We just got back from a 12 day stay at WDW and had no trouble or questions bringing DD's wheelchair into lines with us or getting rides stopped/ slowed or otherwise having accomidations made for boarding. We found the CMs to be helpful and very well versed in what to do for their particular ride.
The printed policy in the Guidebooks for Guests with Disabilities has been the same since 1999 or so. Guest with fatigue or mobility related concerns about waiting in line are recommended to get a wheelchair or
ecv.
There is a Guidebook for each park and they can pick one up in Guest Services in any of the parks. They should get them.
Almost all lines are wheelchair accessible "Mainstream Lines", so she should not have to wait in any lines without the wheelchair unless she chooses to. Even the lines that are not accessible with an ecv (
scooter) have manual wheelchairs that someone with an ecv can transfer to if they feel they can't walk/wait in the lines. I have NEVER heard of CMs telling someone they can't bring a wheelchair in line. If she thinks they are refusing to let her keep the wheelchair in line, I'm afraid there is some mis-understanding.
I can think of a possible source of misunderstanding (that was meant to make things easier to understand) . There are new signs we noticed outside each ride that have an icon for what wheelchair users need to do to
board the ride car. The one for transferrring to a ride car shows a stick person getting out of the wheelchair. it's possible that some people might interpret that as meaning they need to get out of their wheelchair to get into the line, but it has nothing to do with the wait in line - just
boarding.
Here's a
link to the official Disney page about "Mainstream Lines" , so you can see wheelchairs are able to be used in almost all lines all the way to the boarding area.
Here's a
link to a past thread about boarding . If she is using the wheelchair in line, she will be routed to the handicapped entrance (usually the exit) before boarding for those rides with the moving walkways. They can slow or stop the maoving walkway at the exit, BUT she needs to tell them what she needs. The CMs have no idea how unsteady she is and whether she needs the walkway stopped unless she asks. If she does need it slowed or stopped, she might need to wait a while before boarding - some rides can only be stopped on certain cars or in a certain time period. She might be interpreting that as them not wanting to stop the ride for her.
Peter Pan, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority ramps to get up and down to the ride and the moving ramp to get off Pirates can only be stopped for emergencies - not boarding.
If she is not taking the wheelchair in line, the CMs have no way of knowing she needs extra assistance. In most cases, they also can't stop the moving walkways at the regular boarding are.
Hopefully this will help.
