The GAC (Guest Assistance Card) is not meant to (and usually won't) shorten or eliminate your wait in line. Sometimes (especially if it is busy or lots of people with special needs are waiting), your wait may even be longer with a GAC. What it can do for someone with "line issues" is provide a more appropriate place to wait, such as a place away from the crowd, or out of the sun, or something else that meets the needs of the person with a disability. That may not or may not be very helpful in your situation because she'd just be getting anxious in another place (but at least she would not be in line).
What I would suggest you do is go to Guest Services in one of the parks (with your daughter) and discuss your concerns with the CM. They will be able to help you with appropriate accomidations.
Some other things to think about:
- part of your trip is during one of WDW's busiest times (between 12/24 and 1/31). You will the shortest waits and least crowds during the earlier parts of your trip, so if possible, it would be best to go on the rides that will cause the most anxiety early in your trip. More crowds in general make the parks more stressful.
- use Fastpass. It's free and available to everyone. You can send one member of your party to the ride you want to go on with all your park tickets. They insert the tickets into the Fastpass machine and a Fastpass pops out for each ticket with a time to return time printed on it. When you return to use your fastpass, you will get on with a minimal wait (less than 15 minutes). If it would help her to deal with her anxiety, you don't even have to tell her what the fastpass return time is - just go there when it's time.
- Using Fastpass actually might give you more control than having a GAC - if it's busy when you arrive at a ride with your GAC, the CM might give you a return time to come back. Exactly how the GAC is handled at a ride depends somewhat on how busy it is and how many special needs people are already waiting for the attraction (the special needs waiting area may be full, even though the ride line itself isn't). So, you won't know what will happen with a GAC sometimes until you use it. You will always know what will happen with a Fastpass.
- Getting to the park early in the morning makes a LOT of difference. There are things you can get on with almost no wait if you are at the parks early. Those same lines might have a standby wait of over an hour later in the day. This is true even during busy times. My DH and I were at WDW this July early one morning and were able to go on all the Fantasyland rides we wanted to (I don't do circles, so we skipped Caroussel, Dumbo and the Teacups), plus Haunted Mansion and Pirates by 11 am, without using fastpass or hurrying. He also went at opening on morning in March with my oldest DD, neice and nephew and they were able to go on Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, BTRR and a lot of the Fantasyland rides before noon (they did use fastpass for some).
- If you think it would help her to see things about some of the attractions she's anxious about, there are sites in the internet where people have actually downloaded ride video.
- Also, it might help her to know that other people who don't have anxiety disorders also sometimes back out at the last minute. That's why they have "chicken" exits for all the wild or scary rides. My oldest DD (who doesn't have an anxiety disorder) does not like certain rides and won't go on them, and a lot of people have rides like that. So your DD is not alone. It might be very helpful for her to know that there is an "out" before boarding for each ride. Once in line, she is not "trapped" there and she can always make a decision not to ride once she gets further in.
Good luck and have a great trip.
