GAC to Become DAS

[BroganMc]

You are correct that a wheelchair ALONE won't get you into the alternate entrance. A lot of the queues are/were wheelchair accesible. But what started happening was people would rent a wheelchair AND come to Guest Relations for a "Wheelchair" stamped GAC (this stamp was not intended as an "immediate entrance" tool).

Eventually, the parks (especially MK) replaced the "Wheelchair" stamp with the "Alternate Entrance" stamp. This meant that simply by having a wheelchair, your GAC was stamped for "Alternate Entrance," meaning FP line usually (or a side-door).

I mentioned a week or so ago that Epcot seems to be the ones having the most issues with switching to DAS. They were also the park that was least likely to offer a Guest in a wheelchair the Alternate Entrance stamp. They would do everything they could to only stamp Wheelchair. MK didn't even have the wheelchair stamp. Why the inconsistency? Talk to the park VPs. Anyways, what this led to was MK Cast Members not knowing what the "wheelchair" stamp was (which would have made the Guest wait in the standard queue, usually) and sending the Guest to City Hall to get Alternate Entrance (which would send them through FP).

This info must just get around, because Guests with wheelchairs usually knew to ask specifically for the "card with the arrows (Alternate)." Whether it was internet, or word of mouth, or both, I don't know.

So while you are correct that initially wheelchairs weren't supposed to get "front of line" access, in the end it turned out that they did, in general.

But you didn't need a wheelchair to get a GAC with an alternate entrances stamp. That step was pointless and cost the fools extra money. I wish they'd created a stamp for "must use wheelchair ride vehicle". That would have been a lot more helpful in weeding out the abusers while helping the needy. Few cheaters would race to get a GAC if they knew it meant they'd then have to wait in another line at the alternate entrance for the one vehicle to take them around the track.

And while we're at it, why can't the park buses be designed like the big motor coach buses? Then the ECV users would park their scooters under the bus in storage and the wheelchair-bound users alone would be loaded onto the bus taking up those precious seats. (Yeah I know, unintended consequence is that it takes so bloody long to work one of those bus wheelchair lifts and they are so prone to breaking. Ramps are much better because they have a manual override. You don't get stuck on a bus with a ramp; but if the lift breaks you have to wait for Maintenance to carry you off.)

I know, let's have an ECV towing trailer at the back of every bus. Then those riders can park and board like everyone else saving the wheelchair spots for people who actually ride in the space.

 

[BroganMc]

Well, the handicapped parking is the only good argument used there. A non-handicapped person is not denying a disabled person anything by using the rest. An able person can use a wheelchair ramp as well but it doesn't stop a disabled person from using it. That is why Handicapped Parking is the only one that is backed up by a law and is for Handicapped ONLY. The rest are there for convenience but not exclusive.

Um handicapped bathroom stalls, if abused, are also taking up a resource designated for the disabled. Laws haven't made it an offense worth fining, but clearly you are prohibiting the disabled from using it if you do.

In the UK they have special keys given to the disabled to use handicapped stalls in public areas. This keeps out the non-disabled population from abusing it and is controlled by the government. Every time I encounter a long wait for the one HA stall I envy Britain.

 

[Gabe1]

The ironic thing is renting a wheelchair to get into an alternate entrance was dealt with a decade ago. There are only maybe 2-3 places in all of WDW you ever have an alternate entrance for a wheelchair. So the joke is on the idiot who tries this.

Actually when my DD was hurt in AKL room, those bed frames are lethal, needed stitches in her knee. We rented a wheelchair cause with her knee stitched up and swollen she couldn't walk the parks. We didn't have a GAC pass and whenever we attempted to pull her out the wheelchair at an attraction CMs brought us to the front of the queues. Not once were we allowed to pull her out or go through the queue with their wheelchair we rented. Disney indeed dealt with the queues over a decade ago but they certainly didn't implement what you are speaking of from our own experience.

Handicapped parking, automatic doors, handicapped bathroom stalls and curb cuts are frequently used and abused by people who don't need them. Should we do away with them too?

.

Parking I will give you, there are laws that govern handicapped parking and require documentation to obtain those plates and/or plackerts. The buses and monorails also specifically indicate which seats are intended for those with disabilities but if nobody is using those seats they are fair game, they need not be left empty leaving the resort and heading to the MK just they should be yielded if needed. I yield a seat to elderly and small children that are not disabled. My DS a CM are instructed never to sit if WDW guests are standing on transportation even if they are off duty.

The other examples are accessible not reserved for a certain demographic of WDW guests and neither are the ADA resort rooms. I've been placed in a mobility adapted guest room on property. I don't even know how I could abuse walking up a curb cut out. Every single corner has a curb cut out, does that mean I can't use the sidewalk because the doorway and corners have curb cutouts? Bathrooms we've debated to death, they are not marked reserved like parking and certain bus seats neither are the curb cut outs. I even use the handicapped accessible entrances to attractions, we guests share the ADA accessible entrances to attractions they are not reserved either for disabled. The definition of accessible in ADA is not reserved, it is however an indicator that it is accessible, nothing more.

And that is the premise of ADA compliant, inclusion. Not 'this is mine,mine, mine.' That is as wrong as lacking inclusion. I love those birds.

 

[awoogala]

Um handicapped bathroom stalls, if abused, are also taking up a resource designated for the disabled. Laws haven't made it an offense worth fining, but clearly you are prohibiting the disabled from using it if you do.

In the UK they have special keys given to the disabled to use handicapped stalls in public areas. This keeps out the non-disabled population from abusing it and is controlled by the government. Every time I encounter a long wait for the one HA stall I envy Britain.

sadly, though, they have put a lot of baby changing stations inside the only handicapped stall, thus making it a non-exclusive stall.

 

[startraveler]

Um handicapped bathroom stalls, if abused, are also taking up a resource designated for the disabled. Laws haven't made it an offense worth fining, but clearly you are prohibiting the disabled from using it if you do.

In the UK they have special keys given to the disabled to use handicapped stalls in public areas. This keeps out the non-disabled population from abusing it and is controlled by the government. Every time I encounter a long wait for the one HA stall I envy Britain.

yes, places like the Kennedy Center and other theatres in New York and around have keys and an usher to "usher" you to the facility. You only have so much time during intermission.

 

[mr spalding]

I wish they'd created a stamp for "must use wheelchair ride vehicle". Few cheaters would race to get a GAC if they knew it meant they'd then have to wait in another line at the alternate entrance for the one vehicle to take them around the track.

This is what I have been preaching. It made me sick to my stomach watching those worthless fakers stroll right on past the standby queue in their wheelchairs and then pop right on up and load the first ride vehicle that came by all while my family and disabled child had to wait on a wheelchair accessible vehicle to make it's way around. Every time I saw this, I wanted to yell out at the top of my lungs "IT'S A MIRACLE!!!

 

[Gabe1]

yes, places like the Kennedy Center and other theatres in New York and around have keys and an usher to "usher" you to the facility. You only have so much time during intermission.

Here in Illinois it is illegal to lock any restroom door in a facility open to the public. Many places tried to lock out the homeless and had patrons retrieve a key for restroom use. I can see a disabled person on the flip side feeling singled out and persecuted for being required to obtain a key/usher in order to utilize a restroom. All depends on how you look at that.

Me, at theaters I too only have so much time and the ladies room lines are extremely long. At Union Station I can actually wait upwards of 20 minutes to enter a restroom. I just came back from the deli, I must have been there 30 minutes waiting my turn. Our world revolves around waiting our turns disable or not disabled. Being hearing impaired it takes me much longer to be serviced. It tends to throw the service industry. Just stop and think of how you communicate to a deaf guest, welcome home and everything else that a CM verbally asks from there. The burden is on me to get my requests or points across to whoever is servicing me anywhere. Do I get a special queue or not have to wait because my disability takes me longer to order etc.? No. I choose not to have a chip on my shoulder and communicate the best that I can, someone else always is far worse off than I am.

 

[Gabe1]

sadly, though, they have put a lot of baby changing stations inside the only handicapped stall, thus making it a non-exclusive stall.

Many now have Sharps containers in ADA accessible stalls now too. Diabetics tend to need a little elbow room to remove coats, access their meds and desire the privacy during injection and then placing the sharps into a sharps container.

Restrooms are only so large and there are so many special needs when people are out in public. Everyone needs to learn to share.

 

[Gabe1]

This is what I have been preaching. It made me sick to my stomach watching those worthless fakers stroll right on past the standby queue in their wheelchairs and then pop right on up and load the first ride vehicle that came by all while my family and disabled child had to wait on a wheelchair accessible vehicle to make it's way around. Every time I saw this, I wanted to yell out at the top of my lungs "IT'S A MIRACLE!!!

I've actually had idiots do that to my husband. My husband has a deformed foot/his heal from being hit by a car when he was a 11 year old kid and spent a half a year in traction in a hospital bed. He wears regular shoes and can walk a few steps before his gate becomes obvious labored. We have had people like you just indicated yell out things like faker or it is a miracle. It angers me when others believe they are that clairvoyant to pick out the fakers from the disabled.

 

[luv]

This is what I have been preaching. It made me sick to my stomach watching those worthless fakers stroll right on past the standby queue in their wheelchairs and then pop right on up and load the first ride vehicle that came by all while my family and disabled child had to wait on a wheelchair accessible vehicle to make it's way around. Every time I saw this, I wanted to yell out at the top of my lungs "IT'S A MIRACLE!!!

As you have been informed several times, not everyone who requires a wheelchair is immobile. Plenty of people who can walk need a wheelchair in order to tour the parks.

 

[asianway]

@brogranmc did you know Osborne lights usually run an hour past park close? Just making sure, sounds like a cool tradition I hope you can continue this NYE

 

[JimboJones123]

Saw a guest explosion at guest services Saturday night because not every ride in the park had wheelchair access.

I really worry about the unnecessary garbage that guest services has to deal with from unnecessarily hostile guests. It is sickening how the really crazy ones feel they can abuse and abuse those in positions to help them.

 

[unkadug]

Saw a guest explosion at guest services Saturday night because not every ride in the park had wheelchair access.

I really worry about the unnecessary garbage that guest services has to deal with from unnecessarily hostile guests. It is sickening how the really crazy ones feel they can abuse and abuse those in positions to help them.

I bet that was messy.

 

[JimboJones123]

I bet that was messy.

Touché

 

[mr spalding]

As you have been informed several times, not everyone who requires a wheelchair is immobile. Plenty of people who can walk need a wheelchair in order to tour the parks.

Then why did they leech off the GAC and use it as a FOTL pass instead of waiting in the standby queues like they were supposed to? These losers cost my kid and all those who are wheelchair bound and can't transfer immediate access to a ride so we could "hurry up and wait" for the wheelchair accessible ride vehicle. Now the truly disabled are going to have to wait a lot longer than the average guest just because a bunch of lazy bottom-feeders took advantage. I have every right to be upset with those who abused the system.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Then why did they leech off the GAC and use it as a FOTL pass instead of waiting in the standby queues like they were supposed to? These losers cost my kid and all those who are wheelchair bound and can't transfer immediate access to a ride so we could "hurry up and wait" for the wheelchair accessible ride vehicle. Now the truly disabled are going to have to wait a lot longer than the average guest just because a bunch of lazy bottom-feeders took advantage. I have every right to be upset with those who abused the system.

I have no first hand knowledge but I think that you are making assumptions that just aren't true. Gac was never for wheelchair bound folks and DAS to a large extent isn't either. I don't see anywhere in what has been described a situation where wheelchair bound are going to be treated any different then they always were even way before there was such a thing as GAC or DAS or even Fastpass, for that matter. I would expect that a communication effort this large is going to run into a few misinformed CM's and some that just plain misunderstood the intent. But it will get straightened out. Inclusion may prevent the family of a wheelchair bound person non-rider from extra privileges but that was not who the system was supposed benefit. Other then that, I really see no real downside to anyone that cannot transfer on their own.

 

[The Mom]

Then why did they leech off the GAC and use it as a FOTL pass instead of waiting in the standby queues like they were supposed to? These losers cost my kid and all those who are wheelchair bound and can't transfer immediate access to a ride so we could "hurry up and wait" for the wheelchair accessible ride vehicle. Now the truly disabled are going to have to wait a lot longer than the average guest just because a bunch of lazy bottom-feeders took advantage. I have every right to be upset with those who abused the system.

One last time. We are talking about people who have a legitimate non-visible health issue, such as cardiac or lung disease, or diseases or injuries that do not allow them to stand for long periods of time. They are able to walk the short distance needed to board an attraction, but are unable to stand in line. They also might need extra time boarding. WDW itself designated the wheelchair entrances for rides that do not have a wheelchair accessible que or easy access. If the que is designed for wheelchair use, they were supposed to use it - but many CMs would wave them into the alternate entrance, rather than ask if they were capable of walking a few steps. It was easier for the people loading the attraction that way - they were instantly alerted that this guest might need more time and attention, rather than waiting until the guest got to the head of the Stand-by line, and discovering that it would bring boarding to a halt.

This was a problem created by WDW, and now they are trying to solve it - which is having unintended consequences. One would hope that they will continue to tweak this system (which is less than a month old) to work out these issues.

 

[JerseyDad]

One last time. We are talking about people who have a legitimate non-visible health issue, such as cardiac or lung disease, or diseases or injuries that do not allow them to stand for long periods of time. They are able to walk the short distance needed to board an attraction, but are unable to stand in line. They also might need extra time boarding. WDW itself designated the wheelchair entrances for rides that do not have a wheelchair accessible que or easy access. If the que is designed for wheelchair use, they were supposed to use it - but many CMs would wave them into the alternate entrance, rather than ask if they were capable of walking a few steps. It was easier for the people loading the attraction that way - they were instantly alerted that this guest might need more time and attention, rather than waiting until the guest got to the head of the Stand-by line, and discovering that it would bring boarding to a halt.

This was a problem created by WDW, and now they are trying to solve it - which is having unintended consequences. One would hope that they will continue to tweak this system (which is less than a month old) to work out these issues.

....after reading all these posts related to wheelchair access on rides at WDW ......I really needed to try and get a mental image of all the ques ....and to be honest ...it's hard to envision a wheelchair traversing some of the lines ...even though they are supposedly ADA compliant. The one that comes to mind most clearly is Buzz ....closely followed by Space Mountain. Both seem VERY narrow (in my mind) ....but then again maybe my perception of "space" is a bit off?

 

[Weather_Lady]

....after reading all these posts related to wheelchair access on rides at WDW ......I really needed to try and get a mental image of all the ques ....and to be honest ...it's hard to envision a wheelchair traversing some of the lines ...even though they are supposedly ADA compliant. The one that comes to mind most clearly is Buzz ....closely followed by Space Mountain. Both seem VERY narrow (in my mind) ....but then again maybe my perception of "space" is a bit off?

Wheelchairs can appear much wider than they actually are. I recently toured a public building with a wheelchair-bound friend and was shocked to see, over and over, how she sailed through spaces that I thought looked much too narrow for her chair to fit through.

 

[JerseyDad]

Wheelchairs can appear much wider than they actually are. I recently toured a public building with a wheelchair-bound friend and was shocked to see, over and over, how she sailed through spaces that I thought looked much too narrow for her chair to fit through.

....again ...my perception of "space" was probably off. I really thought about this more ...back in 2012 on our trip ...because my brother's family was with us ...and they have a teen with autism. They got a wheelchair for him only for the purpose of "keeping him in place" (so he'd not try to wander off) while in the parks. The took the wheelchair right on the bus with them ...and it folded up not to be much larger than a stroller. And they never entered ride ques with it ...because he could walk just fine ...right onto the FP line at every ride.

....I guess I just thought it was wider?