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

[nalababybear]

I'm not sure from what she posted whether she talked about her needs or started with her diagnosis. I didn't see anything about whether they tried to ask about concerns, just that they were referring to IBS and she was correcting them. She would need to clarify that.

Unfortunately for people who do have ulcerative colitis, Crohns and IBS, anything having to do with sudden or frequent bathroom use became the TikTok/Reddit conditions of choice for scammers to claim they had. That means people who actually have those conditions are probably getting more scrutiny

Exactly. The cm and/or specialist probably have clear processes to offer any GI related needs the AQR accommodation. In all likelihood The specialist is dev delay trained probably knows little difference between IBD, IBS or gastritis.

This is unfortunate for our folk with gi related disabilities and if DAS is an accomodation to be pursued will need a day trying the other accommodations and then another video chat on site thanks to those abusers pushing into their world.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Unfortunately for people who do have ulcerative colitis, Crohns and IBS, anything having to do with sudden or frequent bathroom use became the TikTok/Reddit conditions of choice for scammers to claim they had. That means people who actually have those conditions are probably getting more scrutiny

California residents who make privacy requests to Disney (allegedly) have been given reams of data showing everywhere their MB was in very frequent intervals (not just when scanning!) around the parks going back years…I don’t know if Disney has actual run the data, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they looked at MBs of people who said they needed DAS because of [xyz issues] and then decided to check and see if park usage indicated it was being used as a true accommodation or people going on 15-20 attractions a day. It is unfortunate that abusers/fakers might have led to some groups being excluded going forward, if certain groups were identified as consuming a disproportionate share of DAS returns. I do think if someone sues going forward claiming to need DAS and that AQR is unworkable, Disney’s litigators will absolutely pull prior MB data to defend the reasonability of the accommodation, why they switched, and the operational impact that granting it in the past created.

I absolutely believe there are many people with GI (and other physical) conditions who need an alternative option to waiting in longer lines…but I think plaintiffs lawyers are going to have a hard time establishing that Disney needs to offer the full DAS service for anyone who has a history of using 10+ LLs a day with DAS— it wouldn’t surprise me if we later learn that Disney was trying to protect the program for the families who can only get in a few rides a day, even with DAS.

Conversely, I wonder if (after trying the offered accommodation), someone could escalate and say “look at my MB history, I spent 3-6 hours a day in bathrooms on average, I need a better accommodation than try to “hold it” and leaving the line when it doesn’t work.”

 

[Disneychick75]

It does state:

• The recording of this video chat is strictly prohibited.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/disability-access-service/register/

California residents who make privacy requests to Disney (allegedly) have been given reams of data showing everywhere their MB was in very frequent intervals (not just when scanning!) around the parks going back years…I don’t know if Disney has actual run the data, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they looked at MBs of people who said they needed DAS because of [xyz issues] and then decided to check and see if park usage indicated it was being used as a true accommodation or people going on 15-20 attractions a day. It is unfortunate that abusers/fakers might have led to some groups being excluded going forward, if certain groups were identified as consuming a disproportionate share of DAS returns. I do think if someone sues going forward claiming to need DAS and that AQR is unworkable, Disney’s litigators will absolutely pull prior MB data to defend the reasonability of the accommodation, why they switched, and the operational impact that granting it in the past created.

I absolutely believe there are many people with GI (and other physical) conditions who need an alternative option to waiting in longer lines…but I think plaintiffs lawyers are going to have a hard time establishing that Disney needs to offer the full DAS service for anyone who has a history of using 10+ LLs a day with DAS— it wouldn’t surprise me if we later learn that Disney was trying to protect the program for the families who can only get in a few rides a day, even with DAS.

Conversely, I wonder if (after trying the offered accommodation), someone could escalate and say “look at my MB history, I spent 3-6 hours a day in bathrooms on average, I need a better accommodation than try to “hold it” and leaving the line when it doesn’t work.”

Thanks for this information. We won't be using our Magic Bands.

 

[Ollivier]

Respectfully, multiple people have reported that when the CM was unable to make a determination based off of their script a person from Inspire Health (the medical professional) joined the call and in a few cases people were told their autism was not severe enough or their condition was not severe enough to need DAS.

I live in europe and It took us at least half a year to get the diagnose autism to get the needed help in school. An official test, a school visit, 3 visits to a child psychologist.
After all this we got the needed documentation to receive the needed help.

How can a person from Inspire Health evaluatie the severity of autism in a couple of minutes when they are not allowed to look at official documentation.

 

[AndyPandy59]

And there is no reason for decreased numbers of DAS at this point since they were granted under previous rules. I have one good for 30 days given before the change that goes through the beginning of July. You can expect DAS people to be in the LL for some weeks yet. I don’t think these numbers reflect anything of significance related to DAS change.

The only difference now is that there won’t be people queuing to apply on the day in the parks for DAS, I presume there will still be a few do the online chat in the park but suspect it will be a lot less than previously so yes I imagine the new policy is already working.

 

[nalababybear]

I live in europe and It took us at least half a year to get the diagnose autism to get the needed help in school. An official test, a school visit, 3 visits to a child psychologist.
After all this we got the needed documentation to receive the needed help.

How can a person from Inspire Health evaluatie the severity of autism in a couple of minutes when they are not allowed to look at official documentation.

It's not the diagnosis, it's the need for an accomodation due to inability to remain in a queue. That narrow scope for assessment can be done reasonably well.

Giving advice to others on ways to remedy probably should be off limits and simply referred back to the park goers treating team

 

[nalababybear]

California residents who make privacy requests to Disney (allegedly) have been given reams of data showing everywhere their MB was in very frequent intervals (not just when scanning!) around the parks going back years…I don’t know if Disney has actual run the data, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they looked at MBs of people who said they needed DAS because of [xyz issues] and then decided to check and see if park usage indicated it was being used as a true accommodation or people going on 15-20 attractions a day. It is unfortunate that abusers/fakers might have led to some groups being excluded going forward, if certain groups were identified as consuming a disproportionate share of DAS returns. I do think if someone sues going forward claiming to need DAS and that AQR is unworkable, Disney’s litigators will absolutely pull prior MB data to defend the reasonability of the accommodation, why they switched, and the operational impact that granting it in the past created.

I absolutely believe there are many people with GI (and other physical) conditions who need an alternative option to waiting in longer lines…but I think plaintiffs lawyers are going to have a hard time establishing that Disney needs to offer the full DAS service for anyone who has a history of using 10+ LLs a day with DAS— it wouldn’t surprise me if we later learn that Disney was trying to protect the program for the families who can only get in a few rides a day, even with DAS.

Conversely, I wonder if (after trying the offered accommodation), someone could escalate and say “look at my MB history, I spent 3-6 hours a day in bathrooms on average, I need a better accommodation than try to “hold it” and leaving the line when it doesn’t work.”

Guess I'm glad we all wear our mb+ if we ever need to bring a formal complaint to dlr.

Now if they can get the wifi to work reliably indoors....

 

[Disneychick75]

I live in europe and It took us at least half a year to get the diagnose autism to get the needed help in school. An official test, a school visit, 3 visits to a child psychologist.
After all this we got the needed documentation to receive the needed help.

How can a person from Inspire Health evaluatie the severity of autism in a couple of minutes when they are not allowed to look at official documentation.

They can't.

 

[BingoJoe]

I live in europe and It took us at least half a year to get the diagnose autism to get the needed help in school. An official test, a school visit, 3 visits to a child psychologist.
After all this we got the needed documentation to receive the needed help.

How can a person from Inspire Health evaluatie the severity of autism in a couple of minutes when they are not allowed to look at official documentation.

Aside from any legal prohibition, the very individual nature of the American health care system would probably make any “official” letter almost as variable as self certification.

We are talking about medical system from which Michael Jackson managed to source a doctor to put him to sleep using a general anesthetic

 

[BingoJoe]

It's not the diagnosis, it's the need for an accomodation due to inability to remain in a queue. That narrow scope for assessment can be done reasonably well.

Giving advice to others on ways to remedy probably should be off limits and simply referred back to the park goers treating team

In the UK the legal right for reasonable accommodation based on needs is the same. So the same conversations will take place here as the USA, but only after an official diagnosis can be proved. It’s essentially an extra step.

For example if an employee in your workplace wants an accommodation, they will come to you with a doctors note and a request for a particular accommodation. You will then send them to an occupational health specialist who will either agree to the accommodation, deny it or suggest an alternative.

So an official diagnoses does not mean you will get a particular accommodation but it is a prerequisite for it.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Guess I'm glad we all wear our mb+ if we ever need to bring a formal complaint to dlr.

Now if they can get the wifi to work reliably indoors....

The Wi-Fi toggling on and off all day at Disney is one of life’s great mysteries. It happens at DLR and WDW. I think they intentionally block/jam it on the ride itself (and maybe the pre-show rooms for the newer rides?), which I understand but it’s very frustrating to not have reliable reception if we’re trying to check in on a family member.

FWIW, I think the MBs work by radio frequency so Disney knows where you are even if the WiFi isn’t working— that’s how they take the pictures on attractions (very cool but not foolproof, I wish cosmic rewind and Tron gave you the ability to manually tap on the way out because sometimes the photos are just lost).

 

[diablodancer]

California residents who make privacy requests to Disney (allegedly) have been given reams of data showing everywhere their MB was in very frequent intervals (not just when scanning!) around the parks going back years…I don’t know if Disney has actual run the data, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they looked at MBs of people who said they needed DAS because of [xyz issues] and then decided to check and see if park usage indicated it was being used as a true accommodation or people going on 15-20 attractions a day. It is unfortunate that abusers/fakers might have led to some groups being excluded going forward, if certain groups were identified as consuming a disproportionate share of DAS returns. I do think if someone sues going forward claiming to need DAS and that AQR is unworkable, Disney’s litigators will absolutely pull prior MB data to defend the reasonability of the accommodation, why they switched, and the operational impact that granting it in the past created.

Pretty sure this has already been discussed in this thread but feel it’s useful to clarify again: the number of attractions used a day is not in and of itself an indication of if you are a ‘true’ DAS user or not. Disabilities manifest in different ways and some can manage full days in the parks with more rides.

Operational impact is a different discussion and is one I’m sure Disney will address if it does come to a lawsuit.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Pretty sure this has already been discussed in this thread but feel it’s useful to clarify again: the number of attractions used a day is not in and of itself an indication of if you are a ‘true’ DAS user or not. Disabilities manifest in different ways and some can manage full days in the parks with more rides.

Operational impact is a different discussion and is one I’m sure Disney will address if it does come to a lawsuit.

I completely agree with everything you said— didn’t mean to suggest that those of us (myself included) who have managed to combine DAS with VQs and G+ to do more than 10 rides on a good day were somehow not legitimate DAS users—only that for operational impact reasons, Disney may choose to target groups who used more DAS daily capacity (for a variety of legitimate reasons, as permitted by old rules) to switch to different accommodations that result in far fewer people in the LLs. Not only would AQR limit the number of people in my family who use the LL as an accommodation, but it would also decrease the number of attractions we can do, for example: we can no longer request DAS for Kilimanjaro Safaris immediately on entering the park or while eating lunch, etc. AQR technically meets my needs (though I will miss some quality time with my family) but I suspect it will cut my party size by 75% and the actual rides we can do by 20-30% depending on the park. Of course I would prefer to keep access under the old system, but I also understand why Disney would downgrade accommodations for people like me and simultaneously try to preserve them for the families facing so many challenges they ride fewer attractions than the average guest, even with DAS.

 

[Smugpugmug]

The T&Cs for DAS does not say you cannot record, so it is not part of the T&Cs you agree to. It is just mentioned on the DAS page.

Here is what it says, it almost seems like they are trying to tell you that Disney will not record the call - but obviously it is written in a way that suggests you shouldn't record it either:



With that said, Disney can ban you from their parks for any reason. It is private property after all. They could ban you for recording when they asked you not to, even if it isn't in the T&Cs or legally binding. So not recommending anyone record the conversation and publish it or send it to anyone at Disney. Making sure you remove any identifying information about yourself and sharing it with the press? Maybe



For AQR, I don't think that you are meant to bypass people in the Lightning Lane to meet your party at the merge point. Assuming you are waiting outside of the line for the entirety of your group's standby wait and meeting at the merge point - You are meant to wait in the shorter wait Lightning Lane to meet up with your party. The rest of your group is meant to contact you when they arrive at the merge point but some people may get good at estimating and contact their group member waiting outside of the merge point and tell them to join the Lightning Lane 5-10 minutes before they will arrive at the merge point in the standby line (maybe really hard to estimate this though due to the way standby moves thanks to Lightning Lane guests being preferred).

The other way it could happen is if you lets say you are in standby and need to use the restroom and when returning are allowed to use the Lightning Lane to meet your party, if you did this 30 minutes into a 60 minute wait and it only takes you 5 minutes to use the restroom and return, you may arrive at the merge point before the rest of your group in the standby line, and thus you'd be waiting for them - so you wouldn't be skipping the Lightning Lane in this situation either, the expectation is you'd want the 10-15 minutes it takes to get to the merge point.

Understand you were just going to the Lost and Found, but someone participating in AQR would not do this.

Understood, I don't intend to use AQR so didn't look much into it. But as that was happening I kept thinking about the potential grief people using it could get from other guests.

 

[lanejudy]

Thanks for this information. We won't be using our Magic Bands.

I believe it is the RFID and not limited to MagicBands. There may be more data points with an MB but whatever ticket media is used can be tracked because it connects to your MDE.

 

[Genie+]

I live in europe and It took us at least half a year to get the diagnose autism to get the needed help in school. An official test, a school visit, 3 visits to a child psychologist.
After all this we got the needed documentation to receive the needed help.

How can a person from Inspire Health evaluatie the severity of autism in a couple of minutes when they are not allowed to look at official documentation.

The parks are not concerned about entire case file, the way schools, workplaces and specialists might be.

They are concerned with one very specific area where severity is concerned - the queue.

 

[voxparse]

I believe it is the RFID and not limited to MagicBands. There may be more data points with an MB but whatever ticket media is used can be tracked because it connects to your MDE.

This and also your MDE app uses near field communication assuming you have it set to allow all the standard settings for the app. There are signs in the park even pointing out that for the best chance at getting your photo you should keep your mobile device with you if possible.

All that said, they have the data on when and where you are at all times in the park. The volume of that data though would imply it is unlikely to be used in any individualized way. They look at data like that in aggregate because that is what makes it valuable. I would hope they even use it to alter wait time estimates to nudge people away from crowds. I certainly would if I were designing a similar system. I've been surprised they don't do more with the data. Realtime tracking of the park combined with push notifications could really up their crowd control game. "Oh look, way too many people crowded over by Remy, lets pop a 10% discount at Pin Traders to pull some people out".

 

[nalababybear]

This and also your MDE app uses near field communication assuming you have it set to allow all the standard settings for the app. There are signs in the park even pointing out that for the best chance at getting your photo you should keep your mobile device with you if possible.

All that said, they have the data on when and where you are at all times in the park. The volume of that data though would imply it is unlikely to be used in any individualized way. They look at data like that in aggregate because that is what makes it valuable. I would hope they even use it to alter wait time estimates to nudge people away from crowds. I certainly would if I were designing a similar system. I've been surprised they don't do more with the data. Realtime tracking of the park combined with push notifications could really up their crowd control game. "Oh look, way too many people crowded over by Remy, lets pop a 10% discount at Pin Traders to pull some people out".

Essentially that's their Genie product for planning, nudging

As for wait times, it's far more simplistic. Do you think they did a time study on the 75min wait time at 7dwarves right now at opening?

 

[jennab]

I live in europe and It took us at least half a year to get the diagnose autism to get the needed help in school. An official test, a school visit, 3 visits to a child psychologist.
After all this we got the needed documentation to receive the needed help.

How can a person from Inspire Health evaluatie the severity of autism in a couple of minutes when they are not allowed to look at official documentation.

It’s all about WHY you can’t wait in line, not your diagnosis. Some people with autism live pretty “normal” lives and can wait in line and others can’t. Your diagnosis does not explain why you can’t wait in line.

 

[SueM in MN]

Exactly. The cm and/or specialist probably have clear processes to offer any GI related needs the AQR accommodation. In all likelihood The specialist is dev delay trained probably knows little difference between IBD, IBS or gastritis.

This is unfortunate for our folk with gi related disabilities and if DAS is an accomodation to be pursued will need a day trying the other accommodations and then another video chat on site thanks to those abusers pushing into their world.

We don't know that specialist is developmentally delay trained and even if they are additionally trained in that, it doesn't mean they don't know anything else

Thanks for this information. We won't be using our Magic Bands.

It's not specifically Magicbands, it's the scanning in to attractions, no matter what is used to do that.
One of the interesting things I read in the lawsuits by families of autistic individuals was the depth of information Disney was able to present at the trial. The plaintiffs made the claim that they needed GAC (Guest Assistance Card) because the stamp they had allowed immediate access into any attraction without waiting. They claimed their family members had to go on a specific list of attractions in a particular order without waiting for anything (they called it idle waiting).
Disney showed data at trial including exactly which attractions they went on where.

It's not the diagnosis, it's the need for an accomodation due to inability to remain in a queue. That narrow scope for assessment can be done reasonably well.

Giving advice to others on ways to remedy probably should be off limits and simply referred back to the park goers treating team

The advice people gave reported being given appears to be the tips from a brochure that was developed by Disney in consultation with at least one autism advocacy group before DAS was introduced in 2013. It has been available on the website since then, but was several clicks in and most people probably didn't see it.
The tips may seem to be common sense, but I've seen a lot of posts over the years from people going on their first trip without ever going on a similar trip and without considering those things. A lot of the people responding to these types of posts give the same tips, along with their own experiences of how they did it or suggesting working with the treatment team.

I don't agree that just giving tips like 'practice waiting in lines' should be off limits. If they were saying, 'this is what you should do to practice' I would agree that is not appropriate; I haven't seen anything that says Disney is doing that though.
HOW the person practices would be up to them in conjunction with their team.