Handicapped tour guides hired by rich tourists to skip lines at Disney World: Report
Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse welcome visitors during the grand opening day of Hong Kong Disneyland September 12, 2005 in Hong Kong (Photo by MN Chan/Getty Images)
The upper crust generally tries to avoid the masses, even if they share the company of princes, princesses and other Disney elite. Instead, they'll hire a handicapped escort to get them ahead in line at Disney World, The New Post reported Tuesday.
The disabled “black-market Disney guides” reportedly charge $130/hour, which comes in at $1,040 for an eight-hour day, said the Post, citing wealthy moms and a New York academic familiar with the network.
Those with a handicapped sign in line at Disney World are immediately moved up to a “more convenient entrance," said the Post.
The idea appeals to the discriminatingly wealthy — i.e., those who don't want to fork out $310-$380 an hour for Disney's fast-track VIP service.
One Mom told the Post she decided to hire a handicapped guide through Dream Tours, a non-profit that advertises itself as a service for people with special needs but also provides custom trips ("our relationships are open to the needs of your group," the site says). The unidentified Mom was enthusiastic about the service, saying she and her husband and two young children breezed through Disney World in a motorized scooter bearing a “handicapped” sign.
The Post said efforts to contact the Florida-based Dream Tours company were unsuccessful.
Social anthropologist Dr. Wednesday Martin (who, full disclosure, used to be a regular contributor to the Post), told the paper the handicapped approach is "insider knowledge that very few have and share carefully,” later asking: “Who wants a speed pass when you can use your black-market handicapped guide to circumvent the lines all together?”
That does seem to be the appeal. Another Mom who went through Dream Tours boasted to the Post: “My daughter waited one minute to get on ‘It’s a Small World’ — the other kids had to wait 2 1/2 hours."
“You can’t go to Disney without a tour concierge. This is how the one percent does Disney," she said.
The Post couldn't resist adding: "They are one percenters who are 100 percent despicable."
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