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Ride Access Pass Systems and Disabled Access (pre 2024)

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Skyscraper said:
Yeah hopefully they'll be a merge host on busy days, or it could have a Duel situation.
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What was the Duel situation?

Pirate Falls rarely has a host so i'm doubtful NinjaGo does. There's nothing in place that would enable the queues to be managed unless said host had a pair of portable dividers. The separate main and RAR entrances are a permanent feature, not a later addition so i'm rather baffled as to how it ever works. My son loved it though so will find out the hard way in the summer!

As he discovered you can also run straight into this point from the after-ride photo so it's in fact a triple merge of sorts. I have no idea why there is an access point with no door there, it's absolutely rife for abuse on a ride that often gets a 60 minute queue.
 
A merge host should be a requirement of the ride operating on all but the quietest days. With 3 queues converging there there'd be nothing to stop anyone just going up whatever entrance they want, theoretically reducing the ride to 1/3 capacity if enough people are dishonest.
 
Has anyone been to Madame Tussauds? I just stumbled upon a vlog and noticed they have a dark ride and a 4D cinema which i think my son would like but it also looked very crowded. The ride being an omnimover presumably minimises queue times but wondered if anyone has real life experience and whether you are allowed multiple rides.

Same question with the 4D cinema , there's no information on frequency of showings or wait times.

In terms of accessibility the website only mentions wheelchair access so presumably there's no RAP style system in place...
 
The Madame Tussauds walkthrough parts are usually very busy since everyone wants to stop and take photos however the Spirit of London ride never has a queue, if you ask staff for a reride they may tell you to go through a door near the exit that takes you back to the entrance. For the 4D cinema you shouldn't have to wait more than 15 mins as they get you in as soon as the previous group are out. There is no RAP system and it doesn't need one.
 
Regarding companions the best solution (but hard to implement) would be to make all but the disabled person and the number of direct carers required (the number needed to support things like going to toilet) to queue and when they reach the end they join the disabled person and the rest of the carers. You would need some way of informing the disabled party to head to the ride as the others neared the end of the queue and a place to merge the groups back again.
 
Dave said:
Regarding companions the best solution (but hard to implement) would be to make all but the disabled person and the number of direct carers required (the number needed to support things like going to toilet) to queue and when they reach the end they join the disabled person and the rest of the carers. You would need some way of informing the disabled party to head to the ride as the others neared the end of the queue and a place to merge the groups back again.
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In this scenario wouldn't it make sense to implement the virtual queue for all popular rides? Getting a slot on Mandrill Mayhem is difficult so that would need finessing but the actual waiting process seems to work very well.

Would require an additional staff member at each queue entrance though so don't think Merlin will be impressed by this suggestion.

I don't think your proposal works because not all RAP users require a carer but you can't have adults queuing for 90 minutes leaving a child on their own.
 
Bowser said:
In this scenario wouldn't it make sense to implement the virtual queue for all popular rides? Getting a slot on Mandrill Mayhem is difficult so that would need finessing but the actual waiting process seems to work very well.

Would require an additional staff member at each queue entrance though so don't think Merlin will be impressed by this suggestion.

I don't think your proposal works because not all RAP users require a carer but you can't have adults queuing for 90 minutes leaving a child on their own.
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I think it’s obvious you wouldn’t split an adult and child just because in theory the child doesn’t need support with personal care.

The Disney model which is effectively what you are suggesting is pretty good but as you say it requires every ride to have an entrance host which Merlin will want to avoid. You could maybe try some sort of RF ID pads at the entrance that you tap to get your return time I suppose.
 
Dave said:
Regarding companions the best solution (but hard to implement) would be to make all but the disabled person and the number of direct carers required (the number needed to support things like going to toilet) to queue and when they reach the end they join the disabled person and the rest of the carers. You would need some way of informing the disabled party to head to the ride as the others neared the end of the queue and a place to merge the groups back again.
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This wouldn't work if there's only the disabled person and 1 carer in the group.

No point having different systems in place based upon different sized groups. The staff barely cope as it is.
 
Benzin said:
This wouldn't work if there's only the disabled person and 1 carer in the group.

No point having different systems in place based upon different sized groups. The staff barely cope as it is.
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If there is one disabled and one carer then you have the minimum anyway so they would always ride together. The issue with large groups is one RAP access can bring with them 4 or 5 other people, if the majority have to queue and the RAP passholder and required carers (minimum of 1) join at the point of riding it’s ultimately a fairer system.

Any future RAP option has to involve technology, that way staff are not being required to manage anything other than scanning in guests.
 
Dave said:
If there is one disabled and one carer then you have the minimum anyway so they would always ride together. The issue with large groups is one RAP access can bring with them 4 or 5 other people, if the majority have to queue and the RAP passholder and required carers (minimum of 1) join at the point of riding it’s ultimately a fairer system.

Any future RAP option has to involve technology, that way staff are not being required to manage anything other than scanning in guests.
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I thought maximum number of RAP was 4 including the holder? There's no good reason for it to be more than that surely? Does explain some of the absurd groups i've seen though!

Staff will always be required to enforce to some degree though as the points of contention typically occur when scanning. That's where i think having a staff member at ride entrances is beneficial but again this isn't something Merlin seem keen on outside of Mandrill Mayhem.
 
Bowser said:
I thought maximum number of RAP was 4 including the holder? There's no good reason for it to be more than that surely? Does explain some of the absurd groups i've seen though!

Staff will always be required to enforce to some degree though as the points of contention typically occur when scanning. That's where i think having a staff member at ride entrances is beneficial but again this isn't something Merlin seem keen on outside of Mandrill Mayhem.
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It is four including the holder. Was originally six.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
The Madame Tussauds walkthrough parts are usually very busy since everyone wants to stop and take photos however the Spirit of London ride never has a queue, if you ask staff for a reride they may tell you to go through a door near the exit that takes you back to the entrance. For the 4D cinema you shouldn't have to wait more than 15 mins as they get you in as soon as the previous group are out. There is no RAP system and it doesn't need one.
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Attempting Tussauds tomorrow.

I assume RAP doesn't allow you to use the FastTrack entry? Is the entrance queue quite chaotic?
 
Skyscraper said:
I believe you can ask to bypass the queue.
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Didn't need to in the end as there was no queue to get in... which made the blanked out slots all the more confusing on the Merlin Portal.

First time going so don't have anything to compare it with but the Spirit of London ride was walk on (and we were very lucky as it's closed for maintenance from tomorrow for several weeks) and Marvel Cinema was less than 50% occupied. Most waxworks were immediately accessible or a wait of 1 person for a photo with a handful of exceptions. Couple of clogged up spots but that was more down to people standing in awkward positions than any big lines.

Was very impressed with the Spirit of London ride attendant too who immediately recognised my sons accessibility issues and said they would monitor us on the ride and to give a hand signal if we needed it stopped.

A Dark Ride like that existing in the middle of London seems crazy, would love to know how much space it's actually occupying.
 
Bowser said:
Didn't need to in the end as there was no queue to get in... which made the blanked out slots all the more confusing on the Merlin Portal.

First time going so don't have anything to compare it with but the Spirit of London ride was walk on (and we were very lucky as it's closed for maintenance from tomorrow for several weeks) and Marvel Cinema was less than 50% occupied. Most waxworks were immediately accessible or a wait of 1 person for a photo with a handful of exceptions. Couple of clogged up spots but that was more down to people standing in awkward positions than any big lines.

Was very impressed with the Spirit of London ride attendant too who immediately recognised my sons accessibility issues and said they would monitor us on the ride and to give a hand signal if we needed it stopped.

A Dark Ride like that existing in the middle of London seems crazy, would love to know how much space it's actually occupying.
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That's nice to hear the staff were looking out for you! Excellent customer service that. Glad you had a good time too!
 
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