.

It's no secret that the Walt Disney World theme parks and attractions are very accommodating for disabled and special needs park guests. That's one of the positive aspects that has made the theme parks and company so well liked by the media, charitable organizations and general public. Other major amusement and theme park chains have tried to copy Disney's hospitality, but many of their efforts are nothing in comparison. In the 1980's and early 90's, those in wheelchairs were viewed in envy and jealousy by many of the regular guests. It was common for the disabled person and their entire family (however large it may have been) to have direct access to all of the rides (they usually entered through the exit) and special priority seating for the different shows and parades. For the most part the cast members were extra helpful and would often times stop the entire attraction (depending on the ride) to allow extra time for the disabled person to board and disembark from their ride vehicle. While the general public would wait 30+ minutes in line, the disabled person and their family would typically wait less than five minutes, often times just long enough for the next available vehicle to enter the loading station.

From my own personal observations, my family and I began seeing a spike in dishonest people renting wheelchairs and power carts around the mid 1990s.  This was coincidentally around when the Brazilian tour guides began invading the theme parks in the Summer (our summer is their winter), but those two events were not connected.  Why people began abusing the wheelchair system is unknown.  I can only speculate that some of the people were genuinely dishonest people and trying to cut corners in any way possible, while many of the others were frustrated by the record long lines and wanted a way around it, possibly believing that Disney "owed" it to them for being longtime guests.  Who knows.

But the fact is people were being dishonest and renting the wheelchairs to get ahead of the system, and really, there was nothing that Disney could do about it.  The cast members couldn't question the handicap people when they rented the device, and the cast members at the attractions had to treat each disabled guest as if they were legitimately disabled.  They couldn't question is a person was really handicap and in actual need of special assistance or not.  If they started questioning people about their condition and denying access to renting the chairs, the number of anti-discrimination lawsuits filed against the company would be enormous.

The sad truth was that to help cut back on the wheelchair abuse, the main line queues had to be modified to allow the wheelchairs and power carts.  And as we've seen with pretty much every new attraction and most of the older line queues, there is enough space to maneuver the chairs in the main stand-by lines.

Now some of the attractions still have special procedures and line queues for the disabled guests.

For example, "The Haunted Mansion" has the wheelchair groups go through a good deal of the outdoor line queue before branching off to a separate line queue that leads in through the exit of the ride.  The people wait in a special line before a cast member takes them inside of the building (commonly joining the other guests in the stretch room, though some special accommodations can still be made).

"Snow White's Scary Adventures," "'it's a small world'" and "Big Thunder Mountain" have wheelchair guests skip the main line entirely and use a special line queue near the exit of the ride.

"Toy Story Midway Mania" has wheelchair guests go through the entire line queue only to branch off (happens at the FASTPASS merge point) to a special wheelchair-only line queue that leads to a separate loading station where they can slowly load the car without disrupting the main line queue.

In "Star Tours," the handicap people get to use a different line queue entirely and have outstanding views of the scenes along the waiting area as they go up and over the main line queue.

"Spaceship Earth" in Epcot has wheelchair guests use a separate line queue / holding area at the ride's exit and they are led up the exit ramps a group at a time by a cast member.

"Kilimanjaro Safaris" and "Kali River Rapids" also use separate handicap loading stations at the end of the main line queues.

To help cut back against wheelchair abuse, Disney has begun regulating the way that disabled guests can go on attractions. Some of the older rides still allow direct access through the exit, but most rides either have wheelchair guests go through the FASTPASS and regular line queues.  Some of the other attractions have disabled people wait a certain amount of time before they can board the ride through the exit.

Unfortunately, in several cases the disabled people often wait longer as they go through the main line queue and then a separate loading area which doesn't load as frequently as the main ride stations.

This move has made it a lot more fair for all of the park guests in general. Disabled people still have access to some shortcuts for some of the attractions, but those are few and far between. As a result, the amount of wheelchair abuse is less common than it was in the mid through late 90's even though it still happens today. People will rent the electric chairs as personal scooters and regular wheelchairs as shopping carts / strollers, and that is a real problem for the legitimate handicap guests during the busier times of the year. There are many times when people arriving in the park at mid-afternoon cannot rent a wheelchair or electric chair because they've all been rented, whether the people renting them are legitimate or not.

TIP - If you know that you'll be needing a power cart while you're visiting Walt Disney World and don't own one or cannot take it down to Florida, you may want to consider renting a power cart from a local Kissimmee or Orlando, FL company.  Many of the companies will have the power cart waiting for you upon arrival at your WDW resort (or other local hotel) and they'll pick it up at the end of your rental agreement free of charge.  This is becoming a big business and a lot of visitors are doing it these days.  It's lame for those using the power carts just for pleasure, but those people needing legitimate assistance can greatly benefit from it.

Be sure to do your research ahead of time and make sure that the power cart will fit on the Disney buses or however else you'll be getting around on property.  Smaller is often better as long as you're within the weight limit of the scooter and the batteries will last for a full day a the parks.  Ideally, you'll want the batteries to last about 10-12 miles a day between overnight charges. 

I speak this from lots of experience as one of my family members needs to use a power cart to get around the parks and shops.

Listed in the menu on the left (and pictured below) are different disabled guidebooks and guidemaps for Walt Disney World. What makes the books and maps special is that it often times gives more detailed information about the different attractions and which types of disabilities may be affected by the rides. For example, as much fun as it may be for the dog, leader dogs are not recommended for rides such as "Space Mountain" and "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad."

Additional disabled guides will be posted over time.

Disabled guidebooks:

- 1987 - Walt Disney World

- 1989 - Walt Disney World

- 1992 - Walt Disney World

- 1999 - Disney's Animal Kingdom

- 2006 - Magic Kingdom

Disabled guidemaps:

- 2009 - April - Magic Kingdom 

- 2009 - April - Epcot 

- 2009 - April - Disney's Hollywood Studios 

- 2009 - April - Disney's Animal Kingdom 

- 2010 - August - Epcot 

- 2010 - August - Disney's Hollywood Studios 

- 2010 - August - Disney's Animal Kingdom 

- 2011 - February - Magic Kingdom