Wheelchair accessible rides

[coinkc]

Our friends that are travelling to WDW this summer have a son who is
in a motorized wheelchair. Are there any rides that he will not be
able to go on? If he is out of his chair then someone has to be
supporting him in a sitting position. Also, they are considering
bringing his "wheels" to change the wheelchair from motorized to
manual (allowing the chair to be folded up). Would this be helpful
on rides or will it not matter? Thanks so much for any help you can
give!

 

[eternaldisneyfan]

Sorry that it took me so long to post this but I wanted to be thorough.

I use an electric wheelchair full-time and can't sit up without complete support. Our last trip to Disney World I spent about 10 hours researching wheelchair accessible rides. I didn’t transfer for any rides and still had a fantastic time.

Here is a list of rides that you can drive your wheelchair directly onto without transferring, sorted by park:

Magic Kingdom---

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin: (note-this ride doesn't fit longer wheelchairs-my standard electric wheelchair didn't fit-the manual wheels may make it fit, and the shooter is hard to reach, especially with contractures)

Stitches Great Escape (note-the bars that come down on the shoulders could be painful, especially if they are drawn up like mine-I haven’t ridden it)

Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Takes you through several classic scenes-awesome-easy access)

it’s a small world (easy access)

Liberty Belle Riverboat (Tour around a lake with some props and animatronics-kinda long-chair sits below level of bars, partially blocking view)

Main Street U.S.A.-Railroad-steam train ride (I loved it. Round trip is best, their are scenes along the way. I am not sure if all stops are accessible so get on at Main Street)

Jungle Cruise (recently converted-I haven't been on it)

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (too short for some chairs)

All the Character Greeting Areas and shows are wheelchair accessible

Swiss Family Treehouse and Tom Sawyer Island are impossible for wheelchairs (you can do a roundtrip on the raft that goes to Tom Sawyer Island)

All night-time shows and parades have special wheelchair viewing areas-ask a CM- arrive 1-2 hours early for a seat and you cannot leave—nighttime shows are my favorite and are well worth the wait

Shows I recommend:

Time Keeper (360 degree imaging with awesome Animatronics that take you on a time-travel adventure fraught with danger and comedy)

Carousel of Progress (the classic tale following an animatronic family through different eras of invention)

Enchanted Tiki Room (‘Under New Management’ by Zazu and Iago creating a cute, funny adventure-mild danger- with special effects.)

Philharmagic (3D show-which are always awesome-I like it just from clips I’ve seen)

Spectromagic parade (nighttime parade of lights)

Wishes Fireworks (replaced Fantasy in the Sky-I have heard it is incredible and already love it from the pictures and video clips that I’ve seen-mixing lasers, beautiful fireworks, and heartwarming character narration).


EpcotEpcot —

Ellen’s Energy Adventure (easily accessible-cute Jeapordy style beginning that then takes you back in time to Dinosaurs)

Journey Into Your Imagination (easily accessible-really cute/fun ride with a fully accessible interactive special effects playground afterwards)

Living with the Land (informational tour about various climates and agriculture)

El Rio Del Tiempo (accessible-boat ride tour of Mexico)

The Living Seas (all areas accessible, although some areas may have alternate access. At your own pace viewing of a live sea aquarium and the new Crush attraction)

The World Showcase (all areas accessible, although some areas may have alternate access)

Street shows are hard to see unless you arrive a little early to sit in front

All the Character Greeting Areas and shows (including Innoventions) are wheelchair accessible (*note: The Kid cot fun stop crafts will be difficult to do unless you have a tray on your wheelchair because the table and chairs are low and the supplies are scattered)

All night-time shows and parades have special wheelchair viewing areas-ask a CM- arrive 1-2 hours early for a seat and you cannot leave-- nighttime shows are my favorite and are well worth the wait

Shows I recommend:

Honey! I Shrunk the Audience-3D (awesome multisensory adventure with a 3D movie as well as a moving stage-you can feel the effects while in your chair-and incorporates the ‘feel’ sense)

Cranium Command (funny and cute story that portrays the job of a ‘brain pilot’ that tries to control the different organs/body systems of a 12 year old boy throughout his day-really funny)

Some areas of Innoventions are fun

Illuminations: Reflections of Earth—incredible nighttime show with lasers, fireworks, music, and a global earth ball promoting harmony through a heartwarming, fantastic display.


MGM StudiosMGM Studios —

Great Movie Ride (note-this ride doesn't fit longer wheelchairs-my standard electric wheelchair didn't fit and I had to ride sideways-the manual wheels may make it fit)

All the Character Greeting Areas and shows are wheelchair accessible

Shows I recommend (MGM has a lot of good shows):

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (live action awesome show)
Sounds Dangerous (special show that relies almost completely on hearing with incredible effects)

Voyage of the Little Mermaid (play type show with characters, puppets, props, laser lights, and occasionally a fine mist to create the effect of being underwater. A great place to cool off)

Muppet Vision 3D (cute 3D show with feeling thrown in through water sprays, etc. The pre-show is also good)

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (based on the hit show with a chance to get in the hot seat to play for merchandise and a cruise. People in wheelchairs sit in cut out spots in the front. Note: the controllers are kinda heavy and the buttons are stiff-someone else had to help me)

All night-time shows and parades have special wheelchair viewing areas-ask a CM- arrive 1-2 hours early for a seat and you cannot leave—nighttime shows are my favorite and are well worth the wait

Fantasmic-(The best nighttime/overall show. Note: Use the wheelchair seats in the back and arrive 2 hours to get a good seat)


Animal Kingdom--Animal Kingdom

Wildlife Express Train (train that shows you how Disney cares for their animals and takes you to the Conservation Station-I didn’t ride this)

Triceratop Spin (note: I never rode this ride and I am not sure if it accommodates electric wheelchairs or just manual ones)

Kilimanjaro Safaris (mild thrill ride with a guide that drives you through authentic habitats to view real exotic animals-best experienced in the morning. Note: This ride is bumpy. You need to back in to the ride vehicle.)

All the Character Greeting Areas and shows are wheelchair accessible (*the Boneyard is not. *Conservation is listed as accessible but I didn’t visit it.)

All the nature trails are accessible and have beautiful wildlife. There are many exhibits-a few viewing areas are a little difficult to get to.

All night-time shows and parades have special wheelchair viewing areas-ask a CM- arrive 1-2 hours early for a seat and you cannot leave—nighttime shows are my favorite and are well worth the wait
Shows I recommend:

Festival of the Lion King (ties with Fantasmic for best show-Incredible show with acrobats, fire blowers, animatronics-cannot miss)

Its Tough to Be a Bug-3D (multi-sensory show with animatronics as well as a 3D show. Note: a few effects will be missed if you’re not sitting in a chair, but I never transferred and fully enjoyed the show-one of my favorites)

Flights of Wonder (bird stunt/aerial flying)

I only transferred to rides when I was younger and stronger. The last trip I didn’t transfer to any rides and still had a fabulous, magical trip with the plentiful wheelchair accessible rides and awesome shows. Always carefully weigh out the risks of transferring.

I hope I helped.

Have a great trip!

Christamae

 

[BroganMc]

Our friends that are travelling to WDW this summer have a son who is
in a motorized wheelchair. Are there any rides that he will not be
able to go on? If he is out of his chair then someone has to be
supporting him in a sitting position. Also, they are considering
bringing his "wheels" to change the wheelchair from motorized to
manual (allowing the chair to be folded up). Would this be helpful
on rides or will it not matter? Thanks so much for any help you can
give!

The previous poster gave an excellent overview of the wheelchair accessible rides. One thing to add, pretty much all the wheelhair rides allowed me to board with my power wheelchair (weighs about 110 lbs.). Most also had a stock of manual wheelchairs for transferring out of a scooter to ride. These are standard Adult size chairs. If your friend's son can manage in that kind of chair, I'd say to forego bringing the manual chair. It can get very tiresome pushing a wheelchair around all day. My family has done that with me and we will never go back.

Also consider for the rides where you absolutely must transfer (Pirates of the Carribean, Norway's Maelstrom, Spaceship Earth, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, etc.) usually there is very tight sitting space. You end up supporting each other in your seat whether you intended to or not. If your friends' can handle lifting him into and out of a boat/car, these may be rides not to be missed.

I would say avoid the high intensity motion rides though. e.g. Star Tours, Body Wars (boh flight simulators), Dinosaur, Rock-n-Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Mission:Space, Test Track. These require the rider to have good neck/back control. You get pretty well thrashed about on them. There's no way to secure someone else in their seat without injuring yourself and them.

Also, do look up the WDW Disabilities Gudebooks for each park. (I think there's a link in the sticky on this forum). They describe the nature of the ride, seats, duration and other helpful info that will make the decision easier. Best to not get the boy's hopes up about a ride he may end up not being able to go on.

J

P.S. With Pirates, we were able to fold up my manual chair and pop it in the back of the boat for the ride. When I brought my Powerchair, we left it parked by the exit and used a manual chair for the ride queue.

Spaceship Earth fits two people per car. It's a tight fit requiring bending of the knees and hips. It moves slow but ascends up the ball at a 45 degree angle. I felt like I was going to fall out of the ride and needed my dad to keep an arm around me.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Quote:

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin: (note-this ride doesn't fit longer wheelchairs-my standard electric wheelchair didn't fit-the manual wheels may make it fit, and the shooter is hard to reach, especially with contractures)

I managed this ride by removing my footplates and leaving them with the CM.

Andrew

 

[maccumby]

I just wanted to thank all of you who took so much time to reply to this post. I am not the original poster but my family is going to Disney World in June and my 4 yr old has cerebral palsy. He can walk for limited amounts of time with a walker. He will be in a stroller for almost all of the trip. The comments about rides where head and neck control were especially helpful-as he has already told me he wants to ride everything ! Thanks so much for the information!

 

[coinkc]

Thank you so much for all of the help! I will be printing this out and giving it to them. We have recently decided to join them on their trip this summer and are very excited!!!!

 

[Talking Hands]

Magic Kingdom---
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin: (note-this ride doesn't fit longer wheelchairs-my standard electric wheelchair didn't fit-the manual wheels may make it fit, and the shooter is hard to reach, especially with contractures)
My Jazzy 103 fit fine with footrest down
Stitches Great Escape (note-the bars that come down on the shoulders could be painful, especially if they are drawn up like mine-I haven’t ridden it)
Castmember can adjust bars away from shoulders. Let them know it is painful.
Liberty Belle Riverboat (Tour around a lake with some props and animatronics-kinda long-chair sits below level of bars, partially blocking view)
Usually do this with sign language interpreter so am not at side watching but could be a problem
Jungle Cruise (recently converted-I haven't been on it)
Wonderful
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (too short for some chairs)
Not tried in wheelchair but transferred to vehicle as I can
All the Character Greeting Areas and shows are wheelchair accessible
Beware of parents who push their children in front of you and your wheelchair.
Time Keeper (360 degree imaging with awesome Animatronics that take you on a time-travel adventure fraught with danger and comedy)
GONE
Philharmagic (3D show-which are always awesome-I like it just from clips I’ve seen)
AWESOME
Wishes Fireworks (replaced Fantasy in the Sky-I have heard it is incredible and already love it from the pictures and video clips that I’ve seen-mixing lasers, beautiful fireworks, and heartwarming character narration).
never been in right place to see it well. Always blocked by something.
Epcot —
Cranium Command (funny and cute story that portrays the job of a ‘brain pilot’ that tries to control the different organs/body systems of a 12 year old boy throughout his day-really funny)
GONE
MGM StudiosMGM Studios —
Great Movie Ride (note-this ride doesn't fit longer wheelchairs-my standard electric wheelchair didn't fit and I had to ride sideways-the manual wheels may make it fit)
Jazzy 103 fits with footrest folded up
Fantasmic-(The best nighttime/overall show. Note: Use the wheelchair seats in the back and arrive 2 hours to get a good seat)
Some wheelchair seats available in front as well.
Animal Kingdom
Wildlife Express Train (train that shows you how Disney cares for their animals and takes you to the Conservation Station-I didn’t ride this)
Need to back onto train. Sometimes pole makes it difficult.
Kilimanjaro Safaris (mild thrill ride with a guide that drives you through authentic habitats to view real exotic animals-best experienced in the morning. Note: This ride is bumpy. You need to back in to the ride vehicle.)
Depends on your wheelchair. I did not need to back onto it
All the Character Greeting Areas and shows are wheelchair accessible (*the Boneyard is not. *Conservation is listed as accessible but I didn’t visit it.)
Boneyard is accessible in some areas.
Festival of the Lion King (ties with Fantasmic for best show-Incredible show with acrobats, fire blowers, animatronics-cannot miss)
My absolute favorite. Watch for the beautiful aerial ballerina. She is awesome. (one was a classmate and friend of my daughter from 3rd- 12th grade)
Its Tough to Be a Bug-3D (multi-sensory show with animatronics as well as a 3D show. Note: a few effects will be missed if you’re not sitting in a chair, but I never transferred and fully enjoyed the show-one of my favorites)
have done both ways. The main effect missed is painful to say the least if you have any back problems, arthritis or fibromyalgia

 

[Poohs Pal]

I would also like to post a big thank you. I didn't realize there would be so many accessable rides. I'm also going to print out the list. Susan

 

[SueM in MN]

I haven't had time to add to this thread, but just wanted to add a measurement. We have not been brave enough to bring DD's power wheelchair to WDW, but she has been on every wheelchair accessible ride car with her manual wheelchair.
From what we were told, if a power wheelchair fits into the space, it can go on any of the rides that a manual wheelchair can go on. Her current manual wheelchair is 50 inches long (from her backpackpack hanging on the back to her feet on the footrests) and 26 inches wide (that's the measurement from the outside of one wheel to the outside of the other). A wider chair would fit on some rides, but on many rides, her wheelchair is close to the longest length that will fit.
I had not thought of taking off footrests, as some people mentioned they had done, but that would make the wheelchair a bit shorter and might make a too long wheelchair fit OK on some rides.

 

[JoannaOhio]

On my last visit to WDW in 2000, I was in a wheelchair, but was able to transfer when necessary. This December I'll be going back again - and my situation will be the same. However, this time our group will consist of myself, my 14-year-old granddaughter, my daughter, and my daughter's significant other. He has MD - no use of his lower body, and very limited use of his arms - definitely unable to do any transfers without a lot of assistance. My daughter has devised methods of lifting him to transfer when absolutely necessary - (which we will do for the Haunted Mansion). However, I am encouraged by the words of those who have been able to get on quite a few rides without having to transfer from their electric wheelchairs.

The official WDW accessibility booklets show that a person must transfer from an ECV to a manual wheelchair in order to board a number of rides, but I'm wondering if that applies primarily to motorized scooters, etc. - and that exceptions are made for electric wheelchairs. The boat ride in Mexico at Epcot is one of our favorites - and I see that this was listed by Christamae as one of the rides she went on without transferring from her electric wheelchair. I sure hope this is the case.

I'll be haunting this board in the coming months for more tips on making the most of our Disney experience - (the very first for my daughter's boyfriend).

 

[eternaldisneyfan]

The 'ECV must transfer' is required only for the park style three wheeled motorized scooters. I use a four-wheeled electric wheelchair with a headrest and midline control and stayed in my chair.

Christamae

 

[JoannaOhio]

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE CLARIFICATION!!! This will make our stay even more enjoyable, I'm sure.

 

[SueOKW]

Hi Joanna from Dayton! I'm Sue from Akron - as opposed to our beloved leader, Sue from Minnesota! This thread has been very thorough - one of the best summaries I've seen.

For maccumby - I just want to mention that we have been lucky enough to be able to pick up our son (CP, severe) for the last 7 years or so and take him on the rides that we can sit next to him and support him on. He's 13 now and getting pretty heavy though!!!!

The great rides for this are Splash Mountain, BTMR, POC, Teacups, Dumbo, Goofy's Barnstormer, Astro Orbiter, Haunted Mansion etc... I think you get my drift. Any ride that keeps the riders close together, and no individual restraint.

I'm looking forward to branching out to the boat rides this year! He loves rides and WDW always gives him the biggest smiles ever!

Sue

 

[SueM in MN]

The 'ECV must transfer' is required only for the park style three wheeled motorized scooters. I use a four-wheeled electric wheelchair with a headrest and midline control and stayed in my chair.

Christamae

As i understand it, the "ECV must transfer" is because of the size of the ECVs. The ones available for rent in the parks are HUGE and not as manouverable in small spaces as a power wheelchair. Also, the assumption made is that someone who is renting an ecv in the parks is probably able to get out and walk a few steps (after all, if they rented it in the parks, they generally had to walk to get to the rental point).