A lot of the people posting advice to use a touring plan HAVE used a GAC and found that a touring plan was more helpful to them because it actually did shorten the waits.
If there is a different place for people with disabilities to wait, how long the wait will be depends on how many other people with special needs are already waiting. For Splash Mountain, we enter the regular line with wheelchair and just before the one gets to a set of stairs, there is a bypass with a wheelchair symbol that leads to a waiting area by the exit, with benches and shade to sit while you wait. How long you wait there will depend on how many other guests with special needs are waiting ahead of you.
Small World is another attraction with a special waiting area since the regular line is not wheelchair accessible. The last time we rode that was in May. My husband and DD had gotten into the accessible line ( she is in a wheelchair) while I was doing something else. When I came to the attraction, they had already been waiting for 15-20 minutEs.
Since I could to get to where they were, I just got into the regular line and planned to meet up with them afterwards. I waited in line for about 15 minutes and as it ended up, they were in a boat 3 boats ahead of mine. So, they ended up waiting 15-20 minutes LONGER then the regular wait because they were in that line.
We don't have any choice because DD has to use the wheelchair, but I do suggest that people who don't need the 'no stairs accessibility' check out the regular line because that often will be shorter than the area they could use with their GAC,
Many of the people waiting in line with my DH and DD wr not using wheelchairs so would have had a shorter wait using the regular line.
Besides that, I'll post what I posted on the thread you are probably referring to and then close this thread. Some of the posts you are considering snappy are in response to posts on threads like that where other posters are promising things like shorter waits.
And, there was a post a few months ago, where an OP was asking for a ahorter wait plus a place to sit while waiting. One poster on general kept posting things like "don't like the other posters tell you there is no place to sit in line because it's not a problem - you will be able to sit in any line".
When people pressed him for which particular lines he was referring to that had seats - it turned out that he was sitting on the ground. So, not helpful information for the OP who would not have been able to get down there, much less back up again, with mobility issues.
There have been quite a few threads like that in the past few months, especially.
Since there is a lot written in the disABILITIES FAQs thread, a lot of posters just say, "Look there" - much faster than reposting a bunch of stuff that is in there already. And, some readers may consider that advice not being sympathetic or being snappy.
And, much of post 6 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread is about talking to Guest Relations about your needs.
The information in that post is as correct as is possible since WDW does not publish anything official. I do not work for Disney, but a number of Guest Relations CMs have reviewed it for me and agreed it is correct information.
(and I have had several PMs from people over the years who are Guest Relations CMs who thought they figured out who I was - and thought I was either the manager of Guest Relations at a park or a Trainer).
There are websites out there that promise all sorts of things. You won't find that here because:
1) Only Guest Relations can give out GACs and, promises or not, the writer of the question may not be given the things that were promised on those other websites.
2) Disney changes things - even the same GAC on the same day at the same attraction might be handled differently if the person it was issued to comes back again to that attraction. And, all the ways will be correct.
3) it is printed right on the GAC that it is not meant to shorten waits.
The information about GACs is purposely a bit vague so that it will remain in date, will be valid for all attractions and not be likely to change between when the poster read it and when they get to the park.
You can find the disABILITIES FAQs thread near the top of this board or follow the link in my signature.
AND, finally, this HAS come up before and was why a thread stuck near the top of this board titled
An Open Letter from SueM
was created.
