Help me trick my new ride in Disney style!

[FortForever]

I settled on a name - Ellie! After the redhead on one of my favorite movies, "Up" - Carl's deceased wife.

 

[arminnie]

What kind of lift did you get? I'm very confused by all the options.

 

[FortForever]

What kind of lift did you get? I'm very confused by all the options.

I will go out and take some photos for you and the info, because I honestly don't know. It's a used lift and very nice! Just drive onto the platform, put the key in the lift and move a toggle switch, it lifts the scooter and presses down a thing to keep it in place. Reserve to take it off. It goes into my tow hitch and wired into a 4 flat plug for the license plate light and a friend wired off that for the for the lift motor, that runs directly off the battery so the van doesn't have to be running.

 

[FortForever]

Sorry my photos turned out so huge! Not sure how to make them smaller.

Anyway, it'a Hamar lift and here is a link to a video of how it works.

Please ignore the sand all over everything (and grandchildren's toy pile, we live on the same property.) We are in the middle of our summer daily rains, here in Florida, and it throws sand all over everything. The seat is off my scooter, as the shroud is being painted (although that's not going as planned. )

The lift folds flat against the back of vehicle when not in use. It can swing out so I can open the rear of the van. I have only done this with scooter off, not sure if you can do it with scooter in place or not. You don't need any additional straps to keep the scooter in place. With the rear wheels in the proper position, and the round thing that comes down on the floor of the scooter, it can't move.

I haven't moved my license plate to the lighted license holder yet, but will soon. This is a used, older version of the lift in the video I linked to. It works fantastic and love that I can easily do it all myself, no lifting required. It's as easy as turning a key and pressing a button. Highly recommend.

 

[arminnie]

Thanks so much FortForever. That helps a lot. Is that an Odyssey? That's what we have. A 2006 - but it's still going strong. I was hesitant to buy something that installs inside the van as I know we can't keep this one too many more years - but not ready to buy a new van either.

 

[FortForever]

Thanks so much FortForever. That helps a lot. Is that an Odyssey? That's what we have. A 2006 - but it's still going strong. I was hesitant to buy something that installs inside the van as I know we can't keep this one too many more years - but not ready to buy a new van either.

Yes, it's an Odyssey van, a 2001, and still going strong.

You can move this to just about any vehicle that will take the weight of it, so no problem with that. No reason to add an inside lift unless you are unable to get in and out on your own.

 

[arminnie]

Yes, it's an Odyssey van, a 2001, and still going strong.

You can move this to just about any vehicle that will take the weight of it, so no problem with that. No reason to add an inside lift unless you are unable to get in and out on your own.

Glad to hear your van is still going strong. I really don't want a new van. We've really maintained this one. I feel safe driving it to Orlando (650 or 980 miles each way depending on where we leave from). I kept a 1971 car for 17 years, and cars back then were not the least bit reliable.

I can get in and out of the van on my own. I often travel (around town) with just my walker. I can put it in the van and get it out on my own. I can actually walk - but I am prone to falls and my dead leg gets so tired that it exhausts me. But I am ok walking from the back of the van to the driver's seat or passenger seat.

Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[mamabunny]

It's great that you know exactly how I feel! Being able to be independent again is priceless!

Not going to be in the parade, we don't have a golf cart and don't rent one. One of my daughters, who will be there on Halloween with us, tried to rent a cart from Kenny, but was too late. Not sure if you can reserve them from Disney or not, she decided to just go without if none were available at the Fort. Being Halloween, not likely to find one, I'm sure.

We have a van and a pop up camper that pushes it to the Fort. We stay on the tent sites, even though our camper has a bathroom. We just empty the black tank in an empty site on the way out. Since money is tight, don't want to pay up-charge for a site with sewer hook ups. The slide out beds on my pop up make a perfect "garage" for a scooter. That's where we always kept the rented ones at night, to plug and charge. Keeps them out of the rain, but we always threw an extra tarp over them anyway.

We will have 10 people on our site for the first two nights. After that, just to just 5 for the following three nights, then only 3 adults for the second week. Our camper sleeps 5 adults and 2 kids, so we're putting up a tent too. It's going to be a blast!

My ride's name "might" be Scarlet. I'm not 100% on it yet, but I like it.

Oh the independence - girl, let me tell you. I thought I was going to lose my mind. I *hate* being dependent on anyone, for anything, and the straw that broke the camel's back was the year when I couldn't go to the State Fair because the on-site scooter rental vendor was out of scooters. So I had gone to all of the effort to get there, only to find out there was no possible way for me to tour the Fair. My DH brought the car up as close as he could (luckily the fairgrounds security let him through the barricades when he explained why he needed to) and I went home, and just wept. DH bought me my first little TravelScoot that week, and I have been back to my old running-around-everywhere self ever since!

Dang, I bet its going to be a full house at the Fort - y'all are going to have so much fun! LOL we don't rent a cart because of my scooter - this year we were supposed to try and be there for Halloween (finally) and had to cancel our mother-daughter trip because our daughter got a promotion at work, and has to go for 10 days for training. So... It's back to watching YouTube vids of the Parade LOL. We tried to reschedule, but all the cabins were booked up for the time leading up to her trip, and after, she won't be able to take time off now until spring.

I thought I saw somewhere once where you could reserve a Disney cart, but again, we have never done that, so I have zero idea of how to go about it! LOL

That is *so* clever to garage your scooter under the slide-out! It would really have to be storming for the rain to blow up under there! You all are going to have a full-on party going on with that big of a group! I hope you have so much fun that you don't stop smiling for a month after!

And Ellie is a *great* name for her - I love that SO MUCH!