Uh oh...who heard Sherri Shepherd on the View today?

[dapookie09]

The ladies on the View today were discussing some celebrity who allegedly cut in line at the Apple store getting his Iphone, eventually the discussion ended up around the topic of cutting in line at Disney.

Sherri, who has a special needs son with developmental delays, offered the helpful tidbit that:

"Kids with special needs get to go to the front of the line at Disney because they don't have the attention span to wait like other kids"

Uh oh.....Watch out CM's, you're gonna have some sassy mama's ticked off when they realize Sherri doesn't know what she's talking about.

 

[hildarumpole]

Oh boy. Isn't she the one who thinks the earth might be flat?

 

[thebeesknees]

Was she maybe talking about the GAC? You are right that there are going to be some annoyed people out there. Hmm, I think maybe I have a bad attention span and can't wait in line, either. Does that mean I get to go to the front of the line, too?

 

[melancholywings]

Ugh. So wrong. She makes it sound like having special needs is a perk at Disney. GAC isn't about giving giving special needs kids special perks - but to accomidate needs that will allow a family to visit the park. And GAC isn't a front of the line pass.

 

[KEMdisney]

I heard that this morning and thought -- shes going to get a lot of emails about that statement!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

It's horrible what she said. Anyone with a disability will be able to "clarify" her mistake to her. Hopefully enough people will contact ABC and have them retract her statement on the next show. Can you imagine the hoards of people showing up to get to the front of the line?

 

[NotUrsula]

It's doubly ironic because Disney and ABC are the same company; it's as if a CM were spreading misinformation on national television.

With any luck someone who works in the Parks division will call someone at ABC Television and point out that she needs to correct that statement on-air.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

It's doubly ironic because Disney and ABC are the same company; it's as if a CM were spreading misinformation on national television.

With any luck someone who works in the Parks division will call someone at ABC Television and point out that she needs to correct that statement on-air.

I agree 100%.

 

[brergnat]

Not everybody watches The View, you know. I really don't think this is going to cause a problem. I bet there are already a bunch of people who have heard of the GAC, but don't know it's something you actually have to go in person to get from Guest Relations (you know, they probably heard from "a friend of a friend") and show up asking how to skip the line with their special needs family member. Heck, there are STILL people out there (lots of them) who think that having a wheelchair is an "automatic front of the line" perk...

If anything, maybe for people who did NOT know about the GAC, and saw the View, will now try to find out more about it. I didn't know about the GAC until the Disboards about a year ago, and I've been visiting Disney theme parks for 30 years!!! And, I have TWO special needs kids (4 and 6).

 

[disneydreamerbelle]

I think they edited it out of show by the time it aired here. I watched after reading this AM and right where she would have transitioned to the comment they went on to something else. Maybe I just missed it, but I wonder if they did.

 

[princessmom29]

She really is de facto right. It may not be Disney policy, but on our last trip especially it seems to be more amd more what CM's are doing. Parents ask for front of the line access and CM's are giving it to them rather than explain how GAC's or wheelchair access lanes are supposed to work. I know there will be a million people who will jump in here and say that is not the way it is supposed to work, or that no one really does that, but i observed ti over and over again. On almost every ride we went on that had any kind of line, when we say a disabled part enter the line with us they rode and were gone long before we or the people ahead of us.

 

[SnowWhite607]

So how is a GAC supposed to work, if not for front of the line access? Just askin'

 

[Usandthe4kids]

We use the GAC because my son has autism. Yes, there are times that we may get through a line a lot faster but it's not the norm and it depends on the ride. Sometimes they offer the fast pass line but for us, we need a seperate place to wait. Some attractions will allow us sit on a bench outside of the ride and a CM will come and get us at the normal wait time. When my son is crowded or overstimulated he will lick and bite. People get mad when they see us enter a seperate area. Seriously, would you rather be licked? Should my son not be allowed to enjoy normal things because he is different? My son spoke his first words at Disney World at 3.5. He potty trained at Disney. His doctor's said if they could they would require him to go twice a year because for some reason he makes more strides at Disney World than with years of therapy. There is no way we are going to stay home because he is different. I think it is amazing that Disney World accomadates everyone! I had one lady get nasty with me and I told her if she wanted to trade places and have her son have autism and my son be "normal" I would gladly wait in that line all day! Seriously, this is our daily life. Maybe we get through 10 minutes faster does that mean it's better to be disabled?

Back to the topic I think her comment was completely off based and inaccurate. It makes it sound like some special benefit to be disabled. I hope people do not try to cheat the system believing that there "special" child will get through the line faster.

Sorry for the rant. I was just at Disney World and I get so mad when people think people are trying to somehow cheat everyone else. The GAC does help us allow our children to have this same enjoyable experience people without disabilities have. End of story.

 

[livndisney]

I don't know who Sherri Shepard is and I don't watch The View. But I DO know how the GAC works, It is NOT intended for front of the line, it is NOT used for front of the line. Anyone who thinks it gives that is sadly mistaken. (And I say this as someone who LIVES IN DISNEY-not just as a trip observer).

The ONLY people who do get FOTL are the Make A Wish kids on their Wish trip.

 

[princessmom29]

I don't know who Sherri Shepard is and I don't watch The View. But I DO know how the GAC works, It is NOT intended for front of the line, it is NOT used for front of the line. Anyone who thinks it gives that is sadly mistaken. (And I say this as someone who LIVES IN DISNEY-not just as a trip observer).

The ONLY people who do get FOTL are the Make A Wish kids on their Wish trip.

I know it is not SUPPOSED to be used for FOTL, but I have seen it done many times by CM's. I actually spoke to a family standing in front of Space Mountian while waiting for our fastpasses who has a GAC for their DD. They did not have fastpasses and were loading the ride as we were handing ours in. We waited at least 15 min more. I saw it many other times within a week as well. It DOES happen. Everyone that has a GAC is not getting FOTL but some ARE. i have no way of saying how widespread it is, other than we saw it at least once a day on our 7 day trip. Most days it was several times. It was more obcious that it was happening when the party had a wheelchair or special needs stroller with hem. I have no problem with the fact that it is happening. I am sure there are those who actually need it and that is more than fine with me. I think they should change the policy to allow it in cases that really have a need.

 

[pepperderr]

When we went last time I remember we were in line waiting to see a character and just as we got up there the told us another person was going to go head of us even though we were obviously next. Seemed to me he was autistic or had some kind of problem because he wasn't acting like most kids visiting the characters and he was not in line.

No one can really understand what someone else is going through or why they might seem to butt in line or be getting "advantages".

We went to the front of the line at TSM when the park first opened. There were lots of people and I wasn't sure we were going to ride it or just use a FP but we got in line and as soon as we did, a CM called us over and told us to go through a special entrance for special visitors or something. That was COOOOOOL passing everyone and they were probably not too happy .

My kids both have health issues. I am greatful that we don't have to use special guest card or whatever they are. If people have to butt in line I am not going to let it ruin my day.

I can see how that was not an appropriate thing to say on the View either!! I didn't see the show though.

pepperderr

 

[Tinkh]

Shari has a special needs child. Maybe she was pointing out how special Disney was when she was there. I can imagine that she probably did get front of the line with her son and probably assumed that the GAC was that way for everyone. I do not think in any way that she was being a mean or spiteful person, but truly trying to point out that Disney does its best to help families of all types.

 

[AZMermaid]

I thought the only true FOTL pass is for Make a Wish kids and such. I will not begrudge those kids and their families a FOTL pass for half a second.

The GAC card is supposed to just allow for reasonable accommodations- which with newer rides often entails either being used like a FP or waiting with in the regular line with the wider queue lines. I have heard many stories of people trying the old "rent a wheelchair" trick only to be sent through the regular line- but this is mostly at Disneyland and DCA. Fantasyland seems to be the major exception where the GAC card works much like a FOTL pass due to the older construction.

 

[ireland_nicole]

I know it is not SUPPOSED to be used for FOTL, but I have seen it done many times by CM's. I actually spoke to a family standing in front of Space Mountian while waiting for our fastpasses who has a GAC for their DD. They did not have fastpasses and were loading the ride as we were handing ours in. We waited at least 15 min more. I saw it many other times within a week as well. It DOES happen. Everyone that has a GAC is not getting FOTL but some ARE. i have no way of saying how widespread it is, other than we saw it at least once a day on our 7 day trip. Most days it was several times. It was more obcious that it was happening when the party had a wheelchair or special needs stroller with hem. I have no problem with the fact that it is happening. I am sure there are those who actually need it and that is more than fine with me. I think they should change the policy to allow it in cases that really have a need.

1. I think it's highly unlikely that this whole FOTL thing is happining even as much as you think. Unless you spent all of your time with a stopwatch watching as families w/ GAC's entered the queue until they actually rode and then compared it to your family's experience at the exact same time. I'm assuming you probably rode with your family which would make this extremely difficult to say the least.

2.IF a family got FOTL priviliges, it is Extremely Likely that they were a make a wish family. The only way to tell the difference would be to see the ink on a particular stamp on the GAC. We did have the privilege of meeting a number of make a wish families on their trips during our recent vacation, so it is certainly possible you ran into several of them as well. As far as I'm concerned, they are welcome to their special spot in line; I don't envy what their angel is enduring, and don't want to trade places with them.

3.We use a GAC. We use the stroller as wheelchair accomodation, and yes, many people feel it necessary to complain about our special privilege. And yes, I will happily let them have my accomodation if they would like their child to have the disabilities my children have too. In many cases it may appear that we get to things sooner, but often we're just being taken somewhere quieter to wait. We don't mind, it's the enclosed tight queues that are a problem. We also use fastpass often, so it may appear that we're getting into things quicker because of our "special" stroller privileges, when in fact we're just using the same fastpasses everyone else is.

4.Could you possibly share how exactly you know that someone who has a GAC does or doesn't "need" it? I'm perplexed as to how anyone can be certain that there are GAC's being used by anyone who doesn't require one.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Is Sherri a well-known celebrity? (Sorry; don't watch The View, so I don't know her.) Could it be when she visited, she did indeed get to go to the FOTL more because of her status, and not her child's situation? Maybe she misunderstood.