Dealing pleasantly with "anti-scooter" people

[bidnow5]

I had a family follow me around a Walmart saying I was fat and lazy it got to a point I left the store but Disney has been my safe haven.

Must be a Walmart thing I had the same thing happen a family of 4 the father told his kids I was just fat and lazy. I just kept going but they followed me and the father just repeated that I was fat and lazy over and over again. I had to leave the store I was so upset. Your Walmart wasn't in Massachusetts was it

 

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

I plan on visiting World for my 60th birthday (2014) and will need to use an ECV for the first time. Went to YouTube to see how to get a scooter on the bus and, while I found some that were informative, I also found some that were highly negative about the "fat, lazy slobs." Being Pooh-sized with bad knees and back, I know I'm going to get that attitude. I can be very assertive, but don't want to spoil my own mood/behavior by responding negatively. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this situation in a civilized fashion? I was thinking about making a cute "license plate" (laminated paper) for the ECV that said "Disney 2014, Double Knee Replacement 20??" Comments? Suggestions?

Why are you stressing out about a trip that is 3 years away??

 

[Disney4us2]

Must be a Walmart thing I had the same thing happen a family of 4 the father told his kids I was just fat and lazy. I just kept going but they followed me and the father just repeated that I was fat and lazy over and over again. I had to leave the store I was so upset. Your Walmart wasn't in Massachusetts was it

Maybe it is a Walmart thing. Only once did someone follow me. Just saying how nice it is to ride while shopping. She was not putting me down, but it was just too weird. I told her it must be nice to shop without pain. I just kept on shopping and she went her own way. That was my only encounter of the weird kind.

 

[bouncycat]

I'm in a manual chair, not quite pooh sized, but almost LOL I'm young, 37, with an invisible disease. I have not had the harsh comments, and we visit the parks at least once a week, most of the time more than once a week. Go, have fun, and don't worry about the others!!!

PS, OP, I'm going in early 2014 for my 40th!!! I can't wait to start making the plans!!!!!

 

[toocherie]

we were at DW last September. While there, there was one family who refused to wait in line. In fact, they bragged to everyone that they stood in the shade until the bus pulled up, then had the 50'ish woman in the ECV (very overweight, but so am I) pull forward yelling I get on the bus first, I'm disabled!

Then she'd get her party of (no joke) 15 on the bus too, because they won't split up parties, apparently.

This family annoyed the snot out of me because they were A) rude B) inconsiderate and C) wrong.

I have no problem with people who require ECV's. I do have problems with selfish entitled JERKS though!

I agree these people were jerks. The other problem was that the bus drivers were not following Disney policy. The person on the scooter or in a wheelchair is not supposed to fill the bus with their friends and family--a maximum of 6 people (I believe including the person riding the mobility device) are allowed to board with the disabled person. The rest should have been in line with the rest of you.

Sorry to say but I am one of those "anti-scooter" people. Why, because I have multiple sclerosis and am visual impaired (legally blind). I walk with a very bright cane and using my daughter and or husband with assistance. I walk slowly and like someone drunk because of balance issue and you will hear my husband saying cue's like step up, come left, come more right. We go every year and every year I get ran over by scooter's or they come to close and hit my cane, several times. Don't worry you will get to the ride way before me.

I am sorry for your experience. I know it is not me. I cannot begin to tell you how often people walk right in front of a scooter. It has gotten to the point where my friends form a "zone of protection" around me a lot of times to keep people from running into me. Maybe your husband and daughter can walk on either side of you to also provide a zone?

Ignorant people are ignorant, and there is really nothing anyone can do about them, so I have learned not to allow their comments to bother me, although DD26 gets really angry when she feels people are attacking her mom. The worst experience I had wasn't with a comment though--it bordered on physical assult. Some woman rammed her child's stroller wheel under my scooter as she was trying to get down the Main Street sidewalk during the Parade. As I was starting to stand to get off the scooter so we could get the wheel out from under it, her husband reached down, grabbed the bottom edge of the scooter and tipped it over, tipping me off of it. Not only did it hurt like the blazes as I tried to recover my balance, the expletive deleted stood there and laughed at me and made a rude comment about me being on it in the first place. Thankfully, it was too crowded for my husband or daughter to get to him. I went into the nearest store and just sat there and shook and tried not to cry while I recovered.

That didn't border on physical assault--it was assault. I would have gotten a CM involved. (I know you probably couldn't because of the crowd, but I wish you could have.) Idiots like that shouldn't be clogging up the parks!

 

[olwyngdh]

That didn't border on physical assault--it was assault. I would have gotten a CM involved. (I know you probably couldn't because of the crowd, but I wish you could have.) Idiots like that shouldn't be clogging up the parks!

Once I got into the store, the CM there got me a bottle of water so I could take a tramadol before I got too bad. She also told me that Disney needs to make Mickey on a Scooter pins for those of us who survive the Parks on them! By the time I could get out of there, I was laughing again.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Once I got into the store, the CM there got me a bottle of water so I could take a tramadol before I got too bad. She also told me that Disney needs to make Mickey on a Scooter pins for those of us who survive the Parks on them! By the time I could get out of there, I was laughing again.

I totally agree! Maneuvering a scooter through the crowds is emotionally exhausting!

Glad you were able to laugh about it! My DH is an attorney on a scooter -- a double threat.

 

[bouncycat]

I agree with the mickey pin too!!! My DH would get mine, since he pushes me. Sad part is, if he clips ankles, he hurts me! It's soooo hard for him not to clip people, because they try to race to get in front of us, there's usually only 3 of us, unless I'm with some disboarders, which does happen alot Dh has been gone all month, so I've been doing the parks walking in 2 hr doeses at a time. That's all I can do at once.

 

[toocherie]

My DH is an attorney on a scooter -- a double threat.

heh heh heh. So am I. (Maybe if I put a sign on the scooter warning them I am an attorney they won't jump in front of me anymore?)

 

[krisnme]

I agree with the mickey pin too!!! My DH would get mine, since he pushes me. Sad part is, if he clips ankles, he hurts me! It's soooo hard for him not to clip people, because they try to race to get in front of us, there's usually only 3 of us, unless I'm with some disboarders, which does happen alot Dh has been gone all month, so I've been doing the parks walking in 2 hr doeses at a time. That's all I can do at once.

DS and I have an ongoing joke about arming his w/c with spikes and lasers to stop people from jumping/tripping over him! whenever someone stops dead in front of him he pushes his imaginary laser trigger, and when they hop over his legs he usually says "darn, forgot to deploy the spikes!" oh, how I wish we could at least build in a tazer! I am not a mean person but at least we can joke about it instead of getting upset. I want a mickey pin, could we start a pettition??

 

[bedogged]

DS and I have an ongoing joke about arming his w/c with spikes and lasers to stop people from jumping/tripping over him! whenever someone stops dead in front of him he pushes his imaginary laser trigger, and when they hop over his legs he usually says "darn, forgot to deploy the spikes!" oh, how I wish we could at least build in a tazer! I am not a mean person but at least we can joke about it instead of getting upset. I want a mickey pin, could we start a pettition??

Boy, driving a scooter in WDW certainly gives the words "defensive driving" a whole new meaning!

 

[DisneyFreaks]

Boy, driving a scooter in WDW certainly gives the words "defensive driving" a whole new meaning!

ITA. I'm still lacking in confidence on my scooter so I think I'll just rent a chair again during our trip. I read a thread on the community board recently and some posters felt Disney should make a special lane for scooters. Maybe this wouldn't be a bad idea. At least that way we wouldn't have to worry about the folks who dart back and forth making driving for us so stressful.

 

[Piper]

They have a special lane for going into The Land in Epcot. Unfortunately, able-bodied people ignore the sign and use it...it is just as bad as the regular access!

 

[pmdeve]

ITA. I'm still lacking in confidence on my scooter so I think I'll just rent a chair again during our trip. I read a thread on the community board recently and some posters felt Disney should make a special lane for scooters. Maybe this wouldn't be a bad idea. At least that way we wouldn't have to worry about the folks who dart back and forth making driving for us so stressful.

Lat year we went to HS to see Osborn lights. The crowds were horrable. One women walked over my scooter ( up on the scooter where my legs were) I had my family surround me so I wouldn't get trampled. I moved at far less than a snails pace. I could not wait to finally get out of that crowd.

It would have been great If there was a handicapped lane so we could enjoy the lights also. We are going again this December, I will probably skip the lights this year, but I will really miss seeing them.

 

[RaySharpton]

Lat year we went to HS to see Osborn lights. The crowds were horrable. One women walked over my scooter ( up on the scooter where my legs were) I had my family surround me so I wouldn't get trampled. I moved at far less than a snails pace. I could not wait to finally get out of that crowd.

It would have been great If there was a handicapped lane so we could enjoy the lights also. We are going again this December, I will probably skip the lights this year, but I will really miss seeing them.

I am so sorry. It does get extremely crowded.

I don't know if you can do this or not, but my most favorite time go is at near closing time. And I mean almost an hour after official closing. Much later and they stop the music and start herding people out.

Some people go during the time frame that Fantasmic is playing since so many people go to this show.

If I go to the last Fantasmic, I will leave Fantasmic, and take my time and people watch on the street and wait for the crowd to walk by and enjoy the atmosphere.

Most of the guest are going to the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights after Fantasmic.

And yes, this is usually past park closing hours.

You can drive much more freely with much less of a crowd as all of the sleepy kids want to get home after a long day. That includes the grownup kids.

Another thing; sometimes during other crowded times, I will back my scooter up to the end of the street entrance. It actually rises about three feet to let me see all the way down the street and over everyone's heads.

I will enjoy the music and dancing lights and if the crowds look like they are thinning out, I will start my tour.

I hope that you get to go again. It is one of my favorite things.

 

[livndisney]

Lat year we went to HS to see Osborn lights. The crowds were horrable. One women walked over my scooter ( up on the scooter where my legs were) I had my family surround me so I wouldn't get trampled. I moved at far less than a snails pace. I could not wait to finally get out of that crowd.

It would have been great If there was a handicapped lane so we could enjoy the lights also. We are going again this December, I will probably skip the lights this year, but I will really miss seeing them.

OOOH I forgot how bad the crowds were at the lights last year. I was looking forward to it this year, but wow they really messed up last year. I hope they go back to how they used to do it and not block the street off.


Oh a funny note-it is not just scooters that people run into and walk over. We were just exiting a park last week and people just kept running my dd over (she was walking with the flow of traffic-no one was getting anywhere faster). After the second time, I said "the next one that runs into my kid-is going in the water". No one came near her after that LOL (We were on a bridge).

 

[bound2travel]

DS and I have an ongoing joke about arming his w/c with spikes and lasers to stop people from jumping/tripping over him! whenever someone stops dead in front of him he pushes his imaginary laser trigger, and when they hop over his legs he usually says "darn, forgot to deploy the spikes!" oh, how I wish we could at least build in a tazer! I am not a mean person but at least we can joke about it instead of getting upset. I want a mickey pin, could we start a pettition??

This sounds like something my Father would have said -
He wouldn't have had a problem getting confrontational with someone he felt was in the wrong as it concerns blocking/causing problems for someone in a wheelchair. Fortunately, this only happened once. He did keep his arm rest "loose" so he could pull them out in a second if he felt he needed to defend himself. Never had to thankfully. He was a character though.