Lego Land and DDA

blue_monkey_2

Zziggi wrote: »

Has Alton Towers tightened up their procedures fo the exit wrist bands this year?

We went near the end of last year and the exit queues were huge with people with the wrist bands. My DS couldn't even stand queuing in those queues so we left early & v v disappointed!

Whilst we were there we got talking to a family with a child with a hearing aid who were saying how great it was to just show a DLA letter & not have to queue. Now maybe the child had more illnesses than just hearing loss, but they didn't say. However on the surface I do wonder exactly what prevented that family from queuing in the normal queue. I can see that the child might need to be accompanied around the park for safety reasons (if a ride broke down and couldn't hear/understand safety instructions) and therefore offer a discounted rate for a carer's ticket to get into the park - but an exit pass????

To be honest, if Alton towers don't tighten up on their exit pass policy then we simply won't go ever again.

Zziggi, as you are the parent of a disabled child, your post is shocking, tbh. are you saying 'It's OK for my child to have a hidden disability but not yours'?. Do deaf children not have any other conditions? You are assuming not. Why should your child be treated differently to this disabled child?

If the parent of a child with a disability could be this judgemental, just think of what the parents with 'ordinary' children must be feeling.

Maybe it would be better all the disabled children stay at home for the future so they will not be in the queue when you get there. Maybe there are the queues because disabled children are finally being given a chance to get out and enjoy life instead of being stuck indoors. You should be grateful of this.

I for one think that it is great that these companies recognise our children have a need and there will always be people that abuse the system, even if they do tighten it up, same with anything that can be abused for personal gain. it will be. Some people are just greedy.

We went to Florida and the queue, even with Fastpasses and Exit Passes for Toy Story Mania was at least 15 minutes. It does not mean it was busy and too many bands are being given out, it means it is a great ride all the kids want to go on.

iwannanicerlife

Somebody has asked what rides the timed ride access pass scheme covers at Legoland.

They are:

Wheelchair users & Exit pass holders:

Laser raiders, Boating school, The Dragon & Dragon's Apprentice

Exit pass holders only:
Atlantis Submarine Voyage (opens summer) & Pirate Falls

The ride access pass also states:

Three helpers per ride is the maximum number permitted.
A minimum of one helper must accompany you on a ride for safety reasons.
Helpers must be at least 14 years old.

pipkin71

lilly81 wrote: »

My son is 8 and would be horrified at people seeing the big yellow card, because he has a hidden disability and that would just highlight it!

Flyboy152 wrote: »

It is not a case of folding the card, it is the fact that we have to have a conspicuous label which defines his status. Do you have one of which shows your status as an able-bodied person?

Do you not think that using the exit passes would also be highlighting that someone in the group has a disability?

If someone didn't want anyone else to know about their hidden disability, they would be standing in the usual queue with everyone else.

It's also been mentioned about having to spend at least six hours at the park in order to use the six main rides. For many people who go during school holidays, they may need to go more than once because of the length of time spent waiting to go on the more popular rides.

The idea of the DDA is to make things accessible so that people with disabilities get to experience the same things as someone who isn't disabled, and to make it easier for them to do that.

The idea isn't so that someone with a disability benefits above and beyond what someone who is able bodied may do.

I honestly believe that legoland are being very fair here.

lilly81

Pipkin as my later post states- Fair point about the yellow card and maybe it will stop people from glaring at us as we go straight on the rides?

Merlin's magic wand offer free tickets for disabled child and family http://www.merlinsmagicwand.org/

jetta_wales

blue_monkey wrote: »

Zziggi, as you are the parent of a disabled child, your post is shocking, tbh. are you saying 'It's OK for my child to have a hidden disability but not yours'?. Do deaf children not have any other conditions? You are assuming not. Why should your child be treated differently to this disabled child?

If the parent of a child with a disability could be this judgemental, just think of what the parents with 'ordinary' children must be feeling.

Maybe it would be better all the disabled children stay at home for the future so they will not be in the queue when you get there. Maybe there are the queues because disabled children are finally being given a chance to get out and enjoy life instead of being stuck indoors. You should be grateful of this.

I for one think that it is great that these companies recognise our children have a need and there will always be people that abuse the system, even if they do tighten it up, same with anything that can be abused for personal gain. it will be. Some people are just greedy.

We went to Florida and the queue, even with Fastpasses and Exit Passes for Toy Story Mania was at least 15 minutes. It does not mean it was busy and too many bands are being given out, it means it is a great ride all the kids want to go on.

When an unnecessarily combative post when it was made very clear that the coments were only refering to IF the child DIDN'T have any other conditions and it was said that of course this may well have been the case that they did. On the parent in questions remarks it is perfectly pheasable to wonder if it's only a DLA letter that is needed for these passes and that would mean that many could be getting them just because they have a disability that may well not mean they can not queue.

Some require a blue badge maybe that would be a more accurate indication of mobility issues or a DLA letter but only at HRM.

Brassedoff

jetta_wales wrote: »

When an unnecessarily combative post when it was made very clear that the coments were only refering to IF the child DIDN'T have any other conditions and it was said that of course this may well have been the case that they did. On the parent in questions remarks it is perfectly pheasable to wonder if it's only a DLA letter that is needed for these passes and that would mean that many could be getting them just because they have a disability that may well not mean they can not queue.

Some require a blue badge maybe that would be a more accurate indication of mobility issues or a DLA letter but only at HRM.

That is a great idea. It would be the test recognised by everyone.

Zziggi

Brassedoff wrote: »

That is a great idea. It would be the test recognised by everyone.

Unfortunately DLA HRM indicates mobility issues and not inability to queue. Therefore an autistic child, for example, is unlikely to get HRM but may have a genuine difficulty with queuing. also what about those who can walk 200m, 500m etc so therefore don't get HRM but would find it impossible to walk round a site the size of Alton Towers.

There seems to be 2 reasons for wristbands:
(1) wheelchair user - so may have no inability to queue but needs to use the exit for access reasons
(2) person with queuing difficulties (physical or mental) - doesn't need to use the exit for access reasons but due to difficulties queuing.

Zziggi

blue_monkey wrote: »

Zziggi, as you are the parent of a disabled child, your post is shocking, tbh. are you saying 'It's OK for my child to have a hidden disability but not yours'?. Do deaf children not have any other conditions? You are assuming not. Why should your child be treated differently to this disabled on.

Please re-read my post blue_monkey. I said that maybe the child had other illnesses but the parent didn't mention it. Therefore this lead me to assume the child had hearing problems only. I was very clear that I was assuming the girl had hearing problems only & that I could be wrong. However if the child did only have hearing difficulties then I think it is wrong that they got exit passes. I stand by that. I don't minimise the difficulty that hearing probes cause to individuals but I don't believe that just having hearing difficulties means you can't stand in a queue.

Beki88

blue_monkey wrote: »

Did you mean how the pass works?

I meant with the changes. I emailed legoland and they said as far as they knew it was the same as last year that you can not return to the same ride within an hour. So at 10am you could go on Laser raiders, then 10.15 on boating school etc.

I asked about what OP had said about you have to wait an hour before you can go on the next big 6 ride, so for instance ride at 10am on Laser raiders but then you have to wait until 11am for say Boating school, and they said it isnt like that as far as they know!

Then someone else said they enter the queue time on the paper.

Im just a bit confused with all the different info.

Derivative

I want to be honest and say they are already being rather nice to allow you to skip the queue in the first place, no?
They are doing a fair amount already to accommodate you and your son. You seem to be moaning over getting "6 rides in 6 hours" on the big rides. To be quite honest, that sounds about right for an able bodied person at the big theme parks.

However you have the ability to go on other rides and skip the queue, so no issues of boredom or whatever.

I'm not going to claim to be an expert on ADHD but this just seems daft. One ride per hour sounds to me about average for an able bodied person. So you get to skip the queues and get approximately the same amount of rides in anyway.

On the yellow card: I'm pretty sure that people are observant enough to notice you "skipping the queue" (no offense intended) anyway, so what does a sheet of paper matter? I wear glasses, people know my eyesight is broken. People have disabled badges in cars. What is the issue?