UPDATE: Policy Change for Stroller & ECV Delivery at Disney World Hotels
Walt Disney World is again changing its resort delivery policies, this time restricting drop-off of third party strollers, wheelchairs, and ECVs at hotel Bell Services. In this post, we’ll take a look at what’s impacted and what is not–at least for now–along with the likely motivations for these new restrictions.
September 30, 2019 UPDATE: What had previously been reported by stroller and ECV rental companies as an outright “ban” on drop-offs and pick-ups at Walt Disney World resort Bell Services is now something very different. It’s an exclusivity deal with ScooterBug, the company that already provides all such devices at Walt Disney World’s theme parks and Disney Springs.
This new exclusivity deal begins October 1, 2019, and only impacts bookings made with existing, authorized third party mobility device services made after that date. This means that, theoretically, you could make a reservation today for a Walt Disney World trip in March 2020 with your preferred vendor, and they’d still be able to drop off your stroller, ECV, wheelchair, etc. Ultimately, it’s not nearly as cataclysmic restriction or change as previously reported or feared…
This new restriction focuses on ‘mobility’ rentals, and is a good news, bad news scenario. First, the bad news is that as of October 1, 2019, Walt Disney World will no longer allow third-party vendors for strollers and mobility aids to be dropped off at Bell Services prior to guests arrival at the hotel, nor can they be left with Bell Services by guests for vendor pick-up at the end of a trip.
The good news is that third party scooter and stroller rentals are still allowed from vendors that previously did the drop-offs and pick-ups. For reservations made after October 1, 2019, the only difference is that you’ll need to be present in person for the drop-off and pick-up of these devices. This will cut into vacation time, but it’s the same type of workaround that some guests have been utilizing with grocery delivery to avoid paying the handling fees.
The other bit of good news is that, per Garden Grocer, this does not apply to grocery delivery. Garden Grocer “managers have spoken to several different WDW resort bell services managers and employees and we have been assured that this new policy only affects mobility vendors (scooters, strollers, etc.) and that grocery orders will still be allowed to be left at bell services.”
Same goes for Owner’s Locker and other vendors that are not in the ‘mobility device’ business. Since this new exclusivity deal with ScooterBug only pertains to strollers, ECVs, wheelchairs, and that sort of thing, unrelated vendors are unaffected. At least, for now. As we’ve seen, Walt Disney World has recently made several policy changes in this area.
This isn’t the first change of the year concerning deliveries at Bell Services. As we relayed in our Tips for Grocery Delivery at Walt Disney World post, a $6 per item handling fee was implemented in April for each package that is received through the front desk or delivered to your room at all Walt Disney World resorts. Previously, this fee only applied to resorts with convention centers.
As huge advocates (and users) of grocery delivery, this is a relief to us…for the time being. We do worry that Walt Disney World will want to clamp down this more, and a similar exclusivity deal there wouldn’t be surprising. But for now, that is not the case.
Even with the latest update about Scooterbug, this is still a developing story and we’d caution against jumping to dramatic conclusions or worrying about the worst.
As of right now, the details of this story are still coming from third parties. Namely, the vendors that deliver mobility (and other) devices. We won’t know the full details until Walt Disney World publishes the official text of the new policy. (We’ll keep you posted on any new developments on this front!)
It’s been a tough year for third party vendors and guests who utilize these items. To us, it’s not all that surprising that Walt Disney World is implementing more onerous rules with regard to third party vendors. There are a couple of obvious reasons for this, with the first being the burden all of these deliveries pose for Bell Services.
With the proliferation of third party vendors and resources about them, these have become increasingly popular. There are now countless stroller, ECV, grocery, etc. services, and we see their trucks doing drop-offs at Walt Disney World resorts all the time.
Purely anecdotal, but I seldom recall seeing these vehicles a decade ago. It’s likely that the time Bell Services spends dealing with all of this has increased exponentially in recent years. Parking and moving all of these mobility devices and refrigerating all of that beer requires time Cast Members could be spending on other tasks.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, these companies are direct or indirect competitors of Disney (or in this case now that we have more details, Disney’s exclusive third party vendor, ScooterBug). Albeit at much higher prices, Walt Disney World also rents such devices. It should go without saying, but Disney also sells food (thought we’d let you know just in case you missed the hundreds of restaurants pretty much everywhere).
In large part, Walt Disney World guests are a captive audience, and their options for these things are either via third party delivery or directly from Disney. Creating barriers between vendors and guests nudges guests towards Walt Disney World’s own, more convenient options–be that stroller rentals or even dining out instead of preparing breakfast in their hotel rooms.
This is the kind of change that could impact vacation plans for many guests, resulting in new costs either in terms of time or money. It’s unlikely to prompt the type of outrage as occurred in response to last year’s snack price increases or hotel parking fees, but it will nonetheless result in guest behavior shifts. It remains to be seen what the actual, long-term outcome of this new policy is for Walt Disney World guests. We’ll keep you posted!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of this rule change? Does this make you more likely to rent directly from Disney, or just waste valuable vacation time dealing with this new policy? Do you think grocery delivery will be next to go? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Disney’s website states that their ECV rentals have a weight limit of 450lbs, and this article advises this is the same company that provides those rentals. I just checked ScooterBug’s site for Orlando, and there are NO ECVs for rent that handle that weight. I am under 450lbs, but have always gotten the Maxima (limit of 500 lbs) so I can carry around water and my medical necessities. I do not mind meeting a representative at the Disney hotel to be able to use another vendor, but I am really concerned about being stranded at the park with a broken down machine and trying to make it to the entrance. I am presuming formerly ‘approved’ companies also got their permission to come in to the parks to assist guests revoked?
I regularly rent from Buena Vista scooter and they are still allowed to come into the park if you have a scooter problem. They have different sizes of scooters, including one that I think you’d be happy with, and their customer service is terrific.
My boyfriend had twisted his ankle prior to our last trip two weeks ago and I called to get a second scooter so he could be comfortable. No problem! We met their representative at the appointed time the next morning and were on our way. (by the way, 9:15 at All-Star Movies is a very convenient time to meet!)
I agree with Eric. Don’t see how this will cut down the number of ECV’s. I have severe Arthritis and my fiancée had COPD. We
Love to go to Disney with grandchildren and we wouldn’t be able to visit without ECV’s. Seems to me a great number of grandparents and elderly people visit Disney. I would think you would consider this when adopting new policies.
Its not to cut down on EVCs. Its to make it easier on bell service. There used to be three that delivered then it is basically anyone who wants to. That’s leaving bell service to keep the ECVs seperated for different companies. Basically having to give each company its own area. Instead of say scooterbug picking up all those there for pickup. The old way meant the bell service had to keeptrack of which went where.
They were all clearly marked in the front as to which company they belonged to. It’s more about Disney making more money.
They still needed to seperate them which required more space and time.
The difference between a grocery drop off and a scooter, wheelchair or stroller drop off is that Disney does NOT have rentals at the resorts, yet there are numerous eating options at the resorts. So when someone arrives at a resort and has mobility issues, how does one get to their room, that can been a long trek from the check in area. Groceries on the other hand can be purchased at every resort, weather its sandwiches to bring back to your room or at restaurants and food courts to sit down and eat. Being a disabled person and not being able to stand or walk for any length of time, this policy effects my ability to do anything the day I arrive if I come in late at night and the 3rd party vendor is closed until the morning, or leaving a scooter the night before you leave because you have a 6am flight the next day. If Disney wants have restrictions, it should be only during off hours. Say if you are arriving/leaving during the hours of 9am-7pm then the restrictions apply. If you are arriving/leaving between 7pm-9am and using a 3rd party you may have your scooter/wheelchair or stroller dropped at the bell desk. This would be a good compromise. Although its not illegal to have restrictions like this, it is downright discriminate against disabled people and the ADA should look into this. Shameful is what it is.
I went to ScooterBugs website to see what strollers they had. (quick note: I have been to WDW 3xs, every time I rented from Kingdom Strollers- twice with a double, last visit a single.) No where on ScooterBugs website did it give height and weight limits for their single strollers. I emailed to ask for specs of each model. Their email response was to call them because they “couldn’t give specs or prices via email, only by phone.” The price was listed so I dont know why they threw that in the. But Kingdom Strollers lists height and weight limit specs to compare and contrast right on their website. Just kind of annoying on ScooterBugs part. Anyways I may or may not rent next visit. My youngest is right at that age where we could go without but we’d have to give breaks and limit park time. I’d love not to have to deal with the stroller… we shall see
If that going to be Disney’s policy, then I’ll just use my rollator walker to get around the parks
I found that with Orlando Stroller Rentals you can pick it up and drop it off at the airport. Has anyone used them? Thoughts? This might be another option than going through Scooter Bug and might be more convenient if you are flying anyhow.
But how do you get the scooter from the airport to the hotels? I do not think the buses can handle the larger ECVs such as the maxima.
I’ve seen a lot of posts bashing Scooter Bug but my mom has rented an ECV through them twice and has been very pleased. Never had a problem with the scooter or the service. If you prefer another vendor, go with them but Scooter Bug is by no means a bad option.
I think the bashing has more to do with Disney and ScooterBug working together exclusively to turn a profit for each other, rather than thinking of what’s convenient for guests. People can absolutely go through another vendor. However there is now a monopoly of sorts since they are the only distributor who is allowed to leave at bell services. Since for many it is inconvenient to meet with one of the other vendors, this leaves ScooterBug as the only option. Oh and also, ScooterBug IS a pretty bad option for strollers. There are only 2 varieties, and the double stroller is not a good one at all.
This is just a guess, but I think a lot of the problem people with Scooter Bug is the cost. They have exclusive access to Disney resorts, and they’re taking advantage of it big time. They’re more expensive than the other scooter companies. And from the reviews I’ve seen of this company on Yelp, I’d be scared to try them. They don’t get very good reviews, even for strollers.
Let’s talk about the ScooterBug stroller options…they are TERRIBLE. There is one option each for a single and double stroller. And the double is a small tandem stroller. I’m assuming their goal (aside from Disney and ScooterBug solely profiting from it) is to lessen space taken up by strollers, as the more convenient, side-by-side strollers obviously take up more room. But I think this is a terrible change.
ok, i don’t know what i was looking at, but i guess i was wrong about the stroller choice. there are more than i thought. woops! in any event, i still think this was a bad decision on disney’s part, but it is what it is i guess…
Digging deeper, Scooterbug seems to have very competitive pricing, looking to have cheaper pricing than it’s competitors (as of 10/1/2019). The quality of the scooters is unknown.
However, these are NOT the ECV’s that are in the theme parks, with Scooterbug having 3 different types of ECVs, including one that can be disassembled to put in a vehicle. There are also 9 types of strollers and 2 types of wheelchairs.
Scooterbug’s website isn’t nearly as good as some of the others (guys, get a clue and provide more info, more pictures, and FAQs). But it appears that the ECV apocalypse many feared isn’t happening.
Of course, what this means is that the line about Bell Services is utter BS. There should be zero effective drop off in the ECVs, wheelchairs and scooters left with Bell Services. I have to wonder how Scooterbug’s business model manages to pay Disney for exclusivity and be so competitive pricewise to the public.
A side-by-side comparison between Scooterbug’s Resort Lite (the one that can disassembled), and the GoGo scooter would be nice.
You are so right. The only ones profiting are Disney and Scooter Bug. At the very least they could have picked a better vendor with higher quality rentals. Just another way for Disney to make even more money from their “guests”. Their reasoning for this change was obvious from the beginning. Never had anything to do with helping cast members, only about making more money. And they wonder why attendance has been down recently. Such a shame. May skip the parks all together next time we visit.
Okay, WDW’s disability page has changed today to reflect the new policy, including the following:
Disney Featured Provider
Guests who use a stroller or mobility device when visiting Walt Disney World Resort have a variety of options including using a personally-owned stroller or mobility device, renting through ScooterBug–the Disney Featured Provider–or renting from another third-party company.
ScooterBug, a private mobility rental company in the Central Florida area, is the Disney Featured Provider to offer stroller, ECV and wheelchair rentals at Walt Disney World Resort theme parks and Disney Springs in addition to length-of-stay rentals for Guests staying at Disney Resort hotels. When Disney Resort hotel Guests choose to rent through ScooterBug, the Guest does not need to be present when the equipment is delivered to the Resort hotel. ScooterBug will work with Disney Resort Cast Members to manage deliveries and returns of rented strollers, ECVs and wheelchairs. Pre-orders and deliveries of mobility rentals through ScooterBug to Disney Resort hotels are available by visiting scooterbug.com/orlando or calling (800) 726-8284.
What recently changed about the Disney Featured Provider program?
We recently modified the Disney Featured Provider program to enhance and simplify the vacation planning process. The program previously included several Featured Providers offering rental options to Guests. Effective October 1, ScooterBug, who is the current provider of rental strollers and mobility devices in our theme parks and Disney Springs, will also become the Disney Featured Provider for our Resort Guests.
I already reserved a mobility device for my trip to Walt Disney World with another company. What does this mean for my existing reservation?
Disney Resort hotel Cast will continue to manage equipment deliveries and returns for reservations made on or before September 30, 2019 with the following vendors: Apple Scooter, Best Price Scooters and Strollers, Buena Vista Scooter Rentals, Kingdom Strollers, Magic Strollers and Orlando Stroller Rentals. Please contact the vendor directly with any additional questions about your current or future reservations.
Will vendors still be able to deliver my pre-ordered stroller, ECV or wheelchair rental and arrange delivery at Disney Resort hotels in the future?
Yes. Guests who rent from our Disney Featured Provider, ScooterBug, do not need to be present when the equipment is delivered to the Resort hotels. ScooterBug will work with Disney Resort Cast Members to manage deliveries and returns of rented strollers, ECVs and wheelchairs. Guests who rent through other vendors will need to be present when the equipment is delivered. Please contact those third-party vendors directly for information about their rentals.
Do I have to be present to receive my mobility device?
Guests do not need to be present for deliveries when they rent through ScooterBug. ScooterBug will work with Disney Resort Cast Members to manage deliveries and returns of rented strollers, ECVs and wheelchairs.
For reservations made with the following vendors on or before September 30, 2019, Walt Disney World Resort hotel Cast Members will continue to manage the equipment deliveries and returns on the Guest’s behalf: Apple Scooter, Best Price Scooters and Strollers, Buena Vista Scooter Rentals, Kingdom Strollers, Magic Strollers and Orlando Stroller Rentals. Please contact the vendor directly with any additional questions about your current or future reservations.
Can I still bring my personally owned mobility device?
Yes. Guests can use a personally-owned stroller, ECV or wheelchair. As a reminder, strollers and ECVs must fall within the guidelines outlined on our Property Rules page on Disneyworld.com.
The scooter bug scooters are clunky and not the nice gogo scooters that come apart. This is simply ridiculous of Disney.
Donna, this is a little confusing to me. In the past, we’ve been able to get a courtesy wheel chair at the transportation area which would get us to the rental location where we can rent our own. The problem for us was at the resorts where we didn’t have a chair available to us. I should point out that the chair is for my son and he is able to walk slowly for short distances. If we don’t have a chair getting on the bus, by the way, and the bus is overly crowded, he can not stand on the bus with out falling down. It seems to me here that Disney is putting us in a position where we should really bring our own chair, though that presents some issues for us moving him, luggage, and the chair into the airport, but we will see. We’ve always felt Disney has been sensitive to the needs of our person with a disability, but maybe things are changing.
If all ECV,S will now be provided by Scooterbug the work load of Bell Services will not change. They will still be handling and storing the same number of ECV,s. What is Scooterbug paying for this exclusive deal with Disney? This appears to be another means for Disney to make a profit from guests who require a service.
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