Taking advantage of handicapped people, or not?

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

Obviously this is bullcrap for all the people stuck in the normal line. IMO Disney should eliminate the ability for the entire family of a disabled person to line jump, possibly make it person+caregiver or person+2 or something limited.

But who is more unethical here? The disabled person whoring themselves out, or the a-holes paying the whored out disabled people?

I'm interested to know what you all think...

jgriffith · Posted: May 14, 2013 12:36 pm Post subject:

RampageWake · Posted: May 14, 2013 12:40 pm Post subject:

Personally, I wouldn't go to Disney even if they were giving away free hookers and blow. My buddy recently took his kids though and said it was really worth it to buy the VIP or whatever passes, they took you through a seperate entrance. I'd probably have to say the Manhattan moms are more repulsive in this scenario, but I'm not surprised at either. I lowered my expectations of people a long time ago.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

where else is a handicapped person going to pocket a grand/day riding rollercoasters?

don't really see what the big deal is.

ohsix · Posted: May 14, 2013 12:46 pm Post subject:

I don't think it should be limited to a plus 1. What if a family of 5 has a legitimately handicapped child. Should 1 parent go to the front of the line with the handicapped child while the other parent and 2 kids have to wait through the normal line? Should the whole family wait through the long line? I think the whole family should be able to enjoy a ride together. I think they should limit handicapped passes to 1 per handicapped person per year. If a handicapped person wants to go to Disney World more often that's fine, but they only get to cut the lines once a year. I'm sure handicapped people will still sell themselves to rich families looking to cut lines, but they won't be able to make a business out of it if they can only do so once a year.

jgriffith · Posted: May 14, 2013 12:48 pm Post subject:

ohsix, I like that reasoning.

jgriffith · Posted: May 14, 2013 12:51 pm Post subject:

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

ohsix · Posted: May 14, 2013 1:23 pm Post subject:

jgriffith · Posted: May 14, 2013 1:44 pm Post subject:

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

people buy passes to cut in line from disney world. they buy passes to cut in line from fiesta texas. and schlitterbahn. if anyone is upset, it should be disney for lost income. somehow i doubt this is an epidemic - if it was really done all that much, disney would have found a way to stop it. more like a mouthy housewife of nyc that makes for a salty story in the post.

i'm not condoning lying, but i have a lot less problem w/ some lies than others. someone getting over on a multi-billionbillionbillion corporation ranks pretty low on my ethics-o-meter. shades of gray and all that.

jgriffith · Posted: May 14, 2013 2:52 pm Post subject:

jt09, good points

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

I've got 9 days at disneyland resort over the last 6 months.

Trust me when I tell you it's out of control and being abused like you would not believe. Not exaggerating. It is absolute commonplace to wait in line for 60 minutes, all the while watching groups of 5, 10, even 15 people with only 1 "disabled" in the group walk up the exit and on to the ride while the rest of us "normals" stand in line like the schlubs we apparently are.

I simply cannot understand why having a single disabled person in a group = VIP access for all. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Now, if they've paid for the VIP access, more power to em. These people aren't gettin over on a multi billion dollar corp. They are getting over on the customers of that corp, all of which pay good money to be there.

8824 · Posted: May 14, 2013 4:43 pm Post subject:

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

Already done, twice. First time was in February - we were at the park on a Monday, yet we kept waiting long, long times for rides. While we were waiting, I noticed a very disturbing pattern - despite a very light day in the park, groups with a single "disabled" person kept showing up and cutting the line. This happened over and over again on different rides, and on one in particular, it happened 3 times, which made what should have been a ten minute wait into a 45 minute wait. This was pretty damn frustrating, especially with a squirmy toddler who doesn't understand why the people on wheels and their entire entourage got on the ride before him.

As for paid: sure the bitches from the Post story paid, but I doubt the people I've seen my share of did. They looked like they barely belonged in Kmart, let alone the magic kingdom.

fish6942 · Addict Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 603

I can't seem to get past the fact that there are people willing to wait an hour (or hours) to get on a single ride. Thankfully none of our kids are big on amusement park rides, they'd rather be at the lake/ski hill/atv trails/etc.

Oh, and a potential compromise would be to hand each disabled person entering the park three single use "express passes" which they could use with their entourage but obviously for a limited number of rides.

E.J. · Ladies Man Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 7597 City: Mogadishu

1. Sweet deal of a job, if you can get it. 1K a day to take people around Disney, though assume the "guide" is only getting a marginal percentage of that.

2. I do not go to amusement parks. Went to Disney World once, never again.... My wife and younger child go, I stay home.

3. After this publicity, it is hard for me to believe that Disney will not adjust their policy.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

fish6942, if the notice at the front says 60 minutes, we don't bother. I like your idea of giving them only a few express passes. I'd still rather they fix the problem entirely by making it 1 disabled + 2 parents or something like that. Official policy is up to 5 people, but this is constantly broken.

I did some looking around last night because I was bored and my DVR was devoid of things I'd like to watch, and I found that this is apparently a HUGE problem for Disney Parks. There were guest relations employees noting that they were handing out disability passes to hundreds of people a day, many of which were long-term passes. This adds up to thousands a week, and tens of thousands a month.

Their dilemma has to do with the entrance used by the "disabled" which is typically the fast pass entrance. So not only are they accounting for people who legitimately use the fast pass system, but now they have all these "disabled" people clogging up that line. The numbers I saw were upwards of 1/3 of the people in those lines are using a disabled pass. When you have a ride that accommodates say 20k people per day, and you try to give out XX number of fast passes, but have to account for up to 1/3 of the traffic in that line showing up unannounced - well you can see how the math can get to be difficult. They are trying to implement some new system where you can reserve a time before you even get to the park, and the whole disabled access thing is apparently making it extremely difficult for them to get right.

Anyhow, this apparently isn't limited to Disney either. From what I read Universal, Six Flags, and others are facing similar issues.

The underlying issue of these people hiring black market handicapped is unbelievably bothersome. I just cannot believe that people have so little ethical or moral fiber to where they would even consider such a thing. I also would be surprised if Disney doesn't clamp down pretty quick on that, as it's costing them a good chunk of change and as we all know that's priority 1 for them.

pet575 · Posted: May 15, 2013 9:03 am Post subject:

#FirstWorldProblems

To answer the question posed in the thread title, I say we should take advantage of handicapped people more than we already do.

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

chavez, I'd say for the most part I agree with you. It doesn't seem like a good policy and it seems like people are being taken advantage of.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

I think the disabled are being taken advantage of, but they may be enjoying it, as has already been pointed out. As chavez was pointing out, it also seems like the other patrons are being taken advantage of, IMO.

8824 · Posted: May 15, 2013 1:20 pm Post subject:

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

jgriffith · Posted: May 15, 2013 1:36 pm Post subject:

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

jgriffith, have you not been on "It's a Small World"?

You cannot unhear that song. Evil or Very Mad

Tbonez · Posted: May 15, 2013 4:45 pm Post subject:

As a father with a kid with disabilityies that really needs these types of services to make Disney doable, this makes me rage....

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

Faust · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 20 May 2005 Posts: 1496

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

fish6942 · Addict Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 603

Faust · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 20 May 2005 Posts: 1496

eeven73 · Posted: May 16, 2013 7:24 am Post subject:

It is reason #4368 why people SUCK.

It is kinda like the A-Hole who ties his boat to the 15 min launch dock all day so he can lay on the beach, or any of the other "little" cheats that don't really "hurt" anyone but are incredibly inconsiderate.