Visiting Walt Disney World with an injury was a situation I never planned for until it happened to me.
I’ve had a few injuries in my lifetime—a broken arm as a toddler, a broken foot from a rolled ankle in the Rockies… However, it wasn’t until I was a Florida resident that a situation finally arose where I found an injury affecting my ability to visit Walt Disney World.
The injury was a bad MCL tear with likely-damage to other ligaments that I got during a short-lived run doing professional wrestling training (worth it!). It was a nasty injury that initially required weeks wearing a peg-leg-like knee immobilizer even when I slept. By the grace of God, my recovery went well, and I was eventually able to switch to a heavy duty hinged knee brace paired with a compression sleeve, coupled with lots of at-home physical therapy.
For a Passholder and lifelong Disney fan, the injury happened at the worst time possible—towards the end of August 2018, when summer blackout days were over, and crowds were about to lull down for a few months of moderate weekday attendance. We initially stayed away from Disney for fear we would aggravate my injury with excessive walking and jostling thrill rides. Eventually, we decided to brave Disney in mid-September for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, armed with a knee brace, a compression sleeve, and some OTC painkillers. Needless to say that while my experience was overall positive, I learned that visiting Walt Disney World with an injury definitely changes your experience of the Most Magical Place on Earth.
My case is unique in that I could adjust plans as a Passholder if things went south. However, for those who have planned vacations and resort reservations, changing a Walt Disney World trip may not always be possible. I also was fortunate to have an injury that was not completely debilitating to my mobility, but on any given visit to Walt Disney World, you will spot myriad visitors in braces, crutches, boots, wheelchairs, casts, and scooters. Is it still possible to enjoy Walt Disney World if you’re dealing with an injury? We think so, but we also learned a few things you should probably be aware of…
1. Things you would never think about become harder
Image: Disney
I expected walking to be the hardest part of visiting Walt Disney World in a knee brace—after all, the average Disney parks visitor walks a whopping 10 miles a day!
The walking wasn’t too bad. The actual hardest part was stairs.
The nature of my injury prevented easily bending my knees in the precise motions required to ascend and descend stairs smoothly. Now, Disney Imagineers are pretty smart people. You won’t encounter too many stairs visiting Walt Disney World, but I magically managed to find them in all sorts of situations. At The Seas With Nemo and Friends as well as during a jaunt to the Boardwalk Inn, I discovered that ascending and descending stairs took far longer than I was used to thanks to my wobbly knee. Still, this didn’t inhibit our vacation too much since there aren’t too many in the parks.
Getting in and out of ride vehicles, however, proved a different story. Many of Disney’s ride vehicles require stair-like steps to get in and out of cars and boats. I instantly realized that I couldn’t load nearly as fast as I was used to. Even the ultra-tame Gran Fiesta Tour proved a challenge for my tottery legs to navigate and squeeze into. Being unable to fully bend my knee made the process even more difficult—more on that later. In short, be aware that if you’re visiting Walt Disney World with an injury, you’ll need to be prepared to think about some basic things you wouldn’t otherwise.
2. Florida’s humidity can be brutal on braces
Image: Ricardo’s Photography, Flickr (license)
Knee braces, orthotic boots, and other injury-recovery wear are rarely light, breathable apparel. On an average day, you get pretty hot and sticky inside a knee brace, but Florida’s humidity takes this phenomenon to a whole new level.
On the day of our Disney-while-injured visit, I opted to wear a breathable compression sleeve under my knee brace. While I had to take it off half-way through the day due to pain issues, I’m glad I had it. If I hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get my knee brace off! When we rested my knee during a mid-day break, my compression sleeve was absolutely soaked in sweat, and when I got home at the end of the day, the neoprene from my brace had completely glued itself to my knee. It took a fair deal of hard work on my husband’s part to help me get it off. I also noticed throughout the day that the heat and humidity aggravated inflammation and swelling within the brace.
If you’ll be visiting Walt Disney World with any type of recovery-wear on, it would be wise to wear some sort of breathable sock or sleeve under it, even if you have to change it a few times throughout the day. Mesh tape, so long as its loose, could work as well. If you find yourself needing to run to First Aid for some ice, this will prevent a long, embarrassing hassle of having to wrestle a sticky, sweaty neoprene brace off.
3. Wheelchairs or mobility scooters may not be the best option
Image: Arctic_Whirlwind, Flickr (license)
If you’ve harbored secret fantasies of touring Walt Disney World in a mobility scooter, an injury is a great excuse to make that dream a reality. If an injury or disability inhibits your ability to walk, mobility scooters are a serious godsend at Walt Disney World and a great way to tour the parks without exhausting or further injuring yourself. Wheelchairs are an option as well and are much cheaper to rent. You don’t need any sort of special pass to board rides if you’re on a scooter or wheelchair as cast members are well-trained in helping those in wheelchairs or scooters navigate lines (you just wait in the line with everyone else—wheelchairs and scooters do not jump the line, contrary to popular belief).
However, mobility scooters and wheelchairs aren’t always the best option, and it was not an option I personally took advantage of.
Mobility scooters are large and difficult to maneuver through crowds and lines. They are also expensive. I almost caved at one point during our trip and considered renting one, but I’m a stubborn sort. I was far enough along in my recovery that I wanted to utilize a day at Disney to see where my limits were and do some much-needed physical therapy to get mobile again. It meant a bit more patience and exertion on my part, but I’m glad we avoided the hassle of scooters and wheelchairs. If you’ll be visiting Walt Disney World with an injury, it’s really up to you if you would like to utilize a mobility aid like a wheelchair or scooter but be aware that the latter may provide all new maneuverability problems.
4. You may think twice about certain attractions
Image: Disney
On a normal day, there is really not anything at Disney I won’t ride—perhaps with the exception of rides that just don’t match my personal tastes. We love thrill rides in our household, and I had previously never been in a situation where I couldn’t ride one due to mitigating circumstances.
After my knee was injured, I found myself really questioning what attractions we could and couldn’t ride. You would think this would be as simple as avoiding thrill rides, but it wasn’t. For my own injury, the biggest cause of pain was lateral movements, particularly any situation where my knee might pivot from vertical to horizontal orientation. While something obvious like Mission Space was definitely out with its cramped quarters and constant lateral movement, I didn’t realize how many other attractions this limit affected. Soarin’, for example, is a pretty tame attraction, but the prospect of my legs hanging off the seat and swaying side to side with no way to stabilize them kept us away.
The biggest risk we took was a trip on Test Track. I had been doing well so far during the day and decided I wanted to try it during a moment of over-confidence. I generally grin all the way through this ride, but on this occasion, I spent much of the ride chiding myself for my stupidity and praying that I didn’t seriously damage my already-messed-up knee. The jostling on the ride was noticeably uncomfortable, and I had to brace my knee with both hands during sequences with sharp lateral movements. Everything turned out okay in the end, fortunately. Interestingly enough, it was an entirely different issue with Test Track that caused the biggest scare of the day.
5. Space in rides can get CRAMPED
Test Track is not a ride you would normally think of as cramped. Under normal conditions, especially when viewed from above, the ride vehicles look downright roomy compared with other Disney rides like Space Mountain or Big Thunder. However, upon boarding Test Track with an injured knee, I discovered quickly that I was very, very wrong in this assumption.
I can’t say what exactly possessed me to think riding Test Track while injured (the Disney shakes?) but loading into the ride proved a uniquely unpleasant experience. One of the nasty side effects of my MCL tear was an inability to fully bend my knee while sitting low. I hadn’t thought this was a problem—during exercises, I could bend it pretty well. However, once I managed to get down into the Test Track vehicle, I realized quickly that I couldn’t actually fit into the ride seat. I am only 5’4” but somehow, my stubborn knee ended up jammed against the seat in front of me.
In my head, I knew they wouldn’t start the ride with me in that state, but in a panic over not wanting to hold up the line, I forced my knee into the necessary bend to fit. This was, needless to say, a painful exercise that made issues worse during the various jostles and turns on the ride. Ultimately, this force of mobility actually ended up helping my recovery in the long run, but it definitely made for a scary and uncomfortable ride experience.
I ran into this issue multiple times at Epcot. On Spaceship Earth, we had enough room that I could sort of angle to the side to fit in the ride seats, but I still couldn’t sit straight. On Living With the Land, fitting my knee into the previously-adequate rectangle of leg space proved an awkward chore. Same thing on the Gran Fiesta tour. In all these situations, I felt like book wedged into a too-skinny spot on a full shelf. If you’ll be visiting Walt Disney World with an injury, you don’t just have to take jostling rides into account. You may run into some limitations due to the size and orientation of ride vehicles as well.
6. First Aid is your friend
I think I write about Walt Disney World First Aid more than I write about Magic Kingdom. Every park at Walt Disney World has a dedicated First Aid station staffed by skilled nurses, and these magical men and women are seriously some of the nicest people you’ll meet in the Most Magical Place on Earth.
If you’re visiting any Disney park with an injury, a half-day stop at First Aid is a good idea. For my own recovery, I usually needed to ice my knee twice a day to reduce pain and minor swelling. Florida’s heat, heavy walking, and the aforementioned Test Track incident did a nasty number on my tendons. A stop at First Aid allowed me some time to take off my knee brace and compression sleeve and apply some ice. The First Aid nurses have great ice pack equipment, so I didn’t have to spend the whole time juggling the thing—they just wrapped it on with mesh tape. My husband and I spent the time relaxing before continuing on our day.
Whether you need ice, OTC painkillers, blister treatments, or just a place to catch your breath and rest your injury, First Aid is an absolute must-stop if you’ll be visiting Walt Disney World injured. They’ll get you in and out with plenty of time to enjoy your day, and they can also call for specialized medical treatment if something goes wrong with your injury.
7. You have to slow down and take breaks
Image: Jett Farrell-Vega (@mykingdomforamouse Instagram)
This isn’t rocket science, but for Disneyphiles who are used to power-walking through intense days of Disney touring, there’s just no getting around the fact that you’ll need to slow down a bit for an injury. While physical activity can be good for recovery from some injuries, you can seriously aggravate others by overdoing it, especially if the wound is fresh. You have to take breaks, more so than you would on an average Disney day.
Even on a normal Disney day, it is usually a good idea to take a mid-day break to avoid the heaviest crowds and hottest hours. This is an especially good strategy if you’re recovering from an injury. If you will be staying at a Disney resort, this is fairly easy, especially since it doesn’t take you too far away from the parks. For our visit, weren’t staying at a resort, so we instead opted to take a rest in the lobby of the Boardwalk Inn instead. Almost any of Disney’s resorts will do in a pinch, as will just about anywhere you can sit down comfortably in air conditioning. Overall, it is probably a good idea to take a more relaxed pace than usual when injured at Disney.
8. Your patience may be tested
Most people are pretty courteous at Walt Disney World when you have an injury, but Disney also always has some regular crab apples who have no patience for anyone. While I am a huge proponent of being courteous to fellow guests and especially of not blocking walkways, if you are injured, just ignore those people. People are going to get in each other’s way at a theme park—it’s just the way things are, and there is no need for it to dampen anyone’s day. Do what you need to do to get from A to B, and if you need to step off to the side to take a break, do so. Never feel like you have to let the crowd run all over you.
9. You have options if standing isn’t an option
In my case, while I did research options for disability access on rides, we ultimately just opted to use the normal lines. Disney adjusted their systems for visitors with wheelchairs, injuries, and disabilities after the system was unfortunately abused. Most guests in wheelchairs and on mobility scooters now wait in the line with everyone else since cast members are trained to help them navigate the lines.
However, for guests who cannot wait in line due to a physical or cognitive disability, it is possible to get a Disability Access Card from Guest Services. This fully digital service (linked to your MagicBand) allows guests to receive a return time to come back to the ride. The time ends up being equal to standing in line, but families can use that time in other ways.
For my situation, I could stand just fine with my knee brace, and we usually don’t enter lines longer than 30-40 minutes anyways, so we did not need a disability access card. However, if your injury is going to prevent you from being able to stand for an extended amount of time, the Disability Access Card is an option. You will not need a doctor’s note as the program is honor-system based.
10. Try something new
Image: Disney
An injury doesn’t have to ruin a Walt Disney World vacation. There is no getting around the fact that injuries may prevent you from being able to experience some Disney attractions as planned. However, the Most Magical Place on Earth has so much to offer, you can still use your trip an opportunity to try something new. Take advantage of the opportunity to investigate new attractions and experiences at Walt Disney World that you’ve never tried before, especially things that don’t put as much pressure on your injury. Communicate honestly with family and friends about your needs and keep a positive attitude.
As a bonus hint, if you will be flying into Orlando, don’t feel shy to take advantage of pre-boarding with your airline. Both on American and Southwest Airlines, I always was able to get pre-boarding access by politely talking to the gate agents, explaining my situation, and asking if there were any boarding options available. Courtesy goes a long way, and this will save you some hassle and extra standing during the boarding process.
Have you ever visited Walt Disney World with an injury? What tips and tricks did you find to maximize your experience?
