Rich Manhattan Families Hire Disabled Tour Guides To Skip Lines!! - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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Well, that's wrong.
It's also a little misleading: We all know that most of the queues at WDW are becoming w/c friendly. There is no longer a "skip to the front of the line because you have a w/c" pass. Trust me, we've waited - sometimes much longer than those who are not disabled.
Still, a truly horrid idea. The only thing I can think that is a plus: handicapped people finding a job that will not only make room for their disability, but will embrace it.
25 years ago, many lines were not wheelchair accessible, but almost all of the newer attractions (and many of the older ones) are accessible in the regular (Mainstream) line.
So wheelchair or ECV = front of line has not been true for a long time. Even when there were many attractions with special arrangements for guests using wheelchairs, that didn't always men shorter wait, just a different place to wait.
Since Small World was mentioned in the article with a "one minute wait" .......
This picture shows the handicapped line for Small World.
It is required to be used by guests with mobility devices (like wheelchairs) because the regular line is not accessible. It is also used by some guests with GACs. In our experience, often over 1/2 of the guests/groups using it are using it for that reason - they don't have a mobility device.
This picture shows a time when the wait was similar or possibly slightly shorter than the wait in the 'regular line.' The handicapped boarding area is toward the left side of the picture, down at the bottom of the ramp.The ramp at the top of the picture is part of the regular line. The ramp people are coming up on the right of the picture, toward you is the exit.
This picture show Small World at a time when the wait in the handicapped area was longer than the wait in the regular line.
My family was at the bottom of the ramp, waiting to get on. The picture is taken from the opposite direct compared to the first picture, looking toward the entrance and exit.
The ramp on the far left of the picture has the people who will get on the next 2 boats.
The ramp in the middle is the exit ramp. The ramp to the far right of the picture is the handicapped line and it went all the way to the entrance and out the gate at the top. People who did not have wheelchairs might have had a shorter wait in the regular line ( in this case, they would have since we saw the people who were just ahead of us entering the regular line get on way before us).
These are some more pictures of Small World that show a longer wait.
The posted wait time for the regular line was 25 minutes and you can see people, at least in this part of the regular line you can see, are widely spaced.
This is the handicapped line at the same time.
The actual entrance to handicapped line is way up where you can see a man and woman in orange shirts. It extends from the front of this picture all the down the ramp that is shown in the pictures in the previous post. All the people to the right of the photo are also part of the handicapped line.
The regular entrance is where you can see a sign in the background, between the heads of 2 people with orange hats.
In this case, people in the handicapped line will be waiting longer.
And, the extra wait can be much longer. One recent trip, my DH and DD had gone to Small World while I went on something DD is not able to go on. I know what time they got into line because DH texted me when they got in the line.
When I arrived at Small World, they had already been waiting for 25 minutes in the handicapped line. I could not get to them since they were in the bottom 1/3 of the handicapped line ramp shown in the picture and the handicapped line ramp was full all the way to the top.
I got in the regular line and planned to meet them later - DH was going to get DD something to drink while they waited for me to be done. 20 minutes later, I got on a boat - 3 boats behind them.
So, I waited 20 minutes (which was the posted time). They waited 45.
They did have to wait for a wheelchair accessible boat, but hadn't let 3 groups who didnt need the wheelchair boat from behind them in that line go past to board, so their wait in the line was not increased more than a few minutes by needing the wheelchair boat.
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Before they removed their info on VIP tours page it stated in bold print "Your guide will provide significantly reduced wait times through the parks. Know how, time management and special entrance to fast pass lines."
There is NO EXCUSE for this disgusting behavior.
25 years ago, many lines were not wheelchair accessible, but almost all of the newer attractions (and many of the older ones) are accessible in the regular (Mainstream) line.
So wheelchair or ECV = front of line has not been true for a long time. Even when there were many attractions with special arrangements for guests using wheelchairs, that didn't always men shorter wait, just a different place to wait.
Since Small World was mentioned in the article with a "one minute wait" .......
This picture shows the handicapped line for Small World.
It is required to be used by guests with mobility devices (like wheelchairs) because the regular line is not accessible. It is also used by some guests with GACs. In our experience, often over 1/2 of the guests/groups using it are using it for that reason - they don't have a mobility device.
This picture shows a time when the wait was similar or possibly slightly shorter than the wait in the 'regular line.' The handicapped boarding area is toward the left side of the picture, down at the bottom of the ramp.The ramp at the top of the picture is part of the regular line. The ramp people are coming up on the right of the picture, toward you is the exit.
This picture show Small World at a time when the wait in the handicapped area was longer than the wait in the regular line.
My family was at the bottom of the ramp, waiting to get on. The picture is taken from the opposite direct compared to the first picture, looking toward the entrance and exit.
The ramp on the far left of the picture has the people who will get on the next 2 boats.
The ramp in the middle is the exit ramp. The ramp to the far right of the picture is the handicapped line and it went all the way to the entrance and out the gate at the top. People who did not have wheelchairs might have had a shorter wait in the regular line ( in this case, they would have since we saw the people who were just ahead of us entering the regular line get on way before us).
These are some more pictures of Small World that show a longer wait.
The posted wait time for the regular line was 25 minutes and you can see people, at least in this part of the regular line you can see, are widely spaced.
This is the handicapped line at the same time.
The actual entrance to handicapped line is way up where you can see a man and woman in orange shirts. It extends from the front of this picture all the down the ramp that is shown in the pictures in the previous post. All the people to the right of the photo are also part of the handicapped line.
The regular entrance is where you can see a sign in the background, between the heads of 2 people with orange hats.
In this case, people in the handicapped line will be waiting longer.
And, the extra wait can be much longer. One recent trip, my DH and DD had gone to Small World while I went on something DD is not able to go on. I know what time they got into line because DH texted me when they got in the line.
When I arrived at Small World, they had already been waiting for 25 minutes in the handicapped line. I could not get to them since they were in the bottom 1/3 of the handicapped line ramp shown in the picture and the handicapped line ramp was full all the way to the top.
I got in the regular line and planned to meet them later - DH was going to get DD something to drink while they waited for me to be done. 20 minutes later, I got on a boat - 3 boats behind them.
So, I waited 20 minutes (which was the posted time). They waited 45.
They did have to wait for a wheelchair accessible boat, but hadn't let 3 groups who didnt need the wheelchair boat from behind them in that line go past to board, so their wait in the line was not increased more than a few minutes by needing the wheelchair boat.
Sue, I said the exact same thing when someone posted this on FB. I didn't have pictures to go with it but the wait for handicapped access is almost always longer. I have never seen it shorter. There were so many inaccuracies in that article that it leads me to believe that it was just someone to sound superior. She claims the ECV had a handicapped tag on the front. Yeah, OK, if you say so.
__________________
Sandi
mom of 6: dd25, ds22, dd17, ds13, dd12, and dd9
mawmaw to 3 beautiful granddaughters: 5, 3, 1 and #4 due in February
16 trips to WDW
Anyone caught abusing Disney's accomodations for disabled guests should be barred from Disney property, all of them worldwide - for LIFE. Yes, I'm sorry, but - kids over 10 included (maybe relent when they turn 25).
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