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Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2024 Discussion

Complaints all over FB re; RAP might have a point this half term. Pretty sure most the booked RAP will be for adults and older children meanwhile many can’t experience CBeebies event due to no RAP.
Maybe they should introduce a CBeebies only version which sits alongside the main access pass
 
Benzin said:
Think the problem there is that most children can't be diagnosed (or start the process) until 2, so not many would qualify.
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Admittedly so. My son was diagnosed at 3 but he’s severely ASD.

It’s probably frustrating for those who do have young diagnoses that they can’t get a RAP for what’s basically a kids event because all the adults/teens take it for the big coasters
 
Managed to get an elusive slot for Legoland today.

There's no discernible difference at Legoland since the introduction of the capacity limit compared to the other parks imo because as mentioned, all the RAP entrances are shared with FastTrack.

That being said, the system always worked well here and still does. We generally walked on or waited 5 minutes per ride. The park was very busy but there are always rides with short queues to use around the big attractions, it's the best Merlin park in that sense.

There was a ride attendant at the merge point for Ninja Go, first time i've ever seen that. Somewhat frustrating on this occasion because the advertised wait time was 50 minutes when in fact the queue time was 5 minutes so we subsequently got lumbered with a long time out.

Speedway continues to use the one ride per visit system whilst SkyLion is now unlimited (but the queue displayed as full for good portions of the day). Much like Mandrill, being logged in to RAP prevents you purchasing a One Shot. As i was just with my son and he was desperate to ride it again, it meant i had to log out and create a secondary account just to buy one which seems an unnecessary faff and an illogical restriction.

Overall though a very good day!
 
First ever visit to Drayton today using their RAP system.

Firstly, it's great to know there's another theme park in the UK that is now accessible to us, as the Merlin parks become increasingly less so.

There are no limits or time outs (except two rides which i'll get to) so that made the day very easy. There only seemed to be a handful of people using the service, though it was shared with the fastpass system too. Again, wasn't too busy (though the rain was biblical at points so don't know if today was representative of typical crowds).

On the Wave there was nobody waiting so we even managed to get 2 near consecutive rides (1 car in-between) which was great.

Most of the rides have the RAP entry signposted, though a few didn't which lead to confusion waiting at the exit.

The only issue was The Haunting, which has no RAP entrance. There's a sign saying you'll be taken in 15 minute batches but beyond that there was no indication of how long you'll wait. A group had just gone in and we joined the line, waited 15 minutes and then got to the very front only to be denied and told it'll be another 15 minutes, which naturally was very upsetting for my son so we had to leave. I was determined to get him on it though so at the end of the day i picked him up and ran over in the hope of a short line, which fortunately there was and they were just entering too! Though tbh i think he was disappointed it wasn't The Vampire inside :tearsofjoy:
 
Small observation from yesterday. While in a 70 min wickerman queue I was observing RAP and used an individual in bright orange as a reference (sorry if your here) and timed from their starting point to accessing bag hold as 45 mins roughly.
So while things are better … if everyone gravitates to the same ride problems still exist.
nemesis on the other hand - no RAP wait all day.
 
Unless you restrict people to only going on a ride once and giving them specific times lots of each attraction to distribute everyone with rap to different attractions what can you do about that?
 
From the MAP Disability Facebook Group, this was Thirteen's RAP queue today...

IMG-20240530-WA0007.jpg
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Can't confirm but apparently the cap has increased 🤦‍♂️
 
I did ask about this last year but thought I’d check in again seeing as we have finally booked to visit Efteling for the first time!

Searching online I see very mixed reports about the RAP system here, with many people claiming they waited as long if not longer than the main queue.

It seems like it is purely for the non ambulant rather than those unable to wait in queues?

So I’m wondering if we would be better attempting the main lines. I think my son would tolerate a line that was regularly moving in an interesting themed environment rather than waiting stationary at a ride exit for 20+ minutes.

I did also see media reports of people abusing the system, though that seems to contradict the reports of it not offering a queue “benefit” so generally a bit confused.

Does anyone have any recent real life experience of using RAP versus the main queues? We are visiting late August midweek which is predicted as “lively” rather than “busy”.

Plus generally from what I can see rides rarely seem to exceed 30 minutes. I’m guessing they have digital queue boards and are fairly accurate?
 
I've never really had too many issues with Efteling's RAP. I was looking at it yesterday as planning a trip and looks like it's now on the app but no idea how that works.

There's a few rides where it is not problematic but slow or unclear to the uninitiated.

Joris - Only 1 side, most popular due to low height restriction.
Baron - Due to the batching faff it can take longer and an unknown length of time. Miss the pre-shows as well.
Vogel Rok - Disabled entrance is midway through the main queue.
Carnaval Festival - Does 1 big block of RAP users in one go. Mistime it and be waiting around 10 mins or so.
Dreamflight - Technically doesn't have RAP. However if you go to the VR version they have and speak to staff they'll let you through as that's the point of that bit.
Symbolica - Booking system in place. You do also miss the fab pre-show though.


Been a while but everything else tends to work as expected. Just like with other parks it's luck of the draw. The problem might be that most of the queuelines are Efteling are dull as anything and can be slow as the throughputs aren't the best.
 
The pre-shows on Baron, and especially on Symbolica, are really key to the experience on each ride. If you've got two days on park with early entry, just get Baron done during that period, and then Symbolica bang on 9AM, and you'll be fine.
 
Benzin said:
I've never really had too many issues with Efteling's RAP. I was looking at it yesterday as planning a trip and looks like it's now on the app but no idea how that works.

There's a few rides where it is not problematic but slow or unclear to the uninitiated.

Joris - Only 1 side, most popular due to low height restriction.
Baron - Due to the batching faff it can take longer and an unknown length of time. Miss the pre-shows as well.
Vogel Rok - Disabled entrance is midway through the main queue.
Carnaval Festival - Does 1 big block of RAP users in one go. Mistime it and be waiting around 10 mins or so.
Dreamflight - Technically doesn't have RAP. However if you go to the VR version they have and speak to staff they'll let you through as that's the point of that bit.
Symbolica - Booking system in place. You do also miss the fab pre-show though.


Been a while but everything else tends to work as expected. Just like with other parks it's luck of the draw. The problem might be that most of the queuelines are Efteling are dull as anything and can be slow as the throughputs aren't the best.
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Thanks for this!

Sadly won't be able to go on Baron as my son won't be tall enough (unless i run back in the evening when he's getting ready for bed).

Vogel Rok set-up sounds odd!

That's a shame about the queue-lines, i'm sure i'd heard they were nicer than say the Merlin offerings here. And the theoretical throughputs all seem quite high looking online (lots of 1600pph) plus no scheduled ride closures so hopefully things are running well.

I guess day one we can test it out and see how it goes plus i can scope out queue times in the days leading up to see how tolerable things look. Would be nice to get the pre-shows if possible.

Oh, do rides generally have bag storage or are there any locker systems?
 
Bag storage for most part as needed. Think there are lockers if needed around the park.

In terms of Vogel Rok you do avoid the hidden cattlepens at least. There is a door with a call button (same on Flying Dutchman) before you hit some stairs.
 
Some of the queue lines are interesting, De Vliegende Hollander in particular, an Max & Moritz have queueline games which unlike those in the Spinball queue should be working.

Queues for Python, Joris and Dreamflight on the other hand are pretty dull!

The plus side is that as Efteling has no fast pass main queues do move, which might make them easier to manage.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
Some of the queue lines are interesting, De Vliegende Hollander in particular, an Max & Moritz have queueline games which unlike those in the Spinball queue should be working.

Queues for Python, Joris and Dreamflight on the other hand are pretty dull!

The plus side is that as Efteling has no fast pass main queues do move, which might make them easier to manage.
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Thanks. I've been watching the queue times today and the worst i've seen anything is Baron at 40 min, generally things seem to be between 10-30 minutes so hopefully that's a fairly typical representation.

Plus it looks like there are lots of nice areas between rides to have a sensory break.
 
Bowser said:
Thanks. I've been watching the queue times today and the worst i've seen anything is Baron at 40 min, generally things seem to be between 10-30 minutes so hopefully that's a fairly typical representation.

Plus it looks like there are lots of nice areas between rides to have a sensory break.
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Yes I'd say it's a pretty neurodivergent-friendly park all things considered! I think there is even a quiet room somewhere for decompressing. The only thing I struggled with a bit was the amount of walking, you do need to pace yourself. Hopefully it won't be too hot when you visit!
 
I know this is the wrong thread but last time I visited Efteling in 2019 it was bags in trains with you on Vogel Rock, Vligende de Hollander, Joris, and Python.

Baron has a dedicated person taking bags before you enter the first pre show room, or at least they did on busy days.
Weirdly I visited in 2017,18,and 19 and they seemed to have a different policy each time.
 
John_P said:
I know this is the wrong thread but last time I visited Efteling in 2019 it was bags in trains with you on Vogel Rock, Vligende de Hollander, Joris, and Python.

Baron has a dedicated person taking bags before you enter the first pre show room, or at least they did on busy days.
Weirdly I visited in 2017,18,and 19 and they seemed to have a different policy each time.
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Bags in trains on Python sounds interesting!
 
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