My family was at WDW from April 14 thru May 1, 2024
We already saw changes regarding 'filling in space'. We never heard 'fill all the available space'.
We did hear:
- keep moving with the line
- move forward in the room
- please move up
- and directions to where to go (i.e. "there's still room on the right side of the room")
Sorry - this will be long, but I want to be specific.....
At Haunted Mansion, it seemed like less people were grouped together to enter the building. We were traveling with a guest using a wheelchair. When we got into the area just before entering the building, we were directed to stay to the right, along with all guests with mobility devices and a guy with a white cane; not sure if it was all white (usually designates blind) or white with red tip (usually designates low vision).
As we entered the building into the aging portrait room, we were told to stay to the right and wait for a CM before entering or leaving the stretching room.
After all the other guests had entered, our group of guests with disabilities was brought into the stretching room by a CM shining a flashlight to show us where to go. The CM led the guy with the cane.
In the past, the CM would have said something like 'move to the DEAD center of the room to fill all available space'. This time, the CM said "move away from the walls toward the center of the room"
As guests were entering into the loading area, the guests with disabilities were asked to stay together in the room. After they had all left, we were asked to form a sideways line to get instructions from the CM.
I noticed 2 things right away about the boarding room compared to when we rode last Fall:
- the boarding room seemed to not be as dark
- right in front of us, there was a straight chained off area that led right to the start of the moving walkway.
The CM asked some questions one at a time and asked each group to raise their hands if it was an issue for them. My memory of the questions is:
- can you walk this far to board (pointing at the extra chained off area)?
- can you board and get off using a moving walkway?
- can you walk from the unload area to your mobility device (I think he gave a distance)?
All the other guests had no issues, so they were instructed to board and told where to find their device after riding.
We had an issue with everything since DD can't walk, so we were led to the unload area to board. That worked as it had before.
When we got off, we noticed a group with 2
ECVs waiting at the exit to board. They must have had an issue with one or more of the questions