DAS and surprise trip

[Team Happy Haunts]

I am surprising my daughter who is 21 with a Disney Trip. She is Autistic and I wanted to surprise her like even all the way up to the airport. We went in 2021 and had the DAS and it worked out so good for her. This trip is just a 3 night, 2 park, so I was excited to hear you can apply for DAS on video call now. But that would ruin her surprise. I see it needs to be done between 2 and 30 days. I could just do it day of our first park but was looking forward to taking advantage of the early entry for resort guests. Our first day is a no park day, probably hit disney springs. Is there anything i can do to get the DAS that first day when I'm not in park? or is it in park only?
Thanks so much guys. I'm so excited to surprise her

 

[DisneyOma]

No, it must be done at one of the 4 parks that utilize DAS. You can get it at one of the blue umbrellas, or so I've heard, so you could do early entry and then when the queues get too long, request DAS.

 

[Team Happy Haunts]

No, it must be done at one of the 4 parks that utilize DAS. You can get it at one of the blue umbrellas, or so I've heard, so you could do early entry and then when the queues get too long, request DAS.

Ohhh ok, that's a great idea, I didn't think of going in first and then going for it.. Thanks so much

 

[ak517]

There are guest services locations outside of the vestibules, so you could theoretically go before your first park day if you want to take the time. I've never tried activating my DAS at a blue umbrella, only at Guest Services, so I can't help there. If I remember correctly, the Magic Kingdom and Epcot-International Gateway Guest Services are past security but before the tapstiles so you will not need to use a day ticket if you go the evening before your park reservations begin. I've never waited longer than 30 minutes, even at park open at Magic Kingdom.

 

[SueM in MN]

No, it must be done at one of the 4 parks that utilize DAS. You can get it at one of the blue umbrellas, or so I've heard, so you could do early entry and then when the queues get too long, request DAS.

I was going to suggest the same. Do the Early entry things, then request DAS later in the day.

There are guest services locations outside of the vestibules, so you could theoretically go before your first park day if you want to take the time. I've never tried activating my DAS at a blue umbrella, only at Guest Services, so I can't help there. If I remember correctly, the Magic Kingdom and Epcot-International Gateway Guest Services are past security but before the tapstiles so you will not need to use a day ticket if you go the evening before your park reservations begin. I've never waited longer than 30 minutes, even at park open at Magic Kingdom.

Each theme park does have a Guest Relations location outside of the park as well as inside. EPCOT has 2; one is at the main entrance to the right of the ticket booths. The other is at the International Gateway.
For all parks, guests do need to go thru Security before reaching the outside of the park Guest Relations.
We have used the outside of the park locations to activate Annual Passes and to register DD for DAS at the same time. The wait at those locations can be quite long in our experience, even if the line is not that long. People often need to resolve complicated ticket issues that can take a while to sort out.

 

[DisneyOma]

It's great that your autistic daughter can handle a surprise like this, BTW - it would overwhelm a lot of my students! I hope you have a great trip!

 

[gap2368]

I have heard of people doing it online bring there child in for just the picture and telling them it is for something else

 

[Einstein509]

Doing it online before hand will allow you to schedule a DAS return time for a ride in the park you're heading to. That way, you can have a pre-scheduled return time and can immediately request another return time once you check in to that attraction. I don't believe you can do that at Guest Relations and if you can, your return times may be limited based on availability.

I've done it online twice, but the wait is horrendous. First time, I logged on in the morning and didn't get an agent until early evening. The second time wasn't as long, but still took about 5-6 hours of waiting in the virtual queue. Disney sure touted the online system as an improvement, but it's not been fun on our end. And yes, your daughter will have to speak to the agent so that will ruin the surprise.

 

[HopperFan]

If MK is your first day you can do it at the Guest Services next to Hall of Presidents. We did it one trip this year ~ you could get in early taking advantage of shorter lines and then go to Liberty Square. Much easier than back tracking to front of Main Street.

 

[notatallmagic]

We've used the Guest Services at Epcot's international gateway - you don't need a park ticket, and can set it up on an "off park" day. Good Luck!

 

[SueM in MN]

Doing it online before hand will allow you to schedule a DAS return time for a ride in the park you're heading to. That way, you can have a pre-scheduled return time and can immediately request another return time once you check in to that attraction. I don't believe you can do that at Guest Relations and if you can, your return times may be limited based on availability.

I've done it online twice, but the wait is horrendous. First time, I logged on in the morning and didn't get an agent until early evening. The second time wasn't as long, but still took about 5-6 hours of waiting in the virtual queue. Disney sure touted the online system as an improvement, but it's not been fun on our end. And yes, your daughter will have to speak to the agent so that will ruin the surprise.

The DAS Advance Selections can only be set up using the DAS chat feature and need to be set up at least 2 days before the park visit.
Guest Relations inside a park may be able to set up your first DAS Return time for you on your park day, but it will be based on the current Standby Wait Time. That DAS Return Time will need to be used before another can be scheduled

 

[CeCe0906]

On our surprise trip 2021, we stayed at the Dophin, so on our arrival day, we played and ate dinner at the pool, then around 8 -830 pm, took the friendship boat to Epcot international gateway. No line, and very quick.

Ended up trying out the Skyliner and watched the Epcot fireworks!

If you visit the Boardwalk area on your non park day, you can easily take the boat from there or use the Skyliner if you are at one of those resorts.

They were very nice in guest relations, read my note explainingwhy she needed the DAS, so that I didn't have to be too specific in front of my granddaughter, she gets a little self conscious about the anxiety/sensory issues. They fixed her up with a1st visit button, and made a big deal about taking her picture.

Ended up doing the video chat this past summer when we went to Disneyland.
It was fine, but we didn't get much value out of the advanced selections, we always seemed not in the right area for that ride. Just making the next selection after tapping in, but before boarding, worked great. Found a quiet spot, or snack, or a short wait ride between. Made selections with long wait times before lunches or shows for the most part.

On thing even I noticed on our last trip - volume on a lot of the dark rides is way loud! I had to have her headphones available for her to be comfortable

 

[SueM in MN]

I have heard of people doing it online bring there child in for just the picture and telling them it is for something else

If the child in adult, they need to register for themselves, unless they have a guardian - then the guardian can register for them and just bring the adult child in for the picture

 

[DisneyOma]

Doing it online before hand will allow you to schedule a DAS return time for a ride in the park you're heading to. That way, you can have a pre-scheduled return time and can immediately request another return time once you check in to that attraction. I don't believe you can do that at Guest Relations and if you can, your return times may be limited based on availability.

None of this makes sense to me? If you do it online, you can have two preselections that have nothing to do with the in park selections you can make once you enter the park. Are you saying you were able to open the DAS app before you got into the park the first morning and schedule a return time? I've never heard of being able to get a day of return time before you were physically in the park.

 

[SueM in MN]

None of this makes sense to me? If you do it online, you can have two preselections that have nothing to do with the in park selections you can make once you enter the park. Are you saying you were able to open the DAS app before you got into the park the first morning and schedule a return time? I've never heard of being able to get a day of return time before you were physically in the park.

I think the poster used the term “DAS Return Time” for the DAS Advance Selections that are prearranged in connection with the advance DAS video registration. People do get the terminology confused sometimes

The DAS tile on the app, which is used to make DAS Return Times won’t show up at all until the DAS Registered person enters a park for the first time. After that, the DAS tile will continue showing, but no DAS Return Times can be scheduled until the DAS Registered guest is in the park, even if other members of the group are in

 

[Einstein509]

I think the poster used the term “DAS Return Time” for the DAS Advance Selections that are prearranged in connection with the advance DAS video registration. People do get the terminology confused sometimes

The DAS tile on the app, which is used to make DAS Return Times won’t show up at all until the DAS Registered person enters a park for the first time. After that, the DAS tile will continue showing, but no DAS Return Times can be scheduled until the DAS Registered guest is in the park, even if other members of the group are in

Correct and thanks for clarifying my comment.

You get the advanced selections through chat online (before heading to the park). Once in the park, your DAS tile shows up in the Disney app and you can make more selections that way once you tap into the advanced selected ride (1st tap if there are two), but the DAS registered person has to tap into the park and the pre-selected ride.

if for some reason some people in your group don't ride, you won't be able to make other selections for these folks. You would have to cancel their return times, so keep that in mind as well.

 

[DisneyOma]

Correct and thanks for clarifying my comment.

You get the advanced selections through chat online (before heading to the park). Once in the park, your DAS tile shows up in the Disney app and you can make more selections that way once you tap into the advanced selected ride (1st tap if there are two), but the DAS registered person has to tap into the park and the pre-selected ride.

if for some reason some people in your group don't ride, you won't be able to make other selections for these folks. You would have to cancel their return times, so keep that in mind as well.

We didn't have to wait until the preselected to get a day of DAS. I (the DAS holder) and everyone who was going to ride with me just had to have tapped into the park. My pre-selections were for late in the day, and we went on many DAS rides before that.

 

[SirDuff]

Correct and thanks for clarifying my comment.

You get the advanced selections through chat online (before heading to the park). Once in the park, your DAS tile shows up in the Disney app and you can make more selections that way once you tap into the advanced selected ride (1st tap if there are two), but the DAS registered person has to tap into the park and the pre-selected ride.

if for some reason some people in your group don't ride, you won't be able to make other selections for these folks. You would have to cancel their return times, so keep that in mind as well.

No. This is incorrect. Your use (or non-use) of the pre-selected have no barring on your day-of selections. You can make your first day-of selection as soon as the person with the DAS (and anyone you want to be on the return time) have entered the park. You do not have to have tapped into your advanced selected ride (which may not be until the late afternoon).

 

[Einstein509]

No. This is incorrect. Your use (or non-use) of the pre-selected have no barring on your day-of selections. You can make your first day-of selection as soon as the person with the DAS (and anyone you want to be on the return time) have entered the park. You do not have to have tapped into your advanced selected ride (which may not be until the late afternoon).

Correct again. It's been a while since we used it, so sorry for causing more confusion.