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People Hire Handicapped People to Skip Lines

Since this is a news article, I think a more appropriate thread title could be chosen.

But I saw this the other day, and it's disgusting. It's things like this that make people angry at people with real handicaps, because you never know when people are abusing the system. If anyone ever deserved to be trespassed for life from the parks, it's these folks. Both the horrible parents and their "concierge".
 
This just.... I am at a lose of words on this one. I have never run into this person, or at least I don't think I have in all of my times in the handicapped lines. I also have to laugh that the lady used It's a Small World as an example. That is the one ride we have started forgoing our handicapped access, because the line will be 5 minutes and the handicapped line will be 15 minutes or more. Also, never saw a 2 1/2 hour line at It's a Small World.

OK, so people abuse it. It is REALLY easy to abuse it at Disney. I am not going to say how you can abuse it or what you can say, because I will not contribute to the problem. I go out of my way to not abuse it and this just makes me sick. It is going to harm people that properly use it and need it. I was at Disney the other day with a family with a wheelchair. I don't know if they had a guest assistant card or not as we were waiting for the train. But i saw two different people in that wheel chair and at one point no one was in it. No one was limping, they all seemed to be walking fine and having a good old time. They were almost bouncing around. Still couldn't figure out who the wheelchair was actually for. Drove me crazy.

The worse part is the new fast pass plus system will make it even better and probably even more people will try to abuse it. I know Disney has to do something, but not sure what they can do. To be honest with you, we never get looks from people, because my son has some obvious signs he is handicapped (glasses, hearing aids, etc), but I have seen other people get that look. Which sucks if the child or adult is really handicapped, but doesn't have any outward signs that he/she is. And I guarantee every parent who trully has a handicapped child would rather be waiting in that 2 hour line than have a handicapped child and it makes us all sick that parents would have a child fake an illness to cut some lines. These people need to realize being rich does not mean you can just break all the rules. Just sick...
 
My Girlfriend is Handicapped .She uses her own scooter @ universal .Most lines we go thru the regular que
Rip Ride and Rocket you wait till bottom of stairs . Mummy splits you of at bottom of stairs.MIB splits you off @ top of stairs
So most Rides the lines are close to the same waits .Shows let us in with express people but we would have gotten in anyway.
FJ has a seperate load station up one elevator and down another after being split off at chair size check So it takes longer to wait/load than regular line (not complaining) the ride ops are great and normally I stop @ guest services on way out to leave good comments and names of ride ops who were helpful to us.Plus I just hang my stuff off her chair and don't need a locker.
I have thought of bungy cording a regular chair to hers (like a train) but have not done it.:)
I am almost 50 but I can still walk the park.

I hate that people are trying to game the system and will mess it up for the people who do need it.

I guess they could start requiring the same address or Tickets bought together on same CC
 
This is not shocking. Every time I visit a park I notice people abusing the handicap policies. It's a shame, but unfortunately it's not hard to do. However, hiring someone who actually is handicapped to serve as your queue cutter, is pretty pathetic. Everyone involved should be banned!
 
My partner has an un-diagnosed form of Ataxi which for her means she has difficulty standing / walking for extended periods of time, has poor balance, has visible tremors particularlly in her hands and her speech can sound slurred which means we have the issue where she "looks" for want of a better word OK. As you can imagine she sometimes comes up against abuse as people see us using the passes / bands and they think theres nothing wrong with her. General all is well and we don't have any issues with the help they provide.

We did have one incident though, it was while attempting to board Bluto's at IOA. It's a moving platform so that really messes with her condition and so both myself and my friend helped getting her into the ride vehicle only to be stopped by a crew member who was stopping us point blank from getting on the ride, she said my partner was Too Drunk....that was an awkward conversation.
 
I can understand the obvious reasons for having a different entrance for disable users but they should have to wait their turn like everyone else. Seems universal has a better take on it splitting the line like they do. Disney needs to wake up a bit on this issue.
 
This is just disgusting. I have a disorder which enables me to get a GAC, but I'll suffer through it unless the lines are super long. Above 40 minutes or so. It's sad to see people hiring others with conditions in order for them to by have to wait in line. It's also sad that since people abuse the system, I get dirty looks trying to get assistance. It disgusts me.
 
Obviously, some people are more disabled than others but nearly everyone has issues. Everyone should be required to wait in the same line, if not than buy an express pass.
 
I'm sure I've mentioned this story before; but one night while waiting for Pooh at the Magic Kingdom, a family with a child confined to a wheelchair was in line behind us. It was listed at a 10 min wait, but it was really around 5. My group was next when the mother started yelling at the CM about how they had to wait in line instead of getting right to the front. She kept going on and on for a couple minutes, yelling that this isn't ADA compliant and telling the CM that he was stupid and didn't know how to do his job. Eventually, I had enough of the yelling and butt in and told her that there was no reason to yell at the CM as the ride was ADA compliant. She looked at me and tried to justify the yelling, but I responded with "ADA compliance allows guests in wheelchairs the ability to wait in line as the queues were widened to accomodate the size of wheelchairs, not immediate access to the front of every line; especially one that's only 5 min long. You can skip us so your son can enjoy the ride, but in the future, be a little more respectful."
 
It's sad that even people with children that have handicap's would go as far as that to make a fool out of themselves and to try and exploit their kid's disabilities so they don't have to wait. And people wonder about our society..
 
Wow Briman, that is just crazy. The GAC clearly state that it is not to skip the line. So the fact that she should get "front of line" access because her child is disabled is insane. I never understand why people thought they should get on right away with a GAC. We were trying to ride Peter Pan one time and these people were idiots too. In Peter Pan the stroller can't go in the normal line, so you go into Fast Pass and then there is a ramp to the left. You don't even wait in the normal fast pass line because it normally splits off before you are in line. Well the fast pass line was longer and past the wheelchair entrance. So this CM went to get us and lead us past people up the ramp, well this family that also had a GAC started yelling at the CM saying why do we get to go past, they have a GAC too. He kindly stated that they don't have a wheelchair and that wheelchairs go in a separate line. They still yelled at him and would not allow him to do his job and get us up the ramp. I see a ton of abuse and a lot of idiots that think they are owed the world.

On the flip side, I understand that many think that waiting in line should be the same for everyone, but being ADA compliant is also making sure everyone that physically can has the opportunity to experience the park to the best of their ability. Please understand that some children and adults physically cannot wait in long lines. Either they don't have the mental capability to wait in line or physically can't. It is not just the standing that causes issues, it is also the heat that can be very difficult on those with serious lung or heart issues. You also have to understand there are a lot of things that have to be done for handicapped child/adult and this also causes issues. A couple months after we first started going to the park my son had to be fed every hour for 3 hours and then you had an hour off. It took about 10 minutes to feed him (by tube). So if a ride takes 10 minutes to load, ride, and unload (keep in mind loading of a handicapped child with medical equipment takes longer), if the line is longer than certain amount we could not ride it outside of that one longer period of time because we would miss a feeding. Which was difficult because of his schedule. Not to mention diaper changes, breathing treatments, meds, etc. You would never get to ride anything without some sort of special access. Even with special access we would sometimes only ride about 4 to 5 things in a day, because of the amount of time it took us to do everything else. Now he is much better and we are able to ride more things when we go to the parks. Loading and unloading is faster too with less equipment.

BUT I believe almost everyone that has a GAC marked with can use alternate route can at least wait in a 10 minute line. I think if people expect to walk up and be boarded right away, they are fooling themselves and really are idiots. No one NEEDS that type of access. I never expect that and honestly once I am inside I am fine with waiting. It is the outdoor queues that cause my son issues because of his heart issues. Uni does it better, they have a way for people to "wait" in line without waiting. They get a card with a return time on it. They can have up to three return times at a time. So this allows them to wait in cooler places, sit down, etc. This is used for people who cannot physically or mentally wait in line. Some people with handicapped children complain about this pass and I think it is ridiculous that they do. They tell TMs what am I supposed to do with "him or her" until my time. Again, idiots. Everyone else just uses the normal lines and splits off before stairs. Again, I am for any policy that still allows handicapped individuals to experience the rides they can physically ride.

We all know Disney needs to change their rules, I just hope they don't make it so restrictive it punishes some people who actually need it and don't abuse it.
 
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Something's aren't meant for everyone. If I get sea sick easily why would I go on a cruise. It's hard because what I'm saying can seem rude but it's being real. If people hate waiting or can't, go on the off season or save up to get express.
 
Something's aren't meant for everyone. If I get sea sick easily why would I go on a cruise. It's hard because what I'm saying can seem rude but it's being real. If people hate waiting or can't, go on the off season or save up to get express.

Seriously? With that mentality disabled persons that can not wait in lines should not be able to fly, those that can not pump their own gas should not be allowed to drive, and if they can not open a door on their own they should not be permitted into stores?

If someone could otherwise be able to ride, the line should not be stopping them. As you said earlier there are all different levels of disability. So someone unable to do some things, should not be excluded from all things.

The problem is people that would be able to wait in line, and those that are not even disabled at all, abusing the systems in place. What makes the problem more complicated is tweaking the system in a manner that would not scrutinize and/or restrict the legitimate.

It is also hard to say a disabled person should only go during non-peak seasons when it is possible that would be the only time they could go. As well as paying extra for express, maybe they do not have enough money.

I agree that not everyone with a wheelchair should skip right to first place, but there are times when an alternative is more than reasonable. But that does not take away the fact that flipping out at CM and TM for no good reason is unreasonable.
 
Something's aren't meant for everyone. If I get sea sick easily why would I go on a cruise. It's hard because what I'm saying can seem rude but it's being real. If people hate waiting or can't, go on the off season or save up to get express.

Your logic fails when talking about Disney because they don't have express you can buy. Not to mention everything else the person above said.

I agree that not everyone with a wheelchair should skip right to first place, but there are times when an alternative is more than reasonable. But that does not take away the fact that flipping out at CM and TM for no good reason is unreasonable.

Completely agree. There is no excuse to flip out on a CM for waiting an extra 5 minutes. Just not reasonable. Heck, I have never had any issues with any CM, they are always nice and reasonable. The only time I ever had an issue with a CM is when they were trying to not allow our stroller into Pirates. Which we have done a million times, but this lady got a bug up her butt that because there was no wait we could park it outside. It just wasn't reasonable at the time because of the equipment my son was on at the time. Now we have way less equipment and therefore we do sometimes park in stroller parking for some rides and walk on, but at that time it was not reasonable. Even then I didn't flip out or yell. I just calmly told her we have taken it in before and showed her the equipment and why we needed to take it in. It was frustrating, but still no reason to yell.
 
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That article disgusts me, and so does some of the stories that I read that you guys posted.

I literally just got back from WDW Resort last night, was gone for 4 days, had a blast. Well on our 2nd day, we went to Animal Kingdom, figured that our daughter would really enjoy AK cause she loves animals, and boy did she ever. But anyways, the point of the story, we spot a Character Spot for Pooh and Tigger and the wait time is only 15-20, no big deal in the schemes of things. We wait in line, it starts raining, and we all huddle under the shelter but this one particular family was left just standing in the rain, they had a handicapped daughter, she was about 8 and she had some health issues with her upper jaw and lip, and NOONE WOULD MOVE TO LET THEM OUT OF THE RAIN. Me, being the good, decent person I am, also having a bit of a Superman complex, go and tell her parent's to come up to the front of the line where we were, so they could get out of the rain.

Now, mind you, we were next in line for the characters, who had just shown back up from their break. The CM, then asks if we wanted to go on up or could the other family go on up, I tell him that they are more important, that she deserves it and her parents started crying saying thank you. Apparently, they had been having problems for the last few days with other guests and even some CMs.

Stories like these, really bother me. I do what I can to help out when I can, after all, I'm only one man.
 
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