GAC to Become DAS

[NowInc]

You all are just furious with Disney because of this allowance they made for those with severe autism. If you all are so upset with this policy, why don't you contact Disney instead of trashing this mother all over a public forum? The sacrifices she has made for her child (marriage; other children; friends) warrant her getting some kind of break in life. Very selfish IMO.

I don't see anyone "furious" on here other than you, actually

I don't even see anyone even slightly bothered that any exception was made for anyone.

The complaints are from the entitled mentality expressed by the individual.

 

[Howwonderfullifeis]

You all are just furious with Disney because of this allowance they made for those with severe autism. If you all are so upset with this policy, why don't you contact Disney instead of trashing this mother all over a public forum? The sacrifices she has made for her child (marriage; other children; friends) warrant her getting some kind of break in life. Very selfish IMO.

I agree. Some of my family members are mentally disabled in different ways and the GAC was a great service.
Most people don't realize the sacrifices relatives have to make for special needs people, and it's very sad. Some of you say that she should not take her son if he is that violent. Really? It sounds like Disney is very important to that family, and that the GAC was making their lives easier.

Why trash talk someone who used the GAC honestly? It's not like she was selling them online for Christ's sake. She just didn't agree with the way things were handled and that she had to go through 3 levels of management to get the new fast passes.
I undertand why Disney needed to change the system, but man, stories like these just make me sad.

 

[ddrongowski]

Wow check out the difference. And the video is only a little over 9 minutes. CM's are very impressive professional people.

I do find it "interesting" that she got concerned about "personal information", but then freely hands it to a corporation.

 

[Gabe1]

That woman is a Saint for what she is burdened with and Disney knows it. Get over it and go to the back of the line.

Oh my. There is not any veneration within that woman that would qualify her as a Saint, more the traits of the Devil.

 

[Howwonderfullifeis]

It doesn't. But what you are facing is the wrath of people who are losing that one good thing.

Analogy time
Imagine you are eating liver and brussel sprouts every day (sorry to anyone who likes liver and brussel sprouts) except for Sundays where you are allowed to eat chocolate cake. Everyone around you eats chicken every day (seems like a good choice for normal). You are getting a raw deal 6 days out of the week and a great deal on Sundays. But now someone comes along and says Sundays you need to eat chicken like everyone else. You now have 6 days of Brussel Sprouts and 1 day of chicken. To the people you are eating with on Sunday, that seems fair, but you know how much the rest of your week is going to suck. So, you are upset.

Disney was a place where people living hard lives got to get special treatment for a few days or a week. And people are losing something that was a huge gift to them. We all lost our chocolate cake, so they are going to be ed whether their Sundays are fair or not. This is not to say the outcry is correct. But I do think it is understandable during this transition period.

Finally, just to protect myself for the 16th time in this thread. I am not against the change, I understand the need for it. I'm just trying to give a glimpse into the mental state of those affected by it.

Very well stated

 

[TubaGeek]

That woman is a Saint for what she is burdened with and Disney knows it. Get over it and go to the back of the line.

Having misfortune does not designate one as a "saint".

 

[NowInc]

QUESTION: When you see a family with a disabled child escorted to the front of a long line to a ride, has your reaction been:

1. To offer a silent prayer of thanks for your own family's good fortune to be healthy and able-bodied;
2. To think good thoughts about Disney for having the compassion to take care of the park's disabled guests this way; or:
3. To regard this as nothing but a con where the parents are using their child's disability to turn the situation to their advantage?

I would set up a poll for this question but why even bother when the outcome is evident. BTW, which do you think Disney chose? Severe Autism 1; Haters 0.

...now you're just speaking out of pure nonsense. Its very immature and flat out RUDE to make any sort of assumption as to what ANYBODY else thinks and draw ANY sort of conclusion based on that. You are also needlessly making statements based off of nothing. Did anyone on here say anything about exceptions being made to anyone with autism? anyone? helllo? helllooooo?

no?

good. just making sure. Stop trying to troll.

 

[Gomer]

The family never did experience the attraction and are bitter with Disney. So my BF didn't get Liver or Chicken, let alone Chocolate Cake as your analogy referenced. How is that fair?

Not to nitpick. But technically they still got chicken. In the analogy, chicken was getting no special treatment in Disney. Liver was living with disability in normal life. But it was a stupid analogy anyway.

I do agree with your point though. TSM is an extreme example. Even the fast pass line on that ride is unfair to any sane human being. But that's neither here nor there. I'm all for accepting a little extra help from Disney to help my son. But not to the detriment of others. I could feel good about what they were doing for us when it benefited us, but the negatives were negligible to others. But if it starts to have measurable negative impact on people just trying to enjoy their vacation, then we need to look at ourselves to see how we can compromise so everyone gets what they need.

 

[rpk113]

I think the issue people will run into most it during high times, there is no "max" waiting time. So if Space Mountain has a 130 min wait, are they realistically going to say come back in 120 mins? Procedure? Yes, Fair? Not Really. Since you can only get one ride on the DAS, I think if they set a max wait time to 50 mins that would be fair for ppl that have disabilities. It also helps parents who have children with "issues" plan their days better.

 

[ddrongowski]

It doesn't. But what you are facing is the wrath of people who are losing that one good thing.

Analogy time
Imagine you are eating liver and brussel sprouts every day (sorry to anyone who likes liver and brussel sprouts) except for Sundays where you are allowed to eat chocolate cake. Everyone around you eats chicken every day (seems like a good choice for normal). You are getting a raw deal 6 days out of the week and a great deal on Sundays. But now someone comes along and says Sundays you need to eat chicken like everyone else. You now have 6 days of Brussel Sprouts and 1 day of chicken. To the people you are eating with on Sunday, that seems fair, but you know how much the rest of your week is going to suck. So, you are upset.

Disney was a place where people living hard lives got to get special treatment for a few days or a week. And people are losing something that was a huge gift to them. We all lost our chocolate cake, so they are going to be ed whether their Sundays are fair or not. This is not to say the outcry is correct. But I do think it is understandable during this transition period.

Finally, just to protect myself for the 16th time in this thread. I am not against the change, I understand the need for it. I'm just trying to give a glimpse into the mental state of those affected by it.

Imagine you are eating liver and brussel sprouts every day (sorry to anyone who likes liver and brussel sprouts) except for Sundays where you are allowed to eat chocolate cake.
Okay I am with you here.
Everyone around you eats chicken every day (seems like a good choice for normal).
The problem with this is, there are others that you think are eating chicken, that are not, but do not make it an issue of eating their stale bread, or other non liked food. It is not a "this or that" in real life. After all everyone in the world has something wrong with them that they have to deal with. Isn't it unfair that there are people that cannot afford to go on vacations at all, their child never gets to go to WDW. Be thankful that your are at WDW, as there are many that never get to do a fun vacation or vacation at all.
You are getting a raw deal 6 days out of the week and a great deal on Sundays.
Well at least you get to eat, you could be one of the others that gets to starve.
But now someone comes along and says Sundays you need to eat chicken like everyone else.
Again be thankful you are still eating (aka going to WDW / vacation).
You now have 6 days of Brussel Sprouts and 1 day of chicken.
Again you are still eating (aka being at WDW).
To the people you are eating with on Sunday, that seems fair, but you know how much the rest of your week is going to suck. So, you are upset.
Yes you can get upset, but you belly if full and you have the nutrition to stay alive. As I have said to many crying youngsters at WDW, "Why are you crying, do you now like WDW? Then tell you parents to get you out of here and never bring you back. There is no crying allowed at WDW.". I have gotten many thank yous from the parents as the childrens then realize "oops that almost backfired on me".
Disney was a place where people living hard lives got to get special treatment for a few days or a week.
Again everyone has hard lives, some just decide to handle it well. And Disney is still giving special treatment.
And people are losing something that was a huge gift to them.
The gift is still there it is just a different color or shape.
We all lost our chocolate cake, so they are going to be ed whether their Sundays are fair or not. This is not to say the outcry is correct. But I do think it is understandable during this transition period.

Hope I made myself clear, but in case I did not. There are no victims of suffering at WDW.

 

[ddrongowski]

You all are just furious with Disney because of this allowance they made for those with severe autism. If you all are so upset with this policy, why don't you contact Disney instead of trashing this mother all over a public forum? The sacrifices she has made for her child (marriage; other children; friends) warrant her getting some kind of break in life. Very selfish IMO.

Actually your wrong, I am extremely happy they gave her those passes. After all if he had gotten violent and started harming murdering other guests, there may have been someone else that would have had to put him down (as in dead) before he murdered more people (she's the one that said he is so violent that even she has had to utilize the police to handle him). But then again that would have been her fault for putting her child in harms way.

 

[bhg469]

You also conveniently chose to keep ignoring the info that said DAS was not needed for wheelchair accessibility. But instead you want something BEYOND wheelchair accessibility so you press the topic.

I don't doubt the screwup of some front-line CM and the words they chose... but the underlying principle is the same. DAS was not intended for wheelchair accommodations.

You quoted me for something someone else typed

 

[ddrongowski]

Some of you say that she should not take her son if he is that violent. Really? It sounds like Disney is very important to that family, and that the GAC was making their lives easier.

If someone that is 6'2" 240lbs all of a sudden starts harming others (this includes children as they are all over the place at WDW) I would expect adults or the parents of the children being attacked to "end" that attack. See most parents that I know will kill to protect their offspring from harm, and do not put their offspring in harms way.

 

[Gomer]

Hope I made myself clear, but in case I did not. There are no victims of suffering at WDW.

Not to diminish any other issues, but having both been incredibly poor and having to deal with disability, I don't find them to be the same. Poverty is something you can strive to fix. There is almost always hope it will end. You can escape it for a time and forget possibly. You can choose not to concern yourself with money or material things. I know. I've been evicted, gone without birthday presents, had cars repossessed and had to throw change in a coin counter to eat. It was a struggle, but there was always hope it would end. I don't mean to downplay poverty. It is a horrible experience, but it is something you can convince/delude yourself or at least have a sliver of hope that it will someday go away.

Disabilities, for the most part, are permanent and inescapable.

At the same time, you are right, and there are plenty of people in the world going through worse things than I am. My son isn't starving, or at risk of being killed in an explosion. There are far worse things than autism even if you want to stay within the realm of disabilities. But my point in that post was to put those who don't understand in the mind of the affected people, not to argue against the changes. When I struggle to get my son dressed in the morning, I am not thinking about starving children in africa or scared kids in a war zone. I am thinking about my son, and that analogy was how it felt to me. And again, I am ok with the chicken. But I won't lie, I'll miss the chocolate cake.

 

[flynnibus]

You quoted me for something someone else typed

I apologize... text editor user fubar edited now.. thx

 

[ddrongowski]

Not to diminish any other issues, but having both been incredibly poor and having to deal with disability, I don't find them to be the same. Poverty is something you can strive to fix. There is almost always hope it will end. You can escape it for a time and forget possibly. You can choose not to concern yourself with money or material things. I know. I've been evicted, gone without birthday presents, had cars repossessed and had to throw change in a coin counter to eat. It was a struggle, but there was always hope it would end. I don't mean to downplay poverty. It is a horrible experience, but it is something you can convince/delude yourself or at least have a sliver of hope that it will someday go away.

Disabilities, for the most part, are permanent and inescapable.

At the same time, you are right, and there are plenty of people in the world going through worse things than I am. My son isn't starving, or at risk of being killed in an explosion. There are far worse things than autism even if you want to stay within the realm of disabilities. But my point in that post was to put those who don't understand in the mind of the affected people, not to argue against the changes. When I struggle to get my son dressed in the morning, I am not thinking about starving children in africa or scared kids in a war zone. I am thinking about my son, and that analogy was how it felt to me. And again, I am ok with the chicken. But I won't lie, I'll miss the chocolate cake.

When you have Dunlop disease chocolate cake is the debil....

 

[Gabe1]

Not to nitpick. But technically they still got chicken. In the analogy, chicken was getting no special treatment in Disney. Liver was living with disability in normal life. But it was a stupid analogy anyway.

I do agree with your point though. TSM is an extreme example. Even the fast pass line on that ride is unfair to any sane human being. But that's neither here nor there. I'm all for accepting a little extra help from Disney to help my son. But not to the detriment of others. I could feel good about what they were doing for us when it benefited us, but the negatives were negligible to others. But if it starts to have measurable negative impact on people just trying to enjoy their vacation, then we need to look at ourselves to see how we can compromise so everyone gets what they need.

I think for the most part you can objectively see both sides of the coin.

Sadly, even Disney has announced GAC was out of control and was a detriment to other guests. The final straw being Radators where 25% of guests wanted a little bit of extra help, what is negligible in the mind set of many is not negligible to those in queues for over 2 hours. My BF son so looked forward to Toy, but FPs were gone in 45 minutes and that stand-by was too long for the family to endure. So a 6 year old while you believe he got chicken he might disagree, if he got chicken it was the opportunity to see families going on and on again while he did not. For our schools I've sat on the regional board for students with disabilities, I've brought into our district many positive improvements. Being disabled myself, I grew up in a time where little to nothing was afforded, including my times at Disneyland and WDW, I'm proud of how the parks have evolved. Not so proud of the mess they created, they can do better and hope they will.

It angers me to see others so bitter that they would actually say,

"Get over it and go to the back of the line."

That post I took a screen shot of to forward to my son so he can share with management in one of their weekly meetings. I think it is important for Disney to see both sides of parents/guests attitudes towards other guests.

 

[bhg469]

Wow check out the difference. And the video is only a little over 9 minutes. CM's are very impressive professional people.

I do find it "interesting" that she got concerned about "personal information", but then freely hands it to a corporation.

Not to mention sharing it with youtube which is pretty much the world...

 

[Lord_Vader]

There's an alternative view of the DAS experience over on Temporary tourist on how the experience is at WDW from a family with an autistic family member it sounds very different than the previously mentioned Video blog.

I agree, and Autism Hippie called them company plants. Ironic coming from an unreasonable, overbearing, overreactive mother. I completely understand some anxiety over the DAS system overall, but she seems like she was fairly well informed and went into GR with the goal of creating a firestorm. I truely feel for the poor CMs that have to deal with people like her, trying to do their jobs and provide the great service they nearly always do and she just treats them as though they are heartless. I personally hope she never returns to any Disney park, especially while I am there. She knew exactly what she was doing, trying to create a situation and looks like a complete fool IMO.

 

[englanddg]

"Disney is done"...pretty general statement. Yes the whole company is going under because of a system that is used EVERYPLACE ELSE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME WAY. *sigh*

Also it shows how full of it she is when she says that it was disney employees abusing the system. Sadly shes looking for attention and shes getting it.

I'm sure the views various forums have sent her have made her very happy...