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!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
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!
A quick update. I spoke with DVC member services today to cancel our upcoming trip because of the scooter policy. She mentioned that they were informed yesterday that a company named “Scooterbug” will still be able to pick up and drop off with the bell desk after 10/1/2019.
I am not familiar with the company – we usually rent from Buena Vista rentals.
I have rented a scooter for the last few years. At first they could deliver them to the bellhop and drop off the key. I had rented the ones from the parks and it was $50 for the day, no matter how long or short and you can pick one up at the next park if you are hopping, and only if they have one available, which when you park hop, it is later in the day, so chances are they won’t. Also they have limited number of scooters. So I rent from these vendors. Then last year, I went to rent the scooter and was told I would have to meet the driver at the front of the resort. And also have to meet the driver at the front of the resort to pick it up. I was told that it was because Disney wanted them to pay a fee to bring it to the bellhop. And some had ads stating that they were approved to drop off scooters at bellhop. I rented from one of the vendors, while at the Disney Resort and it is not that difficult if you know when they will be at the hotel to meet the driver. I also have stayed at the Dolphin since then and they still allow the drive to drop the scooter off at the Bellhop. So I am not sure if this is a change to the policy, or if they had already been doing it and are now just making it official. I’m going down in November and staying at the Art of Animation, I will call the vendor and see what they suggest. Unless Disney wants to get into the scooter business and rent the scooters at the hotel for a number of days and return it to the hotel when you leave, there not going to be able to compete with the Scooter Companies that do business there and very willing to accomodate the guest.
While I’m not outraged and this won’t stop me from going, it is slightly annoying. We rent a stroller because we need the room in the car for all our other stuff. We stay for a week+ in the cabins so we bring lots of stuff. We already rent a golf cart off property when we go so I imagine the pick up process will be the same with a stroller….meet in some parking lot right off property to pick up and drop off. If Disney had other strollers aside from the noisy, uncomfortable plastic ones, we’d probably rent from them because we were considering on site golf cart rental this time just because the last thing my husband wants to do when we arrive is leave to load and unload and return a trailer, but if we are gonna do it for a better quality stroller, guess we will continue to do it for a better quality golf cart. I’m not surprised about this move however. When we would go to pick ours up the bell services would be overflowing with stroller rentals.
I totally agree. The trip from the transportation and ticket center to the Magic Kingdom can’t be done without an ECV. Neither can most entrances into the parks. They have taken away the magic. I guess money talks. Just like the mini vans. You can take an uber for half the charge but they double it just to ride in a mini van. So sad. Grandparents take their grandchildren to Disney. Guess that’s a market they don’t need anymore.
I’ve needed an ECV for my last few visits. Rented one that was delivered prior to my arrival a couple of times then later brought my own. Rental from outside vendor was only real option initially since there are limited numbers at the parks and you could be stranded. Also without Disney ECV availability in the resorts I would have had trouble getting to my room.
A lot of aging folks spend money. Disney needs to rethink making more money for the executives by gouging and how to keep folks happy and coming back. It’s getting tougher to justify the expense.
Highly recommend getting your own scooter and the freedom to go where you want to go. It was worth every penny.
Contact Disney. The castmembers will explain. It is NOT what is explained in the article. Yes, they are not permitting drop off but ….
Disney wants to stop old people, disabled people, anyone who can’t get around on their own, The company heads of office are leftest and only want the people who can spend money and don’t need help doing it in any form. All the restrictions are for the wealthy patrons who don’t want visual degenerates in their midst like the Nazi’s in Germany many years ago. This is what our country is coming to. Disney himself would have stopped all this as he always wanted everyone to enjoy his beautiful wonderland. This makes me so sad as I remember when Disneyland was great and for everyone and now freedoms are going right and left. These people in charge will ruin this wonderful haven for everyone and soon people will stop coming and it will have to close its doors in the future because of the disgust people will have for the people running this establiment. We will have to say good bye to a beautiful institution of enjoyment.
I sure hope they don’t do away with Grocery delivery. Our daughter has Type 1 Diabetes and having one meal that we know the carbs of each item she is eating is really nice.
This only makes sense if Disney plans on making ECV rentals available at their resorts instead of only at the parks. Otherwise there are so many people who will not be able to travel. We are bringing my 82 year old father in law on our next trip which is already booked and paid for. He cannot walk around the resort or from where the bus drops us off outside of the gates to the park. There are never wheelchairs available near the bus drop off areas to get to the park to rent a wheelchair and there are not enough ECVs in the parks to rent. The ECV companies are now going to charge us more because they have to be at the resorts at specific times of the day instead of 1 time each day to drop off and pick up.
This finally killed going to Disney for me. We rented an ECV on our last trip and stayed at Beach Resort. 3P vendor dropped it off before we arrived as we didn’t know when we would arrive. For the first time my mom isn’t able to walk more than about 10 minutes/20 yards. Bell services was great and we tipped generously. Disney doesn’t offer ECVs anywhere outside the park and you can’t take their significantly more expensive ECVs out of a park. We would have been stranded at Intl Gateway…quite literally. We would not have gone on this trip had we not been able to do this. Disney seems to be on a rampage to make everything less convenient and pleasant, more expensive and take away all the magic. I’ve been seeing this on the blogs for years now as I’ve decreased the number of visits significantly. I’m done. Bye Disney, I’ll miss you but I’m not coming back to be treated worse every time I visit.
I totally agree. The trip from the transportation and ticket center to the Magic Kingdom can’t be done without an ECV. Neither can most entrances into the parks. They have taken away the magic. I guess money talks. Just like the mini vans. You can take an uber for half the charge but they double it just to ride in a mini van. So sad. Grandparents take their grandchildren to Disney. Guess that’s a market they don’t need anymore.
Renting an ECV from Disney at Disney World is a bad idea if you are handicapped. It is impossible to get to the park busses on foot. And even if you could , there is no guarantee there will be one available. My wife and I are annual passholders and do a lot of park hopping. We may go to the Magic Kingdom during the day and then another park in the late afternoon. Renting from Disney would require two rental fees per day for each of us and the rental fees are already higher than the outside vendors charge per day. We visit Disney World multiple times each year and this change will cause us to spend less time in the parks and more time waiting for scooter delivery. Disney World May be the “Happiest. Place” for some, but not for the handicapped, or families with youngsters that require strollers. After being annual passholders for several years, we are re thinking the decision to buy them again. I doubt if any of this will change Disney Executives minds, so we are resigned to finding other areas to spend our dollars.
The can not guarantee that a ecv rental will be available at a park when you arrive and that is a problem why are they now discriminating against the handicapped if you stop ecv deliveries stop grocery delivery as well or charge the same handling fee for ecv’s as groceries.
You only pay the scooter or stroller fee once per day. Keep your original paperwork in a safe spot because you will need it to pick up your scooter or stroller at a second park.
How can we be sure they will have one and how do we get from the hotel room to bus stop and bus stop at park to rental locations
Just another reason not to stay onsite. Does this new restriction apply to DVC resorts also?
Regarding the grocery deliveries. The answer is simple. All Disney needs to do is lower their prices on all grocery items in their resort stores etc. They make billions of dollars year after year on other things. The money visitors are spending is astronomical. Why can’t they just lower the prices and visitors would be happy to buy them at the stores if the price is right. No need to use the grocery vendors. Just my opinion!
Good bye Disney…I need a scooter to navigate the parks. With all these changes I don’t believe Disney is making a vacation handicapped friendly.
As it is we pay a lot for rooms, tickets and meals not counting special nights like Micky’s Christmas which that a lone is about $125 a person. Some of us have disabilities require a mobility scooter and I can see Disney charging the outside company to use their employees and pass it on to the renter and make it simple for everyone! Are they can write it off as the price of doing business but no they are too money hungry and this from a vet that is also with disabilities.
Your not sympathetic at all and it sounds like you resented being your fathers caregiver for 20 years
The problem is people not knowing when they will arrive. We are driving with a disabled person who may need more stops. There can be traffic. How do we arrange a specific time for drop off? People who fly in can have delays. How do they set up a drop off time?
We traveled with my severely disabled father to Disney in 2000. We brought his scooter from home as at that time there weren’t many if any places to rent them. The scooters are designed to break down for travel and honestly if i ever needed an ECV to get around as a sole means of mobility, I’d likely bring my own.
In 2000 when we came it was at a time when ECVS were in their infancy. Back then not every bus could accommodate a scooter and we spent an inordinate amount of time using Disney’s transportation to get around. Often having to wait for / through several comings and going’s of busses for “the” bus that could take a scooter. Was it an inconvenience, absolutely but we made the best of it. In hindsight we probably should have rented a car.
The huge problem is that many folks don’t need a scooter outside the parks but with the 3rd party vendors they are forced to have them 24/7. If Disney had more availability or if they let a 3rd party vendor provide the ecvs right at the parks it would alleviate a significant amount of headaches for those that only need them in the parks.
Often people’s disabilities will tolerate walking from the bus stop to the park entrance, unfortunately when they arrive they may find that there aren’t any ecvs left & this is the main reason people are using the third party vendors to begin with.
I wrote yesterday to the vendor we use and was advised that any reservation made before oct 1 would still be able to be dropped off at Bell Services, no matter when the actual reservation was for. This seems dubious. They said they also plan to find ways to meet us all in person, but have no details on how they’ll do that.
Last summer, we drove to Disney (a two day trip) and stopped at our hotel to get the ECV. Then we got right back in our car with it and went to Disney Springs. We met up with two friends, shopped for hours, had an amazing meal with Wagyu beef at Morimoto’s, and went back to the hotel late that night.
Disney offers no ECV rental there that I know of and we wouldn’t have had that evening without one.
Disney isn’t just making a change here to make money, it’s making a devastatingly anti-disabled change.
I’m shocked.
Maybe I shouldn’t be, when they made that FOP ride without any functionality for disabled people (or tall people, large people, etc) I thought it was so strange since the ride didn’t need those limits at all. They could have easily included handicap accessible seating.
This is a dangerous trend.
I hear you but have reservations going that far & the reason being is that ECVs are highly portable & when my dad had one he needed it to get anywhere & everywhere literally.
I was my dad’s caregiver for 20 years and am 100% sympathetic with persons with disabilities. That includes those that are blatantly obvious and those you’d never know someone had.
Many disabilities require medical devices or apparatus and no one expects to be provided with these requirements when they travel. Such things would include the sleep apnea breathing machines, walkers, canes etc etc. all of which people bring with them should they so need.
I think the ecvs are a convenience item for many people and it’s not any resorts responsibility to provide them to the degree people have become accustomed.
I’d be really surprised if any of this is deliberately targeting disabled people. It’s perhaps lack of awareness, which isn’t ok, but I wouldn’t assume just yet that these steps are conscious acts of discrimination.
People can still rent third party ECVs, they just have to be there to take delivery, which isn’t really unreasonable.
Remember, strollers are included in this news. I don’t think we can start saying Disney are discriminating against families with small children because of it! It’s their primary market!
Yes it Is discriminating they are allowing grocery and package delivery and only charging a fee that is what they should do with ecv’s because all these things take bell service members time the same way.
Kathleen I too called today and was told it takes effect for those booking a rental starting Oct 1. I rented 1 today for a trip the middle of Oct. I have never rented nor needed 1 in all the years I’ve been going to Disneyworld but am in a walking boot with a 2″ tear in my peroneal tendon in my ankle. Surgery is scheduled for when I get back from trip. Buena Vista Rentals says I will be grandfathered in to not be present at drop off and pick up and the Bell Service will accept the scooter. I certainly hope it is as the scooter company says.
At least for scooters at Disney it is a first come first serve basis and this is daily. You cannot reserve for the time your there. If you are park hopping you can get another one if they have one. It’s also much more expensive and they did not look so good. Getting a third party is much easier and you are sure you will have one the whole time.
There is no reason why anything should change except you have to be there. I rented a scooter from a third party met at the right time in the resort lobby, they showed me everything about the scooter and how to use it. They picked it up about 15 minutes later than arranged . I thought it was great!
I was told when we were trying to rent one that they picked up and dropped off at 9am every day. And if we needed the ECV for the day we were leaving we would have to pay for the whole day and they would pick it up the following day at 9am. I don’t see how they are going to be able to manage arranging to be there when each person arrives at their hotel. Do the resorts ave wheelchairs to borrow while on site?
As it is we pay a lot for rooms, tickets and meals not counting special nights like Micky’s Christmas which that a lone is about $125 a person. Some of us have disabilities require a mobility scooter and I can see Disney charging the outside company to use their employees and pass it on to the renter and make it simple for everyone! Are they can write it off as the price of doing business but no they are too money hungry and this from a vet that is also with disabilities.
Yes the resorts have courtesy wheelchairs available. My sister-in-law does this every time she travels with her mother and has never had a problem getting one.