As we have mentioned in previous articles, Little Banshee has Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. In her case, it means that she has low muscle tone, impaired gross and fine motors skills, and developmental delays (among other symptoms). She is generally able to walk, but just not to the extent that is required in the parks. As a result, when we travel to WDW, she tours the parks in a wheelchair.
When she rides the rides, she able to transfer from her wheelchair to most rides with some assistance from us. It is no stretch to say that doing so is akin to a NASCAR pit stop. It requires that her pit crew (Banshee, Little Buster, and myself) to work together in a carefully orchestrated manner in order to make it happen quickly and efficiently.
In this article, we will describe the process of how we coordinate helping Little Banshee get loaded and unloaded onto rides.
Our Wheelchair Setup
Before diving into the details, you need to understand how Little Banshee is situated in her wheelchair.
First, she is secured via a “T-Shaped” seat belt. In addition to having a normal lap belt, there is a belt that goes between her legs in order to make sure that she doesn’t slide down. The wheelchair itself did not have such a safety belt, so we had to purchase an aftermarket add-on, which seems to work very well.
Second, she has an iPad which we secure to the armrests of the chair via another belt strap. Little Banshee loves her iPad. It is one of the few items which she can manipulate with her more limited fine motor skills. It allows her to access videos, games, and communication aids. The theme park environment can sometimes be overwhelming, so this gives her some distraction and comfort when she needs it.
Third, when she is in her wheelchair, we sometimes remove her shoes. She has this habit of trying to kick off her shoes when she is seated. After too many times of having to backtrack to find her missing shoes, we just decided that it would be easier to have her not wear them. This, of course, means extra sunscreen on her toes!
Now that you know her wheelchair setup, I will walk through how we remove and transfer her.
Transferring to the Ride
You can probably figure out what we have to go through in order to remove her from her wheelchair, based upon our setup:
- Put on shoes
- Remove iPad + strap and stow in backpack
- Undo T-belt
- Guild her to lift herself from the chair
Usually, we will try to perform steps 1 and 2 while approaching the boarding area. That way, once we get to the boarding area, we aren’t holding up the line. Sometimes this is hard, though. If you put on her shoes too early, for instance, she might kick them off. If you remove her iPad too early, she might get agitated. Therefore, it is a delicate balance between starting early enough versus too early. Sometimes, we cannot perform steps 1 and 2 until we are actually in the ride loading area.
Steps 3 and 4 generally have to be done in the ride loading area for obvious reasons. The Disney Cast Members are generally very patient about holding the ride until we are ready. That said, we still try to be a fast as possible so as to not inconvenience our fellow guests too much. Now you might say that I am being overly sensitive. If it takes an extra minute to get Little Banshee out of her wheelchair, let them wait! However, that is just my nature, I guess!
Once she is out of her chair, now it is time to get her onto the ride itself. Usually one of us will hold her by the hand while another one of us helps guide her if she has trouble stepping into the ride vehicle. Most ride vehicles aren’t any problem for her, but there are a couple that require some special attention.
Boat Rides
Boats are sometimes not steady, so you really need to support her when she is loading onto one. Jungle Cruise is particularly challenging. Not only does it seem to be the least stable of the boat rides when docked, but it requires navigating a very large step to get into the vehicle.
Conveyor Belt Loading Areas
Some rides, like Haunted Mansion and Spaceship Earth, don’t actually stop when loading (“omni-movers” in Disney parlance). Instead, you load while standing on a conveyor belt which matches the speed of the ride. While the loading itself isn’t a challenge, the challenge is that you only have a limited amount of time to load. Most Cast Members are really cool, though. They can slow or even stop the conveyor belt if you need a little more time to get situated. If you are on one of these omni-mover rides and it slows or comes to a stop, it is usually because sometimes needs additional time to load.
Some Special Cases
There are a few specific rides which we handle a little differently
Tomorrowland Transportation Authority People Mover
This ride is not built to allow wheelchairs up to the loading area. Therefore, we have to transfer her out of her wheelchair before we get on line. Then we need to guide her through the line as we make our way to the start of the ride. For this short time, she is able to walk to the ride with no problem. However, we will only ride this if the line is relatively short. Standing in line is not one of her strong points, as she can get impatient. Unfortunately, the People Mover does not have a separate Disability Access Service entrance, so it is the regular line or nothing!
Spaceship Earth
Spaceship Earth has a separate wheelchair entrance that is located near the exit of the ride. If you want to load from a wheelchair, Cast Members will direct you here. However, if we have a DAS return time or the line is short, we just unload her before we get in line, park the wheelchair in the stroller parking area, and load in the normal loading area. This is usually faster than waiting in the wheelchair area.
Tomorrowland Speedway
This ride also has a separate wheelchair entrance. When you enter, you are directed to a special waiting area to the right of the normal loading area. A Cast Member will bring you a car to load into. Unlike Spaceship Earth, this is usually faster and easier than navigating the regular line, especially because of the stairs. That said, given Little Banshee’s size and the awkwardness of getting her into those little cars, we don’t ride this one anymore with her.
Toy Story Mania / Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
These two rides also have a separate wheelchair loading area. However, it is strange. Sometimes we are directed to the wheelchair area and other times we load in the normal loading area. I haven’t been able to figure out why they will use one over the other. Is it based upon Cast Member preference? Is it based upon how busy the ride is? Who knows?
Either way, the load process on these rides themselves is not an issue.
Transferring from the Ride
Transferring off of a ride is usually a little easier. Usually! 🙂
The first challenge is waiting for the ride to reach the unload area after the attraction has completed. If there is a traffic jam of ride vehicles leading into the unload area, Little Banshee can get impatient. She knows that when the ride comes to stop, it is time to get off, so she will start to stand up. However, when the ride stops before the unload area, you need to prompt her to sit back down. If she is really impatient, you might have to do this multiple times.
Once you get the unload area, you then have to do everything in reverse. If there is a large step to get out of the ride, it might require an extra person to help her navigate that step. If the ride is an omni-mover, the Cast Member may have to slow or stop the conveyor belt.
After we have debarked from the ride, now it is time to get Little Banshee back into her wheelchair. The Cast Members will transport her wheelchair from the load area to the unload area for us. By the time the ride is over, the chair will be waiting for us at the exit.
Once we get her into her chair, we will buckle her in, attached her iPad, remove her shoes, and be on our way. Normally, there is a space for us to get her situated without interfering with the flow of guests.
Occasionally, she will want to walk on her own. In those cases, we help her to walk until she indicates that she is ready to be pushed again.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, transferring to and from a wheelchair is a little more complex than riding as an able bodied person. However, with some coordination and a whole bunch of patience, we make it work for Little Banshee!
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