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Walt Disney World Parks
By Stephen Ashley
Waiting in line is a fact of life
at Disney World. Every Disney World attraction has at least one entrance
for guests. Some have a second entrance for wheelchair or special
needs guests who have a GAC (Guest Assistance Card). Some of these
queue lines start forming outside, and some are completely indoors.
These queues can be totally themed and entertaining, or they can be completely boring.
Some provide protection from the elements and some provide none.
For many attractions, guests with disabilities
and special needs are
sent through the lines or queues with everyone else. Some of the rides
and attractions do have separate entrances or allow you to bypass the
entire queue or certain parts of the queue. Some even allow you to
bypass parts of the attraction.
Many rides have a "chickening out" door which
allows you to go through the queue line, but to exit before you go on
the ride. Some queues are so interesting that it's worth it to
wait in the line even if you don't go on the ride.
At times being in a wheelchair has cut down our
wait time considerably. Yet for some attractions we’ve actually had to wait
longer because we had a wheelchair guest in our party. For many attractions, we
probably waited about the same amount of time as everyone else.
Really the best way to reduce wait times is to use a
FASTPASS whenever it's available.
We have found that when approaching
or entering an attraction
there is usually a cast member who will direct a wheelchair or GAC guest
to the correct entrance or queue line. There is a booklet that you can
get at Guest Relations that gives you an up-to-date listing of all
special entrances. At times they do change, but it's usually
pretty easy to find the correct entrance without the booklet. Our
guide book, Walt
Disney World with Disabilities shows you how to find the
entrances that are more difficult to spot.
Some of the queues are indoors with air
conditioning. Some are outdoors with full sun, partial shading or full
shade. Walt Disney
World with Disabilities gives you the queue conditions for each
attraction.
Most queues do not have any seating whatsoever. On
occasion you will find a rail to lean on or the occasional prop such as
a rock to sit on. Before my wife Sarah began using an ECV (electric
convenience vehicle or wheelchair), she would just sit on the floor in
front of me. I’d stand behind her to keep people from stepping on her.
There’s a book that may be helpful for those queues
that are particularly long or boring. It’s called The Disney Queue
Line Survival Guidebook by Kimberly Button. It has activities,
puzzles and trivia questions related to the attraction, as well as tips
for avoiding long lines. This may be an effective way of keeping kids
occupied and entertained. You can buy it on the web at
www.disneysurvivalguide.com.
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