GAC to Become DAS

[englanddg]

Thank goodness for Google.
CEC = Chuck E. Cheese, yes?!?

Yes.

And the E. stands for "Entertainment" (not joking).

 

[JenniferS]

Yes.

I was just about to ask what the E. stood for.

Apparently there are only 14 CEC's north of the border, and none within 40+ km of me.
On another note, I live in a one Starbucks town. Clear the other side of town, at that.

 

[englanddg]

I was just about to ask what the E. stood for.

Apparently there are only 14 CEC's north of the border, and none within 40+ km of me.
On another note, I live in a one Starbucks town. Clear the other side of town, at that.

14 is a decent number, considering it's out of the States (different rules).

Sounds like you are Canadian. My good friend (very good friend at the time) handled the move into the Canadian market. Part of why we broke up is because she met a sexy Canadian who said "eh" and hoser (kidding)...they are happily married now (and I wish them the best)...

 

[JenniferS]

14 is a decent number, considering it's out of the States (different rules).

Sounds like you are Canadian. My good friend (very good friend at the time) handled the move into the Canadian market. Part of why we broke up is because she met a sexy Canadian who said "eh" and hoser (kidding)...they are happily married now (and I wish them the best)...

We do say "eh" a lot.
"Hoser" not so much - unless your name is Bob or Doug, eh.

 

[BroganMc]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again, I think DAS is a temporary thing. I suspect, in the future, all this will be integrated into FP+, and the only "DAS" card issued will be for physical accommodations only.

Um guys, can I point out something that might surprise you.

I went to EPCOT today and asked for a DAS card. I am the one with severe physical disability due to childhood rhuematoid arthritis. Use a power wheelchair, limited mobility, special controls for driving my van and always carries a dressing stick to reach/grab/tend to bathroom issues, etc. I look like your textbook case of physically challenged person. I used the old GAC to keep me away from the crowded queues and allow me to get to the wheelie queues where I'd be able to wait for the vehicle I needed.

When I went to Guest Relations and asked, the CM specifically refused me because he said "The DAS is for the autistic."

I did obtain one but only because I asked "So there's no program available for mobility disabled guests?" Then he excused himself and went for a manager.

It was a very unpleasant experience for me. I felt like I was doing something wrong just asking for the ability to better schedule my rides considering my physical issues. Also surprised the ride CMs I talked to all week who assured me it would not be a problem with me obtaining a card.

So maybe this new system is not exactly what you think it is.

I think you're gonna find Disney needs to do a lot of tweaking to this new system. Good thing is it should intimidate the fakers into going away. I just hope it doesn't scare of the people who need it. I know I was ready to roll away and be done with it.

I didn't actually ride anything with my DAS yet. I got a return time for Test Track but it was 30 minutes before our dinner reservation. I didn't feel I had enough time to do the ride with my boarding issues and make that. So I just skipped it. Afterwards it was just too cold to do more than watch fireworks and go home.

Under the old system I would have been able to do Test Track, eat dinner then watch fireworks before home. I did go to Figment though. They never seem to have a wait (which is why I never used a GAC there) and I don't have a hard transfer to get on. I can just stay in my chair to board and no family has to lift me into the vehicle.

 

[englanddg]

We do say "eh" a lot.
"Hoser" not so much - unless your name is Bob or Doug, eh.

Hey, I'll give it to her, he was a cute (and nice) guy...she just shouldn't have slept with a GM when she was opening a store! It caused all sorts of drama! And a "hey, we are casual, I know, but I found someone cool" notice would have been nice.

(oh the tangled web I escaped...narrowly)

 

[JenniferS]

Um guys, can I point out something that might surprise you.

I went to EPCOT today and asked for a DAS card. I am the one with severe physical disability due to childhood rhuematoid arthritis. Use a power wheelchair, limited mobility, special controls for driving my van and always carries a dressing stick to reach/grab/tend to bathroom issues, etc. I look like your textbook case of physically challenged person. I used the old GAC to keep me away from the crowded queues and allow me to get to the wheelie queues where I'd be able to wait for the vehicle I needed.

When I went to Guest Relations and asked, the CM specifically refused me because he said "The DAS is for the autistic."

I did obtain one but only because I asked "So there's no program available for mobility disabled guests?" Then he excused himself and went for a manager.

It was a very unpleasant experience for me. I felt like I was doing something wrong just asking for the ability to better schedule my rides considering my physical issues. Also surprised the ride CMs I talked to all week who assured me it would not be a problem with me obtaining a card.

So maybe this new system is not exactly what you think it is.

I think you're gonna find Disney needs to do a lot of tweaking to this new system. Good thing is it should intimidate the fakers into going away. I just hope it doesn't scare of the people who need it. I know I was ready to roll away and be done with it.

I didn't actually ride anything with my DAS yet. I got a return time for Test Track but it was 30 minutes before our dinner reservation. I didn't feel I had enough time to do the ride with my boarding issues and make that. So I just skipped it. Afterwards it was just too cold to do more than watch fireworks and go home.

Under the old system I would have been able to do Test Track, eat dinner then watch fireworks before home. I did go to Figment though. They never seem to have a wait (which is why I never used a GAC there) and I don't have a hard transfer to get on. I can just stay in my chair to board and no family has to lift me into the vehicle.

Hoping, for your sake and the sake of others who truly need the DAS, that they work out the kinks quickly, because this just does not sound right!

 

[englanddg]

Um guys, can I point out something that might surprise you.

I went to EPCOT today and asked for a DAS card. I am the one with severe physical disability due to childhood rhuematoid arthritis. Use a power wheelchair, limited mobility, special controls for driving my van and always carries a dressing stick to reach/grab/tend to bathroom issues, etc. I look like your textbook case of physically challenged person. I used the old GAC to keep me away from the crowded queues and allow me to get to the wheelie queues where I'd be able to wait for the vehicle I needed.

When I went to Guest Relations and asked, the CM specifically refused me because he said "The DAS is for the autistic."

That's amusing. The only disabled group (and no one argues that a severely autistic child isn't disabled) that is complaining IS THE AUTISTIC COMMUNITY!

That's it.

I did obtain one but only because I asked "So there's no program available for mobility disabled guests?" Then he excused himself and went for a manager.

It was a very unpleasant experience for me. I felt like I was doing something wrong just asking for the ability to better schedule my rides considering my physical issues. Also surprised the ride CMs I talked to all week who assured me it would not be a problem with me obtaining a card.

So maybe this new system is not exactly what you think it is.

I think you're gonna find Disney needs to do a lot of tweaking to this new system. Good thing is it should intimidate the fakers into going away. I just hope it doesn't scare of the people who need it. I know I was ready to roll away and be done with it.

I didn't actually ride anything with my DAS yet. I got a return time for Test Track but it was 30 minutes before our dinner reservation. I didn't feel I had enough time to do the ride with my boarding issues and make that. So I just skipped it. Afterwards it was just too cold to do more than watch fireworks and go home.

Under the old system I would have been able to do Test Track, eat dinner then watch fireworks before home. I did go to Figment though. They never seem to have a wait (which is why I never used a GAC there) and I don't have a hard transfer to get on. I can just stay in my chair to board and no family has to lift me into the vehicle.

I made the mistake (due to CM direction) of getting onto a line for GAC guests at Animal Kingdom, last trip...and, after they (fellow guests) grilled me (yes it was uncomfortable) and realized that it was an honest mistake, I can say, compared to the FP line (for the Safari) they have it worse. Hands down. As you indicated, they have to wait for a special vehicle, which for the Safari, was only one vehicle. Then they have to wait to board while people transfer. Then they have to wait for their vehicle to "fit" into the flow of the line.

Any perceived savings of "time" waiting are lost...waiting.

I left that experience with two thoughts.

First, I do not care to "scam" your GAC card...I never did, so please don't berate myself or my family as if we are criminals because the CM at the FP gate assumed we were GAC family members and I did what they said and followed you. That hostility is exactly why your arguements don't gain traction.

Second, there isn't a huge advantage for mobility limited guests (not a surprise, and never brought up)...but, I've seen it first hand. While they wait far less with a GAC for a ride than a standby guest, they wait far longer to board than a FP guest.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I didn't actually ride anything with my DAS yet. I got a return time for Test Track but it was 30 minutes before our dinner reservation. I didn't feel I had enough time to do the ride with my boarding issues and make that.

Had you waited in the standby line as opposed to virtually waiting with your DAS, you still would not have been able to make your dinner reservation. What is the issue here?

Also remember that you could have entered Test Track's FP queue at any time after your written return time, so you could have gone to eat dinner and then returned to Test Track after that.

 

[englanddg]

Had you waited in the standby line as opposed to virtually waiting with your DAS, you still would not have been able to make your dinner reservation. What is the issue here?

And you ask the hard questions!

 

[englanddg]

We didn't do Mission: Space because our FP time window closed while the Coral Reef restaurant drug their feet (terrible service, mediocre food, true story)...so, our window closed, and I decided not to do it. My kid was upset!

Where's my <fill in the blank>?

 

[englanddg]

What I'm about to say won't be very popular...but it's the truth.

Make a Wish isn't sterling either. They don't vet those kids / families as much as you think they do.

For example...one of my closest "friends", an ex girlfriend actually, who sells candles currently online through an Amway offshoot for a living and fights me every time I suggest doing SEO for her to expand her business because "Amway knows best"...as if I know nothing (and yes, I am insulted)...

If you want candles from china, she can hook you up! She still lives with her mom though...at 34.

Anyhow, she got three all expenses paid vacations at deluxe resorts (WL, WL and AKL) from Make a Wish for her kids (2) and her. So, seeing as how she's been a few times, we get to talk Disney stuff (though she's not the nerd I am about it)...

Yeah, her kids aren't dead, and are not even close to terminal.

The eldest is autistic (though he was supposed to die, according to doctors...now he's just severe, and he is, I saw his tantrums last Christmas when I went back to see family and visited her). The youngest is doing fine in school and has no ailments, though according to Doctors she was supposed to die as well.

They have no Daddy figure though. I guess Gramma and Momma are enough.

So, my point is...I don't have much faith in what the Make a Wish people do to vet these situations. They are poster children for their cause. A worthy cause, I think anyone would agree. But, when a foundation/charity is taken over by people who merely wish the foundation/charity to succeed for personal profit...perhaps you should ask questions about it.

I know more, but that's all I'm gonna say on that matter.

 

[BroganMc]

Had you waited in the standby line as opposed to virtually waiting with your DAS, you still would not have been able to make your dinner reservation. What is the issue here?

Also remember that you could have entered Test Track's FP queue at any time after your written return time, so you could have gone to eat dinner and then returned to Test Track after that.

My Return Time was 30 minutes before dinner in England. That was with the 10 minute reduction from the Standby time, so with Standby (had I gone into that), I would have 20 minutes to board the attraction and exit. I require the special wheelchair boarding at the seatbelt check. It's a HARD boarding that takes time and stops the ride for everyone else. Have to work myself up for it as well because there are so many variables to balance. And the ride CMs have to fit the ride stoppage into the queue so it doesn't completely throw off the attraction.

Because of this I always allot 40-45 minutes to ride Test Track. (That was with my mythical "golden ticket" you see to think it was.) In Standby I had 20 minutes to achieve this endeavor. With a DAS Return I had 30. Both would make me late for dinner.

After dinner it was dark, windy and cold. No way could my body handle that ride then. So I skipped it.

But forget my particular needs. Issue I pointed out was the Guest Relations CM specifically refused me because I don't have autism. He took one look at my chair and judged me. It didn't get straightened out until a manager took over.

So the folks in this thread who think the DAS will be applied to who they perceive as "truly disabled" are just fooling themselves. It was a program designed for those who probably look just as normal as anyone else. The ones who will struggle the most are being told their needs are met by their own devices. You have to advocate for yourself if you're in a wheelchair, I fear. Those are the stories being reported from guests who actually went to ask today. The system must be fine-tuned. You cannot provide a special accommodation for one type of disability and ignore others. Being blatant about it is just asking for a world of legal pain.

Nothing new for us wheelies. We constantly have to remind people that we need more than wheels that move. Always amuses me when a faker or temporary-wheelie has to roll a few feet in our shoes. They can't get out of the chair fast enough usually.

I expected this to happen as soon as those initial brochures on the program hit the internet. I quoted it in this thread pages back. They specifically denied all wheelchair users access to the DAS. Wording was very harsh and as I experienced taken very literally by that first CM today.

Disney will have to be thinking long and hard about this. They will find themselves sued for not providing "equal treatment" to mobility disabled. All you need to document is the much longer wait times a wheelie must encounter to ride an attraction compared to all other guests. Then there are the hazards of being pushed into a crowded pedestrian queue. I avoid them because I've been clobbered too many times by careless pedestrians who "don't see me". I'd much rather wait 45 minutes in the wheelie queue at Safari. At least those folks know how to behave around each other. (Except for the rental scooter folks who you need to teach how to drive.)

 

[englanddg]

I've never seen one post about a "wheelie" who would be denied access, and how unforgiving the crowd is about you, and how uncaring society is about you, until your posts.

The arguement (and it is one) has never been about "wheelies" (as you coined the term).

Ever.

So, if that's how you are being treated, well, I can't argue your subjective points. However, I can say you are setting up a straw man, and then burning him down, as no one in any of these contentious threads (and there have been a few, you must admit) have said that someone in a wheelchair for whatever reason is abusing the GAC.

 

[Gomer]

As a side note, I wonder if she knew that at every store I worked at I sought out the local children's hospital and worked deals to get CEC to visit terminal kids.

I wonder how she'd feel if her "lactose intolerant" maelstrom child, which I totally got and wanted to accomodate, was gonna die in the near future from lukemia...

The blah blah called ME insensitive. This was something I did of my own accord, it wasn't corporate mandate, and it was before I worked for corporate.

Meh...yeah, I hope she had fun with her kid at the KFC or McDonalds playgrounds. I didn't miss any of her issues, or her dollars (which were nominal), and mostly, I didn't miss her self-righteous attitude.

I mean, I get it...I do, but when I try and work with you it's MY FAULT because I couldn't read your kid's mind when even you can't?

Pfft.

Its an unfortunate misconception that being faced with disabilities and hardship somehow makes you a better person.(in general,not saying you have that misconception) That people faced with this rise to the occasion and become better to cope and deal with their issues. Unfortunately the opposite is often true. Weak and entitled people have a tendency to see this as life treating them unfairly, so they come to either expect more from life in return or become bitter and angry. The increasing incidence of Autism near cities has resulted in a lot of rich, spoiled people being given children they are not prepared or fit to raise. And it turns them into people like the ones you describe.

The saddest part of it all is that there is misconception even among the parents that Autism causes a lack of empathy. That their children are oblivious to their angry rants. But these children pick up on the attitude of the parent and lash out, sometimes violently due to the heightened stress. I don't know the woman in the posted videos, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a correlation between his outbursts and when she is verbally pummeling people around her.

 

[duchess1]

Its an unfortunate misconception that being faced with disabilities and hardship somehow makes you a better person.(in general,not saying you have that misconception) That people faced with this rise to the occasion and become better to cope and deal with their issues. Unfortunately the opposite is often true. Weak and entitled people have a tendency to see this as life treating them unfairly, so they come to either expect more from life in return or become bitter and angry. The increasing incidence of Autism near cities has resulted in a lot of rich, spoiled people being given children they are not prepared or fit to raise. And it turns them into people like the ones you describe.

The saddest part of it all is that there is misconception even among the parents that Autism causes a lack of empathy. That their children are oblivious to their angry rants. But these children pick up on the attitude of the parent and lash out, sometimes violently due to the heightened stress. I don't know the woman in the posted videos, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a correlation between his outbursts and when she is verbally pummeling people around her.

I think you may have something there. She said that her soon became very agitated as if he could sense that "Disney was going to be taken away from him". Maybe it was his shrew of a mother causing a scene that gave him that impression.

A few CMs posted on her facebook wall last night and she is threatening to call Disney and get them fired.

If my kids had Autism, this is not the kind of person I would want representing my community.

 

[networkpro]

No doubt she has a difficult situation, but she's got the entitlement attitude. If you really want to express yourself with her personally she's not disabled commenting on her profile (amateur mistake), just click on her name and go to discussions before she figures it out.

Her case is quite different in that she has civil liability for the actions of her disruptive 6 foot 240 lb ward as his custodian. There are not any medical exceptions for Disorderly Conduct in Florida law

 

[networkpro]

I think it's interesting that she has blocked all comments. Looks to me like she is someone who is willing to spout off her own view on the world, but refuses to let other's have a say that is contrary to her opinion.

Not on her account, just the videos

 

[Gomer]

I think you may have something there. She said that her soon became very agitated as if he could sense that "Disney was going to be taken away from him". Maybe it was his shrew of a mother causing a scene that gave him that impression.

A few CMs posted on her facebook wall last night and she is threatening to call Disney and get them fired.

If my kids had Autism, this is not the kind of person I would want representing my community.

Its true. People assume those with autism don't understand what's going on around them. But the opposite is true. They hear everything, they just have trouble processing and responding. Sometime I ask my son a question and he will continue talking and watching his videos as if he didn't hear anything I said, only to answer me 2 minutes later. That's how long it takes for him to process and formulate a verbal response. So, I have no doubt he heard what his mother was saying and he was only reacting to what she was saying which only plays into her plans to make him seem like he needs to skip the line.

As to her being the face of autism, it is sad if people can't see that some people are just nice and some people aren't. Her attitude is hers, not autism's. Generalizing is something we do way too much these days, if people think all Autism parents are like her just because she lashed out on camera, then those people have other issues that I am not capable of dealing with.

 

[Fe Maiden]

As a side note...I bet she's from New Jersey.

Hey, that's a low blow!