Trouble using GAC again.

[taximomfor4]

I wrote to WDW last year, after several notable troubles with rude CM's when using dd's GAC. I received a phone call, and was given the opportunity to further explain the situations. I was assured that more sensitivity training was being implemented last year.

I know, I know...CM's are people too. But some of the rudeness we experienced was inexcusable. Philharmagic, we saw the same CM every day that we went there, and had the exact same argument each time. The last day, we just told him after a whole week at WDW, we had learned what worked.

Another notable example...HITA at Epcot. That was so absolutely miserable that dd8 completely broke into sobs, saying "How come they know where to send all the other people, but not me?" We got moved around and around, and even though we were almost first coming to the show, we almost didn't get into it at all.

The number of CM's making us EXPLAIN that Vision Impairment causes issues in shows, etc, was so disappointing. Even FOTLK...I don't know if they changed their procedure since last August, but we got sent back and forth there, too, between the Wheelchair entrance and the rear exit doors (where we always waited last year).

I went to guest relations several times, in MK and EPcot. The CM's were very kind, and gave me the Guest Communications phone number to call later.

I guess I just was so brokenhearted, seeing dd go through the questioning over and over. Silly me, I thought the wording on the GAC would be plenty of info.

My point in posting this is so that anyone else having GAC troubles knows to contact someone as well. They won't fix it, if they don't know that there is a problem.

 

[emilee&tylersmom]

I'm sorry you had trouble using your GAC. We went last October and even though we did have a few problems, for the most part having the GAC ran smoothly. My daughter also has a visual disability. She is legally blind and being in the front row of a show is the only way she can enjoy it.
(Even in the front row she is only seeing some of it.) We are going in February and planned on getting a GAC for her, I hope we do not have any issues.

The only major issue we had was Tarzan Rocks and Mickeys Philharmagic. The CM at Tarzan Rocks wanted to know what her "problem" was. My daughter who had just turned 9 at the time wanted to die. After that she did not want to use the GAC at all. At Philharmagic the CM just refused to let us use it. Said we did not need to. We just learned to ignore the rude CM and be greatful for the understanding ones.

I do believe that the CM need to be more aware of the rules of a GAC. Also they need to be aware of the childrens (and adults) feelings. My children definitely did not choose to have this disability.

I glad you still had a great trip. And good luck to your daughter.

 

[taximomfor4]

I'm sorry you had trouble using your GAC. We went last October and even though we did have a few problems, for the most part having the GAC ran smoothly. My daughter also has a visual disability. She is legally blind and being in the front row of a show is the only way she can enjoy it.
(Even in the front row she is only seeing some of it.) We are going in February and planned on getting a GAC for her, I hope we do not have any issues.

The only major issue we had was Tarzan Rocks and Mickeys Philharmagic. The CM at Tarzan Rocks wanted to know what her "problem" was. My daughter who had just turned 9 at the time wanted to die. After that she did not want to use the GAC at all. At Philharmagic the CM just refused to let us use it. Said we did not need to. We just learned to ignore the rude CM and be greatful for the understanding ones.

I do believe that the CM need to be more aware of the rules of a GAC. Also they need to be aware of the childrens (and adults) feelings. My children definitely did not choose to have this disability.

I glad you still had a great trip. And good luck to your daughter.

Funny you mentioned Tarzan Rocks. Last year, that was one of our biggest issues. They refused to let us use the Vision Impaired also. The CM at Philharmagic this trip a to dd. She has a vision field defect, and unfortunately, if part of her vision is blocked, all of it might be if that is her "seeing spot" as we call it. At HITA, the CMs had no clue what to do with us I guess, we explained how it has worked in the past, but then the CMs began moving us. One would put us one place, the other would come and move us. Then the one would come and move all but dd and dh to wait with her, saying they would catch up inside the theater (how? She didn't know how either.) Then the second cm would put us into the very back of the wheelchair waiting area, but the first one would come and kick us back out because we didn't have yellow pieces of paper giving us permission. Then they would have us wait right by the wheelchair area but not through its rope. But then we were in people's ways. Then they moved us into an alcove right after the wheelchair waiting area. But CMs coming through that door caused us to have to move again and again. This is where dd8 began sobbing. Not pouty crying, but truly sad crying. Then the second CM led us through the wheelchair waiting area (we were not going to take up wheelchair seating in the theater) and let us into the theater first....but the wheelchair waiting area is roped to only allow access to the wheelchair seating. So we ran ran ran for the exit doors, looped around, and hurried into exit-end seats in the regular seating.

 

[HopperFan]

Interesting that the ONLY place we have ever had a problem was Philharmonic. This upcoming trip I do plan to skip the show.

My DS has severe anxiety and panic issues and the crowds/people are the problem. We show our pass and we wait to be last to enter the theater and are happy to sit on the end of a row. The CMs were doing such a bad job that they were not making anyone move across, so the far half of the theater was mostly empty. I took my son and began to leave because the show had actually started and yet we still could not sit down. He was beginning to panic. Their response to me, "go sit in the front row". She was rude and argumentative. Someone who appeared to be more senior caught us before we left and begged us to stay and walked us to seats with a flashlight. At this point he was too upset to enjoy the show.

 

[MightyMom]

I guess it really just depends on the CMs. We had an excellent time at Philharmagic and had NO problems with seating.

My son is in a wheelchair, but he also has low vision. We were quickly escorted to the accessible entrance. We were the first ones let in and the CM walked ahead of us and saved us seats at the far right of the auditorium.

The same protocol was enforced every time we saw the show.

We were there in June of this year..... I can't imagine why things were so difficult for you.

 

[Val]

My DD8 is hard of hearing. We had a very bad experience at HISA in mid July that also resulted with my DD in tears. After a major complaint was lodged, I was assured that better sensitivity training was implemented. Apparently not.....please tell you DD that my DD and I are VERY sorry that there were rude CMs at WDW, and not to think that it was her disability. Sometimes even WDW CMs seem to suffer from the hidden disability of rudeness and loss of common sense!

 

[taximomfor4]

My DD8 is hard of hearing. We had a very bad experience at HISA in mid July that also resulted with my DD in tears. After a major complaint was lodged, I was assured that better sensitivity training was implemented. Apparently not.....please tell you DD that my DD and I are VERY sorry that there were rude CMs at WDW, and not to think that it was her disability. Sometimes even WDW CMs seem to suffer from the hidden disability of rudeness and loss of common sense!

LOL -- Good answer! Maybe we do DD a disservice, but she doesn't even realize we have a GAC for her. We use fastpass most of the time, and use the GAC for the shows. We do it in a very stealthy manner. She is just figuring out that her vision is not the same as everyone elses. Or she is just learning to talk about it, lol.

Guest Relations CM Amy listened to me rant a little, but pretty quickly whipped out Guest Communications' card and apologized, saying that this should be "heard" higher up too. She also told me that the attractions CMs should NOT be demanding clarification unless it is unclear - that if it is covered in the GAC stamps, they should not question about the disability.

I get that CMs can have off days, and rude moments. I am sorry to say that I do sometimes as well. I just think the Dinosaur CM who demanded loudly "I can't see that think, tell me what it says....I can't even hear you -- let me see that thing....I can't see in here -- tell me what it says...I can't hear you -- speak up...I still can't hear you, you'll have to say it louder...I still can't hear you, shout it to me, your voice is impossible to hear." At which point I am near tears, the crowd behind me is angering, and DS shines his penlight onto the GAC for the CM. The CM shakes his head impatiently, rolls his eyes, and says "I told you to just SHOUT IT TO ME." Now he is shouting. DD cries, and grabs my hand, drags me back toward the line to squeeze our way backward to get out of there.

I swear, Karma, baby. His is coming. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his armpits.

 

[HopperFan]

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his armpits.

This is being written down for future reference ! LOVE IT !

Many many years ago after reading "Dantes Inferno" I always kept three headed Lucifer in my head, and would rotate out the victims, always made me feel better when someone was not nice. I'm thinking wishing them camel fleas could do the same for my inner-peace.

 

[taximomfor4]

This is being written down for future reference ! LOVE IT !

Many many years ago after reading "Dantes Inferno" I always kept three headed Lucifer in my head, and would rotate out the victims, always made me feel better when someone was not nice. I'm thinking wishing them camel fleas could do the same for my inner-peace.

My sister and I used to trade evil things to wish on each other (or other annoying people). That was a longtime favorite. Another one was "May a great American Condor nest in your gym shorts." Oh, I could probably toss out a gazillion of those. They give me a little internal giggle when someone really irks me. Very therapeutic.

The Philharmagic CM got "My most sincere wish is that your local grocery store restocks vintage prune juice soon."

 

[sleepingbeautymama]

I'm so sorry you had to go through this. My dd has sensory issues and we think Autism and I had thought about using a GAC because I think waiting in lines will be hard for her but I'm really wondering if I want to hassle with rude CMs and just other rude people who don't "get" it. It's a shame your dd had to experience those kinds of people.

 

[BlindTyldak]

The only park we ever had issues at was MK. Not at Phil, but at Space Mountain and guest services. Long story, but my husband rented an ECV and was told by GS he did not need a GAC, then at space they would not let him have access without one, sending us back to GS, who didn't want to give us one because "he doesn't look disabled enough". We asked for a manager there, who defended the CM but still gave us one. Even then we were treated like we were a hassle, being yelled at to hurry up trying to get DH into the boat at Pan and Splash (not easy with ballance problems). The did not stop the rides at either one when it looked like we had problems, which I know people hate, but hey, we need that extra 10 seconds sometimes.

BEST help we had at all the parks were the CM's at Spaceship Earth. Such nice people.

 

[mom_of_5]

We just got back from a week at DW, DH and 5 kids. My oldest 11 has autism and has severe axiety during waits and when he is hot (so why did we bring him to DW). We applied for the GAC and were given it happily with the alternate enterance stamp on it. I was prepared to be given some grief at some point or another but no such thing happend, every CM was very kind and let us use the FP line or the wheelchair enterance, it seemed to be their call, all 7 of us on some rides. It was such a pleasant experience that we are considering another trip next year as well. Maybe the sensitivity training is starting to pay off.

 

[mickeymom1]

i am sorry to report that we just returned from dw and unfortunately we had a few run ins with rude cast members . my ds6 has down syndrome and is autistic, so i think his disability is pretty obvious. when we showed his tag on his stroller (to use it as a wheelchair) at a few places we were reluctantly waved into line and i swear a few cm even looked at us with a look of disgust or dismay. we always get fastpasses for rides and are not asking for immediate access, just for him to wait in line in his stroller so i don't know why so many cast members were less than happy about letting him use it .
one cm on the train ride was really rude to us demanding to also see a card (the stroller tag was not enough for him) then made a confused face when he looked at the card and just handed it back to me and walked away. what was even more infuriating was that there was a young girl in a rented wheelchair that entered in front of us with no questions asked. as we were waiting for the train to arrive my daughter was admiring the girls pink shoes. the girl told her, "yes they are cute but i wouldn't recommend buying them because they really hurt your feet.......that's why i had to get this wheelchair!!!!" not trying to start any war about why people use wheelchairs, but it was just frustrating to me that we had to go through the 3rd degree, when my son has a visible disability.
the worst cm was of all places at ciderella's royal table lunch. my son was having a meltdown when we were being seated so i was holding him at the side of the diningroom while my mom and dd3 were being seated. the hostess kept on looking back at us and asked my mom in a snippy tone, "are they going to sit down or what"!!!! none of the princesses even tried to interact with him. he didn't want to take a picture, so they just quickly took a picture with my daughter and went on to the next table.
sorry this is so long !! i just needed to rant a little. it is a shame that a few negative actions can have such an impact on things. there were a few very nice cast members (unfortunately this trip it was just a few). i hope it was just the heat or we just caught them at a bad time. all in all we had a great trip with many great memories (my son rode splash mountain and big rolling thunder for the first time and loved them )!!
again sorry for the rant, but it feels better already to get it off my chest. thanks!

 

[SAGE]

MM1
I am sorry to hear about such rudeness. Having recently read numerous reports of rude remarks towards individuals with disabilities, it would seem WDW should review the training for CM's.
I am heading down on Sunday - with my autistic DS - 18 and 6' tall. I'm bracing for the remarks we are going to get!! LOL
SAGE

 

[taximomfor4]

MM1, I would encourage you to email Guest Communications. The Guest Relations CM we spoke with at MK advised it. Her point was that they cannot try to address something unless they know it is truly a problem! (Just one person mentioning it makes it seem anecdotal).

Sage, I hope you have a wonderful, magical time. If you do run across a few sour grapes, don't let 'em get you down! Many others will certainly be helpful, courteous, and kind.

Beth

 

[dclfun]

I agree about emailing Guest Communications. I used to feel badly about doing so as I didn't want to be labelled as a "complainer" but I decided that I was complaining for the right reasons- not for any compensation but to help them with their training and protocols. WDW, despite having a great reputation for accomodating guests with disabilities, and despite having alot of "positives" still has room for improvement. ---Kathy

 

[Mish]

Wow I am getting nervous. My son needs to use he stroller as a wheelchair it has never been a problem before. May I ask what kind of stroller you were using. I hope it wont be a problem I don't mind waiting on line my DS legs start to hurt from to much walking or standing so he needs it to sit when his legs hurt. I am going to bring a note from my Orto so they can't say no.

 

[mickeymom1]

i don't want anyone to be nervous !! getting a card was not a problem (they actually gave me a card and a red tag for the stroller, but only 2 people actually asked to see the card as well as the stroller tag). noone ever denied access to us, but it was just the attitude that we were given some of the time. this is our third trip within a year, and it just seems like some cm were just annoyed that we had a stroller in line. maybe it is the summer heat and crowds taking advantage of the free dining?!?!? did it ruin our trip? of course not, we still had a magical time!! but in the past, going to disney was a true "escape from the reality" that my son has special needs and feeling like some days it is a constant battle. i guess this trip just ran a little short on pixie dust !

also, the stoller we used was a maclaren triumph.

best wishes!

 

[taximomfor4]

i don't want anyone to be nervous !! getting a card was not a problem (they actually gave me a card and a red tag for the stroller, but only 2 people actually asked to see the card as well as the stroller tag). noone ever denied access to us, but it was just the attitude that we were given some of the time. this is our third trip within a year, and it just seems like some cm were just annoyed that we had a stroller in line. maybe it is the summer heat and crowds taking advantage of the free dining?!?!? did it ruin our trip? of course not, we still had a magical time!! but in the past, going to disney was a true "escape from the reality" that my son has special needs and feeling like some days it is a constant battle. i guess this trip just ran a little short on pixie dust !

also, the stoller we used was a maclaren triumph.

best wishes!

Op here...this post is very well-put. This describes exactly how we felt. (With the exception of the HITA show...there, I felt enraged and near tears at the same time, when my dd got so sad.)

I did email Guest Communications. I am sure they keep some sort of "file" on us, so they will probably see that I emailed about a similar issue 15 months ago. I just did so again because I was assured "Sensitivity Training" was implemented to better the situation. We found the Sensitivity to be worse this trip, not better.

About the stroller as wheelchair, we only saw one our whole trip -- in line for Small World a family had a double stroller tagged as Wheelchair Use. It had 2 adorable little blonde kiddos in it, and we ended up on the boat with them. Before the line split, they were in the mainstream line and I saw many people glaring and staring. But the bright pink tag was there for ANYONE to see, and I think lots of people read it. The tag on the stroller is, for that reason, a pretty neat idea.

As for our dd's situation, we were questioned by a man in the regular line as we entered our boat from the other side. At least he was polite, and nodded kindly when we quickly stated "Vision Impairment." I don't mind people wondering, I just mind them judging -- especially if they are rude and loud about it! And especially when it is cast members doing it!

 

[Schmeck]

taximomfor4 and others that have had a hard time with their GAC - all I can think of for getting the hard time with it is that what's stamped on there isn't what you truly need, or it's not what you expected? Or are there conflicting stamps? That can confuse anyone - unless you are able to tell the CM what you need for that circumstance. Of course, if the CM won't even listen for a second, and tells you to just get in line, and then moves you, and then someone else tells you another thing, then there's definitely a need for more training!

My cousin has her daughter's GAC marked so that she can use a stroller as a wheelchair, and that she needs to sit up front in shows. She explains to the CMs that her daughter will sit on her lap once they are in the theater, but she needs to keep her in the stroller until that point. She told me she's never had a problem. They line her up in the front row (we tend to go in the regular line and sit wherever, as I hate the front row!) and she unbuckles her daughter and puts her in her lap.