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

I think I threw the poor CMs off with our situation:

We were approved for DAS for our 6 year old autistic son. We’re a family of 5 with 3 young children, it was fine given our family size to add us all.
Here’s where it gets tricky, my mom is going with us this trip. She’ll have to wait in the standby line and ride alone. This potentially makes her trip miserable because she’ll ride/wait alone, or we’ll have to send one of our children with her for Rider Swap. Additionally, we’d possibly have to wait who knows how long for her to get off the ride.

They agreed this was an issue, so we’ll have to utilize Genie Plus (if available) and Rider Swap. He also recommended we talk to the CM at the ride itself. I’m really hoping for a smooth trip and that my mom is able to enjoy it too! We'll make it work, but yikes!!!
 


I think I threw the poor CMs off with our situation:

We were approved for DAS for our 6 year old autistic son. We’re a family of 5 with 3 young children, it was fine given our family size to add us all.
Here’s where it gets tricky, my mom is going with us this trip. She’ll have to wait in the standby line and ride alone. This potentially makes her trip miserable because she’ll ride/wait alone, or we’ll have to send one of our children with her for Rider Swap. Additionally, we’d possibly have to wait who knows how long for her to get off the ride.

They agreed this was an issue, so we’ll have to utilize Genie Plus (if available) and Rider Swap. He also recommended we talk to the CM at the ride itself. I’m really hoping for a smooth trip and that my mom is able to enjoy it too! We'll make it work, but yikes!!!
Would maybe a form of Attraction Queue Re-entry work? Most of your party enters the queue, your son and 1 adult wait outside the queue, then join-up at the LL merge. The CM at the entrance can explain specifically for each attraction. You could probably trade off which adult waits with your DAS-holder.
 
Would maybe a form of Attraction Queue Re-entry work? Most of your party enters the queue, your son and 1 adult wait outside the queue, then join-up at the LL merge. The CM at the entrance can explain specifically for each attraction. You could probably trade off which adult waits with your DAS-holder.
That would be ideal! I’m going to see if that might work
 
I don't know if this has been posted yet, but the WDW website now includes a document detailing Sensory Experience Details for all attractions, shows, parades, fireworks, etc. at the 4 theme parks and Disney Springs. It includes the following information:
1718586574773.png

And a similar document is posted for Disneyland and California Adventure - Sensory Experience Details
 
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Mods - is there a way to pin your FAQ on the initial OP to reference that may have missed the sticky on the forum?
I don't know if this has been posted yet, but the WDW website now includes a document detailing Sensory Experience Details for all attractions, shows, parades, fireworks, etc. at the 4 theme parks and Disney Springs. It includes the following information:
View attachment 868853

And a similar document is posted for Disneyland and California Adventure - Sensory Experience Details
I added a link to the Updated DAS FAQs sticky to the top of the first post in this thread.
The DAS FAQs thread is not open to replies, but lanejudy and I have been adding information to that thread as we can, including the Sensory Experience Details in lanejudy's post
 
People hating Disney for narrowing its DAS criteria and putting Universal on a pedestal may be in for a shock over there. Some may like it though.
I remember when the initial announcement came that DAS changes were coming, and there were a good number of people saying, I hope they don't go the same way as Universal. Now it's like Universal is the Gold standard...even though DAS didn't change and still exists as it was originally intended...they just narrowed who qualifies and changed the service accommodation/recommendation for those who don't qualify.
 
I remember when the initial announcement came that DAS changes were coming, and there were a good number of people saying, I hope they don't go the same way as Universal. Now it's like Universal is the Gold standard...even though DAS didn't change and still exists as it was originally intended...they just narrowed who qualifies and changed the service accommodation/recommendation for those who don't qualify.
Perspective changes if you're outside looking in and vice versa.

Like most things, it's great when one benefits from it or terrible if not. Vs the overall pro/con to the ecosystem at large.

Most folk do not look at systems and frankly chalk everything up to greed when not perceived value.
 
I remember when the initial announcement came that DAS changes were coming, and there were a good number of people saying, I hope they don't go the same way as Universal. Now it's like Universal is the Gold standard...even though DAS didn't change and still exists as it was originally intended...they just narrowed who qualifies and changed the service accommodation/recommendation for those who don't qualify.

I'm optimistic that the soon-to-open Epic Universe will be built with inclusivity in mind, especially relative to parks that opened 30+ years ago.
 
I’m not that optimistic regarding the Epic park. Universal has done little to make cues that can handle ECVs. I think it is to discourage use there and keep serving their target audience of younger guests. I hope I’m proven wrong.
 
I did some DAS and AQR real-life testing yesterday at WDW - I did a condensed report on the AQR Reporting thread, but I’ll throw all of the details in this post.

Some caveats:
1. I was a solo adult with a non-medical, non-physical disability that makes the line environment problematic for me. I can manage about 10–15 minutes of it.
2. It was a SLOW day - TouringPlans had the crowd level at 4 at MK. It was tough to find rides (that I was willing to try) with waits long enough to bother.

It’s probably safe to assume those two factors played into how things went for me.

First, DAS and ILL usage:

I bought a ILL for TRON, so used the LL there, as one would with DAS.Timed my wait from entering the LL and it was17 minutes. Pretty average for TRON and right at my edge of tolerance.

I used DAS for HM (ETA: posted SB wait was 40mins) - waited 2 minutes until entering the front doors. Literally 2 minutes of walking through the LL queue to the doors, and maybe 30 seconds before they opened. Right into the stretching room, and a quick, continuous walk from there to boarding.

I used DAS for the LL at GOTG - I timed 5 minutes before merging with the SB folks in the first holding room.

I was sent through LLs on Peter Pan and POTC (more on that below):
Pan was 5 minutes total of LL and post-merge before boarding
POTC I literally walked right through the LL and onto a boat

Next, AQR as a solo Guest:

Peter Pan:
45min posted SB wait. I got into the queue and lasted about 15 minutes, then backtracked through the queue to exit. There were no places to make that any easier by going through a chain or anything - it was all indoor, single file, so I literally just had to go through in the opposite direction until I exited through the entrance. NOT easy: fellow Guests were perfectly pleasant and scooched over to help me get out, but it’s a narrow queue and almost everyone was looking at their phones, so it took a lot of saying “excuse me”, “so sorry!”, and “pardon me, I need to exit please” to get out.

Once back at the SB entrance, I told the CM there that I had to leave the queue - offered no details and no request was made by the CM for any - and asked how I might be able to return. They told me it was no problem and just find them when I came back and they’d let me back in. I returned 10-15 minutes later, but that CM was gone. I explained to the new CM at the SB entrance and they said they would bring me around “outside to where the lines merge” and I could find my party there*. I apologized for not leading with the info, but that I was visiting on my own - no party in line to find. They said okay, had the CM at the LL tap point do something in MDE, had me tap there, and sent me through the LL, where I needed to tap again at the 2nd tap point. (Green taps, if that info is of value)

Notes: *I saw that those with mobility devices entered via an outdoor line that merged with the queue indoors, so I assume that’s where I'd have been sent if I had other party members in the line.
I was not given a return time or anything, just sent right into the LL.
All 3 CMs were pleasant and friendly and clearly knew how AQR worked for their attraction and based on Guest party make-up and needs. The CM I spoke with when I returned to the line only seemed surprised that I’d waited in the line first before leaving and confirmed that there was no easy way of exiting that queue.

POTC: 25min posted SB wait. Instead of just getting into line, I first asked a CM posted at the LL entrance: “There’s a solid chance I’ll need to exit the line at some point - can you please advise how I should do that?” They asked if I had “a reservation” (DAS? G+ LL?) and I said no. They asked, “is it that you can’t wait in line?” And I answered, “Yes and no - I’m okay for about 10-15 minutes, so if it’s really a 25 minute wait, it might be too much and I’m visiting on my own.” They sent me straight into the LL without doing anything in MDE.

Notes: Again, the CM clearly knew what the AQR procedures were for the attraction. And again, they were very pleasant and did not require any additional details about why I couldn’t do the full SB wait. I felt no discomfort and had a nice, albeit short, little chat with them.

Apologies that I only got to test out two rides, but it was such a slow day, most things only ever had a 5-15 min wait posted! And I’m not a pack-in-lots-of-rides person: 5 rides in 5 hours, plus lunch and a couple sit and rest breaks was a pretty good run for me!

My big takeaways were:

1. ASK a CM about AQR before getting into the SB line. Whether you’re solo or with others it’s worth finding out ahead of time how the attraction handles things. I strongly suspect at Peter Pan they’d have had me skip getting into and needing to backtrack through the SB queue and would have either given me a return time or sent me right into the LL.

2. CMs definitely seemed to have been trained and knew what options they had available. I think the “at CM discretion” part of the equation is deciding how best to manage the AQR process to suit the party size, needs, queue layout, and probably crowd level. They are not deciding who gets AQR and who doesn’t: it’s available to all.

3. Could I replace DAS with AQR? Maybe… I still have some questions unanswered. Like, I absolutely cannot tolerate the regular queue at GOTG if it’s longer than 10ish minutes - would I be able to utilize AQR with a VQ instead of using DAS? IDK and didn't think to ask. I enjoyed not booking rides through MDE - I don’t like being scheduled at WDW, so AQR beat DAS in that respect. I guess if I was given return times, it would be the same thing, though.

If anyone has questions I didn’t answer, let me know!
 
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I think the “at CM discretion” part of the equation is deciding how best to manage the AQR process to suit the party size, needs, queue layout, and probably crowd level. They are not deciding who gets AQR and who doesn’t: it’s available to all.

Thank you for sharing your experience. This is exactly what I have expected -- not an "approve/deny" type of decision but rather how it will work best for the guest/party at that attraction at that time.
 
Thank you for sharing your experience. This is exactly what I have expected -- not an "approve/deny" type of decision but rather how it will work best for the guest/party at that attraction at that time.
My pleasure! And same - it went basically as I expected it would. Bu it’s a really hard thing to explain and describe - it made a lot more sense seeing it happen in real time!
 
I did some DAS and AQR real-life testing yesterday at WDW - I did a condensed report on the AQR Reporting thread, but I’ll throw all of the details in this post.

Some caveats:
1. I was a solo adult with a non-medical, non-physical disability that makes the line environment problematic for me. I can manage about 10–15 minutes of it.
2. It was a SLOW day - TouringPlans had the crowd level at 4 at MK. It was tough to find rides (that I was willing to try) with waits long enough to bother.

It’s probably safe to assume those two factors played into how things went for me.

First, DAS and ILL usage:

I bought a ILL for TRON, so used the LL there, as one would with DAS.Timed my wait from entering the LL and it was17 minutes. Pretty average for TRON and right at my edge of tolerance.

I used DAS for HM (ETA: posted SB wait was 40mins) - waited 2 minutes until entering the front doors. Literally 2 minutes of walking through the LL queue to the doors, and maybe 30 seconds before they opened. Right into the stretching room, and a quick, continuous walk from there to boarding.

I used DAS for the LL at GOTG - I timed 5 minutes before merging with the SB folks in the first holding room.

I was sent through LLs on Peter Pan and POTC (more on that below):
Pan was 5 minutes total of LL and post-merge before boarding
POTC I literally walked right through the LL and onto a boat

Next, AQR as a solo Guest:

Peter Pan:
45min posted SB wait. I got into the queue and lasted about 15 minutes, then backtracked through the queue to exit. There were no places to make that any easier by going through a chain or anything - it was all indoor, single file, so I literally just had to go through in the opposite direction until I exited through the entrance. NOT easy: fellow Guests were perfectly pleasant and scooched over to help me get out, but it’s a narrow queue and almost everyone was looking at their phones, so it took a lot of saying “excuse me”, “so sorry!”, and “pardon me, I need to exit please” to get out.

Once back at the SB entrance, I told the CM there that I had to leave the queue - offered no details and no request was made by the CM for any - and asked how I might be able to return. They told me it was no problem and just find them when I came back and they’d let me back in. I returned 10-15 minutes later, but that CM was gone. I explained to the new CM at the SB entrance and they said they would bring me around “outside to where the lines merge” and I could find my party there*. I apologized for not leading with the info, but that I was visiting on my own - no party in line to find. They said okay, had the CM at the LL tap point do something in MDE, had me tap there, and sent me through the LL, where I needed to tap again at the 2nd tap point. (Green taps, if that info is of value)

Notes: *I saw that those with mobility devices entered via an outdoor line that merged with the queue indoors, so I assume that’s where I'd have been sent if I had other party members in the line.
I was not given a return time or anything, just sent right into the LL.
All 3 CMs were pleasant and friendly and clearly knew how AQR worked for their attraction and based on Guest party make-up and needs. The CM I spoke with when I returned to the line only seemed surprised that I’d waited in the line first before leaving and confirmed that there was no easy way of exiting that queue.

POTC: 25min posted SB wait. Instead of just getting into line, I first asked a CM posted at the LL entrance: “There’s a solid chance I’ll need to exit the line at some point - can you please advise how I should do that?” They asked if I had “a reservation” (DAS? G+ LL?) and I said no. They asked, “is it that you can’t wait in line?” And I answered, “Yes and no - I’m okay for about 10-15 minutes, so if it’s really a 25 minute wait, it might be too much and I’m visiting on my own.” They sent me straight into the LL without doing anything in MDE.

Notes: Again, the CM clearly knew what the AQR procedures were for the attraction. And again, they were very pleasant and did not require any additional details about why I couldn’t do the full SB wait. I felt no discomfort and had a nice, albeit short, little chat with them.

Apologies that I only got to test out two rides, but it was such a slow day, most things only ever had a 5-15 min wait posted! And I’m not a pack-in-lots-of-rides person: 5 rides in 5 hours, plus lunch and a couple sit and rest breaks was a pretty good run for me!

My big takeaways were:

1. ASK a CM about AQR before getting into the SB line. Whether you’re solo or with others it’s worth finding out ahead of time how the attraction handles things. I strongly suspect at Peter Pan they’d have had me skip getting into and needing to backtrack through the SB queue and would have either given me a return time or sent me right into the LL.

2. CMs definitely seemed to have been trained and knew what options they had available. I think the “at CM discretion” part of the equation is deciding how best to manage the AQR process to suit the party size, needs, queue layout, and probably crowd level. They are not deciding who gets AQR and who doesn’t: it’s available to all.

3. Could I replace DAS with AQR? Maybe… I still have some questions unanswered. Like, I absolutely cannot tolerate the regular queue at GOTG if it’s longer than 10ish minutes - would I be able to utilize AQR with a VQ instead of using DAS? IDK and didn't think to ask. I enjoyed not booking rides through MDE - I don’t like being scheduled at WDW, so AQR beat DAS in that respect. I guess if I was given return times, it would be the same thing, though.

If anyone has questions I didn’t answer, let me know!
Thank you for sharing! Great info!
 
My pleasure! And same - it went basically as I expected it would. Bu it’s a really hard thing to explain and describe - it made a lot more sense seeing it happen in real time!
I think people got ahead of themselves and a combo of information being posted on various platforms that were more like either telephone or twisting of what occurred (innocently or intentional).

This was about a week and a half after the start date for WDW and my CM friend had not had too much situations crop up yet at their attraction but what they did say was that there had been nearly every guest who refused the accommodations they told them. That could be a combo in itself of confusion of the options as presented or unwillingness to do something different and I really hope people have had more time to settle in with the changes (part of a reason I did not mention this earlier on).

I could see where someone reported back that a CM at the attraction was refusing to use AQR or other options when that really didn't jive with what a CM would be doing (unless it was a training situation where the CM was unaware of the options) or where they assumed a CM was the decision maker on when they could leave the line (as an example).

The whole "each attraction is different" both on Disney's website and on DAS calls may cause uncertainty for a guest (especially one denied DAS but told to ask CMs at the attractions) but each attraction is actually different. How one's situation, make up of the party (as in the individuals), party size, queue situation, restrictions for an attraction, etc can affect which option is more appropriate.

I think a lot of this is growing pains on the guests side as well as getting more in real life experience for the CMs as they are able to get more in tune with the types of situations they probably will encounter on a more frequent basis.
 
Perspective changes if you're outside looking in and vice versa.

Like most things, it's great when one benefits from it or terrible if not. Vs the overall pro/con to the ecosystem at large.

Most folk do not look at systems and frankly chalk everything up to greed when not perceived value.
I think it's also looking at Disney at times through a lens of "oh no they wouldn't do that, no way no how" which a lot of that thread the PP spoke about was like that where people may have had concerns about what Disney would do but ultimately didn't believe Disney would go that route because it's Disney instead of looking at more the practical pros and cons.

I remember how much even I thought they wouldn't charge for a paid system at WDW because they made such a huge marketing point for years that they had FP+ included in their park tickets and made not so subtle jabs at Universal for that. My small vacation booklet Disney sent me from 2017 for my on-site stay had it multiple times about FP being included with my park ticket, no additional charge. Their entire "come to WDW" campaign for years was about including these things. I was obviously wrong :laughing: . MaxPass was different because DLR still had the free Legacy FP kiosks so every guests still had access to the system there was just some differences with MP but it was Disney's stepping stone.
 
I think a lot of this is growing pains on the guests side as well as getting more in real life experience for the CMs as they are able to get more in tune with the types of situations they probably will encounter on a more frequent basis.
I completely agree. I think one of the hardest parts for everyone to wrap their heads around is that for so long, Disney “trained” us to wait in lines. You get in the line, you wait in the line for however long it takes, then you ride. Exceptions for those who are disabled, but otherwise EVERYONE WAITS IN THE LINES. Even with FP/FP+/G+/ILL, there is a designated line and we all wait in it. AQR is a weirdly huge departure from that notion! Anyone can leave the line and come back - and not be penalized for it?! It feels on the surface so antithetical to the entire ride queue concept! What it really is, IMO, is a leveling of the playing field: you don’t have to have a special categorization or deep pockets to make use of it - it’s available to anyone who needs it. I think that’s a real hard thing for some to accept, totally apart from whether or not it suits a person’s needs.
 
I completely agree. I think one of the hardest parts for everyone to wrap their heads around is that for so long, Disney “trained” us to wait in lines. You get in the line, you wait in the line for however long it takes, then you ride. Exceptions for those who are disabled, but otherwise EVERYONE WAITS IN THE LINES. Even with FP/FP+/G+/ILL, there is a designated line and we all wait in it. AQR is a weirdly huge departure from that notion! Anyone can leave the line and come back - and not be penalized for it?! It feels on the surface so antithetical to the entire ride queue concept! What it really is, IMO, is a leveling of the playing field: you don’t have to have a special categorization or deep pockets to make use of it - it’s available to anyone who needs it. I think that’s a real hard thing for some to accept, totally apart from whether or not it suits a person’s needs.
I agree with you but disagree with you, don't take that a wrong way please :flower3:

The pushback isn't coming from people who are like "we used to wait in line and now we have a way to get back in without having to go to the back?!" because everyone no matter what has always been able to leave the line, you are never held captive to the queue. The comments, concerns, questioning, and potential misinformation about CM's role at the attraction with AQR and such posted on social media is coming from people who had DAS, did not get DAS on their most recent attempt, but who are used to DAS and the way it worked OR people who have DAS but have been held to the lower party limit.

Contextually these are where the comments are from. The guests who are only used to either Standby or FP or FP+ or MP or Genie+/ILL but no other way to do the lines are only going to get the confusion that they now have a way to get back in line if they chose to leave it (for example a child needing to go to the bathroom one of the most common examples of "this isn't line cutting" I've seen on the Boards) as opposed to only having the option of rejoining at the end of the line or trying to make your way back to your party from the end of the line.

If you used DAS especially year after year I would disagree that Disney trained you to wait in lines (the very point was you had difficulties with the queues). The guests who visit the parks and either didn't realize FP was included in the park ticket or don't buy/don't want to buy MP when it was around or Genie+/ILL are the ones in the lines. To maybe make that easier it's like over at Universal the guests who never use EP and just tour with Standby (which was my husband and I prior to our last trip in 2022).
 
I think people got ahead of themselves and a combo of information being posted on various platforms that were more like either telephone or twisting of what occurred (innocently or intentional).

This was about a week and a half after the start date for WDW and my CM friend had not had too much situations crop up yet at their attraction but what they did say was that there had been nearly every guest who refused the accommodations they told them. That could be a combo in itself of confusion of the options as presented or unwillingness to do something different and I really hope people have had more time to settle in with the changes (part of a reason I did not mention this earlier on).

I could see where someone reported back that a CM at the attraction was refusing to use AQR or other options when that really didn't jive with what a CM would be doing (unless it was a training situation where the CM was unaware of the options) or where they assumed a CM was the decision maker on when they could leave the line (as an example).

The whole "each attraction is different" both on Disney's website and on DAS calls may cause uncertainty for a guest (especially one denied DAS but told to ask CMs at the attractions) but each attraction is actually different. How one's situation, make up of the party (as in the individuals), party size, queue situation, restrictions for an attraction, etc can affect which option is more appropriate.

I think a lot of this is growing pains on the guests side as well as getting more in real life experience for the CMs as they are able to get more in tune with the types of situations they probably will encounter on a more frequent basis.

All stakeholders will take a little time to get used to the new normal, and both will adjust processes and habits when the dust settles.

It's definitely a change. We may not have DAS being DS is level 2-3 ASD adult. Who knows.

But at least some attraction level options are being solidified and that's a good thing for everyone
 













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