Ride Access Pass Systems and Disabled Access (pre 2024)

[pluk]

Possibly school groups where the usual processes for rap don't apply

No, very light on school groups when I visited, what is now a few weeks ago.

 

[Matt N]

Sorry to bump this thread, but I’d be keen to know; with some changes seemingly having been made to RAP systems across the Merlin parks as of late (for instance, Chessington introducing their new virtual system), do we feel that the systems have improved compared to where they were a few years ago?

I never personally saw RAP as a huge issue for the most part, but similarly to @pluk, I did notice that usage never seemed excessive on my recent visit; it did seem lower than I’d expected based on both reports and previous visits. For what it’s worth, I was able to ride row 10 on Thirteen on this visit for the first time in years; on previous visits even prior to COVID, this row has been chained off, and reading back through the thread suggests that the back 2 rows were permanently chained off exclusively for RAP at one point in time.

RAP queues never looked overly huge on any ride, from what I could see (no more than a few people); on the likes of Wicker Man, the queue was practically walk on for much of the time, with a queue consisting of perhaps 1 or 2 groups occasionally building up.

I have seen pretty large RAP queues on WM in the past; in April 2021, I queued 2 hours from only a bit into the extension queue, and based on the length of the RAP queue (it was spilling well out of its allocated area), I’d guess that high levels of RAP were at least partially responsible for the queue being slower than usual that day.

Do we think a corner has been turned with RAP? Has the supposed issue been solved?

 

[pluk]

My wife and daughter returned yesterday after a visit with friends who's child requires RAP, so the group of 4 were using it.

Firstly, the mother of the child with the requirement had no idea about the pre arrival changes and only knew because I told her, sounds like communication to users is not great. Merlin would have no idea whether my child required a pass and they did not mention it on any confirmation when I have pre-booked my tickets.

I've not seen the system for myself, but even after completing the pre arrival process our friend wasn't clear on how it worked, thinking it was linked to her MAP. On the first ride they went on the MAP/email were accepted. The next ride they were told this was wrong and were sent to guest services to collect what they needed. So not only is it not clear to users, staff don't seem to be well informed either.

After that though I'm told it worked well over the two days they were there. Their card was marked with the correct queue time to prevent re-use straight away every time apart from one when they forgot. As a result the wait at the return time was always really short and not much of a rides capacity was taken by MAP riders. This in itself is a huge improvement for users of MAP and regular queues, when previously it was left as a free-for-all both queues became unmanageable. Their use was almost exclusively in Cbeebies.

 

[Matt N]

Great to hear that the issue of RAP has seemingly been solved to a degree; thanks for reporting back @pluk!

 

[imanautie]

My wife and daughter returned yesterday after a visit with friends who's child requires RAP, so the group of 4 were using it.

Firstly, the mother of the child with the requirement had no idea about the pre arrival changes and only knew because I told her, sounds like communication to users is not great. Merlin would have no idea whether my child required a pass and they did not mention it on any confirmation when I have pre-booked my tickets.

I've not seen the system for myself, but even after completing the pre arrival process our friend wasn't clear on how it worked, thinking it was linked to her MAP. On the first ride they went on the MAP/email were accepted. The next ride they were told this was wrong and were sent to guest services to collect what they needed. So not only is it not clear to users, staff don't seem to be well informed either.

After that though I'm told it worked well over the two days they were there. Their card was marked with the correct queue time to prevent re-use straight away every time apart from one when they forgot. As a result the wait at the return time was always really short and not much of a rides capacity was taken by MAP riders. This in itself is a huge improvement for users of MAP and regular queues, when previously it was left as a free-for-all both queues became unmanageable. Their use was almost exclusively in Cbeebies.

When you say the map was accepted, was this a typo of RAP or did rides staff accept a annual pass?

 

[pluk]

When you say the map was accepted, was this a typo of RAP or did rides staff accept a annual pass?

I'm not sure, I wasn't there, I just asked my wife how it had gone and it was her friend who actually used it so third hand info, but she said she 'thought it was linked to her annual pass' so I assume that's what she showed them.

 

[imanautie]

I'm not sure, I wasn't there, I just asked my wife how it had gone and it was her friend who actually used it so third hand info, but she said she 'thought it was linked to her annual pass' so I assume that's what she showed them.

Sigh, although that raises an interesting question, why can't they combine rap and map? (Ala Portaventura)
Edit: here's my pass from Portaventura, the E means disabled access, and it actually scans on their handhelds used for checking their fastrack offering.

 

[pluk]

Sigh, although that raises an interesting question, why can't they combine rap and map? (Ala Portaventura)
Edit: here's my pass from Portaventura, the E means disabled access, and it actually scans on their handhelds used for checking their fastrack offering.

They don't seem able to combine the MAP ownership system with the MAP reservation system, so I'm sure their technology is quite a long way from being able to integrate a completely separate RAP system!!

 

[imanautie]

They don't seem able to combine the MAP ownership system with the MAP reservation system, so I'm sure their technology is quite a long way from being able to integrate a completely separate RAP system!!

I fully believe that's only because they don't pay accesso to enable the account module!

 

[Rick]

For a company that had some pretty lofty and expensive technology goals, you can't help but conclude that their current offering is pretty poor.

 

[Matt N]

Interestingly, RAP usage seemed pretty high on my visit to Alton Towers yesterday and today, to the point where even my parents commented on being surprised at how long RAP queues were on every ride. Every ride had at least a fair little queue of RAP users waiting outside at all times (WM's RAP queue was always nearly coming out of its allocated area and past the front of the shop, Nemesis' was spilling out of the exit path, Rita's was spilling onto the main Dark Forest pathway... I could probably name more).

In terms of allocation, I did notice quite notably high allocation of RAP on some attractions. RAP appeared to make up around 1/5 of the throughput on RMT, and around 1/3 of the throughput on Spinball Whizzer. Spinball appeared to be operating an equal 3-way split between RAP, FT and main queue, thus meaning that the main queue moved quite slowly (for some idea, the stretch of queue turning right and heading up towards the station took about 40 minutes when I rode yesterday, although that may not have been helped by the fact that the constant loading system didn't appear to be operational).

It might be that I haven't visited during the summer holidays for a few years, or that I haven't really been looking out for it previously, but I did notice that RAP generally seemed a lot more prevalent on this visit than it ever did previously.

 

[Islander]

This is interesting:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Squiggs]

That's probably for the best. The folk at Access Card are the leaders in the field, so it should bring greater consistency across the board.

 

[pluk]

I'm sure users will have a more informed opinion than me, but I have huge misgivings about the passes being issued by a third party who have a financial incentive to accept applicants so they can sell them the card, rather than acting as a critical gatekeeper to ensure users needs are valid.

 

[Squiggs]

In the case of The Access Card, it's not quite the same as the other outsourcing Merlin has been doing recently.

Nimbus, the company behind The Access Card, are a social driven company rather than profit driven. It's a disabled led organisation founded out of a real need for better access, rather than the desire to make money.

If anything due to the nature of the organisation, it is more in their interest to make RAP a fair and trusted system rather than a 'moneymaker', so to speak

 

[Danscott22]

I'll be having to apply for a RAP on my cousins behalf for our Scarefest visit (he is in a wheelchair and can only walk minimal amounts) will the RAP registration be free? What's the difference between the pass and the card? I see the card has a £15 charge, might be being stupid but I'm not understanding the difference, can anyone explain?

 

[WillPS]

So what's the deal here - sign up for an Access Card and that'll be your RAP for a £15 one off fee until it expires, or apply for a free one-day card each and every time, assessed in the same way as a paid-for application?

 

[Sambiasso]

RAP will continue to be free.

Access Card is £15 - Access card is for people with long term disabilities, you can show it at venues or businesses which shows that you have specific needs. It's an all in one type card rather than having a multiple cards for each attraction showing you have a disability.



I'm assuming in the future you can either show a RAP or Access card rather than having to apply for both, like it is currently.

 

[Danscott22]

RAP will continue to be free.

Access Card is £15 - Access card is for people with long term disabilities, you can show it at venues or businesses which shows that you have specific needs. It's an all in one type card rather than having a multiple cards for each attraction showing you have a disability.



I'm assuming in the future you can either show a RAP or Access card rather than having to apply for both, like it is currently.

Ah ok great thanks for explaining!

 

[jon81uk]

The main thing the parks need to do is to enforce the wait times with a Q-bot style app/device countdown so it is impossible to get on quicker than the main queue.