We have been going to WDW with a child (all right, she's an adult now, but she's my child) at least once a year for 17 years. She got her first wheelchair when she was 2 1/2. We usually spend 7-9 days on vacation and go to a park (sometimes 2 every day). She has other needs besides access, so she does have a GAC, but we don't use it for attractions unless we need it (ie, we don't have a Fastpass and the regular line is 20 minutes or more). We do use Fastpasses when we can and we sometimes wait until later in the day to go on an attraction if there is a long wait.
Things have changed over the years, but the way things are handled has been pretty stable since 2000.
First, the current online version of the Guidebooks for Guests with Disabilities and the most recent printed version I have do not list rides/attractions where access is thru the Fastpass line. They basically say to consult the greeter.
There have been times when we have talked to the greeter at attractions with alternate entrances and taken in fairly quickly and other times when we have been given a slip with a time to return on it. Sometimes we have been given an explanation of why (they already had as many people with special needs in the building as allowed by fire codes). Sometimes we have not been given an explanation. This is usually without showing our DD's GAC.
Again, why are you opposed to people getting the GAC?
I'm not,
if the person has needs other than a need for an accessible line. If the regular line is not accessible and an accessible line is needed for someone with a wheelchair or
ecv, they do have ways set up to handle that without getting a GAC. If that's not happening, each ride/attraction has a supervisor who does know how things work. Getting the supervisor involved will correct the CM so the same thing doesn't happen again.
If I don't know what attraction you had a problem with, but in all the years we've gone, we have a had a handfull of attractions where we had a problem. And, being on this board and other Disney boards since 1999, I've only seen a handful of people who have reported having problems with accessing the wheelchair accessible lines without a GAC. Some of them were misunderstandings that (with explanations on the board) were able to be cleared up. Some were CMs who didn't know what they were doing.
The attraction that has come up several times has been Splash Mountain. There is a stairway at one point when you enter the line (fastpass or regular line). There have been situations where the CM has told people with wheelchairs that they can't leave the line at that point -
even people who had GACs that allowed them to use alternative entrances. And even when the people (including us) pointed out that the person they were with could not walk and the wheelchair couldn't go up the stairs. That CM just kept saying, "I can't let you skip ahead in line." We asked to see a supervisor, who explained to the CM that she
had to let us go thru the alternate entrance because there was no way we could use the stairs with a wheelchair. So the CM got corrected. In that case, a GAC did not help. A supervisor did.
So, if things are not being done as they should be, the way to correct it for the future is not to get a GAC that isn't supposed to be needed, it's making supervisors aware so that they can correct the CMs involved.