• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Ride Access Pass Systems and Disabled Access (pre 2024)

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
bluesonichd said:
or just get rid of rap altogether and do as Gardaland advise their disabled guests
"
COME PREPARED

During your visit to Gardaland you will often find yourself queuing, in crowded, noisy places. Bring things with you to distract the person with a cognitive disability, such as games, tablets and headphones. Simulate the situations you might come across at the Park. Think about the problems you might have and how to deal with them."
Click to expand...
That doesn't at all come across as patronising.

Sent from my Swift 2 Plus using Tapatalk
 
Surely Merlin are aware of the problems of misuse?

As i said yesterday on good friday i queued for complimentary fast track at GS for 30 plus minutes....every single other person in that queue was getting RAP yet only 2 of them had a physical disability....one in a wheelchair and one on kind of a zimmer if thats the right word

So am i right thinking all of the others were supposedly getting RAP as they couldn't queue in the normal lines?

If that's the case how could they queue in a packed guest services for over half hour....also packed with people to the right buying fast track

I'm baffled by it i really am

I honestly think it should be limited to one carer per wristband as i don't think the +3 is either adhered to or needed
 
This is quite an interesting view. Try using coping mechanism in a main queueline. 15 min queue first visit before we knew about RAP.
The abuse from other guests, including using the fact and i quote " she a ****ing spak, who should be in a zoo" as an excuse to push her to floor and barge me to
Queue jump.
And what did staff at various rides say every time it happened. Get a RAP.

My daughter can not cope in queues. Using coping mechanisms in RAP queue does not invite abuse.


Sent from my SM-J600FN using Tapatalk
 
yoursilentface said:
Surely Merlin are aware of the problems of misuse?

As i said yesterday on good friday i queued for complimentary fast track at GS for 30 plus minutes....every single other person in that queue was getting RAP yet only 2 of them had a physical disability....one in a wheelchair and one on kind of a zimmer if thats the right word

So am i right thinking all of the others were supposedly getting RAP as they couldn't queue in the normal lines?

If that's the case how could they queue in a packed guest services for over half hour....also packed with people to the right buying fast track

I'm baffled by it i really am

I honestly think it should be limited to one carer per wristband as i don't think the +3 is either adhered to or needed
Click to expand...
And you think it'd be listened to if itd only plus one?

Sent from my Swift 2 Plus using Tapatalk
 
Towers do actually mention about the regular queues moving quicker then the RAP ones in the Disabled guide on the website.
 
How many doctor's letters are fraudulent? How many state a condition and not symptoms? I would suggest quite a lot. Autism spectrum disorder, for example, should not itself be an automatic qualification for a RAP, as the condition affects people differently.

I think we all know the passes are given out way too easily, and to many people that shouldn't have them. Even if it isn't a majority, it's a significant number. The RAP should be for people that need it, not necessarily depending on what conditions they have. This is how benefit entitlement from the government are (supposed) to be determined, and this should be the same in my view. A genuine letter from a physician would seem to be the most appropriate way of qualifying this.

The policy itself doesn't help either - asthma and type 2 diabetes, seriously?
 
In terms of visiting parks which either don't have one (i.e. anything German) or poor systems (Walibi and not having provisions at the exits for disabled guests even though they had to wait there for the respective queue length) is buying Fastrack or not going...

Hence why I've not visited Europa Park in years... Simply is not worth the time and effort to deal with a park of that magnitude with someone suffering from MS...

There's very little alternative available in some of the parks, and it's sad that this is the case in modern day for someone who physically cannot queue anymore...
 
delta79 said:
The abuse from other guests, including using the fact and i quote " she a ****ing spak, who should be in a zoo" as an excuse to push her to floor and barge me to
Queue jump.
Click to expand...

That not acceptable, I personally would have been straight onto the police. That is hate crime and assault.

It something that I often talk about on here, using disability aids always draws unwanted attention and abuse. A subject that has recently been talked about on the Merlin pass holders Additional needs FB page, how one lady using her husband wheelchair due to a temporary illness opened up her eyes to the change in behaviour of people and their negative unwanted attitudes that wheelchair users receive.

skyscraper said:
Towers do actually mention about the regular queues moving quicker then the RAP ones in the Disabled guide on the website.
Click to expand...

Not quiet

Please note, given the number of people entitled to Ride Access Passes, you may still have to wait, and other queues (eg, Fastrack, Single Rider) may move more quickly. We cannot control this, nor can we allow more than one non-ambulant disabled guest on a ride at a time due to our emergency procedures.
Click to expand...
 
skyscraper said:
Basically, the system needs a major overhaul.
Click to expand...
It is going to be difficult to overhaul the system and get it so it works without discriminating again people that need it.
It needs to lean against the conservative side.

The system has to work with the confidentiality, new data protection rules and not forgetting the equality act (replaces DDA)

The system needs stuff done to it. However its going to be a sod of job to do. And if they get it badly wrong, the fall out could be massive.

Sent from my SM-J600FN using Tapatalk
 
I think as a country we have already slipped down the rabbit hole on this one , gone are the days where you could be worried about taking an exam or literally just hate being in a crowed place that you just have to get out to get yourself some space , just because that’s the person you are , you can’t experience any sort of negative emotion nowadays without it being a mental illness rather than just the way of the world . I know I’m going get a lot of hate for saying this but hey ho
 
Now, I don't personally think that the system should be changed too much, as I think it's good that Towers are being inclusive, but I think that they are almost being a little too inclusive at present, especially if the RAP queue is turning out as long as the normal queue.

The problem is; I'm not really sure how Alton could feasibly change things. As time has progressed, our knowledge of different disabilities has increased, so maybe the only reason for the increase is because of increased knowledge and diagnosis. I myself have autism, which was much more severe when I was younger, so when we first visited Alton as a family in 2009, my parents claimed RAP, and when I asked my mum whether she remembered long waits for things, she said that we walked on to everything. Since then, I've grown more accustomed to queueing, and even though I am probably still entitled to it (am I; I'm not entirely sure, as I think the system has changed?), I haven't claimed it since that 2009 visit as queueing no longer bothers me.

For an idea of the sort of conditions the Merlin RAP system now accepts, use my school reward trip to Thorpe last year as an example. As I was walking back to our school's meeting point, I met a girl from my year group. When I told her how many rides I'd done (2), she said that she'd done way more because her friend's dyslexia had entitled them all to RAPs.

In my opinion, it's nice that Merlin are being so inclusive, but I'm not sure if they're being a little too inclusive.
 
Why do they let so many people on with one wristband? Maybe they should separate users into a group that struggle's to queue but can ride alone, and a group that needs a carer to ride with them, only allowing one carer to ride?

I get families may want to ride together, in that case, the people that can queue, do, and their RAP-using group members can wait until they've made it through the queue. Maybe a buzzer or QBot that signals when the family is X minutes from riding?
 
We have said before it should be 1+1 but at Aton and Thorpe we have seen groups of 6 go on together (just one wrist band) we’ve said before they should have a system where there are more than 2 together the others queue as normal and the RAP and plus one join them as they get to the end of the queue
 
It used to be RAP+1, if your group was bigger they'd say the main group has to use the main queue and you could rotate a carer throughout the day so nobody got left out, then it changed about two years ago, dunno why but last time we went (my son is entitled to RAP) we just gave up and went home because of the length of the RAP queue.

We did experience Legoland's version previously and it is far superior, that should be rolled out over all the parks asap.
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top