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!