Disney Cruise Accessibility: My Firsthand Experience

Disney Cruises are known for their magic and family-friendly atmosphere, but how accessible are they for travelers with disabilities?

In this post, I’ll walk you through what Disney Cruise accessibility options are and what it’s like to cruise as an amputee, from booking an accessible cabin to making the most of shore excursions. I hope my story can make your journey a little smoother (and even more fun)!

Cruising as an Amputee

My youngest daughter’s 6th birthday wish was to go to Disney and meet all of her favorite characters. And just like that, our big travel plans were now Disney bound.

Now for some background. My husband and I grew up in Florida just an hour or so from the big mouse trap itself. It was practically a birthright for those in Florida to hold Disney annual passes. As a kid, we both went a ton and as adults, we did it for our oldest four. I would be a newly divorced mom at the ripe, old age of 22, bringing my children every weekend to Disney with my Prius because economically it made sense and they had a blast.

Cue the mess of 2020 with our family needing to relocate to North Carolina. After my accident in 2016, going to Disney just didn’t make sense. I could barely walk a quarter of a mile with my busted leg and my brain injury caused issues as well. Since my amputation of my leg, I have been far more mobile and my little girl knew it.

So when she wanted to see the big mouse himself, I obliged.

Initially, we had decided to book a week of Disney magic at one of their resorts with the park hopper option. Then Disney made changes to its Disability Access Services (DAS) that now made it nearly impossible for anyone to be awarded the service and enjoy the parks. We had no idea what to do.

So we decided to switch the vacation from the parks to a Disney Cruise. It made sense because with my amputation and neurostorming, I could easily go back to the room and lie down versus being stuck in a precarious situation at the parks.

I liked the idea of having a bed close by, near-constant air conditioning, and the ability to let my youngest explore the kids’ clubs.

Accessible Cabin Features

The Disney Wish ship design checks all the right boxes to be accessible for everyone with their many elevators, ramps, seating areas, and more. This was a huge selling point for me as the rocky seas and weather can make walking as an able-bodied person difficult, let alone someone with mobility challenges.

April hooked us up with a great accessible room on deck 6 to minimize noise, waves, and have the best view. We decided to go with a fully accessible room as I didn’t know if I would be utilizing my wheelchair for rest or at night. I didn’t end up bringing it, but was glad to have the option.

There was so much room for activities!

Some of my favorite Accessible Cabin Features on a Disney Cruise:

• 32″ (minimum) doorways
• Ramped bathroom thresholds
• Open bed frames
• Toilet and shower grab bars
• Fold-down shower seats
• Roll-in showers
• Adjustable-height shower heads
• Lowered towel and closet bars
• Emergency call buttons
• Every light near the bed could be adjusted for brightness

Accessible Dining

Typically, there are two options for dining when you book a cruise – early dining and late dining. I opted for early as our daughter is young and a late hour would have caused some hAnger issues.

When you are looking into the special requests portion of your cruise app or website, you can book the dining time along with seating preferences like private seating or being close to the stage.

Otherwise, you are usually paired with other families who match your demographics (i.e. having small children, just adults, and so on).

Meals at the Self Serve Restaurants

As with other buffet style restaurants, you are at the mercy of navigating around other travelers and hoping they are courteous. We had only dined in the buffet area once which was more than enough for us.

Personally, I found it to be too hectic and chaotic to try to navigate around others plate in hand without losing my balance or dropping my food entirely. Thankfully, there is the opportunity to dine in the seated restaurants if you prefer which we did.

My Experience

The first night, we didn’t even try to navigate the crowds because we had been up until 2am due to a Disney resort snafu the night prior.

Thankfully, guest services was able to accommodate my need for a quieter dining rotation than the Marvel-themed restaurant we were slotted for that night.

The stimulation with the noise and lights would have sent my already neurofatigued brain into a fit.

During the following evenings, my accessibility adventures weren’t so lucky.

Recreation and Pools

Elevators and ramps are available on the main pool deck and on the adult pool area providing easy accessibility getting to the pools.

For those that need a pool lift to get into the pool, guests are encouraged to submit a Special Services request using the Special Services Request form, which can be accessed through My Reservations.

Crowd Control

Basically, the schedule went like this:

• 5:45pm – Dinner (usually deck 3 or 4)
• 7:30pm – Live show on deck featuring Mickey and friends (deck 11)
• 8:30pm – Broadway-style show in the theater (deck 3 or 4)
• 10:15pm – Live show / party on deck for the kids (deck 11)

Why was this an issue?

The crowding near exits, entrances, elevators, and stairs was monumental with no crew members assisting with the flow of traffic. This meant that people would often push, bump into, step on your feet, and cut in line trying to make it to these events.

Now you may wonder “Why didn’t you leave early to beat the crowds?”

Dinner is served by course and getting out at or before 7pm and finishing your meal is nearly impossible. Even when leaving 30 minutes early for the other events, the crowds were just as bad.

There were times I was shoulder checked, cut in line, and shoved resulting in me twisting in my prosthetic socket and either falling or nearly falling leaving me with injury. I would have to rest for hours and thus missing out on chunks of time I could be spending with my daughter for her birthday.

When I did go to guest services on the ship to ask what to do, I was often met by “I don’t know”, “the cruise is at capacity and thus safe”, or just shrugs.

We traveled on the Disney Cruise during the Halloween on the High Seas event which only happens during select sailings throughout the year. My daughter loves Halloween; so, it was the theme this year. One huge factor that we did not expect was that the ship would be filled to max capacity.

The Disney Wish was only supposed to be partially full despite it being a holiday cruise on the weekend which are normally busy regardless.

Something that I never even thought to consider was that a cruise right before us was cancelled due to Hurricane Milton. Because of this, our ship was filled to max capacity for cruise attendees and crew alike because many chose to reschedule to our sailing date.

I was extremely upset and dejected because I believe that you should be able to experience travel regardless of ability and not have to worry about injury or issue.

Lessons Learned on My First Cruise as an Amputee

Locate Disney Cruise accessible entertainment

On the very last night of the cruise, I found out there was accessible entry and seating for those with mobility issues to the theater. This was amazing because you could enter the theater early (if your dinner allowed it) and find your seat without battling stairs.

As for the on deck entertainment, I did see a wheelchair only section near the stage that allowed for good viewing and seemed easy to get to. Again, I wasn’t told and had seen it on the last night by chance. The huge, glaring issue with this still is the lack of crowd control for getting into and out of these areas as a wheelchair user without either waiting until everyone left or having to mow down pedestrians (I kid, I kid).

Advocate for Your Accommodations Before and During a Cruise

Now, writing down a tip that I didn’t follow myself makes me feel foolish. However, it wasn’t just my issues with my leg that came up but the stress and heat of it all causing my neurological issues to spiral as well. This left me unable to advocate for myself as I usually do because I didn’t have the cognitive ability at the time.

My biggest tip for this?

Set up accommodations before you board. When you do board that day, go straight to guest services and request all information on accessible dining, entertainment, spa, or just anything you can think of.

I was foolish for assuming that detailing it in my check-in information would lead to being just given the information.

Would I go on another Disney Cruise again?

Yes.

Why?

Well after providing feedback on the situation and speaking to other cruisers who have booked Disney Cruises before, this was an absolute fluke occurrence. Everyone I had spoken with had reported that other Disney Cruises are not maxed out to this capacity and are enjoyable for everyone regardless of ability.

I will give Disney another chance because I know that the magic that permeates the mission of happiness, joy, and family-centered fun exists from my prior experiences.