luv
Well-Known Member
Yep. Sometimes you must defend your position, lol. It's crazy.
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GAC to Become DAS
- Thread starter Animaniac93-98
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GoofGoof
Premium Member
I had a situation that was almost the exact opposite problem last June. We got back to MK about 15 minutes prior to parade start time. We knew we wouldn't get a "front row spot" so it was going to be a kids up in the shoulders show. No big deal to me and they thought it was cool anyway. We walked up several feet behind two ladies who had scoped out a large section of curb with blankets and towels and were guarding their territory. As soon as we approached the area one of the ladies jumped up and snapped at me that the spot was reserved. I said "no problem, we got here pretty late so we are fine with just standing behind your group." She snapped back at me saying "we have a bunch more people coming including tall men who will be standing the whole time". I politely said that we were fine with holding our kids up and that since it was pretty full anyway we were not likely to find a better spot. Her friend then proceeded to aggressively step towards my wife and screamed at her saying some things that can't be repeated on a family forum. The basic gist of her rant was that we should have gotten there sooner and she hated people like us who thought they were better than everyone else and didn't need to follow the rules. No clue where these rules are actually written, but she was pretty certain we were in violation of them. Luckily for her we just had a wonderful meal at Kona Cafe that included a few nice Pale Ales from Kona Brewing Co so I was in an unusually good mood. We decided not to push the issue and moved along and stood behind a very nice family from Wisconsin who even offered to let the kids move in front of the adults (gotta love people from the Midwest, so friendly
). We politely declined the offer anyway since the kids were looking forward to sitting up on our shoulders. Moral of the story is people get crazy about parade viewing. I have no idea how the new reserved area will work and if they "over sell" it then you could still end up with a fight on your hands, but I'm willing to try it out to avoid the crazies or avoid becoming one myself
Sorry for the long story and sorry for hijacking the GAC/DAS thread but it seems after 120 pages we may have finally said everything that can be said.
Gabe1
Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
Historically lawsuits take forever and a day. The Segway as a device for the disabled took years for Disney to win. Protests on Private Property usually don't end well.
My DS said this weeks ago, that they knew it would be ugly when all the guests on a mission, media around and Fan representatives all converged that first week. When all the stories are written it became stale quickly. It was on all the Chicago news stations up here the days leading up to DAS and the first few days after. From what DS was saying there are still stubborn guests here and there that refuse to adjust. They are being a bit more firm and consistent with who actually gets a DAS. The 'I can't stand but I don't want a wheelchair or a cart' isn't resulting in a DAS. All in all it is not likely Disney will loose much in the attendance figures over DAS and a decision that was made for smoother operations and the vast majority of the guests.
JerseyDad
Well-Known Member
....when the story about the Craigslist ads hit the media (ie: h'capped persons renting themselves to the able bodied) it ..in my opinion ...smelled of a sensationalist type story due to the manner it was presented (hidden camera, undercover actors, etc). Then ...when the DAS was presented by Disney as "the way it will be" ...again ...there was more shoddy and slanted journalism that covered the story from a severely biased point of view ....with pity and outrage from the handicapped community ...and the cries of lawsuits ....yadda yadda yadda.
....then we see how the "Youtube celebrities" pop out of the woodwork ....stirring up the h'capped community to the point where all their cyber followers were screaming "we're outraged" and presenting completely unreasonable points of view of what they deserve / need / want / demand.
Yet ....NONE ...of that got a minute of media coverage. I contacted CNN / MSNBC / FoxNews ...to request that they do a REAL investigative report about the REAL issues ...and get both sides of the story. And...regarding a response from said media outlets ...well ...let me tell you just how loud the sounds of silence really are.
Gabe1
Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
And yes Disney anticipated the response along with the quick peak. I can't tell you how may 'reports' came out that first week where I saw the same tape on the sidewalk for guests to queue up to obtain a DAS yet the tape queue was empty. The self serving women holding up dozens of FPs and gloating didn't do GAC families favors but did provide Disney a real time defense if it goes to court. Perfect example of what Disney has been up against with entitlement and abuse of a system that failed but had great intentions.
But I do believe Disney brought a little bit of this attention on themselves. Disney didn't use good judgement when they themselves focused on the real small percentage of guests that hired an escort. In reality the switch to DAS was being planned long before the Craigs list story broke. Going with the Craigs escort example was likely viewed initially as a gift from above to explain the need for DAS. The example subsequently released for DL's Cars, 25% of guests used GAC squishing the designed operations of that attraction should have been the PR piece. Toys at WDW would have been another example to highlight. They should have just stuck to the operational impacts GAC was causing to Disney and negatively impacting the vast majority of guests daily.
Wikkler
Well-Known Member
Stitch's Great Escape is a must-do for whom, exactly?
awoogala
Well-Known Member
well, ok, you got me there..lol
(although someone on another thread, said her daughter loves stitch so much she suffers through the ride each time!)
pais
Member
I read about one at Disneyland last week--apparently 30 people showed up, 15 were from the same family. Before the protest, there was a lot of infighting over the fact the planner was 1. soliciting donations (people were wondering why she was asking for money) and 2. was planning to use balloons to represent those who could not attend. People were complaining of latex allergies and then the planner was upset asking if they could just stand further from the balloons. It sounded like their coalition was becoming a circus!
awoogala
Well-Known Member
I still think the "timing" of the GAC abuse story, right before DAS, was too perfectly timed not to have been Disney leaked/influenced. What better pc way to give the DAS an easier transition, then to be sure the public was outraged about the abuse, and on Disney's side when they fixed the "problem". Not that I doubt there is abuse, etc. But it hit all the right notes.."rich New Yorkers", Abuse of a system, etc, etc. It couldn't have been a more perfect press release for "why gac HAD to be changed".
JerseyDad
Well-Known Member
....I agree ...the DAS was in the "works" for a long time ....probably as long as, and in conjunction with FP+ ...because FP+ cannot function as intended with the GAC issues as they stood.
JerseyDad
Well-Known Member
....I don't feel / believe that Disney 'leaked' any of the DAS / GAC conflict stuff ...it was too "in your face" all by itself with the uproar that Disney knew was likely to occur. I do think that the 'advocates" that claimed to represent the h'capped masses ....and their 'followers' provided Disney with great ammo to defend themselves in any suits that come their way.
JerseyDad
Well-Known Member
.....the 'infighting' that you mentioned is pretty much the sad-comic-relief to all this. As was shown on the various videos / blogs / news-reader-comment boards ....the h'capped community had 'infighting' from the beginning, in the form of, "Well, MY disability is worse than YOUR disability" themed comments and statements. I just wanted to make a bowl of popcorn and sit back and watch them destroy each other.
Wikkler
Well-Known Member
This might be relevant
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s16e09-raising-the-bar
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s16e09-raising-the-bar
Gabe1
Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
It isn't just Disney.
Approximately 20% of our operating budget goes to Special Ed now and costs are doubling at twice the pace of inflation, yet students with disabilities do not make up nearly 20% of our student body. Every year we have less and less monies to cover our operating budget. Originally the Feds that passed all these new mandates were to fully fund them, now in reality it is pennies on the dollar if funded at all. A special ed teacher is about $70 grand a year with benefits/retirement etc. as a new hire. The Feds give us around $6,000 of the $70 grand annually. Not fully funded Federal Mandates. Uninformed people give us the stink eye for not being able to balance the budget without cutting some programs like band, some sports etc. In reality we must provide Special Education but we are not mandated to provided extracurricular. The general student body gets less annually as Special Ed budgets are increase annually. It is difficult to look at outraged parents that drag their children to board meetings because we cut band to plug increased costs. There is only so much money in a budget. Still legislators keep adding more and more mandates without a path to pay for them.
Disney following mandated laws have put forth a lot of monies to implement the laws throughout the parks, transportation and resorts along with their assistance programs. I have empathy for them as it is never enough, someone is always suing them or having a fit about it not being good enough, want more knowing full well how it will impact others. Everyone, including Disney wants to help people with disabilities. There just doesn't seem to be a balance any longer over what reasonable accommodations. I can only imagine what Disney's legal expenses are just in this arena. I know what our school districts legal bills are for Special Ed conflicts, this too is deducted against the funds left for the balance of the general education budget. Disney needed to draw the line in the sand where they could but the media and special interest groups certainly didn't present a balanced point of view of all Disney does provide.
Approximately 20% of our operating budget goes to Special Ed now and costs are doubling at twice the pace of inflation, yet students with disabilities do not make up nearly 20% of our student body. Every year we have less and less monies to cover our operating budget. Originally the Feds that passed all these new mandates were to fully fund them, now in reality it is pennies on the dollar if funded at all. A special ed teacher is about $70 grand a year with benefits/retirement etc. as a new hire. The Feds give us around $6,000 of the $70 grand annually. Not fully funded Federal Mandates. Uninformed people give us the stink eye for not being able to balance the budget without cutting some programs like band, some sports etc. In reality we must provide Special Education but we are not mandated to provided extracurricular. The general student body gets less annually as Special Ed budgets are increase annually. It is difficult to look at outraged parents that drag their children to board meetings because we cut band to plug increased costs. There is only so much money in a budget. Still legislators keep adding more and more mandates without a path to pay for them.
Disney following mandated laws have put forth a lot of monies to implement the laws throughout the parks, transportation and resorts along with their assistance programs. I have empathy for them as it is never enough, someone is always suing them or having a fit about it not being good enough, want more knowing full well how it will impact others. Everyone, including Disney wants to help people with disabilities. There just doesn't seem to be a balance any longer over what reasonable accommodations. I can only imagine what Disney's legal expenses are just in this arena. I know what our school districts legal bills are for Special Ed conflicts, this too is deducted against the funds left for the balance of the general education budget. Disney needed to draw the line in the sand where they could but the media and special interest groups certainly didn't present a balanced point of view of all Disney does provide.
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
huge stitch fan here, I did it, sadly.. kinda dissapointed since most of it was sound based, and im partially deaf (got cochlear implant), still loved the animatronic of stitch.
also speking of the crazyness that happens in the parades.
We had a lot of luck in my side during the wishes.. we were in the last part when a pair of very tall young men cut the line infront and standed infront of my mother who is very short..
I was annoyed of course, I asked them politely that they were blocking my mother view, they nicely let my mother go infront while I stayed in the back, then we moved closer to the castle later, as we were in the bridge border of the center (in the main avenue).
I think it depends on the way you ask what the others will react. We didnt see angry people.. I suppose I was lucky we booked in one of the lowest months. (we have crowds lol )
stevehousse
Well-Known Member
After all the arguing and fighting and bull that this thread has gone though, I can honestly say I am so happy to be healthy and not deal with this kind of crap when I go to a Disney park!
crispy
Well-Known Member
I know someone. Granted, she's a 10-year-old girl, but she can't miss it.
BrightImagine
Well-Known Member
I haven't caught up to the end of the thread but I just wanted to say, please let WDW know how unhappy you are. I feel there should be a way to accommodate you.
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