DAS and Lightning Lane with larger group

[mitzy150]

Hi!
Hoping someone can help! My nephew qualifies for DAS, and we are planning a trip with a larger family group (8 people) and would love to find ways to include him in riding with his grandparents and cousins. My understanding with the new rules is that our party would not fit under his DAS pass, but I am wondering if the rest of our party were to get Genie + and individual lightning lanes if we would be able to coordinate riding with him. I was only really familiar with how DAS worked prior to 2021 (more of the return to style) so I am not familiar with how it would work logistically now. Any help is much appreciated!

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Hi!
Hoping someone can help! My nephew qualifies for DAS, and we are planning a trip with a larger family group (8 people) and would love to find ways to include him in riding with his grandparents and cousins. My understanding with the new rules is that our party would not fit under his DAS pass, but I am wondering if the rest of our party were to get Genie + and individual lightning lanes if we would be able to coordinate riding with him. I was only really familiar with how DAS worked prior to 2021 (more of the return to style) so I am not familiar with how it would work logistically now. Any help is much appreciated!

Assuming that everybody in your party wants to ride together, you should purchase G+ for the rest of the family that is not part of his DAS group (you will know in advance but it will likely DAS user, parents (assuming a minor) and user’s siblings (who are minors)). For the most part, assuming your Genie+ windows are at least an hour apart, your DAS party can typically request a DAS return time and then as long as the DAS-holders virtual wait has finished, they can join during the Genie+ users window…this is not foolproof but should work most of the day because it’s rare a Genie+ window will be so much faster than standby wait time that they don’t overlap.

You also have the option of spending the money to buy Genie+ for the DAS users, which takes a lot of mental energy out of trying to coordinate and eliminates the risk that you can’t line it up.

 

[mitzy150]

Thanks so much!

Assuming that everybody in your party wants to ride together, you should purchase G+ for the rest of the family that is not part of his DAS group (you will know in advance but it will likely DAS user, parents (assuming a minor) and user’s siblings (who are minors)). For the most part, assuming your Genie+ windows are at least an hour apart, your DAS party can typically request a DAS return time and then as long as the DAS-holders virtual wait has finished, they can join during the Genie+ users window…this is not foolproof but should work most of the day because it’s rare a Genie+ window will be so much faster than standby wait time that they don’t overlap.

You also have the option of spending the money to buy Genie+ for the DAS users, which takes a lot of mental energy out of trying to coordinate and eliminates the risk that you can’t line it up.

Thanks so much! That makes a lot of sense. He will need DAS to ride without us as well, but I never thought of double dipping and getting him G+ too if it becomes to much of a hassle, but that may definitely be worth it. Our bigger worry is for smaller
Non genie rides especially in Disneyland when we go there in a year that don’t have Genie + but I think we may just have to be really watchful for short lines and try our best. He loves his cousins so so so much so it would be devastating for him to have to be separate from everyone but is also not able to wait in lines. Hoping to do as much as we can to make it work for him.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

For a party of 8, including multiple families and a very special trip, you may also want to consider a VIP tour. If everyone shared the expense the cost perhaps might not be so prohibitive, and then all of your issues go away.

 

[mitzy150]

For a party of 8, including multiple families and a very special trip, you may also want to consider a VIP tour. If everyone shared the expense the cost perhaps might not be so prohibitive, and then all of your issues go away.

Unfortunately the cost is very prohibitive for us and would cost about a third of our seven day trip budget for the whole family for a day.

 

[shaqfor3]

From my understanding of the new DAS system, your nephew would be able to add all other 7 people in the party but he can only get DAS selections for himself and 3 of them. This need to be confirm though.

Can and he would ride the thrill rides?

 

[fairy8i8]

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much! That makes a lot of sense. He will need DAS to ride without us as well, but I never thought of double dipping and getting him G+ too if it becomes to much of a hassle, but that may definitely be worth it. Our bigger worry is for smaller
Non genie rides especially in Disneyland when we go there in a year that don’t have Genie + but I think we may just have to be really watchful for short lines and try our best. He loves his cousins so so so much so it would be devastating for him to have to be separate from everyone but is also not able to wait in lines. Hoping to do as much as we can to make it work for him.

I am not sure what your son can handle, but at those non Genie+ rides, you usually enter through the exit. If your son wants to ride with cousins, but doesn't mind waiting without them, then cousins could enter the line, your son could get a return time, and then just tell the CM when he enters through the exit that he is riding with some people in the standard queue. My SIL did this when she was there. Procedures could change for your trip, but that is how they made it work for a group of 12- everyone but her and her husband hopped in standby, and then the 2 of them entered through the exit when their group got toward the front and they joined the group. The CMs were really nice about it. Also note that actual standby wait doesn't always line up with posted, so let the CM know you are waiting for people in line and you want to meet up with them when the others enter the standby line.

 

[mhautz]

Edit - wrong post, sorry

 

[mitzy150]

I am not sure what your son can handle, but at those non Genie+ rides, you usually enter through the exit. If your son wants to ride with cousins, but doesn't mind waiting without them, then cousins could enter the line, your son could get a return time, and then just tell the CM when he enters through the exit that he is riding with some people in the standard queue. My SIL did this when she was there. Procedures could change for your trip, but that is how they made it work for a group of 12- everyone but her and her husband hopped in standby, and then the 2 of them entered through the exit when their group got toward the front and they joined the group. The CMs were really nice about it. Also note that actual standby wait doesn't always line up with posted, so let the CM know you are waiting for people in line and you want to meet up with them when the others enter the standby line.

That's super helpful. Unfortunately having him wait in any contained area is a challenge for him, but I do think we could work with this on smaller rides, as we are all pretty familiar with the queues. We could probably text my SIL or BIL when we are a few minutes from loading and have them try and join us there. Honestly, he will be much more into the dark rides, and smaller rides which is a big reason we are nervous, especially at DL because none of them have LL so that work around doesn't super help.

 

[mitzy150]

From my understanding of the new DAS system, your nephew would be able to add all other 7 people in the party but he can only get DAS selections for himself and 3 of them. This need to be confirm though.

Can and he would ride the thrill rides?

No he won't, at least most of them. I could see us potentially trying Radiator Springs at DCA or maybe Seven Dwarfs, depending on which coast we visit (we tend to rotate them every few years), but not any others. My main concern is DL because they have so few smaller rides that he'd enjoy that have LL so that work around might not be realistic.

 

[Sigal21]

You can coordinate DAS return times with Genie+ bookings for the rest of the group or buy Genie+ for everyone to make it easier for your nephew to ride with the group.

 

[mitzy150]

You can coordinate DAS return times with Genie+ bookings for the rest of the group or buy Genie+ for everyone to make it easier for your nephew to ride with the group.

That's our general plan, but are concerned when we visit DL because most of the rides he would go on do not have LL.

 

[mhautz]

From my understanding of the new DAS system, your nephew would be able to add all other 7 people in the party but he can only get DAS selections for himself and 3 of them. This need to be confirm though.

Has anyone been able to confirm this? I am doubtful this is the case, but IF it’s possible it would be helpful even if you can only get 4 people per individual pass. I am under the impression your party of 4 is your party of 4.

 

[lanejudy]

Has anyone been able to confirm this? I am doubtful this is the case, but IF it’s possible it would be helpful even if you can only get 4 people per individual pass. I am under the impression your party of 4 is your party of 4.

One poster did report they were allowed to link more of their "traveling party" but would only be allowed to select a max of 4 as the "riding party"

Here is the post:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...-may-20-dl-june-18-2024.3943880/post-65509898

 

[mhautz]

One poster did report they were allowed to link more of their "traveling party" but would only be allowed to select a max of 4 as the "riding party"

Here is the post:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...-may-20-dl-june-18-2024.3943880/post-65509898

Okay, thanks. I suspect the same thing as OP, that this is more for AP holders. I’m not sure if it’s personally worth the effort to find out for my party as that kind of switching would be helpful in theory, but not in practice. Grandparents plan to get Genie+ and as already discussed here, I think coordinating the two will be workable.

 

[jeffp18]

Has anyone been able to confirm this? I am doubtful this is the case, but IF it’s possible it would be helpful even if you can only get 4 people per individual pass. I am under the impression your party of 4 is your party of 4.

My daughter was approved. We are a family of 3 but traveling with my parents and my brother and his family. I asked the CM about adding my parents as part of our travel party after she was approved in case she wanted to ride with them. I told him I knew that it is limited to 4 people now but maybe she could pick one per ride to join us. He added them but said we would only be able to select up to 3 people per ride so someone would have to sit out each time or my parents could take her on a ride if my wife and I needed a break.

I didn't bother asking about adding my brother's family because there wouldn't be a time where she would be riding with just them.