Special Fast Pass

[LuvN~Travel]

Also I find it very accomodating and generous of Disney to use this system, even knowing that there are people who are willing to use it as a scam. We've all seen the threads about the abuse of wheelchairs and scooters, but I think they are few and far between enough that Disney is willing to risk it for the sake of families who don't follow the norm of park touring to actually enjoy themselves at a park. Sometimes this is the only situation where a family can enjoy a vacation!
In the parks our daughter has to use a wheelchair because of endurance issues from a past stroke and scoliosis. She can get too fatigued in a hurry.
But, we stood in many lines just like any other person. The newer parks can accomodate wheelchairs in lines. And, of course we had the cm's who would let us go straight to the end of the attraction and board. It certainly let us get more rides in and make her trip very enjoyable. We were very grateful for those cms.
But, we also understand the ADD/ADHD person who not only would be miserable, but would make everyone around them miserable while in line. I'm glad Disney can make other accomodations for those families.
I would definitely recommend the thread on these forums that someone wrote a while back about being in a wheelchair for the first time, and what new perspective it gave them about the life of a challenged person. If only any of us ever had to go through what some of these people have to, so many more would understand a lot better.
Kim

 

[golden1]

I'm actually really happy to learn about this pass and I may take advantage of it for my FIL if the weather in December happens to be unusually hot. He is prone to heat exhaustion and can't stay in the sun for very long if the temp is much over 65-70. We are going in December purposefully for this reason but I know that it can get warm sometimes and it would be nice to be able keep him out of the sun as much as possible.

 

[Windy City Heather]

I had ADD as a child. I parents never took me to Disney because it would have been a nightmare. There was no way that I would have sat through all those lines. Had they know about a card like this I might have been able to go as a child.

I am making up for it now as an adult.

 

[tjmw2727]

Just to play Devil's Advocate - does anyone think that individuals who can't tolerate sun, long waits, crowds, lots of standing and walking - might perhaps enjoy a vacation destination where these elements are not a huge factor?

I want to stress that I have no objection whatsoever to anyone using the GAC. I have never been remotely inconvenienced by, or even particularly noticed if, some people wait in a different line or enter the ride from a different place. WDW is for everyone, and it isn't any of my business who goes or why. I am simply asking out of curiosity, and nobody has to answer.

I have a friend whose son is autistic. He is the same age (6) as my son. We have visited Disney often, and I've told her about the GAC, but she feels that even with it, given her son's difficulty handling new places and crowds, the pluses of a vacation would never outweigh the minuses.

What about my SIL who has MS and two young children? She is able to enjoy WDW with her kids like every other family without worrying if she is going to cause herself to be ill. She gets a GAC allowing her to wait out of the sun if possible. She uses it about 1% of the time preferring Fast Pass to the GAC but its nice to be able to use it when necessary.

They do other vacations and day trips that are more favorable to her health but this gives her the option of WDW if they choose.

TJ

 

[daisy duck]

Okay, I was at work today and was talking to one of the other girls at the office about Disney World.

She was telling me all about her trip she went on in June and how busy it was, yada yada yada. She goes on to tell me about how she got this special "Fast Pass" for her entire party due to the fact that her son has a learning disability. I have never heard of such a thing. She said it allowed her entire party to go through the Fast Pass line any time they liked.

I was furious!!!! I just don't think it's fair for someone with ADD or ADHD to get special treatment like that. If all this is true - you know how many people would just say their child had a learning disability?

Have any of you heard of this?

Im going to get the card next year for my son he has ADHD with bypoler no one would want to be in line with us he will start yelling, fighting, and just act crazy.i think every bodys day will be ruined. the med that the DR. has him on dose not really work when he is excited

 

[goofydiz]

OK the OP might have not been 100% politically correct, but there are TONS of people on this planet that scam for convenience. It is unfortunate and I hope that even if it is abused that it is never taken away from the people that really need it. I also know many kids that are ADD and could absolutely handle WDW if their diet was regulated and the parents took a few breaks. I also know some that probably could not even walk into the park with everything under the sun done to make the visit acceptable.

The tone of the OP co-worker sounded more like 'woo hoo thanks to our kid having this problem, we all got the royal treatment and got to race through the park' versus "wow, did you know that they had a special pass that allowed our son to have the most magical vacation."

Whatever the case, I am sure the OP did not mean to offend any one who needs to use the service. More like being annoyed with the people that scam the system. Scammers annoy me too. My MIL uses my FIL handicap parking hang tag. It annoys me to no end. I refuse to ride with her if she is planning on doing it. I would not however, waste my time trying to decide if the special benefits or closer parking spots are used by the people that really need them. And I doubt the OP watched everyone that did this at the parks. I do not know the OP, but I am giving her the benefit of the doubt, just like I would if a completely healthy looking 18 y.o. jumped out of the driver's side and sprung to the curb of the handicap spot in his Mom's car. You just never know, so you should just never judge.

Please believe me, I never meant to offend anyone! I really feel sorry for anyone that "needs" to use this service and I think it is great that they have this service for them!

But exactly as "KrisTX" stated my coworker was bragging about how they were able to use this service because of their sons learning disability. And how the crowds were "So Bad" and they went to the front of the line on all the Fast Pass rides without waiting. Believe me her son doesn't have a bad case of ADD - he doesn't have trouble in crowds or around other people and he doesn't even take meds for it. Her son is 12 and she allowed him to walk around the parks on his own with a cell phone so she could reach him.

In my honest opinion she was just abusing the system in my opinion.