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!

This reminds me of the furore over the disabled queue at Glastonbury.
The most focal woman interviewed was furious she had to queue for entry as her anxiety being around people made queuing difficult...for entry to a hugely overcrowded festival full of people.
I must admit I find the irony funny.

This is what happens when we over medicalise normal feelings. Being anxious about things , finding standing still in a queue irritating, etc is normal...we have shifted the bell curve so that more people now fall under it with a diagnosis of some neurodiversity than are at the extremes. This means people without are now the outliers.

For people and parents with children with physical or severe learning disabilities of course there should be arrangements for parks etc to be accessible but the majority who just feel anxious in a queue...well that is something you have to learn to manage like all normal human reactions to things

I remember now, she gets the blue badge for her severe epilepsy. I send in a few medical reports. Her social worker told me, (before she got NHS CHC funding) she had the most severe epilepsy under the team.

I thought that was a fair and thoughtful letter from the Merlin guy.

It is a conundrum. Clearly the pass’s inclusions are too, well, inclusive. I can only suggest that to equalise the experience a pass holder + guests intending to ride that attraction must wait in a separate quiet area and not be able to wander off and enjoy other rides in the intervening period.

It’s quite difficult to get your head around isn’t it ? Qualification for a blue badge for non physical disabilities is specific to PIP descriptor E in planning and following journeys, but falls two points short of HRM. And yet someone requiring HRM wouldn’t automatically qualify for a blue badge with maximum points in this category, indicating a higher need.

I attend regular hobby events. They involve often thousands of people all in one building. It also attracts a LOT of ND and disabled people. The nature of the event means there are queues. Lots of them. The entry queues in the morning are normally really long. Including the fast track queue. But there is constantly complaints about how long the fast track queue is. But I’m not sure what the solution is? Not everyone can get in first. If 3000 people have a fast track entry and they all turn up at once in the morning before the doors open then a queue will form.

I agree.
I don't like crowd so I just tend to avoid the kind of activities that involve of lots of busy crowds
As someone who doesn't like crowds the queuing would be the least bad bit of the whole experience to be honest because at least the q tends to be vaguely organized

@Theredjellybean DGC has ADHD (combined type). DS took the family to Disney World last year. They discovered DGC could not cope with the queues. They just had a meltdown. IMO, it is unreasonable to expect 7 year olds to have all the cognitive abilities of an adult, to control their hyperactivity.

As for anxiety, people do not seem to grasp the extreme anxiety in severe OCD, can mean they would rather not eat and drink at all - it’s not a case of being able to control it.

@BlueandWhitePorcelain .. years ago we took dd1 to Disney in Florida aged 7...she has meltdowns in the queues ..it was hot, most 7 yr olds don't have ability to queue nicely for several hours etc . We realised that 7 yr olds in hot country, out of routine, slightly over excited by being at Disney and queues did not mix well. So we tailored our expectations, did the rides / things with less queues, went to the water parks instead etc.
We didn't expect Disney to provide any special arrangements because we had over estimated our 7 yr old.
I didn't say children have the same cognitive abilities of adults but surely it's parents responsibility to manage the situation and choose things suitable for their child's age not expect fast pass/ special arrangements etc

I find it strange that on threads about parenting styles everyone says you can’t expect small children (no disabilities mentioned) to behave like adults. So obviously when young they won’t be able to sit still in restaurants or understand why they can’t have sweets for dinner or want to share or take turns etc so they might cry or snatch or behave badly at times. It seems most people understand that. Yet when it comes to theme parks and queues it seems everyone thinks it’s easy peasy for children (NT) to queue at any age. It’s always trotted out that because they don’t have disabilities they can cope in queues.

It is NOT easy for ANY child to queue. I’m not saying it’s the same for NT or disabled children. But I really don’t think ANY 7 year old would find queuing for two hours easy. Just because they might not find it quite AS hard, doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Nobody said it was easy for any 7 year old, nor any adult for that matter. I’ve had three DC, two of whom had SEN - one with ADHD (inattentive type). We queued with them in the ordinary queues in theme parks, including three trips to Disney. However, there was a world of difference between them and DGD, who is hyperactive with ADHD (combined type)!

@Theredjellybean As for parents not expecting special arrangements, if you choose not to, that’s up to you; but the Equality Act 2010 exists in England and parents are entitled to use the law for their disabled children.

The thing is that Merlin has said they have paused the idea of this trial but the current system remains unsustainable. How are they going to manage the system in order to differentiate between people who can queue, even if it's slightly harder for them than the average person, and people who can't, in order to get it back under control?

They need to introduce timed slots for everyone - it's that simple. But they won't do it because they wouldn't then be able to sell the paid-for fast track passes. They have monetised queuing - they don't want short queues.

But no one who suggests this ever acknowledges the downsides to this.

Firstly, with virtual queues only, time slots for the most popular rides will sell out. There’s already people complaining that Merlin are wrong for limiting RAP to pre booked only. Imagine if you booked entry tickets for an entire family and everyone’s favourite rides were already sold out?

Secondly, even if there are virtual queues, they still need to be only a rough estimate. You can’t give a virtual queue time of 10.05, 10.10 etc. It would be 1 hour time slots. So 9-10. And what happens if you get there at 9.30 and everyone else in that time slot got there first? A queue forms. It might not be a long queue, but it’ll be a queue. You might still end up queuing for 30 minutes. And again, people who previously would have had a RAP who can’t queue at all, still can’t access the ride.

Next issue is what if people are late or the ride breaks down? Say you queued 30 mins in your time slot and it breaks down. You can’t book another slot as it’s sold out. You can’t come back later. You just miss the ride. What about those with certain ND conditions who wouldn’t cope well with being told tough luck you just can’t ride it today now? Even though they were right at the front of the queue? What about someone who has ADHD and “time blindness” who misses their slot? Would they complain they should get a reasonable adjustment for that? What if a child was having a meltdown and needed to decompress for a while but it meant they missed their time slot?

Will there be limits on how many you can book? Will it be capped at one ride of each ride per day? What will everyone do while waiting the hour? Alton towers etc isn’t like Disney where there’s lots to do and see. I as an adult don’t want to go on the small rides. But I might want to ride nemesis 3 times. So I can’t anymore if it’s capped.

Virtual queuing really isn’t as easy as it sounds.

If demand exceeds capacity, something will always have to give. If a ride breaks down, it's going to be even more frustrating if you've been standing in a queue for two hours to get onto it. If you get there and find some rides are fully booked with time-slots, that's no worse than only getting on two rides all day because the queues are so long.

The question of what to do while waiting for a time-slot - surely, almost anything is better than standing in a queue. You could eat, have a walk round the gardens, go to the toilet, go on less popular rides, even just sitting down on the grass if weather permits is more pleasant than queuing.

As for capping, I suppose it would depend on level of demand.

But it's a moot question - they won't do it because it would lose them money. While people are prepared to add hundreds to the already not cheap cost of entry to buy fast passes, there is zero incentive for Merlin to change the system. It will only change if people vote with their feet.

My question about what if rides break down/are sold out is more for those who in other situations would have had a RAP. I’ve been to theme parks a lot (huge fan of rides) so I’ve experienced plenty of times when I’ve queued for ages to have a ride break down. Or (rarer but happens) I’ve arrived and a ride is out of service all day etc.

But if everyone has the same “access” to rides, and there are NO “reasonable adjustments” or RAPs at all, this is where I feel there will be complaints. Those with a RAP will not be queuing as it stands for 2 hours to find the ride breaks down. They will attend their time slot, find it broken, and be told to come back later. Rarely is a ride broken down the entire day (although obviously yes it can happen ). But with your version of virtual queues for all, they now cannot come back later. They just get told tough luck. Through no fault of their own.

I can imagine plenty of people (who used to have an old RAP) asking for reasonable adjustments whereby those should get a new version of the RAP and get to bypass the virtual queue to the front of their time slot, get a leeway of their time slot (in case of emergencies/meltdowns/time blindness etc) and if the ride breaks down they get to have a second chance later.

Also have you been to say Thorpe park recently? There is nothing to do. If I had 4 hours to kill as as adult I’d be bored stiff. I don’t want to go on the less popular kiddie rides. I’m only there for the big ones. I’ve been to Disney World. There is so much to do in between rides. I’ve had entire days and only gone on one ride because I was doing other things. Honestly, Thorpe park is not that. Plus when you go to a U.K. theme park most people go 1-2 days only. At Disney you’ll often be there 1-2 WEEKS. So you don’t mind taking it at a slower pace. But at Thorpe park I’m only there for the main big rides in one day. I don’t want to walk about or sit on the grass (in the rain) for 4 hours because I couldn’t get a time slot for any decent rides.