Disney for the Disabled: Transportation
Disney was huge for me. So huge, in fact, that I’m going to be using this forum to dissect each part of my experience, and, hopefully, help those who are preparing to travel there, either as a disabled person, or with someone who is disabled.
Today, we’re going to talk about transportation, in and around the parks. And when I tell you I took them all, except for a boat, I mean it.
We were camped at the Caribbean Beach Resort, which is a mid-level resort hotel. Now, I had heard about how big this place was before going, but I had no concept of how big it actually was. This place was HUGE. There were whole complexes that we never even saw, because it was so huge. It also encompassed the Riviera Resort, smack in the middle, which is a slightly higher level resort. Think of it as a horseshoe of CBC with Riviera at the top.
So, with a brand new prosthetic, it was nigh on impossible to walk the resort. Even at my best, I could only have gone about 1/8th of the way before I was absolutely unable to walk anymore.
Thank goodness I did a little research ahead of time, and found a scooter to rent.
Now, there are scooters to rent in each of the parks for $85/day, which sounds like a lot of money, unless you are unable to walk, and then it sounds like a bargain. However, a good friend suggested that I try Buena Vista Rentals, an outside company, and I was able to get a super deluxe scooter, delivered to the hotel lobby at almost the same time I arrived, for the entire trip, at only $260.
What is a super deluxe scooter? Glad you asked. It came with cupholders, a canopy (for rain…there will always be rain), a charger and phone holder, a box of free snacks as a gift…and a CASE of water. This, friends, was a godsend. It was pretty hot in Orlando, and our family of four really saved a bunch with the free water.
So, one obstacle down. I had my scooter to get around the resort and through the parks, but how can I get to and through the parks? After all, I had plans in all four parks, and outside the park, in Kissimmee for a rehearsal dinner. It was a lot of travel within, and, if you’ve never been at one of the non-monorail hotels, it takes quite the combination of transportation types to get where you’re going.
Right off the bat, it was the Disney shuttle bus to get to the Magic Kingdom.
Good news! They know you’re coming on those buses. and they cinch you in in fhe scooter! The bus driver actually releases air from the tires and deploys a ramp for you to scoot right on, and then put you right in, and then off you go!
(I will cover what happens once you get to the park later)
But that’s not all! The Caribbean Beach Resort was right next to the Disney Skyliner, which went directly to both Hollywood Studios and EPCOT. All I needed to do was drive the scooter onto the car, and one of the cast members (all of the employees at Disney are called cast members. I like it. YMMV) put in a couple of chucks behind the wheels so I could ride with my family.
Couldn’t have been easier.
And then, one of the nights in the park, we had to go from EPCOT to Magic Kingdom, which meant only one thing…the monorail.
And guess what?
Totally doable. They back you onto the monorail car and lock you in with the same sort of the chuck brakes. And off you go.
As my wife put it, I was on more forms of transportation on forms of transportation than anyone on Earth.
And, so, the moral of the story?
You can really go anywhere at DisneyWorld with a disability, and, with some preplanning, you can go there comfortably, and without too much effort.
As with all of this, your experience will be better if you ask questions. Before the surgery, I might have been too proud to do so, but forget that. Disney is not only built to make you feel comfortable no matter what, but, quite frankly, really expensive. You need to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
And those cast members? They are trained super well, and they know the answers to all of your questions. They couldn’t be more pleasant, and they make it so easy for you.
Be bold. Be brave. Have fun.
More to come.
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As always, if you have it in you, please give a thought to donating time or money to Hospice Austin. They do amazing work for people who are going through the hardest thing a person can face.
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