DAS changes coming WDW May 20/ DL June 18, 2024

[TwoMisfits]

May I ask why they couldn't limit the number of rides? If Disney said a typical / average person without Genie+ is able to ride 8 rides per day, therefore we will limit DAS to 8 rides per day, why would that not work?

They could...and other parks do. But then you'd have everyone knowing that regular folks only ride X amount per day, and then folks would start to do math looking for value. And many buyers would say it's not there and pass.

I mean, at $160/day, would you want to ride just 6-8 things, with most of those 20-40 year old rides? If Disney came out and said DAS is limited to 6-8, what do you think everyone would suppose?

 

[nalababybear]

After reading all of this, I am super nervous for our call for my two kids for our next trip. The call won’t be until November so maybe things will be less stressful then and more information will come out and more time for in park operations to be more fluid, but it’s scary thinking about what we might do as DVC owners without being able to get an accommodation that would work for our kids. We’re willing to try different ones out to see if they would work, but if we’re denied and cannot apply again, that’s frustrating.

You can absolutely apply again. DAS isn't a one and done request.

Now if you Hang Up and Call Again immediately, that probably wouldn't go well as it is tracked.

The case.mentioned earlier of a lady going through then listed options and contacting Disney again made progress.

 

[lowlight]

Disney is a service entertainment company. They are not the regional center or some government agency where rules are rules with no exceptions.

It is unfortunate that the person had to endure the new rules and jump through the options laid out. It is great to see that Disney adjusted to her case, albeit a day later, and made an accommodation change the hopefully would help her for the remainder of the visit.

If Disney played by hard rules, that wouldn't have happened either. I prefer CMs having the ability to pixie dust.

That’s exactly my point. Scammers find the weak point in any system. A company that doesn’t have a hard line rule system, such as an entertainment company like Disney, is exploitable. The weak point in DAS is the CM’s, and now the scammers know it’s a 2 point process instead of 1. Read the script on your DAS interview, if you get rejected, call back and say “none of your accommodations worked for me” and hope you find a kinder (weaker in the eyes of a scammer) CM who will now grant it to you. I’m not blaming this person, I’m saying this will become a template for scammers and Disney will not accomplish what they hoped to.

The people that truly need it may not have the will to plead their case to another CM after the initial rejection.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Disney is a service entertainment company. They are not the regional center or some government agency where rules are rules with no exceptions.

It is unfortunate that the person had to endure the new rules and jump through the options laid out. It is great to see that Disney adjusted to her case, albeit a day later, and made an accommodation change the hopefully would help her for the remainder of the visit.

If Disney played by hard rules, that wouldn't have happened either. I prefer CMs having the ability to pixie dust.

“CMs having the ability to pixie dust” has contributed to the overuse of DAS,IMO.

They need to have less flexibility, not more.

 

[lowlight]

I think you might have a misunderstanding of how DAS works? Those using DAS already ARE limited to the exact same amount of rides per day as someone in a standby line. The wait to enter using DAS is the same as the wait time for standby. For example, if the standby queue is 70 minutes, that's basically your wait to get in using DAS. You are simply waiting somewhere else than the physical line. It's not instant access or a skip-the-wait privilege. You still wait.

You are also not allowed to make another DAS until the one you currently have is used up. You can't stack rides or get instant access.

For example, someone in only standby lines might have a morning like this:

60 Minutes 7DMT
40 Minutes HM
40 Minutes Pirates
60 Minutes Jungle Cruise

Someone using DAS under the current rules would wait the exact same amount of time between those rides and use it on the same 4 rides. Both standby and DAS are getting the literal exact same ride experience and quantity.

I’m not arguing against DAS because I think everyone should get to enjoy Disney, but my one point of contention is that DAS is superior “when abused”. While I’m eating lunch for an hour, they are waiting in the 60 minute queue and eating lunch at the same time. Same for dinner. Bathroom breaks. Shopping. If all both parties did was ride, you’d be correct.

 

[JLTraveling]

I'm so sorry your friend had this experience. It feels like gaslighting, and it's so invalidating.

It's also creeping dangerously close to practicing medicine without a license. Disney needs to be really careful about having CMs tell people how to handle their medical conditions. They may be "trained," but they're not doctors. And doctors will be the first to tell you that if they're not YOUR doctor, they can't give medical advice.

 

[starlite_]

Am I the only one that has been wondering why if the LL lines are too long because of "DAS abuse" or an increase in DAS users, then how in the hell is denying those people and intentionally telling them to buy Genie+ going to decrease the LL line length?

You are missing the part where Genie+, unlike DAS, sells out. SO even if 100% of previous DAS users who get denied want to buy it, they probably wouldn't be able to.

 

[mamaofsix]

I’m not arguing against DAS because I think everyone should get to enjoy Disney, but my one point of contention is that DAS is superior “when abused”. While I’m eating lunch for an hour, they are waiting in the 60 minute queue and eating lunch at the same time. Same for dinner. Bathroom breaks. Shopping. If all both parties did was ride, you’d be correct.

I was responding to a poster who said that DAS users should be limited to the same amount of rides as standby users. They are.

 

[Liquidice]

I think you might have a misunderstanding of how DAS works? Those using DAS already ARE limited to the exact same amount of rides per day as someone in a standby line. The wait to enter using DAS is the same as the wait time for standby. For example, if the standby queue is 70 minutes, that's basically your wait to get in using DAS. You are simply waiting somewhere else than the physical line. It's not instant access or a skip-the-wait privilege. You still wait.

You are also not allowed to make another DAS until the one you currently have is used up. You can't stack rides or get instant access.

For example, someone in only standby lines might have a morning like this:

60 Minutes 7DMT
40 Minutes HM
40 Minutes Pirates
60 Minutes Jungle Cruise

Someone using DAS under the current rules would wait the exact same amount of time between those rides and use it on the same 4 rides. Both standby and DAS are getting the literal exact same ride experience and quantity.

I have used DAS before, so I understand how it works. But there have been advantages to DAS that have been noted (such as being able to be waiting in 2 queues at once), which has caused people to abuse the system. Disney has noted that overuse of the system (not just abuse) is their biggest problem and others have said reducing the usage of the LL is the main goal.

Currently, Disney is changing what accommodation most people qualify for to reduce DAS usage overall. Many people have noted they were denied despite what sounds like a need to utilize DAS and the alternative accommodation they were offered did not necessarily meet the need.

So the question that myself and others were openly asking was what if there was a way to offer DAS to more people by limiting how it works (maybe by the number of rides, equivalent to the number of rides a guest using the standby queues might have rode in a single day) but still reduce the LL usage.

Like I said, the thought was more along the lines of it would be better to include more people who need it than to do what Disney is doing now which seems to be exclude most people and offer alternative accommodations.

 

[CT Disney]

I think you might have a misunderstanding of how DAS works? Those using DAS already ARE limited to the exact same amount of rides per day as someone in a standby line. The wait to enter using DAS is the same as the wait time for standby. For example, if the standby queue is 70 minutes, that's basically your wait to get in using DAS. You are simply waiting somewhere else than the physical line. It's not instant access or a skip-the-wait privilege. You still wait.

You are also not allowed to make another DAS until the one you currently have is used up. You can't stack rides or get instant access.

For example, someone in only standby lines might have a morning like this:

60 Minutes 7DMT
40 Minutes HM
40 Minutes Pirates
60 Minutes Jungle Cruise

Someone using DAS under the current rules would wait the exact same amount of time between those rides and use it on the same 4 rides. Both standby and DAS are getting the literal exact same ride experience and quantity.

You are leaving out a really big component that negates your last sentence. Standby and DAS do not get the exact same ride experience and quantity because, while the standby guest is just waiting in the line, the DAS guest can be riding another ride.

Earlier in the thread there was a poster who explained that as soon as they walked into AK, they’d book DAS for the safari. On the walk over, they’d hit another ride or two while they were waiting. That’s a vastly different experience when comparing standby to DAS.

 

[nalababybear]

“CMs having the ability to pixie dust” has contributed to the overuse of DAS,IMO.

They need to have less flexibility, not more.

IMHO the world is unequal. .sometimes, the law and society steps in to try to balance it. Some call it humanity. It is not the nature of most.

However, some folk do have grace and compassion to the individual plight. I trust that person to have the ability to decide the need over a system to do so.

What the system can do is qa the case by case and really catch up on the abusers. Disney does this with special event ticket resellers and buyers. It works over time.

As said, i trust a compassionate cm given the ability to discern than a corporate process....especially in the realm of a disability.

 

[JLTraveling]

People have ways they like to and are used to when in the parks. Would you spend thousands of dollars for a lesser experience?

Yet they do. Over and over and over again. The Disney experience has been getting more and more watered down for years now, and people (non-disabled as well as disabled) continue to happily pay the skyrocketing prices. It's up to each family how they spend their money, of course, but it honestly blows my mind how Disney seems to be able to get away with literally anything without losing a significant chunk of visitors...especially now that it's WAY cheaper to take almost any other vacation on the planet.

 

[starlite_]

I think you might have a misunderstanding of how DAS works? Those using DAS already ARE limited to the exact same amount of rides per day as someone in a standby line. The wait to enter using DAS is the same as the wait time for standby. For example, if the standby queue is 70 minutes, that's basically your wait to get in using DAS. You are simply waiting somewhere else than the physical line. It's not instant access or a skip-the-wait privilege. You still wait.
....

Someone using DAS under the current rules would wait the exact same amount of time between those rides and use it on the same 4 rides. Both standby and DAS are getting the literal exact same ride experience and quantity.

It' been stated many many times that this is untrue. DAS users are able to go on other rides while they wait their 60 min for 7DMT. Which non-DAS users can't do. They can go on 2 15-20 min rides while the non-disabled guest is in a 60 min standby, effectively going on 3 rides on the same amount of time as a non-disabled guest.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

“CMs having the ability to pixie dust” has contributed to the overuse of DAS,IMO.

They need to have less flexibility, not more.

I also think sometimes it helps to put yourselves in the shoes of the CMs.

When I was at the insurance company I have various supervisors who all did things differently. I had one who said I do not want to take an escalation call on a $10 late fee just waive the fee and move on, then I had a supervisor that said no one would waive a fee unless they the supervisor gave authorization for it.

Both cases were on the extremes. Neither helped us employees because when you saw a customer who had a valid reason for not paying their bill on time (sometimes agent error too) depending on the supervisor it could put you in an uncomfortable position of having to say no until they demanded to speak with a supervisor which then as an employee made you look incompetent or powerless. On the other side was clearly seeing people who could not for the life of them pay their auto insurance bill on time and would have many late fees waived which then as an employee made it clear that person was taking advantage of "one-time exceptions" (which is one of the most repeated phrases in customer service).

For Disney they def. have overreaching rules but they did also want to allow CMs the ability to give guests that extra something especially when confronted with situations that really made sense to do so. Unfortunately then that extra something turns into your everyday thing removing a lot of that shine so I agree that ultimately less flexibility might be the better route at least initially. And that seems to be done by having just specific CMs able to handle DAS. I do have concerns about ride attractions CMs as they are being put into positions just like they were before if the advice given to guests is to speak with the CM at the ride.

 

[nalababybear]

You are leaving out a really big component that negates your last sentence. Standby and DAS do not get the exact same ride experience and quantity because, while the standby guest is just waiting in the line, the DAS guest can be riding another ride.

Earlier in the thread there was a poster who explained that as soon as they walked into AK, they’d book DAS for the safari. On the walk over, they’d hit another ride or two while they were waiting. That’s a vastly different experience when comparing standby to DAS.

So is the experience of those with a disability in itself.

DAS used by a person without a significant disability can certainly have a superior experience. So does a person who parks in the handicap space when they don't really need that accomodation.

The tool to reduce abuse isn't reducing the accommodation itself. It is enforcing the abuse of it.

 

[RamblinWreck]

I was responding to a poster who said that DAS users should be limited to the same amount of rides as standby users. They are.

They are limited to exactly double the number of rides as standby users*

 

[CT Disney]

So is the experience of those with a disability in itself.

DAS used by a person without a significant disability can certainly have a superior experience. So does a person who parks in the handicap space when they don't really need that accomodation.

The tool to reduce abuse isn't reducing the accommodation itself. It is enforcing the abuse of it.

I’m not sure I’m following you.

 

[gottalovepluto]

My Mom, who has both Autism and ADHD and has certainly been helped by DAS since we discovered it a year ago, was just denied today. She often gets twitchy in lines and often has panic attacks in certain places (think Guardians Pre-Show hallway of doom), and DAS has helped these symptoms and she overall is a happier person at the parks. The suggestion by the CM she spoke to over video chat was to buy and use Genie+. No certain accommodations like RTQ or anything like that, just spend money to use Genie+.

So disheartening. I really believed Disney was just doing this because park ops had become such a mess. But to straight up say “you can buy your accommodation from us” confirms this is not just about park ops no matter what some blogger has been pounding the table on the last few months

Am I the only one that has been wondering why if the LL lines are too long because of "DAS abuse" or an increase in DAS users, then how in the hell is denying those people and intentionally telling them to buy Genie+ going to decrease the LL line length?

Practically they can cut off G+ sales, they couldn’t cut off DAS approvals so LLs should shorten- if Disney cares about their current length.

The irony here is anyone happy this is stopping “DAS users taking up a majority of all the LLs” is going to find themselves competing with more people for G+ spots and maybe paying higher prices as demand should increase noticeably. Many of us still want to go and will buy G+ because we aren’t going to risk our health, so higher demand. Higher demand, higher prices.


ETA- deleted 3rd quote due to off-topic rabbit trail, reminding self to stay on-topic...

 

[Keladry84]

It' been stated many many times that this is untrue. DAS users are able to go on other rides while they wait their 60 min for 7DMT. Which non-DAS users can't do. They can go on 2 15-20 min rides while the non-disabled guest is in a 60 min standby, effectively going on 3 rides on the same amount of time as a non-disabled guest.

You're conflating "can" - as in the system technically allows this to happen, vs. "can" the limitations of the person with the disability using the system. The majority of DAS users actually cannot do this - physically or mentally. Continuing to categorize DAS as a "ride skip system giving people using it a superior experience in the park" is ableist and damaging. DAS is designed for and used by people with disabilities who literally can't do 3 queue lines back-to-back as you are describing. What you are describing is how someone without a DAS qualifying disability is imagining they would/could use it (and therefore projectioning on what they THINK people on DAS are experiencing in comparison to themselves). Please stop pushing this narrative because it is damaging to those who really do need DAS.

 

[Liquidice]

So is the experience of those with a disability in itself.

DAS used by a person without a significant disability can certainly have a superior experience. So does a person who parks in the handicap space when they don't really need that accomodation.

The tool to reduce abuse isn't reducing the accommodation itself. It is enforcing the abuse of it.

If you're saying its primarily people abusing the system who are getting a superior experience when using DAS, if lets say DAS was limited in some way that did not impact most people who needed it (such as limiting it to a certain number of rides) and mostly impacts abusers. What is the issue, assuming it met the legal bar for ADA.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter since that isn't what Disney is doing now. It just seems like a shame that people are being denied DAS and told to use alternative accommodations which don't sound like will work for them. But perhaps the right approach is to try the alternative accommodation and if it doesn't work for them re-apply for DAS and tell Disney that.

My thought was again just that I'd rather Disney take the approach of including more people who need DAS and try to curb abuse by making it less attractive to abusers and achieving Disney's goal of reducing LL usage.