Wheels chairs and Animal Kingdom

[LisaF]

First off, thanks everyone for all the wonderful information here.

We will be visiting WDW Good Friday through the week after Easter, and we realize it will be busy. At that time, my mother will have had 6 weeks to recooperate from major abdominal surgery to remove a tumor (not cancer, and thanks for the pixie dust and prayers).
I plan to get a Guess Assistance Card for her, and have discussed a wheel chair also. How accessible is Animal Kingdom if we are using a regular wheel chair vs. a scooter? The Dolphin has assured us they have a chair for my mother, but I'm prepared to rent one from an off-site vendor if necessary. I can't remember what the paths are like through AK - paved or rocks. She has been walking a lot, but I'm sure she won't be up to 6 miles a day by the time we leave for vaca. Thanks for you help!! LisaF

 

[SueM in MN]

Glad to hear everything went well with the surgery!
The paths are themed and the theme is kind of exotic, with authentic paved paths. So the paths are paved to be like rocks, stone paths, mud roads, etc.
The paths there are narrower than at the other parks and some of them are fairly bumpy. In addition, the park was meant to be explored, so it was designed to not be a straight-forward place to manouver around in (this is from a book I have on the planning of the park).
We have not used anything there except my DD's manual wheelchair, but I think it would be a realtively hard place to use an ecv because of the narrowness of the paths and the fact that it's usually pretty busy for its size.
It's a fun park, just take your time. We have also been there over Easter time. The thing we noticed in past trips is that the park is busy early and by 3pm, you were able to pretty much walk on anything you wanted to see. A lot of people said it seems to be a hot park, probably because all of the humidity that the plantings hold, so it seems to make you quite tired to go there. You may want to plan on 2 half days there, rather than one full day.

 

[LisaF]

Thank you for the feedback Sue. Our spring break just happens to overlap w/our SIL/BIL and parents-in-law, so this will be our last morning together. We will meet when the park opens, and finish up their day with lunch around 1:00 at Rainforest Cafe. My parents may head back to the hotel to rest up, and DH, myself and the kids may explore a little more at the AK - commando style. DM is able to walk, and has been taking short daily walks around the block, but I really think the wheel chair will be a necessity for her. Again, thanks for the input. I appreciate all the help!! LisaF

 

[Wheelsie]

Are you going to be doing the pushing? Or will it be your mom doing it?

I only ask this because Im 28 have been in the chair all my life...and it takes me and my DH to get me around a good portion of AK....can't do some of it on my own...and I'm strong as an ox LOL

I don't think I've seen very many scooter around AK...and if you go see the Bug's life show it's very twisty and turny as well as narrow...and going down....then there is the up when the show is done....WHOA!!! hehehehehe

Congrats from me as well

 

[LisaF]

Pushing will probably be done by the men-folk in our party - my DH, possibly my father and there's always my FIL or BIL who can pitch in. And of course I would help out. I do remember the twisting and turning to get into ITTBAB now that you mention it. Is there a safe area she could "park" her chair if she was up to walking into this show?? Just another thought. So many things to take into consideration when planning!! We're just all so relieved that the surgery was successful, that we're treating this trip as a "celebration".

 

[Nanajo1]

One of scariest times I saw involving ECVs was at ITTBAB entry. It is narrow and twisty. There were two (husband and wife) folks on ECVs that didn't have a clue how to drive them. The poor CMs trying to direct them had to jump out of the way. People around them were practically climbing the walls. I just took it slow on the ECV and have had no problems other then people tying to jump ahead in the safety space I try to leave.LOL.
Your Mother doesn't have to take the wheelchair in any line when she feels strong enough to stand. She can leave it outside near the strollers. I would definitely have a highly visable identifying flag,ribbon. etc on it if you plan to leave it .

 

[lisapooh]

If you are in an ECV or Power wheelchair ask the castmember to allow you to use the fastpass line. It is wider than the standby line and a little easier to navigate.

 

[LisaF]

Thank you everyone for the great suggestions!!!

 

[Sam3m]

I am planning a trip to DW in late Sept. Must use wider than regular chair, am over 450 lbs., can use crutches for short distances. I'd like any suggestions for places to rent electric scooter, etc. for someone my size as well as any other suggestions, information anyone may have.
Much appreciated.

 

[SueM in MN]

I saw your separate thread about this and posted for you there.

 

[nancycels]

i've never had a problem w/ecv's at the animal kingdom, i've been able to navigate pretty
easily, but also can park the ecv and walk thru the winding lines if need be. i figure my
husband wd probably end up w/a coronary if he tried to push me around in all the July heat
which is when we go, so i get an ecv. No problems w/the cobbled type walkways, just slow
down a bit. As one other poster mentioned the biggest problem is people trying to fill in the
'safety space' i try to leave between me and the people in front of me! i didn't try to get to the
river rapids though, so i don't know about the access there. HAVE FUN!

 

[SueM in MN]

My DH and I were on an adults only WDW trip in July and looked at the Kali River Rapids to see if DD would be able to go on it. The line is a mainstream (wait in line with everyone else) line, but at the boarding area, they have a separate place where people with ecvs and wheelchairs board. The boarding area is sort of a semi-circular wooden dock. The accessible boat is off to the right. They have a place to park wheelchairs and ecvs there and the boat is tied up better than at the general boarding area. The regular boats board and exit at the smea place, so there is a constant flow of people. The accessible boarding area is off to the side and there didn't seem to be any hurry to load it.
The boats themselves are round, sort of rafty looking things. There was a step up over a lip to get in and the doorway is not very wide. There are sort of bench seats with high backs along the wall of the boat, 2 seats, then a space all along the wall. There is one seatbelt that goes across both seats. In the middle of the boat, there is a circular storage area for purses, backpacks, etc. There is a rail along the bottom of that to keep your feet on to try to keep them dry. The CMs told us that the accessible boats were the same as the other boats.