New Guest Assistance Card

[EpcotMom]

Disney is now offering a Guest Assistance pass. This pass lets CMs know just what assistance is needed, whether or not a guest can leave their chair, and if so, if they require help. The SAP is gone, as Disney didn't want "special" to be asociated with different! Its a big help, and more respected than the old SAP by the CMs! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[teri]

I am not sure why it would be more respected, it really hasn't changed all that much. We had the same level of help and hassle that we have ever had on this recent trip using the GAC, no real difference as far as I could tell. I still believe, quite strongly, that the GAC should be color coded, and the entrances should be color coded as well, so that the CMs are not forced to read the fine print that is stamped on the GAC in dim light while you are requesting help. We still got the same resistance when we needed to use the alternate entrances, especially at the rides where we used Fastpass - I think there are still some bugs to be worked out.

For example, I have no problem with getting a FastPass ticket and returning 1-2 hours later, but sometimes we still need the alternate entrance! There was a real tension about that at the attractions, even though we were assured by Guest Services that we were doing it right. Having to read the fine print in order to give the help needed was still a hassle, for us and for the CMs.

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for the information. I havent seen one, but its probably just a matter of changing to a more politically correct name that doesnt really matter all that much to the people getting the service.
P.S. I deleted the multiple copies of this topic. The rest didn't have any replies.
SueM in MN
Co-Moderator of disABILITIES (http://wdwinfo.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?q=Y&a=frm&s=40009993&f=38009194)
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[This message was edited by SueM in MN on 07-10-00 at 09:38 PM.]

[This message was edited by SueM in MN on 07-10-00 at 09:39 PM.]

[teri]

It says, right at the top, that this card is not intended to provide immediate access to attractions. There is a little check-off box there to show that you have been informed of this by Guest Services. Unfortunately, one side of our card fights with the other - on one side it says the alternate entrances are only for people in wheelchairs or with service animals... and then (in our case) stamped on the other side it says to allow us to use the alternate entrances. I had my little encounter with the CM at Space Ranger over this - I was showing her the side that Guest Services had stamped for us, and she just turned the card over and said, "See, it says right here... company policy..." So, in effect, they have not made it better for those of us who need to use alternate entrances for serious psych/developmental issues...

It also states that, in the case of attractions with Fastpass, we are to use the FastPass system. We only had time and energy to do a few rides each of the days we were at the MK, so my experience is limited to MK, but at both Splash Mountain and Space Ranger Spin, the first greeter at each attraction gave us the wrong information about how to proceed... one sent us straight to the alternate entrance without a FastPass ticket (we got yelled at), the other just told us to go through the Fastpass line when our ticket time came and somebody would pull us out before the stairs -- it didn't happen. /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

[SueM in MN]

i think they've got a lot of bugs to work out. We couldn't use FastPass for any of the real popular rides because by the time we got to the parks with our dd, all that was left was late times (like 9pm one day for Test Track) and we had no idea how late she would last. Getting a severly physically disabled person who is real stiff in the morning up early is not easy and when we did it, she paid for it by being almost non-functional.
We didn't have a fast pass for Test Track, but were able to use our SAP (GAC) to get into the fast pass line for Test Track with no problem.
When we tried to use our pass at Buzz Lightyear Space Spin, the CM told us that wheelchairs wait in line because "wheeelchairs don't have mainstream access at this ride" and our pass said we could use alternate entrances for those attractions where wheelchairs have mainstream access. At that point, my dd batted her big brown eyes at him even and smiled though she could barely hold her head up. I asked him if he thought she could wait for 45 minuted in the heat in that line and he then took us in to the point where wheelchairs are pulled out of line. We still ended up waiting about 1/2 hour.
At Splash mountain, they made us use the Fast Pass entrance and were not too happy that they couldn't make her wheelchair go up the stairs. When we got to the boarding area, we still had to wait about 20 minutes there because of the number of other people with disabilities who were already on the ride.

SueM in MN
Co-Moderator of disABILITIES (http://wdwinfo.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?q=Y&a=frm&s=40009993&f=38009194)
http://disneyclipart.simplenet.com/Movies/Cinderella/Cinderella/cinderella08.gif

[teri]

You have been given authorization by Guest Services to use the alternate entrances, period. But if an attraction does not have mainstream access, a person who would otherwise use the alternate entrance if it did have mainstream access suddenly cannot use the alternate entrance because...

Huh???

Does that make sense to anybody? I am seriously confused.... well not me, actually. They are still treating this as a mobility issue, they are confused.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea or panics, I should say that these 2 places were the only places that the GAC didn't seem to work for us the way it was supposed to work - at all other places we used it, if accomodations were available for us to use the CMs were extremely pleasant and helpful to us.

[This message was edited by teri on 07-10-00 at 11:08 PM.]

[teri]

bump, a good one about GAC and Fastpass problems... :)