I’m going to side with Northdetective on this one. I don’t really understand muting him for his opinion either…
The ADA system at most parks sucks, and there’s no denying that it can greatly benefit the people using it. And for the people who genuinely need the accommodation? Great. That’s literally what the system is there for.
The problem is the people who only get one when the line is long, or who bring a group of 5+ friends along with them simply because the pass applies to the whole group. If someone genuinely cannot wait in a traditional queue, absolutely, accommodate them. But if you are physically capable of waiting in the line and are using ADA primarily to avoid a 30, 60, or 90 minute wait, I don’t think that’s what the system was intended for.
And honestly, the parks deserve some blame here too. They don’t do nearly enough to prevent abuse, but they also don’t do a great job making the ADA process seamless for everyone else.
Take row assignments, for example. If an ADA guest wants row 1, why does the grouper need to hold up the entire operation or make everyone else wait for that row? Just skip row 1, fill the rest of the train, and let the ADA group load at the same time as everyone else.
Universal does this really well. If a group of six using an accommodation wants the back two rows of Hulk, they can radio the grouper, the grouper simply leaves those rows empty, and the ADA group loads at the same time as everyone else. Nobody has to stand there watching a group “cut” through the queue, and operations aren’t unnecessarily disrupted.
That also eliminates a lot of the perception problem.
And yes, I know “line anxiety” is a real thing for some people. But I think it has become an incredibly broad excuse for ADA accommodations. Everyone standing in a 30+ minute line gets tired. Everyone gets uncomfortable. Everyone gets anxious when they’re standing in a packed queue for an hour.
That doesn’t automatically mean someone needs an ADA accommodation.
There are also absolutely people in the enthusiast community who will look at a 90 minute wait, go ride something with a 20 minute wait, and then use their accommodation to come back and effectively bypass that 90 minute line. I’ve seen it happen way too often.
So no, I don’t think every ADA user is abusing the system. I don’t think people should be questioned about their disabilities. And I don’t think someone should be made to feel guilty for legitimately using an accommodation.
But pretending there is no abuse, or that the current system doesn’t give some people a significant advantage over the standby guest, is just ignoring reality.
The solution isn’t getting rid of ADA accommodations. The solution is making sure they’re being used for the people who actually need them, while designing the system so legitimate ADA guests can be accommodated without unnecessarily disrupting everyone else’s experience.
