As you may imagine, or already know, the parking lots and common areas you have to transit before actually going through the ticket gates into Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom are quite a long distance. If you are travelling by car and have a handicap sign, bring it with you so you can park in the handicap lot. The handicap lot has a location where you can get, if any are there, wheelchairs that you can use at no charge to get someone to the ticket gate. However, even if you can get one to use, you need to be aware that the handicap parking lot requires you to travel down and back up an incline that is the walkway underneath a road bridge overhead and if you decide to take the monorail, you have an approximately two story incline up to the monorail platform. And once you get off the monorail you have another decline back down to the entry area and another slight incline back up to the security checkpoint and ticket gate entrance. From this author’s experience even pushing a 3 year old this distance up an down in a stroller is taxing.
If you want to avoid the up and down to and from the monorail to get to the Magic Kingdom you can:
- Take the ferry boat instead of the monorail. You may have to wait longer but can avoid the taxing up and downs.
- Stay at a Disney on-site hotel where you can either walk or boat over (The Contemporary, Grand Floridian or The Polynesian) or any other Disney property that has bus service which drops you off at the Magic Kingdom entrance level.
The good news is right inside the ticket gates is the Magic Kingdom wheelchair and scooter rental area but make sure you get there bright an early as during peak periods they sell out first thing and have long wait times to even get one. As of this article writing date, scooter rental is $70 a day ($20 refundable amount included for key).
A better alternative if you know you or someone in your party will need walking assistance is to arrange for an Orlando scooter rental for your use during your visit. Whether you are staying on-property or off, there are transportable mobility scooters that are full-size, lightweight and can easily disassemble and fit in a car trunk. And even if you are staying on-property you can benefit by having a scooter you can use both in the theme parks as well as at your resort and getting to and from the parks.
Make sure you reserve a scooter as far in advance as possible to ensure you get the model that best suits your needs and select a company that has a wide variety to choose from and provides video overviews of each of their models so you know exactly what you will be getting.
