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Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:36 pm
by Big Wallaby
Crowd control actually sounds pretty accurate. It was like the lady who wanted to know if there was an elevator to the departure dock, which of course, we don't have. But she was tired from pushing her father around all day. Now, I can understand how that is, but that doesn't mean I can magically make an elevator appear. She turned around and walked away. I did feel bad for her, but then she started informing me how IWRHM (I'm sure you can guess what that means... I'll add it to Churchy's Code List in a moment) but she only had another few feet to go laterally and about ten feet up before it all started going downhill to the loading docks. She would not hear that, she was just too tired. Finally, after berating me personally, she walked away.

Not sure what happened when she got to the bridge to Discovery Island...

Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:58 pm
by mechurchlady
When you are past tired and crying, worn out frustrated then you quit. I have no more strength left so what if I got 10 feet and there are another 10 feet and I am about to pass out from exhaustion and pain. At least with the bridge she would see the other side and have hope. My last trip was a lot of pain and exhaustion.

Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:08 pm
by GRUMPY PIRATE
Big Wallaby wrote:Crowd control actually sounds pretty accurate. It was like the lady who wanted to know if there was an elevator to the departure dock, which of course, we don't have. But she was tired from pushing her father around all day. Now, I can understand how that is, but that doesn't mean I can magically make an elevator appear. She turned around and walked away. I did feel bad for her, but then she started informing me how IWRHM (I'm sure you can guess what that means... I'll add it to Churchy's Code List in a moment) but she only had another few feet to go laterally and about ten feet up before it all started going downhill to the loading docks. She would not hear that, she was just too tired. Finally, after berating me personally, she walked away.

Not sure what happened when she got to the bridge to Discovery Island...
We did notice that it slowed down the crowd as we were exiting! I would suppose that is what they had in mind, plus a ramp rather than steps for the whole crowd. I also saw that quite a few moms were allowing their little one walk outside the stroller when going down the ramp, so I amke the assumption that they folded the strollers when they got on!

Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:20 am
by CMGUY89
mechurchlady wrote:It is sad that one of the most handicapped friendly parks hates disabled guests so much as to deny them access to the monorail.
Come on Churchy, that's not fair. 99% of things are handicap accessible, CM's go out of our way to help any guest who travels in a wheelchair. We are given special training so that we know you are never a Wheelchair Guest, but a Guest using a wheelchair. I would hardly say that we hate you...

Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:11 am
by mechurchlady
CMGUY89 wrote:Come on Churchy, that's not fair. 99% of things are handicap accessible, CM's go out of our way to help any guest who travels in a wheelchair. We are given special training so that we know you are never a Wheelchair Guest, but a Guest using a wheelchair. I would hardly say that we hate you...
I never said they hate me but just stupid or unfair.
Trust me Disney hates me, someday meet me and I will tell you of the hell I went through. Now my log in is messed up at sites to boot. yep disney hates me.

Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:22 pm
by February
mechurchlady wrote:When you are past tired and crying, worn out frustrated then you quit. I have no more strength left so what if I got 10 feet and there are another 10 feet and I am about to pass out from exhaustion and pain. At least with the bridge she would see the other side and have hope. My last trip was a lot of pain and exhaustion.
(((((((churchlady))))))) I have tears in my eyes reading your words because I know that feeling, I have lived that feeling. I'm sorry that your trip was so hard on you.

I honestly do not think I could ever do Disney without my husband- because driving an ECV would seriously pose a risk to others and like I said, they won't let loose of the electric chairs (the rental companies).

He's younger than I am and healthy and still his back was trashed after our 9 day trip. I think it was too long for him to be pushing me around.

Wallaby of course I would never side with a guest berating a CM for the way the parks are set up (it's not like you carry an elevator around with you for just such moments lol) But I too have to tell you that sometimes, ten feet is just too far to go and that downhill is not always your friend if you're in a chair/pushing a chair.

Downhill can in some ways be harder to control than uphill especially when you have kids in heelies cutting you off and stroller people wanting to beat you through the gates and people staring straight ahead with the full blown Disney Duhs in the middle of main Street.

One time my sister let go of my chair a moment to look at some jewelry and I started going down a ramp in a gift shop. Thanks to the quick thinking of another guest who grabbed my chair and stopped me, I was not injured. Needless to say that was the last time I trusted my sister to push me LOL But gravity is not your friend in a wheelchair in many instances.

I don't think Disney hates us, I do believe most CM's really do their best to help disabled guests but also I have seen the looks of dread on some when they see me wheeling up. I always try to approach them with a smile and I NEVER neglect to thank them for putting me on a bus, getting the monorail ramp out, etc. I always feel like I'm inconveniencing them.

That's another reason I'm actually relieved we're not doing a monorail resort this next trip. We plan to only use it to get from the MK to dinner ressies at the resorts- then take a cab back to our non-monorail resort afterward.

With the new busses it's just so much easier to do it that way.

MCP

Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:31 pm
by GRUMPY PIRATE
CMGUY89 wrote:Come on Churchy, that's not fair. 99% of things are handicap accessible, CM's go out of our way to help any guest who travels in a wheelchair. We are given special training so that we know you are never a Wheelchair Guest, but a Guest using a wheelchair. I would hardly say that we hate you...
Of all the places I have gone that are not Disney, I would have to say that WDW and DLR seem to be the most handicap accessable and accomadating.

I have always noticed that the CM's do an outstanding job of helping, despite some SG's grumbling and complaints that they are not, please don't listen to any of them and keep up the good work!!!

It is obvious that many CM's seem to try harder to help a wheelchair bound guest. I have see many times them hold up things to help them get situated for the attraction!

In my opinion, the CM's at Disney are the benchmark that everyone else in the industry should aspire to be like!

Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:39 pm
by February
It is obvious that many CM's seem to try harder to help a wheelchair bound guest. I have see many times them hold up things to help them get situated for the attraction!

In my opinion, the CM's at Disney are the benchmark that everyone else in the industry should aspire to be like!
ITA!!! :wheelchai

Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 7:25 pm
by CMGUY89
Absolutely. Holding up ambulatory, or guests without disabilities is not a problem. I have sent a boat with just a wheelchair party before because my priority was getting the wheelchair on safely and making sure they were situated as opposed to improving our OHRC (Operational Hourly Ride Capacity). It is never an inconvenience for us. That is part of our job. When people have a sense of entitlement then we get kinda peeved. Guests with wheelchairs can sometimes get pretty pissed when we tell them Soarin' was built to handle wheelchairs in it's queue and they can go through the standard line as opposed to fastpass. I enjoy wheelchair parties the most because they seem to have a much greater appreciation for anything they are able to do. ;)

Re: Stroller Fights...

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:51 am
by bpgstudios
Yep its the same at small world and pooh. At small world the queue is half accessible (the switchbacks on the top level), and we have a wheelchair accessible boat (Only manual wheelchairs or electric wheelchairs with joystick control- no ECVs. We take as long as needed to load guests in wheelchairs properly. It doesn't hurt OHRC that bad, and the attraction wont auto-estop unless we take more than 5 or 6 minutes. Pooh has a completely wheelchair accessible queue (no ECVs). We can put electric wheelchairs and manual wheelchairs on the GWD hunnypot. If we are cascading at the time, we have 30 seconds to load and secure the vehicle. We normally auto-estop if we load the GWD vehicle, but it's not a problem for us. We want to make sure the wheelchair is properly loaded and the guests are taken care of. Guests inside get a nice view of the attraction with the worklights on though.