Guest Assistance Passes aka Disability PassesAll three major amusement parks (Walt Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal Orlando) provide assistance passes for people with disabilities. You can get them at Guest Relations as you enter the park. However, the passes are different at each park, in both appearance and how they can be used. Below is a summary of the assistance passes for each park.
Tip: Keep your Assistance Pass in a separate zipper-style plastic bag so it doesn’t get ruined on the wet rides. Tip: If your special needs child must remain in his/her stroller during the queue, make sure the "use stroller as wheelchair" option is checked/included on the assistance pass. Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom, Epcot,
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Walt Disney World: Disney Quest
Disney Quest in Downtown Disney accepts the GAP used at the four other major Walt Disney World parks for most of their more popular attractions. Since there are no fastpass lines at Disney Quest, you typically enter the attraction at the exit of the attraction. You usually wait for a relatively moderate period of time before a cast member will direct you to enter the attraction.
Walt Disney World: Blizzard Beach and
Typhoon Lagoon water parks
There is no fastpass or GAP for the water parks regarding waiting in line. We suggest you go when it is not the peak summer season or either very early in the day to avoid the more crowded times. The wait time can be as long as one or two hours or more on some of the more popular attractions. It can become challenging for our son on crowded days when the wait time exceeds 15-20 minutes.
Universal Orlando Resort: Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure
Universal's Attraction Assistance Pass
Universal's Accessibility Information for Guests with Disabilities. Universal provides an Attraction Assistance Pass (AAP), which is very different from Walt Disney World’s GAP. Go to Guest Relations right after you pass through the turnstiles to enter the park. There is a Guest Relations area before you enter the parks but this location is usually much more crowded than the one inside the park. For our son, being in his presence about two minutes is enough explanation that he has a disability and needs the type of pass that allows us to not wait in lines. Other families may need to bring a letter from their child’s doctor stating the child has a disability and cannot wait for long periods of time. Please note, this letter is not required, but merely a suggestion by us to help explain your family member's situation to the cast members in order to make getting an AAP go smoothly.
Universal Orlando provides you an Attraction Assistance Pass (AAP) that you present to the attendant at the entrance to each attraction. If the posted wait time is less than 30 minutes, you will be directed to an alternative entrance/line usually the Express Plus line. If the posted wait time is 30 minutes or more, the attendant will write on the pass what time to return to ride that attraction. When you return at the designated time, you will then be directed to the alternative entrance or Express Plus line to enter the attraction. The most important thing to remember about the AAP is you can only have one future attraction listed on your AAP at a time. For example: The wait time for Spiderman is 45 minutes and it is 2:00 pm. The ride attendant will write on your AAP for you to return at 2:45 pm. For the next 45 minutes, you can ride another attraction (if the wait time for the next ride is less than 30 minutes), or rest, shop, or enjoy a show for 45 minutes. When you return to Spiderman at 2:45 pm, the attendant will escort you to an alternative entrance bypassing much of the regular line.
The problem we have encountered with the AAP is on really crowded days at Universal Orlando when the wait times for most rides is more than thirty minutes. This scenario becomes a nightmare for our son. We will get a wait time for one ride but if the next ride is over a thirty minute wait, the ride attendant at the second ride is unable to give us a time to return or access the second ride until we actually ride the first ride. Actual example: The wait time for Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey was 90 minutes. The attendant wrote a time for us to return 90 minutes later. For the next 45 minutes, we walked around the park trying to find another ride less than a 30 minute wait time. We were unsuccessful. None of the ride attendants at the other rides could give us a time to return for their ride or let us use the Express Plus entrance because the wait was more than 30 minutes. After an hour of no rides and trying to prevent our son from having a meltdown and possible self-injurious behaviors, we decided it was best to leave the park, which we did. PLEASE REMEMBER – this 30-minute dilemma usually occurs only on days the parks are crowded during the summer, spring break and the holidays.
To avoid experiencing the above scenario of not having anything to ride, we recommend purchasing an Express Plus pass. You can enter the attractions at the Express Plus entrance without using your AAP or get an Express Plus pass included in your park hotel package. You can purchase an Express Plus for each member of your party. However the cost is in addition to park admittance and it can become expensive for a family. This is why we recommend you stay in one of the hotels at Universal while visiting these two parks-hotel guests usually receive the Express Plus as part of their hotel package along with extra hours to visit the parks when non-hotel guests are not allowed entrance. The Express Plus allows you to enter the attraction in a separate entrance with generally short(er) waiting times. Popular attractions that do not accept Express Plus entrance are Rip Ride Rockit (at Universal Studios), Pteranodon Flyers (at Islands of Adventure), Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (at Islands of Adventure) and Olivander’s Wand Shop Experience (at Islands of Adventure). If you have an Express Plus, you will still need to get an Attraction Assistance Pass (AAP) at guest relations for these attractions listed above.
Note for those who are season pass holders: Universal Orlando usually allows us to keep the AAP for two weeks with the expiration date listed on the pass. This eliminates the need for us to go to Guest Relations every time we go to the park.
Universal Orlando provides you an Attraction Assistance Pass (AAP) that you present to the attendant at the entrance to each attraction. If the posted wait time is less than 30 minutes, you will be directed to an alternative entrance/line usually the Express Plus line. If the posted wait time is 30 minutes or more, the attendant will write on the pass what time to return to ride that attraction. When you return at the designated time, you will then be directed to the alternative entrance or Express Plus line to enter the attraction. The most important thing to remember about the AAP is you can only have one future attraction listed on your AAP at a time. For example: The wait time for Spiderman is 45 minutes and it is 2:00 pm. The ride attendant will write on your AAP for you to return at 2:45 pm. For the next 45 minutes, you can ride another attraction (if the wait time for the next ride is less than 30 minutes), or rest, shop, or enjoy a show for 45 minutes. When you return to Spiderman at 2:45 pm, the attendant will escort you to an alternative entrance bypassing much of the regular line.
The problem we have encountered with the AAP is on really crowded days at Universal Orlando when the wait times for most rides is more than thirty minutes. This scenario becomes a nightmare for our son. We will get a wait time for one ride but if the next ride is over a thirty minute wait, the ride attendant at the second ride is unable to give us a time to return or access the second ride until we actually ride the first ride. Actual example: The wait time for Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey was 90 minutes. The attendant wrote a time for us to return 90 minutes later. For the next 45 minutes, we walked around the park trying to find another ride less than a 30 minute wait time. We were unsuccessful. None of the ride attendants at the other rides could give us a time to return for their ride or let us use the Express Plus entrance because the wait was more than 30 minutes. After an hour of no rides and trying to prevent our son from having a meltdown and possible self-injurious behaviors, we decided it was best to leave the park, which we did. PLEASE REMEMBER – this 30-minute dilemma usually occurs only on days the parks are crowded during the summer, spring break and the holidays.
To avoid experiencing the above scenario of not having anything to ride, we recommend purchasing an Express Plus pass. You can enter the attractions at the Express Plus entrance without using your AAP or get an Express Plus pass included in your park hotel package. You can purchase an Express Plus for each member of your party. However the cost is in addition to park admittance and it can become expensive for a family. This is why we recommend you stay in one of the hotels at Universal while visiting these two parks-hotel guests usually receive the Express Plus as part of their hotel package along with extra hours to visit the parks when non-hotel guests are not allowed entrance. The Express Plus allows you to enter the attraction in a separate entrance with generally short(er) waiting times. Popular attractions that do not accept Express Plus entrance are Rip Ride Rockit (at Universal Studios), Pteranodon Flyers (at Islands of Adventure), Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (at Islands of Adventure) and Olivander’s Wand Shop Experience (at Islands of Adventure). If you have an Express Plus, you will still need to get an Attraction Assistance Pass (AAP) at guest relations for these attractions listed above.
Note for those who are season pass holders: Universal Orlando usually allows us to keep the AAP for two weeks with the expiration date listed on the pass. This eliminates the need for us to go to Guest Relations every time we go to the park.
SeaWorld
SeaWorld's Ride Accessibility Pass
SeaWorld's Accessibility Guide has information that may be helpful. SeaWorld’s guest assistance pass is similar to Walt Disney World’s. After you enter the park and turn the corner to the right, Guest Relations is in the row of buildings on the left. As we said before, for our son, being in his presence about 2 minutes is enough explanation that he has a disability and needs the type of pass that allows him to not wait in lines. Other families may need to bring a letter from their child’s doctor stating the child has a disability and cannot wait for long periods of time. Please note, this letter is not required, but merely a suggestion by us to help explain your family member's situation to the cast members in order to make getting a GAP go smoothly.
You will be provided one pass for the rides and a separate pass for the shows and other attractions. The pass for the rides allows you to enter the ride at the Quick Queue entrance or the exit to the ride, similarly to Walt Disney World’s GAP procedure. The second SeaWorld pass for the shows (Special Assistance Pass) allows you to sit in designated areas of the shows, if needed. Most of the time we don’t need to use the pass for the shows, however, when we do need it, it is usually for the Pets Ahoy show because it reaches capacity quickly.
Note for those who are season pass holders: SeaWorld allows us to keep the GAP for two weeks with the expiration date listed on the pass. This eliminates the need for us to go to Guest Relations every time we go to the park.
You will be provided one pass for the rides and a separate pass for the shows and other attractions. The pass for the rides allows you to enter the ride at the Quick Queue entrance or the exit to the ride, similarly to Walt Disney World’s GAP procedure. The second SeaWorld pass for the shows (Special Assistance Pass) allows you to sit in designated areas of the shows, if needed. Most of the time we don’t need to use the pass for the shows, however, when we do need it, it is usually for the Pets Ahoy show because it reaches capacity quickly.
Note for those who are season pass holders: SeaWorld allows us to keep the GAP for two weeks with the expiration date listed on the pass. This eliminates the need for us to go to Guest Relations every time we go to the park.
SeaWorld's show pass
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