I have no
doubt you have read many reports giving a day by day account about
what a family did at Disney. This won't be another of those. I
just wanted to record a few thoughts and comments about my experiences
at Disney in a wheelchair. My name is Andrew, I have an overall
muscular weakness (spinal muscular atrophy) that means I now use
an electric wheelchair for getting around. I can stand up (with
difficulty) and take one or two steps if I have something solid
like grab rails to hang on to. I never risk transferring in or
out of my wheelchair once I leave my hotel room.
I am on vacation
with Sheila my wife. We are regular visitors to Disney from the
UK aged in our 50s. We have seen and done most of what we want
to on previous trips (though never before at this time of year),
and are now content just to enjoy the parks and hotels at a leisurely
pace.
Programme:
12/04/00 - Hilton Hotel London Gatwick
12/05/00 - 12/10/00 - Wilderness Lodge
12/11/00 - 12/15/00 - Boardwalk Inn
12/16/00 - 12/22/00 - Disney Magic
12/23/00 - 01/02/01 - Boardwalk Inn
The Parks:
My electric
wheelchair is an Invacare Storm with tilting seat, reclining backrest
and elevating footplates, all powered. By making the appropriate
adjustments, I can turn it into a mobile sun-lounger. It has a
range of about 17 miles on fully charged batteries, and flat out
could just about keep up with jogger. It isn't any longer or wider
than a regular manual chair, though much heavier, thanks to two
industrial strength batteries under the seat. I can turn 360 degrees
in not much more than my overall length, so am much more manoeuvrable
than an ECV.
I get to the
airport by London black cab to Victoria railway station, then
take the Gatwick express, both wheelchair accessible. We stay
overnight at the Hilton, which is connected to the terminals by
walkway so that we have no worries about arriving late. I ride
my chair right out to the gate where it is loaded into the hold.
I am carried to my seat like a sack of potatoes in a special wheelchair
that is narrow enough for aircraft isles. We have paid a little
extra to sit in the bigger seats up front because I can no longer
get in and out of the 'cattle' class seats. We are travelling
with Virgin, a company that has a superb reputation for dealing
with passengers with disabilities. I wish I could say the same
for Gatwick Handling, the company that loads and unloads luggage
(and wheelchairs) and/or their counterpart in Orlando. My chair
has fully charged batteries when it leaves the UK, but they are
almost flat on arrival in Florida. I just about make it to the
Mears wheelchair bus with my warning lights flashing. The chair
finally gives up just inside my room at the Wilderness Lodge.
That's cutting it too close for comfort!
Wilderness
Lodge is not great for wheelchair transport to the Magic Kingdom.
The only direct way (without going by bus via TTC) is by boat.
Wilderness Lodge, Wilderness Campground and Contemporary all have
floating docks allowing wheelchair access to the launches. Magic
Kingdom doesn't. I took a ride back from campground to lodge one
afternoon, and one evening convinced a Magic Kingdom launch to
divert to Contemporary to drop me there, which the captain reluctantly
agreed to do. There were two sizes of launch in use, a small one
that you had to step down into (not accessible) and a larger one
which had a deck just about level with the dock. This latter is
accessible to both manual and electric wheelchairs, though ECVs
would have difficulty with the right angle turn they would have
to make immediately after getting aboard. The launches are all
in radio contact, and I was told to just talk to the captain if
the wrong one came along, and he would radio for the larger launch
to divert next time it passed by. It was this larger launch that
I used. The rest of the time I had to take a bus to TTC and switch
to monorail or ferry to get to MK. All the other parks had a direct
bus with no change. MK is by far the least convenient park to
get to if you have an electric wheelchair.
As always,
some people just had to push ahead of me in crowds. I potter along,
leaving a gap between my toes (which overhang the front of my
footplates) and the people walking in front. Someone edges past
me to fill in the gap and then scowls at me when I run into their
feet.
Have you ever
tried to walk against the tide from Mexico, past Canada to the
International Gateway just as Illuminations ends? I had to do
it a couple of times. I just switched on my hazards (my Invacare
is highway legal for the UK, with full lights, turn indicators
and hazards) and head into the crowd with my wife following. The
crowd magically parts in front of us.
Some people
are blind to wheelchairs. This year's favourite trick (and it
happened to me more than once) was the family walking ten to fifteen
feet in front of me. They would spot a photo opportunity and stop
dead. I would stop too. Then the person with the camera would
shout 'smile' and start walking backwards towards me. I can't
back up, because I don't have mirrors.
My wheelchair
is controlled by a joystick. I discovered that the 'Mickey' antenna
ball (on sale most everywhere) fits perfectly as a substitute
for my regular joystick cover. My 'Mickey' is the one with the
Santa hat - very seasonal.
Here's an
idea - how about virtual rides for wheelchairs! Because I can't
transfer out of my wheelchair, there are some rides I never get
to try out. Near the fountain at Epcot, I noticed a huge LCD TV
screen showing, amongst other things, a couple of shots of Test
Track. So why not let wheelchairs ride through the pre-show then
divert them into a booth with a similar large screen or VR goggles
showing the ride in full? Not quite as good as the real thing,
but better than nowt. My wife would ride as normal and we would
join up again as she exited and my movie completed. My biggest
disappointment is not so much that I cannot ride myself, as the
fact that I cannot share the experience with my wife who has.
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will not be held liable for any information (valid or invalid) presented
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that happens as a result of following advice or information on this
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