Disney to Begin a Review of Guest Assistance Card Abuse, Promises to ban 'Black market Tourguides'
27 replies, posted
[quote="NBC"]
It's made headlines recently. We all know how frustrating it is, waiting in those long lines at Disney. But now some families are cheating the system. They're hiring disabled tour guides so they can cut right to the front. We went undercover and caught it all on tape.
It's the outrageous business few even know about: families bypassing the lines by hiring disabled tour guides with special passes. At most theme parks like Disney, they have great policies: The disabled get speedy access to rides. But now healthy families are abusing the system, paying disabled guides to get them in with up to five guests.
"The parents call them 'black market' handicapped Disney guides," said social researcher Wednesday Martin, who discovered the practice while putting together her upcoming book, "Primates of Park Avenue." "It's almost like a status symbol."
But Disney has a big problem with it, telling us in a statement: "We find it deplorable ... We have initiated a review of this abuse and will take appropriate steps to deter this type of unacceptable activity."
So no one's jumping ahead of you this summer who shouldn't be.
Our investigation got results. Disney is cracking down, sending out warning letters to anyone advertising these services online. And if they catch any of these "disabled tour guides" in the act, their disabled passes will be revoked, and they won't be allowed back into the park.
By the way, we also called the American Association of People with Disabilities. They agree with Disney that this practice is abusive and should be stopped.
Here is the full statement from Disney:
[B]
"We find it deplorable that people would hire the disabled to abuse accommodations that were designed to permit our guests with disabilities to enjoy their time in our parks. We have initiated a review of this abuse and will take appropriate steps to deter this type of unacceptable activity."
Here is the full statement from Mark Perriello, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities:
“No one likes waiting in long lines, but exploiting people with disabilities in order to skip to the front is disgraceful.
"While Disney must move swiftly to train their employees to recognize and stop this abuse, it’s important to note that Disney has a great track record on accommodating people with disabilities. It’s disturbing that nondisabled visitors would take advantage of these accommodations. This situation goes to show that money may buy a lot, but apparently civility and respect are not among those things.” [/B][/quote]
[url="http://www.today.com/news/undercover-disney-deplorable-scheme-skip-lines-6C10131266"]Source[/url].
I am glad Disney is taking action against this.
Ooh "deplorable", Disney is getting angry
[QUOTE=CanadianBill;40882202]Ooh "deplorable", Disney is getting angry[/QUOTE]
I'd actually be afraid of messing with Disney. They could screw you so hard in the ass you'd be spitting out mouse ears.
thats actually clever
one of my family members had to be in a wheelchair once due to surgery and it was fun cutting the gigantic 1-3 hour lines during the summer down to a 5 minute wait.
"To cut down on abusers, we are implementing the penalty, that, any person or persons found to be hiring disabled guides in order to cut lines will be forced to ride "It's A Small World" for a minimum of three hours straight."
[QUOTE=Wii60;40882248]thats actually clever
one of my family members had to be in a wheelchair once due to surgery and it was fun cutting the gigantic 1-3 hour lines during the summer down to a 5 minute wait.[/QUOTE]
Well like it was said in a thread a few weeks ago, there are people 'pimping' out disabled people to the highest bidder so they can skip lines. It is really disgusting. It is good to see Disney is cracking down though.
[QUOTE=valkery;40882264]"To cut down on abusers, we are implementing the penalty, that, any person or persons found to be hiring disabled guides in order to cut lines will be forced to ride "It's A Small World" for a minimum of three hours straight."[/QUOTE]
A fate worse than death.
Time to break my own back and get to the front of the line for space mountain!
Can't you just get a wheelchair and pretend to be crippled?
How exactly would they find out? What's stopping them from going up to an actual disabled person and declaring them a black market guide? Not a rhetorical question, I'm curious of what their tracking methods would be.
I've never been to Disney World but it never stops sounding like a nightmare to me with the lines and all. Plus the fact that you've got all those assholes running amongst all the respectable people trying to have a good time.
[QUOTE=Ninja Duck;40882606]I've never been to Disney World but it never stops sounding like a nightmare to me with the lines and all. Plus the fact that you've got all those assholes running amongst all the respectable people trying to have a good time.[/QUOTE]
The trick is to go in the off-season. I've gone to Disney World in February and Disneyland in early June (when the Californian kiddos were still in school) and it was never really that bad.
[QUOTE=valkery;40882264]"To cut down on abusers, we are implementing the penalty, that, any person or persons found to be hiring disabled guides in order to cut lines will be forced to ride "It's A Small World" for a minimum of three hours straight."[/QUOTE]
"so you wanna get to the rides quick? well here, this one's [I]all yours[/I]."
I don't see why they just check medical records, Can't they do that to confirm that they are crippled?
[QUOTE=Blockhead;40882870]I don't see why they just check medical records, Can't they do that to confirm that they are crippled?[/QUOTE]
The problem is, people are paying disabled people to pretend that they're family members so the whole group can skip the queue. It'd take far too long to check every single disabled person's medical history anyway.
[QUOTE=Blockhead;40882870]I don't see why they just check medical records, Can't they do that to confirm that they are crippled?[/QUOTE]
Line workers are now trained to smack the casts of the 'disabled'
[QUOTE=valkery;40882264]"To cut down on abusers, we are implementing the penalty, that, any person or persons found to be hiring disabled guides in order to cut lines will be forced to ride "It's A Small World" for a minimum of three hours straight."[/QUOTE]
Due to events in recent months, would vadarnooooooo.avi be a valid response to that?
[QUOTE=Corndog Ninja;40882818]The trick is to go in the off-season. I've gone to Disney World in February and Disneyland in early June (when the Californian kiddos were still in school) and it was never really that bad.[/QUOTE]
Or days with bad weather. I went to Busch Gardens in Florida once when it was drizzling, absolutely no one there. Almost every ride we went to only had a few people in line. Other than the gloomy atmosphere it was pretty badass, only time I got to see everything at an amusement park.
[QUOTE=ScottyWired;40885623]Due to events in recent months, would vadarnooooooo.avi be a valid response to that?[/QUOTE]
If you have to ask, then probably not.
[quote]This situation goes to show that money may buy a lot, but apparently civility and respect are not among those things.[/quote]
Burn.
I think when you buy tickets at the gate you have to show your ID. They will probably have employees start asking questions if last names and such don't match.
[QUOTE=Smoot;40886798]I think when you buy tickets at the gate you have to show your ID. They will probably have employees start asking questions if last names and such don't match.[/QUOTE]
If you are rich enough to buy a disabled tour guide why buy tickets at the gate?
They should really cut down on the number of overweight using handicap scooters. It's fucking disgusting to go and see hundreds of fatties acting disabled when in actuality a fraction of them actually need it.
When I went to a disney theme park, usually we would get there when they just opened, allowing us to go on as many rides as we wanted to with little to none wait times. Then we would go get lunch and enjoy the rest of the day either at the park or something else.
[QUOTE=Corndog Ninja;40882818]The trick is to go in the off-season. I've gone to Disney World in February and Disneyland in early June (when the Californian kiddos were still in school) and it was never really that bad.[/QUOTE]
I do the same, it's much more peaceful and quiet. Hardly any lines, hardly any guests, only thing I hate are the kids from other countries who come on vacation to Disney and make our lives hell. All that screaming, all the chanting, oh my goodness it's like a zoo when they come.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;40885900]Or days with bad weather. I went to Busch Gardens in Florida once when it was drizzling, absolutely no one there. Almost every ride we went to only had a few people in line. Other than the gloomy atmosphere it was pretty badass, only time I got to see everything at an amusement park.[/QUOTE]
Busch Gardens in the rain is so much fun. All the metal tracks are wet so the rides go faster and are more intense.
[QUOTE=valkery;40882264]"To cut down on abusers, we are implementing the penalty, that, any person or persons found to be hiring disabled guides in order to cut lines will be forced to ride "It's A Small World" for a minimum of three hours straight."[/QUOTE]They wouldn't be able to do that, there's laws against torture you know.
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