At the 9 attractions I've worked, I've never seen any CMs require a wheelchair bound guest to show a GAC. At two of these attractions, there was a specific wheelchair line (one attraction had it divert from the FP line, the other one you could use either the FP line or Stand-by line most of the way, and then you had to be diverted midway through by a CM), and FP or no, GAC or no, if they had a wheelchair or ECV, we'd let them use the ramp/wheelchair queue. After all, there was no other possible way for them to enter the attraction, and we don't need a wheelchair GAC to see that they indeed have a wheelchair.
Now, at the other attractions, both lines (FP and SB) were wheelchair accessible the entire way through. So unless you had a FP or an "Alternate Entrance" GAC, you would use the regular line. I might be misunderstanding some of your stories, but for some of you (notice I said SOME!), it almost sounds like because you were directed into the Standby line, you took it as being "denied" access to the wheelchair line (though there wasn't a specific one), even though the standby queue would accommodate you the entire way through. If wheelchair accessibility is the only accommodation you require, then a GAC is not needed. So either you misunderstood the fact that you were being accommodated or you dealt with a poorly-trained CM who didn't know better. But seriously, I have never worked with a CM who denied ramp access (versus the stair entrance) to a family with a wheelchair, GAC or no. I mean, if they have a wheelchair, then stairs are impossible. If you experienced this, I'm sorry for the incompetence of the CMs you encountered. But again, I've never seen anyone deny a wheelchair party either.
Here's how that split works in practice at Buzz Lightyear in Magic Kingdom WDW. You enter the Standby or FP lines depending on whatever ticket or pass you have. FP lines are merged with Standby by the animated Buzz Lightyear. Then you proceed down a hallway to the boarding zone. When it is your turn to board a CM asks you if you can transfer. If yes, you board the ride and your wheelchair/vehicle is taken down a small hallway to the exit to wait for you. If not, then you are sent down that hallway and are told to wait behind a chain until a CM can serve you. This is a busy exit place so sometimes you'll have to signal the CM to get their attention. The meek tend to wait a little longer until a CM notices them. Again you are asked how many in your party and whether you can transfer. If you need the wheelchair car you are told it will take X number of minutes to cycle thru the ride. Sometimes that car just went past you and is already in the regular boarding area. No one rides the wheelchair car but a guest in a wheelchair so it's not taking up a space a Standby guest could use.
When it gets to be a couple minutes before the car comes, the CM undoes the chain and sends you along a walkway parallel to the moving exit belt where you wait behind another chainlink. When the wheelchair vehicle comes thru, the CM slows the ride to a crawl then deploys the ramp and ushers you and one companion to board the vehicle. The companion boards first and then you drive your chair into it. The ramp is closed up behind you. If you have more people in your party, they are boarded onto other regular vehicles around you. Then you ride from the exit to the entrance where the CM there stops the loading process of regular guests just until they have some empty cars to ride.
Because it takes longer to load/unload wheelchair guests during this process, CMs will allow you to stay on the ride for a second turn provided there's not a line of other wheelchair guests waiting. If your party is more than 6, the excess are always loaded in the regular boarding area. I have never been allowed or seen a larger party go to this wheelchair queue.
But here's the thing. Because you need an accessible vehicle and that determination is not made until the actual boarding area, a non-transfer guest must ALWAYS wait longer than a Standby of FP guest. If the goal with this new system is to make everything fair and equal, then how in the heck is that fair?
Similar things happen at all attractions where there are limited wheelchair vehicles or viewing spots. Being a wheelie who cannot transfer means you are more likely to be turned away or asked to wait for the next turn/showing/etc.
Under the old system, the solution for non-transfer wheelies was to recommend guests who needed accessible vehicles get a GAC marked with "May use alternate entrances". This mitigated wait times for them and accounted for situations when the wheelchair car line is backed up or seating is limited. The new system however, specifically says such guests are already accommodated with an accessible queue line and areas at the venue.
It's a problem with the proposed system that is not being thought of. CMs tell me that I'll just get a return ticket (which I have no objection to), but when I tell them that's only with a DAS card which I'm not supposed to get, they then tell me to make sure I raise that point with GR next week. It's a concern that must be addressed and my concern it is being overlooked.
You're in a Catch 22 here. The very reason the GAC was invented was because dishonest guests rented wheelchairs and faked disability. So granting access based on wheelchair only invites that to come back. But the only way to systematically accommodate these folks is to grant them access to a system that isn't really supposed to apply to them.
I really don't want to be put in a situation where I feel like I'm stretching the truth of what I can and cannot do just to have a chance at an experience on par with my ablebodied family. Truth is having a GAC has given me the opportunity to cater to my physical needs more than I could without. I don't have to force myself to get up earlier than I'm able just to get a FP for a popular ride like TSM. I don't have to struggle with the FP machines. (Arthritis and severe joint contractures make my ability to fiddle with key cards and paper slips difficult at best. Heck I I'm typing this using a pointer in one hand and the backs of two fingers with the other because I don't have full use of my 10 fingers.) It's ok if I have to leave the park after a few hours because my pain is getting too much or my legs have swollen from sitting in a wheelchair for hours. I don't have to wait for that FP time to return. I don't have to watch my feet and guard against being trampled in a tight 70 minute queue line. (You would not believe the people who step over a wheelchair person's feet or encroach on their personal space. It's nothing for some people to lean on your handlebars because they figure you're just another inanimate object.)
But I don't really consider it a hardship to wait another 45 minutes or sit in an area waiting for my turn. I've lined up for the Jack Sparrow experience just fine. I got in the 45 min queue for SeaWorld's Antarctica just fine last week. So since I'm not going to have an emotional meltdown or have a seizure sitting in a line, and it is possible for me to sometimes get a FP from a machine, it seems like I don't really need/deserve a DAS. Except that I know if I don't get one I will be cutting certain things out of my To Do list because the hassle I go through to do them is just too much for me to want to waste the effort.
I know me. I'll abandon certain things because the little difficulties they entail just add up to be too much. It was because CMs saw me struggle just to be like every other guest that I was even told to get a GAC. When I go to ask for one I'm never challenged or asked a single question other than how many people in my group. But if I don't have that almighty card or it's not filled out precisely to the letter, I encounter at least one CM per trip that hassles me and accuses me of cheating. Poorly trained, maybe, but the result is the same. I'm embarrassed and insulted just enough I go off to lick my wounds. I don't call a manager over. At best I'll tell the CM at GR what happened as he/she writes out the GAC correctly. And this sort of behavior is something I'd never experience in situations where no GAC is used in real life. It's just CMs with a power trip and cynical attitude who need a refresher in customer service.
If anything I just want you guys to understand why people like me are upset about this change. We have experienced this sort of snarky, insulting behavior more and more over recent years as the talk about cheating and ECV drivers goes up. It's degrading to have a person complain because you're loaded on a bus first while you know you'll be the last person off. I've never felt so abandoned then the night the bus driver took everyone at the bus stop in EPCOT and left me behind in the cold because he mistakenly started loading people first. It gets so bad that I look forward to bringing my own handicapped vehicle to WDW because I know I won't have to deal with that. That sort of stuff shouldn't happen but it does, regularly. That's one reason I bring my van to FL.
99% of the time I encounter genuinely good people who look at me and how I somehow make it work and feel inspired, which makes me feel like I am handling this disability stuff right. But that 1% get inside your brain and you have a devil of a time forgetting it. Sometimes you'll encounter a person who witnesses and recognizes the bad treatment and stands up for you. (One of my favorite bus memories was at a resort when the pedestrians loudly complained about having to wait for me to be loaded. The bus driver ushered me inside then told me he would take extra time making sure I was secure because those ignorant people could just wait. He'd had a family member who endured similar difficulties and treatment.)
I get that people are upset about ECV renters and what you perceive as abusers. I avoid those crazy ECV drivers too. I encounter them far more than most guests so I've learned to give a rental ECV a wide berth. And yes they always take up a spot on a bus that I could use. But what concerns me is that in attempting to curb abusers and appease complainers Disney is leaving folks like me to fend for themselves. It's no different than the bus driver who refuses to confront seated passengers and leaves the wheelchair user sitting at the curb. Don't confront and just hope the wheelchair user gets over it because hey they're used to dealing with disappointment, right?
Now maybe I am getting worked up over nothing. I'll try going to GR on Oct 9th and see what happens. Will I be denied a DAS. I'll try going to rides like TSM and Buzz and see what they tell me to do. I'll try to work within the new system and see how it affects me. Sometimes Disney changes things to make it so difficult for me I alter my behavior to avoid whatever that thing was. IASW and HM became a "only if Standby is under 20 minute" thing for me after the changes. All I can tell you now is that without my GAC I am denied far more things than I ever thought I'd need it for. WDW has relied so heavily on that silly card CMs have shown little common sense. That makes me very wary for next week. Not confrontational, just concerned.
