Monday, February 22, 2010

Disney Trip: Epcot


We have been to Disney World many times before and usually just go to Epcot and no where else. This time we decided to see a little more of the other Parks. We started with Epcot. We took the shuttle from our resort to the Disney Transportation Center (where you get the Monorail to Epcot.) We were told the shuttles can all hold 2 wheelchairs and that we would have no issues. Leaving the resort the driver asked me if the wheelchair could be folded and when I said it couldn't - since someone would be sitting in it. He made a sigh and then lowered the ramp and hooked the chair to the bus. I didn't think much about it until later.
We got to the Monorail Station where we were helped by a Disney employee to get the ramp to the car and back off again when we got to Epcot. There was a good amount of people at security and the ticket entrance. We then went to Guest Relations where we got a "Guide for Guests with Disabilities" which shows who can ride each attraction. First we rode "Spaceship Earth." The employees were helpful there and it was fun. Then we went on "Ellen's Energy Adventure" - again with no problems. After that we decided to go into the World Showcase. We ate lunch in Germany at the Biergarten - it was good, but not the best we have had there. After we ate we went into Norway to ride the "Maelstrom." The Norwegian employees there were not helpful at all. They barely slowed the ride down for us to get on and I had to search around for the wheelchair afterwards.
The rest of the time we walked around the Park. We had some very messy funnel cakes and when we got tired we headed back to the Monorail and then to the shuttle bus. We got to the bus stop while the bus was there waiting. The bus driver (the same one from the morning) said he was too crowded and I looked in the bus and said he wasn't. He then started making comments to the other passengers about us and the wheelchair. He was very unprofessional, made us feel humiliated and didn't even hook the chair up right to the bus and it was moving the whole ride back. When we got to the resort I went right to Guest Relations and complained about the driver. The woman took down my information and said her boss would call me back. When she did call back she was making lots of excuses and even tried saying that maybe the driver was joking with us. I told her that if he was joking it was at our expense and wasn't professional. I told her that I expect this to never happen again and that if it did I would bring it to the proper authorities. She said she would talk to his company.

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