On MSNBC: Black market disabled disney guides let your whole family skip the lines: $50/hour

[lindysalsagal]

I don't know if there's an online article yet, or not, but I'm seeing this on MSNBC right now.

Cameras, video, sound, and everything. One of the reporters hired one of these disabled people, and proved that it works.


This is ugly, and I don't see a good solution. Got the link:

http://www.today.com/news/undercover-disney-deplorable-scheme-skip-lines-6C10131266

[cbdo2007]

1. Sucks that disabled people are taking advantage of this rule. Hopefully Disney will change

the rules so they can't let people cut in line with them.

[CreekDog]

5. the severly disabled are the most impoverished and unemployed demographic in the USA

not justifying this, but if so many of the disabled weren't discriminated against, this would not be so enticing.

[cbdo2007]

9. I know, I was just putting a new spin on it because last time this was discussed....

it turned into a post just to bash the "rich new yorkers" who were hiring the disabled people. I wondered why they were to blame rather than the disabled people themselves who are actually the ones profiting off of this rule.

[kysrsoze]

27. I wouldn't be so incensed if it weren't for the one dude hopping and skipping from ride to ride

You know... those rides that recommend people with back problems don't ride. How is he disabled? Mentally? And wouldn't the ride crews notice this asshole showing up every day with another family? WTF?

[dlwickham]

2. and?

I don't get the outrage about this

handicapped people get to make some money and others get to skip lines at Disney

big flipping deal

[randome]

11. Yeah, me neither. 'Black market'? As opposed to 'legitimate' cutting in line?

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[derby378]

3. OR...you could visit the part the week after Thanksgiving

That's when crowds and lines tend to be at their smallest.

[bunnies]

4. Sounds like capitalism to me.

[BuelahWitch]

26. Me too.

Disabled person gets some extra funds, stimulates the economy. It's all good!

[woodsprite]

6. We've been at Disney World and seen family/group members taking turns

in the wheelchairs and scooters, going to the front of the line all the time -- even witnessed various related individuals whining about whose turn it was to ride next. I think the last time we were down there, there was a family of 23 that had the selected scooter-fied individual get in line , then when it was time to board the ride, the rest of their extended family came over, walked to the front of the line and right on the ride. All got on while the rest of the line that had barely moved for 45 min gaped. The attendant said they realize people do this all the time, but it's just faster to let them on and move on with the ride.

Disney's lines are still better than Universal, where they charge a premium price for 'special tickets' so that the premium ticket holders queue into a different line that gets serviced first while everyone with a standard ticket waits in the other line. Universal's people-moving skills are nowhere near as good as Disney's, and the 'preferred ticket ($125+) option doesn't seem to help the situation. The only saving grace was that not many people wanted to part with that kind of money for tickets the days that we went.

I'll tell you what's not fun -- going down to Disney when they have the teen school trips coming over from a particular country. It's almost impossible to fast pass anything and there is a lot of line butting and rope jumping. Where American school kids tend to stay with their classes of 25 or 30 kids or so, these classes may have 100 to 200 kids and their families (it may looks like an entire grade rather than a class). They send a few of their teachers or chaperones with everyone's tickets (easily a stack 4-5" tall) and they stand there feeding the Fast Pass machine.

[Just Saying]

7. It's just another example of the rich taking advantage of the

Poor and in this case disabled.


It's a special kind of asshole that runs this con just to avoid lines at an amusement park. What's likely to happen is that Disney will change its policies thereby inconveniencing actual disabled people if/when they catch on. And they have a very good reputation for dealing with special needs. Shame on these entitled assholes!

[randome]

12. So the disabled people taking advantage of this are assholes, too?

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[Just Saying]

14. Since they're risking this special treatment reserved for all disabled people

As well as extending their wait by adding people to the line the shouldn't be there- yeah. Wrong is wrong whether they're disabled or not.

[randome]

16. Got it. Good point.

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[spinbaby]

8. This is the story that never dies

This thing has been discussed to death in the Disney newsgroups I frequent. Most queues at Disney World are handicapped accessible and wheelchairs wait in the same line as everyone else.

[Nye Bevan]

10. I've visited Disney with and without a handicapped person.

A wheelchair does *not* get you to the "front of the line". On "It's a Small World" for example, only about every fifth or sixth boat is equipped for wheelchairs, so if anything, we waited *longer* for this ride than people in the regular line.

[Just Saying]

17. I've been to Disney a number of times as well

And there absolutely are special lines. There is a shorter line for the fast passes and they pull handicapped people to the front of those.

And there's no way you should have waited longer. Those spots should only go to handicapped patrons and as they should be in the shorter line I mentioned shouldn't be waiting for spots they can't sit in. Grab a Disney employee next time! I guarantee they'll take care of you.

I know from experience that they bend over backwards for special needs as my son has severe food allergies and they went way out of their way at every turn to accommodate him.

Listen, this isn't about handicapped people making money as its likely illegal and at the very least unethical. As I said before, abusing privileges may lead to losing them or making them more difficult to get for those who legitimately deserve them.

[Bluenorthwest]

13. It is interesting how much people are offended to see a disability profit the disabled

in one freaking instance. I mean, it is supposed to inconvenience, inhibit, restrict and control those fuckers, not make them decent money. The very idea. They should be forced to donate that money to a middle class soccer team for able bodied youth at once!

[Egalitarian Thug]

18. Nobody's objecting to the disabled making a few bucks. I find it interesting that the

familiar names all seem to be latching onto this angle.

[Auggie]

15. Wouldn't happen if they limited park attendance

too many people, not enough rides.

[CreekDog]

21. or just do like in the old days, limit rides

you got tickets for the various rides or types of rides and once you used them, that's it.

even though you were limited by the number of tickets you had for each ride, you actually got more rides because the waiting didn't make riding a near impossibility.

[Butterbean]

19. I'll tell you why this irritates me.

Because we want to go to Disney next year, but we NEED a special needs pass for my autistic kid. He will tolerate waiting in line for a little bit (we did a "test run" with him at Busch Gardens to see if he could even tolerate a theme park and waiting in any lines at all), but not a massive hour long wait that can happen at Disney. We've spoken with many other autism families who've used the special needs pass there, and they said it made the trip so much better.

The reason this story grates me is because people will use ANYTHING to point fingers and disparage families with kids with disabilities as trying to milk the system, get freebies, etc. etc.. All stories like this do is add fuel to the fire. It's like the parents who act like flaming assholes at their IEPs and make ridiculous, impossible to meet "demands" because "it's their right," never mind if the school has the budget or the staff. To hell with budget and staffing, by God it's their right, and they will steam roll over anyone and run screaming all the way to the state office to get what they want, no matter how ridiculous and unreasonable it is.

One set of assholes ruins it for the whole lot of us and just reinforces that stupid "the disabled and their families do nothing but take advantage of the system" stereotype. I grow so weary of crap like this. Yeah, people who have those attitudes are going to have them regardless of any one news story, yadda yadda yadda, but the fact remains that we still don't need to give the idiots any more freaking ammo. People already think that we're rolling in money from "the state" and that we get tons of services because my kid is autistic. They are genuinely shocked when I tell them that we get no medicaid or SSDI or any of that stuff, and that the process to get such benefits is long and arduous, not just as simple as saying "my kid is disabled gimme gimme gimme."

[BlueCheese]

20. I totally agree with you.

Talk about ruining it for everyone.

[AnnieBW]

22. Fuck yeah!

My friend Kim is disabled. We take her to movies with us so that we can jump the long lines. I don't see any problem with this. Disabled people make money, and people who have whiny kids can jump the line.

[kysrsoze]

28. Well that's really fucking noble of you to take Kim to the movies so you can hop the line

Wouldn't it be better just to take her to the movies b/c she's a friend? Are the lines for the movie really that bad?

[AnnieBW]

35. She IS my friend

She is my friend, and that's primarily why we hang out with her. She lived in our house for two years. We take advantage (with her permission) of her parking pass and other benefits of being helper-people for a disabled person.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

23. You can avoid the crazy lines if you just use your brain

The latest ride will be lined up even if it is snowing, but otherwise just don't go until later in the evening after the hoards have taken the kids back to the hotel for bed.

I have been doing this for twenty years, it's bullet proof.

And it isn't as though you can't amuse yourself in Southern California for the rest of the day.

[Incitatus]

24. I had a childhood friend whose dad worked for a major oil company.

We went to some Orlando theme parks. There's a special VIP room at many of the attractions where we would hang out for a little while, air conditioned and refreshments served and would cut right in front of the hour + lines. I'm not familiar with the disabled cutting, but at least it's a good way for the disabled to make some money, assuming they aren't faking. It's not fair to everyone else, but I would think it accounts for less than 1% of the crowd.

[kysrsoze]

29. You're right. That's the key... as long as they aren't faking.

[Calista241]

25. Props to them.

For coming up with an inventive way to make some cash.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

30. The same could be said of Bernie Madoff.. NT

[Calista241]

31. Bernie Madoff broke the law..

Are you really comparing Madoff stealing millions, ruining people's lives, and being a douchebag mob financier to a couple disabled kids providing a service to tourists? I wouldn't care a lot even if it was a disabled middle aged dude.

[Occulus]

32. Donald Ian Rankin would compare a ham sandwich to Al Capone if

there were a way to bash a progressive while doing it.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

34. Yes, absolutely: both made money by cheating others.

There's obviously a... significant... quantitative difference, but not a qualitative one.

[bike man]

33. A non-problem that does not need a solution. It is an opportunity for a disabled person

to make extra money, as well as see the sites.

If YOU were to see a person/family group going to the head of the line, WWYD (what would you do?) - challenge them?

It was here http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022841832 and maybe other times as well.