I need some help understanding this?

[Scraper]

Honestly, though, I've seen groups of people negotiating about who was going to sit in a wheelchair that day. I don't begrudge people who have a handicap, visible OR invisible, but there ARE plenty of people who abuse the system at WDW.

Maybe that was my group you seen. My MIL has cancer she gets short of breath and some times is to ashamed to ride the chair so we pretend to want to ride it and fight for it when she says she is going to walk awhile. just to make her feel at ease. I would say one of the biggest mistakes is to asume. I think if you did not need a wheel chair you would not want one. I choose to asume that most people that have them need them and think god I don't.

 

[BlindTyldak]

I just wanted to add something to SueM's very insightful post. (thank you by the way).
Even for rides like the Jungle Cruise, that does not have mainstream acess (i.e. they have a separate wheelchair entrance toward the exit). It is vary rare, that a party with a wheelchair can come up to the ride be ushered directly to this entrance. In 90% of cases, the Cast Member will instruct the guests to either (a) get a fast pass and come back when the fast pass window opens, at which point they will be given access to the wheelchair que. or (B) The Cast Member can give the party a special ticket (sorta like a fast pass), that instructs them to come back in a certain amount of time (usually what ever the wait for the standby entrance is), at which point the wheelchair party will be directed to the wheelchair line.
Therefore, nobody in a wheelchair or ECV (unless they do have a GAP-FOTL pass...which is very rare) can ride the Jungle Cruise without waiting at least as long (often longer) as the other guests. (Actually, they usually wait longer, becuase most of the time only one boat is stopped for wheelchair guests, and there is only one boat that can accomidate a single wheelchair for those guests who can not transfer down into the boat). Just thought I'd like to add my part, to try to dispell any rumors that guests in wheelchairs and ECV's get to skip the lines .
Also, as a cast member, I've noticed this policy only annoys (sometimes angers) the guests who did rent a wheelchair ro ECV in an attempt to skip the lines. Guests who legitimately need the wheelchair for a member of their party are (for the most part) extremely understanding. On behalf of all former and current cast members - THANK YOU!

As a group member of a wheelchair party, I can understand where this would upset some legitimate people though. My example: once at the MK we went to Peter Pan, and were allowed instant access through the handicapped line. The ride broke down while we were on it, unfortunately. The next day we came back, having ADR's at CP that morning, and got to the park a bit early. DH rented a regular wheelchair as we were not sure if we were going to justify the cost of an ECV that day, and having been on an ECV the past few he actually felt he needed a little excercise (I had to push the stroller). We decided to go back to Pan since we had our last ride interupted, and we knew how quickly we would get on the ride, and we would have time to make our ADR, after which we were leaving the park to meet some other people back at the hotel.

Well, a show was going to start at the castle so we had to go around, which we hadn't realized. We'd be cutting it close, but we could still make it if he really exerted himself. We go up to the handicapped entrance, and are told we will have to get a fastpass (time from ticket: 20 minutes) in order to use the entrance. DH was ripped . . . he'd already pushed himself all the way across the park - and was now very hot and tired, not good with MS - for a ride he knew (or thought he knew) the entry proceedure for from prior experience, to be told to come back in 20 minutes, when he could not and now had to go all the way back across the park again. it was his last chance to see an uninterupted Pan and he was not allowed in.

The issue was not that we didn't get in immediately because we felt entitled to, it was because proceedures are not concrete and vary from CM to CM from day to day and it can really interrupt your touring plans if you do one thing one day and you're told something completely different another day. If we'd know that we needed a Fastpass for Pan, no questions, he could have saved himself a trip because we would have known we likely wouldn't make it on the ride in time; the wait normally would have made no difference at all under normal circumstances. But I bet we looked like a spoiled/faking wheelchair group that morning!

and for the record to other posters, this was the times we found for waiting . . . about 25% of the time we got in faster than other riders, 50% of the time we got in within 5 minutes of the group in front of us or that we noticed standing at the end of the line when we pulled up, and 25% of the time we waited longer, sometimes a half hour longer or more. You DON'T save significant time taking a wheelchair! and don;t get me going on busses and restaurant seating!

 

[SueM in MN]

As a group member of a wheelchair party, I can understand where this would upset some legitimate people though. My example: once at the MK we went to Peter Pan, and were allowed instant access through the handicapped line. The ride broke down while we were on it, unfortunately. The next day we came back, having ADR's at CP that morning, and got to the park a bit early. DH rented a regular wheelchair as we were not sure if we were going to justify the cost of an ECV that day, and having been on an ECV the past few he actually felt he needed a little excercise (I had to push the stroller). We decided to go back to Pan since we had our last ride interupted, and we knew how quickly we would get on the ride, and we would have time to make our ADR, after which we were leaving the park to meet some other people back at the hotel.

That's why I do try to warn people of what can happen - whether it is a wheelchair or a Guest Assistance Card (GAC). Neither one is meant to (or even usually will) shorten or eliminate the wait.
One of the problems I have seen people posting about is just what happened to you - they went to MK first, went on some of the attractions that don't have accessible lines and were able to get on with a short wait. They expected that was the way all the attractions were supposed to work, because that was how their first experience worked, but didn't know that was actually the exception, rather than the rule.
Here's something I wrote for the disABILITIES FAQs thread that CMs have told me is an accurate description. It was written about GACs, but is also true about people using wheelchairs and ECVs:
Even on the same attraction, the GAC is not always handled the same each time.
Exactly what happens depends on how busy it is, how many other people with special needs are there at the time and staffing. Some times you may be sent thru the regular standby line, occassionally the fastpass line; sometimes the person with the GAC and a member of their party will be given an alternate place to wait while the rest of the party goes thru the standby line - and then meet up with them when they get to the front. Sometimes you might be given a slip and told you can come back at the time written on the slip (usually equal to the standby time); very occassionally, you might be taken right in. It depends on what they call "attraction considerations" (which is basically the things I listed in the second sentence).
Fastpass is a good way to avoid waits in line. You don't have to be present to get a fastpass, you can send one member of your party ahead with all the park passes to get fastpasses. When you report back to the ride at your fastpass return time, your wait will be 15 minutes or less.