RE: bolded/underline
This. Once thing I've noticed reading FP pages and boards about the DAS/GAC debates...is that some of the parents seem to think that having a non-disabled child means that we run from ride to ride, that you can be there from RD to closing without stopping, and there is never an emergency pee stop or a meltdown. Yes, the disabled child's meltdowns may be harder to cope with, that they may not understand the behavior is wrong, but most 2 year olds struggle with that concept as well. I've never been able to keep the little ones at the park more than 3 or 4 hours without leaving to go nap and cool down at the hotel. And yes, we even split up (from a family unit) so DH or DH/DS together can ride a ride no one else wants/can do...or someone goes to the hotel with the little one and someone else stays at the park.
I have a problem with this. look, if the child is on a wish trip, Disney will bend over backwards for that child---and I'm ok with that. If any other organization works WITH Disney to send a child on that type of trip, Disney should work with them for that child---and I'm ok with that.
But if you let every Tom, **** and Harry with a mildly autistic child (and let's be honest---the parents of kids in wheelchairs aren't the ones having a hissy fit over the DAS----it's the parents of cognitively disabled children) gets a FOTL pass, then everyone's kid will have a mildly autistic disability. It happened with the GAC. Then it goes from just having mom and dad and 2 siblings to grandma and uncle Joe and cousins that this kid has never seen before having to ride with the kid. It goes from having 3 people jump in front of the 200 people in line to having 30 people jump in front of those 200. That impacts everyone in that line. When you go from 2 families of 5, to 20 families of 7, that makes the people who have been waiting in the line for 30 minutes have to wait just that much longer......and those people aren't the ones able to go to the bathroom or get a snack or go see a princess during that 30 minutes. So, yes, I'm saying that there have to be limits, to those who get those FOTL passes.
I'm sorry that people have to deal with these issues--I truly am. But you have to DEAL with them---not expect the world to bend over backwards for you. And that comment will probably make me seem like a horrible person. IMO, if you aren't teaching your children how to work around the problems they encounter, then you are part of the problem.
I certainly wasn't on about anybody with congintive disability getting any sort of front of line,
I am however saddened by the fact that one terminal child gets better treatment from disney then another because they manged to qualify for a wish trip,
I knew a family that spent their life savings taking their daughter to florida because she only had a short period of time left,and there just wasn't time to sort out a wish trip,
Universal was amazing and gave the best accommodation they could,as did seaworld.
Disney however gave them the das and 3 extra fp for the family on one on.the days they went,
The child was just to fragile to spend much time at the parks.
If the same accommodation could have been given to this child it would have been very special for the family, however it wasn't and they struggled severely.
Unfortunately the child has now passed.
Not wanting to jump on the wrong or right of this. We've learned to use FP+ and the DAS and it seems to be fine for us. We're not multiple riders, and DS likes things like Philharmagic, Spaceship Earth, Buzz, TTA, Pirates so we're just as busy as we were with the GAC.
The difference that freaked out the folks who used the GAC to the DAS is that we WERE treated special with the GAC. We felt like Disney was acknowledging that they could do something to make our vacation great, to give us a break from the stress of dealing with a special needs kid. Then they took that away.
Once again, I'm not saying what Disney did with the GAC is right, I'm just expressing why so many folks felt consternation with the change. With the DAS, we still have to wait like everyone else, just not in line.
I so hate when the discussions on here become semantics, or sound like legal arguments in a court of law.
It's just so many people are unwilling or unable to handle change and instead want it back to the way it was.
I'd like to know when it became the norm to accommodate intellectual disabilities, including Autism and ADHD, at amusement parks. Other than in educational situations, we don't accommodate these disabilities anywhere else. You can't skip to the front of the line at a busy restaurant that has a wait for a table. There isn't an alternate waiting area to wait for a city bus. There isn't a separate line at the grocery store. So why is it acceptable to be able to do all of these in an amusement park?
... It's just so many people are unwilling or unable to handle change and instead want it back to the way it was.
Interesting I don't think I've ever seen one most stories her don't have any special accommodation. The only place I see it a lot is at banks or Hotels they have a lower window for poel who need it.In the UK where I live nearly every large super store like asda etc has a wheelchair line,
There are a lot of places where this sort of disability is accommodated, and many more places where it is not. Is not being accommodated in one place an argument to not be accommodated anywhere else or mean that there's no point to being accommodated? I don't understand your argument. Is the fact that it's incredibly difficult to get accommodation anywhere outside of the school system an argument to just make it harder everywhere? Why accommodate anyone anywhere unless everywhere in the world agrees to provide the exact same accommodation and we all are exactly equal?
Where are we accommodated? School, yes. However, that doesn't start until my son is in kindergarten. When that starts, we are also told that if there is another child in the class that needs help and their parents refuse to get them tested or coded, my son's aide will be required to help with them as well even if my son requires one on one. Private school isn't an option - here you pay for private school to keep your children away from mine, so he wouldn't pass any admission process. For daycare we couldn't go anywhere since my son was high needs, and needed a full-time aide. It was an 18 month wait until we could get into a funded program. Until then my options were to quit work or to pay a full-time nanny with special training to watch him. So yes, you are correct in that we aren't accommodated everywhere. Going to a busy restaurant to eat? We just don't do it. Going to the playground? In my city, there is exactly ONE fenced play ground on the west side of town. The other two are a 30+ minute drive. So yes, there is some accommodation in that we can make the 10-15 minute drive to go to the playground rather than the one down the street. Swim lessons? I'm very lucky in that I've been able to make arrangements with our local swim center and essentially buy 3 sets of swim lessons in order to get an instructor ratio that will accommodate my son without impacting the experience of the other kids. There are some autism specific lessons, but you have 5-10 people competing for each space because it's only through one charity that they're offered. Gymnastics? We're lucky, because one of the gymnastics clubs offers a special needs program. We do this because at $40 for each 45 minute sessions, it's cheaper than going to occupational therapy at $140 a session to work on gross motor skills. These are just when we try and do "normal" things, and don't include speech therapy and his ABA therapists.
so I haven't been around for a while- just too busy and since the change to DAS we haven't taken DD because we didnt know of a way to make it work, which is why I'm posting here. DD has High functioning autism, epilepsy, kidney anomalies and other disabilities. She can't be in the park in full sun because of her meds, and also because if she gets overheated she seizes, which kind of messes with her day. She has to go to the bathroom every hour on schedule. She does use a wheelchair with a canopy at Disney. We went during quieter times when she was younger, but now we aren't allowed to pull her from school, so we have to go when other people do. One thing we did do from the very first trip was lie to her (thankfully) and said you were only allowed to go on each ride once a day (so we never had the back to back issue). However, most of our park days with her were roughly 3-4 hours total. If we were really lucky, we might get back to the park 1 night out of a 7 day trip. Under the old system, we waited (off to the side, or through the FP line, etc) and were able to ride most of what she wanted by using the GAC and a smart touring plan in the time we had. Under the new system, though we would be able to ride 2-3 rides and then be done, no character options unless one of us separated from her the entire time to stand in line (which admittedly I happily did one trip). But we can't make use of the DAS system because we're not in the park long enough to make use of the return time- we've already had to leave to avoid a seizure. I will say that after taking my dad with parkinsons and early dementia to WDW for his bucket list trip in October I do have a bit more hope thanks to FP+. By booking those three experiences judiciously and using a touring plan and maybe possibly the DAS once we (might) be able to make it work. Which would make me very happy because its her favorite place in the whole world. Heck the first time she said I love you she was 8- and said it to Mickey Mouse. I understand the situation needed to change, but wanted to point out that there are people especially with multiple disabilities who might have legit concerns or needs that are not adequately addressed by the DAS system.
so I haven't been around for a while- just too busy and since the change to DAS we haven't taken DD because we didnt know of a way to make it work, which is why I'm posting here. DD has High functioning autism, epilepsy, kidney anomalies and other disabilities. She can't be in the park in full sun because of her meds, and also because if she gets overheated she seizes, which kind of messes with her day. She has to go to the bathroom every hour on schedule. She does use a wheelchair with a canopy at Disney. We went during quieter times when she was younger, but now we aren't allowed to pull her from school, so we have to go when other people do. One thing we did do from the very first trip was lie to her (thankfully) and said you were only allowed to go on each ride once a day (so we never had the back to back issue). However, most of our park days with her were roughly 3-4 hours total. If we were really lucky, we might get back to the park 1 night out of a 7 day trip. Under the old system, we waited (off to the side, or through the FP line, etc) and were able to ride most of what she wanted by using the GAC and a smart touring plan in the time we had. Under the new system, though we would be able to ride 2-3 rides and then be done, no character options unless one of us separated from her the entire time to stand in line (which admittedly I happily did one trip). But we can't make use of the DAS system because we're not in the park long enough to make use of the return time- we've already had to leave to avoid a seizure. I will say that after taking my dad with parkinsons and early dementia to WDW for his bucket list trip in October I do have a bit more hope thanks to FP+. By booking those three experiences judiciously and using a touring plan and maybe possibly the DAS once we (might) be able to make it work. Which would make me very happy because its her favorite place in the whole world. Heck the first time she said I love you she was 8- and said it to Mickey Mouse. I understand the situation needed to change, but wanted to point out that there are people especially with multiple disabilities who might have legit concerns or needs that are not adequately addressed by the DAS system.
My youngest DD doesn't have autism, but she does have a lot of sensory issues, obsessive compulsive, cerebral palsy and seizures. She has to be urinary catheterized every 3-4 hours on a schedule. Plus medication given on a schedule and because of her CP, we need to feed her (she can feed herself part of the meal, but not the whole meal) and we usually have to stop and stretch her in her wheelchair or at First Aid for a lie down stretch at least once.so I haven't been around for a while- just too busy and since the change to DAS we haven't taken DD because we didnt know of a way to make it work, which is why I'm posting here. DD has High functioning autism, epilepsy, kidney anomalies and other disabilities. She can't be in the park in full sun because of her meds, and also because if she gets overheated she seizes, which kind of messes with her day.
She has to go to the bathroom every hour on schedule. She does use a wheelchair with a canopy at Disney.
You should be able to do at least 2-3 with Fastpass Plus and 2-3 with DAS and more if you are also using a touring plan.We went during quieter times when she was younger, but now we aren't allowed to pull her from school, so we have to go when other people do. One thing we did do from the very first trip was lie to her (thankfully) and said you were only allowed to go on each ride once a day (so we never had the back to back issue). However, most of our park days with her were roughly 3-4 hours total. If we were really lucky, we might get back to the park 1 night out of a 7 day trip. Under the old system, we waited (off to the side, or through the FP line, etc) and were able to ride most of what she wanted by using the GAC and a smart touring plan in the time we had. Under the new system, though we would be able to ride 2-3 rides and then be done,
DAS can be used for anything with Fastpass - which includes most of the character options. Plus, you can choose to use Fastpass Plus for characters if that is available.no character options unless one of us separated from her the entire time to stand in line (which admittedly I happily did one trip).
By alternating Fastpass Plus and DAS Return Times, it is possible to minimize the time between attractions.But we can't make use of the DAS system because we're not in the park long enough to make use of the return time- we've already had to leave to avoid a seizure. I will say that after taking my dad with parkinsons and early dementia to WDW for his bucket list trip in October I do have a bit more hope thanks to FP+. By booking those three experiences judiciously and using a touring plan and maybe possibly the DAS once we (might) be able to make it work. Which would make me very happy because its her favorite place in the whole world. Heck the first time she said I love you she was 8- and said it to Mickey Mouse. I understand the situation needed to change, but wanted to point out that there are people especially with multiple disabilities who might have legit concerns or needs that are not adequately addressed by the DAS system.
I think more to the point is the broad issue that we are talking about accommodations that by their very nature disrupt and affect the experience of others. Mounting a countertop at 34" instead of 36" or making a door 4" wider does not alter the nature of my experience. Inserting people into a line in front of me does. It is judging the value between us and saying one person's experience is worth more than the other.
Except no one is being inserted into the line in front of you with the DAS. We're given a return time and wait outside of the line. It does not impact you.
The point I was making was that just because we aren't accommodated everywhere doesn't mean that it's somehow an awful thing to be accommodated in some places. Otherwise, what would be the point in bothering to do anything until the whole world is some sort of utopia?
ETA: And yes, construction standards do impact other people. In my city, disability accommodations have made it incredibly difficult to get reno permits for new houses since they don't meet new standards and the city makes it easier to issue a demolition permit.