Take a ride with me in my wheelchair at Pop Century bus stop Photos 12/2018.

[RaySharpton]

Take a ride with me in my wheelchair at Pop Century bus stop Photos 12/2018.

Every Disney bus stop at resorts and parks seem to be a little different. Some are mainstream where you ride your wheelchair in the bus queue with everyone else. When you reach the last row, you may see a gate or a rope or a chain with a handicap symbol.

This is where you enter and wait for the Disney bus driver to signal you to board the bus.

Personally, I prefer the mainstream lines.

Others are not mainstream queues like at Disney Pop Century Resort. Here are those photos.

I'm going to EPCOT park and this is the bus queue for the guests at Disney's Pop Century Resort.

The yellow pole with the EPCOT sign shows where the first person in line will stand before entering the Disney bus.

But first, that guest needs to go to the other end to enter the queue. That is where the handicap entrance is located at Disney's Pop Century Resort to go to Epcot.

The queues for bus start with the Magic Kingdom, the Hollywood Studios, the EPCOT, the Animal Kingdom, and the Disney Springs and water parks.

Now I am at the other end of the EPCOT queue. As you can see the far left is for the guests that walk and the middle area with a handicap symbol on the pavement is where the wheelchairs and scooters enter.

The rectangle just shows the dimensions of the scooter size limit to board the Disney bus. This white box is "about 26 inches wide and just a bit under 47 inches long." See more info in the DIS FAQ at https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...disabled-1st-trip-next-trip-wish-trip.595713/

The rectangle just shows the dimensions of the scooter size limit to board the Disney bus. This white box is about 30 inches wide and just a bit under 48 inches long. See more info in the DIS FAQ at https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...disabled-1st-trip-next-trip-wish-trip.595713/

This is just a close-up of the rules for riding the Disney bus.

I have pulled up to the line to wait for the bus to arrive and for the Disney bus driver to give me the okay to board.

Sometimes a bus has to let off other scooters that are coming back from the attractions and must exit before you load at Pop Century Resort. Instead of driving up to the open door and ramp, it might be best to wait for the bus driver to signal you when to advance from the yellow line on the pavement.

For the other guests, the bus driver will open the front bus door and inform guests that he will let them onboard after he unloads and/or loads the scooters/wheelchairs. He will then close the front bus door.

You might see the bus lower as he opens the rear side door and lowers the ramp.

After loading the wheelchairs/scooters, he lets the other guests enter the front bus door until there is standing room only.

It is so much easier to load the scooter/wheelchairs first without any other guests standing in the way.

The same is to be said at arriving at the theme park. It is easier to let all of the guests to walk off first to the parks and then with the bus is empty to unload the scooter/wheelchairs.

Although some Disney bus resorts make multiple stops like at POR, PO, Caribbean Beach, etc..

 

[RaySharpton]

Take a ride with me in my wheelchair at Pop Century bus stop Photos 12/2018.

Approach the bus ramp making a wide turn. Hug the chain fence on the left so that you can make a left turn that ends up with you as close to square with the ramp as possible.

The bus ramp has raised yellow guards that are difficult for the wheels to ride over if you turn and ride over them. Turn your speed know down to just enough power to get you slowly up the ramp.

The bench has already been folded up. Usually, they only load two vehicles per bus although sometimes load three if the bus has that ability and the bus driver thinks that the line is not too long.

As you drive the scooter up the ramp, be prepared to make a right turn toward the front of the bus. This allows you to back up and parallel park like a car into the handicap space. It is very important that the speed/power setting is set as low as possible so that you don't accidentally gun it and hit the bus driver or anything or anybody.

At any point, you can ask the Disney bus driver to steer the scooter for you back into its handicap space.

Most Disney bus drivers ask you to sit on the bench if you can.

If you can't move, don't worry because they will attach the seat belt for you and all scooter and wheelchairs are strapped down in the front and back in case there is a sharp turn that might tip the scooter or wheelchair over while traveling.

My wheelchair is strapped in and ready to go to EPCOT. I just need the seat belt attached.

It is a lot easier to park the wheelchair because of its small footprint.

Now the bus driver will close the ramp and door and allow the rest of the guest to fill up the bus from the front door of the bus.

I will have other photos at bus stops at the different parks posted as new threads.

As when driving up the bus ramp, be careful exiting using the lowest speed/power and go slow and straight.

Exit all of the way past the ramp before turning your scooter/wheelchair so that you won't tip over by driving over or getting stuck on the ramp guard on each side of the ramp.

You could practice parallel parking your scooter outside your resort room wall by trying not to hit the wall with your rear wheels and not being too far away from the wall.

If you just don't feel comfortable, just ask the Disney bus driver to help you.

I have seen him do this for a lot of the guests that have rented a scooter and do not have the experience to park.

This is a photo of the ramp and door closed before letting me off the bus at another park. It was so hard to take photos when everything goes so fast. I didn't want to hold up the Disney bus driver just because I wanted photos. I'm sure that they wouldn't mind, but they work so hard constantly..

This is actually a photo when I was going to exit at the Magic Kingdom with the bus emptied and I am about to drive out.

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[shocker]

Thanks for the write up. A good reminder of how things work. Several of us screamed while waiting in line as someone loading on the bus did not turn wide and jumped the side of the on ramp almost running over the bus driver going VERY fast. The bus driver reached over to the controls and turned the power down. You've very well hit on all this. I saw many bus drivers take over the controls and park the ECV on the bus for a person, but I imagine not all do. Worth asking though, if you're unsure how to do it. I'm sure it takes some practice to get it down and I'm sure several users normally walk but would use an ECV while at Disney. Many will find your write up helpful.

I found even the walkers needed reminders, especially to stand behind the yellow line. The bus won't pull up to load/unload until everyone is behind the line. We had to remind several people to observe. Usually, only takes one reminder per trip, ha.