MiceChat is reporting there will be changes to DAS at Disneyland

[SueM in MN]

REMINDER: unless you (the general 'you') have special powers that allow you to enter into someone else's body and feel what they feel, it's not possible to know whether or not they need a DAS.

 

[tinkerpea]

Have you ever had a UTI? If it is severe enough, it can be debilitating. Then again, when I've had them, there was NO way I could leave my bed, let alone go to a theme park, so yeah, probably an abuser. I do think though, that if someone has kidney/colon problems, and cannot wait in super long lines, that's not an abuse. So, I guess it just depends on the situation, and it's not for me to judge. If you saw me getting a DAS, you (general you) might think I was an abuser too, but I'm definitely not!

I know of a few people who have kidney problems,and have needed a Das or Gac as it was,
And it's a legitimate reason if you have to go to the toilet so often that it impacts your waiting time,
The person I knew was in so much pain with the problem they was on strong opiate medication,and could only manage a few hours at a time in the parks....

 

[tinkerpea]

A DAS is still plenty attractive, as pointed out by those who have stamina problems, and would love to be able to use a FP while having a DAS return time. However, they don't qualify, as DAS was not meant to allow some guest to get more attractions in than a normal guest would in the same amount of time. I would not be surprised if by making the DAS an electronic pass they added the feature of canceling or extending a return time if a FP was used during the return time period. That would really make a DAS only attractive to those that intend to wait in an alternate area, rather than those that want to ride as many rides as possible in a short period of time.

They wouldn't do the above,as it clearly states that the Das is to allow you to.wait in a more comfortable area or to shop eat or ride going through a normal que if you wish,while waiting for your time,
So I'd a ride had a 10 minute time but the one you have a Das time for is say 40 you can occupy for example your ASD child buy taking them on the other ride,
No way will they stop you getting a time because you have a fp that you have scheduled.

But yes I agree the Das is wanted by many,it's obvious that it is because so many complain they can't get it.

 

[emldrl]

I know of a few people who have kidney problems,and have needed a Das or Gac as it was,
And it's a legitimate reason if you have to go to the toilet so often that it impacts your waiting time,
The person I knew was in so much pain with the problem they was on strong opiate medication,and could only manage a few hours at a time in the parks....

I agree with you. I probably shouldn't have said that person might be an abuser, that's just kind of how pp made it sound, like the person was lying or exaggerating or something. I have kidney problems, and if I don't go when I need to, even if I just went, I get severe, sudden, debilitating pain in my right kidney. Doesn't always happen, but when it does, the DAS would be great. That's also why I said I have no right to judge others. Kinda contradicted myself! I hope I didn't sound too judgy, cause I'm really not.

All that aside, I do believe that there are a lot of people that have figured out that the DAS can be an advantage, even a small one, and they will lie to get one. No way to tell though, so I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. I am very glad that Disney is fixing the abuse they CAN stop!

 

[charmed59]

They wouldn't do the above,as it clearly states that the Das is to allow you to.wait in a more comfortable area or to shop eat or ride going through a normal que if you wish,while waiting for your time, So I'd a ride had a 10 minute time but the one you have a Das time for is say 40 you can occupy for example your ASD child buy taking them on the other ride, No way will they stop you getting a time because you have a fp that you have scheduled. But yes I agree the Das is wanted by many,it's obvious that it is because so many complain they can't get it.

Unfortunately, there are very few people who would rather wait in line than be able to get a return time and go shop, eat, use the restroom, or go on other lines while waiting for their return time. I think that is what Disney is grappling with. They don't want to "qualify" people. They'd love for any accommodations be available to anyone who wants them. I think this is why they would eventually be going electronic, and why they have been testing return times for popular rides.

What I am guessing will be happening in the future is they will be increasing capacity on the rides they have, rather than adding new attractions. This would allow the lines to be shorter. They will also start having return times for all big name rides for everyone. And then they won't need the DAS, or the disappointment caused by turning someone down.

 

[Schmeck]

What I am guessing will be happening in the future is they will be increasing capacity on the rides they have, rather than adding new attractions. This would allow the lines to be shorter. They will also start having return times for all big name rides for everyone. And then they won't need the DAS, or the disappointment caused by turning someone down.

How can you increase capacity on a ride? You can't run more ride vehicles without causing serious backups at loading and unloading (think Pirates) you can't make them wider for more row seating without tearing apart the entire attraction, and building a duplicate track is just as expensive as building a new ride.

The Soarin' debacle and the TSMM mess disprove having FP+ only access for the big rides too.

 

[SueM in MN]

How can you increase capacity on a ride? You can't run more ride vehicles without causing serious backups at loading and unloading (think Pirates) you can't make them wider for more row seating without tearing apart the entire attraction, and building a duplicate track is just as expensive as building a new ride.

The Soarin' debacle and the TSMM mess disprove having FP+ only access for the big rides too.

Capacity can be increased by adding duplicate tracks or duplicate theaters. That is expensive, but not as expensive as a totally new attraction. Much of the work for an attraction in the design and feasibility phase. If they are making a duplicate track, that work is already done.
For a totally new or renovated attraction, they also never know how popular it will be - will the cost translate into guests riding it (think of Imagination for one that was not too successful at that).
In the case of TSMM and Soarin' they know they have attractions with more demand than capacity, so any money spent on adding capacity should pay off in increased riders and increased guest satisfaction.
Even though you can't run a lot more vehicles (without doing things like speeding up and shortening the ride), they can do redesigns to queues that increase rider 'put thru'. That can include things like taking out turnstiles or adding a dedicated boarding area off of the regular track for guests with disabilities. That was done at Space Mountain in California and increased both the time guests with disabilities had to load and avoided stopping the line to load them - increased efficiency.

There are pretty substantial rumors that they are going to build a new additional track or tracks for Toy Story Mania and a new theater for Soarin'

The FP+ only access tests WERE reportedly a big success at what they wanted to test - not whether they could make the attraction Fastpass Plus only, but how many guests could be handled on a FP+ only line and how often that would translate into sending out less than full ride vehicles.

This was reportedly not to make the attraction FP+ only, but to help them decide how to structure a new track. For example, whether to keep both tracks both FP and Standby, whether to make the new track FP+ only and keep the old track Standby only or reverse it and reconfigure the current Standby line to lead to new track(s) that is Standby only and keep the current track Fastpass only.

 

[bidnow5]

I hoping they expand Soarin and add a non hill entrance so we don't have to fight the elevator last month it was the worst I've ever seen 5 or 6 people waiting to get on and none of them leaving anywhere to get off we had to wait almost 10 minutes while they all backed up as we were trying to get off downstairs

 

[Pilotdog]

My son has a broken leg with a non walking cast. Last week at Disneyland on some of the rides when we went to the wheel chair entrance a cast member with an Ipod type device would put a return time on our park tickets. when we returned at our alotted time the cast member would scan our tickets than let us in the wheel chair entrance. So they are already using an eletronic device and park ticket / APS for return times. I'm sure it would be very easy for them to add this to DAS.
Also when we were getting our stroller as wheel chair tag there was a family of 4 getting 2 DAS for their 2 kids. the cast member was telling them to get different ride wait time to save them even more time, so Disney does not see this has abuse.

 

[DasQuestion]

So if my mom and myself both have issues this time they will not mind if both myself and my mom have one? Usually my mom and dad go by themselves and then either one of them will go with me, we trade off in shifts.

Also I know I asked this before but if my mom already has the green card with QR code on it, it'll be easier for her to renew without having to go into embarrassing detail?

 

[OurBigTrip]

My son has a broken leg with a non walking cast. Last week at Disneyland on some of the rides when we went to the wheel chair entrance a cast member with an Ipod type device would put a return time on our park tickets. when we returned at our alotted time the cast member would scan our tickets than let us in the wheel chair entrance. So they are already using an eletronic device and park ticket / APS for return times. I'm sure it would be very easy for them to add this to DAS.
Also when we were getting our stroller as wheel chair tag there was a family of 4 getting 2 DAS for their 2 kids. the cast member was telling them to get different ride wait time to save them even more time, so Disney does not see this has abuse.

I think that the cast member was wrong, as they've been making people split up guests between DAS cards for awhile. Hopefully putting it all on the tickets electronically will stop this kind of abuse, and prevent any CMs from allowing it to happen.

 

[SueM in MN]

So if my mom and myself both have issues this time they will not mind if both myself and my mom have one? Usually my mom and dad go by themselves and then either one of them will go with me, we trade off in shifts.

Also I know I asked this before but if my mom already has the green card with QR code on it, it'll be easier for her to renew without having to go into embarrassing detail?

In general, if there is more than one person in the group with DAS, they have been splitting the group between the 2 cards.
So, 'if you have 4 people and 2 DaS cards, each card would be valid for 2 people

If she already has a DAS card from a previous visit, it will be faster to get a renewal card

I think that the cast member was wrong, as they've been making people split up guests between DAS cards for awhile. Hopefully putting it all on the tickets electronically will stop this kind of abuse, and prevent any CMs from allowing it to happen.

Yes.
This was noted as one of the ways people had come up with to get extra times so, i don't know that hearing an individual CM means Disney was 'good ' with it.

I think the bigger abuse was people claiming they had lost theirs just to get extra times. I had heard of people having gotten and using up to 6 DAS cards because they claimed they had lost it

 

[cmwade77]

I have asked several questions to someone who is usually very helpful with these things and I will report back what I find out.

But really this system presents many issues for us that are local in So. Cal. Things that don't happen as much at Disney World.

For an example, I may start off my day expecting to have just me an my wife, but latter one we will run into some of our friends and want to hang out for a while. Form what I understand this won't be too much of an issue, as i can be adjusted at kiosks.

But here's where things get tricky for us, we often go in a group of 5-6 people where 3 need a DAS card. Unfortunately not everyone always wants to ride the same attractions and sometimes person A will ride with one person with a DAS card and others with another. This is a little tricky already, but let's take another example. We all get return times for Indiana Jones, then at the appointed return time, I am unable to ride due to physical issues, but the rest of the party wishes to go ahead and ride. Well now anyone on my DAS can't ride even though they are also with the other people who legitimately have a DAS card and are all using it legitimately, not to try to pull anything to get additional return times while they already have a return time. And yes, this does happen fairly often in our group, although the attraction will vary, those attached to my DAS card waited just the same as those attached to the other DAS card and it's still the same total number of people returning. Splitting the DAS cards presented similar challenges, but usually speaking with the CMs was able to resolve that. Based on what I have heard amongst the rumor mills, the CMs will now have a more difficult time with being allowed to accommodate this kind of a situation.

As for "lost" DAS cards, I think the better choice here would have been to simply scan the DAS card at each attraction and when handing out return times. If someone claims to have lost theirs, replace it, but deactivate the old one.

This also brings up a major question of privacy, now Disney is definitely monitoring every attraction I ride and who I ride it with, which is something that I don't think should be done either.

 

[OurBigTrip]

I have asked several questions to someone who is usually very helpful with these things and I will report back what I find out.

But really this system presents many issues for us that are local in So. Cal. Things that don't happen as much at Disney World.

For an example, I may start off my day expecting to have just me an my wife, but latter one we will run into some of our friends and want to hang out for a while. Form what I understand this won't be too much of an issue, as i can be adjusted at kiosks.

But here's where things get tricky for us, we often go in a group of 5-6 people where 3 need a DAS card. Unfortunately not everyone always wants to ride the same attractions and sometimes person A will ride with one person with a DAS card and others with another. This is a little tricky already, but let's take another example. We all get return times for Indiana Jones, then at the appointed return time, I am unable to ride due to physical issues, but the rest of the party wishes to go ahead and ride. Well now anyone on my DAS can't ride even though they are also with the other people who legitimately have a DAS card and are all using it legitimately, not to try to pull anything to get additional return times while they already have a return time. And yes, this does happen fairly often in our group, although the attraction will vary, those attached to my DAS card waited just the same as those attached to the other DAS card and it's still the same total number of people returning. Splitting the DAS cards presented similar challenges, but usually speaking with the CMs was able to resolve that. Based on what I have heard amongst the rumor mills, the CMs will now have a more difficult time with being allowed to accommodate this kind of a situation.

As for "lost" DAS cards, I think the better choice here would have been to simply scan the DAS card at each attraction and when handing out return times. If someone claims to have lost theirs, replace it, but deactivate the old one.

This also brings up a major question of privacy, now Disney is definitely monitoring every attraction I ride and who I ride it with, which is something that I don't think should be done either.

What it all comes down to is that the DAS is to accommodate the DAS holder, not necessarily everyone that is with that person. That may mean, unfortunately, that in cases such as yours, that flexibility will be gone.

As for monitoring what you ride, I don't believe that is a privacy issue. Trying to make the case that you expect privacy with regards to what attractions you ride when hundreds of people are watching you get on would be a non-starter, IMO.

 

[cmwade77]

I disagree on both accounts. To accommodate me, the people that I am with also need to be accommodated, as it wouldn't be right to make me ride alone, which could happen if the people that I am with are not properly accommodated.


As for privacy, hundreds of people watching me get on an attraction is a far cry from a database detailing every ride that I have ridden, who I rode it with, how long I wanted, what time of day, what day and if I cam back at the time listed or waited until later in the day, etc. So, I do think the privacy claim is legit.

 

[OurBigTrip]

I disagree on both accounts. To accommodate me, the people that I am with also need to be accommodated, as it wouldn't be right to make me ride alone, which could happen if the people that I am with are not properly accommodated.

No one is saying you have to ride alone - you just might not be able to be riding with different people all day long when more than one of you has a DAS.

As for privacy, hundreds of people watching me get on an attraction is a far cry from a database detailing every ride that I have ridden, who I rode it with, how long I wanted, what time of day, what day and if I cam back at the time listed or waited until later in the day, etc. So, I do think the privacy claim is legit.

People going to WDW are already experiencing this, plus being tracked when and where they eat, etc. This is not personal data, and there is no prohibition against Disney gathering it.

 

[tinkerpea]

I disagree on both accounts. To accommodate me, the people that I am with also need to be accommodated, as it wouldn't be right to make me ride alone, which could happen if the people that I am with are not properly accommodated.


As for privacy, hundreds of people watching me get on an attraction is a far cry from a database detailing every ride that I have ridden, who I rode it with, how long I wanted, what time of day, what day and if I cam back at the time listed or waited until later in the day, etc. So, I do think the privacy claim is legit.

I tend to agree with you aand the other poster on the first point,i think they have made a complicated system,that was just as easy to abuse and now it makes other issues for users and their familys.

 

[OurBigTrip]

I tend to agree with you aand the other poster on the first point,i think they have made a complicated system,that was just as easy to abuse and now it makes other issues for users and their familys.

And all of the blame for that lies squarely with the people that abuse it, not with Disney.

 

[Gracie09]

No one is saying you have to ride alone - you just might not be able to be riding with different people all day long when more than one of you has a DAS.




People going to WDW are already experiencing this, plus being tracked when and where they eat, etc. This is not personal data, and there is no prohibition against Disney gathering it.

My guess is there is some fine print somewhere when you buy your tickets that Disney can gather information such as this. I'm not bothered enough by it to actually check for it though.justblike the govt can track the route I take to work thanks to easy pass and Facebook knows what type of shoes I'm looking for and will show me ads for them

 

[cmwade77]

No one is saying you have to ride alone - you just might not be able to be riding with different people all day long when more than one of you has a DAS.




People going to WDW are already experiencing this, plus being tracked when and where they eat, etc. This is not personal data, and there is no prohibition against Disney gathering it.

But the problem is when you have a smaller party, you may end up by yourself without some flexibility as to whom you are riding with. Remember Disneyland is a lot different than Disney World.

At WDW, you can opt out by not using FP+ or magic bands, but with DAS system, if you need the accommodations, you have no alternative but to opt in. Sorry my location is personal information that I have the right to keep private.