I have now survived DAS at DLR and WDW - my thoughts

[becd]

Hi all - I was fortunate enough to visit DLR Thanksgiving weekend with my DS-7 twins, one of whom has issues that qualify him for a DAS. We are WDW veterans and this was our first trip to DLR.

Let me begin by saying DLR amazed me with how seamless the DAS worked for us. Granted, it was not as easy as the GAC but I did not expect it to be. However, at DLR it worked perfectly for us and allowed us to do everything we needed/wanted to. Truthfully I was very nervous going in because after getting used to the GAC I was not looking forward to learning a new system at a resort I had never been to before but everyone there was so helpful and my only input to Disney afterwards was that having more kiosks would be helpful.

We just returned from an eight day trip to WDW last Friday, and our first visit with the DAS. I was very nervous initially about getting his new card in WDW, simply because I have read nightmare stories on the thread dedicated to WDW and the DAS and I can get a little tongue ties when talking about my kids (cannot help it, I find that I get upset when I talk about it. Crazy, I know). What I learned there was not to go to Epcot for the card as the untrained CM's seem to congregate there in GS (LOL - ) . Yes I am being more than a little tongue in cheek and it is not a judgment on the hard working CM's there as I have come across absolutely wonderful ones who are more than undersatnding with my son's issues, but that does seem to be where my fellow Dis'ers run in to trouble. Well, we landed mid-afternoon and hit Animal Kingdom around 5:00. The CM's in Guest Services there could not have been more helpful and it was an extremely painless process - I just showed them the card we had from DLR and they asked me a few questions and issued the new card.

Now that I have experienced both I can honestly say that for me and my family, the system in place at DLR is far superior to the one at WDW. Visiting the kiosks for return times rather than the actual rides worked 100% better for us because my guy just does not understand why we were walking up to the ride but not riding. Yes, I know he has to learn, but he is only 7 and the issues he has do not allow this to compute all of the time. My personal opinion is (and this is just an opinion) that the reason WDW has you go to the rides is all of the CM's they would have dedicated to GR kiosks are involved in the FP+ day of sign ups for off site guests. Hopefully, this may change after they open up the FP+ system to everyone, but it is probably a while off if at all.

I have written a letter to Disney with my opinions in the hope it helps them with the kinks. If anyone has any questions I am happy to answer. All in all, the DAS card is fine, I just truly preferred the system at DLR. If only it was not a 5 hour plane ride away!

 

[Disneylvr]

Thank you for your report! We plan to go to Epcot on our day of arrival and was planning to get our DAS there. Now I am wondering if I should change our plans? We plan to arrive at our resort around 11am, will check in, have lunch there and then head to the park if DD isn't needing a rest.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I have only used the DAS at DL, so far. We usually go to WDW though, since we live in NJ. We will try it there in the fall.

Even I could see, just using the DL system, that is it superior. To be able to get a return time for ANY ride, in either park at the DAS kiosks is much better than approaching the exact ride itself, and then hanging around the area or doubling back. We often chose rides on the other side of the park, and then took our time getting over there….. My only criticism was that I had trouble remembering where the kiosks were at first, they sort of blend in. My other positive observation was that I saw MANY guests approaching the guest relations CMs with all sorts of questions, not related to DAS. How great to have these trained CMs scattered around the parks for guests to approach with inquiries.

it seemed like things were going pretty smoothly with the DAS (we were at DL in February). We got DS DAS at City Hall. They seemed like they were trying to talk me out of getting one, because he uses a Convaid chair as a WC. It was just a conversation though, and I said I think it would benefit him to have it and explained why (will not go into the details here). And they said fine, no problem.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Hi all - I was fortunate enough to visit DLR Thanksgiving weekend with my DS-7 twins, one of whom has issues that qualify him for a DAS. We are WDW veterans and this was our first trip to DLR.

Let me begin by saying DLR amazed me with how seamless the DAS worked for us. Granted, it was not as easy as the GAC but I did not expect it to be. However, at DLR it worked perfectly for us and allowed us to do everything we needed/wanted to. Truthfully I was very nervous going in because after getting used to the GAC I was not looking forward to learning a new system at a resort I had never been to before but everyone there was so helpful and my only input to Disney afterwards was that having more kiosks would be helpful.

We just returned from an eight day trip to WDW last Friday, and our first visit with the DAS. I was very nervous initially about getting his new card in WDW, simply because I have read nightmare stories on the thread dedicated to WDW and the DAS and I can get a little tongue ties when talking about my kids (cannot help it, I find that I get upset when I talk about it. Crazy, I know). What I learned there was not to go to Epcot for the card as the untrained CM's seem to congregate there in GS (LOL - ) . Yes I am being more than a little tongue in cheek and it is not a judgment on the hard working CM's there as I have come across absolutely wonderful ones who are more than undersatnding with my son's issues, but that does seem to be where my fellow Dis'ers run in to trouble. Well, we landed mid-afternoon and hit Animal Kingdom around 5:00. The CM's in Guest Services there could not have been more helpful and it was an extremely painless process - I just showed them the card we had from DLR and they asked me a few questions and issued the new card.

Now that I have experienced both I can honestly say that for me and my family, the system in place at DLR is far superior to the one at WDW. Visiting the kiosks for return times rather than the actual rides worked 100% better for us because my guy just does not understand why we were walking up to the ride but not riding. Yes, I know he has to learn, but he is only 7 and the issues he has do not allow this to compute all of the time. My personal opinion is (and this is just an opinion) that the reason WDW has you go to the rides is all of the CM's they would have dedicated to GR kiosks are involved in the FP+ day of sign ups for off site guests. Hopefully, this may change after they open up the FP+ system to everyone, but it is probably a while off if at all.

I have written a letter to Disney with my opinions in the hope it helps them with the kinks. If anyone has any questions I am happy to answer. All in all, the DAS card is fine, I just truly preferred the system at DLR. If only it was not a 5 hour plane ride away!

I can see both sides, i.e., some people prefer the kiosks so that they don't have to go to the ride itself, others don't like having to go to a limited number of kiosks throughout the park.

I think a good solution would be to allow a CM at any ride to give a return time for any other ride.

 

[aaarcher86]

Nice report. Thanks!

I'm hoping at some point they merge the systems and have kiosks available, and allow for times at rides for both places. It seems like there is a good divide of people that prefer kiosks, and others that prefer going to the ride.