Scooter Mania

I'm with you 100%!

I have the same problem with handicap parking. I'm for it for anybody who NEEDS it, but I'm not sure of the legitimacy of most who HAVE it.

Like the time I was going into Wal Mart a while back, and a pick up truck, pulling a trailer with four lawn mowers on it was parked across two front to back slots.

I also love the people in those spots who don't leave their car, but are sitting in them WAITING for someone.

I don't want to insult anyone, but the majority of people I see who are using them look like they wouldn't HAVE to if the line for Big Macs was suddenly cut off.

Irks me though, as I tried to get my dad (Big Ed, who will be 82 this summer) last year to GET a scooter while we were at WDW. He'd have no part of it.

Said he'd rather spend less time in the parks, getting around on his own than ride around on one of those things.

This is absolutely true, and I've had my foot run over--and more often than that, my fireworks/parade experience ruined--because I've had to deal with passing scooters. Maybe there are several folks who have a legitimate emergency, but there can't be that many in an isolated 15-minute time period.

Also, I have to say that I've seen one or two stroller pilots who feel similarly "entitled" to the right of way. I have no problem with strollers, but the term "stroller wars" has been coined for a reason...

Not to mention the "double wide" stroller, which I'm sure is wonderful for the parent, and a pain for anyone trying to negotiate a narrow passageway WITH one.

I couldn't agree with you more.

In fact, I touched upon this back in February in the thread I started after my January trip.

We noticed in January that there were more of these things than we'd ever seen before. And it seemed like very few were for people that really needed them. When you can get off the scooter and then walk around and board the bus normally while they load said scooter, I'm guessing you don't need it at all.

And you are so right about them thinking they have the right of way. I saw more people driving the thing through walkways and if you were a pedestrian (which is who the walkways are designed for) well you'd just better get out of the way. Not to mention how much room they took up in preshow areas and on boats like the original poster said.

What does this say about us a society? Have we gotten lazier and lazier? Laziness maybe on the part of the companion too, who, with the scooter, won't have to push a traditional wheelchair? What gets me too is the sense of entitlement. Physically handicapped or not, they feel they are entitled to a scooter for no other reason than they want one and can afford to rent one. I see no difference between this and those who try to obtain handicapped plates under false pretenses. I'm really sorry to have to say this, but the ones I saw on scooters the most were not the elderly or people with obvious handicaps, but overweight, middle aged men and women.

Sorry for the rant.

OMG, did they really???? I wish they'd bring that back! That would be SO nice!

Those buses carried passengers around the World Showcase until as late as the early 2000s if I'm not mistaken. At one time there were as many as four or five at a time picking up and dropping off passengers around WS.

I remember even after they stopped allowing passengers to ride them, they were used for Cast Members in the entertainment department to perform throughout WS, and I even remember seeing at least one being used as a place off of which to sell merchandise!!

There's a picture here in the artistic photos thread.

Oh yes, I do remember the double decker bus that carried the characters around Epcot back in 2005, but I didn't realize guests once were able to ride them. That was the one thing I felt was really needed in Epcot is transportation from one end of WS to the other. It's a loooooong walk.

Very true. You can always take the boat across the Lagoon, but that takes forever...

Doesn't do you much good for getting from say England to China though, either.

Doesn't do you much good for getting from say England to China though, either.