Difficulty in reserving handicap rooms?

[ColoradoBelle1]

I was reading on another forum where Disney keeps handicap rooms available until the particular resort is almost sold out and then assigns these room to people who don't need them...sort of late in the day last minute arrivals.

It seems that Disney installed more than the required number of handicap rooms (1 per 100 rooms in the larger resorts) but I am not sure how many more. My first question: have you ever arrived at DIsney only to find that you couldn't get a handicapped room?


The DVC(Vacation club villas) handicap rooms are different (I think) from the resort rooms in that they are only wheelchair accessible shower rooms (no handicap accessible-tubs) and some people who need a tub to bathe little ones or for their own mental health (me ) ask for 'a room with a tub' when they make a reservation. A nonhandicapped (and in my opinion a VERY ANGRY and ATTACKING type person) commented that if a handicap person overheard me at the front desk complaining about my room cause it didn't have a tub...that the handicap person might become upset and think that I was being rude or insensitive to the needs of anyone disabled. I don't believe that my request for a tub is in any way insensitive or rude, but I thought I would come over here and ask you to please tell me the truth about this matter. So my second question is: if a family was at the front desk asking to change rooms because they were assigned a handicapped room and didn't need one...and really needed a room with a bathtub.....would you feel that they were somehow attacking you as a person or being insensitive to your need for a wheel-in shower?

Third question: I've read here that some of the Disney resorts like GF have both wheel-in showers rooms and H.C bathtub rooms. Do the DVC resorts like OKW or BCV or BWV have both also? And if you have stayed in a handicap studiors at any of these resorts, have you had enough kitchen counter and bathroom sheving space? (there were some complaints that the HC studios didn't have enough counter top space in the bathroom or the kitchen especially if there were 4 adults in the room.....so I wanted your viewpoint on how the HC rooms could be 'refurbished' better.

IN the Disney timeshare resorts mentioned above , the members pay dues and so refitting the handicapped rooms, if needed, would probably cost the members some money....I was going to suggest to Disney that if they refit some bathtubs so they were handicap accessible and added more shelving at a lower height. This wouldn't cost very much I shouldn't think. But I was also going to ask them to retrofit some shower only rooms to add a bathtub too...would this be helpful do you think? Thanks for any input!
Colorado Belle

 

[Michigan]

I would never just show up and expect to get a wheelchair accessible room. I always make my reservations through the special reservation line.

As for the shower vs tub issue. I guess I look at like everyone can take a shower but not everyone can get in a tub. Because I have 2 daughters that are both paralized just below the waist when the youngest one was just 2 I could still give her a shower because the wheelchair accessible rooms have either a shower chair or a pull down seat that I could sit her in.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I'm not sure about the DVC, but for the regular hotels you should contact special (medical) reservations at 407-939-7807 once you have made your basic reservation. They can guarantee you the type of room that is needed and it will be held for you. Anything done through regular (including on-line) reservations is only a request.

 

[SueM in MN]

For DVC members (or anyone staying on DVC points), special needs reservations are made thru Member Services. For people staying at the general Disney resorts or staying at DVC for cash, they would use the Special Reservations number to make their requests.

For DVC, the "no tub" is only a problem with studios. The one and 2 bedroom units still have a whirlpools tub like the 'regular' rooms do. There would not be room to add a tub to the rooms that only have a roll in shower. It might be possible to add some extra shelves (people with disabilities have toiletries to store too), but what is extra storage for someone without a disability might be an impediment to reaching the sink or getting onto the toilet for someone with a disability.

I've seen posts from people who complain that they have gotten roll in shower rooms rooms multiple times, even though they request "Non Handicapped Accessible. Several CMs (at least one was a room assigner) have posted the suggestion that people NOT list NON-Handicapped (HA) as a request. They said it very easy to miss the NOT and think that the person meant they wanted a handicapped accessible room. They suggested that if you are reserving a studio and don't want HA, it would be better to request a room with a tub.

Also, from reading these boards, it appears to people that there are a lot more HA rooms than there actually are. There are actually 2 types of HA rooms. The first are HA, but not fully wheelchair accessible. Most people who get these rooms probably don't even realize they have HA rooms because they have tubs with grab bars and raised seat toilets with grab bars, but otherwise they are the same as a Non- HA room.
The ones people complain about are the fully wheelchair accessible rooms. Those rooms are pretty obvious because they have roll in showers, raised seat toilets, lower counters. They may have lower beds, but the mattress is usually pretty much the same.

Looking at the total number of rooms in resort listed on the DIS site for each DVC resort, this is the number of HA and roll in shower rooms that the ADA requires for that many rooms (Here is a link to the ADA site that the numbers are from. ):

VWL has a total of 181 villas, so it fits in the category of
Total number of rooms= 151 to 200
ADA requires 6 HA and 2 with roll in showers

BCV has 282 villas, so it fits in
Total number of rooms in resort = 201 to 300
ADA requires 7 HA and 3 with roll in showers

BWV has 383 villas, so it fits in
Total number of rooms in resort = 301 to 400
ADA requires 8 HA and 4 with roll in showers

OKW has 709 villas, so it fits in
Total number of rooms in resort = 501 to 1000
ADA requires 2% of total be HA and 4 with roll in shower, plus 1 with roll in shower for each additional 100 rooms over 400

If I remember right, SSR is scheduled to be over 1000 villas when done, so it would fit in the category of 1001 and over
20 HA plus 1 for each 100 rooms over 1000 and 4 with roll in shower, plus 1 with roll in shower for each additional 100 rooms over 400

The owner of the resort can choose to have more HA or roll in shower rooms, but they typically stay pretty close to the number that is required. If you have a need for a bathetub, I don't think that asking for a room with one is insensitive or rude.

 

[ColoradoBelle1]

Thanks Sue,
You're a wealth of information. I appreciate your post.
I think the idea of requesting a tub instead of nonHA is really smart...I can see where it would be confusing to a CM to see NONHA on a ressie!!!!
Thanks again!
CB

 

[dclfun]

We are DVC members and I've always had a problem if I put a "NOT" request. Twice I asked NOT to be in the Turtle Pond area and guess where my room assignment was.....you guessed it, Turtle Pond. I've always loved OKW the most ( our home resort) due to being able to park right by your "home" and due to the angles in the rooms it makes w/c mobility very easy as opposed to BW or BC, for instance. Kathy