What Would You Do In This Situation?

[Gumbo4x4]

If I've offended anyone for making the comment that these two young people didn't seem disabled, I sincerely apologize and was not trying to flame anyone and I do know that age has nothing to do with needing an ECV and that many people have legitimate disabilities. However, had you been there, you would know where I'm coming from and it was blatantly obvious to everyone there what was happening.

To be fair, my first instinct may or may not have been to wonder about their handicap or lack thereof. But, once they started to act up, I feel pretty certain it would have crossed my mind just as it did yours.

That said, one of the absolute nastiest & rudest people I've ever known was in a wheelchair. I don't know if he was a jerk before the accident or not, but he sure was when I knew him. So, it's certainly possible to be both legitimately handicapped and a complete jerk at the same time. Thankfully, he seems to have been the exception among folks I know with similar handicaps.

 

[angierae]

The driver should have been involved..that's part of the job. My issue??? How the heck did these 'entitled' folks get onto the bus to do all this complaining to begin with? Did they hop off their ECVs and board the bus, telliing those already on the bus that they have to get off? Yeah, like I'm going to move my toockus for that sort of behaviour!!! No one gets to tell other guests to get off a bus.

This is the part I don't understand. I've only been to WDW once, but from what I remember, the bus driver has to lower the ramps for the ECVs, and then come and flip up the seats and stuff to make room for the ECVs, get them strapped in, etc.

So the bus driver let them onto the bus, then "did nothing" until they bullied other people OFF the bus, then got the ECVs secured?

This makes no sense to me.

 

[Karl66]

If the bus was truly packed to the gills then the driver should have bypassed POFQ and called for another bus. It's a real sticky situation and should have been avoided by the CM behind the wheel. I'm not sure I'd be willing to get off the bus to make room unless I was sitting in a reserved seat. And then, perhaps begrudgingly, I'd step off and wait for the next one. Someone would have gotten an earfull from me though. The big question remains though: Why did the bus stop at POFQ if it was full and there truly no available seats? Seems silly to me, but I'm not familiar with WDW transportation policy. The ADA policy should only require that the buses are EHV compatable not that those persons go straight to the head of the line.

 

[SaraJayne]

Tough cookies for them. They can wait for another bus, just like anyone else.

No way in heck would I have gotten off for them ~ regardless of what kind of crap they tried to pull on me.

 

[pumpkinmomma]

This is the part I don't understand. I've only been to WDW once, but from what I remember, the bus driver has to lower the ramps for the ECVs, and then come and flip up the seats and stuff to make room for the ECVs, get them strapped in, etc.

So the bus driver let them onto the bus, then "did nothing" until they bullied other people OFF the bus, then got the ECVs secured?

This makes no sense to me.

This is what has me confused as well. I am trying to picture how this went down and it just doesn't make sense.

If it went down the way the op is saying, I still think it goes back to the driver not handling the situation correctly.

 

[goofy4tink]

Here's something none of you seem to be aware of. The bus most likely had to go to POFQ.....there may very well have been people on that bus who boarded in a park and were getting off at FQ.

Also....those in wheelchairs/ECVs go not get front of the line perks in the parks. The vast majority of attractions are ECV capable when it comes to the ques. There are some, but not many, attractions that have ECV riders board through another entrance. So, those who think ECV riders are getting up front more quickly are incorrect

And there is no way Disney is ever going to institute shuttle buses solely for those who are disabled. I can just see it now...a near empty bus pulls up to the resort, it's designated for ECVs and wheelchair guests. But, those in the MK bus area are tired of waiting for their bus, so they hop over to the 'disabled' bus!! Don't try to tell me that just wouldn't happen...we all know it would.
Besides, Disney makes provisions for those on ECVs. The vast majority of buses never even use those 'disabled' seats.

I am not saying that this situation didn't happen as reported. I am saying that there are some parts of it that just don't make sense to me.

 

[RetroCOTfan]

Sadly, I've witnessed some of this "entitled" behavior, too. On our last trip, one morning we were waiting (at ASMo) for an MK bus in a really long line. We had already missed one bus that was SRO, and there was an ECV waiting as well. When the next bus arrived, the ECV was loaded, and then the other passengers started to load, to the point that the bus was about to leave.

At that point, another ECV came flying up, with its driver yelling from far away to wait and stop loading. She drove up to the driver and demanded that he stop loading because she was supposed to be loaded first. All of this was in front of a line that would easily fill this bus to SRO, and then fill at least half of another one.

Several of the people waiting in line started yelling at the person in the ECV that she had to wait for the next bus, but the driver stopped loading other passengers and loaded the second ECV. While no one was asked to get off, there were no more passengers loaded after the second ECV (and the 6 other people in her party boarded). But this caused quite an uncomfortable situation as several of the passengers who were left waiting were yelling at both the 2nd ECV and the bus driver throughout the entire loading process. In fact, one of the people who had to wait for the next bus went up to the side of the bus to yell at the woman before the bus left.

Ultimately, it was a terrible situation caused by a person who didn't want to wait, even though the driver told her another bus was right behind him and there were clearly people who had been waiting for quite some time already.

I'm not commenting on individuals' needs for ECVs, but I know that in my time visiting Disney the number of ECVs seems to have skyrocketed. After spending a significant amount of time on our past trip waiting for ECVs to load on buses, we decided from now on we will rent a car. (I know that cutbacks resulting in fewer buses have an effect on this, but that's not the focus of this thread.) I'm not thrilled with this, because part of the appeal of a Disney trip was being "in the bubble" and not having to drive for a week. But if it means being able to save up to an hour of my precious vacation time every day, then I'll just drive.

In the OP's situation, I would not have gotten off the bus, simply because of the attitude exhibited. I was raised to have respect for others, but respect is not a one-way street.

 

[HMGar]

They should have waited. This is a blatant example of the squeeky wheels getting their way. I actually got angry reading this post. I am so tired of rude people getting their ways just because they think that their sh** doesn't stink and the world revolves around them.

I was in a wheel chair in 2006 because of a broken foot. We had already planned the trip, and I went and got hurt. The trip was nice, and we had a great time. Disney treats people in wheel chairs fairly and all of the cast members we dealt with were terrific. I would have NEVER insisted on preferential treatment because of the wheel chair. In fact, I was always a little uneasy about getting on the buses in my wheel chair ahead of others and getting buckled in while they all waited. It was a weird feeling to be treated differently and I didn't like that I was affecting other vacations by making them wait longer.

These people should have been told by the bus driver, "I'm sorry, the bus is at capacity. There will be another one by shortly. Thank you for your patience." And then he/she should have shut the door and driven off. End of story.

 

[Tigger's ally]

I guess I am "far from the Madding crowd" so to speak. If these people are let onto the bus, and start to be rude and obnoxious, then you can bet your eyepatch I would give up my seat for them ! I would politely tell them that I will give up my seat to anyone that asks kindly and that I wouldn't even RIDE on a bus with a couple of @#$%#'s taking advantage of the system. Then I would have stepped off and waited for another wonderful disney bus filled with families having a great time. There's always another one of them coming around the corner.

 

[Herekittykitty]

Sadly, I've witnessed some of this "entitled" behavior, too. On our last trip, one morning we were waiting (at ASMo) for an MK bus in a really long line. We had already missed one bus that was SRO, and there was an ECV waiting as well. When the next bus arrived, the ECV was loaded, and then the other passengers started to load, to the point that the bus was about to leave.

At that point, another ECV came flying up, with its driver yelling from far away to wait and stop loading. She drove up to the driver and demanded that he stop loading because she was supposed to be loaded first. All of this was in front of a line that would easily fill this bus to SRO, and then fill at least half of another one.

Several of the people waiting in line started yelling at the person in the ECV that she had to wait for the next bus, but the driver stopped loading other passengers and loaded the second ECV. While no one was asked to get off, there were no more passengers loaded after the second ECV (and the 6 other people in her party boarded). But this caused quite an uncomfortable situation as several of the passengers who were left waiting were yelling at both the 2nd ECV and the bus driver throughout the entire loading process. In fact, one of the people who had to wait for the next bus went up to the side of the bus to yell at the woman before the bus left.

Ultimately, it was a terrible situation caused by a person who didn't want to wait, even though the driver told her another bus was right behind him and there were clearly people who had been waiting for quite some time already.

I'm not commenting on individuals' needs for ECVs, but I know that in my time visiting Disney the number of ECVs seems to have skyrocketed. After spending a significant amount of time on our past trip waiting for ECVs to load on buses, we decided from now on we will rent a car. (I know that cutbacks resulting in fewer buses have an effect on this, but that's not the focus of this thread.) I'm not thrilled with this, because part of the appeal of a Disney trip was being "in the bubble" and not having to drive for a week. But if it means being able to save up to an hour of my precious vacation time every day, then I'll just drive.

In the OP's situation, I would not have gotten off the bus, simply because of the attitude exhibited. I was raised to have respect for others, but respect is not a one-way street.

I agree with this 100%. I have no patience for rude behaviour and disrespect towards others, scooter or no scooter. You wait your turn like everyone else.

Im just wondering if having a separate bus for scooters would be the logical solution. They can design it in a way that allows the person to snap themselves in quite quickly.

 

[Tigger's ally]

I agree with this 100%. I have no patience for rude behaviour and disrespect towards others, scooter or no scooter. You wait your turn like everyone else.

Im just wondering if having a separate bus for scooters would be the logical solution. They can design it in a way that allows the person to snap themselves in quite quickly.

Often wondered that myself. With the explosion of these scooters, I would think that there could be advances in the transportation of them too.

 

[jujube]

To me, the question is not whether these people were disabled. It is why would they think they should get priority over others. I can tell you that I would not have moved. We'd still be sitting at the bus stop if necessary.

 

[heyitsmejosh]

they shoulda just tied them to the roof like we do with my grandmother

 

[LucyBC80]

You wouldn't have gotten me out of that bus. Nu uh, sir.

 

[scdufek]

IMO, if the people in the scooters were feeling up to running around the parks, then they were up to waiting for the next available bus.

 

[maxiesmom]

They need to have buses specifically for wheelchairs and scooters. Something like a shuttle.

And then Disney would end up accused of segregation, of keeping the disabled guests away from the "normal" guests. Not to mention, if you have one bus running around picking up scooters it would take them forever to get to the parks. Imagine all that time getting the scooters onto the bus, and then strapping them down and unstrapping them at the parks. It would be horrible.

 

[LJD2143]

IMHO, one of the most critical points to this story is why the SRO bus stopped at another depot in the first place. Some people have replied that SRO busses will proceed directly to their destination, but not in my experience! Many, many times I have been on an SRO bus that proceeds to stop again and again for additional passengers.

In this instance, could it be that the driver was going to cram even more additional SRO guests onto the bus, and since he let SRO guests onboard, he had to accomodate the ECVs?

 

[yankeepenny]

what does Florida Law say? does the drive have to ask others to leave? or should he wait until a second bus shows up?

Disney doesn not want to get sued, but they need to do some pro activeness on this measure. I could just see an edited cell phone version of a person yelling wait for me and the bus taking off going viral on the internet.

I think the DRIVER should have to tell the ecver that either he will unload some folks, who may be unhappy, or that the entire bus waits until the next one comes.

No, I dont feel disability equals entitlement, as I have some issues physically that are not easily detected. I wait like everyone else and will not take advantage of any situation. I want to be treated like everyone else.

I truly dont understand where some folks get off thinking they are above anyone else. We all need to be educated on this issue, the disabled included.

 

[ariel12207]

In the OP's situation, I would not have gotten off the bus, simply because of the attitude exhibited. I was raised to have respect for others, but respect is not a one-way street.

Love this

 

[missy120]

There is no way I would have gotten off the bus, disabled doesn't mean you get to kick people off a bus or but in line, nothing wrong with waiting your turn like we all do.

I have given up my seat to stand plenty of times for people but no way are you kicking me off the bus after I waited in line to board like everyone else.