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

[Genie+]

Waiting the standard queue time is not unique to Disney. This is a universal thing across almost all theme parks. Take it from someone who has used disability services in some form for close to a decade at everything from Disney, Universal, Busch Gardens, and Cedar Fair parks.

I think “Even DAS guests still are required to wait the entire standby time so DAS does not get them on the ride any faster” was meant more to imply that DAS didn’t really need changes (not that other park systems allowed faster access).

 

[Evita_W]

The scanner uses blue as an alert color to indicate the CM needs to look at the screen, view the alert and resolve it.
People often assume blue = DA, but that's not true.
Blue is not specific to DAS; its used for anything the CM needs to look at. That includes things like people early or late for a LL time or entering an attraction they don't have a LL for.
If it didn't glow a different color, CMs wouldn't have an alert

Ok, perhaps they should then have picked a color besides blue, as blue is often associated with disabilities, then people might not make such assumptions as readily, just trying to figure out ways to reduce some of the conflicts that seem to be occurring on a more frequent basis.

 

[Evita_W]

I’ve been to Dollywood. Unless you’re buying their FP equivalent. Your still going to have to wait the standard queue time.

Waiting the standard queue time is not unique to Disney. This is a universal thing across almost all theme parks. Take it from someone who has used disability services in some form for close to a decade at everything from Disney, Universal, Busch Gardens, and Cedar Fair parks.

When DH went to Dollywood, he stayed at their resort, so had their FP equivalent, but never went on a single ride, as he was enjoying their shows and other entertainment too much. Oh, he just reminded me he did ride the train, but that doesn’t work the same way as the rest of the rides. This brings up a valid point, fi Disney were to bring back more of its entertainment offerings, the DAS issues wouldn’t be so much of a problem.

But yes, waiting the standard queue length is a common thing at most theme parks, although there are some that give their employees more discretion than others to make wait times shorter and some systems tend to work better than others.

 

[SueM in MN]

Ok, perhaps they should then have picked a color besides blue, as blue is often associated with disabilities, then people might not make such assumptions as readily, just trying to figure out ways to reduce some of the conflicts that seem to be occurring on a more frequent basis.

I don't think the color would matter. Whatever color they picked for the 'alert' color, people would end up thinking it was for disabilities.
And, there are many different colors associated with different disabilities

 

[traveler9]

Disney should have built more new headliners, especially in Epcot. There was no new headliner ride opened there between Soarin in 2005 and Remy in 2021 except Soarin’s third theater and Frozen (which I don’t count bc it was a retheme of Maelstrom).

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Disney should have built more new headliners, especially in Epcot. There was no new headliner ride opened there between Soarin in 2005 and Remy in 2021 except Soarin’s third theater and Frozen (which I don’t count bc it was a retheme of Maelstrom).

There is a limited bandwidth to create rides, and IIRC Disney built Pandora, galaxy’s edge, Toy Story land, and the expansion of fantasyland during that time period. I think Tron was also supposed to open as well. I imagine that the financial crisis in 2008 also had an impact.

 

[Living42Day]

There still seems to be too much discrepancy between those who get DAS and those that do not from reports.

I think one update for the DAS system should be only allowing one DAS pass per ride per day. And not including some of the big headliners like ROTR that seem to have a greater incentive for those abusing the system.

If they are wanting to cut down on those taking advantage, those updates seem most reasonable to me. I've seen more than a couple reports of people bragging about get on ROTR or Space Mountain multiple times in one day because they have DAS.

 

[DiznyDiva]

I think one update for the DAS system should be only allowing one DAS pass per ride per day. And not including some of the big headliners like ROTR that seem to have a greater incentive for those abusing the system.

If they are wanting to cut down on those taking advantage, those updates seem most reasonable to me. I've seen more than a couple reports of people bragging about get on ROTR or Space Mountain multiple times in one day because they have DAS.

My kiddo will ride one ride several times a day over and over and over.... We have done this with DAS and by PLANNING and using the standby lanes with it. You can also do it with RTQ or RT.

DAS is not there to make things fair or even. It is also not something to be used to penalize those who are granted it. It is an accommodation and in Disney's mind one that they have decided is only for a small audience. It is not meant to be like FP or Genie or whatever the new name is. Adding the ten minutes and taking away the pre selects(which never really worked anyways) take away advantages. Now it's just one of many accommodations.

 

[Living42Day]

My kiddo will ride one ride several times a day over and over and over.... We have done this with DAS and by PLANNING and using the standby lanes with it. You can also do it with RTQ or RT.

DAS is not there to make things fair or even. It is also not something to be used to penalize those who are granted it. It is an accommodation and in Disney's mind one that they have decided is only for a small audience. It is not meant to be like FP or Genie or whatever the new name is. Adding the ten minutes and taking away the pre selects(which never really worked anyways) take away advantages. Now it's just one of many accommodations.

Getting access to one ride, per day through DAS is an equitable accommodation. Additional rides can of course be accommodated through rider switch, return to queue, single rider, standby, etc. However, if multiple DAS users and their party of up to three other guests are going through a high-demand ride 3 - 5+ times (such as ROTR, RSR, SM), that is putting more strain on the system than is reasonable. The ADA advocates for EQUITABLE access, not BETTER access, which the population qualifying for DAS should be granted. One ride through under this accommodation is equitable access.

 

[traveler9]

Getting access to one ride, per day through DAS is an equitable accommodation. Additional rides can of course be accommodated through rider switch, return to queue, single rider, standby, etc. However, if multiple DAS users and their party of up to three other guests are going through a high-demand ride 3 - 5+ times (such as ROTR, RSR, SM), that is putting more strain on the system than is reasonable. The ADA advocates for EQUITABLE access, not BETTER access, which the population qualifying for DAS should be granted. One ride through under this accommodation is equitable access.

They could easily just limit everyone to one standby ride per day on the most popular attractions, even non-DAS users. Most people aren't going to physically wait in line for something like ROTR multiple times a day.

 

[DisneylandFreak2013]

Getting access to one ride, per day through DAS is an equitable accommodation. Additional rides can of course be accommodated through rider switch, return to queue, single rider, standby, etc. However, if multiple DAS users and their party of up to three other guests are going through a high-demand ride 3 - 5+ times (such as ROTR, RSR, SM), that is putting more strain on the system than is reasonable. The ADA advocates for EQUITABLE access, not BETTER access, which the population qualifying for DAS should be granted. One ride through under this accommodation is equitable access.

Agreed with everything here. I'm not going to be surprised if the pass is updated, especially with reports that the DAS/LL lines are still exceeding 20 minutes or more. A single ride by a DAS user and their family is still well within reasonable accommodation standards. I, too, have seen the reports of those going on Rise multiple times per day. There is one gentleman who goes on Radiator Springs Racers lots of times and he uses DAS. I think I read he gets on it 13-15 times per day. That seems a bit excessive for reasonable accommodations, IMO.

 

[Living42Day]

They could easily just limit everyone to one standby ride per day on the most popular attractions, even non-DAS users. Most people aren't going to physically wait in line for something like ROTR multiple times a day.

Sure, but there is a difference between waiting 50-60 minutes to ride in standby versus getting in the LL and waiting for 10-20 minutes in line with DAS. Most people wouldn't be able to wait 60 minutes multiple times.

They limit paid LL+ to one per day, it only makes sense to limit DAS to one per day as well.

 

[clairenutter]

But the reason someone is granted DAS is because they are not able to stand in a conventional line. Someone who is able to wait in a line if they wanted could go on a ride as many times as they wanted per day for example ROR. By limiting the amount of times a DAS user can ride each ride makes it unfair. They still have to wait their turn. The only difference is they are not waiting in a physical line. They are still waiting though and sometimes longer than the actual queue is.

 

[traveler9]

But the reason someone is granted DAS is because they are not able to stand in a conventional line. Someone who is able to wait in a line if they wanted could go on a ride as many times as they wanted per day for example ROR. By limiting the amount of times a DAS user can ride each ride makes it unfair. They still have to wait their turn. The only difference is they are not waiting in a physical line. They are still waiting though and sometimes longer than the actual queue is.

The average person without DAS isn’t going to wait in line for Rise or FoP multiple times per day. Imposing a restriction on everyone of 1 “free” ride (either standby line or DAS) and 1 paid LL on the most popular headliners would make sense.

 

[nalababybear]

There still seems to be too much discrepancy between those who get DAS and those that do not from reports.

I think one update for the DAS system should be only allowing one DAS pass per ride per day. And not including some of the big headliners like ROTR that seem to have a greater incentive for those abusing the system.

If they are wanting to cut down on those taking advantage, those updates seem most reasonable to me. I've seen more than a couple reports of people bragging about get on ROTR or Space Mountain multiple times in one day because they have DAS.

Not an accommodation anymore when doing that. Disability doesn't stop after one ride or popularity of one.

If the theme park places a limit for all guests, then that can be evenly applied for demand reasons, otherwise that's shaky ground

Eta. Prime example. VQ rides. One and done for all.

 

[clairenutter]

The average person without DAS isn’t going to wait in line for Rise or FoP multiple times per day. Imposing a restriction on everyone of 1 “free” ride (either standby line or DAS) and 1 paid LL on the most popular headliners would make sense.

Possibly not. But they have the choice if they want to. If someone has DAS they can’t wait in line and there fore don’t have the choice of it was restricted to 1 x day.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

But the reason someone is granted DAS is because they are not able to stand in a conventional line. Someone who is able to wait in a line if they wanted could go on a ride as many times as they wanted per day for example ROR. By limiting the amount of times a DAS user can ride each ride makes it unfair. They still have to wait their turn. The only difference is they are not waiting in a physical line. They are still waiting though and sometimes longer than the actual queue is.

DAS is equal to LLMP OR LLSP in that one could do many other things while waiting for their time to ride as in go on other rides, see a show, shop, eat or just sit and relax in an air conditioned place etc. Even with that, the paid LLMP does not allow re-rides like DAS does. Waiting for your DAS return time is not the same as standby where the non -DAS user is stuck standing often times in the heat for the length of time it takes to get on the ride not being able to exit and do something else while the DAS user (and their whole group) has many other options including putting demand on other rides while holding their place on their chosen DAS ride. Of course it is easy then for the DAS user to re-ride many times (whether they will or not is their choice) while the average non-DAS user will not choose to go through another 1-2 hour, or more, wait in line to re-ride a high wait attraction like ROTR especially if they have small kids with them.
Disney has decided that is how DAS will operate and that is their right to do so but saying that the only difference is not waiting in a physical line is not accurate and their differences was the reason why DAS became the number one choice and led to it being unsustainable.

 

[Tripletmom2001]

DAS is equal to LLMP OR LLSP in that one could do many other things while waiting for their time to ride as in go on other rides, see a show, shop, eat or just sit and relax in an air conditioned place etc. Even with that, the paid LLMP does not allow re-rides like DAS does. It is not the same as standby where the non -DAS user is stuck standing often times in the heat for the length of time it takes to get on the ride while the DAS user (and their whole group) has many other options including putting demand on other rides while holding their place on their chosen DAS ride. Of course it is easy then for the DAS user to re-ride many times (whether they will or not is their choice) while the average non-DAS will not go through another 1-2 hour, or more, wait in line to re-ride especially if they have small kids with them.

DAS is not equal to LLMP or LLSP. DAS is equal to standby line for those guests that are unable to wait in a traditional queue. DAS users routinely wait longer than a standby guest because the wait times in MDE are inflated. DAS is an accommodation to access a ride the guest would otherwise be unable to access. I know many guests ride Guardians or Tron multiple times. They join virtual queues, buy LLSP etc. Disney cannot limit DAS access to ride something multiple times unless no guest can ride multiple times.

 

[Jdavidm]

Disney cannot limit DAS access to ride something multiple times unless no guest can ride multiple times.

I think this is the point that really matters on this topic. DAS is meant to allow the user (and their companions) the same ride access that a standard guest using standby has available to them.

If a guest using standby to access rides can go on ROTR 5 times in one day by waiting (for example purposes) 80 minutes 5 separate times throughout their day…then a DAS user should be able to book a return time for ROTR 5 times in one day by choosing to wait those 80 minutes out 5 separate times (during which they can’t book another DAS return time).

Yes, a DAS user might be able to do other things around the park while waiting their turn but that doesn’t change the fact that the accommodation, in order to be comparable to the standard guest’s experience, would need to allow them the same amount of possible access to rides that the guests utilizing the standby lines have.

DAS is equal to LLMP OR LLSP in that one could do many other things while waiting for their time to ride as in go on other rides, see a show, shop, eat or just sit and relax in an air conditioned place etc.

DAS will never be an equal accommodation when you look at it from the perspective that standard standby using guests will need to spend their time waiting in queues while DAS users are able to wait their turn elsewhere. However, DAS is in reality the equitable accommodation for some individuals when you look at it from the perspective of why the guest with the disability needs to avoid the standard queues and whether they would be able to access the rides without DAS.

Equity means everyone is provided specific resources they need to be successful. Equality means everyone is treated the same exact way, regardless of differences and specific needs.

Look at it this way, a DAS user wouldn’t likely be able to successfully access a ride without being offered the resource of DAS that allows them to wait their turn elsewhere.

DAS is NOT meant to be comparable to LLMP or LLSP, it’s meant to help the guest with a disability preventing them from waiting in a standard queue be able to achieve the same level of access as the standard guest.

I personally view the DAS changes/updates as Disney attempting to limit DAS to those who truly wouldn’t be able to access rides without that level of accommodation. The individuals who need the resource of DAS to access rides should not be any more limited than the standard guest in how many times they can access a ride, especially not with the goal being that if they limit the rides per user, Disney can offer DAS to a wider number of people with a disability. Instead of limiting access, they’re trying to limit the accommodation of DAS to those who truly can’t access the rides with any of the alternate options they’re trying to use to assist people in doing so.

 

[lanejudy]

A reminder the moderators have requested no discussion of theoretical changes to DAS. Disney has made the changes they did. Nothing more is expected to be announced in the near future.