Show of hands - anyone here almost been run over by one of these? [This attachment has been purged. Older attachments are purged from time to time to conserve disk space. Please feel free to repost your image.]
not almost, actually, i got clipped from behind 3 years ago during mousefest by a large grandma type, almost knocked me to my knees, not a word of apology, in fact she just looked at me and yelled, get out of the handicapped lane. i was not aware that the walkway around world showcase had designated lanes, i must have missed the markings on the pavement i have absolutely no doubt in my mind that if i had fallen in front of her, she would have driven right over me
She had a lot of nerve. There aren't any markings, and if there are, it's for the parade route. I thought people behaved better in FL than in SoCal. But that's not the case. SoCal's biggest problem with that wasn't with the ECV but the wheelchairs. They went through a phase where due to the almighty Disney legal department, they could not ask for some kind of proof when someone asked for a Special Assistance pass at City Hall. So some teenagers would rent a regular wheelchair, one would ride in it, they'd go to City Hall, get the SA pass, and then be given priority at all the attractions through the exit. They finally caught on, but it was a regular occurrence at DL. It was the worst during the summer when DL was basically a babysitter for $199 a year.
My wife and I witnessed a grandma using her powered stroller to knock kids down and if it didn't get them totally out of the way, she stiff armed them out of the way like Emmitt Smith shooting the gap for the touch down. It really helped to ruin our tour we were on. I'm not surprised by these kinds of actions considering the proliferation of road rage on the American roads.
I haven't really had any of these nightmare scenarios happen to me.. sometimes I do use an ECV rider as a crowd breaker though. That is sometimes it's easier to follow one of them through a crowd then try to find your own way. Most of the time it isn't that they're bulldozing their way through a crowd, it's just that people tend to make way for them so I just follow in their wake. I just remembered, I've read a story about some woman (I think it was a woman) who was thrown out of Disney World because of reckless driving in her ECV. I can't find a reference to it on the web now, but I'd swear I read about this a while ago. The point was that she was repeatedly running into people or over their feet or whatever, and eventually she was asked to leave because of her lack of courtesy.
It seems that everytime I go to magic kingdom and for some reason Tomorrowland which seems to be a everyday thing sometimes I get hit by one. And the best is when they don't even say anything they just keep going. Or when there are three people in one chair. Here is a picture of the killing machines at DAK and one of my favorite uses of the ECV. The housing for these devices looks like somethign from Alien. Its a big garage area with tons and tons of battery hook-ups. I just want to go in there and unplug them one night.
MickeyWill--that is the craziest thing I have ever seen! In 2001 and 2004, we took my mom. She used a personal wheelchair due to some serious medical conditions. We were so conscientious and aware of other people that it actually made it difficult to navigate some of the areas of the parks. We actually got beeped at by ECV users when we were pushing grandma in the stoller. We liked to joke that she was an unofficial mode of Disney transportation for my, then, three year old son. Of course, the last one is a shot of the Disney Geeks when they were only the Disney Geek (Andy, seated, hadn't quite turned to the Mouse Side of the Force, yet). We needed a posed shot of the most thrilling ride of the day. [This attachment has been purged. Older attachments are purged from time to time to conserve disk space. Please feel free to repost your image.]
only at disney can you see something as magical as a 10 year old in a stroller being towed behind an ECV. great picture.
These things are the devil!!! I can't tell you how many bruised ankles I've had from people being careless with them. Now, not everyone is this way, of course, but I just can't stand when people use them and wheelchairs inappropriately
Ray wrote an awesome post covering this topic on his blog. Make sure to check it out and leave him a comment. Do You Know What Your Theme PArk Footprint Is? There is a great picture in the post, aw ell (so Tim will read it!).
