wheelchairs & Disney - perspective of the one pushing

TeresaWen

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
We just returned from a 12 day vacation in WDW. Mostly for the food & wine festival. My husband is recovering from back surgery. The only rehab for him is walking and he is doing great. We thought we ready for the vast amount of walking he would be doing in the parks. And we have been going a few times a year for years.

After a few days it was clear the walking was too much and since it was perfect weather we wanted to be out all day - no rest and recovery. He kept saying he did not want a wheelchair. Did not want to depend on it.

Well. When we finally rented one the feeling of freedom & relief was amazing!! Sometimes I pushed, sometimes he got out & pushed it walking behind it. Other times we parked it and walked around. I got to zigzag all over with him. We got to do all we wanted. He still walked three or four miles a day and by our last day was even walking without a cane.

We found the cast members amazingly helpful, kind, and respectful. The parks are so accessible. It was such a positive experience and ended up being a remarkable vacation.

Thank you to everyone we encountered who went out of their way to offer assistance and make getting around as easy as possible. I got countless offered to help me push uphill!
 
I'm so glad you had such a great trip and that the wheelchair worked out so well for you guys! :goodvibes It can sometimes be hard to accept the use of a wheelchair at first but, as you found, it can make the difference between pain and an amazing holiday. Thank you for sharing this with us and wishing your DH a speedy recovery (though Disney-therapy seems to have got him well started on that road)!

:figment:
 
I'm so glad you had such a great trip and that the wheelchair worked out so well for you guys! :goodvibes It can sometimes be hard to accept the use of a wheelchair at first but, as you found, it can make the difference between pain and an amazing holiday. Thank you for sharing this with us and wishing your DH a speedy recovery (though Disney-therapy seems to have got him well started on that road)!

:figment:
Thank you! Hope this can help someone else struggling with a decision to use some help in WDW!
 
We just returned from a 12 day vacation in WDW. Mostly for the food & wine festival. My husband is recovering from back surgery. The only rehab for him is walking and he is doing great. We thought we ready for the vast amount of walking he would be doing in the parks. And we have been going a few times a year for years.

After a few days it was clear the walking was too much and since it was perfect weather we wanted to be out all day - no rest and recovery. He kept saying he did not want a wheelchair. Did not want to depend on it.

Well. When we finally rented one the feeling of freedom & relief was amazing!! Sometimes I pushed, sometimes he got out & pushed it walking behind it. Other times we parked it and walked around. I got to zigzag all over with him. We got to do all we wanted. He still walked three or four miles a day and by our last day was even walking without a cane.

We found the cast members amazingly helpful, kind, and respectful. The parks are so accessible. It was such a positive experience and ended up being a remarkable vacation.

Thank you to everyone we encountered who went out of their way to offer assistance and make getting around as easy as possible. I got countless offered to help me push uphill!
What type of back surgery did he have? I have to have back fusion in two weeks and hope we can get to Disney in Feb. I had to cancel our trip for Thanksgiving.
 
What type of back surgery did he have? I have to have back fusion in two weeks and hope we can get to Disney in Feb. I had to cancel our trip for Thanksgiving.

Hi Katmittens: I am jumping in here because my husband had major back surgery including fusion, June, 2016. We had our WDW vacation scheduled for November, 2016. But as we got closer to the date, it became obvious that he could not handle all the walking at Disney at that time. He was getting better on schedule, but we felt that we should wait. It would have been 5 months post op. His PA said it would be ok to go in November, however, I doubt the PA actually knew all the walking involved in a WDW vacation.
So, we waited until February of 2017 to go to WDW. We are so glad we waited. My husband had to use an ECV in Epcot to give his legs and back a break from all that walking. I have to add that he had some nerve damage to one leg, so walking was a little more difficult at that time.
It's an individual thing. Even though we were cleared (by someone we didn't really trust), we held off and were very glad we did. The ECV gave him freedom to be more active and to leave the park rested and ready for the next day. We also went much slower and rested a lot. I know all situations are different, but thought because we ha
ve just dealt with a situation like yours, you might want to hear. Good luck!
PS: His back surgery had great results, no pain at all!
 
What type of back surgery did he have? I have to have back fusion in two weeks and hope we can get to Disney in Feb. I had to cancel our trip for Thanksgiving.
He had a laminectomy on L1 - L5. End of August. His surgeon was pretty confident that he could make the trip in Oct. He avoided anything bumpy. Turns out we should have avoided FEA! :)

Walking is the only rehab. He is in PT to build up leg & core strength.
 


I sometimes push my wife in a wheelchair at WDW. The only thing I have a problem with is pushing her and drinking a beer at the same time. I installed a cup holder that makes that easier to do.
 
We just returned from a 12 day vacation in WDW. Mostly for the food & wine festival. My husband is recovering from back surgery. The only rehab for him is walking and he is doing great. We thought we ready for the vast amount of walking he would be doing in the parks. And we have been going a few times a year for years.

After a few days it was clear the walking was too much and since it was perfect weather we wanted to be out all day - no rest and recovery. He kept saying he did not want a wheelchair. Did not want to depend on it.

Well. When we finally rented one the feeling of freedom & relief was amazing!! Sometimes I pushed, sometimes he got out & pushed it walking behind it. Other times we parked it and walked around. I got to zigzag all over with him. We got to do all we wanted. He still walked three or four miles a day and by our last day was even walking without a cane.

We found the cast members amazingly helpful, kind, and respectful. The parks are so accessible. It was such a positive experience and ended up being a remarkable vacation.

Thank you to everyone we encountered who went out of their way to offer assistance and make getting around as easy as possible. I got countless offered to help me push uphill!
I came to the disability thread because I had foot surgery and we will be in disney in 2 weeks. The PT told me today to get a scooter or wheelchair. I was leaning towards wheelchair because I figured it would give us a little flexibility when I can walk (as you described your husband doing)

Can you say who you rented from?
 
I came to the disability thread because I had foot surgery and we will be in disney in 2 weeks. The PT told me today to get a scooter or wheelchair. I was leaning towards wheelchair because I figured it would give us a little flexibility when I can walk (as you described your husband doing)

Can you say who you rented from?
follow the link in my signature to the disABILITIES FAQs thread (or look near the top of this board).
Post 2 of that thread has information about renting equipment, including contact information
 
I came to the disability thread because I had foot surgery and we will be in disney in 2 weeks. The PT told me today to get a scooter or wheelchair. I was leaning towards wheelchair because I figured it would give us a little flexibility when I can walk (as you described your husband doing)

Can you say who you rented from?
We just rented at the park. There is a risk that they may run out though. It was not too busy, and we typically get to the park around 10:00 so we never had an issue. We did not want to deal with taking it in an uber. It would have been nice having one around the boardwalk area though.
 
We recently returned from a trip (Oct29-Nov.3) and I am the pusher for my wife's chair. This was probably our sixth wheelchair trip since her MS diagnosis. WDW is definitely wheelchair friendly! It can be a little unnerving trying to navigate through crowds at times when it is really busy like parades or fireworks at MK but that is the exception. We've had many kindnesses offered us by cast members and park goers alike. This past trip we had a CM take us at the last minute to a front row center view of River of Light with no FP! We needed to get to DHS from Epcot for a lunch reservation and got to the boat a little late. One of the CM's told us there was no way we could get there in time using the Disney transportation boat so he took us on a pontoon boat to DHS! Two different occasions I stopped at a restroom and my wife walked in (she doesn't walk well) and strangers have offered to help her in and out of the restroom. One lady waited outside her stall to offer to help her, my wife thanked her and declined and told the lady that she usually just wall walks(one hand on the wall as she walks)! We did on a couple times use the companion restroom. When my wife was first diagnosed we thought Disney trips were a thing of the past. Once we had the courage to give it a go with the wheelchair it is no longer even a second thought. We bought annual passes last January and due to the 45 anniversay special it is good for 13 months. We leave again for our fourth trip using the AP's in 53 days!
 
I have found Disney to be fairly easy for wheelchair users. My mother has a really bad back and has had 2 surgeries. She usually uses an ECV around the parks but we have used a wheelchair with little issue. The one thing I caution, at Space Mountain you must transfer from ECV to wheelchair. As the one pushing her, it was torture and a definite work out. That queue both enterig and exiting the ride is not made for wheelchairs with all it’s steep ramps.
 

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