ECV charging in corridor

[Thegoatfeeder]

Just a quick one, does anyone know if they are OK with charging ECV's in resort corridors over night? Assuming it's enclosed with plugs etc.

Think it might be easier than trying to get it into our room every night.

 

[Heather07438]

I think they don't want you to do that due to the fire hazard. Strollers and EVCs left out in the halls can obstruct fire exit routes.

A few others have posted about difficulty getting ECVs thru the door. A couple solo travellers have shared using gadgets to help prop open the door. If you're travelling with others, the extra hands can help hold the door.

 

[Thegoatfeeder]

Yeah, I kind of figured they might not be too keen, also because it might not look great!

 

[Heather07438]

Yeah, I kind of figured they might not be too keen, also because it might not look great!

Yeah probably that too. We've taken an ECV about 5 times now. We usually park it inside the room overnight near the door. That seems to keep it out of the way as much as possible while we're moving around the room.

 

[Lilsia]

You are responsible if anything happens to your rented ECV. It is not unheard of for teens to think it's funny to steal one that is unattended. Many of the indoor hallways are really not that wide and it can be difficult for people to get past if there is an ECV, especially those with their own mobility devises, strollers, or housekeeping carts. Always take your ECV into the room with you.

 

[gap2368]

Would you leave your bags out in the hallway. Leaving your ECV out is about the same. It can get stolen or damaged and your responsibility

 

[Starwind]

Parking in the hallway outside your room is a fire/emergency escape hazard.

It is also a theft/damage/meddling hazard.

Either way, not a good idea.

As a PP noted, there are some threads on here that talk about how to get the ECV into the room. Most people resort to some form of wedging the door open if they don't have another human to help [or even if they do].

I like using the Stoppy: https://utrdecorating.com/products/stoppy

A poster in another thread suggested tying a long length of ribbon on it so it can be pulled out easily when done.

SW

 

[Lizgistix]

I've been a solo traveler with an ECV and let me tell ya, with how heavy these resort room doors are, it is not easy getting an ECV in or out.
I had a door stop but it was no match for that door. I'll look into that Stoppy. I also thought maybe wedging a cane (with rubber grip and foot) to hold the door open up near the top of the door but I was afraid it would mark the paint or the door.

I should have asked at Bell Services what they use to prop the door open because the guy used something to hold it open while bring the luggage in. He wedged it in the gap between the door and one of the hinges.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Yeah, I kind of figured they might not be too keen, also because it might not look great!

you do realize that anyone could take ECV out of gear and freewheeel it anywhere they wanted and you would be responsible for any damage to ECV or that it caused. yes I have seen older kids doing this with one. you do not need a key to move it

 

[Thegoatfeeder]

Thanks everyone for all the input! I’ll be honest I never considered someone actually stealing one!

it’ll be our first trip using one when staying onsite. But definitely won’t be leaving it in the corridor, thanks so much!

I know at Disneyland Paris, bell services take ECVs over night and charge them there, I’m not aware of a similar system at WDW though.

 

[mamabunny]

you do realize that anyone could take ECV out of gear and freewheeel it anywhere they wanted and you would be responsible for any damage to ECV or that it caused. yes I have seen older kids doing this with one. you do not need a key to move it

Yeah... I wouldn't want to spend the next morning watching while they fished it out of the bottom of the pool... Kinda puts a dent in your whole Disney Day...

Don't give bored teenagers (or drunk, stupid adults) the chance.

°o° °o° °o° °o° °o° °o° °o° °o° °o° °o° °o° °o°

You rent it, and you are responsible for it, and just like your luggage - it belongs in your room with you. (don't worry, you should have *plenty* of room inside any Disney Resort hotel room) If you find that you want more space, you can always visit the Front Desk (or call Housekeeping from your room phone) and ask to have the table & chairs removed for the duration of your stay. Remember that calls from your room to the "Front Desk" at WDW Resorts go to a centralized call center - so if you want to talk to someone at the Resort you are staying at, a quick trip to the Front Desk is your best bet.

Leaving your ECV rental outside, unattended, means that any of the following is possible:

- It can be stolen/moved (yes, even if you take the key); I have seen more things wind up in the bottom of hotel pools over the years than I care to remember, including personal mobility devices. I used to be an Event Planner. People do *stupid* stuff when staying in hotels - things they would never think about doing otherwise. I have seen ECVs and wheelchairs and laundry carts and room service carts and bell services luggage carts all end up in the bottom of the pool at different times - because they *could* be.

- It can be tampered with; this could mean you are responsible for not only the damage to the unit, but also will lose precious vacation time resolving an issue that could have been prevented if the unit was in your room to begin with.

- Someone could come along and unplug the device, so it doesn't charge overnight. You will spend the next day looking for outlets all day long (and they are not easy to find in the Parks!) instead of enjoying yourself!

- Someone could do any of the following: vomit on the unit, relieve themselves on the unit, allow their animal to relieve itself on the unit, pour food and/or beverages on the unit, etc... Is that the start you want to your Disney day? Dealing with that kind of mess?

It's just not worth it. None of us *want* to have to keep a mobility device in the confines of our hotel room, but you will have plenty of space - there is a member here on the DISboards who famously got *4* mobility devices into a room at POP every night, and still had room for everyone to move around!

I second my Secret Sister @Starwind's recommendation to go with a Stoppy. (although Amazon is chock-a-block full of clever devices!) It has a metal core, so it can't be deformed by the door; it will hold it open. And the thick rubber outside means you don't have to worry about damage to the door.

It's hard to get ECVs in/out of rooms at WDW - I agree. The Values & Mods that all open outdoors have big, bumpy thresholds, and the Deluxes have carpeted hallways and *heavy* doors and all of those obstacles can make maneuvering in and out of rooms a challenge. But it can be overcome with a bit of assistance from a doorstop - or just a helper in your party to hold the door - and it's not really a deal-breaker for the majority of us. I personally own my mobility devices, and I would *never* leave them unattended in any hotel hallway in the world - including at WDW. They are my legs, and I would never leave anything so expensive or so vital to my personal mobility, my vacation and my life unattended overnight.

 

[cobright]

A lot of worry-warts on this thread. Any argument against parking an ECV in the hall would have to apply to parking it just about anywhere. Or to parking just about anything just about anywhere.

1. Kids might wheel it away ... sure, they might do that to my motorcycle in the store parking lot as well.
2. or vandalize it... oh, maybe. Pretty rare and WDW is famous for their hallway surveillance. If anything happens to it you'll find out who.
3. Might cause a fire escape obstruction ... If there's outlets along a hallway or path then the path is enlarged to account for things that might get plugged in there.

My friend travels in a wheelie and we have left her chair parked, unattended in the open for literally the entire day. On a few occasions we even left the park and came back for it later in the evening. Leaving it in the hallway wouldn't even tickle my gag-reflex. Put a bike-chain through a wheel or pulling the steering to one side to prevent those meddling kids from wheeling it anywhere. Or run a chain from it under your door to a block if really paranoid.

Or clip a vibration alarm to it.

When I was far more paranoid about someone driving her little custom ride off at the park, I used to leave a cell phone in the onboard tool-kit. It was set to txt me if its gps noticed its location being changed. The handful of alerts all related to CMs moving it.

Point is... the actual risk is low and there's ways to mitigate even that. On the other hand, the hassle of getting in and out of some of the resort rooms, on top of the obstruction it creates within the room are persistent detriments to enjoying one's vacation.

 

[Lilsia]

A lot of worry-warts on this thread. Any argument against parking an ECV in the hall would have to apply to parking it just about anywhere. Or to parking just about anything just about anywhere.

1. Kids might wheel it away ... sure, they might do that to my motorcycle in the store parking lot as well.
2. or vandalize it... oh, maybe. Pretty rare and WDW is famous for their hallway surveillance. If anything happens to it you'll find out who.
3. Might cause a fire escape obstruction ... If there's outlets along a hallway or path then the path is enlarged to account for things that might get plugged in there.

My friend travels in a wheelie and we have left her chair parked, unattended in the open for literally the entire day. On a few occasions we even left the park and came back for it later in the evening. Leaving it in the hallway wouldn't even tickle my gag-reflex. Put a bike-chain through a wheel or pulling the steering to one side to prevent those meddling kids from wheeling it anywhere. Or run a chain from it under your door to a block if really paranoid.

Or clip a vibration alarm to it.

When I was far more paranoid about someone driving her little custom ride off at the park, I used to leave a cell phone in the onboard tool-kit. It was set to txt me if its gps noticed its location being changed. The handful of alerts all related to CMs moving it.

Point is... the actual risk is low and there's ways to mitigate even that. On the other hand, the hassle of getting in and out of some of the resort rooms, on top of the obstruction it creates within the room are persistent detriments to enjoying one's vacation.

Even if you want to take the chance of someone damaging it, you should not block the hallway. I have been to WDW many, many times and always stay on property. I have seen many ECV's parked in the hallways. They do block the way for things like double strollers and housekeeping carts. Plus it is just rude to leave your personal items out in the hallway. Would you just leave your suitcases out there because you don't want them to take up space in your room? What justification can you possibly have to leave any of your personal items in the hallway?

 

[Empress of the Universe]

We stayed at Grand Floridian last New Years and the gentleman from bell services told us to leave the ECV in the hall and even took it outside of our room and plugged it in for us! We had transferred from French Quarter to GF just for New Years and he moved the ECV when he brought our luggage up from the transfer. He told us the halls were plenty wide, but that we should always take our key with us. This was a well established bellman (said he'd been there for several years.) We were towards the end of a hall so I'm guessing this was why he said it would be fine. Some of the more frequently traveled hallways it may have been in the way, Beach Club, Yacht Club and Poly main halls it would be in the way. So, I guess my answer is 'Maybe?!'

 

[carol48b]

I think they don't want you to do that due to the fire hazard. Strollers and EVCs left out in the halls can obstruct fire exit routes.

A few others have posted about difficulty getting ECVs thru the door. A couple solo travellers have shared using gadgets to help prop open the door. If you're travelling with others, the extra hands can help hold the door.

I always travel with a small doorstop (the old fashioned rubber kind). It comes in handy to prop a door open, or help you feel more secure when you have an adjoining door They are small and weigh very little, fit into a carryon or suitcase.

 

[Lilsia]

We stayed at Grand Floridian last New Years and the gentleman from bell services told us to leave the ECV in the hall and even took it outside of our room and plugged it in for us! We had transferred from French Quarter to GF just for New Years and he moved the ECV when he brought our luggage up from the transfer. He told us the halls were plenty wide, but that we should always take our key with us. This was a well established bellman (said he'd been there for several years.) We were towards the end of a hall so I'm guessing this was why he said it would be fine. Some of the more frequently traveled hallways it may have been in the way, Beach Club, Yacht Club and Poly main halls it would be in the way. So, I guess my answer is 'Maybe?!'

I really don't think that that is Disney's official stance on the subject. Just as a general public safety issue this is a bad idea. If there was a fire, the halls could become smoke filled and visibility would be drastically reduced. Can you imagine trying to get out of a burning hotel and keep running into people's ECV's? You could easily injure yourself doing so. Is it worth it? Especially just because it is a convenience for a person and not a necessity.

 

[pigletliz]

We stayed at a resort where someone parked their ECV outside of their room. It turned that little section of the hallway into one lane. People couldn't pass in both directions and another guest in their own ECV couldn't get by. The family of the ECV owner refused to move it. It got really ugly.

As someone noted above, just not a good idea, especially if there was an emergency at night.

 

[cobright]

Plus it is just rude to leave your personal items out in the hallway. Would you just leave your suitcases out there because you don't want them to take up space in your room? What justification can you possibly have to leave any of your personal items in the hallway?

Alright, I will stipulate that one should not park ones vehicle in the hallway if doing so would reduce the width of the hallway below the minimum required for emergency egress. The International Building Code sets this minimum at 44". It's actually based on the occupancy size served by the hallway in an emergency but I haven't found a WDW resort hallway serving anywhere near enough people to exceed the minimum corridor width.

So if your hallway looks like this, maybe try harder to park in-room.	But if it looks like this, I don't see the problem.

As to the matter of rudeness. Courtesy requires that we tolerate lot of things that we consider rude when they are done to accommodate the disability of a fellow human being.

Has anyone here ever seen people's luggage parked in the hallways of the Disney resorts" Up until recently I was logging 1-2 stays on property per month and I've never seen it. And yet I suspect all of us have seen an ECV in the hallway at least once. Despite mobility challenged guests making up a small minority of total bookings, they make up the almost complete population of people who leave stuff out in the hallways. I question the algebra that results in "Rudeness" as the answer to this puzzle.

People don't store their luggage in the hallway because the rooms have places built into them to accommodate luggage. What many don't have, is a place for a 2'x4' scooter that has access to a power receptacle for charging AND isn't an obstruction within the room.

And all that is assuming the ECV owner can get it through the door in the first place. Doing so often means comporting oneself unnaturally in order to trip the lock, twist the handle and push open the door under heavy resistance AND with the other hand throttle the scooter through the doorway. It's not an easy thing for most people. I think, so long as the hallway is wide enough to not create a fire hazard, it is the meagerest of human charity that we let a handicapped person off the hook for rudeness for parking their chair in a more convenient spot.

 

[DisneyOma]

I've seen kids pour stuff on ECVs left outside of rooms, at Disney.

There's no need to leave the ECV outside the room, and the outlets out there are for the Mousekeepers to use.

 

[cobright]

Can you imagine trying to get out of a burning hotel and keep running into people's ECV's? You could easily injure yourself doing so. Is it worth it? Especially just because it is a convenience for a person and not a necessity.

Unless the fire is inside your own room, you're better off staying put. But seriously it's telling that a hotel hallway with a half dozen housekeeping carts along the wall is considered normal but as soon as someone puts an ECV in the same spot they're dooming the rest of us to a fiery death. Are we supposing that, in the event of a fire, the MouseKeepers will move their trolleys to a different spot? I promise you, they will not.

And to keep things in perspective, in all of the United States together, only about 5 people die each year in Hotel and Motel fires, and let's be honest, those are not happening at resort hotels. As I'm pulling picture of WDW resort hallways, most of them have more than 4' left over with an ECV parked along the wall; most appear to have 6. A 44" wide corridor for egress in an emergency is a necessity. More than that is a convenience.

But if a 30" wide ECV along the side of an 8' hallway scares you, imagine it in the 36" wide entrance area inside the room. Imagine that bit of ballet that must be done to get that heavy door opened inward with one hand while moving a 200 pound ECV outward with the other.