Your thoughts on this...

[diverdown2000]

Ok gonna start a discussion on this, because I have discussed this with my wife and friends whom we go to Disney with.. We go to Disney a lot and the biggest thing we have a problem with is the amount of people they let go ahead of the lines when accompanying a person in the wheel chair..

I have no problem with family members accompanying someone with a wheel chair but recently I have seen up to 10 people accompanying one person. I feel and many I have disucussed that at the most 2 people should be assisting that person in a wheel chair...Unless there are younger kids involved...

The last time we went, we saw more and more people, especially teenagers helping one person with a wheel chair...That was about 10 other people, which held up the fast past users and the others not in the fast past line...

I understand it is a family experience, but I think there really should be a limit. A buddy of mine pressed the fact that it is a family experience and you should be able to go as a family on a ride...But again I stress 10 people? This does not happen often, but I think some people are using this in the wrong way...Maybe I am wrong in this thinking, because I know we use the switch passes a lot because we have a 4 year old that can not ride a lot of the much faster rides...

Set me straight on this subject...Flames welcome because maybe I am seeing this differently.....Ohhh and how does one with a twisted ankle get a wheel chair....I over heard another person say that a person told them they were able to get a wheel chair just by having a twisted ankle and they were able to get in the front of lines....

 

[nicholas]

I agree completely. It's abusing the system. Even with a child swap situation, it's for a limited number of people, right? (Or am I completely wrong on that? Not having children, I've never really paid attention to that procedure.) Yeah, doing everything as a family is wonderful, but with ten people, you're not all going to get on the same ride vehicle anyway. I agree that there should be a limit.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

If I'm not mistaken, for most attractions (if not all of them), you need a guest assistance pass to ride to get to the front of the line. I maybe incorrect, but when I was down last year, my mom was in a wheelchair due to a health problem (not a sprained/broken limb) and we did not use the handicap line unless it was no other way to ride the attraction. In that case, myself, my twin and my dad went with her. Do some people abuse the wheelchair policy, yes. But in my mom's case, she does not.

It is annoying when a group of 10 people with a wheelchair comes in front of you, but if it's one family (meaning immediate family), then I think that's ok. If it's extended family, maybe the wheelchair bound person and 1 other person could wait to the side until the rest of the party went through the line. I don't know if that would help...but just my opinion.

TheDisneyGirl02

 

[diverdown2000]

Yes the swtich passes are for up to 3 people, but I have seen people walking up getting switch passess then going back to their group and IC no child present and them saying we got switch passes to make it faster.....

Now recently I went to get switch passes for Test Track and the CM asked me where my party was, and I pointed to my wife and kids that were getting the fast passes for her and my daughter and the CM said they needed to confirm that I had one child that could not ride...So I am guessing that it depends on who the CM is...

Disneygirl...in your situation you did not abuse the system and that is great..unfortunetly there are some that do...I guess Disney won't do anything becasue it could start some serious arguments..

 

[AliciaLuvzDizne]

no flames lol

i dunno guys...havent you ever been in line behind a LARGE family?? They can all ride together except for grandpa who gets a little winded when he walks too far, so they rented him a wheelchair...but imagine there's a limit on who can ride with grandpa... 5 people go with him and the rest stand in line. The "wheelchairers" get off the ride first, and now they're seperated from the rest of their group... why is that fair?

 

[diverdown2000]

no flames lol

i dunno guys...havent you ever been in line behind a LARGE family?? They can all ride together except for grandpa who gets a little winded when he walks too far, so they rented him a wheelchair...but imagine there's a limit on who can ride with grandpa... 5 people go with him and the rest stand in line. The "wheelchairers" get off the ride first, and now they're seperated from the rest of their group... why is that fair?

I can understand that it would not be fair, but maybe Disney needs to implement a switch pass limiting the number of people through the wheelchair access..It just bites when you are ready to get on from the regular line or the Fast Pass line and 10 people accompany that one person...

We spend enough time trying different ways to avoid the lines just to see it being halted by those ABUSING the current system...

 

[Miss Bell]

I think it really depends on the way people treat it. I do get highly irritated at the huge groups that go with a wheelchair that are wearing the expression that they have just gotten over on everyone else.

 

[wolf29]

I have not run into this situation enough to get annoyed over it. I have, however, been in line when one person ahead of me has been standing in line for his/her entire family of 10-12 who then just jump in. I have never seen this matter addressed by any CMs, yet there were many aggravated guests. I'd rather have that problem handled before the wheelchair deal. If a wheelchair bound guest is travelling with 8 or 10 friends & family members, let them stay together. It might make you wait on line two or three more minutes. No big thing to me.

 

[Cynderella]

I can't really complain about this one because I have been in one of those large groups that gets to go to the front because of someone in a wheelchair. When we went a couple years back my uncle was with and he has knee problems and has a hard time walking long distances so we got him a wheelchair. When we went on Splash Mountain...they let our whole group go...and there was about 15 or more of us. Didn't bother me none cause it was 95 and I didnt have to wait in line(sorry ) But then when we tried to go on the Jungle Cruise..they said that only 3 or 4 could go...so that sucked because then we wouldnt have been together. I mean I understand that people would get mad if large groups got to go ahead cause I know it would shore ________ me off too. But it's kinda different if your the one going ahead cause everyone hates lines.

 

[diverdown2000]

IT WAS YOU!!!!!! Just Kidding...lol

 

[raven]

A few years back, before FastPass was introduced, I was waiting in line for Space Mountain and a group of about 15-20 people passed us on the other side because they had 1 person in a wheel chair. There were many groans and complaints coming from the Standby lane about it.

I think people do abuse this system. At Cedar Point in Ohio, you can take 2 other riders with you if you are in a wheel chair. I think that would suffice for Disney as well.

 

[barnum42]

Diverdown, I hope I can answer some of your concerns.

A wheelchair does not, for the most part, let you jump lines. Maybe more than a few years ago it did, but not now. Which is as it should be.

I have taken two trips there with my Mother, who due to arthritis and something else with her back that I can't pronounce never mind spell can not stay on her feet for any length of time.

She now has a manual wheelchair which I push throgh the parks (good extra exercice for me to keep the effects of all those Zebra Domes off me).

Most rides you have to wait in exactly the same queue as everyone else.

Some rides you wait in the same queue and then have to wait longer.

Here are some examples of boarding procedures for wheelchair parties.

OnBuzz you will notice wheelchairs get to the loading bay then have to go through a corridor to the exit bay and wait for a cast member who will then load them at the exit.

The Safari ride queue is a lot longer for wheelchair parties. Again you wait in the same queue, but at the point where most people turn to the final loading bay, wheelchairs go straight on and have to wait for a special vehicle to arrive. They generally have two or three of these on the safari routes and you have to wait for one of these, you can't get on the regular ones. Trust me, this can leave you with a lengthy wait compared to the standard line. But it's still worth it

Haunted Mansion, either you load on the exit bay (and miss the stretch rooms) or we have been there where they get enough wheechair parties together and you go through a back entrace corridor to the stretch room. However this does involve a lot of standing time.

Spacship Earth. This may save time when the park is crowded, but off-season it takes longer to board. You wait by the exit ramp for a group of wheelchair parties to assemble, then a cast member will collect everyone and load them at the exit.

Animation Tour - pot luck. You queue with everyone else, but they have limited wheelchair capacity. If you get to the front of the queue and the capacity for that show if full. Tough luck you have to wait for the next show.

You do get to cut a bit of the Splash Mountain queue. You stay with the regular queue ouside right up to the point where the stairs are. At that point you are guided to the exit area and have to go against the flow of everyone heading to the photo shop. This saves a few minutes, but nothing huge.

The only full on queue jumps I am aware of are Thunder Mountain where you head straight for the exit in order to board and I think something similar is in place for Space Mountain.

For the parades there are a few designated areas for wheelchair parties, but lmited to one wheelchair plus three guests. You will also find that regular parties try to sneak in and steal the spaces. Cast Memebers must get a lot of grief from such people if the abuse I saw one take at Spectromagic is anything to go by. For Wishes there are no wheelchair locations so it's kind of tricky to see this one properly.

The various shows / films have wheelchair areas which for the most part are at the back. Lion King being an exception where they are at the ends of the floor level rows. There are also very limited spaces at the front of Tarzan and Beauty & the Beast.

There is no facility at the circle vision theatres, but as I've not seen one crowded to capacity you can find a place where people are not standing all around the wheelchair.

I hope that gives you and the rest of the gang a better idea of seeing things from a wheeled perspective.

Feel to to comment or ask me any other questions. :wave:

 

[diverdown2000]

Those are definetly good points....I guess my primary concern is the amount that accompany the person in the wheel chair...Wouldn't it be fine to limit the amount and let a certain number go to acompany that person...

Think about it..Some of the cases you said there are limited seats like the Safari ride...I have seen only a number of people get on that certain boat...It would be unfair for a ton of people who are accompanying that person to get on that boat, hindering other people in wheel chairs access to that same boat instead of waiting for the next available boat?

Maybe I am wrong....But I think there should be a set number allowed to accompany that person...I do however agree that if you are in the same queue then you get to the boarding area you switch to a different line...But again I stress the amount of people.....again relating to the fact it hinders other Wheelchair users to board because they are waiting....so in fact when you are switched to a different boarding area, those using a wheel chair have to wait till the 8+ before them are boarded..

Did i make any sense at all in that lol....

What I am trying to say that even those in Wheel Chairs are effected because they have to wait while a ton of people ahead of them are accompanying a person and that person only has 2 people with them....

Again this is not an attack on those using wheel chairs....I should have stressed it is the amount of people with them...

 

[Not For Sale]

In CBJ the 1st 2 rows are for handicapped people and their parties.

 

[Trishnh]

barnum42, you made some excellent points, and I applaud you :sohappy: :sohappy: I think there are many misconceptions that wheelchairs jump the line, and get the best seats in the house, and this simply is not the case. Like you mentioned, many times the wait ends up being longer and the wheelchair seats in theaters are generally in the back of the theater.

As a wheelchair party of 6 I can see other's point of large wheelchair gatherings. I have seen this too--when aunts, uncles, grammas & grandpas & every other relative accompanies the wheelchair. There is supposed to be a limit of 6 in a party for wheelchairs. I think it should be limited to immediate family (unless the party is only with friends, etc) and not extended family. But, it is hard to separate families when they are toghether.

 

[barnum42]

Maybe I am wrong....But I think there should be a set number allowed to accompany that person...I do however agree that if you are in the same queue then you get to the boarding area you switch to a different line...But again I stress the amount of people.....again relating to the fact it hinders other Wheelchair users to board because they are waiting....so in fact when you are switched to a different boarding area, those using a wheel chair have to wait till the 8+ before them are boarded..

I was refering to Kilimanjaro Safaris. If there is a large party with one wheelchair user I have no problem with them all riding together. On this ride it is not as if they jump the queue, they have to wait a lot longer than regular riders. In fact I was aware once of a couple who jumped the regular queue in the hope of a shorter wait and tried to sneak in behind my mother and I. I ignored the fact they did this as I knew they would have a longer wait. It was fun listening to their hushed argument as they saw the regular tour vehicles load up and drive away whilst they were stuck waiting for the wheelchair bus :lol:

The Jungle Cruise has a separate queue for wheelchairs, but again they only have the odd boat that is geared for wheelchair parties and unless you luck out you are in for a bit of a wait. I travel off-season and it has never been filled with wheelchair parties. It has always topped off with people from the regular queue.

As a wheelchair party will in most cases wait as long as a regular party I don't have an issue with large groups. The only limit they currently have that I am aware of is the one I mentioned about only four people per party in the parade viewing areas.

I think there is a lot of resentment towards wheelchair users and it all stems from the mistaken impression that they and their parties get to jump the line. That was in the past, long before I ever pushed a wheelchair but it only takes one person to point a finger and others are quick to take it up and keep people thinking wheelchairs get to jump the line

 

[stuart]

In 2002 i dislocated ma knee a week before we came to Disney so i had a wheelchair and there was four of us and yes you do get to the front of lines on occasion and on the busses first. However some people do abuse this and it is annoying. I really dont think that a party of 10 has to accompany a wheelchair this is clearly abusing things and only to get to the front of lines. Like someone said if one person went with the wheelchair guest and then waited for the remaining members of the party (if it is over a certain size) then that is fine.

Im not all to sure if there should be a set limit but more perhaps CM discrestion as to how many people accompany the wheelchair guest. I do not think it is fair for people to abuse the system in the way that many do.

 

[Tenny317]

Ok I'm going to try and not come off mean. But, one of my best friends needs to use a wheelchair when we go to places like Disney or Hershey, etc. Her WHOLE life she has had leg problems and has gone through over a dozen surguerys. It makes me so angry, upset and disappointed in people when they give us a hard time when we "cut" the line because of her wheelchair. People literally scream and yell at us from the line. They are embarassing themselves and are looking way insensitive and uncompassionate. Yea she likes getting to the beginning of the line but that is the only positive thing about her condition.She rather stand on the line for hours then have to go through this her whole life, trust me. And so what if there are 10 people with the person in the wheelchair. What is the point if your group gets split up because then everything for their party is delayed and left to sit around and wait. So half the people would be waiting half their trip, thats not fair. Though we wait on line atleast we are all together on line. I don't know I thought disney was about compassion and people being together.

 

[ILOVEDISNEY]

Ok gonna start a discussion on this, because I have discussed this with my wife and friends whom we go to Disney with.. We go to Disney a lot and the biggest thing we have a problem with is the amount of people they let go ahead of the lines when accompanying a person in the wheel chair..

I have no problem with family members accompanying someone with a wheel chair but recently I have seen up to 10 people accompanying one person. I feel and many I have disucussed that at the most 2 people should be assisting that person in a wheel chair...Unless there are younger kids involved...

The last time we went, we saw more and more people, especially teenagers helping one person with a wheel chair...That was about 10 other people, which held up the fast past users and the others not in the fast past line...

I understand it is a family experience, but I think there really should be a limit. A buddy of mine pressed the fact that it is a family experience and you should be able to go as a family on a ride...But again I stress 10 people? This does not happen often, but I think some people are using this in the wrong way...Maybe I am wrong in this thinking, because I know we use the switch passes a lot because we have a 4 year old that can not ride a lot of the much faster rides...

Set me straight on this subject...Flames welcome because maybe I am seeing this differently.....Ohhh and how does one with a twisted ankle get a wheel chair....I over heard another person say that a person told them they were able to get a wheel chair just by having a twisted ankle and they were able to get in the front of lines....

Welcome to the board. I have no comment other than I stirred the pot in April with my "Pet Peeves . . . ." thread and had to leave the board for awhile for my mental health to be restored from the flames. I am almost 58 and get winded and may soon be wheelchair bound due to the ravages of age and my love affair with cigarettes I had for 39 years (I have not smoked since 1998) and fatty foods (I am obese), but I would never expect to have anyone but my wife accompany me on a ride or attraction at WDW or anywhere else. The rest of my family can wait.

 

[swimmom]

I know my father-in-law would have much rather been able to walk through the lines than be in a wheelchair. He was in a wheelchair from 1953 until the time of his death in 1994. Unfortunately it's people like him who don't necessarily what or require "special treatment" that are the problem, it's those that abuse the system that make us angry. And it's not just things like going to the front of the line, it's also handicapped parking too. I once saw someone park in handicap parking and run from their car! And your handicap is what?!?!?!

I'm all for special needs for handicapped individuals and their "immediate" group. Ask my husband how much work it is to push your dad around in a chair all day. However, I also feel like there are many people out there abusing the system. There should be a limit on the number of people accompanying the handicapped individual. I'm sure the person pushing a chair around all day would be happy to take a rest every now and then while waiting for the rest of their group!?!?