Is mainstreaming leading to disabled being ignored or forgotten?

[travelitis]

I ask this, because over Easter we noticed a big problem with this. We'd wait and wait at the appropriate entrance and sometimes never get noticed. We had problems at the Mad Tea Party, Cinderella's Golden Carousel, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and Aladdin's Magic Carpets. We ran into another family at CGC who was having the same trouble. We never got noticed, and we had to go through the main queue finally. At 2 attractions the disabled guide tells you to see a CM, but there were no CMs to see, so I mainstreamed lines that weren't intended for an ECV. One CM even scolded me for mainstreaming. I felt totally invisible. I've always had good service at WDW, but my dh and I were quite disenchanted with the total lack of service at some attractions.

 

[SueM in MN]

I think the problem is with having less CMs in general. When we first started coming to WDW, there were a lot more CMs, sometimes even 2 at the entrance before you ever got into line. So, they noticed you right away. We've noticed a gradual decrease in the number of CMs at rides. For some where there used to be 2 "Greeters", 2 "Loaders", an operator and 2 "Unloaders", there seem to only be 3 CMs total: Loader, Operator and Unloader (and maybe a fast-pass taker).

At the Tea Party and Carousel, we always did get noticed right away and didn't really notice a change. But based on how long the line was, we might not actually get on for 3 to 5 "fills" of the ride. On Aladdin, DD was in the Mainstream line for the whole wait.
At rides like Buzz Lightyear, where you wait in the Mainstream line and then are pulled to the exit right before boarding, we have noticed it sometimes takes a long time to get CM attention. I'm thinking that CM might have another job and is monitoring the access door in between doing other things. I noticed for Buzz, you need to switch from an ecv to a wheelchair, but I don't know how they let you know at the entrance who is in charge of that. Maybe it's the fastpass CM.

 

[nee]

yea