Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2024 Discussion

[jon81uk]

same, it is really anoying, they keep the ratio secret but i have heard they change depending on opps and it can go to 1 norm for 100 fast pass (although i doubt that) it is really bad, I recall queing for space mountain a probably 10 min queue was over 140 mins! (the fast pass queue was significantly longer than the normal queue)

Its not that secret, goes from 1:4, so 4 people from standby, 16 from lightning lane, to a range of 1:14 to 20:90 up to 1:10 (so 4 standby means 40 lightning lane) when that queue is extreme.

Disney World Allocates Up to 93% Of Ride Capacity to Lightning Lane

Ever wondered what the lightning lane to standby ratios were for rides at Disney World? We take a look at the actual numbers and ride phases

blogmickey.com

 

[jibbsie]

Its not that secret, goes from 1:4, so 4 people from standby, 16 from lightning lane, to a range of 1:14 to 20:90 up to 1:10 (so 4 standby means 40 lightning lane) when that queue is extreme.

Disney World Allocates Up to 93% Of Ride Capacity to Lightning Lane

Ever wondered what the lightning lane to standby ratios were for rides at Disney World? We take a look at the actual numbers and ride phases

blogmickey.com

wow I missed this, I did try to find the values a few weeks ago as i was explaining it to someone but i could only find fourms where people said it was a secret but the staff said it was x ratios.

 

[Bennobo]

Id love to see a case study on how the RAP and Fast track lanes impact the length of the main Queue

On the quieter days fast track is often completely pointless, and surely it increases the waiting time for all 3 lines as a result

 

[Bowser]

No, not at all. The premise I was working from was your own frustrations with using a phone based system.

Alton Towers and Thorpe Park do have good coverage, you can get 5G/4G services in both places (3G is being switched off, so we'll park that). What they do suffer from though is cell access. If you've ever been during an event, especially Fireworks, you'll notice that although you've got full reception, you can't load anything. This is because the infrastructure (which they don't control) can't cope. You're all connected to the same tower, but it can only give access to so many devices at the same time. It's only a few occasions throughout the year, but cell access isn't reliable, as any Glastonbury / festival veteran will tell you. Then there are those with limited data plans too.

WiFi is entirely possible, but you do have to sign in and grant permission for your email address to be used for marketing purposes. Given we're talking about accessibility here, and making accommodations for everyone, this isn't the way forward either. There will be some people who feel uncomfortable with giving over their information, or may just not want to, why should they face this trade off for something which is supposed to ease accessibility?

Not everyone has a smartphone. Children under 13 are not allowed to use the park's WiFi, for GDPR consent reasons. There will be children who qualify for RAP who either visit without their parents (on a school trip) or go around on their own. Not every child has a smart phone, and certainly not one which could allow the kids to install apps unchecked without permission. Given that RAP is about making sure that everyone has the same level of access, this is problematic too.

The paper system is terribly implemented, but theoretically it should work very well. The problem you've got is staff at the beginning of the ride, as we all know, that kind of screws up the system.

In an ideal world, if you REALLY wanted to go down the smartphone route, Apple would be forced to open up RFID access on the iPhone. Every modern smart phone has an RFID/NFC chip in it, used for Apple Pay / Google Wallet, these (on Android) can be utilised to share information between devices, wirelessly, and without the internet. You waddle on up to the end of a RAP entrance, hold your phone to an RFID contact point, the Alton Towers app will then give you a time to come back at (like the old VQ system). Your phone can go buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz when you need to return and you'll get straight on. The benefit of this system is that your phone does not need an active/persistent internet connection to be able to validate your pass and inform you of your place in the queue (the processing is done locally on the device). The downside is that you need a phone, and as discussed before this isn't the most accessible.


You presently have to queue for a piece of paper, so I'm not sure about the concern here, to return it you just drop it off (think 3D glasses) at a designated point. You could easily have a bank of beeper type devices at the entrance, or near guest services points, where you scan your RAP pre-book and a device gets released (no need to have a staff member, no need to have long queues).

The queues exist because there are humans to argue with, there are humans to manipulate and who don't have the initiative, or desire, to enforce the rules. If you give someone a two hour cool down on a RAP, you're going to get a lot of horrible abuse. If you're then the person to enforce that on another ride, you're going to get the abuse too. The system is corrupt, but not from nefarious staff, it's corrupted through ineptitude.

With BPB you had to give a deposit for the device which was refunded upon undamaged return, so a manned return queue seems unavoidable.

In regards to signal issues, privacy and phone access, I can’t say I’ve ever heard complaints about these at the other parks (and I believe they may rent devices if required). Again I think they’re minor gripes compared to the benefits.

when was the digital service introduced? because the park uses phone/scanners for the fast track at merge, so the internet coverage dosn't seem to be a problem, to me it seems as though they want to trial the digital system or are working on it, from a point of managment it makes more sence and is cheaper to only run one service, so i suspect they may roll the digital system over all the parks.

I believe it was start of 2022 season at CWOA and Lego

 

[rob666]

You only need a qbot if you choose not to use a smartphone, so for 99% of visitors this would not be a problem or queue.
Only the luddites, children and flat battery people would need the qbots... and I never spent more than two minutes at the beach collecting one...it could be deposit cleared at booking online.
The Beach changed the system to app on a mobile for rental instead of the qbot a few years ago.
I preferred the tamagochi...I have an allergy to mobiles.

 

[Hazza]

Hello everyone, Me again! I am currently trying to link my access card to the merlin RAP card however it is not working. I am trying to get help from the park however they are shut until Monday. Does anyone have any idea on why it is not working?

 

[Skyscraper]

Hello everyone, Me again! I am currently trying to link my access card to the merlin RAP card however it is not working. I am trying to get help from the park however they are shut until Monday. Does anyone have any idea on why it is not working?

It's a common problem, you need to email the Merlin Accessibility team with a screenshot of the error. I've tried looking for the email address but I can't remember where I found it.

 

[Hazza]

It's a common problem, you need to email the Merlin Accessibility team with a screenshot of the error. I've tried looking for the email address but I can't remember where I found it.

I've been looking for an email to contact for hours and I cant find it anywhere on the website.

 

[Bowser]

I've been looking for an email to contact for hours and I cant find it anywhere on the website.

They have Live Chat on the site though annoyingly for you it closes at 4pm and doesn't reopen till Monday, so depends how urgently you need a response. You could also try on Twitter sending a DM, i find they generally respond within a few hours during the day but again not guaranteed.

 

[Skyscraper]

I've been looking for an email to contact for hours and I cant find it anywhere on the website.

Here it is;

[email protected]

 

[Hazza]

They have Live Chat on the site though annoyingly for you it closes at 4pm and doesn't reopen till Monday, so depends how urgently you need a response. You could also try on Twitter sending a DM, i find they generally respond within a few hours during the day but again not guaranteed.

Thank you, I'll have a look on Twitter and the live chat (I have tried using it however it just seems to be AI at the moment so it doesn't help you at all.

Here it is;

[email protected]

Thank you so much!

 

[Bowser]

Thank you, I'll have a look on Twitter and the live chat (I have tried using it however it just seems to be AI at the moment so it doesn't help you at all.


Thank you so much!

You need to ask the AI to speak to an agent/human. You probably have to do the same on Twitter. It's very annoying and they're probably the same system.

 

[jibbsie]

I believe it was start of 2022 season at CWOA and Lego

It could be a multi year trial at cwoa and lego, then expanding is it is sucsessful, it is quite a good idea to stress test it and avoid a disaster and get good feedback without effecting the major parks.

 

[Bowser]

It could be a multi year trial at cwoa and lego, then expanding is it is sucsessful, it is quite a good idea to stress test it and avoid a disaster and get good feedback without effecting the major parks.

Legoland typically has more visitors per year than AT and definitely more than TP...

 

[jibbsie]

Legoland typically has more visitors per year than AT and definitely more than TP...

strange, I wonder if it is more targeted at the family parks like CWOA and lego then

 

[imanautie]

Let's not forget, that the system we know as reserve and ride is loqueue, originally built by loq and the first ever installation was reportedly Thorpe!
So the concept does work there without WiFi, what accesso have been doing since they got brought out by loq (who then renamed themselfs accesso) has been getting both working on one backend so digital or physical device is an option

 

[Benzin]

I feel like the ultimate solution would be to make all queues fully wheelchair accessable, maybe with a lift at what would be the no-longer-needed "merge point" for elevated stations. Then actually run all rides at their full capacity. Problem solved: one queue for all that moves quickly!

... Though obviously this is not possible for pretty much all existing attractions, given the terrain (and let's be honest, budget) of the park. A guy can dream.

Definitely a dream. Even with an "all access" queueline, there will be a number who cannot use it for various reasons.

Mitigation rather than full solution.

 

[Alphe86]

This is why the system is still broken. AT unfortunately need to be strict as the other parks are.

 

[Bowser]

This is why the system is still broken. AT unfortunately need to be strict as the other parks are.

I "think" we've established they're only doing this till the end of the Easter holidays. Supposedly. Woe betide the poor staff members as i can see it's already fully booked every weekend up till May.

It's a logistical nightmare trying to book AT at the moment. I just had to have 4 windows running simultaneously to check: MAP slots, RAP slots, Water park slots (the worst of them all), Accommodation.

 

[John_P]

The whole things a mess, no doubt there's 100s of people who've booked hotel stays throughout the year back in January/February completely unaware of this new booking system.