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Ride Access Pass Systems and Disabled Access (pre 2024)

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imanautie said:
I've even heard some staff (at both Alton and THORPE) literally call it "free fastrack"
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I've worked with people who have abused the RAP call it that aswell....

I really feel for those people who have legitimate illnesses who are no better off because every Tom, Dick & Harry has come up with some reason that they need a pass. It's a good scheme which is unfortunately out of control because of people who want something for nothing and know how to play the system.
 
I know Katie Price had an accident last year where she was on holiday in Turkey last year. She was messing around and thought that she was simply jumping over a small wall and fell 25 feet causing serious life changing damage to her feet.

However, watching that video, she seems to be having no problem with her mobility. At the start of the video, she was quiet happily dancing around in the dome. And throughout the video, she was quiet capable of walking around the park without a wheelchair. But then again, who am I to judge?
 
RoyJess said:
And throughout the video, she was quiet capable of walking around the park without a wheelchair. But then again, who am I to judge?
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Just because a person is capable of walking unassisted for a period doesn't necessarily mean they need a chair for extended periods of time.

Get enough looks ourselves because some people seem to think that if you're in a wheelchair you must not be able to get out of it.
 
Benzin said:
Get enough looks ourselves because some people seem to think that if you're in a wheelchair you must not be able to get out of it.
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I think you missed my point. My wife hasn't always been fully wheelchair bound, actually she has been in and out of a wheelchair all her life up until 2008 before she became fully non weight bearing. So I'm fully aware that people in wheelchairs can get out of them.

My post was an observation on her mobility out off the absent wheelchair. Her ability to dance, there were no limp, where is her walking stick/crutches?

and finally

Benzin said:
Just because a person is capable of walking unassisted for a period doesn't necessarily mean they need a chair for extended periods of time.
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I'm sure walking around a themepark for a full day would warrant the use of a wheelchair if you have mobility problems or hidden pain

I sure if the department for disability benefits sees this video, and I hope they do, I'm sure that they will disagree with you
 
RoyJess said:
My post was an observation on her mobility out off the absent wheelchair. Her ability to dance, there were no limp, where is her walking stick/crutches
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So by that reckoning any person with a disability who dances for a moment of time unaided shouldn't receive benefits?

Like on my partner's rare good days she just about cope without an aid for short periods. So because walked unaided for a distance the other day she should lose her benefits (what little she gets because you know government)?

Doubt Katie Price has any disability benefits for whatever leg injury she received. Earns enough to not qualify for it I reckon.
 
Katie Price despite her persona is an intelligent business woman, I have no doubt she gained the pass under legitimate health reasons, the repercussions for her “brand” if she was found to be lying would be costly to her. From watching the video it does seem like the standing still for long periods would cause her problems, which is fine. It’s worth considering she has a lot of experience with SEN too given her book / blogs / videos around the matter and her experience within her own family, and doesn’t strike me as the type to wilfully abuse a system such as RAP
 
Benzin said:
So by that reckoning any person with a disability who dances for a moment of time unaided shouldn't receive benefits?

Like on my partner's rare good days she just about cope without an aid for short periods. So because walked unaided for a distance the other day she should lose her benefits (what little she gets because you know government)?
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Blue badges for mobility and mobility part of benefits are based on how far you can walk and don't take inconsideration whether you can dance or not and they also take inconsideration your good and bad days, providing your bad days outweighs your good days.

My point earlier was, if she is having a good day, and judging by that video she is having a good day, does that warrant her using the RAP which could benefit better those that are genuinely in need of RAP on that day?

I'm a fit and healthy person that finds a full day at a themepark takes it out of me, let alone having some mobility problems. She seems to have left Thorpe Park in that video with having a full day at the park walking, dancing and no wheelchair without any adverse effect.


Benzin said:
Doubt Katie Price has any disability benefits for whatever leg injury she received. Earns enough to not qualify for it I reckon.
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She claims that she is registered disabled and has applied for a blue badge

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/katie-price-disabled-blue-badge-fall-b1798048.html

tayspru said:
doesn’t strike me as the type to wilfully abuse a system such as RAP
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She has been accused of abusing her son's blue badge in the past

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/2324371/katie-price-risks-a-1000-fine-for-allegedly-using-disabled-son-harveys-blue-badge-to-park-outside-tanning-salon/#:~:text=KATIE Price has reportedly been,son was not with her.
 
All I will say is that The Sun has also accused Liverpool fans of being responsible for Hillsborough so I wouldn’t take their reporting as gospel. At the end of the day she’s a successful woman and an easy target for gutter press to create a false image of, due to her past as a sex worker and people’s prejudice against that.
 
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I got RAP at Towers yesterday and was pleasantly surprised when I didn't get given a wristband. Instead, the ride hosts ask to see your photo ID card so they can check if you're red or yellow. This helped massively as it made me feel less anxious. :)
 
tayspru said:
All I will say is that The Sun has also accused Liverpool fans of being responsible for Hillsborough so I wouldn’t take their reporting as gospel. At the end of the day she’s a successful woman and an easy target for gutter press to create a false image of, due to her past as a sex worker and people’s prejudice against that.
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She was a sex worker???


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monkeyboy said:
She was a sex worker???


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In the broadest of terms , she was a prominent “page 3 girl” which is the kind of thing men in the media love to use to make out they’re a bad person (your typical hatred for the people whose services you use kind of deal)
 
Sorry to bump this thread, but a discussion started over in the General Queue Times thread that I thought would be an interesting one to discuss here.

@AstroDan and @Yalnix, amongst others, were complaining about the length of the Wicker Man queue relative to the stated time, with RAP commonly being cited as the cause.

With that in mind, @Craig then bought up how Wicker Man comes under great strain from RAP on busy days, particularly when night rides are involved, and suggested that a solution to RAP at night might be needed.

So the discussion I wanted to start is; what are your thoughts on this issue? Do you have any potential ideas about how to solve it?

For context, here’s the discussion this all stemmed from: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/general-queue-times-discussion.5735/page-64#post-340161
 
There’s already 60 pages of discussion with suggestions of how to solve it, but here we are with another late opening part of the season with the same issue ;).

Ultimately it boils down to them needing to be more smart with return times so that they are not swamped, particularly during the evenings. It’s no good having staff signing RAP returns of 50 minutes when the true queue time is almost 3 times that, as it just leads to the situation that happened last night.

Just as I said back in May, it’s not good having an influx of RAP users turning up just before/just as darkness hits and then staff issuing the same return time to group after group, the return time should move according to the number of people they’ve already issued return times too.

Secondly, they need to start limiting RAP queue capacity, and clearly informing guests in the morning that evening rides are extremely busy. As a result there may be a possibility that the queue may be closed to allow wait times for RAP guests to be kept to a minimum, and that riding a little earlier would be wiser.
 
Personally I just try to avoid obviously busy days/evenings if wanting to get on the rides. This is a bit harder however if you work a strictly Monday to Friday job. You won't stop the abuse of RAP now as people will just cry that it's against their rights not to be able to ride whatever ride they want to at night in the dark. This ship has sailed. AT have unfortunately been too generous with their RAP policy in recent years and it would be a PR nightmare for them to backtrack on it now. Best to just avoid, accept lengthy queues or blag yourself a RAP of your own.
 
There is a simple solution here, and a less simple one.

Simple solution - bring in Qbot for RAP, too many of the staff don’t time the RAP pass effectively creating unlimited fast track. Take staff out of the equation with a system that forces compliance so RAP are still queueing, just not in a queue.

Hard solution - As well as the above get a proper assessment in place, I’m not sure if it’s still the case but at one point you could get RAP for dyslexia, I’m dyslexic and in no way shape or form does it prevent me queueing.

And if any abusers of RAP read this thread you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves.
 
Qbot/Reserve and Ride for RAP definitely works at Legoland. It doesn’t solve the problem, but helps to alleviate it.

Now that there’s no need for physical devices, and it can all be done on the web portal, I’m surprised it’s not been rolled out to the other parks tbh.


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Dave said:
Hard solution - As well as the above get a proper assessment in place, I’m not sure if it’s still the case but at one point you could get RAP for dyslexia, I’m dyslexic and in no way shape or form does it prevent me queueing.
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This was still the case in 2018; when I went on a school trip to Thorpe Park in 2018, I heard someone saying about how their dyslexia meant they could “skip all the queues”.

In fairness, dyslexia is technically a disability (well, a learning difficulty, but it could be considered a disability for this type of thing), and I think it’s good for Towers to be so inclusive. Not all disabilities are necessarily visible, and in the current era, it’s important for Towers to accommodate that, in my opinion.
 
Matt N said:
This was still the case in 2018; when I went on a school trip to Thorpe Park in 2018, I heard someone saying about how their dyslexia meant they could “skip all the queues”.

In fairness, dyslexia is technically a disability (well, a learning difficulty, but it could be considered a disability for this type of thing), and I think it’s good for Towers to be so inclusive. Not all disabilities are necessarily visible, and in the current era, it’s important for Towers to accommodate that, in my opinion.
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Yes, but the question is does it really prevent someone from being able to queue? Not really.
 
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