GAC / CM questions

[mommy1]

My family will be traveling for the first time to Disney with our two daughters. One is 9 and the other is 5. Our 5 year old has been diagnosed with Autism, Retts and Chromosome 15 issues. She is non verbal, can't walk well etc. etc etc. We plan on getting one of the GAC cards so she can stay in her stroller. My question though is where are the CM's at to notice this card before we enter the line? I have been told by others they have never noticed CM's or Disney employees at the entrances before so I am just worried that we will do something wrong like go in the wrong entrance or whatever. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Don't worry about "they never noticed"

With rare, momentary exceptions, there will be a Greeter - possibly even more than one - at the entrance to each attraction's queue. Show the GAC to the Greeter and they'll direct you.

 

[jmartinez1895]

They are great about helping out and you can always find someone at the entrance to help. Be sure to have your card in hand and ready to save some time. OT, but funny, on our last trip we got in line to see Ariel and showed our GAC to the CM to use our stroller as a wheelchair. A few minutes later the same CM came up and told us we can't have a stroller in line, we again showed him our card. Again a few more minutes later the same CM came back and told us no strollers in line and we had to show him our card AGAIN. By this point we were laughing so hard. ANyway, you will not have any trouble. It will also help if you get a guid for disabilities for each park where you go in, it will tell you wich rides have a different entrance for wheel chairs.

 

[SueM in MN]

You didn’t notice the CMs before because you had no reason to ‘see’ them, but I agree with the other posters, that you will find CMs when you need them.

Instead of or in addition to the GAC, they often also give you a sticker to put on the stroller - it’s sort of like an airline baggage claim sticker, but brightly colored. That helps a lot with the CMs being able to notice your stroller and see that it is supposed to be in line.

In the past year, WDW replaced the written booklet for guests with disabilities with a new map for guests with disabilities. The map is available at the entrance to each park, along with the other park maps. The ‘special map’ lists what to do to access each attraction - most lines are wheelchair accessible, but if there are any special instructions, they will be in the map. If you don’t see them at the park entrance, you can get one from Guest Relations at any park.

 

[jmartinez1895]

I'm happy to learn that they have a map now for people like us. I think we pretty much have the swings of things by now, but I can rember our first few trips trying to flip through the guide and find information. A map seems so much more practical.

 

[SueM in MN]

I'm happy to learn that they have a map now for people like us. I think we pretty much have the swings of things by now, but I can rember our first few trips trying to flip through the guide and find information. A map seems so much more practical.

The map is quite nice. The only complaint I would have is that the print on it is kind of small. Other than that, it's much nicer than the old booklet.

 

[sarahsmom73]

Hi Mommy

My almost 4 year old daughter was diagnosed with Rett in Sept 08. We made our 1st trip to Disney post diagnosis in April 09. We got the GAC to use our stroller as a wheel chair and had absolutley no problems. We are headed back at the end of March and plan to do the same. We have also been using her stroller as a wheelchair at airports and have had really good luck with that as well.