(I considered finding and bumping an older related thread with an update, but then figured it would be better to start fresh while focusing on people’s opinions of the new system.)
I don’t have much of a personal stake in this, since it’s been over 20 years since I’ve been to any theme parks, don’t have any plans to in the foreseeable future, and I live in Florida. But I recall the discussions that went on with the recent uproar about rampant abuse and 1%'ers paying disabled people to be their guides in order to exploit the benefits. There were some interesting insights and perspectives, particularly from those who are familiar with the challenges of waiting in long lines with someone with a disability. I’d be interested in hearing thoughts about the new system and whether or not it’s fair and will be workable from their perspective.
And what does everybody else (who care about such things) think? Will it prevent or reduce abuse? Was it even necessary? Did Disney strike the right balance, or have they overreacted to a non-issue and consequently made life harder for those with disabilities and their families?
My own very limited understanding of the situation is that all they did was basically give disabled people and their parties free “FastPass” access. Is that right? If so, I’m thinking that kinda sucks and am leaning towards this being an overreaction.
I would have stuck with the old system: people in wheelchairs get a bump to the head of the line. Why was the change made? Were there simply too many people in wheelchairs? I’ve heard it said that healthy people were using wheelchairs as a dodge, but I dunno. Not sure I buy it. They’re uncomfortable, you can’t see over everyone’s heads, they’re slow, and they’re hard to maneuver. If you don’t have a guy pushing you, you’re really gonna regret the joke by the end of the day.
What I read was that disabled people were, for a fee, accompanying healthy people pretending to be part of their family, so that the whole group would go to the head of the line. They would do this over and over with different families.
I think this solution works fine. The main point is not forcing a disabled person to wait in line or (more likely) to give up and go away because they can’t wait in line.
Roddy
My understanding is that just because you show up in a wheelchair, doesn’t mean you got any treatment. At least when I did it with my daughter 2 years ago, we had a doctors letter, had to go to guest services, got a pass for a specified period of time and names of those in the party. My daughter is autistic, so maybe not obviously physically handicapped to the average observer. And I’m really grateful to Disney offering that - otherwise we simply could not have gone. I believe that someone in a wheelchair would have had to go to guest services and register.
Waiting in line had several different types. One type was you go in the exit, and then got accommodated quickly. One was go in the exit line if one of the workers there would allow it after checking your pass (the only one I can remember is the water log ride at California adventure). There were not a lot of these. Most of the time we had to wait in the fast pass line. While this was a huge improvement over the standard summer times, it was still not easy for my daughter. A kid that can’t wait in line for more than a few minutes finds a 20 minute fast pass wait pretty torturous (Over California, Haunted House, Goofy’s Sky School, autotopia, all seemed to take forever even with the handicapped accommodation).
If under the new system, you come back in say 45 minutes, and then jump to the front of the line. That would have probably been okay (still not easy with an autistic child). The person would have to wait nearby or do something nearby, watch the time and come back. You’d be waiting the same time as everyone else but could do your waiting more comfortably. Thing is, I suspect you can’t “jump to the front of the line” because there is no special lane to get you to the front of the line for most rides.
If you come back in 45 minutes and get in the fast pass line, then it would suck. Remember you have to physically go to each attraction to get a fast pass time. Disabled generally don’t have the easiest time to go to 10 different rides, get times, come back at the appropriate time. And then you’d have to wait in the Fast Pass line
I’m sure there was abuse. I mean a fake doctor’s letter, some acting and about 30 minutes of your time was all that was required. But you’re Disney, how onerous a requirement can you enforce?
That’s not my understanding of how the old system worked, and that’s apparently also not how the new system will work.
Sounds like a wheelchair or another “apparent disability” obviates the need for any kind of pass or special card. That’s also my impression of how it used to work, except that there will now be no immediate skipping to the front of the line for anyone.
It sounds like Guest Services WILL still make special arrangements for people under exceptional circumstances to immediately bypass the lines, but I imagine that those will be tightly controlled and difficult to qualify for without a clear, incontrovertible need.
I don’t really have an opinion, but this sentence jumped out at me:
My immediate reaction: Well, duh! Of course having to wait negatively impacts your ability to enjoy Disney World. You’re going to have to come up with a better argument than that. I’m sure anyone would say that Disney World would be a lot more enjoyable if they never had to wait and could always jump to the front of any line.
If you’re going to “take offense” at something, it should be because it’s wrong—because there’s something unjust or unfair or actually offensive about it—not just because it negatively impacts you.
I think this change is fair. The reason you would let disabled people go to the front of the line was so they could avoid standing in line for hours. This alleviates that but removes the incentive to abuse the system.
The old system actually didn’t require any sort of proof - for ADA Disney isn’t supposed to ask. So you had a lot of people coming up claiming they couldn’t stand in lines because of “anxiety” (and some of them had anxiety issues) and getting GACs. It wasn’t being simply abused, it was being defiled. It was also very inconsistently implemented. If you couldn’t handle crowds, but were with a large party, you were often told no accommodation would be made, but to have your party create a buffer zone with their bodies in line. But the someone with the same issue traveling with just their spouse would get a pass. When Good Morning America (IIRC) ran a special on how some people were hiring themselves out as guides and using their wheelchairs to get people better access, when everyone knew was happening if you read the internet about how to do Disney at all became public knowledge and Disney execs had to “do something.” Whether that “something” will have teeth or not or if its just a move to a new system that will be abused as soon as people figure it out is yet to be seen.
Disney is in a rough spot - they can’t ask for that doctor’s note China Guy provided. A lot of people take their kids with special needs to Disney, and Disney doesn’t need bad PR. But because a bunch of kids who can’t wait in line are at Disney, does that mean my family should wait in line LONGER? And maybe that is fair when there are real needs - but there were tons of people renting wheelchairs to shorten their wait.
Disney will retain special access for Make a Wish kids - but only Make a Wish kids. People going with their terminally ill mother will have the same waits as healthy families. But so will people who lie about an anxiety condition so they don’t have to wait for Space Mountain. Families with autistic kids won’t be able to finish the park in three hours (as one mother of an autistic child was complaining about - for her family it will mean staying longer to spread the same attractions over more days, or seeing less), but the waits for my family should shorten a little as the special needs lines are integrated into the regular wait times. And the reward for Joe Scammer has disappeared.
I don’t see why. It doesn’t have to be a note detailing the particular disablement. It can be “I, the doctor, certify that my patient X falls under the disability criteria published by amusement park Y.” No ADA or HIPAA violation.
Because the accommodations made for someone vision impaired are different than someone with sensory disorder. Disney has to know what accommodations need to be made. A blanket “this person is disabled” isn’t adequate.
And, frankly, doctor’s signatures on forms can be forged, so it opens Disney up for lawsuits (park employee told someone I have XXX - even if they aren’t restricted by HIPAA, Disney gets sued for EVERYTHING - they don’t WANT to know because they don’t want the hassle) without solving the problem.
Thank you. That’s my argument in quite a lot of things. So many people seem to get offended because they are annoyed or inconvenienced. It’s a chronic problem.
Heck, I may want to put it as my signature.
As for the situation: it’s more than fair. You still get a callback, which is more than the people waiting in line get.
That’s what it sounds like to me, but keep in mind Disney is also in the middle of rolling out a new FastPass+ system along with the new MagicBands, where you can use a smartphone app to set up the FastPass in advance. So you no longer have to rush to Space Mountain early in the day to get a Fast Pass for the afternoon, you can have the timeslot reserved long in advance.
It’s currently limited to just a couple of selections per day, but it seems like the restrictions could be eased/lifted for disabled guests.
There’s a lot of stuff not in the Constitution if you want to raise that argument.
I’ll reserve judgement on Disney until I hear from folks on how the new policy is in reality. I’m grateful that the past policy allowed my family to have a family vacation and experience Disneyland. We could not have done it without accommodation.
