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

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

How much does said 14 day international trip cost? Just out of curiosity…

$65/day is equivalent to one table service entree with tax and tip. Not even drinks and dessert.

I have sympathy for those who booked 8-14 day trips assuming they’d get the option to virtually wait for unlimited rides who are now upset that there’s a hidden cost of buying G+ or ECVs that suddenly costs an extra $30-100+/day depending on party size, but it doesn’t mean they are legally entitled to DAS as it formerly existed. I also suspect (like with APs) if you could do 8+ park days in a row that Disney is going to be skeptical that you truly can’t navigate the parks with the alternative accommodations which put a much lower strain on park operations.

 

[dbriggsq]

How much does said 14 day international trip cost? Just out of curiosity…

$65/day is equivalent to one table service entree with tax and tip. Not even drinks and dessert.

Not sure what your point is sorry.

 

[dbriggsq]

Have you looked into renting via a 3rd party vendor? It would be considerably less expensive. With a 14 day trip, presumably one could take some time to practice around the resort. Or even before the trip if there is a store or zoo near home where one might practice. Or a wheelchair is less expensive.

The solution of an ECV has been suggested by a CM who didn’t understand our needs. It was too expensive and wouldn’t have solved the problem

 

[TwoMisfits]

The solution of an ECV has been suggested by a CM who didn’t understand our needs. It was too expensive and wouldn’t have solved the problem

The 1st part "too expensive for the customer" is irrelevant to DAS consideration.

If that option solves the issue, that is the suggestion, thus why many, many able-bodied folks have to take on the costs of ECVs and/or wheelchairs for Disney trips.

 

[dbriggsq]

The 1st part "too expensive for the customer" is irrelevant to DAS consideration.

If that option solves the issue, that is the suggestion, thus why many, many able-bodied folks have to take on the costs of ECVs and/or wheelchairs for Disney trips.

But it doesn’t solve our problem

 

[lanejudy]

The solution of an ECV has been suggested by a CM who didn’t understand our needs. It was too expensive and wouldn’t have solved the problem

I just spot-checked a couple of vendors and cost would be well less than half what you've quoted. Wheelchairs are even less expensive, though a 2-week rental might rival a purchase price.

But it doesn’t solve our problem

If you care to share the challenges faced, maybe folks here have different advice or a different mobility aid. Sometimes we need to "think outside the box" in terms of how to help ourselves when we can't rely on other accommodations.

 

[Keladry84]

I mean couldn't we have this mindset with every disability?
Autism for example?
People with Autism have accomplished absolutely amazing things that non Autistic people may not have yet they can't stand in a line?

And we need to stop making assumptions about people and what they can/can't do due to a disability, and in which circumstances/when they can do it. Let's stop signaling out specific groups of people and making assumptions about them, as well as over-applying success in X as an assumption they can do Y in all environments.

On another note - thank you for the compliment embedded in your comment to us autistics

 

[dbriggsq]

I have sympathy for those who booked 8-14 day trips assuming they’d get the option to virtually wait for unlimited rides who are now upset that there’s a hidden cost of buying G+ or ECVs that suddenly costs an extra $30-100+/day depending on party size, but it doesn’t mean they are legally entitled to DAS as it formerly existed. I also suspect (like with APs) if you could do 8+ park days in a row that Disney is going to be skeptical that you truly can’t navigate the parks with the alternative accommodations which put a much lower strain on park operations.

We’ve previously had DAS and we’re coming from the UK. With the current system we have no way of finding out if we still qualify until we arrive (video calls not available overseas). As I said we are only able to do 2/3 hour a day at the parks with rest days in between so not a great strain on park operations

 

[Jdavidm]

I mean couldn't we have this mindset with every disability?
Autism for example?
People with Autism have accomplished absolutely amazing things that non Autistic people may not have yet they can't stand in a line?

Sure, which is why some autistic people don’t require DAS but others do. Autism is a spectrum, it can impact people differently. For some the queue environment would be impossible to get through for various reasons that I won’t go into, but they could easily climb a mountain because nature is a soothing/calm environment for them where they have plenty of space to comfortably enjoy it.

Others might not be able to climb that mountain because all the unfamiliar textures and sounds in nature are overwhelming to them, but they can wait in a Disney queue because it’s a familiar environment to them that for them personally they don’t find too overwhelming.

 

[TwoMisfits]

We’ve previously had DAS and we’re coming from the UK. With the current system we have no way of finding out if we still qualify until we arrive (video calls not available overseas). As I said we are only able to do 2/3 hour a day at the parks with rest days in between so not a great strain on park operations

Sounds like G+ stacking of LL's would be perfect for you. Start in the morning and enter the parks in the evening for 2-3 hours every day with 5-6 rides already set.

 

[lanejudy]

FOLKS -- another reminder that different individuals may be impacted by the same diagnosis in different ways. Just because Johnny with ADHD can wait in line for 60 minutes to meet his all-time favorite Star Wars character does not mean that Janie with ADHD can wait in a 30 minute queue to ride Small World. This is true of ANY diagnosis whether developmental, physical, mental, cognitive, or any other.

 

[tom1944]

I just joined the thread so I have no idea if my question was asked earlier in the thread.

Have we identified what have people qualified for DAS.

I know the following have qualified
Chromes Disease
Irritable Bowel
Diabetes


I guess the question becomes are there other accommodations that could work?

 

[dbriggsq]

I just spot-checked a couple of vendors and cost would be well less than half what you've quoted. Wheelchairs are even less expensive, though a 2-week rental might rival a purchase price.



If you care to share the challenges faced, maybe folks here have different advice or a different mobility aid. Sometimes we need to "think outside the box" in terms of how to help ourselves when we can't rely on other accommodations.

It’s not a mobility issue although some CMs can’t see past this - it’s an issue of actually being in the queue

 

[lanejudy]

I just joined the thread so I have no idea if my question was asked earlier in the thread.

Have we identified what have people qualified for DAS.

I know the following have qualified
Chromes Disease
Irritable Bowel
Diabetes


I guess the question becomes are there other accommodations that could work?

Disney states this:

DAS is one of our programs offered at Walt Disney World theme parks intended to accommodate those Guests who, due to a developmental disability like autism or similar, are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time.​

We know that adults have qualified, children have qualified, developmental disabilities have qualified and physical disabilities have qualified. Maybe some other "categories" of diagnosis not noted. DAS is not diagnosis-based, it is need-based. If waiting outside the queue and rejoining your party would work, that is likely to be suggested instead of DAS.

 

[dbriggsq]

Sounds like G+ stacking of LL's would be perfect for you. Start in the morning and enter the parks in the evening for 2-3 hours every day with 5-6 rides already set.

That’s a good idea and one we might have to look at. But again it’s extra cost. G+ is meant to be a choice not a necessity and fatigue is worse in the evening particularly with jetlag

 

[Grim Grinning Ghostie]

I don’t understand why someone would assume that a CM (who actually works the rides in the park talking directly to a guest!) would have malice towards DAS users and lie rather than that the CM was accurately relaying that LLs have been shorter and easier to manage since a substantial percentage of LL users have been eliminated from the queue (smaller parties, fewer qualifying, extra 10m wait buffer). Sure many on this board made sure to get in a last trip or qualify in advance, but we are probably not representative of many local visitors, especially the ones who learned of the “hack” years ago but don’t actually belong to the DISabilities community. The average faker is probably not plugged into many disability support networks, here or elsewhere.

It’s probably impossible to tell how many people are G+ v DAS v late/early return, and I don’t want to further debate it here (Disney wouldn’t be making these changes if the use wasn’t high)— but for those who say they didn’t see many, keep in mind that only one person is a blue scan, and then everybody after them is indistinguishable from a G+ users, so a DAS party of 6 could easily look like 1 DAS + 5 G+.

I believe it. The difference in LL wait times was already massively noticeable even as freshly post-implementation as last weekend.

I actually got to go on the ride for Frozen (which has been one of my special interests since it came out - Elsa feels familiar in a way other Disney princesses don't) for the first time since it came out, and it was the best part of any trip we've been on in several years.

The LL has never been short enough to ride it before.

Nobody cares, I know - just throwing in the anecdote that the LL / DAS return lines really are already much, much shorter.

 

[PrincessV]

For AQR the plan is to have you meet your party at the LL merge point. You won't go back through standby.

That seems like how it SHOULD work in most cases… but there are reports out there of people being told to go back through SB to find their waiting party. Did they misunderstand the directions from a CM who actually meant LL? Are they making it up? Is it a bot/troll posting nonsense to stir things up?! No clue (which is irritating, because I’m usually good at bot/troll/liar detection lol!), but those stories are out there, muddying things up.

 

[mistysue]

I find it amazing that blind people can run marathons, climb mountains, and travel the world but somehow navigating switchbacks in a slow moving Disney line is “insurmountable.” Sure, we can “what about” all day long to argue what DAS is needed. But every single post like that just shows why a DAS overhaul is necessary.

My grandmother was an amazing woman who happened to have been legally blind from birth (very limited vision) who was married to someone who was blind in one eye due to an accident on childhood but went on to become one of the greatest that ever worked in his field. Their combined list of accomplishments was incredible. They even managed to successfully navigate Disney.

I can tell you this- there are lines with switchbacks that can not be skipped that are NOT slow moving. Part of making all of the lines accessible and adding theming means they made it so they can't rope off a part to cut the line in half... which means when you go on the Little mermaid ride (random example) you have to walk ALL OF THAT crap even when it's a walk-on, so it's not slow and meandering. The family of teens behind you is breathing down your neck and you feel it the whole walk. It involves frequent light changes, and echoey segments, and areas where the only thing to guide you is a random piece of rope at hip level that moves up and down and is hard to trace. So while I don't know DAS across the board is a good way to manage vision, it is fair to recognize it's not a normal walking situation and belittling it by talking about how your grandmother handled something better is unnecessary.
(I believe a piece of the uptick in chair/EVC use is absolutely just due to the length of the lines themselves as it adds up)

The poster removed everything they posted, however it was quoted by a few and those remain. Post #7002 includes a quote.

As a reminder...please keep discussion on THIS thread, not the Approval/Denial thread which we'd like to keep to first-hand reports of DAS registrations.

sorry, it's so easy to get confused on where we are, I simply replied to the people I was replying to. Thank you for referencing on of the locations and that she disappeared which makes that make sense.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

fatigue is worse in the evening particularly with jetlag

It may not be helpful to everyone but when we went to Europe last summer and this Europe trip last month I looked up online a jetlag calculator. Apologies if you've already tried this but thought I'd mention it anyhow.

Now on the way back to the U.S. we couldn't really make that schedule work just with plans and all BUT we did do it for on the way there. We also did red eye flights to Europe which helped (but our Japan trip in October is not a red eye flight but does have lay flat seats so we'll see).

If you look up a jetlag calculator you input your departure and arrival locations plus the time you're leaving and arriving and the normal time you go to bed. It can tell you when you should be going to sleep (which it started usually 2 days in advance but you can select flying day of or after arrival), when you should be staying in light and when you should be staying in dark. I mostly followed it for when we should be going to bed a few days ahead of the trip. I can say that personally I did find that it helped prepare myself better. Was I still a bit tired the day I arrived? Yes and we powered through that day then went to bed as close as possible to what the jet lag calculator advised and we were pretty good the next day and onwards of the trip.

Anyways just thought I would offer this as a suggestion. Coming back to the States it has taken me 4 days each trip to get back to my normal schedule (kinda interested to see how Japan will go since it's the opposite direction as the Europe trips) so I know jetlag of a great distance can affect me but I don't worry about it the same when I'm home versus when I'm preparing for my trip as I view that as the more important thing to reduce jetlag for.

 

[dbriggsq]

It may not be helpful to everyone but when we went to Europe last summer and this Europe trip last month I looked up online a jetlag calculator. Apologies if you've already tried this but thought I'd mention it anyhow.

Now on the way back to the U.S. we couldn't really make that schedule work just with plans and all BUT we did do it for on the way there. We also did red eye flights to Europe which helped (but our Japan trip in October is not a red eye flight but does have lay flat seats so we'll see).

If you look up a jetlag calculator you input your departure and arrival locations plus the time you're leaving and arriving and the normal time you go to bed. It can tell you when you should be going to sleep (which it started usually 2 days in advance but you can select flying day of or after arrival), when you should be staying in light and when you should be staying in dark. I mostly followed it for when we should be going to bed a few days ahead of the trip. I can say that personally I did find that it helped prepare myself better. Was I still a bit tired the day I arrived? Yes and we powered through that day then went to bed as close as possible to what the jet lag calculator advised and we were pretty good the next day and onwards of the trip.

Anyways just thought I would offer this as a suggestion. Coming back to the States it has taken me 4 days each trip to get back to my normal schedule (kinda interested to see how Japan will go since it's the opposite direction as the Europe trips) so I know jetlag of a great distance can affect me but I don't worry about it the same when I'm home versus when I'm preparing for my trip as I view that as the more important thing to reduce jetlag for.

Thanks for this. We’ve tried a few ways to reduce jet lag - some have worked but I find it gets worse as we get older. It’s just general tiredness in the evening when we arrive to the US and a weeks zombification when we arrive back. Just arrived back from Sarasota yesterday so.....zzzz