how many in a party?

[jnrrt]

We're planning a trip for the fall, and my father will be in a wheelchair. My whole family and my brother's family will be there as well as my parents, so it's a lot of people. Are we able to all stay together in shows and things, or are the handicapped areas restricted in the number of people allowed in with the person in the wheelchair?

 

[SueM in MN]

Usually the wheelchair party is limited to 5 people plus the person using a wheelchair. The reason for that is some of the wheelchair areas are not that large. If the party with the person in a wheelchair is bigger than that, they can't accomidate as many people with wheelchairs. One situation that happened to us was we came back to use our fastpasses at the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. The wheelchair waiting are was filled and we were told we would have to wait for the next show. It turned out that there were only 2 special needs parties (2 wheelchairs), but they each had at least 10 in their group.
We also had a situation in a theater show where the set up in the theater was one wheelchair spot, then 2 seats, then another wheelchair spot, two seats, etc. In that show, 2 large parties took all the seats, making other wheelchair parties park in the aisle (where you could not reallysee the show). That was before they really started limiting things.

We have sometimes even been asked to split into a party of only one person accompanying my DD who uses a wheelchair because space was quite limited. This happens quite often for the wheelchair viewing areas for parades. The CMs try to keep the space for people with special needs and have the rest of the parties watch from somewhere else.

Also, fo most of the show, the wheelchair area is the back row. The rest of your party will probably want to sit farther up even if the CM will let them sit there.
It's a good idea to have 2 cell phones of 2 way radios in your party. That way if you do need to split up, you can find each other again.

 

[jnrrt]

Thanks, Sue. I have also seen people take up all the wheelchair accessible space, and I'm glad they don't do that anymore. I just wondered if they did anything to try and help the rest of the party stay nearby. But if not, we will have our cellphones. I know for my dad, what he likes is watching the kids have fun, but we can take turns sitting with him.