GAC Changes???

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bdklein

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 17, 2005
I remember seeing somewhere that there some proposed changs coming for GAC around December 2012. Anybody recall this or have any insight? Thanks.
 
No

About every 6 months there are rumors of changes, but no actual changes.
There are some possibilities that people have thought might come when the RFID cards are fully rolled out. This would be more identifying the person the GAC was issued to.
 
IMO a lot of people will post that things have "changed" when it's just that a CM reacted differently than the guest is used to.
 
We were there in September and then again at the beginning of December. There were no differences with the GAC. Everything was exactly the same in Dec. as it had been in Sept.
 
I remember seeing somewhere that there some proposed changs coming for GAC around December 2012. Anybody recall this or have any insight? Thanks.

I found no changes last week. It was a very busy week for ECVs and wheelchairs and waits could be quite long.
 


The only changes I have seen is that disney is actually enforcing the rules more uniformly, so perhaps some people have gotten a different stamp than before or found the CMs asked more questions.
 
KPeveler said:
The only changes I have seen is that disney is actually enforcing the rules more uniformly, so perhaps some people have gotten a different stamp than before or found the CMs asked more questions.

Can you please elaborate?
 
Can you please elaborate?
When we were at WDW in Late October/early November, they looked at DD's GAC carefully at each attraction.
They also asked us who it was for (while the name was facing away from us) and then asked which of us was that person. It was pretty obvious, but we were asked each time and several times were also asked whether or not she was going to be riding. She was, but we were told when we got her GAC that it was only to be used for things she was going on.
We did not try to use it for any meet and greets because we have been told in the past that was not allowed. I have read posts where people who had used a GAC in the past for meet and greets were told they could not. They considered that a change.

Some people would consider those changes, but they were examples of enforcing the way it has always been.
 
We were there last week with my mom in a wheelchair and we found the waits to be extremely short.

I guess people have different points of view or experiences. Honestly, I have been to WDW at many different times of the year and I have never seen a time with this many ECVs or wheelchairs. Also, an amazing amount of infants, not children, babies, so strollers were extremely plentiful as well. I consider waits of 30-45 minutes on rides for example Nemo and Small World to be long in comparison to other times I have visited. Naturally, some rides were shorter, but overall our wait times were much longer than the last time we visited at the end of May. Much longer than the regular lines.
 
I guess people have different points of view or experiences. Honestly, I have been to WDW at many different times of the year and I have never seen a time with this many ECVs or wheelchairs. Also, an amazing amount of infants, not children, babies, so strollers were extremely plentiful as well. I consider waits of 30-45 minutes on rides for example Nemo and Small World to be long in comparison to other times I have visited. Naturally, some rides were shorter, but overall our wait times were much longer than the last time we visited at the end of May. Much longer than the regular lines.

We must have been lucky. We had zero wait for Nemo, and although the CM that was standing at the wheelchair entrance for IASW told us the wait was 30 minutes, it was only 10. My mother can transfer so we don't have to wait for a special car or boat for her to get on.

We also saw a family (5 adults, 3 kids) flash a GAC card at the CM at the door for the Character Connection in Epcot, and they were allowed to go right in and not wait on the line at all to enter the room with the characters. They got right on the line inside the Character Connection room to see the 1st character. That was the only time we saw that for characters, although we didn't wait on many character lines over the week. My son isn't all that interested in them. Like everything else, I think it depends on which CM is there, and in this particular case, the woman did not seem like she would take no for an answer.
 
You may have seen them "flash" a Make a Wish Disability card. Sometimes you cannot tell how sick a child is unless they lift up their shirt and you see all the tubes, ports and wires. People don't wear large, flashing "Terminally Ill" signs.

I know I don't look ill, but unfortunately I am. However, a couple of my friends (I'm not sure what they were thinking!) have said that they hated watching me "deteriorate" over the years!!! I think they were referring to my ability to "do stuff" as that has really lessened.
 
You may have seen them "flash" a Make a Wish Disability card. Sometimes you cannot tell how sick a child is unless they lift up their shirt and you see all the tubes, ports and wires. People don't wear large, flashing "Terminally Ill" signs.

I know I don't look ill, but unfortunately I am. However, a couple of my friends (I'm not sure what they were thinking!) have said that they hated watching me "deteriorate" over the years!!! I think they were referring to my ability to "do stuff" as that has really lessened.

I do know that I have seen people 'flash' a GAC, and didn't notice the child had a Make a Wish button on until I saw them later in the day.

Since GACs are not generally used for character greetings, I don't think most CMs would easily let people just flash it and get in without waiting, no matter what the look on the mom's face.
 
I do know that I have seen people 'flash' a GAC, and didn't notice the child had a Make a Wish button on until I saw them later in the day.

Since GACs are not generally used for character greetings, I don't think most CMs would easily let people just flash it and get in without waiting, no matter what the look on the mom's face.

Anything is possible. They did have the same card we did although I have no idea what was on it. I won't even try to use it for Characters, we don't need to. We were only one family behind them, so we saw them taking all their pictures and didn't see any Make a Wish button (we did see another Make a Wish family later and they did have one on). One of the children had Down's Syndrome. We didn't care, we only waited a few more minutes, I'm just saying that on rare occasions they do allow it. We were right up close when they approached the entrance and CM, and for what it is worth, I would not have told the woman no either so perhaps it was just a judgment call the CM made.
 
Anything is possible. They did have the same card we did although I have no idea what was on it. I won't even try to use it for Characters, we don't need to. We were only one family behind them, so we saw them taking all their pictures and didn't see any Make a Wish button (we did see another Make a Wish family later and they did have one on). One of the children had Down's Syndrome. We didn't care, we only waited a few more minutes, I'm just saying that on rare occasions they do allow it. We were right up close when they approached the entrance and CM, and for what it is worth, I would not have told the woman no either so perhaps it was just a judgment call the CM made.
They use the same card for MAW trips.
They just have different stamps and they issue them at Give Kids the World Village or at president soon for those not stating there
 
They also asked us who it was for (while the name was facing away from us) and then asked which of us was that person.

I noticed when we were there in November they were doing the same thing with us. It was just my son, my mother and I and it was clear he was the only boy in the group so they would turn to him and ask him his name. One CM made a face when he didn't answer, so I asked him what his name was and he answered his full name just fine. She looked like she was about to say something so I just politely said he had Autism and does not always answer when people ask him things. She seemed fine after that.

We have absolutely no problem with them checking, and I actually think it helps Jared with some social skills and having to have interaction with strangers.
 
I noticed when we were there in November they were doing the same thing with us. It was just my son, my mother and I and it was clear he was the only boy in the group so they would turn to him and ask him his name. One CM made a face when he didn't answer, so I asked him what his name was and he answered his full name just fine. She looked like she was about to say something so I just politely said he had Autism and does not always answer when people ask him things. She seemed fine after that.

We have absolutely no problem with them checking, and I actually think it helps Jared with some social skills and having to have interaction with strangers.
I think it's good they ask.
Making my DD answer would cause some problems though because she does not speak.
She understands quite well, but can't talk.
 
I like that they ask. It keeps the CMs in the habit of following through rather than them getting complacent and just letting people in.
 
Just another voice to say that things havent changed. We were there, Sept, Oct, and Dec, and had no differences at all. I did notice that this year the CM's seem to really be looking at the GAC and checking the dates and names. And like you have all said, I absolutely dont mind. DS pipes up and says "I am Steven and I have Aspergers" the CM's alway smile and it makes him feel so good. It is amazing how much that one little piece of paper makes him feel so empowered ::yes::
 
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