Nutek

Uncle_Bob

not unheard of for people to take their kids out of school for a Disney visit

redglade

We did the Disney thing (Orlando) about 4 years ago. The school calendar for some reason had two teacher in service days creating a 4 day weekend out of season in mid October. We stayed at a resort hotel (Animal Kingdom) and made use of the extended hours, also fast passes etc. The longest we had to wait in line was just over half an hour - most attractions were no longer than 15 minutes. When we entered a park we would split up and one of us would go and fetch the fast passes for the "must do" ride and the other would stand in line with the kids for the photo with the Disney Character. We spent a little extra to get the passes that allowed us to visit more than one park a day. We would start the day in one park and then go back to the hotel for a swim and a rest for a few hours in the afternoon, and then visit a second park in the evening. I think we missed a lot of the long afternoon lines that way and were never too tired to enjoy ourselves. We bought extra tickets for an after hours "Halloween Party" at Magic Kingdom - there were lots of treats for the kids and no wait at any of the rides, we did the kid's favourites again and again and again. Yes, we spent a lot of money, but we had a good time, and have some great memories and have absolutely no intention of ever going back.

Yorkieabroad

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yorkieabroad

Been there

Said that

Been back

Yorkieabroad

Yeah, I know....some (UK) friends did that even though it was their 3rd "unexcused" for the year, and they got hit with a $500 fine, but they still reckoned they came out ahead!

Yorkieabroad

But to get back on topic...

If I broke a foot and had a plaster on, I'd reckon fair game on a bit of queue skipping...

Rent a Disabled person for the day? Repugnant.

Yorkieabroad

5th post in a row...a first for me!!

Funny story - sort of - unless it was your leg....

Anyone notice that in addition to the usual "Don't ride if you're pregnant/badback/heart problem" signs, Universal have an extra bit - "no prosthetic limbs".

We found out why.....

We had a 40 minute delay on the Red Dragon ride at Harry Potter because someone snuck through with a prosthetic leg...they weren't spotted, started the ride and erm, "lost" it on one of the loop the loops

Caused all sorts of problems while they tried to recover it apparently.....

GeoffM

I heard they tried to sue the park... but didn't have a leg to stand on.

Gingerert

captainsensible

If its Disney policy to allow a group of people to skip the lines if they are accompanied by a disable person then it's not surprising that someone is enterprising enough to exploit it. Look at it another way, the disabled person offering their services is earning money that they might not necessarily have been able to.

I don't see anything wrong with it of the deman is there and the rules allow it (that bit is disneys problem and not sure they could come up with a workable alternative without penalizing 'legitimate 'visitors)

AmerLisa

I just read the article on CNN and thought the end comments were valid. While I don't agree with it in whole, I do like these thoughts:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/15/us/dis...html?hpt=hp_t2

But others had a different view.

"At least they are sharing the wealth and providing the less fortunate with over $1000 a day to go to Disney World," one of the first comments on this CNN.com story said, from user "blindliberal."

And jessied44 wrote, "$1040 for a day spent having fun -- not a bad job. Pretending they are part of the family isn't a good example for the children, but providing work for someone who is disabled isn't a bad thing to do."

Gingerert

Nope. Bleugh.

It also avoids the notion that not all disability is physical. You couldn't hire my sister, for example. She has trouble standing/walking for extended amounts of time, but her main disability is cognitive/intellectual. Hiring her would just be exploitative.

Oh, AND!! As the sister and the mother of two people with profound disabilities, I'd argue that there have to be SOME perks to living what is generally a very difficult life. Vix and Little O deserve those passes because for the rest of their lives they generally get shafted. You don't get to buy your way into this, because your life, as a stinking rich asshole, is just about perfect. Let's not pretend those hiring the "guides" are doing this for some generous reason. It undermines the whole thing and pisses me off.

GeoffM

How does one account for that on one's tax submission?

Gingerert

No idea.