Who's allowed to cut to the head of the line at amusement parks?

Factual Questions
21

Oh! Oh! I used to work at Knott’s Berry Farm down in Buena Park. Maybe I can expand.

Basically, only people with VIP passes are supposed to be able to get to the head of the line. These are available for purchase by anyone, and they really are pretty expensive, far more than twice the cost of normal admission, IIRC. So only really rich folks get them. Also, the park frequently gave several VIP tickets to various children’s hospitals and wards in the area, so we frequently had terminally ill kids able to cut to the front. That was sad :frowning:

As for handicapped, in practice they are allowed to cut to the front, but that’s basically a decision left up the ride operator. We usually let the handicapped cut if they had a relatively small group and were polite. However, it was a big group or if they were being dicks (like just walking in past the big sign that says to wait for ride operator to let you in and then bitching us out that you are handicapped so you are allowed to after we politely told you to wait behind the gate for safety reasons), then the whole party except the handicapped person and one person to act as a caretaker would have to get in line. We’d let them onto the ride after the rest of their group got to the front of the line the proper way.

Of course, this was only Knott’s, so other parks may be different. And Knott’s may very well have changed it’s policy.

22

Oh yes, it was the official park policy that the handicapped person had to wait for the rest of the party to reach the front of the line. And there were benches and such where they could sit out of the way. And they needed a special pass. But that was easy to get and I think everyone knew about it. At least, I’ve known about the handicapped get to the front of the line thing at D-land for several years now. But Rick’s right…I’ve never seen it advertised and I only knew about it because a friend’s father was in a wheelchair.

23

And in the case of celebrities, theme parks (I’m thinking specifically of Disney and Universal) will usually backdoor (paraphrasing here. can’t remember the exact words) - “those persons whose presence may cause undue distraction within the park”: e.g. Michael J. Fox and his family want to spend an afternoon at the park; they are not likely to be left alone by folks wanting autographs and photos during the normal 90 minute wait for Spiderman**, so to allow them a little quiet and family togetherness, skip past the normal queue line, get on the attraction, and are gone again, while the rest of the park buzzes with the rumors that “Michael J. Fox” is in the park, and every tourist is neck-craning to see if he is in line somewhere.
** Okay, it’s 10 minutes right now in the off-season, but you get the idea. Sheesh.

24

To add another category of people who get brought to the front of the line, I’ve done this while on a business trip to an amusement park. I mean, I was doing business with the business end of the amusement park operation, and then the VIP trip through the park was a little perk. If they’re trying to get your business, I think this is fairly common. It could be that Anna Nicole got VIP treatment because she’s a celebrity cough, but it’s also possible that the park figured it would be good publicity to be featured on her show, and the deal was worked out that way.

25

I went to Cedar Point in Ohio with a guy who ended up using a wheelchair not long into the day, because he had recently had knee surgery. When we went to the kiosk to rent a wheelchair for him, they gave us a yellow paper that allowed him and one other person to walk up the exit of the ride and get on the next car that came into the station. We could choose any car on the ride, even the front car, and could ride twice in a row without getting off. We were only allowed to go on a ride a certain amount of times per day and they stamped the busier rides when we got into the car to make sure we didn’t abuse the priviledge.

Since this was in June, I am sure we pissed off a number of people who had waited longer in line for the front car, but we abused the priviledge to the best of our ability.

26

Quoting from the brand-new edition of Universal Orlando Rider’s Guide for Rider Safety & Guests with Disabilities.

[Regarding “cutting to the front of the line”]

Page 6:

*For your enjoyment and convenience, all of our shopping and dining facilities are wheelchair accessible. Also, our outdoor stage shows have areas reserved for guests with disabilities. These areas are clearly marked with the International Symbol of Accessibility.

At most of our attractions, the queue experience is an important part of telling the story of the overall attraction experience. As a result, we have made all of our queues accessable to guests using wheelchairs (with the exception of Pteranodon Flyers at Universal’s Islands of Adventure and Back to the Future the Ride at Universal Studios).*…

So, for the most part, the whole idea of ‘jumping the queue’ stemmed from pre-ADA requirement architecture: pathways to the rides and attractions had stairs, sharp & tight corners, narrow walkways, basically, places where a standard wheelchair could not maneuver. Now, for the most part, more parks are quickly accomodating to the needs of guests with disabilities. Not to mention the fact (as stated above) that in a theme park, the queue line sets up the whole story for the ride - those overhead monitors are there to prepare you for the attraction, not just to kill time while you are standing in line. Take away the story on MGM’s Rock’n’Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith; you merely have a very fast roller coaster, but why are you drving like hell through nighttime Los Angeles in a limousine with Aerosmith music blaring in both ears. Might as well use Mantovanni or no music at all (happened today: the sound system went out while I was on the ride - rather eerie, actually).

[In some places, the architecure is not set up to fully accomodate a wheelchair. In specific, I am thinking of one of the dolphin shows at the Miami Seaquarium. This park was built back in the 50s, well before concern for patrons’ special needs became a nationwide issue. This attraction requires a two-story stair climb to see the show itself, and the visitors have no seats, but can lean against rails “for their convenience”. Those in wheelchairs and those who cannot otherwise climb stairs have small viewports to watch the dolphins underwater. I believe this is being remedied within a new phase of park redevelopment, but the last time I was there with (former)Roommate, he was admitted free since he could not visit all the attractions (he cannot climb stairs and could only view the Flipper, seal lion and killer whale shows. This was a concession within the ADA rules, since the park could not provide access to all guest areas.]

As far as “cutting to the front of the line”, Universal and Disney (AFAIK) does allow some folks with certain medical conditions special passes with doctor’s proof of said condition; IIRC, I saw one young man and his family “backdoored” because he had a form of autism (of which, I am sadly ignorant, but suffice to say, it was a good enough reason for Universal to let him through [and that’s fine with me]). I have also seen the kids with “Give Kids the World” (and other charities dealing with terminally ill children) given said special treatment on days when the lines are quitre long. Again, these are special, special cases.

There is a lot more within the booklet (34 pages, covering both parks), but darnit, my fingers are tired at this point. E-mail me if anyone wants some more specific info: these booklets (Universal and Disney) cover everything from parking, to which rides service animals can accompany the guests, to symbol descriptions (susceptible to motion sickness, strobe effects, height ranges, etc), and lots more common inqueries than I would ever think of asking.

Hope this helped.

27

A few years ago, my sister and I got VIP passes at Universal Studios that allowed us to cut to the head of the lines. She knew someone who worked there and he got us the passes.

28

Yup, that’s a perk too, porcupine. Happened to us when we had some pretty lousy guest service (years ago) - one of the R&S managers heard about the situation, immediately took care of the matter and gave us his business card with “2 people, all access” and his signature on the back. Handed the card to each greeter, and we were personally escorted into each attraction so fast the wind was rushing in my ears.

29

My last visit to Knott’s Berry Farm was Veteran’s Day, 2001 (all veterans and their spouse and up to two offspring were admitted to the park free of charge). My last visit to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure was on Veteran’s Day, 2002 (we decided to go wild and irresponsible with our income tax return, and bought Annual Passports). My point is that this information is fresh enough to meet its sell-by date.

Both parks (well, all three, technically) allow guests who require special assistance to obtain an authorization pass at the guest services office. At Knott’s, it’s a small office adjacent to the exit gates, which is also where they sell annual passes. At Disneyland, it’s City Hall, at the front gate end of Main Street, U.S.A. At California Adventure, it’s a Guest Relations/Lost and Found building just inside the gate. In all parks, the pass is issued with the name of the person requiring special assistance written on it, along with the number of people in that person’s party. The parks do not at this time have any policy requiring such parties to split up. All parks make use of a “Fast Pass” system, and special assistance guests are permitted to use the Fast Pass line at any time.

A wheelchair is not absolutely necessary to obtain a special assistance authorization; persons accompanied by service animals (think: Guide Dog, primarily) are also permitted to obtain them. However, Disney parks, which used to have Cast Members available to take charge of service animals while the user was on a ride, have adopted a policy of requiring at least one member of the party wait at the boarding area with the animal and ride separately. Knott’s has always had this policy.

30

In India, if you know the right people (mainly management) in the park, you get to jump any damn line you want. I was once at an amusement park with the municipal commisioner of Bombay - he knew the management - park personnel were going out of their way to make our time there good!! Even the food was free!!

Being a celeb also allows you to jump the line here - funnily, most people are happy to allow a celeb to jump their line!!

On the other hand, we don’t have special Fasttrack or VIP passes at the parks in India. Although it is fair IMO, people here wouldn’t stand for it even for a minute. Don’t ask, cause I don’t know why!!

31

screech-owl typed:

Yup. Although it is often difficult for people who are not familiar with autism to understand (because it may seem so contrary to their own experiences), children with autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and related disorders are often literally incapable of standing in line.

And I mean “literally” in the strict sense here. Standing in line requires being in the presence of large crowds of strangers, standing still for extended periods of time, and acting according to unstated social conventions about “queuing”. These acts can be extremely difficult or impossible for someone with autism.

Recently, amusement parks have begun to recognize this, and most will give passes accordingly. In the end, everyone is happier: obviously the child, and also the rest of the crowd, since most people not accustomed to the disorder can be quite put out by the behaviors of an autistic child in a stressful situation.

-mok, who knows the above from first hand experience at Epcot

32

DOH!

33

Last summer my wife and I went to Disneyworld with 4 grown children and 5 grandchildren. My wife does not use a wheelchair, but she can’t walk very far or very fast, so she rented a motorized wheelchair for the park. As we were standing in a line for one of the attractions, one of the attendants noticed her chair, and told us to go to the handicapped entrance. We did, and they admitted all 11 of us, and took us right to the ride. After that, we did it on several other rides as well. They didn’t require any kind of special pass or doctor’s note.

We also used the fast pass on some of the rides. As some others have mentioned, this allows you to sign up for a particular time on a ride, and when that time comes, you get to take a special path to the ride, bypassing maybe several hundred other people who are waiting in line. There was no charge for this, but you could only be signed up for one ride at a time.

34

Disabled people, espeically if in wheelchairs, definitely get to advance to the front of most lines. My best friend is disabled, so I know this very well.

And, of course, the disabled person’s companion gets to go first, too. My friend can get around on his own just fine, but he’s not ashamed to let me share the wealth.

“Membership has its benefits” as he likes to say. :slight_smile:

35

I broke my toe before my family’s outing to L.A., and as a result I had to wear this big clumsy boot. Though I could walk just fine, my family insisted on renting a wheelchair at Universal Studios and Seaworld. After we just got in line for the Back to the Future ride an attendant spotted us and escorted us to the front, no questions ask. Naturally after discoverying this we made sure to abuse it as much as we could, taking in all the rides and attractions. $4.00 for wheelchair rental and no waiting in the hot summer sun, what a deal.

36

I know Cedar Point has a baby policy. If one parent waits in line, the other parent taking care of the baby can walk around and meet them at the exit. After the one parent rides, the other can get on without waiting in line. If you have a child on the ride with you, they get to ride again.

I do have a slight problem with VIP passes, only in the sense that it causes me to wait longer. I have no problem with someone getting more for the amount paid, but in this case it’s at my expense. I’m sure it’s usually not a problem, but if you were in line, and let’s say 1000 vip ticket holders show up, you would see my point. That said, I’d certainly invest in one!

37

Dear Aunt got us comp VIP passes to Universal. We had no idea what “VIP” passes were until the guide walked us to the exit of the first ride and told us to hop on the ride. We were mortified! I mean, these people had waited 60-90 minutes to get on the ride and we just waltzed on like we owned the place.

Personally, I think VIP passes create ill will and should be done away with.

38

I love it! “The Queue Experience”! aka - Being so bored you wanna put a gun to your head rather than wait in line any longer.

I wonder how much the V.P. of Public Relations with a PhD in Marketing Philosophy got paid to come up with that little bit of Orwellian newspeak…

39

I have trouble walking distances and once rented a wheelchair at Disneyland. It was WONDERFUL. I didn’t get any paper passes but we were able to go in the backs of most of the rides, except the newer accessible ones. I wouldn’t have minded waiting in the regular line in the chair, since I wasn’t hurting, but for most of the rides that was impossible. Oh, damn. :slight_smile:

I don’t think it’s exploitation. It meant that I had a really fun day instead of a really crappy pain-filled one.

40

But waiting in line for some rides is fun, at least on newer ones. After a while some architects got the idea that when you’re standing in line, you might wish to be entertained.

Tokyo Disney Sea has some incredibly ornate queueing areas.

But then again, that is one incredible theme park.