OhYeah diane in austin
“Waiting 15  minutes in the Fast Pass line while non-GAC holders are waiting an hour is cutting the line, period.” so everyone in a fast pass return line, gac users and fast pass holders alike are cutting in line? So there should be no fast passes because those who haven’t obtained one get a shorter wait than those guests who did not?  or do you divide those who have obtained fast passes from disabled guests who utilized the GAC?
As to your statement ” I’m still waiting for anyone that can explain to me why the
difficulties of every day life should have anything whatsoever do to
with your experience in the park.”  wow.  I’ve never thought of my son’s disability as “the difficulties of everyday life.”  We are talking about folks with medical issues.  We are talking about making accommodations so that folks who cannot participate in many aspects of life, can participate and enjoy aspects of life. Some disabilities are apparent, such as folks who are wheelchair bound, others are not as readily apparent, such as those on the autism spectrum.  Those with disabilities are already on an uneven playing field, due to their abilities, due to prejudice/discrimination, due to barriers, due to lack of understanding regarding the wide range of folks with varying conditions that qualify under the banner of “disabled”.  This is why the Americans with Disabilities Act was created.  
“Under the ADA and other state statutes, public establishments are required
to do more than simply provide services. They are obligated to make reasonable accommodations,like under the ADA’s employment provisions.”  I can hear your response already.  The DAS is a “reasonable accommodation”.  The GAC was an UNreasonable accommodation.  Here is why my opinion differs from yours in this regard.  Disney already had the fastpass system in place.  There were already alternate entrances in place.  By utliizing systems Disney already had in place, they ACCOMMODATED guests with disabilities, in particular those guests with disabilities not readily apparent to the average guest.  As stated in the article, Meg Crofton, Disney’s President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Operations, wrote in a September 30 letter to several Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD) bloggers, “We will continue to work individually with our guests with disabilities to provide assistance that is responsive to their unique circumstances“.

OhYeah I think you’re trolling precisely because of statements like that. You know I’m not labeling you as such not because you disagree, but rather I do so strictly because of how you phrase your statements and engage other readers. 
I’m not going to write anymore about it here because, as someone who’s likely trolling, you’re not actually looking for a conversation  — you just want me to react, and I don’t really have time right now.

OrlandoInformer OhYeah 
No problem, I’ll be filling out a contact form shortly.  
I do find it interesting that only someone that disagrees with the policy is being called out as a troll.

OhYeah Just for the record, as the moderator I’m now about 90 percent certain you’re just trolling this post. If you want your comments to stay on here, please contact me http://bit.ly/oicontact.

diane in austin OhYeah 
Waiting 15  minutes in the Fast Pass line while non-GAC holders are waiting an hour is cutting the line, period.  And yes, my family has been negatively impacted by GAC users that cut in front of everyone else and ride multiple times.  That kind of abuse makes the line longer for everyone.
And I’m still waiting for anyone that can explain to me why the difficulties of every day life should have anything whatsoever do to with your experience in the park.  Your life is hard every day, so you should be able to make everyone else wait longer when you get to Disney?  The two aren’t related.
Disney went above and beyond for years, GAC holders abused it, and now Disney is pulling back.  Well, good for Disney!  I’m glad they’ve finally realized that they should be trying to make EVERYONE”S experience good, not just GAC holders.

OhYeah the gac was never an immediate front of the line pass.  if it was, that would have been “cutting the line”.  that accommodation is only available to make a wish guests.  the gac was an accommodation for cognitively/emotionally/physically disabled guests to wait in shorter lines.  and i wonder oh yeah, did you personally check each person in fast pass return lines to see if they were fast pass returns or gac users?  I wonder due to the tone of your replies, if your disney experiences were so consistently negatively impacted by gac users?

@Cassy I also sympathize with disabled people and their families.  My gripe is the idea that because their lives are rough, they undoubtedly are, that Disney owes them privileged access.
There should be no issue with waiting, so long as they don’t have to wait in the actual line.

To be perfectly clear, I sympathize with disabled people and their families. My mother worked as a home health aid assisting people with disabilities so I was exposed to this at a young age. My only complaint on this article was that Debi implies that essentially everyone who is not disabled was “against ” them or perhaps looks down on them. I don’t believe that it is right to judge everyone by the actions of a few people.

OhYeah We definitely see the issue through two different lenses. Makes me wonder in what ways our life experiences have been so different.

OrlandoInformer Disney is still accessible, just not the way Debi and some others would like it to be.  After years of skipping lines, thus making the wait times longer for anyone that didn’t possess the magic GAC, too many people feel that they are entitled to this type of privileged access.

Well, they’re not, and I’m glad that Disney has finally acted in a meaningful way.

@Chris I won’t try to change your mind, as you and debi are each entitled to your opinions. I only want to say that I think we who are not disabled have an incredible challenge trying to understand the magnitude of Disney’s recent changes for those who have family members with cognitive disabilities, and for whom the magic of Walt Disney World was accessible, even enjoyable, using the old system.

OhYeah I see that now. Yes, I suppose LiveFyre removed your reply comment because I removed the Facebook comment to which you were replying. In any case, I’ve restored the Facebook comment, so now your original reply comment can be viewed.

OrlandoInformer
Hmm…because the comment below was deleted…perhaps because it was in response to one of the Facebook posts?

“It wasn’t just the fact that the rich were hiring disabled “guides” – that was a very small thing, numbers wise.  The bigger issue was the sheer numbers of people using the GAC and receiving near FOTL access due to the unlimited fast pass nature of the GAC. “

I don’t delete comments I disagree with. Rather, because our system imports comments written on Facebook, and because some comments on Facebook don’t necessarily make sense or add to the conversation (for example, when one person leaves a Facebook comment simply to tag another person by name), I remove these so as to present real statements without additional clutter.

@Debi Rieser Dame 
Using the Fast Pass line or alternate entrance for every ride  instead of waiting for a Fast Pass time or the standby line IS cutting the line.

@Michael Aaron Futterman 
It wasn’t just the fact that the rich were hiring disabled “guides” – that was a very small thing, numbers wise.  The bigger issue was the sheer numbers of people using the GAC and receiving near FOTL access due to the unlimited fast pass nature of the GAC.

@Cassy
I agree – not even a relevant point to the discussion.
Also, “I must have said “she’s Down Syndrome with Autistic tendencies”   The CMs aren’t doctors, giving them a diagnosis is pointless.  They have to know what the “needs” are.  Of course, stating that the “need” is immediate access to the attraction with no wait is most likely, and correctly, going to be a non-starter.