Class-action Lawsuit Filed Over Changes to Disney’s Disability Access Service (DAS)

[OurBigTrip]

I am going to word this poorly, so I apologize in advance, please try to understand what I actually mean. California law states you must be provided the same opportunity as a non-disabled guest in a way that meets your needs. For example if someone who isn't disabled is allowed to get an unobstructed view, then those who are disabled must be able to get a similar view. This likely means a party has no disabled guests in it does not have to wait separately, the party that does have a disable guest would not be able to be required to wait separately. Now, there can be a reasonable limit on the number of guests in the disabled party due to say size restrictions, based on other theme parks, etc., it seems that number in California is considered to be 4 including the disabled person. As I said, this is actually going to be a very interesting case to see how it plays out and ramifications are going to be wide spread, as in general California leads the way in a lot of these things and other states will likely adopt similar measures.

If other states were going to adopt something like Unruh, it would have been done already.

 

[OurBigTrip]

No, they can't actually, because the physical space has already been demonstrated to handle up to 6 without issue; however, they could possibly go to 4, as that seems to be the standard across all other theme parks in California and there is likely a reason for that.

the GAC lawsuit proved that just because Disney did something before doesn’t mean they have to keep doing it if it negatively impacts park operations.

 

[TCRAIG]

It depends on the attraction and where in line you are at the time. Disneyland certainly has more issues with this than Disney World.

True - my experience with my ECV leaving a line was at WDW…

 

[Tatebeck]

I definitely agree with some others and feel it is 100% a cash grab and will go nowhere.

I also don't think that they categorically denied anyone, even before the wording change. They said what the system was intended for, meaning what it was built to do, but never said that they wouldn't or couldn't make exceptions. Then they invited anyone with disabilities to apply and tell their specific situation so the cast members could give them their most likely options.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Additionally, how do they do this when they need an assistant and are only a party of two?

Even parties of 3 might not be able to separate if two are required to help the disabled person. There are scenarios where 1 is not enough. I won't be sharing them, for obvious reasons, but they do exist.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Even parties of 3 might not be able to separate if two are required to help the disabled person. There are scenarios where 1 is not enough. I won't be sharing them, for obvious reasons, but they do exist.

And if the family has 3 sets of triplets, all under the age of 4, plus 2 disabled adults, each of which require 2 caregivers for them they might need DAS for 15! So clearly there should be no rules at all!

Sheesh. There is no way that Disney can plan for every single edge case. I’d hope that Disney would train its CMs on how to handle 98% of cases based on a standardized rubric and then give them the autonomy to make the appropriate decisions for unusual circumstances.

 

[Angel Ariel]

So clearly there should be no rules at all!

Yup, that's totally what I said. /s

Please don't put words in my mouth.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Yup, that's totally what I said. /s

Please don't put words in my mouth.

You argued that there shouldn’t be a limit of 2 because there might be a case where there needs to be 3 adults. I don’t have hard numbers on the number of people who can wait alone vs requiring a companion, but I would feel pretty comfortable betting that the number of people who require 2 companions is very low relative to none or 1 companion. So Disney could make a rule for 2 and handle 3 as an unusual exception, rather than mainstreaming that and making 4 (or more) the exception.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Yup, that's totally what I said. /s

Please don't put words in my mouth.

or were you trying to make a different point?

 

[Angel Ariel]

You argued that there shouldn’t be a limit of 2 because there might be a case where there needs to be 3 adults. I don’t have hard numbers on the number of people who can wait alone vs requiring a companion, but I would feel pretty comfortable betting that the number of people who require 2 companions is very low relative to none or 1 companion. So Disney could make a rule for 2 and handle 3 as an unusual exception, rather than mainstreaming that and making 4 (or more) the exception.

I never said words about there should t be a limit of two. Go read my post again. Someone posed a question about how they do this with only two people and I simply added that even 3 can be an issue at times. I made no comment in support or against a limit of 2 - simply added a scenario that would need consideration.