SHANGHAI - The Shanghai Disney Resort has announced updates to its wheelchair policy, effective Dec 10, aiming to better serve guests with mobility needs while ensuring park safety.

       Under the revised policy, visitors with assisted mobility needs due to disability, advanced age or relevant medical conditions can continue to use manual wheelchairs in the park.

       Guests with mobility difficulties in their lower limbs may bring electrically powered wheelchairs into the park, and need to meet specific requirements, including maintaining walking speed with a maximum limit of 6kmh and using vehicles with at least three wheels.

       Electrically powered wheelchair users are required to contact the Shanghai Disney Resort Reservation Centre before 8pm at least two days before their visit. After receiving the reservation confirmation from the resort, visitors are required to present valid proof of disability upon park entry, according to the new rules.

       Electrically powered wheelchairs cannot be transferred to any other visitors during the visitor’s entire visit and should not be left unattended inside the park, it says.

       The policy also addresses modifications to manual wheelchairs, stating that any power-assisting attachments must be installed before entering the park and require the same advance registration as electrically powered wheelchairs. On-site modifications are not permitted.

       These changes complement Shanghai Disney Resort’s existing accessible facilities and services, which include pathways and facilities for persons with mobility needs, sign language interpretation for entertainment shows for persons with hearing impairments, and tactile paths and Braille guides for persons with visual impairments, according to the resort.

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       Users on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu have been recommending Shanghai Disneyland visitors rent electric wheelchairs as a “strategy” to get around the 3.9 sq km park, Walt Disney’s largest.

       Many have also complained about the rampant use of wheelchairs in the theme park, with the mobility devices getting in the way of other visitors or even colliding with them.

       “Some people have been operating electric wheelchairs, who may not need these wheelchairs for mobility,” said Mr Murray King, vice-president of Public Affairs and Communications at Shanghai Disney Resort. “Inexperienced operators of electric wheelchairs have been seen to be operating them at too fast a speed and in a way that can impact other guests.” CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK