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Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2024 Discussion

Might be a bit late if your visit is today, but:

Bowser said:
Hyperia no longer has a one ride restriction correct?
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Yes, this is correct.

Bowser said:
Where is the best place to collect your timecard from? Especially in light of: Please note that, due to high volumes of school trips, the Accessibility Kiosk will be closed until July 22nd. Instead, a Timecard station will be operating from underneath the park's Welcome Arch from 9:15am. Ride Access Pass collection is also available from Guest Services in the lower dome as normal.
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We usually collect after the bag search part, there is a pop up off to the right. Hasn't been overly busy collecting, but we haven't visited for a few weeks though so may be different now.
 
Bowser said:
We are attempting Thorpe Park for the first time! I expect it's going to be grotesquely busy but we'll see. Couple of questions:

- Hyperia no longer has a one ride restriction correct?
- Where is the best place to collect your timecard from? Especially in light of: Please note that, due to high volumes of school trips, the Accessibility Kiosk will be closed until July 22nd. Instead, a Timecard station will be operating from underneath the park's Welcome Arch from 9:15am. Ride Access Pass collection is also available from Guest Services in the lower dome as normal.
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As Benzin and TPick have already answered your questions, please allow me to add extra pointers.
  • Show the RAP card at the park entrance to use the designated Access/Hotel left lane. Dear god, please don't go into the right lane. Don't don't don't.
  • The Dome is loud with an unpleasant echo. If the side gate on the left is open, do use it as a shortcut.
  • If you're arriving when the park opens and comfortable getting the coaster count started, go do Colossus, Saw, Inferno and Stealth in that order.
  • All the major coasters are loud here, so I highly recommend wearing earplugs/ear defenders on all. Saw and The Walking Dead are the most stressful in being rife with harsh sounds and lights, the latter having two looooooong corridors you have to walk to/from the station. The Swarm also has a piercing alien screech and a station flyover.
  • Ghost Train is also stressful as it involves a lot of loud sound and light effects, moving around, staff trying to spook everyone and, somehow, an even worse plot than the two Derren Brown iterations preceding it.
  • Quiet space wise, there is a quiet room by Guest Services in the lower dome. There's also the path between Tacotaria Express and Saw with picnic benches and a lovely lake view (plus the Thorpe Belle still in Saw Alive garb 😢). The Sunken Gardens by Stealth, featuring the Princess Di memorial boat, is nicer and shaded with the lovely Stealth soundscape in the near distance. There are grass areas by the Lost City flat rides and near The Swarm but they're very popular spots and don't have much seating or shade.
  • If you're eating on park, VIBES Bar & Kitchen is a decent table service spot. Service could be better but the food is good and it's never been packed when I've gone on busy weekend days, so it effectively doubles as a quiet space. I just wish they'd play something on the TV that isn't just the Big Easy Boulevard video, good grief.
  • KFC and Burger King are good quick fixes but, even if you don't eat at either, do pop in when they're quiet and check out the theming. Burger King by Stealth is themed to a '50s diner and KFC by Tidal Wave has a giant shark stuck in the facade! 😆
Good luck for your first visit, I sincerely hope nowt major is closed ✌️
 
Rowe said:
... The Sunken Gardens by Stealth, featuring the Princess Di memorial boat, is nicer and shaded with the lovely Stealth soundscape in the near distance. ...✌️
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Fluked a complete solo ert on all the benches ...with fasttrack...in the sunken garden on my last visit.
Nearly beat the first (and front seat) ride on Hyperia for top experience.
 
Rowe said:
Show the RAP card at the park entrance to use the designated Access/Hotel left lane. Dear god, please don't go into the right lane. Don't don't don't
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To add to this, just be aware that sometimes the access lane for security might not be open. My friend found it closed on a visit a few weeks back.
 
Skyscraper said:
To add to this, just be aware that sometimes the access lane for security might not be open. My friend found it closed on a visit a few weeks back.
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That's very disappointing. I can understand that being the case when the security lanes are very quiet but only if they've moved the barriers to accommodate for ease of entry. Visitors shouldn't have to slalom around a massive, empty security lane for 5 minutes just to get in! o_O
 
They do sometimes close some of the extended queues at security, note that at quiet times the left (accessible) lane is not necessary quicker!
 
Quite the eventful but great day.

When we arrived, there was a temporary booth at the entrance which was handy. As mentioned above, we headed to the dreaded right hand lane but a member of staff kindly directed us to the left hand one. Tbh there weren't a lot of people anyway as we arrived about 11am but good to know for future visits.

Hyperia didn't open till about 1pm. We were sitting outside coincidentally when a test train went round and within about 5 minutes there was a queue from the closed entrance to the Ghost Train. It was still another hour till it actually opened. I went to the gate just prior to this and asked if we'd be able to access the RAP queue if we sat nearby when it opened but they said no we'd have to join the main queue and then filter to the relevant gate. I kind of get it but still a bit rubbish as obviously we couldn't do that.

RAP timeouts were rather inaccurate. Rush we got given an advertised 40 min but this didn't take into account the 10-15 minutes we'd already been waiting. Not a big deal so didn't say anything but then when we eventually did go on Hyperia, we were given an advertised 135 minutes despite waiting almost 30 (the queue was to the entrance) which i thought was very poor. I didn't actually notice till we got off unfortunately.

They were absolutely smashing the ops on Hyperia though and really getting through the RAP queue so was impressed with that. Also had some schadenfreude of seeing people misusing the system (namely using someone else's card and not having the ID) spending 25 minutes queueing only to be told they couldn't go on. Well done to the staff for standing their ground there.

Not all disabilities are visible etc but i couldn't see a single person in that 25 minute queue who i could identify as the RAP holder.

Oh and as recommended previously my son tried the LOOP ear defenders today somebody here suggested. Naturally they fell out on the first drop of Hyperia so back to square one.
 
Chessington RAP booked till September bar 1 day.
Legoland and TP fully booked till last week of August.
AT sporadic dates from August 15 onwards.

Surprised AT has the most availability of the Merlin parks tbh.

Paultons pretty much available from Friday onwards.

Can't imagine how Universal are going to deal with this.
 
Bowser said:
Not all disabilities are visible etc but i couldn't see a single person in that 25 minute queue who i could identify as the RAP holder.
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Hiya! Just to picture an example, my wife suffers from anxiety and being surrounded by lots of people for a long time would make her go into anxiety/panic attacks (as it had happened in the past before we even discovered RAP) therefore impossible to ride when having to queue for a long time and/or enclosed spaces (such as the queue of Saw or Smiler)

We do obtain looks when joining RAP queues but this is the reason behind it.
 
I do think we need to be very careful to avoid suggesting that RAP users don't "look" disabled enough. This is far more harmful in my opinion than letting a few examples of RAP abuse slip through the net. At the end of the day, anyone in that queue has been given their RAP pass for a reason and it's absolutely not for the general public to question its validity. If someone is actually in that queue without a valid pass they won't be let on the ride.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
I do think we need to be very careful to avoid suggesting that RAP users don't "look" disabled enough. This is far more harmful in my opinion than letting a few examples of RAP abuse slip through the net. At the end of the day, anyone in that queue has been given their RAP pass for a reason and it's absolutely not for the general public to question its validity. If someone is actually in that queue without a valid pass they won't be let on the ride.
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I think the counter to this is the eligibility criteria is very low and there’s a discussion to be had in that regard as the current system is untenable long term. That’s not about judging people but the system needs to be evaluated and the opinions of those who use and need it must be considered. This extends outside the realm of theme parks to the use of priority parking, concert tickets etc,

On this forum alone we have people who have stated they would qualify but don’t need the system. People who qualify short term yet can receive a 3 year pass. It would be naive to think the public don’t take advantage of this but obviously we can only speculate on the scale. Is it a coincidence that Merlin parks are dominated by non-visible disabilities? Perhaps. Anyway, we’re heading into the well worn circular discussion of RAP vs OPs.

Based on the current trajectory, by the time Universal open in 2031 anything representing the current uptake will be completely unmanageable and unlike say Disneyland Paris, Universal do not have a reputation for vast entertainment options to manage the issue, nor do their current plans suggest there will be the ride capacity to cope. Their only hope is somewhat like Paultons the price point will act as an organic filter.

A storm is coming.
 
This isn't passing judgement but more a moral debate question. I'm curious to hear people's opinions with. My friend and his girlfriend both qualify for RAP for different reasons. They recently went to Thorpe together on a busy day. Now because they both had RAPs which of course allow up to 3 guests with them each, they used one got timed out and then used the other one so could get on Hyperia twice within the timeout period. Of course by time of 2nd go on Hyperia they had half finished timeout from 1st.

My question is do you consider this abuse? They had a clear advantage over both regular guests and other RAP users who only had access to one RAP card. In such cases should it be 1 RAP card per group but then what if they want to do different rides?

Interested to hear people's thoughts
 
Bowser said:
I’m not sure what the solution is, it’s a legitimate problem but in your example they’ve gamed the system to their own advantage at the expense of others.
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I think though if merlin allows them to. If its a choice between that or a 2h regular queue who can blame them when they have the option to.
 
pjanvil said:
This isn't passing judgement but more a moral debate question. I'm curious to hear people's opinions with. My friend and his girlfriend both qualify for RAP for different reasons. They recently went to Thorpe together on a busy day. Now because they both had RAPs which of course allow up to 3 guests with them each, they used one got timed out and then used the other one so could get on Hyperia twice within the timeout period. Of course by time of 2nd go on Hyperia they had half finished timeout from 1st.

My question is do you consider this abuse? They had a clear advantage over both regular guests and other RAP users who only had access to one RAP card. In such cases should it be 1 RAP card per group but then what if they want to do different rides?

Interested to hear people's thoughts
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Yes I think that's abuse personally. If you're timed out on your own pass you shouldn't really be using someone else's pass. However if (for example) a family have two passes so the two qualifying children can go on different rides at the same time then I wouldn't take issue with that. Of course it's impossible to police so it's up to the individual users to use the system fairly - and we know not everyone will do that.
Bowser said:
I think the counter to this is the eligibility criteria is very low and there’s a discussion to be had in that regard as the current system is untenable long term.
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That might be true, but Merlin have in good faith signed up to the Access Card scheme so it's the organisers of that scheme that are responsible for assessing eligibility. If they're letting more people obtain cards than Merlin have capacity for whose fault is that? Merlin's or Nimbus's? Introducing a cap is really all Merlin can do because they can't manage capacity through the eligibility criteria. And it's certainly not Nimbus's responsibility to alter their eligibility criteria to suit Merlin's capacity.
 
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