AIBU to think Merlin Ride Access passes are unfairly judged?

My child has a myriad of disabilities but the trickiest in terms of queuing is a postural condition where she faints if she stands still in one spot for too long. She is under a cardiologist and Great Ormond St for this. She is allowed on certain rides- not all- but would be likely to faint in the queue and cause a huge delay for everyone around her. By having a time to come back for the time, she is still in the queue, but it

The issue is that no one should be physically queuing - it should be remote queuing for everyone. There's absolutely no reason in this day and age that it can't be!

They allow you to do something else rather than stand in a queue. We'd all like to go and have our lunch whilst 'in the queue' if we're honest.

I think the problem Merlin and others are facing is that so many people now have a diagnosis of additional needs. Some of those diagnosed genuinely do need priority access and others perhaps don’t, but I’m not sure how you create a system which can fairly differentiate. That results in theme parks erring on the side of caution and giving the priority access passes to a large group of people, which is difficult to manage in practice.

From my own personal experience, waiting in a queue for an hour with my severely disabled adult sibling would actually be far easier than waiting in a queue for an hour with an overtired toddler.

Wow - the ableist comments on here are awful

But can you go on rides which don't have a queue and so don't need the RAP in that time? What do you generally do in the "waiting" time?

You're being disingenuous here. No one needs to ask the doctor to lie. Of course if I had a private doctor appointment and said 'hey I have no issues whatsoever but I want a RAP, please can you write that I have autism which means I can't manage crowds' the doctor should refuse to issue that letter.

But I am autistic, and I could personally reasonably go to my doctor and say that I find crowds stressful and hard to manage, and can they write me a letter to confirm my diagnosis and that that is part of that.

I do find crowds stressful and hard to manage. But there's no world where my level of discomfort, whether or not caused by autism, should qualify me for a RAP. The bar should be set higher so that I simply don't qualify rather than relying on me being the better person and not applying.

Supply, not forge.

x

I think this is the crux of it. I am neurotypical and I find theme parks a bit stressful and overwhelming so I can completely see how it can trigger ND people and the need for the passes, along with clearly people with physical disabilities. The issue is the minority of people who seem to function absolutely fine until it comes to standing in a queue and then they need lots of extra support.
I agree with the passes for those who really need them but tbh its one of the main things (along with cost) that put us off big days out now. The waits are ridiculous.

That's what I did with my younger two. Not really possible with my oldest who is severely autistic and we just didn't take him anywhere big or we'd just go with charity services who would supply helpers and had pre-negotiated ride access.

I see a lot of parents just not try and it is not helping their children at all. I saw it for day trips like funparks with queuing and I saw it at school. 'Oh Jack can't do it because he's autistic/adhd' and that's it. No effort to try. No encouragement and no expectation of their child being able to do anything, ever.

I believe that virtual queueing should be available for all the big rides, for everyone. It would solve so many issues. And they'd need less space for the queue line itself.

Unfortunately it is so wide in definition now we cannot take dsd at all, she has severe disabilities so cannot walk to a ride, scan in, walk elsewhere then back to the ride, in years gone by you just went to the access point and wait 5 minutes or so. She can’t go on all rides anyway, yet unlike in the past there’s little discount. We would love to take her to CBeebies land at Alton towers but it won’t work for her, they won’t even let her stay in the In the night garden hotel room because she’s over 18, but she needs 2:1 care! (The room has full sized beds)

Cynically, I’m guessing it could help the parks bottom line too. If everyone could virtually queue for an hour or so, they could go off and spend a small fortune in the shops or food outlets while they wait.

Great minds have been wrestling with this issue for years. If the Disney company can’t solve it, no one can!

The problem, of course, is numbers. Seeing one disabled child plus family “jump the queue” so to speak - fine. There but for the grace etc etc. But if 50 families are brandishing passes, then - no matter how genuine each case may be - the people in the regular queue are going to be a bit hacked off.

Disney did crack down somewhat, reducing the number of people allowed to ride per access pass and making various disabilities non-qualifying.

I think the “anxiety” issue is what annoys people the most. An otherwise well adult who has got themselves - even driven - to a theme park and is happily going in restaurants, shops and less popular rides suddenly needing a favourable adjustment for a headline ride should not command a pass.

When @Festivalfanatic said "A GP is not going to forge documents".

You replied

"You can pay online for a GP letter. £50"

Thus heavily implying that they could infact forge documents...

I think a lot of people assume you would need DLA/PiP paperwork or a blue badge but it's not stringent enough so you don't. And you can take up to three people on the ride with you. The family I know got one for their daughter so they can all use the system.

The thread is about why people are funny about the RAP and it is because it's abused (not by everyone obviously).

My experience when ds was diagnosed with adhd ( he's also got asd) by the NHS, as a young teen, is that in his report it states he needs help in queueing, and that this can be used to prove disability in this.
We can, but never have, produced that for an access because he can queue. One of the reasons he can queue is because I worked really hard with him learning at Legoland from when he was tiny and we had an annual pass.

That certainly isn't saying every child could learn to do this, I have a friend whose dc is in her twenties and you still would not want to be next to her in a queue, but by extending it to people like my ds, they have made it harder for my friend's dc to access the rides.

So I do think it needs looking into as because too many people can use it, it's excluding the children for whom it was designed.

Edited to add: I don't think anything about queueing was mentioned at ds' assessment, and we certainly did not ask for it.

Could you go and wait in a cafe or go have lunch somewhere whilst on site, or do you have to stand at the ride? I think if you are elsewhere but virtually queuing and then you walk up and straight on (if that’s how it works?) I can understand why people think you are queue jumping

Exactly. There is no physical evidence for anxiety, especially not with a remote GP accessed by something like your Aviva health or BUPA cover. If you say you have panic attacks in crowds, what are they going to say? No, you don't?

Going to a crowded place and getting a pass to queue jump by saying you can’t stand crowds?!
is this correct?
how could you prove this?
why would everyone not just get a pass?

Wow.

I didn't say that did I? I literally said they'd probably just say 'patient reports...' and I think that would be enough for a lot of things.

Did you read that at all? Take it in?

Sure you do, you're ignoring the rest of the post. A waiting list letter? Really? What if you end up diagnosed with nothing?

This is from a thread in February. The evidence required is minimal.