AIBU to think Merlin Ride Access passes are unfairly judged?

[Festivalfanatic]

We went to one of the Merlin parks Easter weekend and over the years I’ve seen many people get angry at Ride access lines and nothing has changed it seems.
this particular day it seemed everyone was on their high horse about it. Including one man exclaiming to his wife “ they let too many specials in “
then social media the last few days now the parks are open have loads of videos about RAP “ queue Jumpers “.

My DD has a RAP card and we wait just as long as everyone else sometimes longer than others to get on rides. It’s not instant access.

the pass times out for the length of time that the main line states and then you can’t use it again until it times back in. Then when it does time back in you have to go and scan in the ride you want and then there is also a line ( ok not as long as the main line ) but we will have to wait that amount of time anyway. Plus the waiting time in the RAP line. They do not let all the RAP line in its usually 1-2 at a time per ride. The rest is from the main line and then we get timed out for the length of time the queue indicates on top of the time we have already waited.
how would removing it or it not existing help the main line ? It would just actually make it longer so you would still be waiting averagely longer to ride anyway !
why do people judge it so much ?

what is the alternative ?

He doesn’t mind as he also knows he can eat lunch during a wait when those queuing can’t.

But I don’t see why he should miss out on a theme park with his friends just because he’s in a wheelchair. If they made everywhere level access (accessible) then those who don’t have to use a wheelchair wouldn’t feel they are missing out.

Bet they don’t don’t wish to be wheelchair dependent though 🙄

It would work like it used to work before Merlin monetised it.

The theme park doors would open at 10am. You'd race to the rides you'd want to go on. Scan your ticket and then be issued with a "come back at x time"

You could only get one virtual queue ticket per big ride.

Then Merlin decided to charge for queue jumping, and it went downhill from there...

Whereas if you qualify as having a disability you get a free carer ticket and free virtual queuing. Seems very unfair

oh wow. Where to start? Theme parks - as with everything else - are required, by law, to ensure the service they provide is accessible to all. By far the easiest way of doing this is allowing a carer in for free. Job done. Or, as I just said, are you suggesting disabled people should just stay at home and rot?

my 'something else' would be another trip to the toilet, eating my food brought from home (as nothing suitable for my health conditions at most theme parks) so I can take my medication & sitting down as I can't stand/walk a lot.

So anytime you'd like to have the disability I have, I'd be more than happy to give my pass to you in exchange for my able body back.

no, I thought not.

We tried to take my son to a playground and children’s farm on Monday. Not a theme park, no big rides, no burger to queue for (not that he’d eat it anyway), just a park essentially.

He sprained my ankle when I held him back as he tried to run away from a crowd that was surrounding the rabbit pen.

So yeah, you take those huge social anxieties away from him, and I’ll pass over our Access Card, and our DLA. But the grown up toileting pads and meltdowns are coming with them.

@Miniaturemom I also have MS and really rely on using systems like the RAP on days out to places like theme parks. Not sure how if works at Disneyland Paris but we went to the Florida one in the summer.
I found them really unhelpful tbh. Their only solution was for me to hire a wheelchair which I did not want to do. High chance one day I will need one and I’m not getting in one a moment sooner !

Fucking pass, your daughter should get the place to herself with her chosen friends & family!

how old was she when it all started?

Poor, poor girl 💕💕💕

& you 🥰

I am confused about this thread for 3 reasons:

1. the 4 eligibility criteria don't make sense. Difficulty standing, level access and toilet needs, yes. But how is the 4th one not difficulty queuing rather than difficulty with crowds. Nearly everyone I've known with an access pass has had it for difficulty queuing and surely nobody who has difficulty with crowds would volubtarily spend a day in a theme park.

2. I thought anybody could join the fast queue if they paid for it? I'm not a theme park person but went to Thorpe Park last year with a friend and her autistic son. They were sold out of RAPs for the day we wanted to go so she just bought us passes instead and they worked the same way? In which case it isn't disabled people causing the issue, it's being able to pay for better access. I don't remember a virtual element to the queue either, just that it was short.

3. I might be going mad but I'm sure I remember going to Alton Towers in the late 90s on a school trip and there was virtual queuing? We had coloured bands with time slots. Maybe just for Nemesis. It must have been decided it dodn't work if that is a real memory. But maybe it's not.

Anyway, it's never the fault of a person with a disability seeking a normal day out that others don't get something they want.

To the person with complained about free carer tickets to venues. I could never take DS (16) to a theme park even with a RAP as he wouldn’t cope with the set up as much as he loves rides. But for a “day” out at one of his favourite places it looks something like this.

Get up and prepared early, make sure all the feeding supplies are right (tube fed), and all the medication for the day is set up make sure I have had something to eat and drink myself because his needs means he can’t cope in cafes at places. Not too much to drink though as being out on your own with a disabled 16 year old who needs constant supervision creates obvious toilet issues!

leave early enough we are there for opening time in the hope it’s not too busy for him to cope. Get there and set him up on his feed and in his wheelchair. Make sure things like ear defenders are at hand.

plan the way around the location well so he can see what he wants to before he gets to the point of complete overwhelm and has to leave. Stop regularly to sort his feeding tube and give medications.

if we manage two hours out it’s a good day. As much as I love taking him to places and seeing him enjoying his passions it’s hard work, you can’t relax and enjoy the place properly because you always need to be one step ahead looking for the next potential trigger point.

Disabled people should be able to access the rides (I'm hoping that's a given, but some need it to be said).

It's ultimately a numbers game. Even if there are only 100 people in the park that day holding a RAP pass, there are an additional 300/400? people who can also avoid the queuing times by virtue of people the RAP's friends or family. Plus all the fast pass holders - of which they sell too many.

If it's a busy day, and queues are long, all the people without RAP or fast passes who have still paid a significant amount for entry get annoyed at watching (seemingly) large numbers of people leaping ahead of them in the queue time after time. It's understandable. I believe Alton Towers reduced the number of fast passes they sell for each day for the reason it was causing issues.

It can feel 2 tier.

Virtual queuing sounds like a really good idea. Getting rid of fast passes also. And certainly tightening up who can get a RAP pass - my friend is hearing impaired and gets one. He thinks its hilarious - why should that stop him queueing? But I admit I don't know how you manage that one, short of having a Dr on the gate assessing everyone as they come in... (And no, I am not being serious.)

I think the difficulty with this is that life is multi tiered.

We have to try and explain to a complex needs 9 year old why he couldn’t take all of his clothes off in a playground, other parents don’t have to do that. We have to change the toileting pad of a child who is 9, but weighs 9 stone. Other parents can leave nappies behind them when their children are toddlers. Medications, feeding, consistent lack of sleep.

Life isn’t fair, and there’s no better group than the disabled to tell you that.

I think those who don’t have to manage those additional challenges could use some empathy and accept that in terms of “fairness,” they’re not getting the short straw here.

oh for crying out loud. It's not about thinking a queue isn't worth it for the activity. 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

your children are choosing (or thus far you have chosen for them) not to go to theme parks, no doubt they get enjoyment from other activities. Many disabled children are very limited in being able to get enjoyment from other activities & love the rides. Their inability to queue is a medical issue, not a choice one.

since I have become disabled I haven't been to a theme park, I'm not bothered enough about it to do what it would take to go. But for people who have disabled children (or partners/friends) who can go, they deserve it to be made as easy as it possibly can be.

able bodied people need to be less fucking intolerant & insensitive & pray they don't ever have to fully understand what it's like.

People report all sorts of things on here just because they don't agree with it, it's ridiculous.

Anyway, I think that the system is crap even though I benefit from it. I am one of the people "pretending" (ie have a pass but don't really need it). There will be thousands of people like me. The RAP criteria is far too loose. As are my bowels as far as Nimbus are concerned 😉

Going to a theme park on Easter Weekend is always going to bring out the worst in everyone.

This is why the Easter Bunny invented Easter egg hunts in your own back garden.

Imagine being resentful that a disabled kid got an advantage. Their whole lives are filled with disadvantages.

Im glad my kids dont like theme parks, they would qualify for one but hate theme parks

It is possible to live a fulfilled and happy life and never go to a theme park.

Surely noone thinks that someone who has a disability should not be given every support to access these parks possible, however I do think the RAP pass has created a system which is unfair for everyone.
Ultimately I do think it's the final criteria which is so contentious, unable to queue can apply to most of the population who have young children and it it abused. Attending such places are hugely costly, and last year I took my three kids to legoland at a considerable cost and we managed 4 rides due the queuing times. We won't be back, the expense was not worth it and it's unfair.
However I will add, whilst I believe merlin needs to tighten up their practices with regards to the RAP, because those who genuinely need it should not have to queue at all, their whole model needs to be changed, get rid of the amount of fast passes, amount of people allowed into the park to start with.

I don't see the point in having physical queues at all when the technology exists to do away with them.

Nobody is queue jumping.

No one enjoys queuing though. I’m taking my four year old to a theme park - he doesn’t have any SEN so we either have to pay for the virtual queue or queue all day. I’m dreading it even though it should be fun.

My mother has cancer, my father has Parkinson's, my brother lives in sheltered accommodation. I know what it is like to have physical and mental disabilities in the family. They are hardly rare. Presumably it is that lack of rarity that is causing the queuing issue. Anyway, I sympathise massively with anyone with disabilities but that doesn't stop me thinking that if you can't queue, avoid theme parks. They are famous for queues.

Where does that end?

My kid would struggle with a theme park, so we don’t go.

But he also struggles with playgrounds, sharing and taking turns, swimming pools if above a certain “busy” level, soft play centres, strangers in the street on some days. He went to a SENd specialist play therapy session a few weeks back - hated it.

Do we just stay in, because it’s difficult? Only ever go to (often more expensive) “inclusive days”? Or do we go to the places I’ve just described, ideally with some flexibility/accommodations, and try and increase his ability to engage with activities.

Seems obvious to me.

I didn't know virtual queuing was a thing...or can it really be called queuing if you're off elsewhere on another ride or sat eating lunch somewhere.

I can see why some people get a bit annoyed, especially if they've waited ages to get on a ride only to get to the front of the queue and have x amount of people rock up thus causing queue waiting people to be pushed back and wait even longer.

So I shouldn’t be able to go on a day out with my family or friends to a place we all enjoy because I have a good chance of either wetting myself in a long queue or having to leave the queue to run to the toilets and start again at the back of the queue repeatedly throughout the day due to a medical condition that is out of my control and there is no real treatment for? Or should I start wearing nappies to mitigate the risk of wetting myself and lose all dignity I have to suit people who don’t have a problem controlling their bladder?

We used to go to Legoland a couple of times a year. Last time we went we were queueing for Flight of the Sky Lion for more than 2 hours. For the lack of anything else to do whilst waiting you do look around and take notice of the other people queueing. Several large families with a disabled child or young adult went round the access queue way multiple times in the time we were waiting. I was so annoyed at the situation that we've never been back there!

I don't know how I feel about it really. I understand and agree that if you are the sibling with a disability you should be able to experience going on rides with your family or friends, rather than just one parent or carer all the time. But at the point the scheme is being used to get whole extended families on rides repeatedly that stops feeling fair to everyone in the queue whose children also don't enjoy queueing and are miserable in the heat.