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

[StitchesGr8Fan]

IIRC the disability that was your family’s reason for DAS eligibility before the changes is that he is immunocompromised. His immune system is weak and cannot fight infectious diseases and cancer.

What I do not understand is why you think DAS is an appropriate accommodation for this disability?

An airborne virus can hang in the air for 8, 10, or 15 minutes or more depending on air movement and the virus. In human to human transmission, someone could have coughed or sneezed ahead of you in line well before you reached that point and you would not have any knowledge that it happened. It takes a split second to breathe in a micro organism that could become fatal for a severely immunocompromised person. It is irrelevant if there is 30 minutes in a line or 90 minutes. Once that virus is inhales the host body is subject to infection. The same for droplet transmissions. Those droplets can travel, survive a surprisingly long time on surfaces like handrails and are present all around us in crowds; not just in the standby lines of Disney parks. If he is that immunocompromised, just standing on Main Street in MK is a big risk. So, I do not understand what, if any effective accommodation any crowded theme park anywhere can offer. It certainly is not DAS which is just using shorter queue lines to ride headliner attractions. Maybe the effective accommodation is not to go to intensely crowded areas? A crowded theme park cannot offer any effective accommodation to fully ameliorate the risk to a severely immunocompromised person. The defenses for that are PPE or a hazmat suit. Not DAS.

Thank you. All it takes is the person in the boat ahead of you in pirates, the car ahead of you on Spaceship Earth, the theater with you in Carousel of Progress, the person standing next to you browsing a shop, or the kid who was at the table before you at a quick service meal to have the flu and sneeze and you pass through the droplets to pick up what they have. That is the risk when you pass by several thousand people in a day at a theme park. Germs aren’t confined to lines.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

We simply wouldn’t take the risk - last visit we got into a virtual queue which we didn’t realise could be over an hour - ended up in hospital with flu.
I wonder who you think DAS might be appropriate for - if anyone.

Correlation does not equal causation. You have no proof that some in that queue gave him the flu versus elsewhere that day.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Once again, coming to a theme park is inherently risky for someone who is immunocompromised. The risk doesn’t just exist in lines. There are many situations where you could be near someone with an illness for 20+ minutes besides in lines, but yet you still choose to focus only on lines. No one is saying your husband should stay home and have no life. But there are many other things he could do that are lower risk that still let him enjoy life. He is making the decision to go to a theme park knowing the enhanced risk, and Disney has made the decision that it DAS is no longer an accommodation available to him.

As an immunocompromised person myself, I understand both sides of the argument. But the best accommodation is AQR with a spouse (or family member) who takes care of himself/herself so he/she can stand in line and be healthy and NOT pick up germs. And that spouse needs to know to leave a line if they are placed near a sickie and just move on.

The longer you are around a germ, the more likely you will pick it up - this is science. Walking through air 15 minutes after a cough will almost never get you sick. Standing next to the sick cougher and breathing their same air for 45 minutes will. So, you don't do that. You train yourself and family to understand people are people (and wow, we've seen that on both sides of Covid) and just leave.

The other best personal accommodation for an immune-compromised person is to choose the best travel time. You want hot, humid, sunny, and low viral season with low crowds...so August (after FL back-to-school) would be ideal for Disney, even if it's not ideal for a normal traveling person. Always go places when few people want to be there. It's a motto for the immunocompromised.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

Discussions of risk and especially “mitigating risk” have little practical significance for the immunocompromised individual facing down dangerous pathogens. For professionals who manage services they can talk about how in every 100 people maybe 25 will contract a disease in a certain environment. But for the individual who does contract the disease the risk is always 100%. A person does not get 25% of a disease. So, the only way to “manage the risk” for the individual is prevention; to use PPE, hazmat suits or avoid going to areas where those organisms are highly likely to be endemic to the physical environment, like crowded theme parks. Look to the likelihood of harm and the gravity of the harm. If the potential gravity of being ill is severe, the thing to manage is the likelihood of coming across the pathogen and that means full barrier protection or do not go to theme parks. By the way, I think people who are home bound or mostly so can still have a good life.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

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[Ms Bibbidi]

As an immunocompromised person myself, I understand both sides of the argument. But the best accommodation is RTQ with a spouse (or family member) who takes care of himself/herself so he/she can stand in line and be healthy and NOT pick up germs. And that spouse needs to know to leave a line if they are placed near a sickie and just move on.

The longer you are around a germ, the more likely you will pick it up - this is science. Walking through air 15 minutes after a cough will almost never get you sick. Standing next to the sick cougher and breathing their same air for 45 minutes will. So, you don't do that. You train yourself and family to understand people are people (and wow, we've seen that on both sides of Covid) and just leave.

The other best personal accommodation for an immune-compromised person is to choose the best travel time. You want hot, humid, sunny, and low viral season with low crowds...so August (after FL back-to-school) would be ideal for Disney, even if it's not ideal for a normal traveling person. Always go places when few people want to be there. It's a motto for the immunocompromised.

I disagree with your understanding of the science that it takes longer exposure or closer proximity to the human source.

 

[dbriggsq]

Once again, coming to a theme park is inherently risky for someone who is immunocompromised. The risk doesn’t just exist in lines. There are many situations where you could be near someone with an illness for 20+ minutes besides in lines, but yet you still choose to focus only on lines. No one is saying your husband should stay home and have no life. But there are many other things he could do that are lower risk that still let him enjoy life. He is making the decision to go to a theme park knowing the enhanced risk, and Disney has made the decision that it DAS is no longer an accommodation available to him.

Again it is a case of risk assessment. We can take precautions - only staying in the parks for 3 ish hours- mobile ordering - staying in the open - keeping to the edge of any crowds. The one thing we can't avoid is lines in confined, indoor spaces especially when cast members continually say fill in all the available space. BTW this isn't his only issue but I wont give more of his symptoms - except to say that cast members and even the 'medical professionals ' won't have heard of it.
We've taken our kids to Disney for many years and now we want to enjoy it with our grandchildren - DAS could facilitate that.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

The longer you are around a germ, the more likely you will pick it up - this is science. Walking through air 15 minutes after a cough will almost never get you sick. Standing next to the sick cougher and breathing their same air for 45 minutes will. So, you don't do that. You train yourself and family to understand people are people (and wow, we've seen that on both sides of Covid) and just leave.

True, but there are times at a Disney Park where you may be near someone sick for 15-20+ minutes besides lines. And the weaker your immune system, the less viral load you need to be exposed to in order to be sick.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

IMHO, this is why DAS needed to change. It is not an effective accommodation for a person disabled due to being severely immunocompromised.

 

[DiznyDiva]

We simply wouldn’t take the risk - last visit we got into a virtual queue which we didn’t realise could be over an hour - ended up in hospital with flu.
I wonder who you think DAS might be appropriate for - if anyone.

This is where research and planning comes in. ALL virtual questions are usually more than a thirty minute or more wait once called back because they call in batches and some from previous batches are still going through.

I am sorry about ending up in the hospital but being in a virtual cue in can not be definitively linked to how you got flu.. Just going to a crowed amusement park is reason enough to to get sick even with masks and other preventive ways. Still not a reason for DAS and a personal choice.

Deciding who gets DAS is not our business. That's Disneys and they did decide. Could, would might've been shown now not to be reason in Disneys eyes.

 

[DiznyDiva]

We've taken our kids to Disney for many years and now we want to enjoy it with our grandchildren - DAS could facilitate that.

Bottom line is Now it doesn't. DAS is for the narrow issues Disney has decided and nothing more. It's not goignt o change in the near future.

So now you have to decide if it's worthy it to try and make plans on how to protect yourself in the best way possible or to take you money elsewhere.

There are ways at Disney with other accommodations and lots of planning to still enjoy it, just not with what DAS has become.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I disagree with your understanding of the science that it takes longer exposure or closer proximity to the human source.

I thought about posting the science, but assume you can google the CDC and other medical sources, which details exactly what I posted above.

And to follow up for more understanding...just like autism is a spectrum, immune-compromisedness can also be a spectrum (someone can be more or less immuno-compromised at different times based on what treatments they are receiving, what is impeding their immune system, etc) - most immunocompromised folks are not "the boy in the bubble" level - they have some form of immunity, just less to much less than a normal person. And most immunocompromised folks do not travel when their immunity is at its lowest (like when neutrophils are at or near zero). So, they can travel...as long as they are smart about it. And they take precautions and receive accommodations (which do not need to be DAS) that help.

 

[dbriggsq]

For people whose issues with their disabilities are caused by the line itself - I’ve been pretty clear about that, long before Disney made the recent changes, in fact.

And our issues are caused by the line itself so....

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

Remember the story about the church group near Seattle when Covid first came to the US in Feb 2020? I was in that local area at the time. It was airborne and transmitted through the HVAC vents. The CDC was in denial. Yes. At that time it was an exceptionally lethal virus before it morphed. At first, certain people, including the CDC said that was misinformation. Later it was peer reviewed and proven to be airborne. The CDC reversed its position and agreed it was airborne. The point is they scientifically proved it came into the room through the air vents. People sitting in the air flow paths died. They were never in close proximity with the source infected person who had Covid.

Yes. There are levels of being immunocompromised.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

And our issues are caused by the line itself so....

I disagree. Not an attraction line but crowded places in general. Disney is inherently a crowded place. That is the nature of it even on low crowd days in terms of disease transmission.

 

[OurBigTrip]

And our issues are caused by the line itself so....

No, they’re not - they could be caused by anyone you encounter in the park and in fact, may not be encountered at all.

You want a DAS because something might happen, and those days are gone.

 

[dbriggsq]

No, they’re not - they could be caused by anyone you encounter in the park and in fact, may not be encountered at all.

You want a DAS because something might happen, and those days are gone.

There is no other situation at the park where we would be in touching distance of other people for an hour or more.
Also I've said that this isn't the only issue- muscle fatigue which could cause respiratory crisis etc etc

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

There is no other situation at the park where we would be in touching distance of other people for an hour or more.
Also I've said that this isn't the only issue- muscle fatigue which could cause respiratory crisis etc etc

Transportation
Dining
Parades (including waiting time)
Shows (including waiting time)
Fireworks/exiting the park

Muscle fatigue can be mitigated (in Disney’s eyes) by a mobility device.

I totally understand why you want DAS and why you think that you are entitled to it. I can also see from Disney’s perspective why DAS is not the appropriate accommodation given the needs that have been described above.

 

[dbriggsq]

Thank you. All it takes is the person in the boat ahead of you in pirates, the car ahead of you on Spaceship Earth, the theater with you in Carousel of Progress, the person standing next to you browsing a shop, or the kid who was at the table before you at a quick service meal to have the flu and sneeze and you pass through the droplets to pick up what they have. That is the risk when you pass by several thousand people in a day at a theme park. Germs aren’t confined to lines.

The most risk occurs when standing close to people in a confined space for long periods of time, particularly indoors.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

There is no other situation at the park where we would be in touching distance of other people for an hour or more.
Also I've said that this isn't the only issue- muscle fatigue which could cause respiratory crisis etc etc

It is not time. It is a breath or two. It is not next to people, they could be long gone and it hangs in the air or comes through a vent. It is not touching another person, but touching a handrail hours after the droplets landed there and then touching your mouth , nose or eyes. It is not length of time or proximity that causes the actual transmission. It is contact with the pathogen.