into the shower instead of having to lift her leg over the tub. Or will she need the tub to sit in and hang her leg out over the tub? Either way one of the rooms will be a roll in shower and one a regular. That is what we have always had (POR, Dolphin and Y and Beach).

 

[SueM in MN]

Yes it is true.
Some of the resorts have wheelchair accessible rooms that have 2 queen beds (which could sleep 4). Some have a king bed (for the reasons that were already mentioned), but the king bed rooms only sleep 2. If someone needs the accessibility of the king room, it's not fair to penalize and make them pay for a second room only because the room they are renting doesn't have enough beds.
PS, the 2nd room is a connecting room (with a door that can be opened to connect the rooms together. If you ask for an adjoining room, that is a room next to, but not necessarily connecting with the first room. (I know it is confusing, but that's how it's defined in the hotel business).

 

[D L and K's Mom]

I always wondered what the difference was. Thank you for explaining! We have always been given adjoining rooms as the kids are 16, 13 and 2. I always feel a bit guilty having the 2 rooms when we are only paying for 1 but we really do need the handicapped access for our son. Thanks again for the info.

 

[loadsapixiedust]

We have reservations at POFQ and AKL. When I called Special Reservations to request some bed rails for my DS who has CP I checked on our room request (as we've not had any confirmation letter yet) and, yes, we have also been allocated a king room with roll-in shower and a connecting room with 2 doubles at both resorts. I went through the whole thing very carefully with the CM as I couldn't believe they weren't going to charge for a second room (which we could never have afforded). She said this was the only way to accommodate us at those resorts and we would only be charged as quoted for 1 room. This will make such a difference to us as DS is confined to a wheelchair and DH is recovering from knee surgery and walks with a cane. The extra space alone will be a godsend with the wheelchair.
I hope this doesn't end up being abused by those who don't really need the facilities, but for us, who do, it will make things so much easier.
Anyone know where the accessible rooms are situated at these resorts?

 

[Michigan]

It's not like Disney is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, it's a Federal Law. Under the ADA if a handicap room only has a king bed you must be given a connecting room at no charge. As time goes on this will probably be less of a problem because more hotels will make handicap rooms with 2 beds.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

We stayed in POR not POFQ and our rooms were right near the parking lot. It was a great spot. We parked the car and our room was right there. It was a great distance to the buses though but we had a handicapped van so it wsa great for me. I think if I were you I would call ahead and tell them if you are planning on using the bus or if you have a car they might situate you differently. Good luck and enjoy the trip. I to felt a littel guilty about the 2 rooms but then I read some people we abusing it and I got MAD!!! We really need the accessablilty so if that is the only way they can accomadate us well then I can't feel guilty about it.

 

[Disney Bumfords]

I too felt guilty about receiving two rooms. Especially since there are families that cannot even afford one room to enjoy a Disney vacation. However, it was even worse thinking about crushing my children's dreams by telling them that we were going to cancel our vacation.

I finally had a breakdown today, first time since last Wednesday, cried for a good 20 minutes or so.

Please send P&PD as surgery is scheduled for Wednesday.

Thanks all!!!

 

[D L and K's Mom]

We will keep you in our prayers....don't worry things will go GREAT!!!!

 

[Talking Hands]

She will be fine. I had the open reduction of my ankle and leg done at age 54 and went to WDW 9 days after surgery. I was in a wheelchair but I still had a great time.
I did well and was out of my cast after 3 1/2 months (I'm diabetic so the prolonged healing time) During that time I went to WDW in a wheelchair 3 times.

 

[mbb]

I too felt guilty about receiving two rooms. Especially since there are families that cannot even afford one room to enjoy a Disney vacation. However, it was even worse thinking about crushing my children's dreams by telling them that we were going to cancel our vacation.

I finally had a breakdown today, first time since last Wednesday, cried for a good 20 minutes or so.

Please send P&PD as surgery is scheduled for Wednesday.

Thanks all!!!

Prayers and pixie dust!!

Take care!