MNSSHP and GAC

[1308Miles]

Hi everyone...
We are currently at WDW and attended MNSSHP on Tuesday. My DS (who has severe crowd anxiety) has a GAC for an alternate waiting area. As expected, his favorite ride, The Haunted Mansion, had a line that stretched into FrontierLand but the posted wait time read 20 minutes (which was obviously underestimated.) we approached the CM with DS's GAC and explained his situation. The CM sent us away and told us that when standby waits were 20 minutes or less, then no alternative entry would be provided. We explained his anxiety situation again and he insisted that we turn around and get into the standby line. So, we did...and my poor DS had a panic attack in the crowd. Has anyone ever heard of this policy before?

 

[mad madam mim78]

The line to haunted mansion can look really long. If they said it was 20 minutes then I'm sure it was close to that. The policy sounds reasonable.

 

[SueM in MN]

That has been the policy for quite a while.
They started enforcing it more in the last 6 months or year.

If you have enough people in your group, a lot of people use other members of their party to make a 'buffer' zone. That can be very helpful to some people.
People also use a wheelchair or a stroller as a wheelchair to provide the same kind of buffer/safe zone for the person with the issue.
It's difficult when you get hit by surprise with a change, but now that you know it is a possibility, you can prepare your son that the wait may be in the regular line and help him plan things to help him cope or decide to only go if the line is short.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I'm not sure where they would have sent you. At least at the first party, the new interactive part of the line was closed off, so everyone was basically going through the fastpass line. With every reporting issues with who does and doesn't "have" to go through the stretching room or go right to alternate boarding, I'm not surprised by this. There isn't anywhere else to wait and since you didn't have one that said you needed boarding assistance or anything like that, I'm not sure what they could have done for you in the scope of their rules.

 

[Flametamr]

Did they do away with the handicapped alternate entrance at the exit area ? We usually take my DD's wheel chair there and wait for the CM to escort us in.

 

[I Love Pluto]

That alternate entrance (at the exit) has been changed. You enter partially up the regular line. This is the "new" alternate entrance.

 

[SueM in MN]

Did they do away with the handicapped alternate entrance at the exit area ? We usually take my DD's wheel chair there and wait for the CM to escort us in.

They pretty much did away with that as an entrance ( and, even though mny guests just walked into the exit, the actual 'path' was to wait in the regular line to the point of the hearse, where there was a gate that led to the exit).

Guests usually wheelchairs or who need to board at the exit now wait in the regular line and can go thru the stretching room. At that point, they go thru a door into a waiting hallway where they wait to be taken to the exit for boarding.

 

[infopurposesonly]

I know this doesn't help with the Haunted Mansion, but at another attraction we were told we couldn't use the alternate entrance (the exit) when the wait time was under twenty minutes. I politely explained to the CM that DD's issue was not the length of time waiting, but rather being in a crowded space. I asked if we could just wait at the exit for the full twenty minutes. She rolled her eyes but allowed it. This may not work at all attractions, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[Tinkerpeas hubby]

I know this doesn't help with the Haunted Mansion, but at another attraction we were told we couldn't use the alternate entrance (the exit) when the wait time was under twenty minutes. I politely explained to the CM that DD's issue was not the length of time waiting, but rather being in a crowded space. I asked if we could just wait at the exit for the full twenty minutes. She rolled her eyes but allowed it. This may not work at all attractions, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Is this new rule only for MNSSHP or is it for every park at anytime? We last went in 2010 and never had any issues with using the alternate entrance, sometimes the CM would say that the wait was only 5 mins or walk on so to use the normal entrance but if we noticed that our selves then we normally did the normal entrance anyways!
I ask as our son has AS but is 9 and so a stroller is out of the question for him he would scream blue murder at being confined ( it's a huge issue for him) and so just want to be prepared to be in the normal que for 20 mins if that's the wait time although after 27 years of going to Disney if they really have changed the rule to this I can't see us coming back after our next trip

 

[infopurposesonly]

We experienced this in May, so it's not just for the special events. It only happened to us once, but I expect we will see more of this in the future.

 

[Jonell]

We have also noticed a change in how alternative entrance GAC have been handled recently. Basically now if the attraction does not offer FP then you wait in the stand-by line with everyone else.

 

[mamaminnie]

What about for kids who need to skip the stretching room? DS is on the spectrum and this is one of the few things we use our GAC for.

He had a bad experience as a little kid in that room and he won't go in.
We usually just ask the CM at the exit and they escort us around.

 

[Tinkerpeas hubby]

We have also noticed a change in how alternative entrance GAC have been handled recently. Basically now if the attraction does not offer FP then you wait in the stand-by line with everyone else.

I don't see how they can allow that!
That's not offering an alternate entrance?? We have been having the alternate entrance now for quite a few yrs I can't imagine what will happen if we end up having to go through the normal que!

 

[jujube]

Did they do away with the handicapped alternate entrance at the exit area ? We usually take my DD's wheel chair there and wait for the CM to escort us in.

When we were there in August, people in wheelchairs were still going to the alternate entrance at the exit area. That said, some of them were complaining that they had been waiting quite a while. There were 8-10 people in wheelchairs waiting outside under the covered area.

I understand WDW changing policy. The thing I don't understand is the inconsistency and the rudeness. In the MK, some attractions allow use of the alternate entrance while others don't. In other parks there is no problem using the alternate entrances at all although we did get eye rolls. The CM at HM was a butt. His ride his rules, that I get. Being a jerk though was unnecessary.

Edited to add- The cast members at the Universal attractions could not have been nicer.

 

[peemagg]

HM has been sort of mainstreamed since the last update. Even those in a wheelchair or scooter, goes in thru the regular line and the stretching room, then they are pulled out to a alternate entrance.