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 ?

Lots of grants for holidays and days out for low income families, free food vouchers in the holidays etc. If the parents tried then they could make it work

Shall we limit your able bodied children's access to play parks, clubs, swimming pools, activity centres, their bikes, scooters, skates...

We use RAP and have had MAP's for over a decade. There are deffinitely more people using the RAP system than there used to be.

My biggest problem with RAP is when families have multiple RAP users and use them at the same time in the group. Eg:-

Family 1, no RAP. They enter AT and queue at Nemesis for an hour, they ride it then queue at Galactica for an hour, ride it and get lunch, queue for Smiler for an hour. Assuming an hour for lunch and walking they've been in the park for four hours and rode three big rides plus lunch.

Family 2, one RAP user. They enter AT and ride Nemesis with RAP. While waiting for it to count down they ride the barrels, small pirate ship and walk around the sea life. They then ride Galactica and have an hour count down. They get lunch and go on Gangsta Granny before riding Smiler. Three hours, they've rode the same three big rides and lunch plus some smaller rides.

Family 3, two RAP users. Enter the park and use RAP A for Nemesis. While that counts down the hour, they walk over to Galactica and use RAP B for that. They then go on the barrels and grab a hot dog. RAP A is now available again so they go on Smiler. RAP B is now ready so go on Rita. They get lunch and ride the curse of Alton Manor. They then use RAP A for 13 and RAP B for the Toxicator. 3 hours, 5 big rides plus lunch and smaller rides.

Each RAP user can take upto three people with them on a ride, the more RAP users in each grouo of four people the more rides they can get on together. This is the same for smaller children with cbeebies land.

Perhaps pre-booked time slots would be better. Everyone could then book a time.

We have small children and waited 2 hours+ for a ride in cbeebies land last time we went to alton towers, my husband took our younger child who was too small on the play area and they had fun, whilst I stood in a hot stuffy queue with a 4 and 6 year old. How's it fair our day is spent in a queue when we could be enjoying the grounds as a family, having a picnic, taking the kids on the playpark whilst we wait. I think they should offer the passes to everyone so everyone has an alloted slot and you only queue for say 20min max, if you miss your slot it times out again. No one likes to spend their entire day in 2 hour long queues, whether you have a disability or not. Why can't everyone queue virtually, surely we have the technology to do this now?

Wrong i advocate for him all the time.
What I won't do is use ridiculous passes that allows us to queue jump instead of going to quiet sessions where fewer people are there or are specifically set up for those with disabilities (admittedly they are often on a day thats usually quieter anyway).
What you've failed to understand is that im disabled too and have had to learn that not everything can be inclusive, there will always be things that we cant do no matter what considerations and adaptations are made.
The simple fact is these passes dont work as the system is too flawed and open to abuse. When a child/teen/young adult can keep their blood sugar levels at the correct levels for hours during school, walks, sports or other days out but suddenly cant for a queue at a theme park you have to question why that is and why they should have a pass in the 1st place, same with asd and adhd, if you cant handle the noise and crowds or time spent in a queue then why are you going to a crowded noisy environment where you spend half the day in queues?
What should be done instead of passes for a start we should :-
Make all spaces wheelchair accessible
Limit visitor numbers
Bring in virtual queues for everyone
Have seats and toilets closer to the rides
Have more accessible days

Any and all of the above would be better than what we have now.

How does a school child go on quiter days
my daughter being disabled doesn’t meant I have different rules for education and can just pop to the theme park instead.
she also has adaptions at school
so that’s a weird comment as I assume a lot sick children are sick whether they are at school or theme parks.

In that case she'll have INSET days same as everyone else. I've already booked to take mine to Chessington on 15th June. We went last year in the same week and it was deserted.

I identify with this completely, but frankly if in a flare-up a theme park trip would be an utter nightmare full stop. Queuing for one minute, or going on the ride itself would be impossible. To spend a day in fear and looking for toilets is horrible. When people say they have “irritable bowel” and that’s their reason for a pass, well frankly they can’t have a bowel condition very badly or they wouldn’t be setting foot in a place where you have to queue at all and where you are trapped for often ages on a ride. (Obviously incontinent children/adults with nappies excepted before anyone says anything.)

Good luck with that Inset days are BUSY unless you have a school who don’t have the same inset days but most schools are not mid day insets but at the beginning or end of a holiday and most are the same.
But implying about sugar levels like a diabetic kid is not diabetic at school but is at a theme park is a weird one. They would also require monitoring and guidelines for school to.

I think the Nimbus cards are handed out for any diagnosis of adhd or autism, so that means there are a lot more people who might be eligible. With their new rules (which may have been rescinded) I can have a rap pass as I have a stoma so have the pass for needing to use disabled toilets. I can queue just fine.

Of my autistic children, one can queue and the other can't. Yet they would both not get passes, as that is classed as difficulties with crowds. Nope, for ds2 it is definitely queues that are the issue, so theme parks would be completely inaccessible without the RAP and he is no longer eligible. Paultons park is better thsn Merlin anyway!

We used to use it for our disabled son.

He doesn’t understand much but loved the feel of rollercoasters. Whilst, I can’t lift him now, I’m forever grateful for those memories. Should he not have gone because he couldn’t ’queue jump’?

We couldn’t queue as normal because he’s a full time wheelchair user. I would have to wheel him up to the ride then lift him out and hold him in place on the ride, one of his brothers would then run the wheelchair back to the gate.

Even using the exit pass there would be times when he couldn’t go on because he’d just had a seizure or needed oxygen. We’d then have to leave. Only queuing for 10 minutes meant the day was wasted - should be have queued for the hour?

Walk in my shoes for a day before you begrudge our use of RAP.

OP, I know it’s hard but you have to grow a thicker skin and ignore other people.

OMG....Have you even seen the latest report by the Spectator? Claimants getting UC get vastly reduced entry rates into many venues.

For instance...the Tower Of London, normal entry £111 compared to £4 for a ticket for those on UC!!!

And..... UC an £82 discount to London Zoo, reducing the family ticket from £108 to £26

HOW does it even pay to work in the UK?

Same inset days as what? They're chosen at random. There are 9 primary schools in my town and they all choose their own. 15th June isn't attached to any holidays at all and I just told you it was quiet.

If you don't actually want an answer to "how do we go on a quiet day", don't ask.

Weekends in September are quiet too but I suspect you'll tell me I'm wrong about that!

For posters that are saying everyone should have a virtual queue, this can't be done in Merlin parks. The queue areas are taken into account for capacity of the other areas, they're treated as holding pens so to speak. If everyone queued virtually the parks wouldn't be able to accomodate as many people. That in theory is great but Merlin need the ticket sales to keep open.

Please link to these holiday grants and free food vouchers for the holidays that you claim are so abundant

That’s your area alor of schools have inset days at the end of holidays or before a holiday so alor of schools are of on the same day. For example we don’t live far from Chessington and all are inset days at Monday this week but so are alor of the schools in my area so inset days don’t always help. Inset days are not random the school chooses them and most schools choose the beginning or end of a holiday. It’s great for you that’s yours don’t.

I will always pick the quietest days I can like Easter Sunday as it’s the queiter than the rest of the non school days.

she still required a RAP 🤷‍♂️

Less ridiculous than shuffling along the floor on your bottom ??

I think too many people now qualify for RAP. I'd like Merlin to not use Nimbus to assess and maybe use more stricter criteria. I did see a poster on Facebook suggest a social care plan or blue badge only for eligibility which I thibk is a good idea. Both are available to people with all kinds of disabilities both physical and non physical and demonstrate that they have needs in the wider community and in their life overall showing that they don't just struggle in theme parks. I doubt Merlin would be this strict due to the backlash.

My son has ride access and I take him quite often and he completely enjoys the experience he receives. I would give anything in the whole world though for him not to be disabled and not to need his ride access card.

he is going to have a very different life to those people who are moaning about us queue jumping.

so the face that he gets to enjoy a theme park when many activities are just not available for him - then why not

Honestly I think you’re arguing with a brick wall.

Aside from the obvious problems with only ever going on inset days and just hoping you’re the only one with one, there’s absolutely no reason our children shouldn’t mix with the general public.

For one, if all my son did was go to a SENd school and then to “inclusive days,” he’s only ever encountering his peers and that doesn’t help his integration with the rest of the community.

And frankly, why shouldn’t the general public make accommodations and be around disabled children. They haven’t got the lurgy, they’re just kids. If grown adults can’t tolerate that, that’s a them problem.

Well go to a different theme park then. I'm fairly sure that Paulton's Park/Hampshire and Drayton Manor/Staffordshire will not magically share the same INSET days as your local authority.

This is solely to answer your point about "how does a school child go on a quiet day". There are literally dozens of days on which parks are open but it is not School Holidays.

The 2 May Bank Holidays are another example. We went to Alton Towers on May Day last year and it was quiet because only the Platinum passes were valid.

The issue with the blue badge is that it’s not a national critieria.
we don’t qualify in our area
DD has a iv central line , 2 feeding tubes, a wheelchair, cerebral palsy amongst others things. She doesn’t wailing for a blue badge here 🙈
she does qualify for 50 hours of care hours via nhs / CCG which is a big package for a girl her age but no blue badge - always baffles me 🤣

I think I'm the one arguing with a brick wall to be honest. I'm out. Bye bye thread