tinibee
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2011
Ok, its not my FIRST visit to Tokyo Disneyland, but it was the first time I've ever used a wheelchair there!
I broke my foot a couple of weeks ago when visiting an onsen (Hakone Kowakien Yunessun - great place!). I was put in a cast up to my knee and given crutches to get around. Would this stop me from going to Tokyo Disneyland for the Fourth of July? Heck no, but it did make for a different experience which I thought I would share.
We tried to get there a bit early so we could park in the garage where we scored a sweet spot on the second floor. As we exited the parking structure and I was crutching my way to the bag inspection checkpoint, we were stopped by a cast member who told us that we could move our car to the handicap parking, even though we don't have a handicap parking sticker. My husband exited the parking garage then came back through. I guess he was told to make the motion of rolling a wheelchair which signified that he could park in the handicap section, but I guess it works! I thought we had a sweet spot in the garage, but I think the handicap parking is the closest we will ever be to the park. You get out of the car in about a 1 minute walk (I mean, if you are actually walking, not crutching) and you are at the gates.
We wanted to get to the park before it opened so we would have time to figure out wheelchair rental. The lines were still pretty long at the gates as the park had not quite opened yet. We went to ask a cast member where to find the wheelchair rental. She kindly asked us to follow her. She proceeded to lead us the furthest right gate, where they had an entrance with no line. She directed me to go through that entrance and then to the right to rent a wheelchair. They scanned our passes and were in the park!
We got to the stroller/wheelchair rental where the kind cast member told me I could sit down while my husband rented the wheelchair. Three hundred yen and a few minutes later we were the proud renters of a TDL wheelchair. They have a variety of types of wheelchairs including motorized as well as the scooters. There was even a small tray on the back for me to rest my crutch tips on with a Velcro loop so that they could be held against the chair. Brilliant!
Every visit needs at least one silly picture, right?
They gave us a "Guest Assistance Card" and instructed us that you take it to the cast member at the standby entrance of the rides. The cast member will give you a time to return (not a window, but an actual time you need to come back) and write it on the card. We decided to give it a shot at Star Tours. It took about 5 minutes to get a time assigned from the cast member. There were other parties with the card as well. I never really noticed people in wheelchairs at TDL before, but now I was acutely aware and noticing several people in them, but I was the only unlucky sucker in a cast. Come to think of it, I've never seen anyone in a cast in the past year that I've been in Japan.
We returned later for our assigned Star Tours time. They put a check mark on my card to show I had arrived for my time. We were then led by a cast member to the far left side of the line for the ride where there was a small side door that we entered. I had no idea there was a door there. We were led to a small elevator where we went to the second floor of the ride that put us at the front of the line and got assigned to our Star Tours ship. They pushed my wheelchair all the way to the first row seats of the ride so I could just hop out of the chair and into the ride seat. It was a great ride as always and we finally we didn't go to the Wookie planet (that we ALWAYS get), instead greatly enjoying our Star Tours trip to Hoth. At the end of the ride, they brought the wheelchair all the way to my seat so I could hop back in and go out the way we came. Sweet!
My husband decided to pick up a regular fast pass for Buzz then we headed over to Pooh's Hunny Hunt and got our next assigned time. We had a little time to kill and the Tanabata Greeting Parade was about to start so we thought we would go see it until our ride time. Because I was in the wheelchair we were able to use one of their wheelchair viewing sections for the parade. There were only a few other wheelchairs/scooters there so I was pretty much in the front. Several of the parade characters often came by the wheelchair section to shake our hands and say hi. I've never experienced that in any Disney parade I've been to. I took pictures of the parade and for a change I didn't have the back of anyone's head in my pics. It was pretty darn cool.
Ok - this actually my husband's picture, hence the heads, but the ones I took with my phone were pretty back-of-the-head free!
We went back to the Pooh ride, but it was down. The cast member said we could come back at anytime to ride. So we left to go cash in our Buzz fast passes. The CM at Buzz asked if I could walk and said they could slow down the speedwalk onto the ride for me. I can only walk with the assistance of crutches, so they let me take the crutches on the ride! I really didn't expect that. The cast members and service at TDL is always great, but this was above and beyond anything I had experienced there.
We went to Grandma Sara's Kitchen for lunch. Its quite a hill to push someone up in a wheel chair. Most of the seating is downstairs, but they have an elevator. It was pretty busy so we thought we'd better stake out a table first. Nothing is worse than getting your food and then not being able to find a table. A cast member saw us looking for a table and directed us to one and even removed a chair from the table so the wheelchair would fit. The exit from the restaurant was much flatter which was great because I was secretly worried about rolling out of control down the bear country hill. Panic averted.
After a great lunch we headed over to Haunted Mansion and got our assigned time. They led us to the exit of the ride and into a small hallway. The hallway was even decorated to go with the haunted mansion theme. The attention to detail at this park just blows me away. The hallway was right next to the waiting room to the elevators. We could hear the motor for the elevator humming while we waited. They then put on first and by the exit door so would we be first off the elevator. The TDL haunted mansion is a little chaotic when you get off the elevator because the line almost immediately squishes down from the size of the elevator doors to a single file line pretty quickly. I wasn't sure how we were going to get through it in a wheelchair, when a cast member led us to the outside of the line to the loading area for the ride. They stopped the speedwalk so I could crutch my way into the doombuggy and then stopped it again when I exited the ride. I had heard that TDL wasn't the most wheelchair friendly park, but it was surprisingly easy for this ride.
Phew! We were only there for a day, but I still have a bit more to share! I'll have to write the rest this mini TR later.
In part two - the ride that isn't wheelchair/foot in a cast friendly.....
I broke my foot a couple of weeks ago when visiting an onsen (Hakone Kowakien Yunessun - great place!). I was put in a cast up to my knee and given crutches to get around. Would this stop me from going to Tokyo Disneyland for the Fourth of July? Heck no, but it did make for a different experience which I thought I would share.
We tried to get there a bit early so we could park in the garage where we scored a sweet spot on the second floor. As we exited the parking structure and I was crutching my way to the bag inspection checkpoint, we were stopped by a cast member who told us that we could move our car to the handicap parking, even though we don't have a handicap parking sticker. My husband exited the parking garage then came back through. I guess he was told to make the motion of rolling a wheelchair which signified that he could park in the handicap section, but I guess it works! I thought we had a sweet spot in the garage, but I think the handicap parking is the closest we will ever be to the park. You get out of the car in about a 1 minute walk (I mean, if you are actually walking, not crutching) and you are at the gates.
We wanted to get to the park before it opened so we would have time to figure out wheelchair rental. The lines were still pretty long at the gates as the park had not quite opened yet. We went to ask a cast member where to find the wheelchair rental. She kindly asked us to follow her. She proceeded to lead us the furthest right gate, where they had an entrance with no line. She directed me to go through that entrance and then to the right to rent a wheelchair. They scanned our passes and were in the park!
We got to the stroller/wheelchair rental where the kind cast member told me I could sit down while my husband rented the wheelchair. Three hundred yen and a few minutes later we were the proud renters of a TDL wheelchair. They have a variety of types of wheelchairs including motorized as well as the scooters. There was even a small tray on the back for me to rest my crutch tips on with a Velcro loop so that they could be held against the chair. Brilliant!
Every visit needs at least one silly picture, right?
They gave us a "Guest Assistance Card" and instructed us that you take it to the cast member at the standby entrance of the rides. The cast member will give you a time to return (not a window, but an actual time you need to come back) and write it on the card. We decided to give it a shot at Star Tours. It took about 5 minutes to get a time assigned from the cast member. There were other parties with the card as well. I never really noticed people in wheelchairs at TDL before, but now I was acutely aware and noticing several people in them, but I was the only unlucky sucker in a cast. Come to think of it, I've never seen anyone in a cast in the past year that I've been in Japan.
We returned later for our assigned Star Tours time. They put a check mark on my card to show I had arrived for my time. We were then led by a cast member to the far left side of the line for the ride where there was a small side door that we entered. I had no idea there was a door there. We were led to a small elevator where we went to the second floor of the ride that put us at the front of the line and got assigned to our Star Tours ship. They pushed my wheelchair all the way to the first row seats of the ride so I could just hop out of the chair and into the ride seat. It was a great ride as always and we finally we didn't go to the Wookie planet (that we ALWAYS get), instead greatly enjoying our Star Tours trip to Hoth. At the end of the ride, they brought the wheelchair all the way to my seat so I could hop back in and go out the way we came. Sweet!
My husband decided to pick up a regular fast pass for Buzz then we headed over to Pooh's Hunny Hunt and got our next assigned time. We had a little time to kill and the Tanabata Greeting Parade was about to start so we thought we would go see it until our ride time. Because I was in the wheelchair we were able to use one of their wheelchair viewing sections for the parade. There were only a few other wheelchairs/scooters there so I was pretty much in the front. Several of the parade characters often came by the wheelchair section to shake our hands and say hi. I've never experienced that in any Disney parade I've been to. I took pictures of the parade and for a change I didn't have the back of anyone's head in my pics. It was pretty darn cool.
Ok - this actually my husband's picture, hence the heads, but the ones I took with my phone were pretty back-of-the-head free!
We went back to the Pooh ride, but it was down. The cast member said we could come back at anytime to ride. So we left to go cash in our Buzz fast passes. The CM at Buzz asked if I could walk and said they could slow down the speedwalk onto the ride for me. I can only walk with the assistance of crutches, so they let me take the crutches on the ride! I really didn't expect that. The cast members and service at TDL is always great, but this was above and beyond anything I had experienced there.
We went to Grandma Sara's Kitchen for lunch. Its quite a hill to push someone up in a wheel chair. Most of the seating is downstairs, but they have an elevator. It was pretty busy so we thought we'd better stake out a table first. Nothing is worse than getting your food and then not being able to find a table. A cast member saw us looking for a table and directed us to one and even removed a chair from the table so the wheelchair would fit. The exit from the restaurant was much flatter which was great because I was secretly worried about rolling out of control down the bear country hill. Panic averted.
After a great lunch we headed over to Haunted Mansion and got our assigned time. They led us to the exit of the ride and into a small hallway. The hallway was even decorated to go with the haunted mansion theme. The attention to detail at this park just blows me away. The hallway was right next to the waiting room to the elevators. We could hear the motor for the elevator humming while we waited. They then put on first and by the exit door so would we be first off the elevator. The TDL haunted mansion is a little chaotic when you get off the elevator because the line almost immediately squishes down from the size of the elevator doors to a single file line pretty quickly. I wasn't sure how we were going to get through it in a wheelchair, when a cast member led us to the outside of the line to the loading area for the ride. They stopped the speedwalk so I could crutch my way into the doombuggy and then stopped it again when I exited the ride. I had heard that TDL wasn't the most wheelchair friendly park, but it was surprisingly easy for this ride.
Phew! We were only there for a day, but I still have a bit more to share! I'll have to write the rest this mini TR later.
In part two - the ride that isn't wheelchair/foot in a cast friendly.....