Help picking a hotel please (DISability)

[BlueBayou]

We are planning on taking my mother to DL in a few weeks. She has limited mobility and will have to use a scooter or wheelchair all the time. She has O2 that she does not need all the time during the day.

Since we are 5 to a room - our options are a little narrow. The BWPPI and Paradise Pier are within $100 of each other for the 4 night stay.

Any thoughts? We have never stayed at Paradise Pier. In the past we have been to the Grand Californian, DLH, HOJOs, Camelot, Tropicana, Desert inn and suites, BWPPI and CCI.

I am just so undecided - because I have never traveled with mom and she is just not mobile.

Also - and recommendations on a scooter rental place?

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[skiingfast]

Between the two BWPPI is so much closer, and is well liked. I'd be curious if the HCA rooms there are quiet or not since they tend to be toward the front of motels and it's a linear property that everyone will walk by.

Scooter Village 714 956-5633

 

[snesguy]

I'm probably not very qualified to answer your disability questions but I have some thoughts.

Are you driving? Will you be loading the scooter in the car? If not then I would think staying onsite is better and the closer the better. Grand Californian has smaller rooms so with 5 people one will have to be a kid sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor (I wouldn't recommend it with your mom in a scooter). I have heard about the villas of the Disney Vacation Club at the GCH which might be really good for your situation, but since you're obviously not a DVC member you'd have to rent from someone else and it's questionable on short notice if you could get a reservation.

I'm not that familiar with the Paradise Pier Hotel. I stayed there once a long time ago. At that time you could go out the back to the parking lot and get on a tram to the park, or you could walk (but the walk is pretty far). I don't know if they still have the trams there.

Even though I'm a little biased because it's my favorite onsite hotel, I think maybe the Disneyland Hotel might work for you. They have decent sized rooms, many with a day bed for the 5th member of the party. I find the walk to the parks from there to be reasonable for a normal person but it could be very long for a scooter rider. Your mom could ride the scooter over to the monorail which is very close to the DLH and ride the monorail to the park. The monorail stops running a little before the park closes so you have to be aware of that. There was a report recently of construction in DCA causing the monorail not to start operation until 10 AM M-F, but I don't really know so if you're interested you should check that information out.

Earlier this year I took a trip to WDW and stayed at the Polynesian resort. I couldn't believe it. The hallway of the hotel at night had more scooters in it than I would ever have imagined before seeing it. You looked down the really long hallway and saw a line of scooters. They were all rented scooters (I think the rental company will deliver it to the hotels there) and they pulled them up to one of the many hallway power outlets to charge them overnight. I've never seen anything like it at Disneyland.

Good luck!

 

[BlueBayou]

Thanks for the replies and the rental recommendation.

I really need to make a decision before rates go sky high. I never realized how much easier it is booking for a family or 4 vs 5. Then when you throw in the accommodations we need to make for mom - it becomes even more complicated.

 

[KPeveler]

Try this post on the disabilities forum, there are some Disneyland regulars who are from far enough away that they stay in hotels. Just a thought!

 

[BlueBayou]

Thanks for the suggestion. I posted there too.

 

[smiles33]

We just returned last weekend from a DLR trip and DH had an ECV (see my TR for details). I did a lot of research and read a bunch of the DISAbilities forum threads.

Here's my advice:

1) Rent an ECV. I saw one poor woman pushing her daughter in a wheelchair up the hill by GRR in DCA and she looked exhausted (plus she had sweat stains on her chest and armpits). We paid $40/day to rent from Deckert's (714-542-5607) and they delivered to our hotel (ready at 7 am, so they likely dropped it off the night beforehand) and picked up from the hotel lobby the next morning after we dropped it off that night. They only charged us for the 2 days we used it, even though they dropped it off Thursday night and picked up Sunday morning.

2) You need a suite if possible. The ECV takes up a LOT of room and needs to be charged each night. Luckily, we had a Kids' Suite at HoJo and put both the double stroller and the ECV in the kids' bunk bed room and still had PLENTY of space to play around them. We had 2 adults and 2 kids and it was spacious. If you have 3 adults and 2 kids, it may be more crowded. We didn't use the sofa bed option.

3) Get the first floor. I loved not having to wait for elevators. The ECV is big and on busy days, you may have to wait a long time for an elevator as they get so crowded and people aren't likely to get off for you (per other DISBoard members who psoted on the DISabilities forum).

Hope this helps!

 

[Grim_Grinning_Girl]

Does your mother by any chance have a disabled parking placard? If not and you are able to get a temporary one I would try to especially if you don't end up staying on-site. You won't receive a parking discount but you will at least get to park on the ground level if you are coming from a non-Disney hotel and will be parking in the Mickey & Friends structure.

Also, if you stay off-site, if you park in the structure, you have the option of waiting for the regular Tram or you can wait for the smaller courtesy shuttle which is more private and sometimes easier to deal with. The courtesy shuttle is for people who need special assistance, so wheelchair & scooter parties, and sometimes people with small children when they're not too full or busy.

 

[BlueBayou]

My mom does have handicap plates and we have a placard for our car. I had not thought about the parking in Mickey and Friends.

We ended up booking at the Paradise Pier. While I am concerned about the size/space in the room - I think it would be better being in a large hotel if we left her alone because she was not ready to get up yet. She will be able to scoot around

Also we may take two cars because of all the extra stuff we are going to need to bring (and she is very much a backseat driver and she has never been with the kids for that many hours in that small of an environment). The Harbor Hotels we were looking at only allowed one car on site. Disney allows two for the cost of parking one.

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[KerBear]

I don't know about Paradise Pier, but I know when I stayed at HoJo's with a rented ECV they offered to park it in the luggage room overnight and charge it for me so it wasn't in our way in the room. Although their rooms are quite spacious the placement of electrical outlets isn't always the most convenient!

 

[BlueBayou]

Thanks for the suggestion. It things seem to be crowded - I'll ask about stowing the scooter.

 

[Brady's Mom]

When we went with my mom a few years ago she rented her scooter from Deckert's - they delivered and picked up and she was able to park it in the hallway of our hotel (HoJo) at night to charge it.

It is possible that PP has outlets in the hallway to charge the scooter at night. You could always call them directly and ask.

 

[BlueBayou]

Thanks - Deckert's name keeps coming up. I think I will have to check them out.

 

[Keurigirl]

To clarify what someone said upthread, the walk from Paradise Pier to the parks is VERY doable. It's like 5ish minutes?

Hope you have a great trip!