this is a little bit off topic but along the same lines. i work at wal mart and people are always using the electric carts. most of the time its people who dont need them. i saw this probably 13 year old girl using one. she had nothing wrong she just wanted to use one cause everyone else in her family were riding around on one. there was a girl who didnt have legs using one which is fine but she was very rude to other people and running into people. she was being loud and throwing things at my self checkouts. it doenst matter where you go people stoop low enough and take advantage of things they shouldnt. i really wish i could tell someone who is just being lazy that they should put the cart back for someone who really needs it, but my luck i would be told off and they would speak to a manager so i hold my tongue. now when i see a child or immature teenagers using one i tell them to put it back and that they are not toys.
We were just there last week and they were not allowing scooter people to cut the lines, they had to park the scooters and get in line just like the rest of us.
We did see wheelchair/crutches, etc that were allowed to the front though.
There are few rides where scooters are not allowed in the line one way or another (regular or alternate line). Ellen's Energy Adventure and Pirates are two of them. A scooter user can transfer to a push wheelchair (provided) if they choose. I've never been "made" to park my scooter and walk, although I've done so many times
Hmmmm....if having a GAC or what have you was such a fantasy FOTL pass then why, when I have a 5yo daughter with multiple physical defects that can have one, does my family NOT get one? Because it is equally convenient, I would say more so, to NOT have a GAC.
I do not believe for one moment that grown adults in wheelchairs recieved preferential treatment to a MakeAWish child.
Now I will say on our trip in 2001, I did end up in a wheelchair and in several instances it was quicker back then. We did wait like everyone else in the rapids ride at AK, it was the beginning of making rides accessible to wheelchairs. I would have preferred to NOT have been in a wheelchair.
This happens at many parks now and it is very sad. People who really need the scooters cannot get them because those being lazy are taking them so they can jump the lines. Some people are so danged lazy and rude it is not even funny anymore.
Last trip to WDW I contemplated getting a scooter but feared rude comments and chose to live with the pain. By the end of each day I hurt very badly and hobbled to my car but my kids had fun and that was what was important. I am in pain daily and just try to deal with it. I would trade my pain to any of these people thinking it is cool to ride around in a scooter to jump the line.
What I don't understand is the conflicting information in these stories. The "cheat" group claims that handicapped gets FOTL access and the "real" handicapped claim they do not with very few crossover stories. I don't see how both can be true.
Perception. The "cheat" group thinks that, because they're directed to a different access route, they got to skip the line. Uh-uh. On the other hand, those of us in the other group know the truth, from experience.
BethC1952 said:
I returned two weeks ago from a trip with a friend in a scooter. We did NOT get front of the line access. We often went to the front of the line, and then were escorted to a place to wait until we could be accommodated, and often waited much longer than anyone in the stand-by line!
It really started to bug us when the people with the scooters got on the bus first and the scooters took up 2 seats and then they would get off their scooters and seat in one of the other available seats.
Safety. It's not safe to sit on a scooter - even strapped down - on a moving vehicle. Too much chance of the whole thing toppling and injuring both that Guest and anyone on whom the ECV falls.
mickeyluv'r said:
One day my sister went back to our room for a break by herself. The CM never came over, and she had to go around the monorail loop a second time! It was a nightmare!
Wow, that's a lot more common than I thought. I thought I was the only one stuck on the endless monorail loop!
famsen said:
I see many people on every trip who get up from their scooters and walk with no problems and unassisted when they want to.
I don't see why people on scooters would have to be allowed to the front of the line anyway. If they are on a scooter, they are not exerting themselves by scooting through a long long and waiting their turn.
Well, I walk with a cane when I'm not on the ECV - so I guess you're not referring to me? And alternate access ISN'T due to exertion (not, frankly, that it's anyone's business). It's because the LINE ITSELF is not designed to handle ECVs, and sometimes wheelchairs.
Considering the amount of wheelchairs and scooters we saw in the parks more than half of the American population must be handicapped.
Again, perception. For your 'statistic' to be valid, more than half of the Guests wherever you were or could see at any given time would have been using wheelchairs/ECVs.
Perception. The "cheat" group thinks that, because they're directed to a different access route, they got to skip the line. Uh-uh. On the other hand, those of us in the other group know the truth, from experience.
There appear to be a number of posters to this thread who do know the difference and have stated they are shortening the wait time. Are there different levels of GAC? Could it be simply time of year such that scooters/wheelchair guests take about 20 minutes (total guess) so during the busy season that is a shortcut but during the off-season that same time is now longer?
There seems to be more at work here than simply perception. I don't let it bother me either way but now this has entered a really odd stage where two groups of people that are theoretically doing the same thing have very different claims about wait times relative to standby/FP.
I rented an ecv in May from an off site place and often was brought through an alternate entrance but not to the front of the line. I can't say about all rides because I can't ride the rough rides anmore due to my back. That's why I need the ecv. I can't stand or walk for long periods of time. However, on TSM, you stay on the ecv and go through the que with everyone else until you get to the stairs and then you go up a ramp instead and then wait until a special vehicle is directed to a side track for you to enter. It isn't any shorter wait at all.
By the way, I did see some people renting ecv's from Disney and turning them over to minors who then would let an additional passenger ride with them. Three violations there: you agree that only you will ride the ecv when you rent from Disney, you are over 18 and no additional people will ride with you.
Trust me. I would love to go back to the days I did not need the ecv to get around on vacation. Thank heavens there is a device that allows me to see the World in my conditon.
aside from the fact that is really morally wrong , i believe in karma. i think that it is risky for that person to lie about their disability because someday it really might happen to them. i also think that it is wrong of people to get impatient when someone disabled gets to park closer or might get a little break in terms of being in the front of the line. this person may also someday have a disability problem and need to special assitance and then they will truly understand the obstacles and impatience that they sense others have with them for no reason.
Again, perception. For your 'statistic' to be valid, more than half of the Guests wherever you were or could see at any given time would have been using wheelchairs/ECVs.
Well in my perception,as you put it I, can only see a society that is going down hill in very very fast.
Cheating, lying, being rude is becoming the standard norm.
That goes for those who cheat themselves in FOTL as well as those who let there children sit in the buses,playing on there DS an elderly ore pregnant have to hang on the rails the whole time ore those who teach there children how to use a GAC,wheelchair ore scooter is fun.
And it's a very frightening idea that in a few years all those kids that never learned to share,take care ore work must run the society.
Most children are treaded like little royals and be sure there's no way they will give up this position when growing up.
O are you not feeling well? Of course mommy will give your office a call.
Go to bed honey I will bring you a nice cuppa thea.
We're breeding a generation that will "take care of us " in the future in a way we never dreamed in our worst nightmare.