1. Rent them scooters, as they have more experience with the scooters at the stores and the majority of rental scooters are 3 whelled, like the store scooters. My rental company that I use (
Buena Vista) used to rent powerchairs, but they were the front wheel drive type (big wheels in the front, little casters in the back) and for someone who never drove a powerchair before, it was hard to use compared to a rear wheel drive powerchair (casters in the front, big wheels in the back, sorta like a manual wheelchair) or a midwheel drive chair (Big wheels in the middle and casters in the front and back. I have this kind of powerchair at home.)
Another thing is, not many rental companies rent out powerchairs mainly for these reasons. They don’t want inexperienced people driving these and potentially injuring other people and not many people rent them for the week. So it’s better to rent a scooter.
2. Rent from an outside company. The company I use,
Buena Vista Scooters, has a wide variety of scooters and other equipment at reasonable prices. If you rent from the parks, it’s more expensive and you run the risk of them running out of scooters before you get to the rental station.
3. It’s extremely easy to get the scooter to and from the parks. All of the buses are handicap accessible. (although if both of the designated scooter areas are taken, you’ll have to wait for another one.) If you’re staying at the Wilderness Lodge, the BIG boat from there to MK is the only accessible boat. (The smaller boats can’t accommodate a scooter because they’re much smaller and there’s a step down just to get into the boat.) However, if you’re staying at an EPCOT hotel, all of those boats are accessible. The monorails can accommodate a scooter too.
4. No, those tiny boats can’t fit a scooter because of the size and the step down.
5. Get a misting fan. I would’ recommend a scooter canopy because they can easily be broken. And also, during fireworks, if you’re parked in front of someone they’ll say “Can you take that canopy off so I can see the fireworks?” really rudely.