Disney World to change ride access program for disabled

[4kids4karen]

http://tbo.com/events/disney-world-to-change-ride-access-program-for-disabled-20130922/


I thought this may have been discussed but since it was all over the news yesterday and now FB, just thought I would share for those who were not already in the know.

 

[DisneyDetective]

I wonder if you have a disability you can go to the child swap?

 

[rickers353]

I wondered how long it would take with the scammers abusing it. I feel bad for the ones who really do have disabilities and their families.

 

[Schmeck]

I wonder if you have a disability you can go to the child swap?

If you have a child unable to ride, or an adult with disabilities that makes it unsafe to leave that adult alone, then rider swap is available, as it always has been.

No need to feel bad about those with disabilities getting access. They will be offered equal access to all attractions they are physically able to ride.

 

[Jrob369]

I'm kind of tired of seeing the physical disability description as the only thing discussed. It will dramatically affect families that include those with neurological disabilities, especially those that can't tolerate waiting extended periods of time. If the plan goes in as described, the family will be waiting for however long because you can only get 1 pass at a time.

 

[Gracie09]

I'm kind of tired of seeing the physical disability description as the only thing discussed. It will dramatically affect families that include those with neurological disabilities, especially those that can't tolerate waiting extended periods of time. If the plan goes in as described, the family will be waiting for however long because you can only get 1 pass at a time.

You can pull regular fp, use any fp+ you may have, go to shows or on other rides while waiting. It's not like you are stuck sitting next to the ride waiting.

 

[disneydentist]

I'm kind of tired of seeing the physical disability description as the only thing discussed. It will dramatically affect families that include those with neurological disabilities, especially those that can't tolerate waiting extended periods of time. If the plan goes in as described, the family will be waiting for however long because you can only get 1 pass at a time.

This has been pretty much beaten to death on other threads. The new system will grant equal access. That's what ADA is supposed to be about and what's fair to everyone. The key here is that the hypothetical family in question won't be waiting in line.

 

[Jrob369]

You can pull regular fp, use any fp+ you may have, go to shows or on other rides while waiting. It's not like you are stuck sitting next to the ride waiting.

This would be fine for most people, but there are kids and even adults that won't understand why you aren't doing their ride. They may also get overstimulated by wandering around with no purpose because you can't get a pass for another ride without arriving early enough to the park to get a fast pass which may not be an option.

You also make the assumption that fp and fp+ will be available together, which probably isn't going to be the case for long.

Then if we want to go back to talking about the physically disabled, they will have to trek around from kiosk to ride to kiosk. I hope the kiosks are right next to the rides because this may add to their mobility issue.

Also they seemed to have not factored in that the reason some families need the current system is because they have a much more limited window of availability to do things before a mental or physical breakdown, depending on the disability.

 

[Gracie09]

This would be fine for most people, but there are kids and even adults that won't understand why you aren't doing their ride. They may also get overstimulated by wandering around with no purpose because you can't get a pass for another ride without arriving early enough to the park to get a fast pass which may not be an option.

You also make the assumption that fp and fp+ will be available together, which probably isn't going to be the case for long.

Then if we want to go back to talking about the physically disabled, they will have to trek around from kiosk to ride to kiosk. I hope the kiosks are right next to the rides because this may add to their mobility issue.

Also they seemed to have not factored in that the reason some families need the current system is because they have a much more limited window of availability to do things before a mental or physical breakdown, depending on the disability.

So you take some time and plan before going. Your kid needs to ride peters pan first you fp+ Peter Pan first. It appears the kiosks will be throughout the park. If your kid sees splash mountain and needs to do it then, you go to a kiosk away from splash get a return time and only go over there when it's time for it to be ridden. There are a lot of families who only get a few hours in the parks for whatever reason. You do what you can do and then head to the hotel for down time. For years people have said we don't need immediate access we just can't wait in line. Here you go. You don't have to wait in line. But now the tune has changed to well when we said we didn't need immediate access we really meant that we did. This proposed program is better in many respects than ones at other parks.

 

[circus4u]

I wonder what impact this will have on the electric scooter rental businesses. Hope it reduces the amount of scooters in the parks and boarding the buses. Have seen a lot of scooters trying to get on buses where the people riding them don't seem to have much experience driving them and they finally just get off and let the bus driver maneuver them onto the bus.

 

[Gracie09]

Oh and you are making the assumption that regular fp is going away. Disney hasn't announced that it is and until tht happens I wouldn't make any assumptions tht it is going away

 

[theworldneedscolor]

This is how it worked when I was there in March for a good portion of the rides. And at California Adventure, since it was new and made better for people with disabilities, you could either get the pass or wait in a special line, which often took longer than the regular line. There was no skipping the line or going through the exit. That only happened at a few Fantasyland rides, because of the way the queue was designed, and even then, the wait was not very short. So the "fastpass" was by far the way to go! It worked out really well for us.

 

[hsmamainva]

My youngest has autism and we always pick up a GAC card for her during each visit. We've only had to use it a handful of times, but we feel better having one with us just in case.

NEVER have we expected "front of the line" access .. nor have we received it.

It irks me that the first line in the article reads, "People with disabilities will no longer go straight to the front of the line". The only ones that SHOULD be going to the front of the lines are children on Make a Wish trips. Period.

If the CMs had universally followed this rule, there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place.

 

[Hyonlyf]

For years people have said we don't need immediate access we just can't wait in line. Here you go. You don't have to wait in line. But now the tune has changed to well when we said we didn't need immediate access we really meant that we did. This proposed program is better in many respects than ones at other parks.

Exactly. This revised program is equal access, not better access.

 

[Jrob369]

So you take some time and plan before going. Your kid needs to ride peters pan first you fp+ Peter Pan first. It appears the kiosks will be throughout the park. If your kid sees splash mountain and needs to do it then, you go to a kiosk away from splash get a return time and only go over there when it's time for it to be ridden. There are a lot of families who only get a few hours in the parks for whatever reason. You do what you can do and then head to the hotel for down time. For years people have said we don't need immediate access we just can't wait in line. Here you go. You don't have to wait in line. But now the tune has changed to well when we said we didn't need immediate access we really meant that we did. This proposed program is better in many respects than ones at other parks.

"I" never said anything about immediate access. I just think they should include expedited access as a reasonable modification to their policy. If they considered the old system as a reasonable modification, the very least they should do is allow for 2-3 kiosk passes at a time so you that there could be small scale planning of what to do next while waiting. For some this would work for others it still may not be enough to be able to go to Disney. As it is, I see lots of families with disabled children and adults hovering nearby the ride they are waiting on. They won't be able to leave the immediate vicinity unless it is to go to the hotel and give up because it would cause a meltdown.

 

[bellebud]

This would be fine for most people, but there are kids and even adults that won't understand why you aren't doing their ride. They may also get overstimulated by wandering around with no purpose because you can't get a pass for another ride without arriving early enough to the park to get a fast pass which may not be an option.

You also make the assumption that fp and fp+ will be available together, which probably isn't going to be the case for long.

Then if we want to go back to talking about the physically disabled, they will have to trek around from kiosk to ride to kiosk. I hope the kiosks are right next to the rides because this may add to their mobility issue.

Also they seemed to have not factored in that the reason some families need the current system is because they have a much more limited window of availability to do things before a mental or physical breakdown, depending on the disability.

why would they have to go from kiosk to kiosk? Why can't they make their FP+ on-line before they go??? then, they know right when they need to get to the park, exactly how much time between rides they have to kill, and can really plan much better than before this system.

There are always rides you can get on in between fastpass times... People Mover, Carousel of Progress, Small World, etc. Plan a meal (make a reservation or just know where you're going for food by looking at menu's beforehand). Plan to take child/adult into a certain store for a special souvenir while you're waiting.

I'm really not getting the downside.

 

[fajina]

I wonder what impact this will have on the electric scooter rental businesses. Hope it reduces the amount of scooters in the parks and boarding the buses. Have seen a lot of scooters trying to get on buses where the people riding them don't seem to have much experience driving them and they finally just get off and let the bus driver maneuver them onto the bus.

LOL. My thoughts exactly!! We have a truly disabled child in a wheelchair and it made us sick to our stomachs seeing the abuse of the system by those renting wheelchairs and scooters to fake a disability. Oh and to the Hispanic lady who rammed our child's wheelchair going full speed in her scooter and not apologizing, I hope you succumb to a real physical disability and learn to drive one of those things.

 

[1girln3boys]

I'm kind of tired of seeing the physical disability description as the only thing discussed. It will dramatically affect families that include those with neurological disabilities, especially those that can't tolerate waiting extended periods of time. If the plan goes in as described, the family will be waiting for however long because you can only get 1 pass at a time.

I have a son with a neurological disorder. He is very impatient and has a hard time standing in line both physically and mentally. When we go out to eat he often get impatient waiting for food. When I cook he will ask me "is it going to take a thousand years". Yes this may be hard for him but we will just adjust how we do Disney. At least he won't have to stand in a long line and wait we will be able to distract him with other things still it's our time.

 

[photo_chick]

I'm kind of tired of seeing the physical disability description as the only thing discussed. It will dramatically affect families that include those with neurological disabilities, especially those that can't tolerate waiting extended periods of time. If the plan goes in as described, the family will be waiting for however long because you can only get 1 pass at a time.

I'm a parent of a kid with ADHD and Aspergers who can't tolerate a long wait in line. Personally I'm glad they're changing the system. It's far too easy to abuse right now. FP's and good planning can go a long way to making sure you ride what you want while avoiding long waits in lines.

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

For so many years the ppl using a GAC claimed it NOT TO BE a front of the line pass when in fact yes it actually was used as an unlimited fastpass. We all know exactly how it worked.

But most of those ppl actually claimed that they didn't get front of the line and in some cases it made their wait even longer. If your kid is Autistic and you got an Alternate Entry stamp then it did in fact act as an unlimited fastpass for you.

That is never what the GAC was meant to be but that is what it became. And the more and more able bodied ppl realized these GAC's were being used as unlimited fastpasses they decided WHAT THE HECK let me get one too. Now the sheer number of ppl using a GAC is overwhelming the lines and wait times.

If you claim it never shortened your wait then what is the problem now? It will not shorten your wait much. You will get a return time for whatever the standby line wait time is MINUS 15 MINUTES. So you will still be getting on it quicker than the ppl in the standby line.

And when most of you claimed you didn't mind waiting you just needed an alternate entrance. Well now you can still use the alternate entrance. You just have to wait to do it. And you can wait any place you like. You can still use regular fastpasses when non-disabled ppl can only use regular fastpasses. So you still have an advantage over able bodied ppl.

The ADA doesn't mean Disney has to offer you an experience with no waits or shortened waits. It just needs to do it's best to provide you with EQUAL ACCESS to the rides such as able bodied ppl get. And that is EXACTLY what this new system is doing. It is making the playing field level. Nobody gets front of the line access unless you have a M.A.W kid. And that is how it should be.