coinkc said:
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.