Questions DAS/LL/VQ and ride experiences for upcoming trips

[Kirlinale]

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I visited this board. Two years ago we visited WDW and used the new DAS system and it worked so well for our DD and her needs. Prior to that we have always used whatever form of access they had, including her MAW trip. This trip is going be a little different from our last one two years ago. There were only three of us (DH, Myself and DD) and it was the first time in 20 years DD wanted to try 'big' stuff (AKA - Slinky, 7 Dwarfs etc.). We surprised her at Christmas with this trip - but including her older brother and she is all excited - but I have a few questions.

1) I've watched every video on GOTG , and it seems a tad bit intense. I bought all 4 of us LL individual passes because I wanted to be sure my DS and DH as well as myself could ride it if she backed out. Should she back out , has anyone used rider swap in this scenario - We would have 4 individual LL passes and already approved for DAS. Basically , if we get there and she doesn't want to ride or the experience in line is too intense I'd wait with her while DH and DS went on and gave feedback ,and if she didn't want to go or we felt not safe could I then ride with DS using swap.. Just looking for BTDT experiences - and I know it depends a lot on the Day , CM etc...

2) Has anyone used noise cancelling headphones on rides? Do they allow those? Not sure ear plugs will stay put - but any advice for sound sensitivity would be greatly appreciated - this was never an issue before as her most thrilling ride was teacups. She is very excited to try the Star Wars rides (mostly because I think she wants to make her brother happy) but while the ride seems ok - the loudness could be a problem.

3) Any Feedback on Tron in the disabled ride seating.. No way could she handle the positioning ..

We have all the LL that mostly the non DAS people want to do - and included her as well - but hoping if she can't ride we can do the swap.

 

[moreisgood]

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I visited this board. Two years ago we visited WDW and used the new DAS system and it worked so well for our DD and her needs. Prior to that we have always used whatever form of access they had, including her MAW trip. This trip is going be a little different from our last one two years ago. There were only three of us (DH, Myself and DD) and it was the first time in 20 years DD wanted to try 'big' stuff (AKA - Slinky, 7 Dwarfs etc.). We surprised her at Christmas with this trip - but including her older brother and she is all excited - but I have a few questions.

1) I've watched every video on GOTG , and it seems a tad bit intense. I bought all 4 of us LL individual passes because I wanted to be sure my DS and DH as well as myself could ride it if she backed out. Should she back out , has anyone used rider swap in this scenario - We would have 4 individual LL passes and already approved for DAS. Basically , if we get there and she doesn't want to ride or the experience in line is too intense I'd wait with her while DH and DS went on and gave feedback ,and if she didn't want to go or we felt not safe could I then ride with DS using swap.. Just looking for BTDT experiences - and I know it depends a lot on the Day , CM etc...

2) Has anyone used noise cancelling headphones on rides? Do they allow those? Not sure ear plugs will stay put - but any advice for sound sensitivity would be greatly appreciated - this was never an issue before as her most thrilling ride was teacups. She is very excited to try the Star Wars rides (mostly because I think she wants to make her brother happy) but while the ride seems ok - the loudness could be a problem.

3) Any Feedback on Tron in the disabled ride seating.. No way could she handle the positioning ..

We have all the LL that mostly the non DAS people want to do - and included her as well - but hoping if she can't ride we can do the swap.

GOTG is a very intense ride. But it’s a smooth ride which makes it extremely doable for me. Because the car can turn (not spin) you are sometimes going forward, backwards or sideways, while changing elevation. There is no other ride like it. My 12 year old nephew liked it, but still got sick the moment he stepped off the ride. May I suggest Bonine to avoid that possibility.
2. My child often wears noise cancelling headphones on rides and has never been asked to remove them.
3 The Tron Disability Seat is really just like sitting in a chair.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

GotG is one of my all time favorite rides. As you said you watched a bunch of ride videos, I’m going to “spoil” as much of the ride that I can in case it helps you decide what your DD can handle.



----
I don’t know what your daughter’s needs are, but keep in mind that even with a LL the pre-show is long. LONG. The wait to get into the first room may be ~5 minutes, depending on how backed up they are. But you wait in the first room. Then you move to another room. There’s talking. You move to another. There’s talking AND it’s dark. Then FINALLY you get “let out” into the corridor to head to the load point. It usually takes about half an hour to do the entire ride even with LL, and most of it involves waiting around.

If you think she needs more space try to hang back and to the left hand side. There will be a crush of people trying to get ahead position-wise. You don’t want to get caught in the middle of that.

Once you are *finally* on the ride itself, the lap bar is nice and secure, but only on the legs. My husband is claustrophobic, which is why I started hanging out in this forum, and he had trouble with it the first time he rode.

The ride itself is pretty loud. I’m not noise sensitive in real life but I have found that I’m much happier at Disney in general (and on this ride in particular) when I wear earplugs. I have the Loop Experience 2s with mutes from when my daughter had her concussion and they have been great. I wish they blocked even more noise, but I do appreciate that I can have normal conversations with people when wearing them.

Ok, now here’s where the real spoilers start. You have been warned.

The coaster pulls out of the station, goes up a hill, and then ends up being turned around. This is your first clue that this is not a “normal” roller coaster. There are huge screens all around, so if she’s prone to being overstimulated that may be an issue. There is a bit of music and some talking, but the real “song” doesn’t start until after the launch.

Best. Launch. Ever.

After you “jump back,” the music starts. The first hill feels like you are going to go upside down, but you don’t. It’s just a big up and over, and then you are turned back around.

The ride is not overly fast and extremely smooth. I’m usually singing or laughing through most of it, and I swear it feels like I’m flying. @moreisbetter already explained about the rotation of the car and change in elevation. That’s totally real (and also part of the fun). There IS a lot of g-force, especially when you circle 2 planets at the end. Nothing that one can’t handle, but my guess is that’s where most people end up feeling sick. I just make a point to ride on an empty stomach but no one in my family has ever been sick. The ride was designed with a lot of open lidded trash cans at the end though.

It’s also a pretty dark ride but there’s a lot to see if you care to look around, even if I usually forget to do so. The first time I watched a ride video (after having ridden it maybe 10 times) I thought “I don’t remember that part!"

I wish the ride itself were longer, but it is a long-ish ride.

As far as intensity goes, I like this 100x more than Space Mountain because it is too jerky for me, even though objectively Guardians a more intense ride. Comparing it to Tron is a bit harder. Tron has the magnetic launches/acceleration and the outside is cool, but once inside it’s kind of meh and over really quickly. My mom prefers the adaptive car but I find it really boring. And again, I’m not really a roller coaster kind of person. Having said that, if Mine Train or Slinky are pushing it for her, don’t even put yourselves through the aggravation. She wouldn’t be able to handle it. I’d recommend trying Mine Train, then Slinky, then maybe Everest/Tron, and THEN think about Guardians if all goes well. Otherwise your son can ride it twice.

<And then head over to Universal and try Hagrids>

I hope that your family has an amazing time!

 

[Kirlinale]

GotG is one of my all time favorite rides. As you said you watched a bunch of ride videos, I’m going to “spoil” as much of the ride that I can in case it helps you decide what your DD can handle.



----
I don’t know what your daughter’s needs are, but keep in mind that even with a LL the pre-show is long. LONG. The wait to get into the first room may be ~5 minutes, depending on how backed up they are. But you wait in the first room. Then you move to another room. There’s talking. You move to another. There’s talking AND it’s dark. Then FINALLY you get “let out” into the corridor to head to the load point. It usually takes about half an hour to do the entire ride even with LL, and most of it involves waiting around.

If you think she needs more space try to hang back and to the left hand side. There will be a crush of people trying to get ahead position-wise. You don’t want to get caught in the middle of that.

Once you are *finally* on the ride itself, the lap bar is nice and secure, but only on the legs. My husband is claustrophobic, which is why I started hanging out in this forum, and he had trouble with it the first time he rode.

The ride itself is pretty loud. I’m not noise sensitive in real life but I have found that I’m much happier at Disney in general (and on this ride in particular) when I wear earplugs. I have the Loop Experience 2s with mutes from when my daughter had her concussion and they have been great. I wish they blocked even more noise, but I do appreciate that I can have normal conversations with people when wearing them.

Ok, now here’s where the real spoilers start. You have been warned.

The coaster pulls out of the station, goes up a hill, and then ends up being turned around. This is your first clue that this is not a “normal” roller coaster. There are huge screens all around, so if she’s prone to being overstimulated that may be an issue. There is a bit of music and some talking, but the real “song” doesn’t start until after the launch.

Best. Launch. Ever.

After you “jump back,” the music starts. The first hill feels like you are going to go upside down, but you don’t. It’s just a big up and over, and then you are turned back around.

The ride is not overly fast and extremely smooth. I’m usually singing or laughing through most of it, and I swear it feels like I’m flying. @moreisbetter already explained about the rotation of the car and change in elevation. That’s totally real (and also part of the fun). There IS a lot of g-force, especially when you circle 2 planets at the end. Nothing that one can’t handle, but my guess is that’s where most people end up feeling sick. I just make a point to ride on an empty stomach but no one in my family has ever been sick. The ride was designed with a lot of open lidded trash cans at the end though.

It’s also a pretty dark ride but there’s a lot to see if you care to look around, even if I usually forget to do so. The first time I watched a ride video (after having ridden it maybe 10 times) I thought “I don’t remember that part!"

I wish the ride itself were longer, but it is a long-ish ride.

As far as intensity goes, I like this 100x more than Space Mountain because it is too jerky for me, even though objectively Guardians a more intense ride. Comparing it to Tron is a bit harder. Tron has the magnetic launches/acceleration and the outside is cool, but once inside it’s kind of meh and over really quickly. My mom prefers the adaptive car but I find it really boring. And again, I’m not really a roller coaster kind of person. Having said that, if Mine Train or Slinky are pushing it for her, don’t even put yourselves through the aggravation. She wouldn’t be able to handle it. I’d recommend trying Mine Train, then Slinky, then maybe Everest/Tron, and THEN think about Guardians if all goes well. Otherwise your son can ride it twice.

<And then head over to Universal and try Hagrids>

I hope that your family has an amazing time!

THANK YOU!!! so much for this. This is visit , I've lost count as Disney is the only thing that we can do that gives us all pure Joy. She never did more than Dumbo, Tea Cups etc.. before our last visit. When she decided to try something more 'thrilling' - We started with Barnstormer, then Slinky , Mine Train and BTRR.. She then fell in love with Test Track - (not open while we are there) . This surprised us as she has so many unique and different issues from an inoperable brain tumor and more . So I am totally going to try GotG with my Son first, and I am pretty certain that I won't ok it for her - so even if they don't let us do a ride swap - my Husband can ride by himself, and we toss it as a small loss. I love your review, and it is exactly what I needed to hear. She so wants to do 'bigger things' now that she has tried some - but I think we might pass on this one due to it likely being a huge trigger on so many levels. We go this week and I am hopeful she will get to experience new things again - but I am pretty sure this one will be off the table for her, Though, I am looking forward to trying it!!!

 

[gap2368]

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I visited this board. Two years ago we visited WDW and used the new DAS system and it worked so well for our DD and her needs. Prior to that we have always used whatever form of access they had, including her MAW trip. This trip is going be a little different from our last one two years ago. There were only three of us (DH, Myself and DD) and it was the first time in 20 years DD wanted to try 'big' stuff (AKA - Slinky, 7 Dwarfs etc.). We surprised her at Christmas with this trip - but including her older brother and she is all excited - but I have a few questions.

1) I've watched every video on GOTG , and it seems a tad bit intense. I bought all 4 of us LL individual passes because I wanted to be sure my DS and DH as well as myself could ride it if she backed out. Should she back out , has anyone used rider swap in this scenario - We would have 4 individual LL passes and already approved for DAS. Basically , if we get there and she doesn't want to ride or the experience in line is too intense I'd wait with her while DH and DS went on and gave feedback ,and if she didn't want to go or we felt not safe could I then ride with DS using swap.. Just looking for BTDT experiences - and I know it depends a lot on the Day , CM etc...

2) Has anyone used noise cancelling headphones on rides? Do they allow those? Not sure ear plugs will stay put - but any advice for sound sensitivity would be greatly appreciated - this was never an issue before as her most thrilling ride was teacups. She is very excited to try the Star Wars rides (mostly because I think she wants to make her brother happy) but while the ride seems ok - the loudness could be a problem.

3) Any Feedback on Tron in the disabled ride seating.. No way could she handle the positioning ..

We have all the LL that mostly the non DAS people want to do - and included her as well - but hoping if she can't ride we can do the swap.

I wear over the ear nose canceling headphones phone on all the rides at Disney the only ride the the CM has questions was tron and it was make sure they stay on ( or something like that ) I just held on to them for the ride. Last trip since it was cold I put my hoodie up and used that as an extra protection. I have also used loops they work ok not as good as the over the ear ones.

About ride swap I am pretty sure they will let you at the time of brooding if you need too. Just talk the the CM at the load and let them know your need there are people all the time that decide for what ever reason not to ride.