Help! Son broke leg, leaving in 6 days!

[dcmmgw]

Hi. I hope someone on this forum can give me some help. We are leaving on Friday for a week at OKW. Thursday night my DS13 was hit by a car while riding his bike. Thank God, the only damage is a broken leg, but he's in a full leg cast, hip to toes.
My questions...
Where can I find out what he will/ will not be allowed on with the cast?

Will he be able to get on the buses with the cast/crutches or should I get a wheelchair at the resort also?

Any advice, help on managing the world with a cast will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[DeeDeeDis]

So sorry to hear about your son, but how fortunate he was that it was just his leg.

A few years back my son broke his ankle and for quite a few weeks after his injury it would swell quite a bit if he spent too much time standing on his crutches. I can only imagine that since your sons injury is so much worst that he would also have swelling, and ache from standing upright for too long. So you may want to have a wheel chair for him so that you can keep his leg elevated.

I think i would call WDW, maybe someone could answer this for you. I've been sitting here trying picture the rides, how you get on and off and how much leg room each ride has. I imagine he could go on anyride that a wheelchair can go on like most of the attactions at EPCOT. Stepping down into some rides like; Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Test Track may be difficult. Thundermountain (first car) may have enuf leg room. Tower of Terror, Movie Ride, Muppets, Star wars, Bugs Life, Safari Ride, Dinosaur?? i would think would be okay?? Not sure on mission space.

Poor thing, he won't be able to go in the pool, the water park is out..i feel so bad for this child. Hopefully he'll be able to do alot more than what i am pictureing and is able to enjoy his vacation..I hope he's able to go to wdw again in the future when he will be more mobile.

You can get a wheelchair free of charge from most of the resorts for use during your entire stay. Or if you decide to rent at the park, and then hop to another park that same day, just take your paperwork with you, there is not additional charge for the chair at the second park.

Have fun, make the best of a bad situation
deb

 

[SueM in MN]

Sorry to hear about his accident.
The first thing (if you baven't already) is to check out the disABILITIES FAQs thread near the top of this board. That has information about renting wheelchairs from the parks or off-site and getting them lent by the resort.
Also, post #3 on that thread has a link to the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities from the official WDW website. The guidebooks are not very detailed, but at least they are a place to start. They used to have a FAQs on their website regarding which rides had room for someone with a full leg cast, but they removed it quite a while ago (not sure why and unluckily, I didn't copy the information first). You could check with Guest Services at the parks to see if they have that information in writing someplace. The CMs will not prevent anyone from riding with a leg cast, but there are some rides where it would be difficult to get on. In most cases, he will be able to go thru the regular line with the wheelchair and pull the wheelchair into the boarding area (if necessary) to board. Crutches can either be brought into most ride cars or lefft with the wheelchair. His wheelchair may be too long with a foot up to fit in all of the rides that are listed as "may stay in wheelchair". The CMs at the entrance can help you.

A 13 year old should be big enough that an adult wheelchair won't be a problem. The wheelchairs from the parks and from the resorts don't have elevating footrests as far as I know. That may be important for him because he will need to elevate his leg at least at points during the day. So, you may need to rent from one of the offsite places. Another advanage to that is you will have the wheelchair available at the resort, which can be very large. The buses are wheelchair accessible.

You may also want to look into renting a wheelchair from your home area and bringing it with you. I can't tell if you are flying, but here's some info if you are. The airlines are required to transport equipment like wheelchairs/crutches at no extra charge (and they can't count it against your baggage allowance either). You do want to request preboarding and if you have a wheelchair, ask about gate checking it. That way, you can keep it with you until you board and it will be waiting at the gate when you get off. The crutches can probably go inside the plane, either in the closet if they have one or in the overhead bins. Also, you can request the bulkhead seats, which give more space in front of you. That would be something to see if you can request now. We've sometimes been able to arrange them ahead of time - sometimes they only assign those at check in.

If he needs to rest for a while with his legs up, First Aid in all the parks have comfortable private cubicles with cots to rest in.

Hope you have a good trip.

 

[Daydreamer64]

Thank goodness he only has a broken leg. It might have been lots worse-

a broken leg is bad enough. I've been in a leg cast 4 times in my lifetime and the leg casts are the worse. He is going to be so miserable. I feel very badly for him. The heat will cause his leg to swell and it is uncomfortable as well as the itching from the heat is unbearable. Where was the break? He may need to rent a reclining wheelchair for the trip. Geeze, no swimming and getting on and off of the rides is going to be hard. Is there any way to postpone the trip until later in the year. I hate to ask but a hip to toe cast is going to make this trip horrible for him. If it was only a knee to toe cast he'd probably get along alright. Sorry to hear about his injury.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If you get the chance, before you come down have the person who will remove the cast draw a line where it will be cut. Bring several "Sharpie" markers with you. The Characters will autograph his cast. Tell them not to sign accross the line. After the cast is cut off he will have a very unusual souvenier of his trip.

 

[dcmmgw]

Thanks so much for all your replies.

Cheshire Figment what a great idea, I never even thought about that, but I'm sure getting the characters to autograph his cast will make him feel a little better.

Thanks SueM, I didn't realize the wheelchairs in Disney didn't have the elevating footrests. I'm going to look into bringing one from here. He will definitely be in the wheelchair while in the parks and the leg doesnt bend, so we need the footrests, so his leg can go straight out.

He goes back to the doctor on Friday and they may cut the cast down a little (it's his tibia that's broken, plus he has a puncture wound on his calf) so that may things a little easier. I'll check out the guide to disabilities from disney. Thanks again

 

[goldilocks_63]

With the high heat, and a cast, maybe you could reschedule....?

DVC can be accomodating for emergencies....

Just a thought, that maybe XMAS might be nice....

Best wishes, Goldi

 

[dcmmgw]

Have thought about rescheduling but trip is actually a graduation present for my middle son and he and my oldest son are bringing friends with them. Also DH and I are both in jobs where it's very hard to get time off and this was scheduled almost a year ago. DS is very optimistic and says he still wants to go. He knows they'll be things he can't do, but he's ok with just being at Disney.

 

[Sarahsmom85]

A couple of things to make the trip easier. If you are renting a chair at home see if the medical supply store will let you use or rent a seat cushion. Roho is one brand. If your son is going to have to sit a long time this will help. Even get a piece of foam for stuffing pillows.
Check local stores for the clip on cup holders, used for lawn chairs.
If you can sew, make a bag to go on the back of the chair to hold all your junk. One long piece of material sew up the sides and then make two loops to go over the hand rails. Get for holding water bottles and cameras.
Get water misters, and they have neck wraps that you put in water to help keep him cool.
If there is a ride he cannot go one, park him at the exit and where he can be in aircondition.
If he has a hand held game he could play it as he waits. The small walkie talkie they have now are enteraining and a way to keep in touch.
My husband can't do a lot of the ride so he just people watch. You just make the best of it . He will still have fun.

 

[SueM in MN]

If you don't sew or don't have time to make a bag, a backpack will fit on the back of a wheelchair (the arm straps go over the push handles).