BaconPancakes
Well-Known Member
Another reason why I don't use Facebook...
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GAC to Become DAS
- Thread starter Animaniac93-98
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Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Well, there is another way to avoid it. I have had a Facebook account for years, but I don't venture into WDW's page and I certainly do not "like" any site that I don't want to see constantly.
duchess1
Active Member
Unfortunately, that's just what I had to do. I blocked it from coming up on my newsfeed.
Lucky
Well-Known Member
I suggested that 12 pages ago, but it's a little late now.
Generally it falls under the department of justice ,or other agencies depending on whether its employment based or housing etc. The department of Justice does have an information phone line with agents who can give advice and info, but there are no dedicated ADA agents that I am aware of that have police powers.
asianway
Well-Known Member
wdw or the parks blog?
devoy1701
Well-Known Member
Am I missing something? I looked at some of the comments on FB, also read that petition on change.org and the article that linked to it... Everyone keeps talking about how they "can't believe that Disney doesn't understand that their children can't wait in line." A lot of the comments mention the line waiting and that now they have to wait in line so they aren't going to be renewing passes, etc.
I thought the new system reserves a ride time, and you just have to come back later and then will be ushered to the front? Where is everyone getting that they now have to wait in 30+ minute long lines? Am I misunderstanding the new DAS?
I thought the new system reserves a ride time, and you just have to come back later and then will be ushered to the front? Where is everyone getting that they now have to wait in 30+ minute long lines? Am I misunderstanding the new DAS?
JerseyDad
Well-Known Member
...here's how it's supposed to work:
- Get a DAS card
- Go to attraction you wish to ride ....if wait time is 60 minutes (stand-by) the CM gives a return time of 60 - 10 = 50 minutes.
- You come back after 50 minutes. (go eat ...shop ...hit a less crowded ride ...see a show ....and while you do that be cognizant of the fact that you are NOT in a 60 minute line)
- You return and are directed to the FP line where the wait should be approx 10 minutes
- You wait on a line ONLY 10 minutes ...if that ...get on ride.
- Exit ride ...go to next desired attraction ...repeat process.
...all the crying an whining is about:
- What do I do in the 50 minute wait time?
- That won't work for me ...my kid ...my family ...my vacation
- I don't want to wait ....50 minutes ....30 minutes ....10 minutes .....!!
- I want it the way it was ...where I had free reign to rapid fire from one ride to another.
- I want front of the line access ...period.
He would have eventually had to come inside so that the CM could take his picture. When we were at MK on Sunday, my wife sat with our 2 sons and he only joined me once we hit the desk, and we actually brought our last GAC and she basically used it to fill out the DAS (yes she asked all the questions anyway). Literally once the questions were answered the process took 2 minutes for her to take the picture and fill out the info on her ipad mini and for the DAS to print. Total time at desk maybe 5 minutes. At this point there is little difference between getting a GAC and a DAS, so him having a meltdown had nothing to do with it being a DAS.
Now if she was sitting there arguing for 20 minutes with the CM about how she should get more, or the line up was extremely long and he had to sit this might have set the kid off and cause a meltdown, which in some older larger children can get violent simply because they are not little kids anymore. My 13 year old is my height and he is 7 inches taller than his mother and outweighs her by 30 pounds, if he had a true meltdown like he used to when he was younger he could hurt her.
To be honest I haven't read her blog, because I have no desire to read back pages and pages to find a link.
Everyone is pointing to CM posts about how GAC/DAs usage has fallen since the switch, which I guess is a good thing, if the difference is truly made up of abusers no longer getting the card. But the simple fact remains for all the statistics showing less usage, overall standby wait times did not change one bit on a heavy day, where you would expect the most change. The simple fact is all those abusers had to go somewhere and they ended up in the standby line which counteracted any of the benefit of "smaller" fp lines.
I watched several lines and noticed certain trends.
-Wheelchair groups now in standby lines
-South American Tour groups in standby. Usually you used to see them always in Fp lines, because the tour guide would run ahead and grab FP for everything. this time there was one major difference, they all had wrist bands on, so with only 3 FP's they were forced to hit standby much more often. On a side note most seemed to be from Brazil and were fairly quiet and well behaved.
-I saw no discernible change in wait times from other equally busy days on any of the major rides.
I really hope I am reading it wrong. I applaud you for what you do and do not want to see anyone hurt. Teachers do receive special training, specifically to which restraining techniques to use and when to use them. I don't think the public in general has any clue about these techniques, and I know that in our area the police are not even trained. What bothered me is the language, "when the fight is on, the fight is on". To me this is very dangerous and it only takes one wrong person to read this and act on it.
You make sound like it's a piece of cake, which for many it will be, but for some that 50 minutes is going to be a difficult time, because the child may not care about doing any of the things you suggested. Every autistic child is different and they react to change in different ways.
Also for some with medical issues that extra time means they may just have to leave and not ride at all.
JerseyDad
Well-Known Member
....what you said about the wait may be true ...but the cold hard facts are that Disney parks are crowded, there are lines, the weather is sometime uncooperative .....and it's not a 'one size fits all' experience.
....much of the complaining that I've read (here, and on many other sites ...both Disney specific ...and general local and national news boards) ....is from parents .....and besides their sense of entitlement ...they also exude this sense that Disney is their personal (albeit expensive) babysitter.
Yup I pointed that out already. I'm home now but keep my eye on the Wait Times with an app. No change yet. Soarin' was at 100 minutes today at noon. (Something I expect given it was an EMH morning for them and that always jams up that line.)
GAC use/abuse was a problem in DisneyLand not WDW. We have one CM here from MK who cited a statistic on some ride in Magic Kingdom (didn't say which one) that saw DAS admittance drop to 1% when it was 4-6% for GAC. No mention how that affected wait times. Just an inference that the high Standby's over the weekend were from it being Columbus Weekend and withOUT DAS they would've been higher. I'm highly skeptical of that. The main reason I stopped going to WDW during this holiday weekend was because the crowds got too high. Even with GAC it was difficult to do much or have an enjoyable day getting from Point A to Point B.
I think we need to see how those Standby times do over the next few week's when the holiday crowd goes home. EPCOT should be busy throughout the month due to Food & Wine. Magic Kingdom will get busier around Halloween. Then November will bring a lull before Thanksgiving.
You cannot trust the first weekend in December either for light crowds. Not with the Christmas Parade filmng in MK and all the DVCers rushing down to take advantage of lower point costs. But it gets better for two weeks then you have the Christmas/NYE insanity.
I don't think we can say GAC/DAS usage will give us all a magical low 30 minute or less wait time for major attractions. TSM and Soarin' will still be insanely busy because Disney does not offer any other similar attractions that can appeal to all ages and abilities anywhere nearby. They really need to spend more money on increasing available attractions and/or capacity. (For crying out loud Imagineers, let TSM have that building to build a second ride queue!!! And while you're at it, could you please do something with that Backlot? Cars Land, Pixar Land, Marvel Hero Land, Star Wars Land, just do something!)
All the FP+ and DAS scheduling in the world is not going to diminish the equation of supply vs. demand. It just shuffles people into lines at different times.
One attraction that would have been interesting to survey for GAC vs. DAS usage is Peter Pan. A lot of repeat GAC users could cycle through that ride's FP queue and the FP queue always slowed down the Standby. Alas it has been down for refurbishment throughout the change.
Interesting ride to me as well since the inability to stop it means far fewer mobility-impaired GAC users were going there. It's often far too difficult to do a slide transfer on a moving platform. And we know from reports there were cognitively-impaired people fixating on this ride and doing repeat trips throughout the day. Makes an interesting sampling pool to examine.
Interesting ride to me as well since the inability to stop it means far fewer mobility-impaired GAC users were going there. It's often far too difficult to do a slide transfer on a moving platform. And we know from reports there were cognitively-impaired people fixating on this ride and doing repeat trips throughout the day. Makes an interesting sampling pool to examine.
EOD K9
Well-Known Member
@Aurora1 Thanks for trying to clarify for me. @pddmom If my language offended you, I apologize. However, that being said, we do everything we can to not harm an autistic individual when they become combative. That means, pushing away, disengaging and hoping their loved one can calm them down. But, there comes that point when they are barreling towards you, swinging, arms flailing, biting, punching, kicking, we must therefore do what is needed to stop the aggressive action.
For the record, I am not advocating that the wrong person acts on whatever I said and tries to be the hero and stop them. I wish it was as simple as the scene in "Spaceballs" where Lonestar holds Dark Helmet's head while he swings his arms to no avail. That being said, if the wrong people are reading this, let the family and the professionals deal with it. Everyone needs to steer clear. I hope that clarifies things.
Also, I am not on this thread to jeer or cheer one side's conceived "loss" or "gain" in privileges. I'm for people having equal access. Have a Magical Day!!
Trust me the anger is not the some feeling of entitlement, but rather anger at why it was changed. Let me explain, your absolutely right, Disney did not have to do what they did with the GAC, but instead they went above and beyond, and for some of those families with kids with disabilities that little extra meant the difference between being able to go to Disney and not going to Disney. The anger is that Disney changed the program to be as many have quoted "like everyone else", not because anything disabled families did, but it was because of able bodied people who abused a system they had no business benefiting from.
There will always be some here that believe any type of extra benefit Disney gives to families with disabled family members will be too much, because somehow they are somehow getting more for their money and that its some form of unfair advantage. This argument falls flat with me because its built upon the deluded notion that these families walk into the park on an equal footing as non disabled families, but the chances are on a ride for ride basis they will be getting a hell of a lot less for their money, but they come anyway.
Again the difference is going to depend on the disability etc.. The GAC was doomed to fail not for what it offered the disabled, but because its benefits were easily abused. Disney was left with no choice but to change it, and they went with the least of all possible options.
The system still has some kinks to be ironed out, but based on first week, it seems to have accomplished the goal of less people in FP lines based on CM reports, but it did nothing to lessen standby lines, which many said it would.
JerseyDad
Well-Known Member
....abuse or no abuse ....the GAC was going to change / go away. There was NO WAY that it could remain as it was ...and be given to SO many as easily as it was ....AND have the new FP+, MagicBands, YourMagic (or whatever it's called) systems function properly.
....you could not have X number of guests scheduled via FP+ with their MagicBands to arrive during a certain hours time at a specific attraction ...and still have 10 or 20 'rogue' people with GAC's show up in that same time slot ...with whatever entourage of up to 5 added persons they may have ...and not have the system bog down. Disney is going to manage their guests ...and their time as they see fit to make their systems work ....and that's the bottom line....BECAUSE ...it's all about the bottom line.
pais
Member
"...and still have 10 or 20 'rogue' people with GAC's show up in that same time slot ...with whatever entourage of up to 5 added persons they may have"
--this cracked me up!
jaklgreen
Well-Known Member
But you can still get fastpass at the same time. So with 3 fastpass+ and the Gac, I am sure that, even if you only do a half day, you will be able to ride about the same amount as other do that wait in the lines. I have been going to WDW for 16 years and have been taking my kids since they were 1 &2 yo. There have been trips that we were lucky to get 5 rides in for the day before we left the park for some quiet time. I also can not wait in long lines for a medical reason so that cuts us down to rides with fastpasses or anything under a 30 min wait. I never asked for any special pass, we do what we are able to do and are happy that we are fortunate enough to be able to go to WDW at all.
BaconPancakes
Well-Known Member
Here's a good one I found posted online that supposedly came from AutismHippie's FB page:
Hello
I called Disney (florida) yesterday to find out about how the pass will work. I spoke to a lady named April which was not very pleasant. After she explained how the pass would work (fastpass basically) except you can only get one at a time and have to wait around and as she kept referring to it.. go snack in the meantime I tried to explain this would not work for our Autistic son as #2 he does NOT snack and #2 what will we do with him in the meantime. If even his hair gets wet from the heat he will tantrum. I asked her to please contact the dept of cancellations so that I can weigh in my options. She then told me that she would contact that dept and they would get back to me. I said to her that if this is the case I will probably have to cancel our annual tickets and cut ties all together with the one place that made my son happy. HONESTLY SHE DID NOT CARE ONE BIT. Now today I get this email from her:
Dear Mrs. Bellido,
Thank you again for speaking with me yesterday regarding the Disney Parks and Resorts.
As we discussed, I have completed the refund transaction for the Walt Disney World Annual Passes monthly contract for yourself, Adrian and Adrian Jr. The refund amount is $215.36 and will be applied to your Visa ending in XXXX You should expect to see this amount refunded within the next 10 business days. Please note, as of this notification, your Annual Passes are no longer valid for admission to the Walt Disney World Resort.
Should you have any questions, you are welcome to contact the Guest Experience Services team at 407-560-2544. Please note our office hours are available Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm EST or Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm.
Mrs. Bellido, thank you again for your feedback and we do hope someday we will have the opportunity to visit with you and your family once again.
Sincerely,
April (on behalf of)
Ramey Stinson
Guest Experience Services
Walt Disney World Resort
407-560-2544
NOW MY QUESTION TO HER ONCE I CALLED HER WAS WHO GAVE YOU AUTHORIZATION TO CANCEL MY PASSES? SHE TELLS ME THAT SHE DID IT BECAUSE OF MY TONE OF VOICE. DISNEY YOU ARE BECOMING QUITE A SHAMEFUL COMPANY AND NOT A VERY MAGICAL PLACE AT ALL. I AM SADDENED BY THE WAY YOU ARE TREATING YOUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS. I WENT TO YOUR PARKS 3-5 TIMES A YEARS BUYING AND SPENDING OUR HARD EARNED MONIES JUST TO SEE OUR SON SMILE. SHAME ON YOU FOR TREATING US THIS WAY!!!!!!
Sincerely
ONE UPSET MOTHER!
Hello
I called Disney (florida) yesterday to find out about how the pass will work. I spoke to a lady named April which was not very pleasant. After she explained how the pass would work (fastpass basically) except you can only get one at a time and have to wait around and as she kept referring to it.. go snack in the meantime I tried to explain this would not work for our Autistic son as #2 he does NOT snack and #2 what will we do with him in the meantime. If even his hair gets wet from the heat he will tantrum. I asked her to please contact the dept of cancellations so that I can weigh in my options. She then told me that she would contact that dept and they would get back to me. I said to her that if this is the case I will probably have to cancel our annual tickets and cut ties all together with the one place that made my son happy. HONESTLY SHE DID NOT CARE ONE BIT. Now today I get this email from her:
Dear Mrs. Bellido,
Thank you again for speaking with me yesterday regarding the Disney Parks and Resorts.
As we discussed, I have completed the refund transaction for the Walt Disney World Annual Passes monthly contract for yourself, Adrian and Adrian Jr. The refund amount is $215.36 and will be applied to your Visa ending in XXXX You should expect to see this amount refunded within the next 10 business days. Please note, as of this notification, your Annual Passes are no longer valid for admission to the Walt Disney World Resort.
Should you have any questions, you are welcome to contact the Guest Experience Services team at 407-560-2544. Please note our office hours are available Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm EST or Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm.
Mrs. Bellido, thank you again for your feedback and we do hope someday we will have the opportunity to visit with you and your family once again.
Sincerely,
April (on behalf of)
Ramey Stinson
Guest Experience Services
Walt Disney World Resort
407-560-2544
NOW MY QUESTION TO HER ONCE I CALLED HER WAS WHO GAVE YOU AUTHORIZATION TO CANCEL MY PASSES? SHE TELLS ME THAT SHE DID IT BECAUSE OF MY TONE OF VOICE. DISNEY YOU ARE BECOMING QUITE A SHAMEFUL COMPANY AND NOT A VERY MAGICAL PLACE AT ALL. I AM SADDENED BY THE WAY YOU ARE TREATING YOUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS. I WENT TO YOUR PARKS 3-5 TIMES A YEARS BUYING AND SPENDING OUR HARD EARNED MONIES JUST TO SEE OUR SON SMILE. SHAME ON YOU FOR TREATING US THIS WAY!!!!!!
Sincerely
ONE UPSET MOTHER!
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