DAS this week was a different experience

[HopperFan]

We used the DAS this week, and had Genie+ some days. It is very different from previous trips, even our November and February when Genie+ was at play.

The LL were for the most part very full which meant not only did we wait the standby time but we waited a good bit longer for the LL. I had another adult with me that allowed us to buffer space for DS and we basically ignored the CMs yelling at us to fill all available space. What were they going to do?

Examples of returning to LL:

Rise of Resistance we have always been fairly close to entering inside, our line started out in the plaza in an added roped queue line before even scanning. If familiar the queue after that is quite long before the building.

Haunted Mansion LL was almost to Memento Mori store.

Safari was all the way out to the scanners.

Everest was queued outside before the first scanner, so bad they had that scanner closed and they were hand scanning you in a queued section in the line..

Frozen Ever After queued to Askershus.

Buzz Lightyear queued out door.

Clearly the Genie+ is now selling quite well creating long LL lines. Unfortunately a side effect means DAS waits were much longer than SB or what we have experienced in the past.

Another thing to watch ...

Numerous times when we confirmed our DAS it gave us a return time MUCH LONGER than SB time. We saw as much as 45 minutes longer than the posted SB time. We would double check to see if SB had changed in that moment but it never did. We would then move on to another attraction. SO CHECK YOUR TIMES!!

 

[preemiemama]

Thank you for the warning. We are using it in a couple weeks, so good to know this ahead of time!

 

[SueM in MN]

We were at WDW late April thru May 11, which was our third trip since Genie+ started.
We noticed the same thing regarding sometimes the LL being very long. On 2 different days when I walked past Aladdin’s Magic Carpet, the guests in the LL were almost all the way back to the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.

We didn’t notice if our DAS Return Times were off, but a lot of times we wouldn’t have been able to tell because the current wait time was not posted on the app.
It listed the DAS Return Time, but only had two lines - - for the current wait time.
Nect time we go, I think I’ll take a screenshot before selecting the DAS Return Time so I can actually see what the wait time supposedly is

 

[preemiemama]

I am actually interested to see what the changes to Genie+ do (if anything) to the LL lines this week. Not sure how "limited" they will make it, but hoping it might have a positive impact on things. I'm sure the optics of a LL that is longer than the standby line isn't great...

 

[bambialways4ever]

We found that to be the case for Safari and Haunted Mansion even in April when we went.

We left HM multiple times because the lightning lane was so insane.

We rode Frozen during EEH, so can't compare there and Everest was still down.

 

[Jellybean9]

Could it also be attributed to an increase in DAS users?

 

[lanejudy]

Could it also be attributed to an increase in DAS users?

Possibly, but more likely the way Genie+ and ILL$ have been handled. Starting tomorrow (today?) Genie+ cannot be purchased in advance and there will be a limited # sold each day. It will be interesting to see the impact that has on the time actually in the LL.

 

[Lilsia]

Could it also be attributed to an increase in DAS users?

I don't know how anyone can say that there are more DAS users all of a sudden. Why would there be? It makes much more sense that it is the Genie+ users, considering that Chapek has said that almost half of the guest purchase it. That is tens of thousands of people. Before they put Genie+ and ILL into effect, the lane that DAS uses was almost always empty. That shows that there are really not that many DAS users compared to the crowds. It is not reasonable to assume that there are tens of thousands of DAS users all of a sudden making the LL lines so crowded.

 

[HopperFan]

Could it also be attributed to an increase in DAS users?

I don't think so, it is a definitive difference between last summer (DAS primarily using LL) and my Nov/Feb trips with Genie+ and ILL, then a huge difference between those trips and this trip.

Also you can tell who has DAS (or other special pass) because the scanner turns blue. I didn't see one other blue scan all week when we were there other than a family that .... well I'll just say a person had a DAS who was "not with them"? and they were joining up and thought that they could just walk through without being added by the party (a minor). Strange. That was the only other blue scan I saw.

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't think so, it is a definitive difference between last summer (DAS primarily using LL) and my Nov/Feb trips with Genie+ and ILL, then a huge difference between those trips and this trip.

Also you can tell who has DAS (or other special pass) because the scanner turns blue. I didn't see one other blue scan all week when we were there other than a family that .... well I'll just say a person had a DAS who was "not with them"? and they were joining up and thought that they could just walk through without being added by the party (a minor). Strange. That was the only other blue scan I saw.

We noticed the same when we were at WDW. The blue scan can show up for other things besides DAS - it’s an alert for the CM to look at the screen to resolve something.
The only time I saw a blue scan was a family who were early for their Genie+ time.

We heard a lot of people in line discussing Genie+, so I fell comfortable saying the majority of people using the Lightning Lane had purchased Disney+

 

[Matt'sMom]

We are local AP holders who are in the Disney parks multiple times per week... and we use the DAS. In our experience the return time we receive for DAS, using the ap, is typically ten minutes less than the currently listed stand-by time (so as to help make up for the average time you can expect to spend waiting in an LL queue line once you return). I am sure there are times the wait may be longer, but quite often the wait in the LL queue is actually shorter than ten minutes. Many variables come into play though. We have on occasion experienced a long line at the LL entrance. Sometimes it is merely a line waiting to tap in... because guests ahead of us are trying to return long before/after their LL return window, or guests don't even actually hold a LL for that specific attraction (yes, we've experienced guests holding LL for Little Mermaid attempting to use that to tap in at Haunted Mansion instead), and the CMs are explaining to them why they are being turned away at that time. Sometimes the attraction has experienced down time, and the LL queue is backed up because guests are returning to the recently re-opened queue. On occasion it can be due to a different attraction or group of attractions having gone down, such as when there are dangerous lightning storms in the area. When an attraction goes down during your return time window, Disney's system typically will offer the guest an 'anywhere pass' to use at another attraction of their choice. If guests are all rushing to other, open attractions to use that 'anywhere pass', this can lead to suddenly longer LL queue lines. I will add that Disney CMs usually do a very good job of putting the LL guests through the queue as quickly as possible in order to get the LL wait times back down to under ten minutes. If the LL is overflowing, we will often simply go grab a snack or a free ice water and come back a few minutes later -- by the time we return the queue is typically moving normally again.

 

[keishashadow]

File it under us being suspicious types lol…

do think that perhaps the visibly longer LL lanes outside the attractions might be stacking of sorts, designed to make the lines initially look longer. Along the line of how they operate with standby near the end of the night.

Going from multiple trips since new system has begun, once inside, we’ve moved very quickly and overall times seem to be the same.

YMMV

 

[HopperFan]

We are local AP holders who are in the Disney parks multiple times per week... and we use the DAS. In our experience the return time we receive for DAS, using the ap, is typically ten minutes less than the currently listed stand-by time (so as to help make up for the average time you can expect to spend waiting in an LL queue line once you return). I am sure there are times the wait may be longer, but quite often the wait in the LL queue is actually shorter than ten minutes. Many variables come into play though. We have on occasion experienced a long line at the LL entrance. Sometimes it is merely a line waiting to tap in... because guests ahead of us are trying to return long before/after their LL return window, or guests don't even actually hold a LL for that specific attraction (yes, we've experienced guests holding LL for Little Mermaid attempting to use that to tap in at Haunted Mansion instead), and the CMs are explaining to them why they are being turned away at that time. Sometimes the attraction has experienced down time, and the LL queue is backed up because guests are returning to the recently re-opened queue. On occasion it can be due to a different attraction or group of attractions having gone down, such as when there are dangerous lightning storms in the area. When an attraction goes down during your return time window, Disney's system typically will offer the guest an 'anywhere pass' to use at another attraction of their choice. If guests are all rushing to other, open attractions to use that 'anywhere pass', this can lead to suddenly longer LL queue lines. I will add that Disney CMs usually do a very good job of putting the LL guests through the queue as quickly as possible in order to get the LL wait times back down to under ten minutes. If the LL is overflowing, we will often simply go grab a snack or a free ice water and come back a few minutes later -- by the time we return the queue is typically moving normally again.

Appreciate everything you said, but it doesn't change our experience. I understand fully all those things that can happen, but most were not our experience. I only reported here because DAS users need to be prepared to check closely their return times before closing the app because we repeatedly we were NOT given 10 minutes less than SB, but rather much longer after. Glitch? maybe but it was a big deal. DAS users need to be prepared to wait longer on return than they used to be because many of the LL are full. CM were not always passing us on, likely because SB lines were so long. Will that vary by day and attraction, sure, but it can happen.

File it under us being suspicious types lol…

do think that perhaps the visibly longer LL lanes outside the attractions might be stacking of sorts, designed to make the lines initially look longer. Along the line of how they operate with standby near the end of the night.

Going from multiple trips since new system has begun, once inside, we’ve moved very quickly and overall times seem to be the same.

YMMV

I agree with you based on our November and February trips. This trip was noticeably different. There were rides no different than before but then there were rides where we added on quite a bit of time compared to previous trips. On here we often have posters asking how long the wait is once in the LL and I don't feel comfortable saying just a few minutes anymore. I'd rather they be prepared for the worst, equipped with what they might need and then be happy to experience the best.

 

[keishashadow]

I'd rather they be prepared for the worst, equipped with what they might need and then be happy to experience the best.

absolutely! It’s definitely a YMMV scenario and those who need the DAS certainly have different thresholds, especially if they find themselves unexpectedly long Wait.

On april trip (race weekend was rather surprised the DAS/LL for Remy was quick, along with RoR. Meanwhile, HM consistently was much longer Than usual. curious to see if it might just be specific attractions having issues during our next trip in a couple of weeks.

 

[DisneyOma]

File it under us being suspicious types lol…

do think that perhaps the visibly longer LL lanes outside the attractions might be stacking of sorts, designed to make the lines initially look longer. Along the line of how they operate with standby near the end of the night.

Going from multiple trips since new system has begun, once inside, we’ve moved very quickly and overall times seem to be the same.

YMMV

How in the world are CMs keeping guests from entering during their scheduled times so that the lines look longer? What does that do, besides have guests get in the queue at the right time, but have their time expire before they get there - then they have to complain to the CM. What CM would do that? Or is this something the guests are doing themselves? Your post makes absolutely no sense to me; could you clarify, please?

 

[preemiemama]

One thing I can report from our trip last week is that MK had consistently longer lines for LL/DAS than the other 3 parks. The lines for those with mobility issues (scooters and wheelchairs) were separate but also longer most of the time. For example at Splash, we had about a 20-25 minute wait to park the scooter and enter the ride- and it was in the sun. This seemed to be a trend with MK rides- Thunder and Small World were the others I really noticed it at. However, Splash was the only one making people wait in the direct sunlight- the others had covered waiting areas. Most queues at the other parks were either scooter/wheelchair friendly or had an alternate entrance.

Also not great for mobility issues were both TOT and Pirates. They require a transfer to a wheelchair. The ones at Pirates had flat tires, making them hard to push. When we asked, we were told it was just the texture of the cobblestone floors... TOT used to have an entrance through the gift shop to the "chicken" elevator. Now, you need to push the wheelchair through the LL queue. No flat tires, but pushing a 300+ person uphill in that queue was not exactly easy. I felt as if there should be better solutions in place to both these situations- as well as the full sun at Splash.