Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2024 Discussion

[imanautie]

It doesn't with CWOA and Legoland (i.e the digital bookings). It only does that with AT and TP. I have active bookings which i just tested to verify.

It still shows a receipt, you need to view in browser and have it not load the mobile view.
(Aka use a pc or just switch to desktop mode in your browser)

Edit: I forgot to mention that previously as my tablet gets auto detected as desktop

 

[Bowser]

It still shows a receipt, you need to view in browser and have it not load the mobile view.
(Aka use a pc or just switch to desktop mode in your browser)

Edit: I forgot to mention that previously as my tablet gets auto detected as desktop

I tried on both iOS and a desktop with 3 different browsers just to once again confirm, same result every time for both CWOA and Legoland:



Whereas Alton Towers opens as tickets with barcodes and also has a link to manage the booking.

 

[John]

Before we go any further into tech support, the fact remains that regardless of whether it is technically *possible* to see that reservation date has changed, it is not always clear that it has and even if it were, there should be no need to double check that date if a booking once it has been made so hardly surprising that people are unaware until they arrive

Whilst a reservation not being honoured due to overselling is nothing new (e.g hotel rooms, flights, etc.), in this case the limit is not absolute therefore there is no need to cancel/amend bookings. If I'd travelled somewhere after making a reservation (having heard nothing about the reservation being cancelled), I'd expect them to honour the reservation or for the business to compensate me if they are unable to. I wouldn't expect them to try and upsell a premium product as a result of their screw up.

 

[TPick]

Visited AT today using RAP. Was in park by 9:15am and had time card within 10 minutes. Spoke to a lady in the Wickerman queue and she said when she went past guest services later the queue was two hours long. Suspicious of that time as she didn't join the queue, but think she was saying it was a very long queue. She also said that a member of staff was surrounded by guests complaining and the staff member had a panic attack. There was a guy having a go at a member of guest services when we were in there - couldn't quite get the gist of the complaint but think they could get RAP sorted for the day for some reason. Personally I think they should have security in guest services while all this is going on.

RAP usage was mixed, Wickerman we went on twice, once the queue was level with the shop entrance and the second time it was past the end of the fence. About 20 minutes wait first time and 30 minutes the second time. Luckily you can see the ride so makes the wait more bearable for that ride.

RMT RAP queue was empty when we got there around lunchtime, think that is the first time we have ever seen that, it's usually one of the worst.

Thirteen we got to as soon as it opened so almost straight on. Could have gone on again straight away as they put a really short time on, but didn't.

Didn't use it for the 6 in a row times we went on Curse as no queue. The boy loves that ride for some reason.

That's pretty much all we used it on, didn't go into cbeebies and boy isn't tall enough for 1.4 rides. Very long queues.for those all day so spent a lot of time in the gardens while others in the group rode a couple of those.

Did notice when we went on Oblivion that the lady wasn't signing the cards as she didn't have a pen.

 

[Bowser]

Good to hear AT is still a shambles.

What time do they let people in at AT if you had a card at 915am? Is that just a half term thing or do they open gates early regardless?

 

[TPick]

Good to hear AT is still a shambles.

What time do they let people in at AT if you had a card at 915am? Is that just a half term thing or do they open gates early regardless?

Can't say for sure, we were in at 9:15 and had card within 10 minutes. I think they open at 9am. Will do the same tomorrow I think as it seems to turn into a bit of a sh!t show later on. Maybe a lot of people think it doesn't open until 10am.

They seem to have removed some Blue badge parking spaces. There used to be some before the monorail station, but now the only ones are the ones past the monorail station.

 

[BarryZola]

Gates have opened at 9am for years.

 

[Bowser]

Gates have opened at 9am for years.

Even off peak days? And guest services is open?

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Even off peak days? And guest services is open?

Yes, to both questions.

 

[Bowser]

Oh i just remembered, the one negative from CWOA:

- I saw one family arguing to get on Mandrill. The adult who was visibly disabled and presumably the passholder, argued to get her group of children on. Went on for 2 or 3 minutes and eventually the staff member relented. At Vampire there were 3 staff members at points so i think they'd have stood their ground more but it's understandably difficult for a young lone staff member when faced with hostile members of the public.

Also another potential if minor flaw, they've now combined the RAP and Fastpass entrance for several rides (including Mandrill) but if you are using RAP and purchase a One Shot, it comes up within your profile and looks identical. The staff member understandably asked to see our ID (which i happily obliged) but i did point out it was a One Shot. So even if you're not the RAP holder, you could use someone elses pass and claim it's a One Shot if using a ride with a shared entrance. I.e rather than risk the staff member standing their ground on the ID holder being present.

The only way i could see round that was going within the app and showing them your RAP countdown was still active, which is a bit of a faff for all involved.

Probably a niche issue and unlikely to have much impact but something i noticed.

 

[Skyscraper]

Oh i just remembered, the one negative from CWOA:

- I saw one family arguing to get on Mandrill. The adult who was visibly disabled and presumably the passholder, argued to get her group of children on. Went on for 2 or 3 minutes and eventually the staff member relented. At Vampire there were 3 staff members at points so i think they'd have stood their ground more but it's understandably difficult for a young lone staff member when faced with hostile members of the public.

Surely it would show up as RAP/Fastrack when bleeped though?

Also another potential if minor flaw, they've now combined the RAP and Fastpass entrance for several rides (including Mandrill) but if you are using RAP and purchase a One Shot, it comes up within your profile and looks identical. The staff member understandably asked to see our ID (which i happily obliged) but i did point out it was a One Shot. So even if you're not the RAP holder, you could use someone elses pass and claim it's a One Shot if using a ride with a shared entrance. I.e rather than risk the staff member standing their ground on the ID holder being present.

The only way i could see round that was going within the app and showing them your RAP countdown was still active, which is a bit of a faff for all involved.

Probably a niche issue and unlikely to have much impact but something i noticed.

Has it been combined on Vampire? Would be awesome if RAP got to see the organist now.

 

[dave___]

Surely it would show up as RAP/Fastrack when bleeped though?



Has it been combined on Vampire? Would be awesome if RAP got to see the organist now.

When I was there the other week, it had the normal main entrance by the lockers then a bit further up the hill was the normal reserve and ride entrance. Not sure if RAPs could go in this or if they had to go round the back to the non-ambulant queue, there weren't any signs to say it was a joint fast-track and RAP queue that I can recall.

It was dead quiet when we were in the fast-track queue (only two people in front of us) so I can't see why a RAP wouldn't want to use it other than it being a worse sensory hell than the Smiler pen for some people. Narrow concrete passageway underground not good for people who don't like that type of thing...

 

[Bowser]

Surely it would show up as RAP/Fastrack when bleeped though?



Has it been combined on Vampire? Would be awesome if RAP got to see the organist now.

Possibly, though he did ask for our ID after scanning so either it didn't or he missed it. Visibly it looks like RAP with the words RIDE ACCESS PASS at the top of the screen.

Vampire has not been combined sadly, it's still the rear entrance, though that does raise another question:

People on here mentioned that RAP are given specific rows (typically the rear) due to evacuation processes. That makes sense for Vampire and means the queue entrance will never change. But it's obviously not the case for Mandrill and never has been. Is that because there are no stairs involved?

 

[TPick]

Gates have opened at 9am for years.

Yeah, not sure why but we weren't aware.

 

[imanautie]

Possibly, though he did ask for our ID after scanning so either it didn't or he missed it. Visibly it looks like RAP with the words RIDE ACCESS PASS at the top of the screen.

Vampire has not been combined sadly, it's still the rear entrance, though that does raise another question:

People on here mentioned that RAP are given specific rows (typically the rear) due to evacuation processes. That makes sense for Vampire and means the queue entrance will never change. But it's obviously not the case for Mandrill and never has been. Is that because there are no stairs involved?

They have a few tricks they use to indicate it's a rap session, a notable one was mandrill when it was timed slot releases, the public pre-book was walled world of jumani, the rap was WOJ making it easy to tell at a glance. (Might have been the other way around)

 

[TPick]

Just a few RAP related observations from our recent visit:

1) Currently you need to get in early, otherwise a long queue at Guest Services.
2) When we got in, generally around 9:15am there was a person going down the queue sorting RAP booking. Seems to only be for RAP though as we wanted a parent swap one day and we had to go to the desk for that.
3) First day we were there we were talking to the Guest Services chap and he said that they were holding back a few booking slots each day for people that turn up without one.
4) On one day we went to guest services to get parent swap around lunchtime and noticed a sign outside saying that all RAP slots had gone for the day. That sign wasn't there at the start of the day, so they are definitely holding some back as RAP slots were sold out online for the days we were there.
5) It seems that they were turning people away after they put the sign out, we saw a few families that were told No while we were picking up the parent swap. One girl was in floods of tears as her parents had said they would have to leave because the couldn't sort RAP.
6) RAP queues didn't seem any better. We always do Thirteen first and never go back during a day there so we never see a long queue. Latest we left the Thirteen queue was probably 10:30am and there was hardly any queue on any of the days were were there. RMT was bizarrely empty one day but back to normal the other days. Wickerman was long, past the end of the fence generally, apart from one weird end of day when it was empty - but then the main queue was empty as well which I don't think I have ever seen. In our usage, it didn't seem any different either way, better for worse.
7) Maybe off topic, but fast track usage was massive, on Wickerman for example I have never seen that queue so long, way longer than the RAP queue. Did hear one lady in the fast tack queue say that she usually gets RAP but didn't know about the new system and so ended up buying fast track. Far be it for me to suggest a ploy, but I suspect a lot of extra fast tracks are being sold now.

For me, holding back slots is a recipe for disaster and I suspect word has got around and people are just turning up hoping to get one.

Anyway, just our observations.

 

[Bowser]

For me, holding back slots is a recipe for disaster and I suspect word has got around and people are just turning up hoping to get one.

If they’re holding them back within capacity doesn’t seem overly problematic beyond causing issues at guest services. Would be temporary as previously discussed I imagine.

 

[DiogoJ42]

If you can queue at guest services, you can queue for a ride. This madness needs to stop.

 

[jibbsie]

The rap queue seem very low today, I don't use rap so so I can't get a good idea of some of the rides, but no queue at nemesis, gal, rita or the wickerman and there was a very small queue at guest services when I entered. I havent see 13 or the smiler yet.

 

[TPick]

If they’re holding them back within capacity doesn’t seem overly problematic beyond causing issues at guest services. Would be temporary as previously discussed I imagine.

Hopefully temporary. Problem is when too many people turn up for the number of slots they have. Just seems an unnecessary problem to bring upon themselves.