AIBU to think Merlin Ride Access passes are unfairly judged?

are the general public happy to wait slightly longer so disabled people can access the same experience at all.

Absolutely happy with this, but not so happy with those who abuse system, which means you’re not waiting slightly longer, you’re waiting an hour longer.

This is the point, the system is being abused, and you can sometimes see and hear the smug kids and adults in the faster queue crow about being able to take the ride so many times, especially when it’s a popular ride.

Apparently not, according to some, they should stay at home. I'm appalled at some of these comments.

I don't think people realise a virtual queue means you still wait for a ride, just not stood in the queue

@metellaestinatrioyour post is spot on and I particularly identify with your second paragraph (as you can see if you read my previous posts). Merlin are incompetent and greedy and that’s about the height of it. I was thinking about parks in Europe and betting they were better managed than those here.

Life in the UK in many ways just seems increasingly shit TBH.

One of the issues here is the number of people who can accompany the person with the pass - I understand that it is set so as to allow a “typical” family of four to go on rides together, but really only the person with the RAP plus one other (to care for them) should get the priority as otherwise the system is open to abuse. Wasn’t there a news story relatively recently about a man who was offering (for a fee) to take strangers into Disneyland Paris as his “family members” so they could benefit from his enhanced disability access? Abuse aside (and hopefully those cases are rare) if every person with an RAP brings three others with them the RAP queue gets longer and longer, meaning those who are supposed to benefit - the disabled holder of the pass - are still forced to wait.

The other is that the parks are fundamentally badly managed. I have just returned from a trip to another European country where I took my kids to a brilliant theme park. In seven hours there I saw only one person being given priority access to a ride and he was clearly quite severely disabled and with a carer. There was no need for anyone else to jump the queue because the queues all around the park were pretty short, despite it being the school holidays in that country. Why can’t Merlin manage things better so priority access is less beneficial and therefore desirable? Because they just want to cram more people in and make money from selling fast passes. It’s shit.

I remember the day that Wickerman opened at AT a few years ago, the RAP queues were reported (by many people) on fbk RAP groups to be over three hours at some stages during the day. I remember thinking that all the leople using RAP for that ride at three hours clearly can queue.

We took DS to Blackpool pleasure beach that day, we planned it knowing it was likely to be quieter.

@Festivalfanaticmy ex has adult diagnosed adhd and anxiety / he has a RAP. I am not convinced he really needs it.

he will take the kids and his sister - none of them would bother going if it wasn’t for RAP.

I had a bit of a Google, and came across loads of “advice” on how to get RAP passes, what to say etc.

I suppose it’s nigh-on impossible to really weed out scammers, or even people who believe they deserve one (but who really don’t).

I think I would for a start ban over18s anxiety passes in the absence of other disabilities. Eg some people can travel to the airport, negotiate airport, fly 9 hours to Florida, suffer long immigration queue (once it was 4 hours for us), travel to accommodation BUT suddenly not be able to queue for a ride because of anxiety.

I'm not complaining about the concession, I use the concession and benefit greatly from it. I never said anywhere that it shouldn't be available to those who would be unable to visit without it.

Yes, I am aware that numbers are limited, I spend 8+ hours refreshing the RAP page on the release dates to try to secure some, and with these limits,there should be no lengthy queues at RAP entrances.

However, some do abuse the system - at legoland I saw families operating the app and a paper pass in parallel - having gone to guest services and said their app wasn't working when it was. Of course I am going to have a negative opinion on this, as its causing those with disabilities to have to wait longer.

The parks don't make much profit, if they didn't sell fast passes, they would have to put up ticket prices. And some of those on fast passes are people with disabilities, using their DLA/PIP to fund them, as they couldn't get a RAP pass due to limits on them. We were talking to a family from abroad who had a son with terminal cancer, massive lego fan, so they bought the passes to make the best experience for him. I don't judge anyone using a fast pass, as I don't know their circumstances or reasons for using. I wouldn't judge anyone using a RAP for same reason.

You’re right - we wouldn’t be in the main queue, my son wouldn’t be able to manage it.

So I guess the top of bottom of it is; are the general public happy to wait slightly longer so disabled people can access the same
experience at all.

It’s a shame in some cases the answer is no.

No they wouldn't be in the main line, if they need a RAP they wouldn't be able to queue in an hour plus line.

Even with letting on that many the RAP queue was well over 30 mins, so they had a difficult decision over whether to let it get even longer, or let lots on each time, making the main queue longer.

Just ignore any comments OP and forget about SM. Theres always a dickhead with an opinion. Don't let the pricks get you down.

I think all these things already happen - numbers of RAP are restricted (have to be prebooked), fast pass sales are restricted. I have no idea how many of each are allowed each day. But I think either/both need to be restricted more, or they need to restrict how many come in to the park so the queues in general are smaller. But all that would cost Merlin money, so it won’t happen.

@Anewuser According to Merlin’s website, the number of RAPs allowed to enter per day is restricted. Once they are full, no more people with RAPs can enter the park; although as they have to be prebooked, there may be cancellations freeing up more spaces.

Those who cannot prebook a RAP that day, have the option of joining the main queues.

Anyway, the person with the RAP can only take three companions with them, presumably to accommodate the typical family with two children.

@Bushmillsbabe - you haven’t answered my question. Why is there thread after thread, complaining about concessions for the disabled at theme parks; but not about the better off people who buy fast track passes?

I wonder how they’ll sort the problem out?

We used to go regularly twenty years ago. We used to use the exit pass (wasn’t called RAP then), and got on the ride after no more than a five minute wait. Is it because too many people are disabled now?

You’re not going to cure a disability so places with have to come up with another method of restricting passes - they’re clearly not going to restrict numbers of paying customers.

When we try to park in disabled parking, if there isn’t a space because we’re too late and they’ve already gone, we have a choice. Park further back in the main car park or not go in. Maybe, the RAP will have to become first come, first served, when they’ve given out the allotted amount of RAP then no more can be allocated. Although, surely they would need to do the same with the paid for Fast Passes?

Alternatively, you pre-book your RAP so you know you’ll be guaranteed a pass, or you’re aware there are no more available for your day visit?

I have a RAP, so there isn't an issue for me (apart from so many people having RAP that the queues were still too long to be manageable in many cases).

On skylion for example, they were taking 30 from the RAP queue and 40 from the main queue. If no RAP queue they would take 70 from main queue so it would move nearly twice as quickly, so that would benefit the main line significantly.

But my main point was that people aren't annoyed with specific disabled people, they are annoyed that they are having to wait longer themselves.

Oooooh. Sorry there; I misunderstood. I mean, honestly, I find this all insane. A disabled child is not a fucking queue jumper; there have to be accommodations in place for them to experience the park if they wouldn’t be able to without those accommodations. I think a wide-scale virtual queuing system might still be the answer; then everyone queues virtually so everyone is happy and no one complains about their 3 year old being awful in queues, and then do away with all this RAP card stuff for disabled people and they just give you a pass and you DO go to the front of the line (I do understand there will be piss takers, so you’ll need some kind of limits in place, like only those who qualify for DLA or PIP).

I mean, we’ve reached an incredible level of person-based enshittification in this world if people are complaining about a disabled child “jumping the queue.” It just seems like a better solution for everyone could have been implemented.

For crying out loud. The post I originally quoted wasn't even yours. Why are you making this about you?

It’s not actually a virtual queuing system they have currently for the RAP. They just time the RAP out for the length of the queue that they are jumping. So if they want to go on Nemesis and the normal queue is 2 hours, they instead use the RAP which is the shorter queue, but they can’t join another RAP shorter queue for 2 hours. Then if they want to go on Smiler after those 2 hours are up and Smiler has an hour queue, they get into the RAP queue but then can’t use it again for one hour. So it’s not really a virtual queue. They don’t get given a specific time slot to come back. They just can’t use the pass until a certain length of time has passed.

This is 100% the problem. When a queue gets over maybe 15 minutes, they should start a virtual queue, and if you’re not back within X minutes when you’re called, you lose your spot to the next person. If they already HAVE a virtual queuing system, why not extend it to everyone?

Plenty of chance to take a toddler when they’re older and more able to queue.

But many people’s disabled children will always be disabled.