Thanks for clearing it up. I know that in the podcast Corey mentioned something about fastpasses and not just getting in with the GAC. Since I've never needed a GAC, I'm not aware how they work. The main point (and I think you've done a great job of adding facts) that I wanted to get across for those who hadn't listened was that Corey wasn't saying anything about who or who should not use them.
You're welcome.
I think there are probably 2 things WDW will be cracking down on (just my guesses).
1) No longer allowing more than 6 people total to use whatever accommodations are listed on the GAC. I think (but, don't know), that in some cases people were able to intimidate attraction CMs into letting more people in than the number listed on their GAC. (Or, CMs in Guest Relations were intimidated into writing a much larger number. OR guests altered the number after it was written).
2) No longer allowing CMs to be intimidated into giving accommodations that are not listed on the card. I have actually seen/heard someone arguing with a CM because they wanted to use the Fastpass Line - it was evening and their GAC allowed for a wait out of the sun when the queue was in the sun for extended periods of time. The person was really loud and the CM just kept saying, "Sir, the sun is not even out."
One of the myths (besides the myth that there are wheelchair entrances where people using wheelchairs get in without waiting) is that having a GAC allows people to use the Fastpass line.
The thing people don't understand is that a GACs are not passes. They are just tools that help to tell the CM what kinds of accommodations the person with the card needs. In most cases, people just need small accommodations and only a very few need any kind of expedited access.
I know in the past, the CMs giving out GACs in Guest Relations actually explained how to use it; letting people know that not every accommodation is available at every attraction, advising people to get Fastpasses to avoid waits in line, letting them know that the GAC was not meant to shorten or eliminate waits in line, advising people to look at the Standby line and that using it might meet their needs. They also gave out a Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities and pointed out that it lists how to access attractions/where the handicapped entrance is (in most cases, it says "Obtain a Fastpass or use the Stand-by queue").
I hope they start doing those things again.
I also hope that CMs explain to guests when they are doing something that is not 'standard'. For example, last October we were going to enter the Standby Line for Buzz Lightyear with DD in her wheelchair. The Standby Line was only a 5 minute wait, but the CM stopped us and sent us to the Fastpass Line. The CM there made a handwritten Fastpass and told us to give it to the CM collecting them. She did not say anything that would indicate to us that this was not the 'normal' way to get in with a wheelchair.
Because we have been to WDW so many times, I knew why they had done it that way though - since the Standby wait was so short and the Standby line is more curvy than the Fastpass line, if we went in the Standby line, we would actually be slowing the passage of guests moving thru that line. Putting us thru the Fastpass line in this case would not really put us on any faster (especially since we had to wait for a wheelchair accessible ride car). We happened to have a wheelchair, but the same thing can happen with a GAC - because it's better for 'traffic flow' or how the attraction is right then, the CM may do something 'non-standard'. (That doesn't mean it's wrong, just that it is not the usual, day to day way that access is handled).
The problem comes when people who don't know think this is 'normal' and think that they should be using every Fastpass line. Some of them just present themselves at the Fastpass line and expect to get in. Some are very vocal about it and get abusive with the CM. Some have come to the disABILITIES Board in the past and explained that the CM was 'wrong' because they would not let them in the way that the other CM did.
That's something else I hope that WDW addresses.
