• 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.

The Merlin VIP Annual Pass

ihaveaspergers said:
You know GPs won't issue a letter without reason, however merlin have no system in place to verify a letter came from a GP other then it being in headed paper.

Sent from my Swift 2 X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yeah, but it's not hard to pick an ailment, find out the symptoms and then con a doctor these days. Most havn't got time to mess around. Fit the criteria and they'll probably sign you off somewhere on whatever spectrum. Apparently, there aren't any badly behaved kids anymore, just ones who are afflicted by some illness which has nothing to do with themselves or their parents. And who would tell them any different?
 
BarryZola said:
Yeah, but it's not hard to pick an ailment, find out the symptoms and then con a doctor these days. Most havn't got time to mess around. Fit the criteria and they'll probably sign you off somewhere on whatever spectrum. Apparently, there aren't any badly behaved kids anymore, just ones who are afflicted by some illness which has nothing to do with themselves or their parents. And who would tell them any different?
Click to expand...
It would be easierier to just create a fake letter yourself.

Sent from my Swift 2 X using Tapatalk
 
We seen it all and it happens more than you think. It really undermines those that really genuinely depend on the use of the RAP.

We seen people swap wheelchairs with other members in the group to get onto rides quicker or do re-rides. We once seen a group of people go into the disable queue with one member using a wheelchair. After they had a went on Galatica, they then parked up the wheelchair and got out leaving the walking stick in the wheelchair, and then they all RAN around to the normal queue to get a re-ride (presuming that the time card prevented them from doing so sooner).

At the end of the day, it's those that are in genuine need to use the disable facilities that are the ones that are being forced out. For those with profound disabilities find access to most facilities very limiting with out people abusing the system. As a carer of someone with a profound disability, this is something that we do feel strongly about as we more often than not find that we can't access many facilities especially when people abuse the little facilities that we can actually access.

As for the subject of the VIP attitude, I can't say that I've personally seen such behaviour on park. If someone willing to pay £800 for their VIP pass, then they have every right to use the fast track queues as many times as they want. I don't have a problem with that.
 
Wheelchair users don't automatically get RAP, before you generalise about RAP users do some research, they do not get priority or special treatment, they have a different type of queueing system, but they still queue the same amount of time you do, just they can do it on a park bench or a picnic blanket, well away from thoughtless narrow minded people that make their lives a misery just for having a disability.

Merlin are as strict as they can be within the laws of this Country over RAP entitlement, if you don't like it petition your MP to change the Data Protections Act, but be very careful with what you wish for. I've seen them refuse RAP many times, it happens far more often than you'd imagine and there is one particular staff member at Chessington who really stands her ground over it, no matter how much she gets shouted at.

Or better still just get the chip off your shoulder you seem to have about VIP passholders or the disabled, if a person can afford the pass so what, the laws of physics will eventually curtail their desire to ride Wickerman over and over, and if it's a RAP user, they might be lucky to be capable of riding one or two rides a day before it becomes too much, don't tar everybody with the same brush.

Yes, as Roy has said, there are some that flaunt the rules and stick two fingers up to you, these people will do it regardless of whether they have RAP or VIP passes, there are just genuinely some shits about, but this doesn't mean every VIP or RAP user is like this.
 
Can you explain it me then, genuinely. I (classed as a normal park guest I suppose) walk down towards Smiler with my mate who is entitled to RAP as he can't cope with queueing. We walk to the entrance and we both want to ride together. What happens when we get to the entrance of the Smiler first thing in the morning? I genuinely don't know the answer.
 
Well yes, the first ride is free, but then if there is no queue, he has to wait the 20 minutes or whatever the minimum is they put on the card (it varies from park to park, some it's 20, others 45) before he can go on another ride, whereas you can run back in the queue and get a re-ride immediately while he sits on a bench waiting out his no-ride time.

RAP also isn't immediate access, only one RAP user can go on a ride at a time, so often, especially on Smiler, the RAP queue is about 20 minutes, it's not all glory and light.

Legoland have fixed this flaw in their system, I'm quiet surprised the other parks haven't bought this on, or copied Paulton's

Edit: Yes he could cover his wristband up and re-enter the main queue with you, but doing so is a risk, the batcher could remember him and refuse entry, take the wristband or if someone sees the band you get decamped off the ride, they're particularly hot on that on Oblivion, I've seen them pull people already strapped into seats off the ride who have disabled wristbands because they used the main queue (because it was walk on), it's swings and roundabouts, where you might see someone getting perceived priority, you might miss another being refused entry or pulled out their seat because they used the wrong queue, RAP users are put in specific seats/rows because in the event of a breakdown they are the most likely person to panic and need to be evac'd first, so that is why they get the back seat more often than not (or in Oblivions case, the seat near the stairs). On Rita they even go as far as telling you which seat to sit in (RAP left, helper right).
 
Last edited:
Ironically, I see lots of RAP users quiet happily queuing at the gates in the morning before the shutters go up and the quiet happily queue inside guest services to get a RAP band.

At the end of the day, it's not for me or anyone else apart from the park to say who can and can't use the RAP. It is always difficult for those with hidden disabilities to all be tarnish with the same brush, but if I see people switching wheelchairs or running out of a wheelchair, or someone claiming that they can't walk far, but can walk around Alton Towers with ease, then I think I have the right to judge.

The law is recently changing to ensure that those with hidden disabilities to be recognises the same as those with a visible disabilities in the eyes of Blue Badges and PIP. I personally think this is a good thing and hopefully that it will prevent the division between wheelchair users and non wheelchair users. However I still think more provisions need to be put into place for those with profound disabilities so that those at the most severe end of the spectrum don't get squeezed out.
 
Last edited:
Yes, that irony is not lost on me Roy. It's the reason we don't enter the park until after half 11 at the earliest, that way there is no queue to get in or at guest services, and why we didn't go into Chessington last week until 3pm.

My point is, for every person you see taking the piss, there are ten that don't, so don't tar us all with the same brush.
 
"Well yes, the first ride is free, but then if there is no queue, he has to wait the 20 minutes or whatever the minimum is they put on the card"

Care to explain this further. I like the way this was quickly explained away in the write-up. What is a 'free ride'?
 
free ride as in not having to do any queueing for it, but really it's not a free ride because even if the queue is walk on, they still mark the card with a 20 minute black out period, in which you can do a re-ride. Free ride was probably the wrong phrase, what I should have probably said was quick access.

If you worked it out in a spreadsheet, I'd bet a genuine RAP user would not get on any more rides than a non-RAP user in any given day, just the order they would do things would differ. I could give you an example but this is getting way OT.
 
So, if I was a RAP user I could go to a ride entrance and get some kind of ticket or stamp, to return in 20 mins or so? Then go have a nice bit of food at the chicken place and instagram my buddies about how great it is and what's goin at Towers, then go back down to the Smiler station just on time?
 
BarryZola said:
So, if I was a RAP user I could go to a ride entrance and get some kind of ticket or stamp, to return in 20 mins or so? Then go have a nice bit of food at the chicken place and instagram my buddies about how great it is and what's goin at Towers, then go back down to the Smiler station just on time?
Click to expand...
The point of rap is that we effectively have to wait the length of the queue without actually being in the queue.
I can say for certain I couldn't cope with being in The Smilers cattlepen for even 20 minutes.
(Yes I still use rap as VIP only gets myself and a carer ft not others in my group)

Sent from my Swift 2 X using Tapatalk
 
ihaveaspergers said:
The point of rap is that we effectively have to wait the length of the queue without actually being in the queue.
I can say for certain I couldn't cope with being in The Smilers cattlepen for even 20 minutes.
(Yes I still use rap as VIP only gets myself and a carer ft not others in my group)

Sent from my Swift 2 X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I understand. What exactly is it that stops you coping with the queue's after say 15 minutes until the end of it then? Are the first 10 minutes ok? I'm just asking as I really have a problem being in queues and I might have to seek some specialist help I think. It's like I really want to punch someone or something if I've been pretty much standing in the same spot waiting for something like a ride. Even when I move a few steps forward it's like I've hardly gotten anywhere near the front of the queue. It's so god damn annoying! I think to myself "I may as well just sit down here for 5 minutes because it won't actually make a real difference when I get up and rejoin the person who I was behind before". Then you get these folks who have got the nerve to buy a Walls Twister from the shoppy thing half way through the queue. Slowing me down again! The bloody nerve! I'll give them a feckin Twister! I've got better things to be doing than this. I could be having a nice relaxing chicken meal in a nearby outlet for example.

However, about 25-30 mins in (I wouldn't really wait that long cus I'm not a shmuck) I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (well, a black box which is an excuse for a ride station) so I decide that I may be able to drag myself to the box enclosure on my own two feet, just about, as long as my mental health will allow me (the depression has set in firmly by now - and don't judge my depression - who are you to judge my level of depression?). The strange noises coming out of the speakers have completely frazzled me by now. On and on and on. Stupid fucking noises and laughing. The laughing noises seem almost as delusional as I am at this stage, but not quite. I'm mentally crippled.

Very quickly though, I'm summoned into the black box and the guy in funny coloured clothes points me up some stairs and his mate then pushes me into a seat. Bloody hell, I'm actually on the ride now. That wasn't too bad, was it?

Didn't like the part when I had to stand with other people not doing anything though. That was a bit uncomfortable. If I could cut that bit out, that would be brill. Doctor can probably help me with that I reckon......
 
BarryZola said:
I understand. What exactly is it that stops you coping with the queue's after say 15 minutes until the end of it then? Are the first 10 minutes ok? I'm just asking as I really have a problem being in queues and I might have to seek some specialist help I think. It's like I really want to punch someone or something if I've been pretty much standing in the same spot waiting for something like a ride. Even when I move a few steps forward it's like I've hardly gotten anywhere near the front of the queue. It's so god damn annoying! I think to myself "I may as well just sit down here for 5 minutes because it won't actually make a real difference when I get up and rejoin the person who I was behind before". Then you get these folks who have got the nerve to buy a Walls Twister from the shoppy thing half way through the queue. Slowing me down again! The bloody nerve! I'll give them a feckin Twister! I've got better things to be doing than this. I could be having a nice relaxing chicken meal in a nearby outlet for example.

However, about 25-30 mins in (I wouldn't really wait that long cus I'm not a shmuck) I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (well, a black box which is an excuse for a ride station) so I decide that I may be able to drag myself to the box enclosure on my own two feet, just about, as long as my mental health will allow me (the depression has set in firmly by now - and don't judge my depression - who are you to judge my level of depression?). The strange noises coming out of the speakers have completely frazzled me by now. On and on and on. Stupid ****ing noises and laughing. The laughing noises seem almost as delusional as I am at this stage, but not quite. I'm mentally crippled.

Very quickly though, I'm summoned into the black box and the guy in funny coloured clothes points me up some stairs and his mate then pushes me into a seat. Bloody hell, I'm actually on the ride now. That wasn't too bad, was it?

Didn't like the part when I had to stand with other people not doing anything though. That was a bit uncomfortable. If I could cut that bit out, that would be brill. Doctor can probably help me with that I reckon......
Click to expand...
Is there some reason you don't think the likes of autism and Asperger's deserve rap?

Sent from my Swift 2 X using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top