This encourages me. I've been really upset about needed to use an ecv for the first time. I need to appreciate all this will allow me to do, and not focus on the negatives.
Thank you.
Kate
I do not need an ECV or other mobility aid at home - pacing myself is sufficient, and there are some things I just don't do.
Disney World is a different story. I need an ECV if I am going to be doing the parks. And I got a good "hard way" demonstration of that a few trips ago.
Four trips ago I did not have an ECV. As a result I was in considerable pain through most of the trip and had great difficulty walking. We managed, but itput an unpleasant cast of the trip. I decided then that I would have an ECV next trip.
The next trip, I rented an ECV from an offsite vendor. On our arrival day, we planned to go to DHS to see the Osborne lights. I figured "its just a few hours" and left the ECV at the hotel. By an hour in I was in pain, by two hours it was significant, and by three hours I could barely walk. At three and a half hours we bailed and it was a challenge to make it back to the hotel. Lesson learned. The rest of the trip, and for the next two trips, I have used the ECV for park visits and occasionally around the resort, depending what we are doing/how I am feeling.
Instead of losing independence, I find I GAIN independence with an ECV. I am able to enjoy the park without being in pain [or it being at a managable/minimal level; ETA: by "no" I mean not more than I am normally in at home, which isn't "nil", but is something I am used to and manage and is my "normal"]. I have control over when I use the ECV and when I don't. So if I am havign a bad patch, I take it into the accessible ride lines with me. If I am doing really well, I park it in an area [eg in tomorrowland, there is a great sheltered mobility device parking area at teh base of the TTA] and walk to the few/several nearby attractions. While waiting for shows I have somewhere to sit, and somewhere to shelter me from the crowd. When my sister goes on the rollercoasters that I can't go on, I have somewhere to sit while waiting for her and don't have to worry about trying to find a largely non-existant bench.
Are there some downsides to an ECV ? Yep. People tend to ignore you and will sometimes cut in front of you. You have to be cognizant of where you are driving it so you don't go over the wrong part of a curve or get stuck in the railroad tracks. It doesn't do stairs and sometimes the ramp location isn't the most obvious. And parallel parking on the buses is for me a bit of a challenge, but the bus drivers are GREAT and helpful. But you adapt. And the only person I have actually run in to is my own sister who was walking in front of me and had to stop very quickly because someone ran in front of her (!). Needless to say, I kept a bigger "following distance" after that, or she walks at my side.
I use Fastpass to help plan our days. And for other reasons I also get a
DAS, but we don't actually use it very often, in part because of good planning, but also because we visit on lower attendance days anyway.
Like the specially tinted glasses and the mask that I have to wear, the ECV is a tool that enables me to do the things I want to do on my own terms. While it would be nice not to need them, that just doesnt fit with reality.
SW
But the ECV ? For me it is freeing and lets me relax and enjoy my trip.
