Disney World vows action after report of wealthy hiring disabled to skip lines

[aruvqan]

May I point out that wheelchairs aren’t all that … last spring we did Universal in Florida because I wanted to see the Harry Potter attraction.

The little sort of trapezoidal area that is the Harry Potter Universe was packed with people on a wednesday not during any of the normal spring break/vacation periods. I made an attempt to get into the candy shop and it was so damned crowded, I made it in along one wall and then got stuck because nobody would get the fuck out of the way and would constantly push in front of me. I guess I was invisible, I didn’t get to shop, I managed to get out with the help of 2 employees who shut the aisle off for me so I could get back to the exit door. I ended up with a chocolate frog and some jelly beans because I sent mrAru back in for them - a couple friends of ours requested them. We ate lunch at the theme restaurant, the only reason we managed to get in and get a seat was me in the chair [the food was ok, I really liked the butterbeer. Way too much sugar for this poor diabetic otherwise I would drink a hell of a lot more of it!] I did enjoy lurking in a corner and crowd watching while mrAru did the coaster [I don’t like thrill rides or coasters, he does and I don’t mind hanging out while he has fun.] I didn’t bother trying to get into the wand shop, or anything else.

Yup, a 250 pound fat broad in a 35 pound wheelchair is invisible. Go figure.

[BigT]

@bartleby

Unfortunately, there are many jerks who think that My family and I should not have this benefit, or they should get it too, even though they are perfectly healthy and able bodied. So they either rent wheelchairs or just get them when they get to the park. Then THEY get the handicapped pass. Why should THEY have to wait?! Often you will see a group of these “human beings” (generally young people) switching off and taking turns riding in the chair (Oh what jolly fun!)

This particular problem though has an obvious solution. Require people to get the passes beforehand, and with a doctor’s excuse. And make the passes have a photo on them, and be something you can keep for a while (if the doctor’s excuse says you’ll still be disabled). And then have people watching for people swapping out of wheelchairs.

Sure, that won’t stop rich people from paying a doctor to lie or setting up with a real disabled person ahead of time, but it would at least stop the abuse you mention. (Though maybe it might drive up the cost to the point where a VIP pass is a better deal.)

[Arrendajo]

@bartleby

Alright, feel free to skip this, because there is a screed coming.

Speaking as the father of a child with CP, this is highly, highly offensive.
Disney treats those with special needs very well. Of all of the theme parks that we have been to, they have done it the best, hands down.

How it worked with us (this was about 2 years ago) was that we got a disabled pass at guest services at the beginning of the visit, and that got us a) into the FastPass queue if the wait was short or non-existent or b) given a time to come back it the wait was long. This is fair.

Part of the problem is that, by there very nature, these parks are not set up ideally for those who need assistance. Many of the rides (especially the older ones) have stairs or other impediments, especially at the entrances. If so, we’re either out of luck, or HAVE to use the exits.

Unfortunately, there are many jerks who think that My family and I should not have this benefit, or they should get it too, even though they are perfectly healthy and able bodied. So they either rent wheelchairs or just get them when they get to the park. Then THEY get the handicapped pass. Why should THEY have to wait?! Often you will see a group of these “human beings” (generally young people) switching off and taking turns riding in the chair (Oh what jolly fun!)

This is the reason that we no longer have passes to the local theme park here. Because of this abuse, they had to change the rules. Now only one helper can go, thus splitting the family up.

Yeah, I have a sweet deal. I get the BEST parking spaces. My family gets special treatment all the time. We get to go to the doctor and the hospital SO Much! We get free stuff from time to time! Heck, all of this Wonderful stuff, and all that had to happen is that my son will NEVER BE ABLE TO WALK, TALK, LIVE ON HIS OWN OF HAVE A NORMAL LIFE AT ALL! Sweet!

I think that I can be so bold as to speak for the vast majority of those people who either have, or are very close to, someone who is not just confined to a wheelchair, but has any type of special need that makes life difficult, that we would be Very Very Happy to trade all of that “Special Treatment” for the ability to walk. Or the ability to feed one’s self. Or the ability to live on one’s own.

There is a special circle of hell for people who do this sort of stuff.

Just because you have advantages that others don’t does not mean that they deserve more and more.

Beautifully well-put, and pretty concise for a screed.

[cmkeller]

bartleby, well put. Most people just take their and their families’ good health for granted.

[aceplace57]

I hope they don’t punish all the handicapped just because one individual took advantage of it. A lot of those handicapped kids are battling illness and I have no issues with them and their parents going to the head of the line.

Anytime you do something nice there will be some that abuse it. That handicapped person acting as a tour guide is probably the worst case. But why rescind the policy and hurt the legitimately disabled that only want to visit the park once and enjoy themselves?

[YogSothoth]

I say we should temporarily disable anyone who wants to use the disabled line

[RickG]

@bartleby

he family up.
I think that I can be so bold as to speak for the vast majority of those people who either have, or are very close to, someone who is not just confined to a wheelchair, but has any type of special need that makes life difficult, that we would be Very Very Happy to trade all of that “Special Treatment” for the ability to walk. Or the ability to feed one’s self. Or the ability to live on one’s own.

Amen. I’ve got retinitis pigmentosa, and am now functionally blind for most purposes (I’ve been legally blind for over a decade). We went to WDW a couple of years ago. I didn’t have a disabled pass (didn’t even know those existed), but I do carry a white cane and am always being led about by a family member, so my disability is obvious. Since I don’t have mobility problems, I was certainly willing to wait in the lines, but we were often just pulled out and moved ahead, which was great (and quite surprising the first couple of times). But yes, I’d much rather have my sight back than get to skip the line.

[MovieMogul]

@bldysabba

Those are pretty loaded poll options. And, as a result, a pretty useless poll.

Agreed. Abstaining.

[PunditLisa]

There are capacity-controlled, very expensive VIP tours for those with money. That option should remain because it gives very famous people an option to go to Disney without being mobbed.

But the practice of hiring disabled tour guides will only mean that the truly disabled people who want to enjoy the park will not be allowed, or will intrusive screening, because some douchebags want to avoid long lines.

Abstaining from the poll, because my answer is not an option.

[iamthewalrus_3]

I would personally be more interested in going to Disneyland if it were “pay per ride”, with an option to pay extra to get a shorter line. I really dislike waiting in line. I don’t think it’s a moral issue, though. I have no more right to demand an option to pay more to skip a line than anyone else does to demand that Disneyland charge everyone the same price and ration limited ride space by making them wait.

If they want to have a pricing model that involves waiting around hot and bored for 90% of the time, that may well be the best for them and most of the people who want to go to the park. I will just choose not to patronize them.

Obviously people who are exploiting a system designed to make things a little easier on the disabled are the worst sort of people. That is a moral issue, and those people are a bunch of dicks.

[PunditLisa]

I’d be more interested in going to WDW if they had occasional days where they doubled the price of the ticket but reduced by half the number of people they normally allow in.

[stuyguy]

It’s pretty unanimous that the rich jerks who do this are reprehensible. But what about the so-called “guides” who are so willing to cash in on their disability? From a certain perspective they are even bigger scumbags than the snobs who hire them. I think a lot of you are giving them a morality free-pass because they are disabled.

[Ambivalid]

@stuyguy

It’s pretty unanimous that the rich jerks who do this are reprehensible. But what about the so-called “guides” who are so willing to cash in on their disability? From a certain perspective they are even bigger scumbags than the snobs who hire them. I think a lot of you are giving them a morality free-pass because they are disabled.

I couldn’t agree more. As a man with a mobility-limiting disability, I find the exploitative actions of the disabled “guides” here reprehensible. Their disability is completely, one-hundred percent, irrelevant when it comes to the ethics of their actions.

[sachertorte]

@PunditLisa

I’d be more interested in going to WDW if they had occasional days where they doubled the price of the ticket but reduced by half the number of people they normally allow in.

You can get that effect easy enough by going during a slow period. I don’t know the exact numbers but ‘about half’ seems right for the difference between the craziness of high periods and the relative calm of low periods.

[Dewey_Finn]

Also, Disney World will open one of the parks early or keep it open late, but only for those staying at some of their hotels. They call this “extra magic hours.”

[etv78]

@Arrendajo

Beautifully well-put, and pretty concise for a screed.

+1!

[etv78]

I finished my HS education at a school for kids with disabilities. The Senior Trip is to WDW (week before Thanksgiving). For almost all of them, this will be the only time they get to go to WDW, and it’s the hightlight of their lives.

[ducati]

@RickG

Amen. I’ve got retinitis pigmentosa, and am now functionally blind for most purposes.

On our last visit to WDW a couple of years ago, I was heading in to a restroom when a woman brought an older, blind gentleman to the door and basically said “straight ahead!”

As his escort, she wasn’t being mean, she just couldn’t do much for him. I stepped over to him and asked if I could help him find his way. Having grown up with a couple of blind friends I was familiar with helping them and the etiquette involved.

I gave him my elbow, guided him to a urinal, and told him that sinks were 12 feet away at 6 o’clock and so forth. I waited for him to finish, and led him back to his daughter, since the entrance was a grand curved wall that would have been difficult to navigate (in my mind). They both thanked me and we went on our ways.

While the numbers of blind/disabled/unescorted 4yo kids may be comparatively small, I would like to see an employee stationed at each restroom to provide guidance or assistance to those who may need it. I know it would mean the world to those in need.

[Grumman]

@stuyguy

It’s pretty unanimous that the rich jerks who do this are reprehensible. But what about the so-called “guides” who are so willing to cash in on their disability? From a certain perspective they are even bigger scumbags than the snobs who hire them. I think a lot of you are giving them a morality free-pass because they are disabled.

“Cash in on their disability”? That’s a poor choice of words.

[stuyguy]

@Grumman

“Cash in on their disability”? That’s a poor choice of words.

Why do you say that? It describes the situation perfectly. They get paid money – and apparently good money – to pretend that a group of strangers are their family members. They literally sell their status as a disabled person who Disney allows to cut the line.

I’m sorry if it offends you, but my comment was absolutely NOT a poor choice of words.