How do you stay togeather as a Large Group?

[Mike Bartenhagen]

This will be our third trip to WDW with our Special Needs son Broc. We will be traveling with my sister and her family and grandma and grandpa so a total of 12 people. Broc is 6 and functions at about 12 months, has a wheelchair but can walk but not well and not very far. As many of you know a lot of the fun of going to WDW is to ride togeather as a group. My girls enjoy riding with their cousins and their brother. We are going in two weeks and our experience with October is that crowds are light and lines are short. I don't recall the exact number but I think the GAC is good for Broc and 5 more. My experience from the last few trips is that many times they will let our entire group go togeather but I don't recall if they always let us do that as it has been 2 years since we traveled.

How does everyone else handle the same situation? Do you split up, just take the wheelchair through the normal line (it is the stroller type chair), or something different?

Mike

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Hi Mike and welcome back.

Almost all lines are mainstreamed, so as long as you have the Stroller As Wheelchair tag you will be able to keep the entire group together for most attractions.

You are correct that normally for alternate entrances it is the individual plus up to five additional people. Allowing more than five will depend on the crowds, the CMs at the attraction, and I think the phase of the moon. In other words, try to have alternate plans and just be happy if this is allowed.

 

[Mike Bartenhagen]

Thanks CF,

I guess we should probably still get the GAC for Broc's chair? It is a Convaid wheelchair but can be mistaken for a stroller.

Mike

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks CF,

I guess we should probably still get the GAC for Broc's chair? It is a Convaid wheelchair but can be mistaken for a stroller.

Mike

Yes.
With the way special needs strollers/child wheelchairs look now, they are designed to look more like strollers. That makes it harder to tell from a 'regular stroller'.
Whether they give you a GAC that says "use stroller as a wheelchair" or give you a sticker, that will make sure the CMs can understand what it is.

Besides what Cheshire Figment wrote, there are some attractions where more than 5 won't fit along with the person using the wheelchair. Even when we have had a party of 6 total, there are times where you will be able to wait together in line, but then will need to split into maybe a party of 2, plus a party of 6. That's especially true of shows, where there is often one companion seat and the rest of the party will sit in front (or anywhere else in the theater they want).

We have traveled with a party as large as 12. My suggestions are to not try to stay together all the time; trying to keep everyone together is very difficult - I said it was like herding cats.
I'd suggest you all go to the same park on the same day, but split into smaller groups; change the groups so different people are together at different times. That also led to some fun 'sightings' when we ran across the other groups from our party. It also led to a lot more conversations in the evening when we got back together. There was a lot less to talk about on the days when we were all together than there was on the days we stayed together.
If you do elect to have some times together, I'd suggest making sure everyone has a map and understands the plan for the day. Have one person who knows the park well lead the group. Another person who knows the park should be in the rear to 'wrangle the slower'.
For those attractions where we wanted to stay together, we also sent one of our members ahead to get Fastpasses. That really helped because it gave us a time and place to meet up again later.
Also a touring plan or something like TourGuide Mike will help you avoid the busiest places. That will make your waits shorter, but also makes it easier to stay together when moving from place to place.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

As a former attractions CM, be ready to split up if you have to use an alternate entrance or you need an accessible vehicle that allows him to stay in his chair. Alternate entrances are only designed to take six at a time. It takes longer to load people from alternate entrances, and not every family in the Standby line is understanding. It's hard for families who have waited an hour or more to see you get loaded ahead of them. Many alternate entrances will get you loaded quicker than standby, and they can see that and can be pretty nasty about it. Limiting the number helps to keep the peace, helps to lower the chances of abuse of the GAC, and also helps us to keep our numbers up because we can stagger the alternate entrance guests with the stand by guests.

At many rides it is also just difficult for the CMs to load the alternate entrance. For instance, at Snow White we have no grouper. When you come in the alternate entrance, I have to leave my unload panel to come get you. This means that I have to let you in during the time that the car is parked at the unload zone and the guests are getting out. I have a limited amount of time to unhook the chain and get you into place. I then have to contend with the Standby people who might want to cut in front or don't understand, close the chain, and take the chair to where it belongs. If I am not quick enough, the ride may back up to the point it stops, and then we have to power down the attraction and power it back up. At the very least it will back up a little bit. Then when your car gets to you, it's probably going to take time to transfer your son, so if we didn't back up to the point of stopping the attraction when we got you onto the platform, we probably will when you load your son. People who have been working the attraction awhile are normally pretty good at it, but if you have somebody who is new to the attraction or only works once in a blue moon, it's very difficult.

I tell you this not to try to make you (or anybody else with a disability) feel bad, but to show you the other side of it and why we limit the number of guests in the alternate entrance. With all that, I normally let large groups on within reason. Really, the thing that almost always swayed me was the groups who were polite and understanding about it. I would let them on "just this one time." If I try to explain the rules to you and you yell at me or become rude, then I will put my foot down. The other thing it would depend on was how the attraction was running that day. If we had a long wait and the attraction was loading and unloading slowly, then I am less likely to because it is going to cause more problems. So, it never hurts to try, but be aware that the decision on the part of the CM is a judgment call, and there are many things that factor into that decision, most of which will not be obvious to you as the guest.

Like others have said, have contingency plan. If they hold you to the six people (5 + Broc) know in advance what you are going to do. Are you going to send the other six thorugh the line, go through the alternate entrance twic with Broc, or have half the group skip the attraction? Also, most families will split up for at least part of the day. I'm sure there will be members of your group who will wnt to ride attractions that Broc can either not go on (such as roller coasters) or you have no interest in. This would be a great time to go those attractions that utilize alternate entrances. Finally, make sure that you get the GAC. Seasoned CMs are very good at recognizing strollers that function as wheelchairs, but newer ones haven't developed that skill yet. It will save you a lot of headaches. Also, make sure you get the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities as it will tell you which attractions utilize alternate entrances and will allow you to plan out your day.

 

[blondietink]

Personally, I would just try and meet up for a couple of specific things during the day, like parade, fireworks, dinner, etc. I think trying to keep 12 people all together for rides and getting from one place to another is asking for trouble. JMHO

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I saw on another thread that one ride you specifically want to ride together is Peter Pan. Peter Pan was a ride I used to work, and I'm going to let you know that you will have about a snowball's chance in Hades of staying together on that ride.

Let me explain: Peter Pan is the longest wait in the entire park. We tell guests in standby how long the wait is, but they cannot see the majority of the line as it loops down to Liberty Square and back. They don't believe us, get in a long hot line, and then get very cranky when they get to the merge point. Both the fastpass and standby lines also back up like none other for no apparent reason. Now here's the kicker: the two lines meet head to head and the merge person stands in the middle. I have never been abused by guests at a job like I was at Peter Pan. I've even had friends leave Merge Point in tears. Fastpass is upset because they're waiting more than five minutes, standby is upset because they are watching all of these people go ahead of them after they've been waiting for what feels like forever. It's also one of the hardest rides for guests with disabilities to board because we are not able to stop the moving belt on that ride due to the age of the ride and the abruptness of the stop. We are pretty much adament about the limits on the GAC when it is used at that ride.

Your best bet for Peter Pan is to get Fastpasses. It should even out pretty well. Some people will go in the alternate entrance, others will use the Fastpass line and you will be on at roughly the same time. The other thing to consider is that each ship seats 2, three if there is a small child involved. Once you're actually on the ride, you're not going to even notice if the rest of your party is in the boats directly ahead of or behind you.