Why wait in line?

[DisneyMom]

This thread (or at least the initial topic of it) reminds me of an old Dave Barry column I read this week. Here's just a sample:




The rest of the article is at http://www.miamiherald.com/living/colum ... 96405.html

Your post should be printed on little pieces of paper to be handed to SGs as the occasion arises! :p:

[dizneeluvr]

every year when we visit WDW we get a GAC for my daughter. she has a heart defect. (she only has 2 chambers) she also has severe learning disabilities. when we visit and go to guest relations, i always offer up her doctors note advising of here medical problems. the CM told me that they cannot ask for any medical evidence to show the need for a GAC. she asked how many in our party and the length of stay which is written on the card. i too see how many people are blatantly abusing this, and see them rent wheel chairs for use of getting to the head of the line. what's more, on our last visit, i noticed the rental cost of strollers and gone up a lot, leaving wheelchairs as the more economical choice to some, have you seen a rise in the rentals of wheelchairs? unfortunately due to privacy violations, they can't ask for proof of medical conditions, so you get the scammers. but we all know what they say about karma, and in the end they may actually need these passes and wheelchairs.

[Syndrome]

Quotes from http://scootervacations.com/ (a scooter rental website):

"Let me say it another way, you are not required or should feel like you have to be walker mobility challenged person to use a scooter (electronic convenience vehicle, ECV) at Disney, Universal, Sea World theme parks or on a cruise. To take this thought a step further lets think about it…you are not taking up additional space, you are not harming the environment (they run on rechargeable batteries) and you are not getting in anyone’s way, in fact, you are getting out of others way and you have your own place to sit!"

"Don’t wait and think “Oh I can do it”, you can still get in plenty of exercise by walking exhibits if you so choose (you can also ride your scooter through most everything too) or hey, it is already in the high 80’s so take a nice swim, stroll in the evening when it is cooler or hit a dance club at Universal’s Citywalk! Scootaround Orlando and make a great vacation even better."

Hmmmmm....any wonder why people get jaded about ECVs and their "necessity"? Axiom society ain't gonna take 700 years to get to. It probably ain't even gonna take 7.

[mechurchlady]

disAbilities board of Disboards has FAQs and that site is not listed. Cheshire Figment can explain why scooter orlando is not listed but I know that one local company was not on the list because they condone letting kids ride the scooters with and adult. It is not recommended to have two people on a scooter nor letting any minor use or be a passenger of a scooter. Some companies let minors rent scooters if they are teens and reliable.

[Syndrome]

I'm glad that DIS screens 'em. Places that advocate using the scooters purely for convenience/saving energy to go dancing or hanging out at CityWalk/laziness don't deserve business and promotion. I have a friend who uses a wheelchair...she looks fine and healthy but has juvenile rhematoid arthritis so it is a necessity. She gets some dirty looks, and I'm sure much of that is fueled by people being disgusted by the blatant cheaters.

[mechurchlady]

Sue and Cheshire run a tight board and they keep the scammers and bad sites out of their boards. It is so that now when a disabled guest needs to use the disabled line they can wait twice as long as standby. I remember at DLR how I could drag myself up the fastpass line 5 times in a row in an hour where as the disabled line required me to set on the ground in a line behind 4 to 10 other groups.

Toy Story Mania was one that was designed wrong. The stairs cause a large percentage of riders to have to use the disabled line. The disabled area should be for chairs, ECVs and slow loaders but that ride makes a strong and healthy person use disabled just because they have a bad knee.

ECV as a golf cart to get you around parks is not fair to those who need the ECV because of health reasons but there is nothing Disney can legally do. They can ask a guest if they are disabled and the person just lies and gets away with the GAC and ECV use. Worst will be the addition of the 4 wheeled segway standing ECV they are coming out with.

[Malpass93]

Once, on a visit to Epcot, my mum fell over and hurt my leg (not particularly badly, but badly enough to halt her walking abilities temporarily. So she went for a wheelchair, and was skipped to the front of the Living with the Land queue. I felt really guilty, and received a few dagger-looks from the queue-liners.

[Ms. Matterhorn]

Quotes from http://scootervacations.com/ (a scooter rental website):

or hit a dance club at Universal’s Citywalk! Scootaround Orlando and make a great vacation even better."

Anyone who would Scootaround the parks all day in an ECV and then go dancing at night is truly an SG. To use an ECV when you don't really need it is cruel and unfair to the truly disabled.

[Teddykeiko86]

Is true that children with ADD or ADHD get GAC cards? I've heard somewhere that children that have ADD or ADHD that gives them extreme anxiety get GAC cards to bypass the line. Apparently the wait gives them anxiety and can cause meltdowns. If that is case I'm sorry your child has such issues, But you need to learn to wait in line. It is attention deficite disorder, not patience deficite disorder.
I 'm all for Suzy cheerleader with a broken leg in a DLR wheelchair and Obese Oliver in his ECV waiting in the GAC line. Especially due to the fact that it seems everyone who asks gets a pass and therefore the line is as long as stand by.
But I have seen parties totally bypass the line on the matterhorn. Totally. No wheelchair, no vet with an artificial limb. Are these the ADD guests?
In my opinion, they only people that should be allowed to bypass the line are the Make a Wish kids. They are visiting during a remission or on one of their better days. The day is short so get them what they want. Other than that the GAC sounds like the GAP at universal, anyone can get one.

[DisneyMom]

All kids are different, and some kids cannot wait in a regular line due to their issues- maybe they have an impairment that would cause them to emotionally melt down in a "normal" line, or maybe waiting in the heat could bring on a seizure. Sometimes there isn't an "official diagnoses" as the schools haven't completed their testing or are hesitant to make their findings "official" and just call the child learning disabled, ADD, or emotionally impaired. I know parents who never got any real diagnoses, and thir kids are in their 20's now. I never used a GAC card for my son with autism, but I wouldn't expect him to wait in such a long line,either, when he was little. For some kids and their families, it may be a once-in-a-childhood visit, so maybe the GAC card will make it a pleasant one. I agree that disabilities should not be made up, and even kids with them need to learn patience, but believe me,
those life skills can take years beyond what it takes a "normal" child to accomplish.