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

[jo-jo]

It made it very difficult to use for my son because the process of getting him physically to an entrance of a ride and then needing to explain to him we would come back to ride was a non starter most days. Instant meltdown.

I still think a few things explain the increase in DAS-

1. Many people were managing with FP+ when they could pre schedule ride times around their needs and not by fighting for any spot at 7 AM

2. We had a mass debilitating world wide health event and even before that developmental disabilities like autism were on the rise along with an aging baby boomer population

3. Like you stated the old DAS system was clunky and harder to use- My son had DAS but we almost only used FP+ to manage his day

4. When Disney started having a vested interest in keeping stand by lines long to increase Genie+ sales and how it made those that were used to certain attractions being walk ons, now needed a DAS to ride

Not everything is abuse. Yes it happens but I also think Disney set this monster in motion with Genie+ & ILLs because they now have a reason to want SB lines to stay long. If SB lines aren't long, guests are not going to pay a premium to skip them. They could have easily raised prices for everyone and left FP+ in place and no one would have blinked but they are going to push Genie+'s price point up and up until they find a breaking point.

yeah, I could see that. I didn't know if everyone had to go to ride for a time.

 

[jlundeen]

I think I remember that the actual DAS holder did not necessarily have to ask for the return time. I was there in Dec 2018 and several times we were able to have one member of our party show up at the queue with at least my magic band to request the return time. I can't remember if he had to have all the bands from all the members of the group or just mine, but it saved us from having to all go there for it.

ETA: Of course we all did need to scan in when returning to the attraction.

 

[CarlyMur09]

yeah, I could see that. I didn't know if everyone had to go to ride for a time.

Dunno if they changed it after Covid, since that was our first experience with DAS, but we just sent someone ahead to get the DAS return time and we’d catch up. Normally it was my DF since he had an ECV, but sometimes it was my sisters depending on who was riding with my brother (who had the DAS)

 

[PrincessV]

How difficult was it when people had to travel from ride to ride to request a time for each ride? I suspect the ease of just tapping on phone played a big part in the number of fake DAS.

yeah, I could see that. I didn't know if everyone had to go to ride for a time.

I never experienced DAS- or GAC, but the original FP was around when my ASD son was young, and I’m a single parent, so FP for him was similar to DAS- in that he had to go with me to each ride to get a FP to ride later.

The adage “if you know one autistic person, you know… one autistic person” holds true: my son was fine with going to the ride and not riding right away. But the need to arrive at parks early to even have a shot at FP was rough for him: DAS would have been a better option, in retrospect.

 

[erinch]

I was recently on a trip to WDW and qualified for DAS under the previous system, which was incredibly helpful in navigating an immune system disease, which limits many things, including standing in lines and duration in the park. RTQ would be fair for me, as I am usually much more able to stand in the Soarin Queue than SDD. Are there reports yet on what experiences people with physical disabilities are having talking to cast members at individual attractions?

 

[sunburnin]

Not everything is abuse. Yes it happens but I also think Disney set this monster in motion with Genie+ & ILLs because they now have a reason to want SB lines to stay long. If SB lines aren't long, guests are not going to pay a premium to skip them. They could have easily raised prices for everyone and left FP+ in place and no one would have blinked but they are going to push Genie+'s price point up and up until they find a breaking point.

That's a good point, and I think those longer SB lines and increased costs of G+ and ILL made DAS extra desirable for the scammers. It became an overpowered super cheat code. HA. It was really not balanced out well. Hopefully this new change finds the right balance to offer those that need it easy access, but isn't as enticing or easy to get for those just wanting to abuse it.

 

[PrincessV]

I was recently on a trip to WDW and qualified for DAS under the previous system, which was incredibly helpful in navigating an immune system disease, which limits many things, including standing in lines and duration in the park. RTQ would be fair for me, as I am usually much more able to stand in the Soarin Queue than SDD. Are there reports yet on what experiences people with physical disabilities are having talking to cast members at individual attractions?

I don’t pretend that I’ve seen EVERY story out there, but I’ve been looking around and have seen a good handful - in no case has anyone I’ve seen been provided what we’ve been referring to as RTQ. Most were told to use AQR, and a couple were told to use a wheelchair.

Honestly, the majority of stories so far are from people asking CMs hypothetical questions of the “what if I got in line and needed to leave” variety an CMs have been pretty tight-lipped about provided details in response. There haven’t been a lot of “I was in line and had to leave and this is what happened” stories so far, but the ones I’ve seen have all been told to use AQR, with the actual procedure for doing so depending on the attraction.

 

[SueM in MN]

How difficult was it when people had to travel from ride to ride to request a time for each ride? I suspect the ease of just tapping on phone played a big part in the number of fake DAS.

yeah, I could see that. I didn't know if everyone had to go to ride for a time.

When DAS started, it was a cardboard card with the name and a picture of the person registered for DAS.
Guests took the GAC card to the attraction to get a Return Time. Only one person needed to go to the attraction, they just needed to have the DAS card. It didn't need to be the person registered for DAS; this helped avoid issues with coming to the attraction and not riding right away. Obviously still could be an issue for guests with DAS who were alone or only had one other person.
The card had spaces for a Cast Member to write the attraction name, date, time and Return Time on a line. When you got to the attraction, you needed to find the CM with the clipboard to get a time.
Later, attractions got stamps (people were cheating by writing Return Times on the cards themselves).

 

[jo-jo]

Either I’m very honest or very dumb, but some of these cheat methods just boggles me. Never would have thought to do this or that to get around rules.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Either I’m very honest or very dumb, but some of these cheat methods just boggles me. Never would have thought to do this or that to get around rules.

Apparently at one point Disney tried to stop the cheaters by using pens with differently colored ink to write the return times. The cheaters responded by bringing along pens with a range of different ink colors.

 

[sunburnin]

Either I’m very honest or very dumb, but some of these cheat methods just boggles me. Never would have thought to do this or that to get around rules.

Remember the news stories several years ago about groups paying wheelchair users to be “tour guides” to gain access? It’s sad what people will do.

 

[Disneychick75]

Apparently at one point Disney tried to stop the cheaters by using pens with differently colored ink to write the return times. The cheaters responded by bringing along pens with a range of different ink colors.

Perfect example of "cheaters gonna cheat". It doesn't matter what kind of program Disney "geniuses" come up with, cheaters seem to be smarter.

 

[NumberOneDime]

Hi all - I went to EPCOT last night so I wanted to share some first hand personal observations as somebody who has used DAS as an Orlando local for the last two years. For reference, I go to the parks at LEAST a few times a month, every month. I've surely been to EPCOT 30 times in the last few years, always with DAS.

Last night (a Friday night) was about a 5 in terms of crowds. Busy, but not not crazy busy considering there's no festival going on right now. Spaceship Earth and Soarin' were roughly 20 minute POSTED waits. Remy was 70 or thereabouts.

I used DAS, as I still have it for a few more weeks under the previous requirements (haven't applied under the new ones yet). I could NOT BELIEVE how empty the lightning lanes were. My partner and I would scan and to go straight to the merge point. There was pretty much nobody or just two people in front of us by the time we got to the merge point with not many people behind us as we waited at the merge point.

They were letting the standby line move a TON more than I've previously ever seen. I was shocked! It really gives credibility to the reports and theories that I have seen online that a large majority of people in the LL were DAS. I've always had to stand in line in the LL. Always! But not last night!

My mind is racing with thoughts and questions. How much faster will standby lines become? What will this mean for Genie+ prices? If they have more capacity, will the Genie+ prices go down? And yet, if standby lines are faster will ANYBODY pay for it on slower days? Were DAS people making standby lines slower and therefore Genie+ more worthwhile to pay for? Was DAS helping the profitability for Disney? Will Disney LOSE money by denying people these accommodations? Think about it! Genie+ sales might go down because of this, at least on moderate to slow days.

Honestly, I'm way more worried about my own accommodations going away and not being about to even partake in the attractions at Disney anymore without DAS. But I find the business and operations side of things quite interesting as well. Anyway, just sharing. Let me know what you all think and what you have personally observed in the LL lately.

 

[Grim Grinning Ghostie]

We are at Disney now. I will say that 1) the lightning lanes are MUCH shorter thus far today, and 2) the cast members have been much less...grumpy about us using our DAS pass. No attitudes today. They were also able to add my mom in 2 seconds at a Blue Umbrella when when I realized she didn't get added to my party properly. No video chat needed.

 

[nalababybear]

Remember the news stories several years ago about groups paying wheelchair users to be “tour guides” to gain access? It’s sad what people will do.

Those are the sad stories; folk willing to leverage their disability for financial gain and make it that much harder with folk with disabilities to gain mainstream inclusion.

This also happened when a few select folk would nuisance sue small businesses in the city for ADA compliance and offer $10k to settle the suit.

 

[jo-jo]

We are at Disney now. I will say that 1) the lightning lanes are MUCH shorter thus far today, and 2) the cast members have been much less...grumpy about us using our DAS pass. No attitudes today. They were also able to add my mom in 2 seconds at a Blue Umbrella when when I realized she didn't get added to my party properly. No video chat needed.

Are you still under old rules?

There must be something else going on with empty lines beside new DAS. Unless you're a local that just applied, most people would still be under old rules.

 

[Grim Grinning Ghostie]

Are you still under old rules?

There must be something else going on with empty lines beside new DAS. Unless you're a local that just applied, most people would still be under old rules.

I am under new rules, but I'm a passholder so I'm here a lot. It may just be a slower time here, but the difference is night and day for wait times even compared to February.

 

[nalababybear]

We are at Disney now. I will say that 1) the lightning lanes are MUCH shorter thus far today, and 2) the cast members have been much less...grumpy about us using our DAS pass. No attitudes today. They were also able to add my mom in 2 seconds at a Blue Umbrella when when I realized she didn't get added to my party properly. No video chat needed.

Interesting how there's such a dichotomy between WDW and DLR.

We rarely get any CM pushback when my adult son with DAS taps in. Granted his disability is much more visible than others with ASD.

---interesting to see the two reports of shorter lines last night on a Friday no less. There's definitely a transition time with lots of folk still grandfathered into the program. But nevertheless an interesting data point to give credence to LL usage -- at least in the evenings which is high local usage for both WDW and DLR

 

[Dvc_queen]

I know it has been speculated that people might have been confusing genie and genie plus on the video chats. I confirmed with the cast member they were suggesting genie plus , not genie. So they are suggesting genie plus on the calls, not just the genie planning tool. Also in a party of 2, so instead of AQR, was told to ask a cast member for a return time at the entrance for each ride.

 

[PrincessV]

I know it has been speculated that people might have been confusing genie and genie plus on the video chats. I confirmed with the cast member they were suggesting genie plus , not genie. So they are suggesting genie plus on the calls, not just the genie planning tool. Also in a party of 2, so instead of AQR, was told to ask a cast member for a return time at the entrance for each ride.

Just to clarify, you were denied DAS and told to use G+ and RTQ?

The bolded part is especially interesting, as I’ve yet to see anyone actually use RTQ, despite so many being told to request it. (They may well be out there using RTQ and living their best Disney lives and not posting about it anywhere, lol! I’m not implying it’s not happening at all, only saying that I really, really want to see a report of it going down in real life and have thus far come up empty!) I hope you’ll come back and let us know how it went!