It's a Small World

[dizneefan13]

Is it okay to request the accessible boat if one person in your party has a hard time bending and getting in and out of the regular boats? Or is this only for wheelchairs?

 

[Michigan]

Is it okay to request the accessible boat if one person in your party has a hard time bending and getting in and out of the regular boats? Or is this only for wheelchairs?

The wheelchair boat is actually harder to sit down and get up from because the seat is lower

 

[dizneefan13]

But would it be okay?

 

[siren0119]

But would it be okay?

Logistically, it likely depends on the other guests waiting (if you have wheelchair folks waiting they will take priority over someone who asks to use the accessible boat but don't have a mobility device, and if there are a number of them they won't have the room for unnecessary parties waiting to use an accessible boat), and the CM managing loading.

But if, as PP mentioned, the accessible boat is HARDER to get in and out of and requires MORE bending - an accessible boat would actually cause more of a problem for the issue you describe, not SOLVE it.

 

[Michigan]

But would it be okay?

It would be up to the cast member.
Also there are only 6 seats on that boat so if your party is bigger it wouldn't work

 

[gap2368]

I would ask the CM I use the wheelchair entrance at BTMRR even though I do not use a wheelchair it is just what I need and CM are ok with me doing it in fact they never question it just ask if I have a return time or DAS and that is it. I would guess it would be the same but I would ask when your there the CM might have something else thst would help too.

 

[SueM in MN]

This is the accessible boat. You can ask, but may be told no or that it will be an additional wait.
It doesn’t have any rails for walking down the ramp, so may not be as easy to get in as you think.
The seats are the same distance from the floor as the other boats.

 

[Bjkandma]

I'm looking at this as the person in your party needs "the ramp" to walk in and out of the boat vs. Stepping in and out of the boat. You would need to ask the cast member, if it would be possible. The boat seats are still going to be low, so a person having a hard time getting up and down (bad knees and \ or hips) will have a hard time getting in or out of the actual seat.

 

[SueM in MN]

Another alternative would be to use one of the attraction wheelchairs to go on the accessible boat.
They store several wheelchairs at the Handicapped boarding area for people who may have an ECV or rollator, but may not be able to walk on.

one little story about the difficulty of getting up from low seats ....
A number of years ago, I was at Epcot with my daughter, who uses a wheelchair. We met up with Disboard member Cheshire Figment for the afternoon and went on several rides. He has since died, but was a large msn with bad knees.

I chose Figment (naturally, one of his favorites). That was no problem with getting in and off - I sat in the back of the wheelchair accessible ride car with my daughter and he sat in the front.
Then we rode the Mexico ride, which I thought would not be an issue since the wheelchair boat is very similar to Small World. He walked down the ramp to get in and had a little difficulty sitting down on the relatively low seat. When it was time to get up, he had a great deal of trouble getting up. I won’t go into detail, but that experience is why I say using the ramp to walk down may not be that much help.