Sharing my recent experience (Saturday November 17) attempting to arrange for wheelchair assistance at the airport. Note I can walk but not for long distances due to arthritis in both of my knees. Standing still (i.e., in lines) for a long time is also painful.
I spoke with the lobby concierge desk at the hotel (Animal Kingdom Villas-Kidani) the day before departure. She called DME and after some discussion, DME said for me to call them when I was on the bus, on the way to the airport and give them the bus number I was on. When I did that, the supervisor I spoke with at DME said they could do nothing to help me since she thought it was required that the person needing the wheelchair had to be at the airport before they could make the wheelchair request. She couldn't explain why I was given incorrect information from DME the day before, but she said she would contact the DME desk at the airport to see if they could help me.
You can probably see this next part coming ... Upon arrival at the airport there was no sign of anyone from DME at the bus or inside the entrance, and no sign of a wheelchair. I went to the airport information desk just inside and that person recommended I take the elevator up to the third level and go to the ticket counter for assistance since it takes forever to get a wheelchair down on level 1. I didn't go to the DME desk because the Info desk and elevators were right there at the entrance.
When I got up to the third level I spoke with a representative at the entry to the ticket counter line to ask what to do. I already had my bag checked at the hotel and I had my boarding pass, so I figured I didn't need to go to the actual American Airlines ticket counter. The airline rep told me to go outside to the wheelchair desk (beside where you can check bags curbside) to request a wheelchair.
The three people at the outside counter (who were all paying attention to their cell phones, practically ignoring me) couldn't have been less helpful if they tried. First they told me the security line for wheelchairs was 3 hours long (lie #1). Then when I explained I was flying first class and there was a separate Priority line (different from the TSA pre-check line) they told me I was wrong, no such line existed (lie #2, it's still there just like my last trip two years ago, and just like other airports I travel from/through). I could see I was getting nowhere with them, and I suspect it was at least partly due to me being fat and no one wanting to have to push me through the airport.
I went back inside, this time to the ticket counter. The airline rep confirmed the wheelchair line was NOT 3 hours long, as well as confirming the existence of the priority line. She went to get a supervisor and there ensued a discussion with 4 people by the entrance doors. I can only imagine their discussion since they were too far away for me to hear, but they looked at me several times and finally someone came with a wheelchair and off we went.
To shorten the rest of the story, he was very helpful and kind and even apologized to me when I commented that I felt they lied to me because they didn't want to have to push me through the airport. He wasn't aware of the priority line either, but security encouraged us to go through the wheelchair line because it would be less time than the priority line, and it was somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes. I tipped him well when I got to the gate.
I don't know if there's a moral to my story, but I now hate the Orlando airport, and the whole experience left such a bad taste in my mouth that it will be a long time before I go back to Disney World.
