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Outrage as Disney Cast Members Allegedly Leave Wheelchair User Stranded
A Disneyland Resort guest spoke out online this week after Disney cast members allegedly left her stranded in a dead electric wheelchair. The guest explained that she wasn’t frustrated with individual employees but with The Walt Disney Company’s accessibility policies.
Disneyland Resort does offer extensive accessibility services for guests. Disneyland Park, Downtown Disney, and Disney California Adventure Park offer manual wheelchair and electric conveyance vehicle (ECV) rentals for guests. Most attraction queues are wheelchair accessible, and the Disability Access Service (DAS) provides an alternative waiting experience for those unable to wait in long lines.
Still, Stephanie (@shortqueerfemme on TikTok) found a gap in the Southern California Disney park’s accessibility policy. After her electric wheelchair unexpectedly died, the guest was stranded for an hour because Disney cast members didn’t know how to help.
@shortqueerfemme DO BETTER @Disney Parks @Disney #wheelchair #disneyland #disability
At first, Disney cast members told Stephanie that her wife would need to push the wheelchair to the Disneyland Park exit manually. The pair couldn’t make it very far but eventually found an outlet at the exit of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Toontown.
“They only told me to… exit the park, go to scooter rental, and charge it there,” she explained. “I couldn’t make it over there because my wheelchair doesn’t have those wheels that I can push and roll myself in. My wife couldn’t push me all the way there. I weigh almost 200 pounds, and the wheelchair itself weighs, I think, 75 pounds.”
@shortqueerfemme Replying to @Darin Alvarez
“I don’t blame the cast members,” Stephanie said. “It’s not their fault at all that there isn’t a policy or protocol in place. It’s the company… I saw comments about people with oxygen tanks, feeding stuff, different medical equipment that needed to be charged that they weren’t helped with. They had to find their own outlets.”
At a minimum, Stephanie said, Disneyland Resort should train cast members to tell guests with electric medical equipment where outlets are.
“I take some responsibility for my wheelchair dying,” Stephanie said. “When I got to the parks, it was fully charged. I still carry my charger just in case because stuff like this happens… I would really have liked for Disney itself to have some type of protocol.”
Stephanie recommended a designated medical equipment charging area in Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park, much like the service animal relief areas.
“We need places to charge our stuff,” the guest continued. “…Let us charge in a place that isn’t secluding us from the rest of the park because that also makes people feel like an other. It’s already very difficult to go to the parks as a disabled person.”
Accessibility is “the bare minimum,” Stephanie concluded. “To only be able to charge outside of the park and in one place for both California Adventure and Disneyland, is a bit absurd.”
The Walt Disney Company didn’t respond to a request for comment on its theme park accessibility offerings.
Does Disneyland Resort need to do more for wheelchair users? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments.
Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on a personal Disney Parks guest experience. No two guest experiences are alike, and this article does not necessarily align with Inside the Magic’s personal views on Disney Park operations.
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