Some wealthy Manhattan moms have figured out a way to cut the long lines at Disney World — by hiring disabled people to pose as family members so they and their kids can jump to the front, The Post has learned.
The “black-market Disney guides” run $130 an hour, or $1,040 for an eight-hour day.
“My daughter waited one minute to get on ‘It’s a Small World’ — the other kids had to wait 2 1/2 hours,” crowed one mom, who hired a disabled guide through Dream Tours Florida.
“You can’t go to Disney without a tour concierge,’’ she sniffed. “This is how the 1 percent does Disney.”
The woman said she hired a Dream Tours guide to escort her, her husband and their 1-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter through the park in a motorized scooter with a “handicapped” sign on it. The group was sent straight to an auxiliary entrance at the front of each attraction.
Disney allows each guest who needs a wheelchair or motorized scooter to bring up to six guests to a “more convenient entrance.”
The Florida entertainment mecca warns that there “may be a waiting period before boarding.” But the consensus among upper-crust moms who have used the illicit handicap tactic is that the trick is well worth the cost.
Not only is their “black-market tour guide” more efficient than Disney World’s VIP Tours, it’s cheaper, too.
Disney Tours offers a VIP guide and fast passes for $310 to $380 per hour.
There are a couple of problems with the statements made in the article that lead me to believe it's not entirely factual. First off, on the busiest day of the year the wait for "it's a small world" is never 2 1/2 hours, so that's-at a minimum-some gross exaggeration on the part of the woman in question. Also, individuals with disabilities are still required to wait in many lines, and even if the access is through a different gate there are often waits associated with each attraction.
As for the substance of the article, though – the abuse of Disney's Guest Assistance Card (GAC) program – that is true. Anyone can go to Guest Relations and ask for a GAC by making a claim of disability, and Disney will accommodate them. As a result, people do abuse the system. But they certainly don't have to hire a disabled person to go with them – all they have to do is claim their child has autism or some other "invisible" illness that isn't readily apparent, and Disney will provide a GAC. But again, that isn't a "go to the front of the line" card, it's merely the opportunity to wait in a less-crowded area and experience a shorter overall waiting time.
If these moms really are paying $1,000 a day to hire someone in a wheelchair, they're not very smart. Of course, if they're also willing to brag about it to a news reporter, we already knew that they aren't very smart…