Wheelchairs, Shows and FPs

iujen94

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Hi! I'm helping a Disney newbie plan a trip for October. Her 7-year-old son is in a wheelchair, and I'm trying to figure out the best use of their FastPasses. I'm wondering if it makes sense to use a FP for any shows at Disney, or are there separate wheelchair-accessible areas, such that they'd be going into a separate entrance anyway, and a FP would be a complete waste? [Note that I know you usually don't need a FP for most Disney shows, but in some cases they aren't using their FPs on super popular attractions anyway. I'm mostly just wondering if they would even go into the FP line at all.]

Here's the shows they are interested in:

Hollywood Studios:
Beauty and the Beast
Frozen Sing-a-Long
Indiana Jones
Fantasmic

Animal Kingdom:
Finding Nemo
Festival of the Lion King

Magic Kingdom:
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

Epcot:
Turtle Talk with Crush

Thanks so much!

(Edited to add Fantasmic)
 
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Hi! I'm helping a Disney newbie plan a trip for October. Her 7-year-old son is in a wheelchair, and I'm trying to figure out the best use of their FastPasses. I'm wondering if it makes sense to use a FP for any shows at Disney, or are there separate wheelchair-accessible areas, such that they'd be going into a separate entrance anyway, and a FP would be a complete waste? [Note that I know you usually don't need a FP for most Disney shows, but in some cases they aren't using their FPs on super popular attractions anyway. I'm mostly just wondering if they would even go into the FP line at all.]

Here's the shows they are interested in:

Hollywood Studios:
Beauty and the Beast
Frozen Sing-a-Long
Indiana Jones
Fantasmic

Animal Kingdom:
Finding Nemo
Festival of the Lion King

Magic Kingdom:
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

Epcot:
Turtle Talk with Crush

Thanks so much!

(Edited to add Fantasmic)

Can you give us a bit more info? For example, will he want to transfer, or remain in his chair?

Personally, if I were doing their planning, from that list, I would FP Fantasmic, and Lion King. The others I think would probably be ok; just remind them that after they use the first 3 FP+ they can start searching for and reserving one more FP+ at a time until they are done for the day! :)
 
Can you give us a bit more info? For example, will he want to transfer, or remain in his chair?

Personally, if I were doing their planning, from that list, I would FP Fantasmic, and Lion King. The others I think would probably be ok; just remind them that after they use the first 3 FP+ they can start searching for and reserving one more FP+ at a time until they are done for the day! :)

I’m almost positive he will remain in his chair. Thanks!
 
Hi! I'm helping a Disney newbie plan a trip for October. Her 7-year-old son is in a wheelchair, and I'm trying to figure out the best use of their FastPasses. I'm wondering if it makes sense to use a FP for any shows at Disney, or are there separate wheelchair-accessible areas, such that they'd be going into a separate entrance anyway, and an FP would be a complete waste? [Note that I know you usually don't need an FP for most Disney shows, but in some cases, they aren't using their FPs on super popular attractions anyway. I'm mostly just wondering if they would even go into the FP line at all.]

Here are the shows they are interested in:

Hollywood Studios:
Beauty and the Beast
Frozen Sing-a-Long
Indiana Jones
Fantasmic

Animal Kingdom:
Finding Nemo
Festival of the Lion King

Magic Kingdom:
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

Epcot:
Turtle Talk with Crush

Thanks so much!

(Edited to add Fantasmic)

Hi, iujen94.

At least you can plan for them even if they decide at the last minute not to go into the FP+ lines.

Here is some information from WDW that might help you.

I would choose the following if I were going by your choices:

Hollywood Studios:
Fantasmic [they have rows all along the back row with seats beside and in front of the guest for the family.]
Beauty and the Beast [Ask to go to the front row, although the family seats may be limited., rear seats also.]
Frozen Sing-a-Long [Front row seats, nice show]
Indiana Jones [Seats in the rear and you can usually go in the standby line.]

Animal Kingdom:
Finding Nemo [A few seats near the front if you ask a cast member and most in the rear.]
Festival of the Lion King [All seats in the front row.]
Rivers of Light[A few seats near the rear if you ask a cast member and most in the front row.]

Magic Kingdom:
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor [Cast members usually guide you to a space to park.]
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress [It has a lift to get on.] Thank you, Sue.
Jungle Cruise [It has a special boat to drive on.]
Country Bear Jamboree [Just for the old jokes.]

EPCOT:
Turtle Talk with Crush [I haven't been to this in a long time.]
The American Adventure [An inside show/movie.]
Reflections of China [An inside show/movie.]
O Canada![An inside show/movie.]
Impressions de France[An inside show/movie.]

And these are the most popular FastPass+s'. As previous folks have mentioned, once you use up all of your FastPass+s', you can start adding more FastPass+s'. But just choose from your list of what you think that they would like to see.

Here are the Top 3 FastPass+ priorities by park

Magic Kingdom Park
Epcot
Disney's Hollywood Studios
(You can only choose one of these since they are Tier 1 attractions. More on this in a moment.)

Disney's Animal Kingdom
 
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Turtle Talk w/Crush is a fairly small theater anyway and I’ve ususally been directed to one of the front spaces on the side. So in my opinion a FP is wasted there.

Frozen Singalong - the seats in the back can feel pretty far away so I’ll be FPing this on next trip to see in I can get to front.

Finding Nemo can feel very far away in the back and that might be why I don’t care as much for this show as others. But I’ve never been seated toward the front and I’m going to try that next trip with FP.

One thing you generally don’t have to worry about is figuring out where to go. For the most part CMs are quite pro-active in letting you know.
 
Quote from RaySharpton:
Magic Kingdom:
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor [Cast members usually guide you to a space.]
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress [It has a lift to get on.]
Jungle Cruise [It has a special boat to drive on.]
Country Bear Jamboree [Just for the old jokes.]
I think you mixed up the lift of the Jungle Cruise Boat with Carousel of Progress.
Carousel of Progress has a ramp that all guests walk up to get to the theater load area. It’s a straight drive in.
Guests enter the theater, the doors close and the entire theater rotates around different stage areas. Wheelchair spots are in the front row.

Turtle Talk has a carpet area at the front for kids to sit on. During the show, kids have an opportunity to talk to Crush.
Wheelchair seating is scattered from the first row to the farther back rows.
Turtle Talk w/Crush is a fairly small theater anyway and I’ve ususally been directed to one of the front spaces on the side. So in my opinion a FP is wasted there.

Frozen Singalong - the seats in the back can feel pretty far away so I’ll be FPing this on next trip to see in I can get to front.

Finding Nemo can feel very far away in the back and that might be why I don’t care as much for this show as others. But I’ve never been seated toward the front and I’m going to try that next trip with FP.

One thing you generally don’t have to worry about is figuring out where to go. For the most part CMs are quite pro-active in letting you know.
For Frozen Singalong, the wheelchair spots are in the very front row and the very back row. The CMs ask guests with Fastpass which they prefer. If there are still front row seats left when they start letting in the general guests, they will ask whether you prefer front or back.
Finding Nemo is another one where having a Fastpass will give a better chance of being able to choose where to sit. There are a few wheelchair spots in the front and (I think) 2 spots in the middle. The middle seats are awesome, BUT, if it’s raining or wet out, those are not available. The reason is that you need to use a side door to get to that area. During the show, the characters use those aisles for several portions of the show. So, the floor needs to stay dry.
 


The last post on page 2 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread lists the location of ‘mobility seating’ in all theaters.
You can find the thread near the top of this board and this is a link to page 2:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...ed-1st-trip-next-trip-wish-trip.595713/page-2

Whether FP is a good idea or not really varies - there is no way to tell ahead of time how many other guests with mobility devices will be attending the same show as you.
I agree with Fantasmic, Lion King and Nemo.
For Fantasmic and Nemo, we have been the last ‘non-transfer’ group let in several times. Once the ‘non-transfer’ spots are filled, guests either need to transfer to a seat and park their device in a parking area during the show or not go.
 
I think you mixed up the lift of the Jungle Cruise Boat with Carousel of Progress.
Carousel of Progress has a ramp that all guests walk up to get to the theater load area. It’s a straight drive in.
Guests enter the theater, the doors close and the entire theater rotates around different stage areas. Wheelchair spots are in the front row.

Thank you, Sue. I made the change in my post.

And thank you for the other information, too.
 
Our last trip was 2 years ago, I think. So if there have been changes, my apologies.

My DD is in a wheelchair. We usually go during a low crowd time. Crowd level is one thing you might want to take a peek at when planning.

We have never had to use FPs for better seating; however, we have not been to all of the shows on your list. Here's our experience:

"Here's the shows they are interested in:

Hollywood Studios:
Beauty and the Beast - seating was right up front, no problems
Frozen Sing-a-Long - never been
Indiana Jones - never been
Fantasmic - no problem with getting a seat BUT these seats are the absolute worst. They are in the very back. We were not impressed with the show at all sitting in the back. Later in the trip, two of my children and I went back just to see what it was like in different seats - midway down or so. Completely different experience. The show was amazing. I'm sad to say - in my person opinion - the handicap seating at this show is the absolute pits.

Animal Kingdom:
Finding Nemo - same as Fantasmic (although there is seating even further back for guests w/o handicaps so I guess I can't complain), I am SO excited to hear there's seating down front! We are going in Nov/Dec and I will do what it takes to snag DD a seat down front. I am so excited!
Festival of the Lion King - seating is sweet! down front like you are part of the show:)

Magic Kingdom:
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor - never been

Epcot:
Turtle Talk with Crush" - no problems here at all, rolled right in

Again, we did these shows/attractions w/o FPs. We do show up a minimum of 30 min ahead of time though, and, again, we go when crowd levels are fairly low. When I'm planning a trip, researching which park and what time a day is my life;)
 
Our last trip was 2 years ago, I think. So if there have been changes, my apologies.

My DD is in a wheelchair. We usually go during a low crowd time. Crowd level is one thing you might want to take a peek at when planning.

We have never had to use FPs for better seating; however, we have not been to all of the shows on your list. Here's our experience:

"Here's the shows they are interested in:

Hollywood Studios:
Beauty and the Beast - seating was right up front, no problems
There is seating in both the back row and the front row.
If you have a Fastpass, you should be able to choose. If you don’t have a Fastpass and are not there early, there is a chance that there will be no front seats left. The last time we went, we got the last of the front seats.

Frozen Sing-a-Long - never been
Indiana Jones - never been
Fantasmic - no problem with getting a seat BUT these seats are the absolute worst. They are in the very back. We were not impressed with the show at all sitting in the back. Later in the trip, two of my children and I went back just to see what it was like in different seats - midway down or so. Completely different experience. The show was amazing. I'm sad to say - in my person opinion - the handicap seating at this show is the absolute pits.
There are a few seats for wheelchairs in the very front row, but you need to know to ask for them (and hope they are not filled). If you do get in the front row, be prepared for water mist to spray on you. The first time we sat in the front row, I couldn’t figure out why they were selling beach towels at the show.
Then the show started and we figured out pretty quickly.
Animal Kingdom:
Finding Nemo - same as Fantasmic (although there is seating even further back for guests w/o handicaps so I guess I can't complain), I am SO excited to hear there's seating down front! We are going in Nov/Dec and I will do what it takes to snag DD a seat down front. I am so excited!
Festival of the Lion King - seating is sweet! down front like you are part of the show:)
For finding Nemo
- be aware that if you are in the front area, you will be looking up at the stage the while show. Because you are so close and off to one side, you don’t get as good of an overview of the whole stage. We did not enjoy them as much as we thought we would
The very best seats for wheelchairs are the couple of seats in the middle on the right side as you face the stage. They are hard to get though

Magic Kingdom:
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor - never been

Epcot:
Turtle Talk with Crush" - no problems here at all, rolled right in

Again, we did these shows/attractions w/o FPs. We do show up a minimum of 30 min ahead of time though, and, again, we go when crowd levels are fairly low. When I'm planning a trip, researching which park and what time a day is my life;)
 

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