- Joined
- Aug 23, 1999
I agree.I just want to say that I do have confidence that Disney will do evaluations on this...
I got a survey and this was part of what they were asking about...so it seems like they are at least listening.
I have such a hard time giving Disney a hard time for this, because on so many other things they are INCREDIBLE and go way above and beyond what would be required of them to allow those who have disabilities of all kinds to enjoy the parks.
I think the long waits will be rare...and don't want someone reading this really going out of their way to avoid the bus altogether because they are afraid of the wait. For the most part - especially in the middle of the day - the bus will be just like it has always been for us.
But I think those that are going should document - well - what happens, time of day, where it happened and we should call as soon as it happens and let them know the outcome. And what difference it made in our vacation experience. Hopefully they won't do the construction on the rest of the queues until they see how this is really going to work.
I do think they are trying to be fair...It just is not working in all cases - as we see here for sure.
I suggested the ADA website for complaints because some people will feel strongly that is the route they want to take.
I would prefer personally to complain to Disney so they have a chance to change without being forced to.
I think they changed how they were doing things without thinking thru the effects. It sounds like Mainstream bus lines would work, and at certain times, they will. But for a variety of reasons, at certain times they will seriously handicap guests who are using wheelchairs and ECVs who are not able to fold their wheelchair and walk onto the bus.
I thought of several scenarios that might help make this more clear:
#1: Our party is me, DH, DD using a wheelchair and 2-3 other people. DD is not able to get out of her wheelchair.
It’s the middle of the day and there are 10 -15 other people waiting at the bus stop when we get there. DD and one person wait at the wheelchair boarding spot and the rest of our party gets into the Mainstream line. Other people join the line behind us after we got into line.
When the bus arrives, the driver asks everyone in line to wait until DD’s wheelchair is loaded, in order to make sure there is space to load and tie down the wheelchair. After she is loaded, the rest of the guests in line (including the members of our party who did not board with DD) get onto the bus. Guests who were behind us in line keep boarding until the bus is full.
End result: Our whole party gets onto the same bus. There may be other people who got in line after us who don’t get on, but everyone who was in line before us gets onto the bus and gets a seat.
#2: Our party is me, DH, DD using a wheelchair and 2-3 other people. DD is not able to get out of her wheelchair.
It’s the middle of the day and there are 10 - 15 other people waiting at the stop when we get there. Our whole party gets into the Mainstream line and other people join the line behind us after we get into line.
When the bus arrives, guests in line start boarding.
When we get to the front, the driver stops boarding and asks everyone in line to wait until DD’s wheelchair is loaded, in order to make sure there is space to load and tie down the wheelchair. After she is loaded, the rest of the guests in line (including the members of our party who did not board with DD) get onto the bus. Guests who were behind us in line keep boarding until the bus is full.
End result: Our whole party gets onto the same bus. There may be other people who got in line after us who don’t get on, but everyone who was in line before us gets onto the bus and gets a seat.
#3: Our party is me, DH, DD using a wheelchair and 2-3 other people. DD is not able to get out of her wheelchair.
When we get to the stop, there are other people already waiting at the stop. Even though there are quite a few people waiting, we can see our whole party will get on and even get seats. DD and one person wait at the wheelchair boarding spot and the rest of our party gets into the Mainstream line. Other people get into line behind us.
When the bus arrives, the driver asks everyone in line to wait until DD’s wheelchair is loaded, in order to make sure there is space to load and tie down the wheelchair. After she is loaded, the rest of the guests in line (including the members of our party who did not board with DD) get onto the bus. Guests who were behind us in line keep boarding until the bus is full.
End result: Our whole party gets onto the bus at the same time. There may be other people who got in line after us who don’t get on, but everyone who was in line before us gets onto the bus and gets a seat.
#4: Our party is me, DH, DD using a wheelchair and 2-3 other people. DD is not able to get out of her wheelchair.
When we get to the stop, there are other people already waiting at the stop. Even though there are quite a few people waiting, we can see our whole party will get on and even get seats. Our whole party gets into the Mainstream line. Other guests enter the line behind us.
When the bus arrives, guests in line start boarding. When we get to the front, the driver stops us from boarding and says there is no room for DD’s wheelchair to be loaded.
The driver tells us our choices are to:
- all wait for another bus so that we can ride together or
- split up and have DD and one or 2 other members of our party wait for another bus while the rest of us get onto this bus.
We make our decision and guests who were behind us in line keep boarding until the bus is full.
End result: Depending on what choice we make, some or all of our party do not get onto the bus.
There may be other people who got in line after us who don’t get on, but many people who were behind us in line will get on and some of them will even get seats.
Everyone who was in line before us gets onto the bus and gets a seat.
Scenarios 1 and 2 are the same except for where DD and 1-2 of our party wait in line and have the same outcome - we all get on the bus.
Scenarios 3 and 4 are the same except for where DD and 1-2 of our party wait in line, but the waiting place makes a difference in the outcome.
Scenarios #1, 2 and 3 have happened to us many times.
Scenario 4 has not happened to us personally, because we stay at OKW, which typically doesn’t have real busy bus stops. We also try hard to avoid leaving a park at the busiest times.
There is another scenario that has happened to us.
It involves a scenario like #2 or #4 where we have gotten into the Mainstream Line. BUT, other guests with ECVs drove directly to the place where wheelchairs would board. They got loaded ahead of us. We did not get to board and had to wait for the next bus.
I don’t blame them because WDW doesn’t give direction of what guests with wheelchairs and ECVs are supposed to do.