Universal now requiring documentation be sent to a third party for accessibility

[Genie+]

WDW put a bathroom in FoP and RotR. Would they put bathrooms in more lines?

 

[gap2368]

WDW put a bathroom in FoP and RotR. Would they put bathrooms in more lines?

I have not done standby for either did they really put bathrooms in the lines

 

[leiaorgana]

Yes, there's an accessible one in the line for FoP and I believe for Rise a CM will escort you backstage and you can use the ones back there.

Having more bathrooms built into the queues wouldn't be a bad idea tbh but it would require extra space to be built in for them so that might be an issue. I remember when Gringotts first opened and the queue was like 5 - 7 hours those first few weeks, Universal used to give out laminated restroom passes so people could come and go more easily.

 

[Mamabun]

We were at Disneyland Paris recently, and I noticed that a CM gave out blue bathroom passes to anyone who left the line to go to the restroom (1 per person). Then they came back, returned their pass to the CM and no one was the slightest bit upset as they rejoined their party In line. I’m not sure how frequently they did this, or at how many attractions, we just saw it once, but I thought it was a pretty creative solution. Made it very easy to go to the bathroom and return, and everyone knew you weren’t line jumping.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

For bathroom passes - couldn’t it be as easy as adding them to your magicband or park ticket? That way no one will take a pass home with them and come back with a bunch of magic tickets to enter the line (enter, leave immediately, then go back and push all the way to the front with some excuse or another.

My concern about going through ride exits is that not all rides load and unload in the same place and people may also try to be dishonest about how they catch up to people. Not saying all will, but if it becomes “the thing to do” pretty sure people will quickly figure out how to work it to their advantage.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Also as a public service announcement, a couple of trips ago DD announced she had to go to the bathroom basically as we were loading for safari. A cast member took us out of the line, brought us to a bathroom on the trail that I didn’t know existed, and then told us how to rejoin the line. We didn’t end up riding (we were running late for a lunch reservation and it was more important for her friend/family to ride, whereas we had done it a few days earlier) but it was nice to know they were so accommodating.

Also once in line at MCO pre-pre check the family line was about 2 hours long due to typical airport problems. DS said he had to pee right as we were getting to the front, and the unhelpful agent said if we left the line we would have to rejoin in the back. I told my son (3 or so at the time) that in that case he should just pee on the floor. Hopefully Disney never becomes that short sighted as I’ll never forget it.

 

[Lilsia]

It's so bizarre that theme parks have been recommending this so much lately. Even if the difficulty of other guests thinking you're trying to cut the line didn't exist, and even if it wasn't sometimes physically difficult to squeeze back through to your party, the fact that you have other people in your party doesn't mean that the entire party is always going to ride every single ride together.

If Dick and Jane are at the park together, Dick has a bad back, and Jane has sudden bathroom emergencies, does that mean Jane isn't allowed to ride the roller coasters Dick isn't able to? Does it mean that Dick has to stand in line for something he isn't going to ride just on the off chance Jane will have an emergency and need him to save her place?

It's like they haven't thought through how something that might sound good on paper often doesn't work in real life.

I usually travel solo. My next trip is in September so I will see what they say to me when I go to reapply. There is no way that I can just leave the line and go back when I am by myself.

 

[notatallmagic]

I usually travel solo. My next trip is in September so I will see what they say to me when I go to reapply. There is no way that I can just leave the line and go back when I am by myself.

My DAS holder would also have the potential to lose consciousness or worse if she's having a bad day. So she's supposed to leave the line ALONE to manage her condition and risk that happening? What a ridiculous concept. Eyeroll.

 

[JLTraveling]

Being really strict on mobility and fatigue issues - if someone says they can’t stand for a long time and can’t sit for a long time, then pushing a wheelchair until they need to sit for a few minutes or using a rollator could work.

Except when it doesn't work. The nature of my dad's spinal issues makes it where the body positioning required to push a wheelchair or rollator causes severe spasms within a couple of minutes. And then sitting in a wheelchair or rollator makes it even worse. So under your accommodation suggestion, he'd have maybe 20 minutes in the park before they had to roll him out on a stretcher. And therein lies the problem. Everyone's needs are entirely different, and one size anything doesn't fit all.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Except when it doesn't work. The nature of my dad's spinal issues makes it where the body positioning required to push a wheelchair or rollator causes severe spasms within a couple of minutes. And then sitting in a wheelchair or rollator makes it even worse. So under your accommodation suggestion, he'd have maybe 20 minutes in the park before they had to roll him out on a stretcher. And therein lies the problem. Everyone's needs are entirely different, and one size anything doesn't fit all.

Can your dad not sit at all or is it only painful if he has been pushing something first? Might someone else push the wheelchair for him so he doesn’t have to go in that position? Does he have to be in constant motion to alleviate his spinal issues?

 

[JLTraveling]

Can your dad not sit at all or is it only painful if he has been pushing something first? Might someone else push the wheelchair for him so he doesn’t have to go in that position? Does he have to be in constant motion to alleviate his spinal issues?

It's positioning and it's hard to explain. But by way of a somewhat unrelated example.

When he needs to buy a new car, it goes something like this (he prefers late-model certified used cars):
Go through listings to see what might be available within his chosen factors (price, certification, model year, mileage, etc.). Start going to dealerships.

Sit down in car #1. Jump out within 30 seconds. No, absolutely not, instant pain.
Sit down in car #2. Same thing. Flatly not going to work.
Sit down in car #3. OK, this one hurts but I may be able to make it work. Fiddle with all the different seat adjustments. Nope, by the time he's been in it long enough to play with the adjustments, he's in severe pain.

And on and on it goes, typically over the course of many days and many dealerships (and many trips to the same dealership if they happen to have a few different cars he wants to try, since he can't keep doing it to himself for more than a couple of cars in a row).

Same thing with a wheelchair or rollator. He has tried a wide variety of wheelchairs, borrowed people's rollators of different styles to see if any of them would work. Even owns a couple of different styles of canes with a seat attached that he bought hoping they might be a solution. Nope, nope, nope, and nope.

He used to use an ECV in the parks. But it didn't do anything for the lines, since Universal generally makes you transfer to a wheelchair for the lines. Which as we've already established, he can't sit in for more than a few seconds. And he's been through multiple painful procedures and years of physical therapy, and his doctor doesn't want him using an ECV anymore, because as the doc puts it: "You've worked so hard to be able to walk again. But it's use it or lose it. For every day that you spend on an ECV at the parks, it's going to take two days to get back what you've lost." I 100% know that is NOT true for everyone, but it's true for my father's particular physical issues.

Look, the bottom line is this: Dad was an annual passholder at both Disney and Universal LONG before he became disabled. He's the weirdo who actually ENJOYS the standby lines, because he likes all the queue details, and chatting with his family or with random strangers, and just the whole thing. And it took him years to accept that he was disabled. Over the course of those years, he tried EVERYTHING to find a solution that didn't require disability accommodations. But it is what it is. And it's pretty demeaning to 25 years of trying everything short of standing on his head for people to suggest that there's a way he could do it without GAP passes if he just tried hard enough or would think outside the box a bit.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

It's positioning and it's hard to explain. But by way of a somewhat unrelated example.

When he needs to buy a new car, it goes something like this (he prefers late-model certified used cars):
Go through listings to see what might be available within his chosen factors (price, certification, model year, mileage, etc.). Start going to dealerships.

Sit down in car #1. Jump out within 30 seconds. No, absolutely not, instant pain.
Sit down in car #2. Same thing. Flatly not going to work.
Sit down in car #3. OK, this one hurts but I may be able to make it work. Fiddle with all the different seat adjustments. Nope, by the time he's been in it long enough to play with the adjustments, he's in severe pain.

And on and on it goes, typically over the course of many days and many dealerships (and many trips to the same dealership if they happen to have a few different cars he wants to try, since he can't keep doing it to himself for more than a couple of cars in a row).

Same thing with a wheelchair or rollator. He has tried a wide variety of wheelchairs, borrowed people's rollators of different styles to see if any of them would work. Even owns a couple of different styles of canes with a seat attached that he bought hoping they might be a solution. Nope, nope, nope, and nope.

He used to use an ECV in the parks. But it didn't do anything for the lines, since Universal generally makes you transfer to a wheelchair for the lines. Which as we've already established, he can't sit in for more than a few seconds. And he's been through multiple painful procedures and years of physical therapy, and his doctor doesn't want him using an ECV anymore, because as the doc puts it: "You've worked so hard to be able to walk again. But it's use it or lose it. For every day that you spend on an ECV at the parks, it's going to take two days to get back what you've lost." I 100% know that is NOT true for everyone, but it's true for my father's particular physical issues.

Look, the bottom line is this: Dad was an annual passholder at both Disney and Universal LONG before he became disabled. He's the weirdo who actually ENJOYS the standby lines, because he likes all the queue details, and chatting with his family or with random strangers, and just the whole thing. And it took him years to accept that he was disabled. Over the course of those years, he tried EVERYTHING to find a solution that didn't require disability accommodations. But it is what it is. And it's pretty demeaning to 25 years of trying everything short of standing on his head for people to suggest that there's a way he could do it without GAP passes if he just tried hard enough or would think outside the box a bit.

I’m so sorry for everything he has gone through! I can’t even imagine how hard it must be for him to navigate everyday life, let alone a theme park.

 

[JLTraveling]

I’m so sorry for everything he has gone through! I can’t even imagine how hard it must be for him to navigate everyday life, let alone a theme park.

Thank you. It's been a process for sure, but we're all thrilled at how well he's doing compared to the few years when he said it felt like miles to get from his bed to his ensuite bathroom.

 

[Disneychick13]

It's positioning and it's hard to explain. But by way of a somewhat unrelated example.

When he needs to buy a new car, it goes something like this (he prefers late-model certified used cars):
Go through listings to see what might be available within his chosen factors (price, certification, model year, mileage, etc.). Start going to dealerships.

Sit down in car #1. Jump out within 30 seconds. No, absolutely not, instant pain.
Sit down in car #2. Same thing. Flatly not going to work.
Sit down in car #3. OK, this one hurts but I may be able to make it work. Fiddle with all the different seat adjustments. Nope, by the time he's been in it long enough to play with the adjustments, he's in severe pain.

And on and on it goes, typically over the course of many days and many dealerships (and many trips to the same dealership if they happen to have a few different cars he wants to try, since he can't keep doing it to himself for more than a couple of cars in a row).

Same thing with a wheelchair or rollator. He has tried a wide variety of wheelchairs, borrowed people's rollators of different styles to see if any of them would work. Even owns a couple of different styles of canes with a seat attached that he bought hoping they might be a solution. Nope, nope, nope, and nope.

He used to use an ECV in the parks. But it didn't do anything for the lines, since Universal generally makes you transfer to a wheelchair for the lines. Which as we've already established, he can't sit in for more than a few seconds. And he's been through multiple painful procedures and years of physical therapy, and his doctor doesn't want him using an ECV anymore, because as the doc puts it: "You've worked so hard to be able to walk again. But it's use it or lose it. For every day that you spend on an ECV at the parks, it's going to take two days to get back what you've lost." I 100% know that is NOT true for everyone, but it's true for my father's particular physical issues.

Look, the bottom line is this: Dad was an annual passholder at both Disney and Universal LONG before he became disabled. He's the weirdo who actually ENJOYS the standby lines, because he likes all the queue details, and chatting with his family or with random strangers, and just the whole thing. And it took him years to accept that he was disabled. Over the course of those years, he tried EVERYTHING to find a solution that didn't require disability accommodations. But it is what it is. And it's pretty demeaning to 25 years of trying everything short of standing on his head for people to suggest that there's a way he could do it without GAP passes if he just tried hard enough or would think outside the box a bit.

Thanks for this detailed and concise explanation. This is exactly where a dr’s note would be helpful to explain that your dad can’t be helped by a mobility device but also can’t stand in long lines.

 

[notatallmagic]

Just applied for the pass as Uni AP's...just downloaded the doctor letter from MyChart and got the temporary card email.

Just curious - has anyone gotten turned down? If so, what were the reasons? Just curious what to expect next? Already have a trip booked for December...

 

[JLTraveling]

Thanks for this detailed and concise explanation. This is exactly where a dr’s note would be helpful to explain that your dad can’t be helped by a mobility device but also can’t stand in long lines.

Exactly. And he very willingly submitted not only a dr's note but also MRIs and physical therapy reports and all kinds of things to Universal a few years back. It was all reviewed and approved by their disability manager, and is stored under a GC code in their system (not the actual documents, but the fact that they exist and were approved, and what the specific accommodation is). He got the third party card last Friday, and is now waiting for a call from Universal's accommodations team. From what we understand, they'll convert his old GC code to a new case number under the new system. But the waiting is frustrating!

 

[lanejudy]

Just curious - has anyone gotten turned down? If so, what were the reasons? Just curious what to expect next?

yes, post #239 a few pages back

I think we only have 1 full acceptance (IBCCES and Universal Hollywood) and 1 Universal Orlando denial reported so far.

 

[Disneychick13]

So it seems like the Universal process is a 2 step one? The third party verifies that the person does in fact have a disability and then Universal verifies that this disability entitles them to their version of the DAS? Is this correct as far as we know?

 

[razlime]

Here's another anecdote from the subreddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UniversalOrlando/comments/152i5ns

In summary - she had a pretty negative experience getting accommodations for her child, though she did eventually have success.

[Edit for a warning: there is some ableism in the comments, though less than I was expecting! Interesting discussion nonetheless.]

 

[lanejudy]

So it seems like the Universal process is a 2 step one? The third party verifies that the person does in fact have a disability and then Universal verifies that this disability entitles them to their version of the DAS? Is this correct as far as we know?

Yes, that seems to be the new process for Universal now. The initial upload is simply a documentation check but not a guarantee of accommodations at the theme park.