Disneyland Paris disabled pass and queueing

mercman1969

We are taking our 4 year old on Monday for 3 days
She has a number of illnesses and gets DLA

Does the DLA letter suffice to enable to get the fast pass?

ShockingPink

I've been interested in this thread, as my young niece is disabled, but looking on the Disney website, it says this:

The Easy Access Card allows you to access certain attractions via entrances that have been specially adapted for the mobility-impaired. However, it does not give you priority access to attractions

which I take to mean that you still have to queue as long as anyone else?

Bean_Counter

ShockingPink wrote: »

I've been interested in this thread, as my young niece is disabled, but looking on the Disney website, it says this: which I take to mean that you still have to queue as long as anyone else?

In theory yes, but in practice those operating the rides may allow you to enter at the exit. When we last went in 2007, we got on some rides this way (didn't go on too many rides as my son didn't like most of them!)

blue_monkey_2

mercman1969 wrote: »

We are taking our 4 year old on Monday for 3 days
She has a number of illnesses and gets DLA

Does the DLA letter suffice to enable to get the fast pass?

Sometimes, I had to show my BB - does she have one? I would take all of the paperwork (I had letters from the doc to back up the DLA latters), there is no harm in asking after all. Just make sure you put them in something waterproof so they do not get ruined.

blue_monkey_2

ShockingPink wrote: »

I've been interested in this thread, as my young niece is disabled, but looking on the Disney website, it says this: which I take to mean that you still have to queue as long as anyone else?

Yes, although you do not wait in the queue. They have a sheet with times on it of 5 minute intervals and as people show their passes they get a time to come back, so if 10 people are already in the 'queue' you get a time in 50 minutes, if there is no-one then you can get on in 5 minutes.

So there is no set rules, the card acts like a fastpass really. Then you find something to do for that time and come back. If you miss your time and others are waiting when you get to the back of the queue then they get their time first, you do not jump ahead of them.

blue_monkey_2

Bean_Counter wrote: »

In theory yes, but in practice those operating the rides may allow you to enter at the exit. When we last went in 2007, we got on some rides this way (didn't go on too many rides as my son didn't like most of them!)

You get on at the exit of all of them of you have the green card, it tells you what to do on the back. It is an Exit Pass. Sometimes you will get the car at the back (like on Thunder Mountain), other times you will join the queue near the end like with a fastpass.

If there was little or no queue then we did not use it, if there was a big queue then we did. We tend to go quiet times of year if possible though as it is easier for my son to deal with.

T--J

ShockingPink wrote: »

I've been interested in this thread, as my young niece is disabled, but looking on the Disney website, it says this: which I take to mean that you still have to queue as long as anyone else?

I think Disney as a company, want everyone to be treated equally so are in the process of making the majority of queues wheelchair accessible. From what I've read on the Disney forums, this is the case for the majority of rides in Orlando but in Paris, the majority are still inaccessible so wheelchair users have to go in via the exit and as a result, usually get on the ride within a few minutes. When I went in November, there were only 3 rides which we had to be given a time for (Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean & Buzz Lightyear).

Brummig

I think it just depends how busy it is in the park - they can't have/ don't want more than 2 groups waiting with the Easy Pass at any time. We were given a time on a couple of occassions but mainly went straight in and just waited a couple of minutes. One time they offered us a slot in 30 minutes, but we asked to come back in 90 minutes so we could go and have something to eat first - they were happy to do this.


mercman1969 - the Disney Access Guide says you need a letter from GP or consultant dated within last 3 months, although when we went they didn't ask for it and were happy with the DLA letter.

We didn't try and use it for seeing characters, although we had a bit of an incident when DS, who has always been scared of characters, suddenly decided he was going to see Mickey outside our hotel and ran straight to the front of the queue. The minder was straight on him pushing him away and telling him off, but when I said he has autism there were more understanding, and we just went to the back of the line (it was only about 10 people).

Bean_Counter

Bonjour tout le monde. Comment ca va?

Just back from Disneyland Paris and thought I would add our experiences if anyone was interested.

Most of our experiences mirrored what blue_monkey had said earlier. I had taken a letter from our consultant paediatrician outlining my sons disabilities and had also taken the DLA award letter, but the doctors letter was sufficient. We got one green card which covered the four of us which was valid for both parks for the duration of our stay.

As blue_monkey said, some of the more popular rides offer a reservation system (these rides are listed on the back of the card) where you go to the entrances and they give you a time to come back at. For us we have no longer than a five minute wait for our time to come around, so we would hang around and then enter via the exit and go on the ride.

For other rides it is at the discretion of the person at the entrance to the ride. For some rides they were allowing one disabled party on at a time, so you had to wait for those in the queue ahead to finish before you got on. For other rides you would show your card at the entrance and there was a separate line to go down where you went straight to the front of the queue. We didn't go on any of the big rollercoaster rides as the kids didn't want to do that so can't comment on that.

As we were staying at a Disney hotel, some of the rides in the park opened at 8am rather than 10am. We went in early do to the rides that my daughter wanted to do but my son didn't (and hence could not of course use the card) and there would be no queue - you could finish the ride, walk back round and get on it again which was great. Also if there was a ride where my son wanted to go which had a minimal queue, we would just wait in the queue which would be just as quick as using the ticket.

All in all we had a great time, the ticket worked well for us and saved us loads of hassle of dealing with a special needs child in a queue that he doesn't understand. Also all the Disney staff were great - no complaints at all.

Let me know if anyone has any other queries.

emsaver

My husband is the disabled one in our family - he would go on the rides with our 4 year old daughter as he has hemiplegia and can walk short distances. Does this mean they can both go on together while I look after the baby?
Oh and by the way Aputsiaq - He'd give back the blue badge, DLA and all the queue jumping in the world for one pain-free day in his whole life!!
Mwwwah!!!!!