Alton Towers to remove disability pass for people with ADHD and anxiety

[AnitaRita]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2gwgj4xreo
Too many people wanting to join the "Fast pass queue" so you actually end up with two queues rather than one queue and a fast entry! Got to agree with them - if you're too anxious to queue then a white knuckle ride is probably not for you!

It's not about avoiding the horrors of the hoi polloi!!!! Good God. I need to step away from this thread not because the ignorance of disabilities is STAGGERING. Would you tell a person in a wheelchair they had to pay an extra £500 for a special chair to get them up and down stairs when they visit a theme park? Of course not. But all those ND kids and their families should have to?!

The sen parents that post on TikTok about how to get dla/pip payments are to blame for this. I won’t elaborate further

me, a sen mum, who would’ve benefited from my autistic dd using this pass

People also don’t seem to understand that many ND people are sensory seekers just as much as sensory avoiders. Everything is heightened. There are benign things that cause great distress and things some people find overwhelming that can just make the constant sound of your own brain finally go quiet and provide enormous relief.

Absolutely, people are different, people with the same diagnosis are different too. This is why it’s discriminatory to say all ND people can queue if they wanted to. Some can, some can’t. If you don’t want to discriminate, then best to offer the adjustment to cover yourself from a legal challenge. I bet they back down. There’s already a petition for this over at Change.org.

I absolutely do know how the queue works. How do you think small children who apparently can’t understand queueing (regardless of being NT/ND) & get bored standing around feel when they are stood for two hrs to see others ‘appear’ to just walk right up.

I also know the fast pass is not an option for very small children that would be in cbeebies land.

there are lots of viewpoints to this yet it is only a trial & I think the discourse around the whole conversation is being led by emotive people who have lost a bit of reasoning & logic.

alton towers have given reasonable adjustments which will no doubt have been run past lawyers before being implemented to ensure that no laws are being broken.

the absolute entitlement of some people is unreal, yet there appears to be some people who feel that just because a child has a disability they should get special treatment & are free to be abusive, patronising & try and belittle people cow they won’t bow down to their opinion. he who shouts the loudest and all that

No. I'm out. Honestly, these people are just goading or really, really not very bright.

This isn't about people in wheelchairs and I've got 2 ND kids. My phrasing at that point was about the entire audience of people who might want to buy fast tracks for every reason under the sun including your reasons. Getting angry about that term is missing my point that keeps being wilfully missed by everyone saying they're kids can never go on rides again. They can. They can get fast passes. They cost money because it's a business and free ones are limited. But it's not £500 and it's a lot less if they want to pick their favourite rides and go on them. That's less tragic I get it, but it's still doable if rollercoasters are important.

We stopped going to theme parks when they moved away from the voucher system. At that time, you got 10 vouchers because they'd worked out that the average guest could access 10 rides in a day. Once they were gone, they were gone. It suited us because DD1 has a very limited shelf life and we could do several rides one after the other, then leave.

Virtual queues wouldn't make it easier for us - it's the waiting she struggles with as much as the crowd she's waiting in.

@Sensiblesal "there appears to be some people who feel that just because a child has a disability they should get special treatment"

Read that back to yourself. Slowly.

I don't get it then. If you have ND children, why wouldn't you want special accommodations to be made for them? The gold access pass (covering all rides) at Legoland is £300 for a family of 4. That is punitively expensive.

The normal price is punitively expensive for a lot of the population.

Perhaps the point is that not all those using RAP needed the special accommodations. Therefore the piss takers have ruined it for everyone. I saw a stat somewhere that said some days 44% of people are using RAP. No wonder it's not sustainable.

I think the whole point of reasonable adjustments making things accessible to those who would otherwise be unable to access things has severly bypassed many in this thread.

The problem is that the adjustments made by Merlin have led to loads more people seeking them. Which has meant that it is no longer helping the people that it was designed to help.

The boss of Alton Towers has said that these changes are proposed because of complaints from people with RAPs. Not the NT people who are pissed off with queueing for 2 hours for one ride but the people who were supposed to be helped by RAPs.

I live not too far from Alton Towers but nobody that I know has ever gone there as a family because the queueing makes it shite value for money. Teenagers go sometimes as part of a school trip but they all moan about the queueing and aren't in a great hurry to go back. They'd rather go on the scary rides at the local fair.

Nice to see ableism alive and well. You and op really have no fucking clue do you. Try educating yourself on the issue properly first before commenting.

Honestly? I'd expect a gold access pass covering all rides for a family of 4 to cost a lot. We did one night in the hotel there and it cost the best part of £500. That's just what it costs, but also I wouldn't get a gold access pass for all 4 of us to go on all rides. I'd choose fewer rides for fewer of us. We don't all need to go on all the rides and the kids would never have coped with that many, nor would I. Depends how you're thinking of things I guess, but I think theme parks are a big expensive treat like holidays and I budget accordingly, ND kids or not. And when they've finally grown out of them I'll be bloody relieved and not go again.

A bit like your post then. Try educating yourself

And don't forget that's on top of the entry tickets which cost a minimum of £32 per person depending when and how purchased!

Utter, shameless profiteering which incentivises them to do nothing about long queues so that people will continue to fork out.

In the days before fast passes were a thing, the queues were much more reasonable. I remember going to AT in the early 90s as a student, with friends, in August on a nice, sunny day - we went on every single ride including the then-main attraction rollercoasters, and even managed a couple of them twice. That would never happen now.

You clearly don’t have a bloody clue about ADHD or autism so please don’t pretend you do. Being triggered by large crowds ands people standing in close proximity DOESNT mean you can’t enjoy fast ride ffs. Why the hell is ableism allowed here? And that is exactly what you are displaying so don’t bother saying it isn’t.

Why are people so surprised a business is trying to make money?

See I remember queuing for bloody hours in the 80s to get on the Corkscrew and getting sunburnt to a crisp. Whereas I've been to Thorpe Park in the 2020s and DH/DC have been on everything with less queuing. So much depends on what day you go and always has done. Agree it's a lot pricier now, but it was always a relative treat and there enough people who seem to be able to afford it.

That is a good point and I suppose I'm more surprised that so many people go along with it, to be honest!

This thread has taught me that some people are very very thick and purposely won't even try to understand things just to suit their narrow world view.

Err ...businesses are in the business of making profits...

It's hardly an essential service or anything. People have fee will and are choosing to spend their money and time there.

I think there is also an element of unfortunately being exposed to the inner thoughts of people who inexplicably feel angry about the perceived 'benefits' that ND children have.

An anonymous forum gives them the opportunity to voice mean, nasty POVs that obviously they can't get away with irl.

That is a good point and I suppose I'm more surprised that so many people go along with it, to be honest!

Why do people spend £5 on a coffee or nearly £10 on a pint? Different priorities I guess. I'm not mad on crowds and hate rollercoasters so theme parks seem like a waste of money to me but each to their own, if you love them you find the money for them.

I just started a thread to ask teachers what % of their classroom had autism or ADHD.

The absolute minimum was 15%, and the maximum was 60%. Most of the responses were between 20 and 30%.

This is no longer a small fringe issue.