Wheelchair Abuse

[TinkerbellK]

uh oh, double post - i thought my first post was lost, so i retyped it. sorry about that!

 

[SereneOne]

Wow, just ugly, judgemental attitudes. I happen to be chubby and I eat way less than my skinny husband and exercise more too. He can eat a whole large super supreme pan pizza and then go make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cause he is still hungry. He is 6ft and weighs 155 and has a desk job and then comes home to sit infront of the tv. I walk 2-3 miles first thing in the morning, do the weight machines about three times a week and 30min on the stationary bike and am a size 18/20. I mostly eat healthy too. Heck! Last night he stopped by Publix and got their vanilla cake with fudge icing AND ATE THE WHOLE THING WHILE WATCHING FOOTBALL!!!:fork:

In 2001, I ended up with a wheelchair halfway through our trip. I have PCOS and started bleeding badly. I had not know I had PCOS and was put on hormonal pills...I knew it was just all the pent up lining from years of no periods and not harmful and yes, I was bleeding profusely, changing every hour. My three bonus children had never been to Disney and we had saved all year and our incometax refund to take them and there was no way I was going to stop the trip. I also did not want to sit in a hotel room offsite all by myself. We got a wheelchair for the last three days of our vacation. I was able to eat with my family, watch parades and I rode a few rides. Some ugly people felt the need to make fat comments and my children told them off. I find people who feel the need to degrade another person for any reason to be just as disgusting as people who use wheelchairs to not wait in line.

Sorry to be so explicit, but it goes to show YOU don't know, so give a person the benefit of the doubt...and yes, I could stand and throw away a piece of trash.

 

[TinkerbellK]

Wow, just ugly, judgemental attitudes. I happen to be chubby and I eat way less than my skinny husband and exercise more too. He can eat a whole large super supreme pan pizza and then go make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cause he is still hungry. He is 6ft and weighs 155 and has a desk job and then comes home to sit infront of the tv. I walk 2-3 miles first thing in the morning, do the weight machines about three times a week and 30min on the stationary bike and am a size 18/20. I mostly eat healthy too. Heck! Last night he stopped by Publix and got their vanilla cake with fudge icing AND ATE THE WHOLE THING WHILE WATCHING FOOTBALL!!!:fork:

In 2001, I ended up with a wheelchair halfway through our trip. I have PCOS and started bleeding badly. I had not know I had PCOS and was put on hormonal pills...I knew it was just all the pent up lining from years of no periods and not harmful and yes, I was bleeding profusely, changing every hour. My three bonus children had never been to Disney and we had saved all year and our incometax refund to take them and there was no way I was going to stop the trip. I also did not want to sit in a hotel room offsite all by myself. We got a wheelchair for the last three days of our vacation. I was able to eat with my family, watch parades and I rode a few rides. Some ugly people felt the need to make fat comments and my children told them off. I find people who feel the need to degrade another person for any reason to be just as disgusting as people who use wheelchairs to not wait in line.

Sorry to be so explicit, but it goes to show YOU don't know, so give a person the benefit of the doubt...and yes, I could stand and throw away a piece of trash.

wow, sorry people were so ugly to you! just goes to show you that some people are so small that they feel the need to give a good g-d d--m about what other people look like at disney. i could not tell you how many overweight people used ECVs on my last trip. i also cannot tell you how many skinny people used ECVs. wanna know why? cause i was having such a good time that i DIDN'T CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE!

people assume so much based on appearance... i am skinny (too skinny, and fight a life time of health problems because i cannot gain weight), with blonde hair and fair skin, and i look young and pretty and healthy... too bad i am being torn apart by even walking... but hey you cannot see that! so therefore when i stand up to throw away trash, i must be faking!

for heaven's sake people, its the Happiest Freakin Place on Earth! Lighten up!

 

[BuzzLite_Fran]

Wow, just ugly, judgemental attitudes. I happen to be chubby and I eat way less than my skinny husband and exercise more too. He can eat a whole large super supreme pan pizza and then go make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cause he is still hungry. He is 6ft and weighs 155 and has a desk job and then comes home to sit infront of the tv. I walk 2-3 miles first thing in the morning, do the weight machines about three times a week and 30min on the stationary bike and am a size 18/20. I mostly eat healthy too. Heck! Last night he stopped by Publix and got their vanilla cake with fudge icing AND ATE THE WHOLE THING WHILE WATCHING FOOTBALL!!!:fork:

In 2001, I ended up with a wheelchair halfway through our trip. I have PCOS and started bleeding badly. I had not know I had PCOS and was put on hormonal pills...I knew it was just all the pent up lining from years of no periods and not harmful and yes, I was bleeding profusely, changing every hour. My three bonus children had never been to Disney and we had saved all year and our incometax refund to take them and there was no way I was going to stop the trip. I also did not want to sit in a hotel room offsite all by myself. We got a wheelchair for the last three days of our vacation. I was able to eat with my family, watch parades and I rode a few rides. Some ugly people felt the need to make fat comments and my children told them off. I find people who feel the need to degrade another person for any reason to be just as disgusting as people who use wheelchairs to not wait in line.

Sorry to be so explicit, but it goes to show YOU don't know, so give a person the benefit of the doubt...and yes, I could stand and throw away a piece of trash.

Wow...well at least you were able to enjoy yourself at WDW due to the chair. By the way welcome to the WDW forums! :wave:

 

[TinkerbellK]

it is just sad that people who need a wheelchair need to defend themselves, no matter the reason they need it.

one word people... karma! whenever i see someone without a tag parked in a handicapped spot, i think... KARMA... one day they will need a handicapped spot (heaven forbid - i dont wish ill on anyone) and they will all be full...

it is just wrong to be rude to people in wheelchairs. it is wrong to be rude to anyone... but it is seriously bad karma to be rude to the disabled... cause g-d has a sense of humor - remember that!

 

[DisneyWorldMad]

At Disney, all lines at MK, AK, and MGM are mainstreamed, which means people in wheelchairs DO NOT get head of line privilege. there may be other reasons a person does not wait in the main line, but getting a chair WILL NOT get you out of the lines. almost all lines at MK are mainstreamed but a few, so really there is no real benefit to using a wheelchair for this purpose.

Well just to name a few me and my daughter (who was in the wheelchair) were told to go on via the exit or via fastpass (without a fastpass ticket) which meant we bypassed the queues on the follow rides

magic kingdom

All the rides (honest all of them)

none of these rides had no reason to be allowed to get straight on other than the queue not made for wheelchairs. but just because disney never allowed for wheelchairs does that mean we should be allowed to cut the cue no

animal kingdom

animal kingdom was different (probably due to being the newest of all 4 parks, and was kinda neat since a lot of rides we went behind the scenes where normal guest don't see like Kilimanjaro Safari after the ride we got to stay on the bus and took you back on a little track where they go to reload kinder cool.

all the show we bypassed the queues but kinda understandable since we was put in a disabled area so there would have be no advantage in waiting in the queue.

MGM

star tours was the only ride i felt good about because even though we bypassed the queue into a privet line the cm made us wait a good 15min (which was about the standard waiting time for the normal line) till he let us get on (now why cant this be disney's policy)

again since most of mgm are shows so understandable bypassed the queue since we was put in a disabled area so there would have be no advantage in waiting in the queue.

Epcot

all the rides were straight on (didnt go on ellen or WOL as we didnt have time so i cant comment on them)


in conclusion yes you do get to cut the lines its disney's way to save money since it would cost too much to widen the queues on some rides. but why cant the disable queue wait just like the standard queue i don't know

ask yourself how you can go on all the rides at MK in only 3 hours on a busy day with a wheelchair then ask whats the benefet

 

[TinkerbellK]

well technically you were not supposed to be able to leave those lines... i happen to know that the queue at kilimanjaro is accessible, so you should have had to wait. same for almost every line at MGM (TOT, RnR, etc, are all accessible). MGM and AK were BUILT to ADA pretty much. EPCOT was largely retro-fitted. MK wasnt entirely, but you were given special treatment that is not the norm, as far as I can tell. i am not saying that you did not deserve it, and i do not know your situation - it may have been necessary. but for the general population, you do not get to skip lines cause of a wheelchair - and most CMs will not let you...

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Hey I hear ya! It hasn't always been that way, but in my last 2 visits it has seemed to get pretty crazy. It's like when you go to a mall at Christmas time and circle the parking lot for hours and you someone pull their handicapped hangtag out of their glove compartment and park right in front. Now they could have some handicap that you can't see with the naked eye, but when they walk like there is nothing wrong with them! AAARGH!!! And while your on this rant I'd like to comment about every overweight person riding around in those scooters! It's one thing for an elderly person to but when you have a family of four all riding around and they jump right to the front of the line. Can you say LAZY!

The first part of your response about the people who whip out their handicap placards just to get a good spot hit home for me. I've seen people do this and been annoyed by it. But then both my aunt and my mother have handicap placards that they keep in their driver's door pocket and only display it when parking. Both legitimately need the closer parking spaces because they are both very physically limited and are unable to walk long distances. They don't keep them hanging on the mirror when driving because both feel it is an obstruction that creates a dangerous situation while moving.

Then the part about overweight people on scooters, that hit home for me as well. I've seen these people and had the same thoughts as you. Believe me! But then I used to work with a lady whose weight issue was secondary to her physical handicap. She had arthritis so bad that she couldn't fully extend her arms or walk very well. On her bad mornings I would offer to tie her boots for her. She was in obvious pain. She was not physically able to excercise which created weight issues for her. She was forever dieting and cried all the time about her weight and her self-esteem but felt powerless because she could not physically excercise. She tried to get the gastric bypass surgery but her insurance refused to cover it. So she was sorta stuck. Here's a person by appearance would be thought of as one of the lazy overweight cases you see but truly was not. Without an ECV she would never be able to experience the magic of WDW.

Again, I've seen the abuses and it ticks me off. ((I once saw an overweight couple on ECV's try to back them up the ramp into the bus. When they wouldn't go they put their feet over the sides and shoved them up the ramp like kids on bicycles. I thought that was a bit obvious.)) I hate it because it creates skepticism and ill feelings that sometimes roll over to those individuals who truly need the conveniences. It's a tough situation. I try to think of the people I know need it and figure those who abuse it are creating their own karma that they will have to live with in the end. By remaining positive I feel I'm creating karma that I will be happy to live with, too.

 

[DisneyWorldMad]

well technically you were not supposed to be able to leave those lines... i happen to know that the queue at kilimanjaro is accessible, so you should have had to wait.

I total agree the queues were wide enough to get 3 wheelchair side by side lol but we just went where we was told which was fast pass. why :shrug: i dono

same for almost every line at MGM (TOT, RnR, etc, are all accessible).

now i think of it TOT we were told to use fast pass lane but was no different as you have to wait the same as everyone once in the basement, RNR again told to use fast pass but waited the same once passed the main queue.

but you were given special treatment that is not the norm, as far as I can tell. i am not saying that you did not deserve it, and i do not know your situation - it may have been necessary. but for the general population, you do not get to skip lines cause of a wheelchair - and most CMs will not let you...

maybe they did give special treatment i dont know but why they felt just just because my daughter was in a wheelchair she needed vip treatment i dont know (we were in disney that's special enough for her we would have been just as happy to wait the same time as if we were in a normal queue.

but who cares LOL as long as disney provide for all people no matter what there disability may be so they can enjoy disney without the restrictions because of no access for disabled, does it matter how they go about doing it (its not like 2-4 people bypassing a queue is going to affect a line of 100 people

 

[PhilharMagician]

well technically you were not supposed to be able to leave those lines... i happen to know that the queue at kilimanjaro is accessible, so you should have had to wait. same for almost every line at MGM (TOT, RnR, etc, are all accessible). MGM and AK were BUILT to ADA pretty much. EPCOT was largely retro-fitted. MK wasnt entirely, but you were given special treatment that is not the norm, as far as I can tell. i am not saying that you did not deserve it, and i do not know your situation - it may have been necessary. but for the general population, you do not get to skip lines cause of a wheelchair - and most CMs will not let you...

It is special treatment for wheelchair guests. I went throught the same thing last year in MK while pushing my Mother in Law around. Every line we got into we were put directly onto the rides with almost no wait, either through the FP lines (without a FP) or a special line like IaSW.

Also the OP did say they went through the queue in KS, but unloaded in a differant area which is true.

2 example in Epcot that I know of are SSE and LWtL. Both have separate queue's and sometimes it is faster for wheelchairs and sometimes it is not. I know we sat at SSE for at least 20-25 minutes and the standby line at the main entrance was inside the building which means less than 1 minute wait.

Has El Rio changed since the refurb of the ride and queue?

In Epcot we went to see AA and we were brought us upstairs early in an elevator and got to watch the singers below in the main hall where you typically wait to enter. That was really nice and I got some great video of them singing.

 

[pirate-princess]

i had to have one last year coz i had a chest infection and from all the coughing i pulled one of the muscles between the ribs (there is a technical term for this!) and my god it hurt!

we only had 2 days left so we went to magic one evening and MGM the next, and i got some strange looks, because i did look healthy! and was still occasionaly smiling!

but i had always thought you had to prove or show something to hire one i never knew you just go and get one!

what does worry me (sorry if singuling people out but i have to) is that the older generation have the electric ones and cant make them stop i almost had my legs taken out from me after i came off test track, i just had this old woman coming at me! she did stop but only because she went into a display!

so i was wondering, do they show people how to work them? if not they should! some small child could get run over one day!

 

[The Mom]

I hoped this would die a natural death, but it hasn't.

Consider this a mercy killing.

 

[wdwmagic]

We go through these kinds of threads several times a year, and they always end up badly. Apologies to those who wanted to discuss this issue sensibly, and hopefully everyone had their say on the issue.