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Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2024 Discussion

Benzin said:
British people are selfish?
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I don't like using the term 'selfish', however, I do feel that British people are inherently 'entitled'. By this I mean that if someone believes they are entitled to something (be it benefits, priority access, etc.) simply because they meet a vague written criteria then they will make use of it... whether or not they actually need it.

This goes far beyond things like RAP's, but I do strongly believe anyone requesting a rap, or other benefit should be asked the following questions:
1. If you did not receive X what would you do to participate in Y?
2. Is it the case that without X, you would be inherently unable to participate in Y?
3. What is the minimum reasonable adjustments you would require to participate in Y?

It really does annoy me as I know several people that whole heatedly deserve as much support as can be provided, but take the bare minimum because they don't want to be seen to be abusing the system, yet I worked with someone who openly admitted claiming additional benefits and a blue badge because he was 'entitled' to them but didn't really need them.

The RAP issues we see (but can't fundamentally prove) are the tip of a much bigger iceberg in my opinion.
 
ScottishChris said:
It really does annoy me as I know several people that whole heatedly deserve as much support as can be provided, but take the bare minimum because they don't want to be seen to be abusing the system, yet I worked with someone who openly admitted claiming additional benefits and a blue badge because he was 'entitled' to them but didn't really need them.
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It really is an interesting part of the British psyche that means that, often, those who truly need reasonable adjustment feel more awkward/imposing to use it, whereas those that really don't will make damned sure they use it at every possible time.
 
Not directly related but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
At other parks with RAP / similar schemes we take advantage as far as being prepared but if the main queue is somewhat reasonable ~25 mins or so, we use the normal queue.
It’s good skills to learn than waiting is a part of life.
Equally, we only use the blue badge parking if there’s no other options (so, if the towers monorail runs we would’ve used that instead of blue badge parking .. well. When we finally take him)

The things our son has accessible to him are a privilege not a right. It’s sad to see some take advantage
 
On quiet days at legoland I've experienced the main queue closed and all guests directed down the RAP on certain rides. If a queue is below a certain length couldn't they just make ambient raps go in the regular queue or close regular queue and make rap regular queue then everyone is treated same and the queue moves at same speed for everyone
 
rob666 said:
Not impossible.
Put all ride access to all punters on a decent smart app, providing all luddite non phone owners with a small tamagotchi device.
All the technology is there.
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That’s just fantasy though. Maybe not impossible but not realistic or feasible.
 
@ScottishChris you’ve got the nail on the head I couldn’t agree more.

There was a post yesterday on social media of a family with a daughter with Cystic Fibrosis and in a wheelchair who now had to now cancel their hotel booking due to not being able to pre book a RAP slot. It’s these people who will be hit the hardest with this new system over someone who may feel anxious stood in a queue for an hour.

Perhaps the RAP should be graded on disability, with those such as wheelchair bound or with severe mobility problems having a higher priority pass to allow entry.

It’s a tricky one, not every disability is visible I know , but I can’t help but feel the RAP system is being abused by some.
 
Bowser said:
That’s just fantasy though. Maybe not impossible but not realistic or feasible.
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I have seen the system work very well in Blackpool, using smartphone and tamagotchi technology combined.
Admittedly, you would have to increase the capacity of the operation, but all the technology is already clearly there.
Both realistic and feasable, in my eyes, a simple technological solution for all...put everyone on a qbot system, so there can be no secondary "sneaky extra ride" bypassing the system.
Thorpe tried and failed with such a system some years ago, surely there has been at least a decade of progress since?
 
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Doesn't that then impact park capacity? At any given time at least half the parks visitors must be in queues. With everyone in virtual queues everywhere would be much busier.
 
Big gardens, lawns, bars, shops and food places.
Harder at Blackpool, and there would still be queues, just shorter, faster moving ones...
Like the good old days.
 
No, each group has a device, or mobile, and the deposit for non phone users for a qbot was a card swipe, or £50 cash for the real luddites (me).
Truly, it worked really well.
£15 to queue at the bar all day, at full queue length, and walk to your accurate ride bang on time.

Prime example was the recently deceased Grand Prix cars, we watched our space from the bar in Crevettes, and wobbled from the bar to our precise point in the queue.
Edit...as a group of six, we had a group of four and two over two qbot machines, worked great.
Double edit...The very best system with the qbots...they worked absolutely fine from the Velvet Coaster.
 
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rob666 said:
Would it cost that much to boost the signal?
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Mobile signal, they'd probably have to get the various mobile companies to install equipment and masts in the park, probably going to struggle to get that one past planning. They appear to have rolled out a new wireless network across most of the park recently though - a decent number of high quality access points lining most of the paths and areas near the rides, so it's perfectly feasible for them to improve their network backbone and upgrade their site's Internet connection.
 
As you may be aware, my knowledge of this cordless cellular communication moonbeam network is not my actual forte.
But if the Beach could manage it a few years ago...come on!
 
rob666 said:
No, each group has a device, or mobile, and the deposit for non phone users for a qbot was a card swipe, or £50 cash for the real luddites (me).
Truly, it worked really well.
£15 to queue at the bar all day, at full queue length, and walk to your accurate ride bang on time.

Prime example was the recently deceased Grand Prix cars, we watched our space from the bar in Crevettes, and wobbled from the bar to our precise point in the queue.
Edit...as a group of six, we had a group of four and two over two qbot machines, worked great.
Double edit...The very best system with the qbots...they worked absolutely fine from the Velvet Coaster.
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Oh you mean virtual queuing.

And what was stopping each person in the group setting up an account for simultaneous rides (just as people do with Jumanji at Chessington)?

Person 1 takes the group on using RAP.
Person 2, 3, 4 etc takes the group on other rides till RAP is ready.
 
The system wouldn't let you book another ride until you had entered the queue for the original ride, and the qbots were tied to individual park tickets.
 
It feels like more people than not seem to have RAP…

The sad reality is that where there’s any system in place there will be people that try to play the system to their advantage. Something had to change and I credit Merlin for acknowledging they have to do something about it, inevitably will come with issues that they’ll need to react to in order to avoid pissing off customers and attracting negative PR, like the one this weekend.
 
rob666 said:
The system wouldn't let you book another ride until you had entered the queue for the original ride, and the qbots were tied to individual park tickets.
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So from looking it seems this is actually a fast pass system for a selection of rides that you had to pay extra for with various tiers and thus would only work with limited capacity versus everyone in the park using it across all rides.

I think there’s a reason that the parks have limited the universal virtual queuing option to a single ride each, that being it’s not achievable at scale.
 
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