FAST PASS LINE?

[SandraC]

HI, in 1998 our daughter was grant a wish thru MAKE A WISH to visit WDW. It was magical! She received a GAP which allowed her to enter the exits to just about everything. She is allowed on most rides even with medical condition. Here's my question. Assuming she gets another GAP during next visit in April, will she be in the same line as this FASS PASS that I read about? Would she go to the front of the FASS PASS line? Thanks!

SandraC, visit our Disney family web site www.angelfire.com/on/disneyfun
º0º
1975 - off site (11 years old),
1977 - off site (13 years old),
1987 - Indian Rock Shores (23 years old with hubby, b/f at the time),
1990 - Holiday Inn International Drive/Daytona Beach (26 years old, with hubby, six month after wedding),
1998 - KIDS VILLAGE, GIVE KIDS THE WORLD, Make-a-Wish trip with 4.5 year old daughter born ill),
2001 - CBR - ON SITE FIRST TIME! YIPPY! With dd 7 years old, ds 15 mo

 

[teri]

It depends on the ride whether or not they ask her to go through the FastPass and whether she must wait until the ticketed time, and no, she will not go to the front. many of the attractions have been mainstreamed, and people in wheelchairs, or using stroller as wheelchairs, can stay in the regular line. Only if person has a medical condition for which being in the line would be hazardous to their physical or psychological health do they allow people to use the alternative entrances in case of mainstream lines. But most of the time, you will find that the CMs are very accomodating and helpful.

"My brain takes a vacation just to give my heart more room..."
teri@iluvdisney.com

 

[SueM in MN]

We were at WDW twice last year in March and Sept with my dd who has multiple handicaps and uses a wheelchair. Most lines have been changed so that wheelchairs wait in line with everyone else (the Mainstream lines that teri mentioned).
Because waiting in line is very difficult for my dd, she had a GAC which allowed her to "use an alternate entrance when the wheelchair access is mainstream". We were told that we needed to use fastpass whenever possible and that this card would not necessarily shorten our wait; we would just not be waiting in line with everyone else. You should be able to use fastpass with no problem just like everyone else does. When you come back for your fastpass return time, you will have a minimal wait - usually only about 10-15 minutes. When we went in September, there were many rides where people were just getting on as fast as they could walk on. If you are going at a slow time, you may not need any special treatment at all.
We had a few cases where we went on fastpass lines without having a fastpass ticket. Because of my dd's problems, there are some rides where we could not get to the park early enough in the day to get a fastpass - we hurried to the ride, but they were all given out for the day. At those rides, we showed out GAC to the CM. On one, he wrote us out a sort of fastpass ticket and told us to come back in 1/2 hour. On Splash Mountain, we were allowed to just join the fastpass line (not go to the front of it). At each point where there was a CM, we were asked for our GAC and there were comments made each time that we really should have gotten a fastpass.

SueM in MN
Co-Moderator of disABILITIES

 

[JudithM]

On our last trip (November/December) I was told by cast members that I could not use the fastpass line even though it would have helped. I had a Guest Assistance Pass. I think I have to rethink my description of what would help before my next trip .

 

[SueM in MN]

JudithM, what did your Guest Assistance card say?
Here's some basic info about Guest Assistance Cards. They completely revamped the system sometime between March and September of last year and might still be working the bugs out.
The basic card (at least in September 2000) were printed with a message that you are expected to use fastpass whenever possible - meaning that you would get a fastpass and use it the same way everyone else does. Some of the fastpass lines even had a wheelchair accessible fastpass line (Buzz Lightyear). Also printed on the card is a message that says the card does not allow immedicate access to any rides and that your wait, in fact might be longer if you need a wheelchair ride car.
The basic cards all are the same, but different i nstructions are stamped on depending on the needs of the person getting the card. I am aware of 4 different messages; there may be more.
1) Allows a stroller to be used as a wheelchair. ECVs and wheelchairs can be taken into any building
or line without h aving any pass or card. This allows strollers to use the same entrances. (There are a few lines where ecvs are not allowed on; a manual wheelchair is provided which you can transfer to).

2) Allows a waiting spot shaded from the sun if the line is "in the sun for an excessive amount of time." Most of the lines have the largest part of the line inside a building or under a roof or shade. One CM posted on the board that some of the outdoor lines are even airconditioned to avoid getting too hot.

3) Allows an alternate waiting area for people who can't wait in line. EDIT: THERE ARE SORT OF 2 VARIATIONS ON THIS CARD: ONE ALLOWS PEOPLE WITHOUT WHEELCHAIRS TO USE THE WHEELCHAIR ENTRANCE. THE OTHER CARD ALLOWS A PERSON TO USE AN ALTERNATE ENTRANCE IN CASES WHERE WHEELCHAIR ACCESS IS MAINSTREAM. This is the one that teri mentioned and is used for situations where it would be physically or psychologically dangerous for that person to wait in line. With THE SECOND VARIATION OF this card, the CMs might allow use of the fastpass line without a fastpass. The basic message stamped on the card did say you were expected to use the fastpass line.

4) Kids at WDW thru the Make A Wish or similar organizations. This card allows "front of line" accessbecause these kids are very fragile and have a life threatening condition. These cards are arrange thru WDW and Make a Wish or Give Kids the World as part of their visit.

SueM in MN
Co-Moderator of disABILITIES

[This message was edited by SueM in MN on 01-21-01 at 11:30 PM.]

 

[JudithM]

SueM, I just found my Guest Assistance Card from our last trip. It is stamped "Please provide a shaded wait area, if available at the attraction." The cast member wrote in "Allow guest a comfortable wait area while remainder of party uses stand by line." Just curious ... Where did you learn that "with this card, the CMs might allow use of the fastpass line without a fastpass ?"

My problem is related to a recently diagnosed knee condition. I am not supposed to do stairs or bend my knees 90 degrees (like one does when sitting). What I had hoped for sometimes was to be able to walk through the fastpass line & wait while my husband went through the regular line. The stop & go & sometimes continual curves in the line line bothered my knee. Well, this was not an option according to most cast members.

I rented an ECV in each park. For example at Star Tours & Rock'n Roller Coaster the cast members wanted me to get in a wheelchair. For one, I could not sit with knees bended to do that plus it isn't fair to my husband or anyone else to have to push me UP the ramps. The ONLY time I found a cast member willing to "work" with me was another time I tried Rock 'n Roller Coaster. As the line winded around, the cast member let me stand near him until my husband continued through the line. Then I continued with my husband to the entrance.

Maybe next time I'll have better luck expressing what I actually need . Thanks for listening/reading!

 

[Michigan]

Even though you don't need a GAP if you use a wheelchair and both of my girls do the oldest one has no sweat glands so I requested one. The one she was given says "Please allow this party to utilize the entrance for guests with disabilities. In case of mainstream access allow party to use an alternate entrance"

After we got a fast pass for buzz I noticed someone walk in the fast pass line without the fast pass by just showing the GAP so after that we did the same thing. A CM told me that each park has it's own policy as far as actually getting a fast pass or just using the line with your GAP.

I don't care what anyone says the one place where you should always go to the front of the line is in Animal Kingdom on the safari it just doesn't make sense to have to wait an additional hour which is what do when we were there the last time. Now the split off for the wheelchair access is at the end of the mainstream line.

I will have to say that this last trip I heard more people say "I really don't need this ECV but - the excuss went from everything from this way we can sit in line to we will get to see more this way because we can move faster then if we walk. There were several couples that used them so we ended up just driving most of the time to the parks once we were behind 8 ECV's waiting for the bus. One couple at our hotel left their rented ECV's outside their door all night. For those of you that have a wheelchair for your lifeline can you imagine just leaving it outside for anyone to take? I can't!

 

[SueM in MN]

For Michigan, my dd's wheelchair is part of her body. She won't even go in a toilet stall unless the whole wheelchair fits totally inside! Obviously a little extra room in their hotel room was more important to those people than the ecv. The rest of us arrange our hotel room around the wheelchair. Fess up, how many of us have moved furniture around the room so the wheelchair will fit better?
I also agree with you on the Safari. That has a ridiculously long wait for people in wheelchairs, especially if you must stay in the wheelchair. The SHORTEST amount of time we have ever waited there was 1/2 hour MORE than the able bodied people who were just ahead of us in line. It's especially hard to wait for the wheelchair tram when you can see regular trams leaving without being full because people are not getting there fast enough to fill up and leave on schedule.
For Judith M, make sure to tell them next time that you can't do stairs. There are some lines that have stairs (like Splash Mountain); you should be allowed to bypass that part of the line. We have not been on RockNRC, but that may be one of the lines where they can't transfer an ecv from the entrance to the exit, so they make you switch to a folding wheelchair. There are a few rides like that.
As for using the fastpass line without having a fastpass, we asked the CM in Guest Services about it because we can't get our dd ready quickly in the morning; we usually get to the parks about 11am or do. Our card said that we were expected to use Fastpass as much as possibel and we asked what happened if we could not get to the park before all the fastpass cards were given out. We were told that with the message we had on our card ("allow alternate access where wheelchair line is mainstream"), a CM could use discretion and allow us to use the fastpass line without having a fastpass.
When we presented our card at TestTrack, a CM wrote us out a card, told us to come back later and use the fastpass line (it was the same amount of time the fastpass was showing). We returned about 10 minutes before our time and saw 2 other wheelchair groups. One was sent to the fastpass machine to get a fastpass. The other party was right in front of us, so we could see they did not have a fastpass or a GAC. They were allowed to get right into the fastpass line ahead of us. So, you can see it is not always consistent. p

SueM in MN
Co-Moderator of disABILITIES

 

[JudithM]

SueM, thanks for your continual information. I learn more & more each day from this board! It was this board & everyone's discussions that encouraged me to contact my doctor about a handicapped parking permit (which I got before our last trip to WDW) & to rent an ECV at WDW. The ECV saved my knees a lot.

For all my discussion about my problems, concerns, etc., I have to say that the cast members at the shows at the Studios were wonderful! I couldn't have asked for better Guest Service at Beauty & the Beast, Hunchback, Indiana Jones & Fantasmic.

Aslo, Michigan, thanks for posting what your GAC said. I copied it down & will take it on my next trip to WDW. Thank you