Disney News: Disability Pass

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Nope--can't take carry-on luggage unless my husband is there to handle it. If I'm alone, it is all checked. And I never walk at a brisk pace, though I wish I could.

Please understand, I wasn't talking about you. I was referring to "disabled" people I have personally seen on flights - people who are rather obviously abusing the system, and don't really care that their abuse is obvious. And the airlines are afraid to try to call those people out because if, God forbid, they make a mistake, they are likely to get hit with a legal claim. So the abuse continues, and continues to increase.

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

Don't like the new policy. Many disabled people cannot spend more than a couple hours in the parks. If they have to go to guest services, wait in line there, to get a fast pass for each ride, I don't think they will get much out of their day.

Disney is currently testing a magic band fastpass plus system, where you request and are assigned timed passes to various attractions, including many, many attractions that were never part of the fastpass system before, up to and including things like parades and fireworks. Speculation is that Disney will keep some spaces open for disabled people to fit into that system.

EVERYTHING is changing at WDW right now; no one knows how any of it is going to work, but going on Disney's history, they are going to try to keep the park accessible to everyone.

My yearly pass became uselesss to me because I just don't have the strength to stand for 70 minutes in line per ride.

There are many people in the same situation, and I don't think Disney's going to leave you all in the lurch. But I know that, even with the current GAC system, it can be really hard going to Disney when you're dealing with that. My mom is not technically disabled, but she doesn't have the stamina for a day at Disney, and she's not convinced she'd have fun using a wheelchair. Disney can help with accessibility to the rides and big events, but it's still a very different experience just maneuvering within the parks, and they can't change that.

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

Then perhaps the park isn't a good choice for those, just as a beach resort in the tropics isn't a good choice for a person who is genetically disposed to skin cancer and music camp isn't a good choice for a person with tin ear such as mine.

This is what I was thinking!!! It's hard enough to deal with a park for an entire day, I know I won't do it as a senior citizen. People are getting accused of being unkind to the disabled, but I honestly do not understand why one would choose a very large place with crowds and Lines, there will be Lines. For the rides, for the concessions, for the bathroom, to get in, to get out ... LINES LINES LINES.

If one is unable to wait in line, why choose a venue where Lines Are A Given?

I am not anti-disabled, and am in favor of making accommodations for the disabled children of the world to get to go to Disney but I guess I don't understand why one would choose to go there if it is so difficult?

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Another thought is to give everyone a scannable park pass. That gives them to the option to create all kinds of custom plans. An unrestricted pass gets you anywhere, anytime. Other passes could be for disabled, with whatever conditions or restrictions are appropriate. There could even be different types of disabled passes for different types of disability. There could be a grandparents type of pass that gets you into the park but excludes most rides and attraction. There could be all kinds of possible customization options, limiting the number of rides that can be taken within a given time, or spacing the usage out over the day to keep people in the park. They could put together whatever packages the market will bear.

[Presley Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Presley]

I've lived driving distance to Disneyland my whole life, which has translated into many visits. Once upon a time, I could go during off season and easily get around inside the park (there was only one park) and do anything that I wanted to do without waiting more than 15 minutes for anything. It's been several years since I've had that experience. The area is overly crowded anytime that I go there.

One thing that hasn't changed is that I always see at least one disabled person in a motorized wheel chair. I'm not talking about someone that you can't tell by looking at them that they are disabled. I mean you can see that they could not walk on their own. One thing they have all had in common was a huge smile. Disney is still a once in a lifetime dream trip for many people. I hope that this change does not change the magic for them.

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

I am not anti-disabled, and am in favor of making accommodations for the disabled children of the world to get to go to Disney but I guess I don't understand why one would choose to go there if it is so difficult?

Because it's fun. Or because it's a great place for a family vacation.

If you are not tied to the school year, WDW does not have to be lines, lines, lines. I hate lines and won't wait in them, but I enjoy WDW. But I also either get there at rope drop and do the rides that will develop lines early, or just skip them. In my experience, the only line you really have to wait in for more than five minutes is Toy Story Mania. On second thought, you can get a fast pass for that after the first mobbing of the FP machines to avoid waiting; we didn't because I wanted to see the regular line area. Avoiding the lines does take planning, however there are a bunch of websites and books to help. I like easyWDW's maps with notes; he breaks the rides down by how fast they'll develop lines and recommends times to do things, and also has a schedule for each park. If you poke around a bit, he also prioritizes characters and has tips on when to check those out -- although there are ways to minimize waits, since for the most part there's only one person playing the character at a time, my kids spend more time waiting in line for characters than for rides.

http://www.easywdw.com/category/cheat-sheets/

I also like to use Steve Soare's site, because he lists a lot of the little kind of stuff I like to do, bits of entertainment and things, that most of the scheduling guys ignore:

http://wdwent.com/

Kenny the Pirate has the most extensive character info:

http://kennythepirate.com/show-sched...show-schedule/

We go offseason and sometimes stay the whole day; people who want to avoid lines at busier times need to come early, take a break midday, and come back in the late afternoon or evening. Except for Animal Kingdom, which can be done "backwards" because crowd levels there drop rapidly after the 3:45 parade, to the point where crowds are at morning levels as closing time approaches. All the other parks, evening crowds are lighter than afternoon crowds, but not nearly so light as early morning crowds.

The area is overly crowded anytime that I go there.

Josh at easywdw says that, except for Christmas holiday type mobs and the very rare and hard to predict light days (usually when it was going to be a low crowd level anyhow and the weather or something lowers the crowds still more at a particular park), the parks "feel" about equally crowded with big crowds and small, because on slow days people don't have to wait in line and so are back wandering the streets faster, while on fast days most of the larger crowd is "hidden" inside the buildings waiting in line. Disney runs specials on the off season to pull people with flexible schedules in, and cuts back the number of rides going (on slower days they don't open the second roller coaster at Space Mountain, for instance), meaning they're getting more people into the park every year. Plus there are a lot more people from South America coming through; since their holidays don't match with ours, Disney can fill the parks year 'round.

Good for Disney's bottom line; not so great for those of us hoping to avoid crowds.