online DAS registration rant

[Jperiod]

Can I just take a moment to express my exasperation to people that understand?

I'm trying to register today for the DAS. I had to wait for today because my son is home. I also had to wait until he was awake.

Get in queue at 10:16, told it's gonna be over 2 hours, great, I leave my laptop open and go run errands. Automated message comes on at 12:07 asking me to reply YES to continue waiting over 2 hours. I'm still out running errands and they close my chat at 12:12. I get home at 12:26. Get back in queue at 12:27. Says it's gonna be another 2 hours. Great. I do things around the house, checking on it twice and refreshing., then start making lunch for me and my son. Automated message comes on at *1:01* asking me to reply YES to continue waiting over 2 hours, but I'm still making sandwiches and they close the chat at 1:07. I check on it at 1:10! I missed it by 3 minutes! So I'm back in queue at 1:11.

I'm grateful for DAS and I'm grateful to not have to be on public display at City Hall the day we arrive, but for the love of Disney, I hope they have further improvements in store for this advance registration process.

 

[gottalovepluto]

That is absolutely ridiculous! I once lost the chat because I chose the wrong 5 min window to go to the bathroom

Fwiw- you don't have to stay in one browser for the duration of your chat. In order to (try) not to miss them I now start the chat on my laptop, then pick it up on the MDE app where I have notifications and sound enabled for the app so when they ask me if I'm still there I can catch it, and then when they start prepping me for the video call I'll log into my MDE account on the browser of my choice and continue the chat there (can't use the app for the DAS video call). Basically the chat is going on in your MDE account, not your viewer, therefore you can view the chat from different viewers (but only one viewer can be active at a time).

 

[Jperiod]

And I'm still here. 3:37. They haven't come on at all to ask me if I wanted to keep waiting. There's literally no rhyme or reason. I'm not sure I'm coordinated enough to try it in the app. They told me I had to be logged off so I did and I'm paranoid to lose it a 3rd time today! Maybe I'll try putting my ear buds in so I can at least stop carrying this laptop around with me!

 

[slo]

Are you waiting to speak to a cast member?

When I did this, I called around 5:00pm and I waited about an hour. I can’t remember what the hours are to call, but I’d try and call close to the end time. Maybe things will ho faster because cast members want to be done for the day.

Good luck

 

[Jperiod]

They came on at 3:44 to ask if I wanted to keep waiting. Their ears must've been burning. It's now 4:35 and I'm still waiting.

 

[DVCjj]

Twice I had a good experience. Twice I had horrid (unacceptable) experiences with hours and hours wasted losing the chat, going back on and then closed.

Between my DVC saga today where the DVC CM forwarded me on to the 'correct' person to renew my husband's Annual Pass, Disney is driving me nuts. Today was the 60th day prior for an upcoming trip. I go often and I know because I checked 3 sites for the EXACT -60 day date. Yep, of course today. Well the CM I was now talking to said it's 61 DAYS! Call back tomorrow. What?! I tried to tell him he was wrong. "No, sorry but I'm right". Hung up. Called back to DVC and they instantly renewed the pass.

Sorry OP, I understand. It's actually unbelievable.

 

[Jperiod]

Whelp, it ended up being over 5 hours. I kept thinking, well, I've waited this long, it can't be much longer, right? And I was paranoid to walk away again because the screen kept timing out and didn't make any sort of notification noise when it did it. What if they came on when it was timed out? I wouldn't hear their little bubble noise. Ugh, so much waisted time today, but it's done!

 

[kikismom]

Joining in on this. I waited four hours yesterday and never got through. I've only been on an hour today (1:30 ish) and hopefully I get in before 8 tonight. There has got to be a better way. When we go to DL I never go to City Hall because the wait there is longer than most rides.

 

[BadgerMom99]

Oh boy - I have to do this on Dec 9th. Super anxious about it. I wonder if I should get a letter from my treatment program. Ptsd and anxiety disorder. I qualified in 2021.

 

[lanejudy]

Oh boy - I have to do this on Dec 9th. Super anxious about it. I wonder if I should get a letter from my treatment program. Ptsd and anxiety disorder. I qualified in 2021.

DAS at either WDW or DL does not n ed a letter, and in fact will refuse to look at one.

 

[SarahC97]

Just to give hope, I did the chat last night and was approved and done with pre-selects in 40 minutes.

 

[ForceofWill]

Oh boy - I have to do this on Dec 9th. Super anxious about it. I wonder if I should get a letter from my treatment program. Ptsd and anxiety disorder. I qualified in 2021.

Did ours today. Clicked the chat at about 1650 EST and immediately got a cast member after the chat questions. Wife has PTSD and anxiety from Iraq, cast member was great and it was quick and smooth.

They only did one day of advance pass for us, we have 10 day tickets and they wouldn't do the 7 days of selections. We'll call back later when all our days are within 30 days.

 

[kikismom]

I was on for a total of 3 hours and 40 minutes. It took 2 hours and 55 minutes before I started the video chat. Then there were technical issues with the ride bookings and it took forever. Nice Cast Members though and I allocated my whole afternoon/evening for it, I am just happy it's done.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

it took my wife for almost 4 hours last month to get the DAS pass.

 

[DisneyOma]

Oh boy - I have to do this on Dec 9th. Super anxious about it. I wonder if I should get a letter from my treatment program. Ptsd and anxiety disorder. I qualified in 2021.

You don't have to do it online - if it stresses anyone out, or people don't want to wait hours to get through, there is still the option of doing it at the park.

 

[eticketplease]

For the most part the majority of us waiting in the virtual window are ok waiting as we are registering someone else. (Not saying we like it taking up our day but we can manage it). I don’t even bother DS until it is time for him to appear for the quick picture.

My suggestion for the chat not to throw you out is to follow @gottalovepluto advice and use the app in addition to your computer. I also type in the chat about every 20 minutes or so “hello” or something similar.

For the ones registering for yourself I wish there was a better process online for you.

The online experience is better for DS but that is because we are waiting while he can continue to color and draw without worrying in a comfortable familiar space.

 

[jo-jo]

You don't have to do it online - if it stresses anyone out, or people don't want to wait hours to get through, there is still the option of doing it at the park.

I want to know if DH would get approved. If he didn’t , we wouldn’t go. The preselects are nice, but half the time we miss them anyway.

 

[danceintherain]

I'm glad I pushed DH to do it a few weeks ago! There's no way he would be up to dealing with that kind of a wait.
My Mom tried last week, and got kicked out, when she couldn't figure out how to turn her camera and mic on in 10 minutes. She wasn't in the right head space to do it, when I've been with her lately. She'll probably just do it in person.
It didn't occur to me that the Christmas crowds would impact DAS registration wait times a month in advance, but I guess it should have.

 

[eticketplease]

It didn't occur to me that the Christmas crowds would impact DAS registration wait times a month in advance, but I guess it should have.

Good point!!! I didn’t think about that either

 

[BadgerMom99]

You don't have to do it online - if it stresses anyone out, or people don't want to wait hours to get through, there is still the option of doing it at the park.

It would stress me out more to wait in an actual line.