we are planning on holidaying in florida next year. we were at orlando last year and loved it, but this time we would love my parents to come with us, only, they cannot walk about a great deal as they are 70 and 80. we would love for them to visit one park and wondered if there is any way that would make it easy for them to get about, exept for a wheelchair. we come from britain so is it better to hire a car over here before we go or wait till we get over there? as we did not drive when we were there before.
your help is really needed here. thank you.

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking but Disney is very wheelchair friendly. Disney has wheelchairs you can rent.

If I understand you correctly, you're asking if there is a way for your parents to be helped around a Disney park other than using a wheelchair. I believe you can rent one of the self drive motorized carts.

Generally renting a car ahead of arrival results in lower costs.

oops. Forgot to mention that www.wdwig.com is a weath of info about visiting Disney and has lots of tips for all sorts: young, old, mobility impaired etc.

Some advice on hiring a car - we're going to the States from Ireland for our third trip and have hired a car each time. When booking this year's holiday, by doing a fly-drive package on the internet, we saved over $700 on the car hire (we're taking three weeks) as against what the car hire company was charging on their web site.

If you are just coming for Disney then you may not want to rent a car. Disney had good shuttles if you stay on site. I have heard that the parking lots can have be very far from the gates, though you could drop them off and park.

If you are doing more than Disney then renting a car is probably done better before for best pricing.

The US in general and Disney is very disabled access friendly. A wheelchair may help them to go longer each day and get tired less frequently and though only need to use it when they want to.

If you do rent a car and want a side trip, NASA space center is pretty cool!

One good thing about a wheelchair is that you can go ahead in lines etc at the attractions.

No, you cannot go to the head of the line at most attractions with a wheelchair. It got to the point that people were abusing the policy, so Disney widened the waiting areas so wheelchair users can wait with everyone else.

oh sorry... my aunt went last year and that was the way it was. sorry I did not know that it had changed

I just got back last week from a trip to Orlando with my parents (both 78 years old), one of whom is in a wheelchair. We walked on to all the rides with virtually no wait in line and got good seats to all the shows without going half an hour to an hour ahead of time. We even got expedited through security at the airport. Everyone, including staff and other customers/passengers were incredibly gracious. My mom had a great time being able to have fun with her grandchildren. It was a little rough on dad though as he found it hard pushing the wheelchair all day (the heat, rain, rough pavement especially in Animal Kingdom). We helped spell him off on the uphill portions. I was worried what effect the heat would have on them but it didn't seem to bother them at all. We took my mom's wheelchair with us to Orlando and it worked out quite well except it was kind of a pain hauling it in and out of the van all the time. We forgot to take our handicap parking permit with us and had to park in the regular parking lot but it wasn't too bad as my mom was able to step onto the tram without too much trouble. If you have any specific questions you'd like answered, just let me know. We did Animal Kingdom, MGM, Magic Kingdom, both Universal parks, and Sea World.

For great information on Disney, go to www.disboards.com They even have a section on disabilities and use of wheelchairs.