Disney World as Excursion and Lawsuit

Hi,

We have been and still are thinking about going to Disney on an exucrion on a cruise port in Port Canveral. But seeing all that is going on these days with Disney what do you think about taking your children with autism. We are very unsettled about this

Look at this: http://deadline.com/2014/08/disney-lawsuit-expanding-autistic-kids-parents-825933/

Hi,

 

We have been and still are thinking about going to Disney on an exucrion on a cruise port in Port Canveral. But seeing all that is going on these days with Disney what do you think about taking your children with autism. We are very unsettled about this

 

Look at this: http://deadline.com/2014/08/disney-lawsuit-expanding-autistic-kids-parents-825933/

Personally the Lawsuit would not influence my decision nor has it influenced my sister from taking her entire family to Disney World. Her grandchild has a disorder that has symptoms very similar to autism.

Unfortunately too many people/families with autism and other disabilities feel a sense of entitlement because of their circumstances. Disney's policy was changed by the abuse of able-body people that felt they were entitled to the same benefits that Disney provided to families of autism and other disabilities. Perhaps the lawsuit should be against the parties that caused Disney to have to change its policy and not Disney.

This is the first time I heard about this lawsuit. You should not let it deter you from going.

We have been taking our daughters to Disneyland every year for the last three years, since our oldest was four. She has autism and Disneyland was her incentive to work hard in school. We had never heard of or used their disability program until last year when they changed it. I read about the change in the news and how badly it had been abused which resulted in horribly long lines for the disabled lines. I learned of the new program and we got her a disability access card this last trip. We think the new program is great!

The previous years it was very hard for her to wait in the long lines and we had some meltdowns. We tried to plan our day to hit the popular ones (especially in Fantasy Land) first thing in the morning and we had two magic mornings which where great to get in rides before the long lines. Some rides we had to pass on such as Peter Pan where she over heated in the line, because most of the line is in the sun. We did what we could to try to avoid long lines.

With our last trip, using the card allowed us to schedule a future time for ride and then go eat, rest in the shade or whatever we needed to do for our daughters. When we showed up at the scheduled time for a ride and some rides we got right on, others just had a short wait, or for more popular rides like Radiator Springs Racers maybe a 15 minute wait. She loved Racers, it was her favorite ride.

We didn't use the card all the time, especially if the lines were not too long and we didn't mind that we couldn't "walk on" all the rides, because we feel it is important for her to learn how to wait patiently in a line.

We were happy and pleased with the program and it worked very well for our daughter.

Wow that is interesting what has happened

Sad that some now are being punished for a few closed minded people

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Wow that is interesting what has happened

Sad that some now are being punished for a few closed minded people.

Did we read the same article? This has nothing to do with "closed minded people" and someone being "punished". It's about people abusing the system and then suing because they don't care for Disney's solution to the problem.

Personally, I would not attempt to go to Disney on a cruise stop. It's a long drive both ways and I don't think you have enough time to visit the park.

The law suit has no merit. I am very familiar with it as I am on several Disney message boards. What WDW has offered is the option to wait somewhere else other than the ride line until it is your turn to ride. You are given a return time that is ten minutes less than the length of the line. Your child does not have to be there to get the return time, just send someone in your group. What the people who are suing want is front of the line access and the privilege to loop, or ride over and over again w/o getting off.

The previous system WDW had basically allowed both of those things, but there were so many people abusing the system, it was throwing the standby ride time estimates completely out of whack. It was not unusual for an estimate of 20 min to turn into 45 because so many people were going through the fast pass line.

The current system is more than adequate. If your child can't handle lines, then you can do what DOES work for your child during your wait time. I think it's a great idea.

The law suit has no merit. I am very familiar with it as I am on several Disney message boards. What WDW has offered is the option to wait somewhere else other than the ride line until it is your turn to ride. You are given a return time that is ten minutes less than the length of the line. Your child does not have to be there to get the return time, just send someone in your group. What the people who are suing want is front of the line access and the privilege to loop, or ride over and over again w/o getting off.

 

The previous system WDW had basically allowed both of those things, but there were so many people abusing the system, it was throwing the standby ride time estimates completely out of whack. It was not unusual for an estimate of 20 min to turn into 45 because so many people were going through the fast pass line.

 

The current system is more than adequate. If your child can't handle lines, then you can do what DOES work for your child during your wait time. I think it's a great idea.

I totally agree and as posted above the new system and card worked very well for us and our autistic daughter. During our wait times we either rested in the shade, ate, rode another ride with a shorter line or did something else that she could enjoy. I can't believe they are suing over this. I think WDW has gone above and beyond accommodation requirements.

Firehunter, they really have tried hard. The Autism Society was actually involved in helping them come up with this system. A lot of the people in that lawsuit either have not gone at all because they just THINK the program won't work for them, or people who are continuing to go to the parks anyway.

There are several blogs and FB pages out there from some of this group's leaders.

I am so glad the system worked for you. We only used it a couple of times since generally, the rides with long waits are rides our son refuses to go on anyway. He and I do lots of people watching. And duck watching, and water and fountain watching. :)

Regarding an excursion to Disney, or any of the Orlando theme parks, I would make other plans. Unless you are on a cruise that arrives to PC at 6 am and does an overnight, allowing you the full day, you really only get a short time in the park. If you want to go to Disney, make plans to go to Disney, stay on the park grounds so that you get extra Magic hours, and enjoy the entire place.

As for the lawsuit, the people who filed it are entitled abusers, who think they should be entitled to special treatment. They want to be able to line jump all the time, always going instantly to the front, and too bad to all the people waiting their turn. I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way. Disney came up with a nice way of arranging it, kind of like a special fast-pass. You get the card, then send a representative to the ride you want to reserve, then go back to that ride at the appointed time. It means you do have to wait your turn, but you don't have to wait there in the line if it will cause problems. The lawsuit filers don't want to wait their turns.

I really hope it gets thrown out of court.

I agree you really wouldn't have time to enjoy yourself at wdw and get back to port on time those are two separate vacations

Two thoughts. Most important, check the time in port before booking a Disney excursion. Add time to get off ship to transportation and an hour each way drive. Even if the ship says 8 hr excursion, it cannot be that long if the ship is not in port til noon and parks close aT 7pm Magic Kingdom and 9pm Epcot. Disney will list park closing times. Remember to check crowd levels at the time of your trip. a July day would be packed, an early Nov less so.

I have researched this, not tried it. We are in NYC area and most ships dock at noon.

The change in rules for handicapped was certainly brought on by arrogance and greed. People were paying up to $1000 per day for a handicapped tour guide so their precious selves did not have to wait in line!! Others were claiming a handicapped child in order to jump lines. I AM handicapped and was there since the change. I had no problems. Adding on the fact the new magic pass program is starting up, there should be few problems with some planning. There have been many thousands of children with autism spectrum disorders since the change who had no added problems. These folks do not want to wait in line for their child, do not want to make any changes except jumping to the front without effort. Or hope to win cash from Disney and are jumping on the suit.