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

[SueM in MN]

True.
What bad timing with that tour group thing for you!

ETA- this conversation is making me want to design an experiment that would get a clearer picture. Three hours of the day, weekly at the same day/ride.

Yes. That was pretty annoying.
It could be interesting to count
Sorry about the lesson in the rest of this post....
My background is Infection Prevention. When doing Surveillance for infections, the number of infections of each type is important, but doesn't tell you anything without knowing how many patients are at risk of getting that infection.
For example:
Catheter Related Urinary Tract Infections - need to know # patients who have a urinary catheter
Central Line Related Bloodstream Infections - need to know # patients with central lines
Ventilator Associated Pneumonia - need to # patients on a ventilator

In order to get an infection rate, we need to count the line days for each type of device (1 line day = 1 patient who has the device). Line days are counted daily at the same time each day and added up to get the line days per month. Usually midnight because that's when the census is counted. (That was the pits to get accurate data before we could get the Medical record to pull the data for us).
If line days were counted at random times of day, a random day or just weekly, there would be no way to know if the count was an outlier - either high or low.
The infection rate is determined using the number of infections and the number of line day. The line day count being accurate makes a big difference in figuring the rate of that infection

 

[SueM in MN]

None of your posts are coming through!

She apparently deleted the text from her posts

 

[nalababybear]

I agree that more observations would be helpful.
One of his assumptions seems to be that anything over the 300 G+ 'cap' is DAS.
So, those points do matter.
He does say the 300 cap number should be taken with a grain of salt. A couple things we don't know are whether ALL attractions have the same 'cap'.
It would make sense that attractions that can handle more guests per hour might have a larger cap. Disney also has data on ridership at different hours of the day for each attraction - the free portion of Genie gives estimates of 'best times' to ride, based on projected demand. It's possible they may allow a higher cap at times when the attraction is not projected to be as busy. We don't know.

A prime example is Soarin' They don't always run all the theatres. I bet a lot is based on their modeling on anticipated demand and staff accordingly.

Do their operations call for opening or closing if a surge or lower is needed and pull from other operations? Nobody knows aside from Disney and the predictive analytics for this which I'm sure is run and supports part of the Genie suggestions -- one can say Genie was essentially early AI.

That is why, while interesting data, there's a lot more than what was scratched by that observational study.

 

[voxparse]

Off topic maybe but one thing I’ve noticed after reading people’s comments about and experiences with the new DAS system all over social media, is it seems that the vast majority of people wanting a DAS seem to have APs. I don’t know why that is, or if it’s just that they’re more familiar with the parks so they’re more likely to know about DAS, but it’s true. I did an informal accounting of the comments I read in just one day on social media and about 70% of the people had APs (I’m sick in bed and bored lol). There are a whole lot of mad or worried AP holders right now who apparently can’t wait in lines at all but spend all their free time in Disney World, line capital of the world and I can’t help but wonder if having an AP negatively effects chances of getting the DAS in the minds of the CM on the video calls. Idk, just an observation.

I bought an AP because the accessibility is so much better at Disney than a lot of other drivable vacation spots. We just kept finding ourselves going back to WDW because there was less to worry about and we could relax. With or without DAS (we have done both as we didn’t know about DAS at first) it is far and away better than a lot of other options for us.

 

[lanejudy]

A note on the point about advocacy and communicating one's needs effectively... this is going to be key, whether it's the individual, a parent/guardian or other family/friend. Self-advocacy or advocacy for a loved one with a disability is a very large part of managing a disability in the real world. It can be a hard skill to learn for many, and may be harder yet for those with the disability. Public speaking, or speaking to strangers, doesn't come naturally to some.

Self-advocacy can be a particularly hard skill to learn. Asking for help in general is hard for many people -- myself included (I recently had surgery and found it hard to even ask my family to do things that I typically handle). Asking a stranger for help with something of a personal nature can cause/raise anxiety levels or fear of judgement. But I can't stress enough how important it is as a life skill to learn and practice.

Some suggestions for learning to advocate for yourself or a loved one:

• understand the situation
  1. that means know what the need(s) are
  2. know what the abilities are
  3. know what accommodation you are requesting
• know your audience
  1. are you asking school professionals in which case you probably need to focus the request towards academics
  2. are you asking insurance to cover something in which case you may need to use more formal medical language
  3. are you asking a "regular" person who is not educated/knowledgeable about your need in which case you want to keep to everyday words and leave out the big medical jargon
• make a bulleted list
  1. keep it short
  2. keep it simple
  3. review and revise, add or remove bullets, shorten anything too lengthy
• practice
  1. ask someone you trust to listen
  2. ask that person for feedback -- is it too long? not enough? too rambling? not focused? did you speak clearly?
  3. practice in front of a mirror
• when you are ready, have a positive attitude and stay polite, be willing to answer questions

If possible, and this is a new skill for you, try something other than a DAS request as a first practice.

 

[Baytothemax]

I bought an AP because the accessibility is so much better at Disney than a lot of other drivable vacation spots. We just kept finding ourselves going back to WDW because there was less to worry about and we could relax. With or without DAS (we have done both as we didn’t know about DAS at first) it is far and away better than a lot of other options for us.

This exactly. WDW is one of the very few places I am able to move around easily and independently. I can’t even do that at universal unless I get a power chair as my scooter is not allowed in most lines there.

 

[voxparse]

This exactly. WDW is one of the very few places I am able to move around easily and independently. I can’t even do that at universal unless I get a power chair as my scooter is not allowed in most lines there.

Real talk, WDW is more accessible than my house.

 

[kyton]

She apparently deleted the text from her posts

Can we stop this from happening - it’s thread sabotage.

Either that or someone needs to remember the “rule”, ie next poster quotes her post so it stays in the thread.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Off topic maybe but one thing I’ve noticed after reading people’s comments about and experiences with the new DAS system all over social media, is it seems that the vast majority of people wanting a DAS seem to have APs. I don’t know why that is, or if it’s just that they’re more familiar with the parks so they’re more likely to know about DAS, but it’s true. I did an informal accounting of the comments I read in just one day on social media and about 70% of the people had APs (I’m sick in bed and bored lol). There are a whole lot of mad or worried AP holders right now who apparently can’t wait in lines at all but spend all their free time in Disney World, line capital of the world and I can’t help but wonder if having an AP negatively effects chances of getting the DAS in the minds of the CM on the video calls. Idk, just an observation.

APs are still getting approved so Idk how much of a bearing that has on it. (I did read a person presenting themselves as having some inside observations on another forum who said a huge percentage of DAS users are APs and CMs so I do suspect your observation is accurate.)

 

[SueM in MN]

Can we stop this from happening - it’s thread sabotage.

Either that or someone needs to remember the “rule”, ie next poster quotes her post so it stays in the thread.

People are able to edit, including deleting all the words in their posts. Moderators can't stop them.

 

[Marrila]

Can we stop this from happening - it’s thread sabotage.

Either that or someone needs to remember the “rule”, ie next poster quotes her post so it stays in the thread.

Personally, when someone repeatedly deletes I tend to give their thoughts less weight.
And that is helpful to me in the read or scroll on decision.

 

[Jrb1979]

This is something I have heard.

Attraction CMs are reportedly pushing back on in-person requests for return times either by claiming they know of no such policy or questioning the guest to verify the veracity of their request. Sounds like it's a bit of a rough start to this new era of DAS.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Noticing on a couple of other sites that a few people are saying that the CMs on the call are saying things to the effect that they agree that the person should probably have a DAS, but they can't issue them one.

If true, that's not at all helpful to Disney's effort to reduce DAS use.

 

[OurBigTrip]

This is something I have heard.

Attraction CMs are reportedly pushing back on in-person requests for return times either by claiming they know of no such policy or questioning the guest to verify the veracity of their request. Sounds like it's a bit of a rough start to this new era of DAS.

Yeah, I don't get the whole RTQ idea (outside of wheelchair return, which has been common for ages). Not sure why Disney would deny a DAS, and then basically advise the guest to ask for DAS-by-another-name from an attraction CM.

 

[PrincessV]

The hyperbole has reached such a fever pitch (not so much here, but on other platforms), I’m having a hard time believing much of ANY supposed first-hand reports this week. I’m legitimately excited to go try AQR/RTQ/whatever it is they might give me, up to and including being denied anything at all, just to have some real, tangible experience, lol! I could easily end up being the happiest person denied any accommodation a CM’s ever seen.

 

[lanejudy]

This is something I have heard.

Attraction CMs are reportedly pushing back on in-person requests for return times either by claiming they know of no such policy or questioning the guest to verify the veracity of their request. Sounds like it's a bit of a rough start to this new era of DAS.

I suspect that is because "return times" are not really an accommodations to request. The accommodation is Attraction Queue Re-entry which expects the party to enter the queue, then if there is a need to leave the queue they will be instructed how to proceed with rejoining their party.

 

[Disneychick75]

Noticing on a couple of other sites that a few people are saying that the CMs on the call are saying things to the effect that they agree that the person should probably have a DAS, but they can't issue them one.

If true, that's not at all helpful to Disney's effort to reduce DAS use.

If fewer people are getting DAS because they're denied, then DAS use would decrease unless I'm missing something.

 

[OurBigTrip]

If fewer people are getting DAS because they're denied, then DAS use would decrease unless I'm missing something.

Yes, but if employees are telling people “you should be getting it”, that is obviously a bad thing from a company standpoint.

 

[abbyandangel]

Personally, when someone repeatedly deletes I tend to give their thoughts less weight.
And that is helpful to me in the read or scroll on decision.

I would like to offer another perspective. I follow along on my iPad. Sometimes when I am trying to scroll, it tries to post a quote instead. I have a hard time deleting those phantom posts. I typically have to delete the content and leave the thread to make them disappear. Maybe whoever you’re referring to runs into the same issue.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Yeah, I don't get the whole RTQ idea (outside of wheelchair return, which has been common for ages). Not sure why Disney would deny a DAS, and then basically advise the guest to ask for DAS-by-another-name from an attraction CM.

One reason might be because someone with a condition like IBS may request DAS because of the possibility that they may have a “flare” (necessitating repeated bathroom use) on the day of their visit. The problem with this being, of course, that even if this person is not having a flare on a park day, the temptation to nonetheless still use the DAS would be hard to resist. So Disney’s solution is to deny DAS, and say if you’re having a flare, use RTQ. Harsh (compared to DAS) but arguably fair, and less prone to abuse.