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  1. #1

    disability pass

    Hello

    I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the disability pass? I would normally not take a vacation at Disneyland since my son is bipolar, and also odd and adhd. I read some where that there is disability pass and called about it. Unfortunately all I was told was ask at town hall and see what they say when we are actually there. I know they would issue one with a person that has autism but not sure about above conditions. Any information would be appreciated also how does the disability pass work.

    Thanks in advance for any information.


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  3. #2
    Ready for MA World Explorers! Drince88's Avatar
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    What you have to ask yourself (and what Disney will ask you) - what accomodations do you need to have an enjoyable trip with your son?

    I'm going to use some 'visual' examples, because they're easier to get my head around. Some of these might not even require the pass - but again -it's the example/thought process.

    If a person has mobility issues that prevent them from using stairs, but they otherwise can walk through queues, etc - they can be provided with a pass that allows them to avoid stairs - for instance, on Indiana Jones.

    If a person has limited sight, they can be provided with a pass that lets them 'sit up front' in shows and the like.

    If a person just gets tired easily, they won't be issued a 'front of the line' pass, but Disney will suggest renting a wheel-chair.

    So really, what is it about the Disney visit you think your son will have 'issues' with, and what can be done to eliminate/mitigate those issues?

    Cathy

  4. #3
    Princess in hiding underthesea1987's Avatar
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    what do you mean by "odd"?

    and like Drince said, you have to know what your son needs to make this an enjoyable trip. What the pass allows is dependent on what the person needs.

    This is my family. I found it, all on my own. Is little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.
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  5. #4
    Tortoise Thief bennette's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by underthesea1987 View Post
    what do you mean by "odd"?
    I'm guessing "OCD."
    "The white coating is filmy and there’s another creamy layer in there that’s kind of like cream cheese or perhaps unscented foot balm." Cybele May; Candyblog.net

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  6. #5
    It was a good day! Malcon10t's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by underthesea1987 View Post
    what do you mean by "odd"?
    ODD is "Oppositional Defiance Disorder".

    What they will ask you is what do you need. If you say "He can't wait in lines", they will explain the FP system. Mobility issues will get a recommendation of a wheel chair, etc... They will talk with you and talk to your son. Depending on the situation, they MIGHT give you a GAC (Guest Assistance Card) so you can wait in an alternative waiting area (also known as the HA entrance.) This will not be a shorter wait, and in fact could be a longer wait on most rides. But, the advantage is you wait in a separate area which may be less congested/have fewer people in that immediate area. Another but, the line doesn't move quickly, you frequently stay in one spot for 10-20 mins before moving forward, compared to slowing, but constantly moving.

    Examples of wait times, frequently, POTC will have a 20 min wait, but the HA line will be 30 mins. IASW may be 10 mins, we wait 30 mins, Space Mountain may be 30 mins, we wait 45...

    One more thing, Finding Nemo, you may want to use the Alternative Viewing so you can exit quickly if needed.
    Planning 3 trips at once...

  7. #6

    Yes ODD is "Oppositional Defiance Disorder". This is from American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry

    •Frequent temper tantrums
    •Excessive arguing with adults
    •Often questioning rules
    •Active defiance and refusal to comply with adult requests and rules
    •Deliberate attempts to annoy or upset people
    •Blaming others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior
    •Often being touchy or easily annoyed by others
    •Frequent anger and resentment
    •Mean and hateful talking when upset
    •Spiteful attitude and revenge seeking

    So with all that plus the anger and violent behavior that comes with his bipolar a seperate waiting area would be great even if the wait time is longer at least I would be able to bring him.


  8. #7
    Friend of Figment
    Join Date
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    Location
    Poinciana, FL (20 miles from WDW)

    Disney does not have a "Disability Pass". At both Disneyland and Disney World they have a "Guest Assistance Card" (GAC) which is issued by the Park Guest Relations Office. It is based on needs and not diagnoses. There will be stamps put on the GAC to alert Cast Members to the needs of the person. The results will vary based both on the attraction as well as how crowded the Park is. If you click on the link in my signature and go to Post #6 of the FAQ, you will see a very large discussion about the GAC. It is primarily written for WDW but the same rules do apply at DLR.

    Disneyland Trips: 13 trips for 49 nights.
    But I live less than 20 miles from Walt Disney World! And work there part-time.

    For more information about Disabled Access to Disney World and nearby areas, check this out. Or for tickets, check out my Everything About WDW Tickets post.

  9. #8

    Hi, I hardly ever answer on this post anymore because of such harsh opinions but felt that I could help you a little.

    My daughter has all those diagnosis's also, and I know how hard it can be. If you ever want to talk privately send me an email.

    Personally we never used a GAC for my daughter, although we had a GAC for other members in the family, like myself or my daughter, I am visually impaired and my other daughter has CP.

    Anyway, I believe at some points the GAC may have helped my daughter but maybe not as much as you would think, so for what it is worth her are some of my suggestions.

    You did not say how old your son is, with BP diagnosis I would assume preteen or teen. So if some of these will not work because of age just ignore them.

    First you know your son better than others, so what works at home will work at the park. For my daughter that was to give her enough space not to "go off"and to know how to off set them.

    So things that worked for us, eat meals either in the room, like first thing in the morning and late at night, giving her freedom from the crowds, space to relax and so on. She was in crowds all day in the park, she needed to eat quietly otherwise we found she ate tensed and moody and that would just continue all day.

    Second, learn to use not only the fast pass, but also invest in something like Ride Max,so you can illiminate as much of the crowds as possible. Get to the park real early, leave at lunch time and take a nap, swim or rest, maybe eat lunch back at the room. Go back when most of the crowds are dying down.

    Set up your reward system, sure he has one at home or in school. For us we bought either disney dollars or gift cards, depending on child. For every hour without a fit or fight or hurting, annoying or running away you get a dollar, by lunch time she would have enough for her own treat, which we would have bought anyway if she was good, but this was an hourly reminder of her having to work for it. Same when you go back in the afternoon.

    Another thing was to bring the little annoying thing that seems to calm them, for our daughter things that clicked, like a pen. Set down the rules no poking anyone and such but then even though she may be annoying you and maybe everyone around you in line, it is a lot better than her poking others, fighting with sister, being moody and rude, walking out of line after 10 minutes forcing everyone else to go after her. To me the little annoying habit is better than the alternative, and although you may get a lot of looks, to me it is no worse than parents letting children hang on the chains or sit on the fences when in line.

    I hope this helps. I don't think a GAC will be all that helpful, because of our daughter, even though we had a GAC pass we usually did not use the one for CP because the lines were usually much longer, and usually in very crowded or noisy places, or dark and boring places, which would just make our other daughter go off. We did use the pass for both of us to avoid stairs, or to sit up front, which if you can get would help, because the one thing it did was to allow us to show up 10 minutes before a show, meaning we did not have to wait for shows.

    But believe me, my daughter standing in Pirates dark, boring back deck for 45 minutes when the regular line was only 10 minutes was not of any use to a child with BP, and standing for an hour at the back end of Space mountain or Splash mountain was not of any help to us, at least the line was moving when we went into the regular line.

    I am not saying not to try for a pass, there are things that may help, although for our daughter not really.

    Lastly, if you son is old enough to be allowed time on his own, this is when it because pleasurable for us with our daughter. The rules were set down before hand, we are going on this, you may go on that but we will meet back right here in 30 minutes. But this is when they are 13 or so, at 16 we were able to let her go by herself for an hour or two, which was great.


    DL: 3/1993, 2/1994, 11/1995, 8/1996, 6/1998, 11/2002, 11/2003, 1/2006, 1/2007, 6/2007, 2/2009, 12/2009, 8/2010, 9/2012, 8/2014, 1/2015 WDW 3/2008, 2/2011, 5/2013, 3/2014

  10. #9

    Hi, I hardly ever answer on this post anymore because of such harsh opinions but felt that I could help you a little.

    My daughter has all those diagnosis's also, and I know how hard it can be. If you ever want to talk privately send me an email.

    Personally we never used a GAC for my daughter, although we had a GAC for other members in the family, like myself or my daughter, I am visually impaired and my other daughter has CP.

    Anyway, I believe at some points the GAC may have helped my daughter but maybe not as much as you would think, so for what it is worth her are some of my suggestions.

    You did not say how old your son is, with BP diagnosis I would assume preteen or teen. So if some of these will not work because of age just ignore them.

    First you know your son better than others, so what works at home will work at the park. For my daughter that was to give her enough space not to "go off"and to know how to off set them.

    So things that worked for us, eat meals either in the room, like first thing in the morning and late at night, giving her freedom from the crowds, space to relax and so on. She was in crowds all day in the park, she needed to eat quietly otherwise we found she ate tensed and moody and that would just continue all day.

    Second, learn to use not only the fast pass, but also invest in something like Ride Max,so you can illiminate as much of the crowds as possible. Get to the park real early, leave at lunch time and take a nap, swim or rest, maybe eat lunch back at the room. Go back when most of the crowds are dying down.

    Set up your reward system, sure he has one at home or in school. For us we bought either disney dollars or gift cards, depending on child. For every hour without a fit or fight or hurting, annoying or running away you get a dollar, by lunch time she would have enough for her own treat, which we would have bought anyway if she was good, but this was an hourly reminder of her having to work for it. Same when you go back in the afternoon.

    Another thing was to bring the little annoying thing that seems to calm them, for our daughter things that clicked, like a pen. Set down the rules no poking anyone and such but then even though she may be annoying you and maybe everyone around you in line, it is a lot better than her poking others, fighting with sister, being moody and rude, walking out of line after 10 minutes forcing everyone else to go after her. To me the little annoying habit is better than the alternative, and although you may get a lot of looks, to me it is no worse than parents letting children hang on the chains or sit on the fences when in line.

    I hope this helps. I don't think a GAC will be all that helpful, because of our daughter, even though we had a GAC pass we usually did not use the one for CP because the lines were usually much longer, and usually in very crowded or noisy places, or dark and boring places, which would just make our other daughter go off. We did use the pass for both of us to avoid stairs, or to sit up front, which if you can get would help, because the one thing it did was to allow us to show up 10 minutes before a show, meaning we did not have to wait for shows.

    But believe me, my daughter standing in Pirates dark, boring back deck for 45 minutes when the regular line was only 10 minutes was not of any use to a child with BP, and standing for an hour at the back end of Space mountain or Splash mountain was not of any help to us, at least the line was moving when we went into the regular line.

    I am not saying not to try for a pass, there are things that may help, although for our daughter not really.

    Lastly, if you son is old enough to be allowed time on his own, this is when it because pleasurable for us with our daughter. The rules were set down before hand, we are going on this, you may go on that but we will meet back right here in 30 minutes. But this is when they are 13 or so, at 16 we were able to let her go by herself for an hour or two, which was great.


    DL: 3/1993, 2/1994, 11/1995, 8/1996, 6/1998, 11/2002, 11/2003, 1/2006, 1/2007, 6/2007, 2/2009, 12/2009, 8/2010, 9/2012, 8/2014, 1/2015 WDW 3/2008, 2/2011, 5/2013, 3/2014

  11. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Modesto, CA
    Quote Originally Posted by Cheshire Figment View Post
    If you click on the link in my signature and go to Post #6 of the FAQ, you will see a very large discussion about the GAC. It is primarily written for WDW but the same rules do apply at DLR.
    Thank you for the link to Post #6. What a wealth of information and it answered all my quetions. My parents (79 & 80) can't do moving walkways and stairs. Now I know exactly what to ask for and where. Yeah!!!

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