We were at Disneyland on Friday and the lines were really bad. My cousin needs to have a wheelchair and get in the handicaped entrance and the lines were anywere from 5 minuets to an hour. We used to allways haft to go to City Hall and get a pass but this time they said all you haft to do is have a wheel chair to get through the handicaped entrance. So that ment all you had to do to get short lines was to buy a wheelchar. So now the wheelchair lines are longer and it is not fair!

?????


-Allegra-

We were at Disneyland on Friday and the lines were really bad. My cousin needs to have a wheelchair and get in the handicaped entrance and the lines were anywere from 5 minuets to an hour. We used to allways haft to go to City Hall and get a pass but this time they said all you haft to do is have a wheel chair to get through the handicaped entrance. So that ment all you had to do to get short lines was to buy a wheelchar. So now the wheelchair lines are longer and it is not fair!


This isn't a new condition, if someone wants to "cheat" all they've ever had to do is rent a wheelchair, the lines that are accessible they wait in regular lines with every one else....those that have to use the exits to access the ride, they wait in lines there too, the Pass wouldn't have made the wait any shorter.

the lines were anywere from 5 minuets to an hour.

So now the wheelchair lines are longer and it is not fair!

I dont think 5-60 minutes during the summer is excessive. I think its pretty typical.

Longer then what? and what makes it unfair? I think it would be more unfair for someone to think that because they are in a wheel chair they should get to cut in front of the line.

Haft? do you mean "have to"? as if "all you have to do is........"

We were at Disneyland on Friday and the lines were really bad. My cousin needs to have a wheelchair and get in the handicaped entrance and the lines were anywere from 5 minuets to an hour. We used to allways haft to go to City Hall and get a pass but this time they said all you haft to do is have a wheel chair to get through the handicaped entrance. So that ment all you had to do to get short lines was to buy a wheelchar. So now the wheelchair lines are longer and it is not fair!It's always been this way. And why are you upset you have to wait 5 minutes to an hour when the regular lines are 20 mins to 2 hours? We travel with a service puppy. We have to use the access line also. No one has ever said the wait in the handicap access line should be shorter. On POTC, the wait in the access line is often longer than using the regular line. The only reason for using the handicap access is just that, for access. Regular lines/loading cannot handle "us". Its not to make a shorter line.

We visited the park last weekend (7-22 thru 7-24) and found that the line for the access on POTC was very long. We waited for more than 45 minutes only to find that the huge crowd ahead of us was one big family of 14 with only one disabled person in the group. We waited to see what the cast members would do after finding out the huge number to board. We found that after hearing the number of members in the their group the cast member did say that only 6 people were allowed to be in the line with the disabled member. However upon waiting for some of them to exit the line we saw that they had infact stopped an empty boat and had allowed all 14 members of the family to board one boat of their own, many of which had just entered the line from their previous time through. We were not very happy! We did manage to get the names of the cast members allowing the group to board and reported it to the City Hall staff.
We wanted to post this not because we are complaining about the wait in the line but rather the injustice of those who won't follow the rules. We've often split our party to go on rides so that we have only the right amount of people allowed and feel that others should be held to the same standards.

The 6 riders per wheelchair or person with special needs guideline is a guideline not a policy for attraction host and hostess.The difference between a guideline and a policy at the park is a guideline is something you follow for consistency but you can bend it if you have to, to prevent a guest complaint. A policy is something that is "written in stone" and can not be changed in any way. When I worked at the park if a family came up the line with more then the 6 allowed we were to tell them that only six people are allowed up the wheel chair access and the rest needed to wait in the line. This is the guideline but were told to go on a family to family basis. IF they start to argue with you then most the time cast members will give in because if a lead gets called over they will argue with the lead and ask for a manager. A manager will come and because they were "hassled" will let them all go on the attraction. Is this fair? NO. But that is the way it is. They are told if it is not a safety issue to make the guest happy and that is just they way it is.
Yes, you will cast members that are very firm about the guideline and MOST guest will listen. But there are those few times that they don't and the cast members have to accommodate them. Now Legally the cast members can hold the whole group at the wheel chair access for the length of the line but on some attractions there is no room for that so they just let them right on.


For the OP. Wheel chair access is to ensure all with wheel chairs can go on the attraction it is not immediate bording. If the attraction is old and does not meet the new ADA standards of the entire line being wheelchair accessible they will get you on through a exit or a special entrance. This still does not insure immediate boarding. A lot of attractions can only have one guest with mobility issue on a ride at a time for safety reasons so you will have to wait for the people in front of you to get off the ride. This sometimes makes the wheelchair line longer. But the ADA only instructs that they make the attraction accessible to everyone. It does not say that because you are disabled you get on the ride before everyone else.
Toursbabe

The 6 riders per wheelchair or person with special needs guideline is a guideline not a policy for attraction host and hostess.The difference between a guideline and a policy at the park is a guideline is something you follow for consistency but you can bend it if you have to, to prevent a guest complaint. A policy is something that is "written in stone" and can not be changed in any way. When I worked at the park if a family came up the line with more then the 6 allowed we were to tell them that only six people are allowed up the wheel chair access and the rest needed to wait in the line. This is the guideline but were told to go on a family to family basis. IF they start to argue with you then most the time cast members will give in because if a lead gets called over they will argue with the lead and ask for a manager. A manager will come and because they were "hassled" will let them all go on the attraction. Is this fair? NO. But that is the way it is. They are told if it is not a safety issue to make the guest happy and that is just they way it is.
Yes, you will cast members that are very firm about the guideline and MOST guest will listen. But there are those few times that they don't and the cast members have to accommodate them. Now Legally the cast members can hold the whole group at the wheel chair access for the length of the line but on some attractions there is no room for that so they just let them right on.Last week, we were there with a total of 15 of us. We broke into groups, and rotated. At one point, my daughter and I had a group of 8 (we have the service dog.) Most rides said "No problem". Haunted Mansion said "Have the service dog wait here, rest go thru the line". We went thru the regular line (20 mins), then joined the service dog, did the walk down the side, to wait another 10+ mins for car 5 to come around (we had just missed it.) So, overall, the wait was considerably longer for us because we did need access, but we also had to do the combo of waiting in a regular line, then wait in the access area. Access doesn't mean immediate access. And some cast members are soooooo helpful.

Last week, we were there with a total of 15 of us. We broke into groups, and rotated. At one point, my daughter and I had a group of 8 (we have the service dog.) Most rides said "No problem". Haunted Mansion said "Have the service dog wait here, rest go thru the line". We went thru the regular line (20 mins), then joined the service dog, did the walk down the side, to wait another 10+ mins for car 5 to come around (we had just missed it.) So, overall, the wait was considerably longer for us because we did need access, but we also had to do the combo of waiting in a regular line, then wait in the access area. Access doesn't mean immediate access. And some cast members are soooooo helpful.

Most cast members fight over who gets to watch over the service dogs they love them. They put in a new rule that we could no longer watch them most just ignored it:-) Did you go to star tours? If you did there is a guy named Ernie there that would jump at the chance to watch your dog he is so great with animals. I am happy to hear you were accommodate. I personally accommodated up to parties of 8-10 but if it was one person with a disability and 15 people I would have had to have some wait in the line or offer to have them come back whatever the wait of the line was. Like a virtual line. Or I would have one person go wait in the line out of the party.
I hope you had a great time on your trip!!!

Toursbabe

We were at Disneyland on Friday and the lines were really bad. My cousin needs to have a wheelchair and get in the handicaped entrance and the lines were anywere from 5 minuets to an hour. We used to allways haft to go to City Hall and get a pass but this time they said all you haft to do is have a wheel chair to get through the handicaped entrance. So that ment all you had to do to get short lines was to buy a wheelchar. So now the wheelchair lines are longer and it is not fair!

We were there on Friday as well.
It was a busy day.

I too noticed many fully-abled people using wheelchairs...and many of them teenagers...hopping in and out of the chairs.
They do use them to cheat and get onto rides sooner. :(
It frustrates me to no end when I see that.
My only consolation is that they get stuck in a longer line at Splash/POTC than it would be if they stood in the regular lines. :rolleyes:

The new 'rules' (GAC) that Disney laid out were to help eliminate the overt abuse of the old SAP.
The new GAC has helped in many ways, in other ways it falls way short. But, what can Disney do...post GAC police everywhere in the park?? :confused: They can't ask every person renting a wheelchair "now do you really need this chair, or are you going to try to cheat around the long lines??"

For us, especially with a child with special needs, it is frustrating...but, I would still rather be in a Disney park than any other. I find that they go out of their way to make our day at their parks as enjoyable and easily accessible as possible for her/us.:) And, I truly appreciate that. :)