Wheelchair Access to getting on rides

[JeannieNM]

I am an 60 something T5 paraplegic.in good shape most of the time. In DLR I know which rides I can get on and off with on my own and with help. I am headed to DW with my DH, DD, DDBF which will mean I have more help then usual. Is there anyone that has a you tube channel with loading rides from a wheelchair? Or do I need to google each ride I am interested in individually?

Thank you for your help

 

[SueM in MN]

Posts 18-22 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread on this board has a list of helpful transfer info for WDW rides. Each of those posts is one park and also includes which have wheelchair accessible vehicles.
My youngest daughter uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. She doesn’t stand or walk, so if a transfer is required, we need to lift her.

There are also several posters who will probably chime in

 

[Groot]

I’d look up Roll With Cole & Charisma and Curb Free With Cory Lee. They have tips on doing disney with a wheelchair (more specifically powerchairs) and they do show ride transfers in the videos.

 

[SueM in MN]

wheelsnoheels has quite a bit of WDW ride information on her YouTube channel. Her last WDW visit was in summer 2019 - I think July.
She covered the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train at about 19:30 on On this video. She had technical difficulties with the film, so doesn’t show getting on. She does a good job describing it well though.

 

[Groot]

@JeannieNM here’s one of the videos I was talking about. They even have transfer examples.

 

[JeannieNM]

Thanks. I will check these out. I use a manual chair. I want to make an effort to ride more rides then usual since I have so many helpers. Of course the stay in your chair rides are the easiest but are very limited. Usually DD and I do those plus the Star Wars rides as we have those transfers down. I just want to try the rides that are unique to DW. Thanks again for the help.

 

[BillSears]

Hi Jeannie. I'm 63 now and have been a T6 complete since 1977. Getting older and having shoulder injuries have slowed me down but I still do trips to WDW with most of them being solo trips. I've been to DL a few times and had some of that experience.

One difference is that WDW's lines are almost all mainstreamed. So there are only a few rides that give you a return time, Jungle Cruise and Living With the Land come to mind. Just about every ride that is at WDW and DL is the same for transfers or roll-in. Space Mountain is not the same, WDW does not have a seperate load area and I don't think it has the cool transfer assist that let's you bump up/down. Small World is a different type of loading but you still roll-on/off. I've heard Dinosaur is the same ride vehicle as Indiana Jones at DL.

Some rides I ride that are WDW only. Expedition Everest is an easy transfer on/off. They have a swing away door and the seat is about level with my wheelchair seat. The Frozen ride has a set of bump steps they attach to the side of the vehicle to get up/down. I could have done these in my younger days but I don't think I could make it back up now with age/injuries. The same is true for the Navi River Journey, portable bump steps. Flight of Passage is pretty easy for me because I can remove my footrests. With the footrests off I can roll right up to the back of the seat and slide forward onto it. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has a swing open side door and isn't too bad to get in and out. My biggest issue with it is finding a good spot to put my hands to transfer. I did Mickey's and Minnie's Runaway Train once and I'll never ride again. They could have gone with a level platform/swing away door like most rides. But they went with the attach bump steps to the side of the car and you bump in and out. I found this very hard to use to get out but luckily the load you on/off in a pull out area so I had extra time to get out.

I'm sure I'm missing some rides so if you have a specific question please just ask.

 

[SueM in MN]

To Bill’s excellent write up, I’ll add that besides the issues he noted with Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway train, the train that loads at the accessible loading area is the same as all the other trains - the opening is very narrow.
It also whips riders around quite a bit, especially in the Daisy’s Dance School sequence. We got our daughter into the ride car, but she didn’t really like the rough ride

 

[MickeyMouseLove]

Thank you for all the info! So, just to confirm, the only rides that give you a return time are Jungle Cruise and Living with the Land? The rest you enter the general standby queue?

Trying to get a grasp on how to plan each day of our trip that starts this weekend with my dad who will be using a scooter (is unable to stand for more than 2 minutes).
Thanks for any more insight!

 

[SteveMouse]

Doesn’t BTMRR also issue return times, or has the queue changed?

 

[SueM in MN]

Doesn’t BTMRR also issue return times, or has the queue changed?

It does issue wheelchair return times.
Small World does also sometimes too.

 

[MickeyMouseLove]

Doesn’t BTMRR also issue return times, or has the queue changed?

It does issue wheelchair return times.
Small World does also sometimes too.

Thank you for the information!
So, scooters go through all the general standby queues except Jungle Cruise, Living with the Land, Thunder Mountain, and sometimes Small World?
This is so helpful, and something I definitely did not know.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thank you for the information!
So, scooters go through all the general standby queues except Jungle Cruise, Living with the Land, Thunder Mountain, and sometimes Small World?
This is so helpful, and something I definitely did not know.

There is an alternate entrance for Small World. When it’s busy, that area may be filled; that’s when the CMs give out wheelchair Return times.

The CMs at the entrance to rides are great at letting guests know where to go. If you need to do something different because of using a mobility device, they will let you know

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

Star Tours always issues return times. Last trip, I was offered return times at a lot of rides I didn’t used to. I think they may have been trying it out. It was over Memorial Day weekend last year, but I was given return times for Jungle Cruise,Pirates, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, and something in DHS but I don’t remember what, but they confused it with my son’s DAS return time and we spent some time at a blue umbrella straightening it out. And I just want to mention that even with a return time, we were stuck in the Splash Mountain exit line for well over an hour. It was the only ride we really had a problem with and spent much more time in line than if we’d been able to wait in the regular line or even just used my son’s DAS pas for the lightening lane. I usually transfer on every ride because I can, and I don’t want to take up needed mobility cars but towards the end of our Epcot night when the crowds were real low, they had me stay in my chair on Living with the land and Nemo and Seas. The Nemo and Seas was a rather embarrassing ordeal as the stopped the whole ride and the clamshell pulls out and a ramp unfolds. I’ll never not transfer on that again because I felt like what little line there was, was all watching me try to maneuver my mobility chair onto it. People mover and Spaceship Earth both require a walk of more than a few feet. Be prepared that they will ask you at every ride if you can transfer. So if you’d rather not, and know ahead of time which rides will allow you to stay in your chair, you can ask to. Small World does, but it can take a while because it’s only one or two boats.

 

[MickeyMouseLove]

Star Tours always issues return times. Last trip, I was offered return times at a lot of rides I didn’t used to. I think they may have been trying it out. It was over Memorial Day weekend last year, but I was given return times for Jungle Cruise,Pirates, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, and something in DHS but I don’t remember what, but they confused it with my son’s DAS return time and we spent some time at a blue umbrella straightening it out. And I just want to mention that even with a return time, we were stuck in the Splash Mountain exit line for well over an hour. It was the only ride we really had a problem with and spent much more time in line than if we’d been able to wait in the regular line or even just used my son’s DAS pas for the lightening lane. I usually transfer on every ride because I can, and I don’t want to take up needed mobility cars but towards the end of our Epcot night when the crowds were real low, they had me stay in my chair on Living with the land and Nemo and Seas. The Nemo and Seas was a rather embarrassing ordeal as the stopped the whole ride and the clamshell pulls out and a ramp unfolds. I’ll never not transfer on that again because I felt like what little line there was, was all watching me try to maneuver my mobility chair onto it. People mover and Spaceship Earth both require a walk of more than a few feet. Be prepared that they will ask you at every ride if you can transfer. So if you’d rather not, and know ahead of time which rides will allow you to stay in your chair, you can ask to. Small World does, but it can take a while because it’s only one or two boats.

Thank you for all the info.

 

[DisneyOma]

And I just want to mention that even with a return time, we were stuck in the Splash Mountain exit line for well over an hour. It was the only ride we really had a problem with and spent much more time in line than if we’d been able to wait in the regular line or even just used my son’s DAS pas for the lightening lane.

Did you enter the regular queue first for Splash, and then get pulled out at the stairway, or did they send you right to the exit? How many people were ahead of you on the exit side that it took an hour to load? We were sent that way at the stairs last trip, and we were held at the bottom of the exit ramp right at the loading area. Trying to picture where an hour's worth of alt entrance guests line up?

 

[lanejudy]

Trying to picture where an hour's worth of alt entrance guests line up?

We’ve been held on the path that cuts from the stairs over to the exit ramp. LONGEST wait we’ve ever had for any attraction.

 

[SueM in MN]

We’ve been held on the path that cuts from the stairs over to the exit ramp. LONGEST wait we’ve ever had for any attraction.

We haven‘t ridden for a long time with our DD (the wheelchair user), but that’s where we were always held too. The exit is just not big enough for a lot of people waiting or mobility devices to be parked. They generally only called a few back to the exit at a time.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Did you enter the regular queue first for Splash, and then get pulled out at the stairway, or did they send you right to the exit? How many people were ahead of you on the exit side that it took an hour to load? We were sent that way at the stairs last trip, and we were held at the bottom of the exit ramp right at the loading area. Trying to picture where an hour's worth of alt entrance guests line up?

I started in regular queue and pulled out near the stairs to the wheelchair path to loading. have never been sent in the exit at Splash

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

When the line splits and they pull the wheelchairs and scooters out of the regular line towards the exit, it was completely full of people. And because of not having the space the park many in the exit area, only 2 groups were being let in at a time, the one riding and the one queuing up. It was a very slow process since there were so many and it was a big disorganized mess. They had the line crisscrossing itself at points. I’ve been in a wheelchair or mobility chair the last 5 trips to WDW and I’d never seen it that disorganized or that many scooters in the park period.