Disney and the Disabled

Disney was in the headlines recently over disabled people renting themselves out as tour guides (here for full story). I realized nobody ever tells the horror stories of the crap that we go through as Cast Members every single day trying to make everyone happy.

Now before I go off on certain rants, I would like to say that NO ONE is better at dealing with situations than Disney, and the people I work with are the soldiers on the front lines who go above and beyond to help out guests the best we can. I am not talking about the people that really are disabled and/or need assistance. We do everything we possibly can for these guests. We love those kids. We bend over backwards to solve any problems they have. No one does it better than we do. We are there everyday and have seen it all...

So we can point out cheaters, liars and fakes a mile away.

Issue #1: Those <bleeping> ECV's!

Family comes to park with grandma in tow. Instead of making her walk around the park like everyone else, they decide to rent an ECV (electronic convenience vehicle) for her. Then they proceed to think that this now allows them to use all disability areas because she has a scooter.

The last time I checked, age is not a disability. Yet when we set up specific areas along the parade route for disabled guests, it is mostly filled with senior citizens/lazy fat people on scooters of all kinds. As soon as the ropes go up, here comes the four wheeled motorcade. It is my belief that these should not be allowed in these areas without proper documentation. This is an area for disabled guests, not a freaking ECV parking lot!

Years ago, all the lines and queues around the parks were made wheelchair and ECV accessible. No more separate, shorter lines that let you get backdoored into an attraction. Everyone uses the same line now. You wanted to be treated the SAME as everyone else right? Well, you got it! No more cheating parents who would rent a wheelchair instead of a double stroller and have their two kids sit in it to get quick access to things. Definitely a good move.

My point here is that the entire parade route, not just the designated wheelchair areas, are ECV accessible. Just drive right up to the curb and stop. When I worked disability, I made the guests show me a Guest Assistance Pass. If they didn't have one, I showed them a lovely patch of real estate along the curb somewhere else and explained that this was for disabled guests only. Did they like hearing that? Oh Hell no! Got called every name in the book. But I was not going to run out of room in my area for someone who didn't need it and risk not having room for those precious kids that did.

Check the afternoon parade. It's funny how no one is "disabled" when the area calls for them to sit in the sun. They find other places to go. Yet at night...

Issue #2: Parents/guardians of the legitimate (I hate to use that word) handicapped guests think absolutely NO rules apply to them.

Oh the things we have seen people try to get away with! And a lot of them are from charitable organizations.

I was working the area in the castle hub when a group of five wheelchairs and their "sponsors" came up to be seated. No problem at all. We have special groups in like that all the time (usually wearing the same shirts). He then proceeds to tell me he needs room for 20 more wheelchairs. I said no. We are only allowed to seat who comes up, first come/first served and no saving seats. You would have thought I shot this man's dog in front of him. The nerve of me to tell him no! In his whole rant, he screamed (SCREAMED!) about how it was unfair, and he wanted to see a manager, and was going to write letters, and on and on and on. They literally try to bully you to break the rules. I have seen many, many nights where they have these poor college girls in tears yelling and screaming at them. Pathetic.

Also, in these spots we limit the amount of people that can be with a chair to five (unless otherwise noted on their GAC). So here comes the Waltons with all 30 people in their family plus a chair. You explain to them the we can take the chair plus five, and those five will actually have to stand behind the chair, while the others will have to find somewhere else to view the parade. All Hell breaks loose again. They think they should all be allowed to sit together. Really, all 30 of you? Once you get that sorted out, the five that stay with the chair move right to the front row blocking spots for other chairs and you have to move them back. More fights and yelling. So see, it's no longer about making sure the special kid can see the parade, it's about how everyone else wants to benefit from the situation. And somehow we end up being the bad guys...

Issue #3: Timing is Everything.

If you plan on going to a 9:00 movie on a busy night, what time do you think you should arrive at the theatre? 8:45 might be risky. 8:30? 8:15? Definitely not 9:15! Now ask yourself why. Not going to find a seat are you? This is mainly for the non-Disney people out there. The rest of us KNOW.

Night parades are very busy things. Normal set up time for a 9:00 parade is 7:30. An hour and a half before. And often times people are already seated and saving spots. Disability sections fill up quickly (mostly with ECV's...sigh...). So here comes the Griswold family at 8:50 with little Russ in the wheelchair. Now he's bitching at me because there's nowhere to sit and my section filled up long ago. You already know that Castle hub is full so you tell him there may be room in Frontierland. OMG!!! I'm not walking that far. Find me a spot now! Now it's my job to find him somewhere to sit? You explain their only options and leave it at that. This is when they start trying to set up camp in areas where they can't be. Like in the middle of the street three feet off the curb. Or in the middle of a crosswalk. It's all packed and there's nowhere for them to go. And you know what? It's all somehow MY fault...

Issue #4: Issues 1-3 combined on Trains, with strollers added to the mix.

 

I know each area has their own individual issues, but I wanted to give an insight into what we encounter EVERY DAY on the Walt Disney World Railroad. Let's start with those ECV's.

 

Just so you know, we do not allow ECV's on the train. It's posted plain and simple that you must transfer to a wheelchair if you cannot board under your own power. Our wheelchair area, or "box" can only hold two wheelchairs at a time. Got it? Okay, now here comes Granny in her ECV and her family. The first thing we notify them of is the fact that the ECV cannot go on the train (it is even in the papers they sign!). Now they are all bent out of shape. How are we supposed to get to Dumbo now? We can't leave Granny to fend for herself! You guys are so insensitive to our needs!

 

First of all, "Granny" isn't even handicapped and wouldn't be allowed in the box anyway (it's like parking in a handicapped spot...big no no). Second of all, that's a Disney rental ECV. You just rented that thing downstairs and have driven it maybe 100 feet. So let me get this straight. Not even do you not want Granny to walk, you don't even want her to drive that infernal thing? You want us to pick it up and transport it somewhere else? Do you see the irony there?

 

Main Street and Frontierland have a ramp that leads upstairs to the station where we let them park the scooter (c'mon we're not cruel enough to make them walk up those ramps). Fantasyland station doesn't have an upstairs, but does have its own area you access through the normal line. Do you know what our biggest struggles are in those places? The handicapped? Not at all. It's the "regular" guests who think because they have a child in a stroller that they should be able to use those special areas. People yell and scream at us that their kids allow them to use handicapped areas. Read that last sentence again and let it sink in. So now having kids is considered a disability.

 

To make thing worse (oh it gets worse), since we are the only attraction that allows strollers, we just ask that you folder your stroller up before boarding. But my kid is sleeping! Why cant we push the stroller into your little box area there?!? We try to explain that due to FEDERAL guidelines, it's very specific what we can and cannot put in the handicapped area. Do you think they care? No, they yell and call us names and ask to see managers. Because, you know, it's my fault you bought that 300 pound stroller with GPS attachments and loaded it full of bags and food.

Now let's take a trip out west to Frontierland station. The exit ramp doubles as the wheelchair access queue because it leads to that area of the station. The normal line goes up the stairs and out the opposite side. Guess where all the guests with strollers want to go? Guess where we don't let them go? There is even a sign that says wheelchair access only. I would bet that 95% of our guest complaints are about this. The poor greeter downstairs bears the brunt of this every single day. Being called names, spit on (!), cussed at and on and on and on. All because we want you to fold your stroller and take it up the stairs and enter the attraction like normal, non-disabled people. Makes that $8.10 an hour sound worth it doesn't it?

There are many more instances I could get into, but it will just all end up sounding like we work in a miserable place. I'm guessing most non-Disney people had no idea the things we go through on a daily basis. I just wanted to share a little insight into our work lives.