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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To use a disabled access pass at Legoland.

91 replies

MarioandLuigi · 28/04/2011 13:39

Having read a big debate on another forum where they are vilified and any able bodied (albeit still disabled) person shouldnt use them.

We are off to Legoland in July having being given tickets by a charity. We went last year and used an exit pass. My DS2 has ASD and is 4.

According to the other fourm, as long as you should stand you shouldnt have the privelage of using one, however using one last year made the day out much less stressful and we actually enjoyed a day out for once. I know they have tightened the rules on them but I dont have a problem with the new conditions.

AIBU to use the service again?

OP posts:
NotOnUrNelly · 28/04/2011 23:35

looks like you could use these, Nailak: g g g g g g :)

while my ds who is asd needs to learn to queue without making a fuss and not to SAY he wants to go on a ride only to run out of the enclosure once he gets near the car, etc etc - it isn't fair on my other kids to have to (yet again) take a back seat while his foibles ruin the day for them. My other two are more mature and understanding than many of their peers thanks to living with him. But it is nice, now and again for them to be able to do something without him dominating the situation /making a public scene.

....and breathe

EllenJane1 · 29/04/2011 00:05

The difference is, nailak, that a child with SN will may have the tantrum or be unable to wait, when they're 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, etc. So without the special passes they never get to go to Legoland.

Original poster
MarioandLuigi · 29/04/2011 09:06

The reason we use it and I am sure that many others find the same is not the waiting. If My DS has his buggy and his ear defenders he could wait in a queue all day.

The problem is the people around him in such an enclosed space, and the problem is that we cant take his buggy in the queue area, we have to leave it outside.

I have a NT 2 year old, and she can be like your DD Nailak, but she will be able to learn as she gets older, just like my NT 10 year old has. It isnt the same and unfortunatly for us it never will be. We wouldnt be able to afford to go wither was it not for a Charity giving us the tickets, because of my sons disabilities.

OP posts:
heliumballoons · 29/04/2011 09:16

marioandluigi Please stop feeling guilty and go and enjoy your day at Legoland. Its got nothing to do with affording (Ican't) but more to do with quality of life. You have a child with ASD - it affects the whole family and now the whole family gets a day out - which can be enjoyed by all of you - and you get some fantastic photos and memories.

I work in special education. We take pupils with ASD to the supermarket regulary - some can't cope - but they go as its a learning experience, unfortuantly one many don't enjoy. When we have 'fun' days out (sports events/swimming/ theme parks etc) we only take the pupils who can 'cope'. If its not fun for them if they don't enjoy it - and its a treat not part of everyday life iyswim.

Only condition I have on you using your exit passes is you come back and tell us all what a fantstic day out you all had. Grin

mummytime · 29/04/2011 09:30

YANBU that other forum must be full of fruitcakes. I do not want to stand in a huge queue with someone elses ASD or other invisibly disabled child a) has a tantrum/meltdown b) collapses because they cannot stand for 30 min to 1 hour.

That is why theme parks give the passes to people with these issues. In the US they don't give passes on the grounds of disability, but of need. If someone cannot queue, then for their enjoyment and the enjoyment of other park users they should have a pass. (Actually someone in a wheel chair maybe far more able to wait, so maybe they don't need them either?)

EllenJane1 · 29/04/2011 09:32

Have a lovely day! [csmile]

ilovesprouts · 29/04/2011 09:34

yanbu ,have a fab day :)

nannynick · 29/04/2011 10:33

I take a non-verbal 11 year old child with ASD to theme parks often. He does queue for a short time when using the exit pass, the time however is shorter. For example, queue length for a ride on Saturday (at Thorpe) was 70mins. Exit pass cut that down to around 5 mins. However, we then had to wait 70mins before going on another time-restricted ride. So using exit passes does not bypass the queue, in the same way that Q-bot does not bypass the queue, it just means that the queuing can be done in a safer location.

Maybe some people just don't understand how the passes work, that the queue time is still applied, it's not physically done in the small tight space of the queue line.

Haven't taken a child with ASD to Legoland recently, so not sure what changes they have made there but if they have changed it so it's the same as Chessington and Thorpe, then that may help avoid people abusing the system. In the past, I think you could go from one ride to another, without having to wait, whereas the timed cards used at Chessington & Thorpe seem to me to be fairer to all as the queuing is still done, just not in the queue line.

YANBU to use the exit pass if you qualify to have it and follow whatever the rules are associated with it's use.

nailak · 29/04/2011 19:34

btw yanbu to use the pass

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 29/04/2011 19:38

I hate the 'they need to learn' argument.

My DD needs to learn to speak...she hasn't so far.

Use the pass, YANBU at all, anyone who objected just wouldn't understand Asd.

Original poster
MarioandLuigi · 29/04/2011 21:52

Thank you everyone :)

OP posts:
MaryBS · 30/04/2011 09:23

We went to Legoland yesterday and used the scheme. There were a lot less people at the exits, which made it much easier. It was slightly more complicated in that there are 6 rides which you can only go on 1 hour apart (although they didn't enforce the 1 hour rule in our case). So if you've been on 1 of the six, you have to wait an hour before you go on one of the others.

Use the pass :)

CalamityKate · 30/04/2011 09:47

The QBot is brilliant.

Number of rides gone on without QBot - 6.
Number of rides gone on with QBot - 14.

FreudianSlipOnACrown · 30/04/2011 10:01

how do you get a Qbot?

Btw for anyone interested, somebody posted a couple of days back about an offer where an adult and a 4-6yo get in to Legoland for £15 on certain days. I'm definitely doing that! (now just working out if I'll do the Qbot as well)

CalamityKate · 30/04/2011 10:31

Go to the little booth just inside the park, once you've paid entry. Brilliant little gadgets. Well worth the extra money.

FreudianSlipOnACrown · 30/04/2011 10:33

How much is the Qbot? For one adult and one 4yo - or do you pay per group or something

MaryBS · 30/04/2011 10:36

The basic Qbot is £15pp, peak times, £10 off peak. The express Qbot, which allows you to (I think) walk straight on the ride, without waiting, is £40pp Shock. I think you get a discount if you are an annual passholder.

nannynick · 30/04/2011 19:44

Legoland QBot Info and FAQ - looks like if you reserve one online, you pay £10 per person.

MaryBS - the 1 hour rule sounds interesting, is that new? I've not been to Legoland in a while with a disabled child, can't remember there being that rule before, though maybe I just didn't read the rules!

Today I went to Thorpe Park... they operate a Ride Access Pass system (band on disabled person plus a paper log book). Ride operator records the time you can next go on a ride based on the current queue length of the ride (there are a few rides which can be used at anytime, though it's things like the Carousel). Is Legoland now doing a similar system, or is it 1 hour regardless of the queue length of the ride?

silverfrog · 30/04/2011 20:40

Chessington do the same as Thorpe Park, nick (or they did last year).

works well for us at the moment, as the stuff that is not included in the time-delays is all the stuff that the dds go on (they are only 6 and 4), so we can still wander about at will.

I assume it will be the same for Legoland (ie there will not be any particular delay on the "smaller" rides - the less popular ones), but will watch with interest.

MaryBS · 30/04/2011 20:49

The Legoland rule is new this year. It nearly caught us out, as I wasn't expecting to have to bring the evidence of disability again. The 1 hour, we found, tended not to be 1 hour, they put times of less than 1 hour (in 1 case, only 20 minutes), and only applied to the following rides:

Dragon
Dragon's Apprentice
Boating School
Atlantis (the new ride not open yet)
Pirate Falls
Laser Raiders

all others you could go on without this rule applied. I suspect though that in high season, they'll be a lot stricter!

silverfrog · 30/04/2011 20:51

thanks, Mary - I think the only one we go on out of that list is the Boat School. Will have to check dd2's height though, as she has grown a bit since last season, so we might be able to go on a few more this year!

Changebagsandgladrags · 30/04/2011 22:34

Btw for anyone interested, somebody posted a couple of days back about an offer where an adult and a 4-6yo get in to Legoland for £15 on certain days. I'm definitely doing that! (now just working out if I'll do the Qbot as well

That might have been me in days out and it's from age 3 to 5 (so under 6), although we managed to confuse them and get two adults, one 4 year old and one baby in for £15.

Anyway, back to the topic.

I saw two boys get on the boating school ride using the pass, the person behind me complained to his companion. The boys could walk perfectly well, but it was clear they had something, autism or something (sorry that sounds awful) But you could tell they wouldn't have been able to queue. I just thought it was sad that you had to have a leg hanging off to not get people moaning.

On another note, we queued for some other thing and we finally got to the front when a whole load of SN children came through. The ride operator was good though, he let about 10 of them on with their helpers, then general queuers, then the rest. They had to wait a bit, but not long.

PeachyAndTheArghoNauts · 30/04/2011 22:44

They need to learn is a stupid argument! Unless you'd be prepared to walk up to someone in a chair and say 'get shot of those wheels, they need to learn to walk'

And if you would do that you are a twat.

Issues wwith crowds etc can be part of the diagnostic criteria for ASD. And ASD is officiallyn defined as a lifelong disability with no knnown aetiology; ie it's not going to be solved by stupid if well meaning comments, and may well hang around for ever in terms of the behavioural issues. or they might change.

We went to LL last eyar on a Merlin's Magic Wand ticket but didn;t use the pass as we coudl cope without them; if we went again I think not, ds3 struggles more as he ages and ds4 is awaiting assessment and shit in queues. DS1 isn't going on anything anyone over about 5 would choose anyway as a rule (he's 11, just really easily scared). But anyone who wants could make us queue anywhere as long as they are willing to take the outcome- three screaming hitting ASD / possibly ASD children, and potentially a tantrumming non ASD sibling who likes to get noticed. if they don't fancy that then sod off.

nannynick · 30/04/2011 23:01

If that whole load of SN children were part of a group, then I think it's reasonable to moan a bit, as groups are not supposed to go around as a big group. Sure I've read that somewhere on one of the Merlin sites (anyone else recall it, possibly on a section to do with schools).

Bit of bad luck there... least the ride operator did things sensibly. The ride operators do tend to apply common sense to the situations. At Thorpe today, they would allocate only 1 carriage of the roller coaster (4 seats) max per ride, so those who are NT could go on all the rest. They also max filled the 'boats' on the rapids ride, so we got mixed with others (which worked ok for us).

Thorpe only seems to allow there to be 1 helper. Legoland I think is still keeping with the 3 black stamps (so up to 3 helpers) per red stamp. Not sure about Chessington... the RAP card has space for 1 helper, though think they may permit more.

I am not surprised that they are introducing RAP at Legoland for the major rides. The system works fairly well at Chessington and Thorpe, so makes sense to do the same at Legoland to help give everyone a chance to go on Boating School (which usually has a long queue all day long).

Ninx · 30/04/2011 23:12

YADNBU!

We're going to Chessington again soon and while it was a bit of a nightmare with DS (as is usual when taking him anywhere) the absence of having to queue was the thing which stopped us turning around and going home immediately and sod poor DD who has to put up with his problems 24 / 7.

DH took him off places and on occasional small rides and I took took my daughter to the bigger attractions, queuing of course. It was the most successful (if not ideal Sad) family day out we have ever had.

I like the idea of following insensitive complaining twats around everywhere with shrieking and bellowing DS. I doubt it would take more than ten minutes for them to get a sense of perspective.

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