GAC and fast pass

[jekjones1558]

DH is in a scooter and we also get a GAC card for other health issues. During our last trip we got fast passes for TSM and waited around the park until it was time to use them only to discover that we had lost one of them. I decided to plead mercy at the entrance and the CM said that we did not need a fast pass for DH because of GAC card. Is that true? If so I would not waste a fast pass for TSM, since they always run out. TIA.

 

[Mary976]

Our experience at Toy Story with a GAC was that they handled it differently each time. If you really really want to ride and/or your going to be in the Studios for only a short time (so not all day), my advise would be to still get the Fastpass.

Mary

 

[buffettgirl]

isn't the majority of the line at TSM scooter friendly?

 

[clanmcculloch]

isn't the majority of the line at TSM scooter friendly?

OP stated that they get a GAC for other health reasons. A mobility device does not cover all of their needs so they get a GAC. Accomodations really do depend upon the particular need.

 

[SueM in MN]

isn't the majority of the line at TSM scooter friendly?

Both the regular and the Fastpass Lines are wheelchair and ECV accessible until the point where you pick up the 3D glasses. That is also the point where Fastpass and regular queue merge. Depending on the ECV, some may be more challenging to go thru the regular queue with (thinking of some of the very wide or long ones).
At the glasses pick up point, there is a stairway up and down to cross over the track in the regular line. Guests with mobility disabilities or who can’t do stairs are routed to the ramped area to the right of the stairs. Guests with visible needs to avoid stairs (ECV, wheelchair, walker, rollator, crutches, etc.) will be routed to the ramped area automatically, without needing a GAC (Guest Assistance Card).

There is no guarantee of how a Guest Assistance Card is going to be handled at an attraction and not all GACs are handled the same way. This can be true, even at the same attraction on the same day.
How it is handled depends on the needs of the person, what is happening at the attraction at that time, along with what is available at the attraction.

 

[seashoreCM]

we had lost one of them (fastpasses) . I decided to plead mercy at the entrance and the CM said that we did not need a fast pass for DH because of GAC card. Is that true? .

No, that is false. Very.

A very small number of Guest Assistance Cards may be stamped to allow expedited ride entrance depending on specific guests, and a small number of rides have handicapped entrances laid out differently, but in general a GAC is not intended to reduce waiting time.

However "short order cook*" is not one of the skills needed to man the handicapped entrance. CM's will often misjudge how long someone (perhaps in a wheelchair) was waiting there and in the vast majority of misjudgments the guest gets admitted sooner than s/he would think.

* You know, with several eggs lined sunny side up on the grill, each put there at a different time and he isn't supposed to let any get overdone.

 

[SueM in MN]

No, that is false. Very.

A very small number of Guest Assistance Cards may be stamped to allow expedited ride entrance depending on specific guests, and a small number of rides have handicapped entrances laid out differently, but in general a GAC is not intended to reduce waiting time.

However "short order cook*" is not one of the skills needed to man the handicapped entrance. CM's will often misjudge how long someone (perhaps in a wheelchair) was waiting there and in the vast majority of misjudgments the guest gets admitted sooner than s/he would think.

* You know, with several eggs lined sunny side up on the grill, each put there at a different time and he isn't supposed to let any get overdone.

I don’t know how you came to that conclusion.
There are a number of attractions where we get pulled off with DD’s wheelchair just before boarding and in some cases can even see the boarding area.

We have also had situations where our group waited together in line, but part went to the accessible boarding area with DD and the rest went thru the rest of the regular line.

Whether they are part of our parties or strangers who were in line right ahead of us, almost always, those who went in the ‘regular’ way will be boarded before the guests in our party who were with the wheelchair.
Most of the time, the wait is almost the same. Very occasionally, the wait for the guest in the regular line will be a little longer.
But often, those in the regular line are even done with the attraction before the guests with wheelchairs have boarded.

 

[buffettgirl]

OP stated that they get a GAC for other health reasons. A mobility device does not cover all of their needs so they get a GAC. Accomodations really do depend upon the particular need.

Both the regular and the Fastpass Lines are wheelchair and ECV accessible until the point where you pick up the 3D glasses. That is also the point where Fastpass and regular queue merge. Depending on the ECV, some may be more challenging to go thru the regular queue with (thinking of some of the very wide or long ones).
At the glasses pick up point, there is a stairway up and down to cross over the track in the regular line. Guests with mobility disabilities or who can’t do stairs are routed to the ramped area to the right of the stairs. Guests with visible needs to avoid stairs (ECV, wheelchair, walker, rollator, crutches, etc.) will be routed to the ramped area automatically, without needing a GAC (Guest Assistance Card).

There is no guarantee of how a Guest Assistance Card is going to be handled at an attraction and not all GACs are handled the same way. This can be true, even at the same attraction on the same day.
How it is handled depends on the needs of the person, what is happening at the attraction at that time, along with what is available at the attraction.

sorry yes, my post was badly worded and too short leaving out the "goes without saying" part. That if a ECV arrived at TSM they'd be sent into the regular queue until the split, unless they had a GAC that stated something different which we don't know what that was since the OP didn't say.

I was thinking that it was a little dumb of the CM to equate the needs of the GAC with the FP unless the CM is just used to seeing GAC cards and immediately sending the user to the FP or alternate entrance line - I mean, the GAC could have said anything.

Unless I'm thinking of this all wrong at the moment, but I was just getting at that a GAC alone shouldn't be assumed to be a automatic entry to the FP lane.

 

[seashoreCM]

I don’t know how you came to that conclusion.
There are a number of attractions where we get pulled off with DD’s wheelchair just before boarding and in some cases can even see the boarding area.

From trip reports on The DIS.

Where there is an area for wheelchairs right off the main queue and some of those guests are loaded every time the handicapped car or boat comes around, there is no judgment call and thus whatever happens is not due to misjudgment.

Where guests with certain kinds of disabilities are told to wait in a particular area, say in the shade, and the CM has to estimate when to bring each one in based on his time of placement there and the length of the standby line off in the distance, then misjudgments can occur.