You too can enjoy the “perks” of the disabled!! All it
takes is about $1300 and a complete lack of morals and grace. The parking is
great too!
I read this yesterday about a new
“trend” among some of the more wealthy and vapid members of our society. It is
all the rage among a (hopefully) small group of parents to hire a
disabled individual at a price of approximately $1300/day to act as tour guide
in Disney theme parks. The disabled individual get the disabled access pass
from Disneyland/World allowing the family to go to the front of the line and
avoid the long waits that are part of the Disney experience. One of
the rich Manhattanites who used this service said, now the 1% can enjoy the
"perks" that the disabled get.
Holy Mother of God. I don't know who is worse. The
people hiring these guides or the guides pimping themselves out and threatening
a program that is actually of benefit to the disabled visitors to Disney theme
parks.
We utilized it once and it was great, I'm not going to
lie. I never even would have attempted Disneyland without it. There is no
way Maggie could wait for several hours to go on a ride, even though there are
very few rides she could actually handle. She only went on the tamest of
attractions because it is difficult to hold her and she cannot protect herself.
Even the Pirates of the Caribbean was a little much for her. My sons were
initially excited at the possibility of going to the front of the line to use
Space Mountain until I reminded them that Maggie does not have head control. I
have a rule: no head control, no roller coasters. They enjoyed space mountain after waiting their turn in line. Maggie and I just strolled around for that hour or so. I'm such a mean mom.
Even with the access we were allowed, Maggie melted
down in very short order. It was too much for her, as I knew it would be. Still
I felt Maggie should get a trip to Disneyland just like every other kid.
The point is, of course, that Maggie is not like every other kid and needed
some accommodation to experience the park at all. The disabled accommodation did not make me want to return.
In fact, as we walked down Main Street toward the exit I said to Steve,
"There. We did it. I'm not coming back here until I have
grandchildren." That was about 10 years ago. And we haven't been back
since.
Today Maggie could probably handle it better, though she
still would not be able to utilize many of the rides, and we would not be able
to lift her on and off the ones that would work, so a return trip is not
likely. If we were to even consider returning, it would only be if Maggie
could have to have the same accommodation. If people are taking advantage of
Disney in this regard, that will probably disappear.
Though
it was great, and certainly the only reason I tried Disneyland then or
would consider it now, I would not refer to this accommodation as a
"perk" of being disabled or having a disabled member of the
family. Learning how to suction and parallel park at the same time
while in rush hour traffic? Now THAT is a perk, but something that
attempts to level the very steep playing field is just a kindness and its good
business. Families of disabled individuals know there is one place
they can go and the disabled individual in their family can have a sporting
chance at fun. That brings many of them back again and again and again to spend
those dollars saved from not having to pay parking meters.
Kindness and sporting chances -- what amazing
concepts. I hope these greedy/spoiled people don't ruin this kindness for
the people who really need it. The bragging coldhearted woman needs to be
slapped and someone needs to find this disabled tour guide and put him/her/them
out of business. They should all do a little time in the Toon Town slammer.
My boys and their cousin Pete did some time in the Toon
Town Jail some years back. Straightened 'em right up.
(This picture is probably 1993ish, definitely before
Maggie was born. We probably had more fun on this trip without the passes than
we did when we went with Maggie. Just sayin...)
