Medical supplies, mobility devices, and service animals

Where things stand

Service animals look different from the rest because that row covers pets too — the near-universal “conditional” is the condition that the animal must be a service animal rather than a pet.

Medication and medical equipment

The single most useful thing to know is that medical items are normally exempt from the bag rules entirely. A clear-bag stadium does not expect your insulin, epi-pens, oxygen, CPAP, or incontinence supplies to arrive in a transparent tote. Roughly 38% of venues with a medical policy say so explicitly, and the exemption is the norm even where it isn't written down.

The trade-off is inspection. About 64% describe a hand search or additional screening, and around 43% direct you to a particular place to do it — a special exceptions gate, an ADA or family entry lane, or guest services. Some venues then issue a wristband or sticker so you aren't re-screened every time you move around.

That designated gate is the detail worth ten minutes of research. Arriving at a general entrance with a non-clear medical bag is the most common way people end up in a long, conspicuous line they never needed to join. Find the right gate before you travel, and give yourself extra time regardless.

If your medication needs to stay cold, ask about first aid rather than assuming a cooler ban applies to you. Around 18% of venues mention medication, insulin, or first aid storage in their policy, and several parks offer refrigeration at the first aid station. Coolers are widely banned as a general rule; medication is a different question.

One limit worth stating plainly: the exception covers the medical items. It is not a general-purpose bypass, and a bag mixing supplies with ordinary belongings can still be refused. Some venues are also explicit that anything resembling a weapon stays prohibited no matter why it's being carried.

Wheelchairs, scooters, and mobility devices

Mobility devices are the least contested item on the entire site: 95 of 103 venues allow them outright, 8 attach conditions, and none refuse. Just as importantly, the conditions are almost never about permission. They're about dimensions and stability — most often a requirement that a wheeled device have three or more wheels, stay stable when stopped, and fit within a published footprint.

The 8 venues that publish conditions, and what they actually require:

Two practical patterns show up in those conditions. Large parks tend to specify device size and design, which matters most if you use an oversized or custom chair or a powered device that isn't a conventional ECV. Arenas and stadiums more often address storage — where a device goes once you transfer to a seat — and several state that staff cannot store or hold a device during the event, or that it can't block an aisle. If you plan to transfer, that's the question to ask when you book.

Segways and hoverboards are a common trap. They're widely banned as recreational transport while still being permitted when genuinely used as a mobility device, so the blanket ban you'll read about may not apply to you — but you may need to say so at the gate.

Breast pumps, nursing, and milk storage

No venue we track refuses breast pumps or nursing supplies — 85 allow them outright and 6 attach conditions. More useful than the permission itself: 55 of 91 publish a dedicated lactation or nursing room, which is worth locating on the venue map before you arrive rather than asking once you need it.

Milk storage is where the rules get genuinely confusing, because it collides with the cooler ban. Around 7% of nursing policies mention coolers or ice explicitly, and the usual shape is that a small cooler or ice pack is permitted for milk even where coolers are otherwise prohibited. Glass is a separate constraint that sometimes survives the exception. This is the one item on this page worth confirming with the venue directly, because the two rules genuinely conflict and gate staff don't always know which wins.

Service animals

Effectively every venue permits service animals and prohibits pets, and the line between them is drawn at the ADA definition: a dog — or in some cases a miniature horse — individually trained to perform a task for a person with a disability.

Emotional support animals are not service animals under that definition, and 29 of the 100 policies we track say so outright. This is the most common reason someone is turned away at a gate believing they were covered. Therapy and comfort animals fall on the same side of the line.

Where venues add conditions, they're the ordinary ones: 32 require the animal to be leashed, harnessed, or otherwise under control, and the animal is generally expected to remain at your feet rather than occupy a seat. 9 publish the location of a designated relief area — fewer than you'd hope, so it's worth asking guest services on arrival even when it's not documented.

Staff may ask two questions: whether the animal is required because of a disability, and what task it has been trained to perform. They may not ask for documentation or about your diagnosis.

A short checklist

• •Look up the designated accessible or special-exceptions gate before you travel — this saves more time and stress than anything else here.
• •Keep medical items separate from ordinary belongings so the exemption clearly applies to the bag you're carrying.
• •If medication needs refrigeration, contact the venue about first aid storage rather than assuming the cooler ban blocks you.
• •If you use a powered or oversized device, check the published size limits and ask where it goes if you transfer to a seat.
• •If you're nursing, locate the lactation room on the map and confirm the ice pack rule directly — this is the one that most often conflicts.
• •Allow extra time. Hand inspection is normal, not a sign anything is wrong.

You can check any specific venue on its own page, or compare all of them side by side on the medical supplies, mobility devices, nursing supplies, and service animals comparisons. Each entry links to the venue's own published rule.