Hi Terri,
I can help you a little bit on this subject. I am an amputee (due to a tornado) and we went to DL on our first visit in November.
We rented a car and stayed at the Annabella where you can drive right up to your room which was good, a lot better than parking in a hotel parking lot walking thru a lobby and up elevators/down corridors etc which doesn't seem like a long walk to the able bodies but it really adds up when you are handicapped.
When visiting the park we parked in the DL parking lot and took the trams to the park but beware, for someone walking impaired the walk just from the parking lot to the tram and from the tram thru security and admission to get your wheelchair is still quite a walk.
Our first day there, I attempted to walk because I rarely use a wheelchair at home but there was so much walking I ended up very sore, it almost ruined my holiday because it took a few days to get over the damage I had done.
Second day we rent a wheelchair, they have 2 sizes and although I am a big person I fit fine in the regular chair and hubby who is a big strong guy pushes me all day. That night he is suffering, all that pushing up and down ramps etc and he has pulled his groin.
Third day we rent a wheelchair again and I try to wheel myself for the most part except for the inclines which hubby helps me with, but something weird is going on, I keep feeling a weird shock and burny type feeling on the side of my hips which it turns out is because even though this is also a regular sized wheelchair it is narrower and the sides of the seat are rubbing against the wheels and creating friction and I am getting burned. We approach a cast member and tell him what is happening and he calls over to the wheelchair people for them to deliver a different chair. I can hear his side of the conversation as they ask "is this person big?" and he says "not really" it turns out all their chairs are not created equally. They end up bringing one of their large chairs which is huge, I mean I have loads of room on either side of me and can barely reach my arms over the armrests to turn the wheels, it was hopeless - hubby is back to pushing LOL
The next day we rent a
scooter which seems a bit expensive but you get $20.00 back when you return it at the end of the day. What a difference, I will definitely do this again. The only time we had difficulty manouvering was when after the fireworks everyone turned around and raced out of the park and I was still facing forward and it was so crowded I couldn't do a u-turn to exit along with the crowd plus when I finally got going there were some really stupid people who will jump in front of you and then give you a filthy look if you can't stop in time and almost run in to them, we solved this by dd walking directly in front of me.
Allens Wheelchair is supposed to be a great place to rent off site but a scooter would not fit into our rental car and hubby like to park in the lot when we visited the park not walk from the hotel. Also if you are intending to use the ART shuttle I have heard horror stories of people trying to get their scooters and wheelchairs on the shuttle, things like being told they would have to wait for the next shuttle becasue the lift didn't work etc, it's just too much hassle to take a shuttle with a chair or scooter.
If you plan on staying at a hotel really close and the rest of your party will be able to walk to the parks then a scooter from Allens would be perfect to just scoot along beside your party and you would have it all the way from your hotel not just in the parks.
Once we were in the park the wheelchair people will give you a pamphlet that tells you where to enter the rides when in a wheelchair, it is invaluable, keep it handy and it is so easy to enter the rides. We had no trouble what-so-ever getting in and out of the different rides. Everyone was helpful and sometimes we did got to ride faster than the regular line but this is not guaranteed. Both hubby and dd were able to stay with me in my line all the time, so I was never stuck by myself.
If you have any question ask away, we are also going from May 1-6, where we plan on staying at the CCI so we will be taking their shuttle so again I will rent in the park rather than off-site this time.
Anne
