Called DAS.

[lasob]

I posted this in the "Summary of NEW DAS changes..." thread at the top, but am repeating it here, as I'm not sure how much people pay attention to the yellow topics.

I spoke to someone at DAS services on the phone, and she told me that for our trip 10-27-11-02 to check in at Guest Services at the front of any park. When I asked her about the new system with the phone app and the video call, she replied that it would most likely not put into effect until next year. She seemed confident, it would not be available by the time of our trip.

And considering there is no Genie + on Oct. 4th, and no announcement of it's upcoming release date, I think I believe her

 

[merry_nbright]

Thanks for this! We use DAS for my mom and we are going November 12-20. I called to make our room requests last week and the CM told me basically the same thing, go to Guest Services. We’re at Disney Springs first and that’s where she told us to go so I think Genie might not be coming quite as quick as Disney had hoped.

 

[lanejudy]

We’re at Disney Springs first and that’s where she told us to go

FYI...you cannot get DAS at Disney Springs, only at one of the 4 major theme parks - MK, Epcot, DHS or AK.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for this! We use DAS for my mom and we are going November 12-20. I called to make our room requests last week and the CM told me basically the same thing, go to Guest Services. We’re at Disney Springs first and that’s where she told us to go so I think Genie might not be coming quite as quick as Disney had hoped.

FYI...you cannot get DAS at Disney Springs, only at one of the 4 major theme parks - MK, Epcot, DHS or AK.

lanejudy is correct. The resort phone CMs often give information that they don’t really know. DAS has never been available at Disney Springs and I have no reason to believe it will ever be. Guests have always needed to be at one of the 4 Theme Parks to register for DAS (or Guest Assistance Card, which was in effect before DAS).
This is a screenshot from the Disney website info about where DAS can be obtained at WDW and a link to DAS information from Disney website.

 

[merry_nbright]

Thank you! That’s how it was before but she’d convinced me it was at Disney Springs too.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

Thanks for the update. I'm really bummed that the new DAS options won't be up and running for awhile. The only thing I was looking forward to in this Genie mess was the ability to have the DAS issued in advance and get return times on my phone instead of schlepping all the way to the ride. Oh well.

 

[lanejudy]

And considering there is no Genie + on Oct. 4th, and no announcement of it's upcoming release date, I think I believe her

FYI... the general consensus online (DISboards as well as other blogs) seems to be looking at Genie roll-out before the end of October, some saying Oct. 18th. Whether or not some/all of the DAS changes will be included at that same time remains to be seen. But I think 2022 is kind of far for them to have made any announcement in August that won't roll-out until after the first of the year. I expect short notice of the roll-out when it does occur, so the advanced scheduling part may not help those in the near-term.

 

[SueM in MN]

FYI... the general consensus online (DISboards as well as other blogs) seems to be looking at Genie roll-out before the end of October, some saying Oct. 18th. Whether or not some/all of the DAS changes will be included at that same time remains to be seen. But I think 2022 is kind of far for them to have made any announcement in August that won't roll-out until after the first of the year. I expect short notice of the roll-out when it does occur, so the advanced scheduling part may not help those in the near-term.

I agree. I’ve seen the same general consensus - before the end of October.
And keep in mind that it’s unlikely any phone CMs actually know when the roll out will occur.
In past rollouts, CMs got information as they were educated about new processes which affected their work. The CMs answering the disability related questions may not be the ones who will be doing the virtual video DAS registration; in that case, they probably wouldn’t know anything more than what is already on the Disney website and wouldn’t need to know anything more than the date at the time it actually rolls out.

 

[shoes99]

FYI...you cannot get DAS at Disney Springs, only at one of the 4 major theme parks - MK, Epcot, DHS or AK.

We arrived at POP on 9/29/21 and took the skyliner to the outside Guest Services at the Studios.
I added DAS to my room key (forgot magic bands at home) and was told that we had to go to the first
attraction at the Park to get a DAS return time. Our first park was Epcot so we got DAS return times one at a time.
Soaring, Test Track got in line as the regular return time was less than 1/2 hours.
At DHS got to the park at 8:30 early entry and got 30 min or less walk on for ROTR, MF, SDog, and Mickewy & Minnies railroad. . Had a great time.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We just returned Sunday, used a DAS for my son. I wish MK still used those blue umbrella Guest Experience CMs like the other parks. It is annoying when at MK they just say, oh they are HERE, they are just wandering around, if you SEE them, of course you can ask them for a return time. What the heck is the point of THAT? Even if you needed them for another reason, it is useless to not know where they are. Their explanation of their not being enough SPACE for them makes little sense to me. Anyway, the other weird exchange was at Studios, when I approached 4 (FOUR!) Guest Experience CMs standing near their umbrella chatting together. No line. One was will to help, but lectured me that I was REALLY supposed to go all the way to the actual ride and not ask them for the return time. ??? I said ok, politely. THEN I said, wait a minute. I thought the whole POINT of you at these Guest Experience locations was to help both us guests save steps and possible stress of a child or adult (being upset at approaching a ride and not riding.) I said also to prevent the lines at each attraction, to help those CMs. Well, YES, she said, that is true. But you are still supposed to go to the attraction (Batuu was gridlocked on this day Oct 2 with standby ROTR ). I felt like saying, with ROTR on standby, so no need to assist people get a boarding group, what ELSE do you have to do?? Other than the occassional guest inquiry. But I just said I was confused.

Meanwhile NO other Guest Experience CM said this, 8 days in the parks.

 

[DisneyOma]

We arrived at POP on 9/29/21 and took the skyliner to the outside Guest Services at the Studios.
I added DAS to my room key (forgot magic bands at home) and was told that we had to go to the first
attraction at the Park to get a DAS return time. Our first park was Epcot so we got DAS return times one at a time.
Soaring, Test Track got in line as the regular return time was less than 1/2 hours.
At DHS got to the park at 8:30 early entry and got 30 min or less walk on for ROTR, MF, SDog, and Mickewy & Minnies railroad. . Had a great time.

Yes, you can only get a DAS for the park you are in, right? So you can't get an EPCOT DAS set up at HS.

 

[HopperFan]

Yes, you can only get a DAS for the park you are in, right? So you can't get an EPCOT DAS set up at HS.

July got our DAS set up outside GR at AK. He explained that we could not get a DAS for a ride until we were ALL scanned and inside the park. Had we gotten our DAS at the inside GR they would have set up our first ride.

Goes the same for park hopping. We have actually been in one park with half the party including DAS holder, tried to get DAS for whole party, other half was on bus on way from MK. They said they could not include the other half of party until they scanned in to park. System would not acknowledge them.

 

[SueM in MN]

Yes, you can only get a DAS for the park you are in, right? So you can't get an EPCOT DAS set up at HS.

I’m not sure exactly what you are asking, so I’ll answer both potential questions.
1) once you have been registered for DAS, it will be active at all 4 WDW theme parks. You don’t need to register at each park.

2) you can only get a DAS Return Time at the park you are currently in. So, if you in EPCOT, you can set up a Return Time at Epcot, but if you want a Return Time for a HS attraction, you will need to be in HS.

 

[DisneyOma]

I’m not sure exactly what you are asking, so I’ll answer both potential questions.
1) once you have been registered for DAS, it will be active at all 4 WDW theme parks. You don’t need to register at each park.

2) you can only get a DAS Return Time at the park you are currently in. So, if you in EPCOT, you can set up a Return Time at Epcot, but if you want a Return Time for a HS attraction, you will need to be in HS.

I wasn't really asking (rhetorical question, perhaps?) as the part I quoted was about getting the DAS outside of HS, but being told one needed to go in to get the return time. The PP even stated that the first park they went to was EPCOT. So yes, one needs to go in the park that has the attraction you want to ride to get a return time. Sometimes they will put the first one on for you at GS inside the park when you set up the DAS, but not always.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

By the way, just announced that Genie will roll out on Tuesday, October 19. No word yet on whether that will include any of the DAS updates, including the ability to pick up return times through the app rather than going to the attraction.

 

[SueM in MN]

Here’s a link to the Disney Parks blog that Genie will be launching on October 19.
Disney Genie launching

i have not seen anything about when DAS changes will roll out, but the major one before virtual video DAS registration becomes available will be the ability to reserve DAS Return Times in the My Disney Experience app. The previous ways of obtaining DAS Return Times will continue.

 

[DLgal]

By the way, just announced that Genie will roll out on Tuesday, October 19. No word yet on whether that will include any of the DAS updates, including the ability to pick up return times through the app rather than going to the attraction.

Considering that the new DAS will be PART of Genie, I'm guessing it will start Oct 19 as well.

 

[DVCjj]

We just returned Sunday, used a DAS for my son. I wish MK still used those blue umbrella Guest Experience CMs like the other parks. It is annoying when at MK they just say, oh they are HERE, they are just wandering around, if you SEE them, of course you can ask them for a return time. What the heck is the point of THAT? Even if you needed them for another reason, it is useless to not know where they are. Their explanation of their not being enough SPACE for them makes little sense to me. Anyway, the other weird exchange was at Studios, when I approached 4 (FOUR!) Guest Experience CMs standing near their umbrella chatting together. No line. One was will to help, but lectured me that I was REALLY supposed to go all the way to the actual ride and not ask them for the return time. ??? I said ok, politely. THEN I said, wait a minute. I thought the whole POINT of you at these Guest Experience locations was to help both us guests save steps and possible stress of a child or adult (being upset at approaching a ride and not riding.) I said also to prevent the lines at each attraction, to help those CMs. Well, YES, she said, that is true. But you are still supposed to go to the attraction (Batuu was gridlocked on this day Oct 2 with standby ROTR ). I felt like saying, with ROTR on standby, so no need to assist people get a boarding group, what ELSE do you have to do?? Other than the occassional guest inquiry. But I just said I was confused.

Meanwhile NO other Guest Experience CM said this, 8 days in the parks.

She was very rude and not doing her job. I was told by Guest Services the Umbrella Cast Members definitely can and should give you your next ride. Of course, finding an umbrella was very difficult except at HS last week.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

Considering that the new DAS will be PART of Genie, I'm guessing it will start Oct 19 as well.

Not necessarily. Logically, it should be. However, since we already have information that the pre-appointments apparently won't start on the 19th, even though those were announced with Genie as part of the Genie system, it may not be. I am hopeful for sure (especially since we go in November) but it's not guaranteed. We'll know in about 10 days though.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

Not necessarily. Logically, it should be. However, since we already have information that the pre-appointments apparently won't start on the 19th, even though those were announced with Genie as part of the Genie system, it may not be. I am hopeful for sure (especially since we go in November) but it's not guaranteed. We'll know in about 10 days though.

I hadn’t seen that the pre-appointments wouldn’t start on the 15th. Would you share where you saw that, I’d like to read it. Thanks!