Big Change Coming For Wheelchair Rental Companies at Disney

21 thoughts on “Big Change Coming For Wheelchair Rental Companies at Disney”

• Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your content seem to be running off the screen in Firefox.

• Excellent website. Lots of useful information here. I am sending it to a few buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks in your effort!

• We’re happy to say that Scootaround continues to provide equipment deliveries to Disney properties for our valued customers!

  Our new “meet and greet service” allows us to keep our focus on customer service. As of November 1st, 2012, a Scootaround representative will personally meet each and every Disney guest and ensure that they have the equipment they need, and that they know to use the equipment. When our driver picks up the equipment, we’ll be able to see how everything went, and personally thank you for your rental.

  Scootaround always makes great customer service a top priority, and we think this extra level of service will allow us to remain a key provider of ECV’s, scooters and manual wheelchairs to Disney properties.

• Is it possible that one or more of these vendors will take over wheelchair and ECV rentals at the entrance of each park?

  • I don’t know. You would think that since the only vendor to be allowed on property for years to rent mobility scooters, Buena Vista Rentals only at BWV, that they would be the first. But I have not heard anything even hinted at your question. I wonder if Disney is making enough money to cover their costs considering the all day usage and repair/upkeep, or if it is a profit for them that they don’t want to give up?

• I just went through the process of checking to see who to rent my scooter from. Walker informed me that they could no longer deliver and leave my scooter, that I would have to be there when it arrived to get it, or they would take it back. Also, I had to turn it in several hours before the end of my trip, which meant I would be losing park time. So I went with Apple. They were $165 cheaper anyway. I asked Apple if they had to do the same thing as Walker and they said no, that they were one of the approved dealers. I asked what made them choose them and not Walker and he said that they went through some very strict requirements, including a new fleet, and he let me in on a tidbit that the new scooters would be “Disneyfied” in design. Walker was not willing to do this. The changes had something to do with liability. The approved companies will have offices on Disney property. I have rented from both places, and since I had no issues with either company, I went with the one that offered not only a much cheaper price, but was a lot more convenient…no lost park time! And I want to add, the Walker rep bashed the Apple people something terrible. I guess you would call it sour apples, but there was no cause for it. That alone turned me against Walker…just sayin.

• “As of November 1, 2012, WDW Resorts have a new policy regarding ECV and wheelchair delivery to their resorts:
  Preferred Vendors are welcome to check equipment with Bell Services for guest retrieval and return.
  Preferred vendors reportedly include: Apple Scooters, Best Price Mobility, Buena Vista Scooters, CARE Medical, and Scooterbug
  Non-preferred vendors are welcome to do business on Disney property, but they must hand the equipment directly to the guest, and collect the equipment directly from the guest.
  link to thread discussing change to policy

  Here’s some key facts:
  Disney is trying to limit their liability for leased property on their property.
  Disney used a 3rd party company to collect information about companies that do rental business on Disney property.
  Bid packets were sent to a number of primarily ECV rental companies.
  The approval process included business verification, insurance verification, and equipment inspection.
  Bidding is now closed, and current contracts last for 2 years.”

• We were in the world at Port Orleans French Quarter, and had a wheelchair hired from Walkers. We had a telephone call to our room on 22nd October from Walkers saying they were sorry but Disney had changed the arrangements and they would have to meet us to collect the wheelchair on 1st November in person. They did not know why Disney had made this change. However, instead we decided to drop the wheelchair off on the 31st October using the original arrangements and will work around having no chair for our last day. We like Walkers, and have used them on each of the last four times we’ve been to the world. We are from the Uk and this new arrangement is seriously going to make us think hard before coming back to a Disney resort.

  • Really?

• This is a disappointment as we had a wonderful experience with Walker and planned on renting again from them.

  • Shawn, I haven’t rented in a long time, since I own my own mobility scooter, but I am sure Walker will go out of there way to meet your needs. I assume that they will just meet you with your rental when you request.

• Disney did partner with 5 ECV Vendors – Apple Scooters, Best Price Mobility, Buena Vista Scooters, CARE Medical, and Scooterbug that I think I read from AllEars newsletter. All other vendors will still be allowed on resort property, but must deal with a guest directly. I am not sure if they are allowed inside the parks like the preferred vendors. They will only deal with ECVs from the approved vendors. The resort’s Disney bell services and valet(which I think are outsourced) will not accept/park/plugin/handle any ECVs from the vendors they don’t have this Disney partnership with. I wonder if this will keep outside vendors from entering parks to exchange broken scooters?

• I would really like to know which company to rent from since we arrive on November 11th since I need one for my mother.

• Bell services “ARE NOT” outsourced they are DISNEY CM’s.

• Isn’t bell-staff outsourced? So maybe the company that provides that staff complained about spending way too much time taking care of this uncompensated activity. Could just be that if companies want to deliver to WDW resorts, they have to agree to a certain set of policies and rules to be approved.

• I wonder about Apple Scooter. They had the best prices.

• I wonder if they’ll change the stroller policy. Any word on that?

• I wonder why this change is being implemented? Did something happen? We always use Walker and have been very happy with them. Just curious.

• I wonder how much each company pays to disney to be approved? Not saying they shouldn’t be reimbursed for their handling of the scooters, but I bet its alot.

• Funny – Walker was the company that Disney recommended to us and gave us the leaflet

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