Video Chat

[Liquidice]

So I finished talking to Rick - one important piece of information that he shared with me is that the 30 day DAS Advance Selection is NOT 30 days + Resort Stay like with ADRs or Fastpass+ of old. So even though I am within my 30 day window for the first DAS Advance Selections, I have to chat again later this week to finish my DAS Advance Selections. Very frustrating but at least I know this and can share it with others!

BTW- Rick was awesome, super friendly - I did not feel like there was any additional questioning to receive the DAS pass than there was doing it in person. Other than waiting nearly 7 hours, it was a smooth process once I got to talk to someone.

 

[Mcmd11]

I'm in the same boat. I'm traveling Thanksgiving week. Part of me wants to call right at my 30-day mark so that I can get it taken care of and hopefully get the attractions I want at the times I want, but the other part of me is dreading that wait! Is it too much to hope that it'll be better by then? LOL

It is unlikely to be worse.

 

[tinkerbelllacey]

Finally talking to Rick, at 1:39pm ... was waiting since 7:03am!

We are still waiting. Did you have to hit the fairy godmother to start the chat? Or did you have to start typing? Please have Rick connect with us next lol

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Can I ask why you guys are waiting online?..
It took me 2 mins in person at epcot.
I feel it's a great idea but I hate Disney IT and no way I would wait hours.... the stress alone would mess me up.

 

[SarahC97]

So I finished talking to Rick - one important piece of information that he shared with me is that the 30 day DAS Advance Selection is NOT 30 days + Resort Stay like with ADRs or Fastpass+ of old. So even though I am within my 30 day window for the first DAS Advance Selections, I have to chat again later this week to finish my DAS Advance Selections. Very frustrating but at least I know this and can share it with others!

BTW- Rick was awesome, super friendly - I did not feel like there was any additional questioning to receive the DAS pass than there was doing it in person. Other than waiting nearly 7 hours, it was a smooth process once I got to talk to someone.

That's good to know -- thanks for taking one for the team!

I'm curious, what times were you offered for your advance selections?

 

[Mcmd11]

Can I ask why you guys are waiting online?..
It took me 2 mins in person at epcot.
I feel it's a great idea but I hate Disney IT and no way I would wait hours.... the stress alone would mess me up.

Honestly The only reason is I arrive on the 19th and with the launch of genie + the same day can see the in person wait not something I could physically do. At least at home I can wait with my comforts. But your logic is not off base for some. Also with the two extra return times it is attractive.

 

[StaciMay]

@Liquidice Did you just sit there for 7 hours or did you occasionaly say "hello"? I keep saying hello or hi every 20 or 30 minutes. Every hour or so I will get the "thank you for contacting us message..." after I say hello. So I'm wondering if that's hurting me?

 

[Mcmd11]

It is 19:23 here now (in Ireland) and I have work in the morning. Can only spare a few more hours so fingers crossed I can stay awake to speak to Rick! Already feel like we are BFFs. I have hope now there is a named cast member.

 

[Liquidice]

That's good to know -- thanks for taking one for the team!

I'm curious, what times were you offered for your advance selections?

Sure, this is a learning process for us all - glad to share what I've learned

The times I was offered were very similar to others, 10am, 12pm and 5pm - and some rides he offered 10:30am, 12:30pm and 5:30pm.

 

[Liquidice]

@Liquidice Did you just sit there for 7 hours or did you occasionaly say "hello"? I keep saying hello or hi every 20 or 30 minutes. Every hour or so I will get the "thank you for contacting us message..." after I say hello. So I'm wondering if that's hurting me?

I did exactly the same as you - although my messages did not always say hello sometimes they were not as nice lol.

I don't know if that hurt me at all - but I wanted to make sure the chat stayed alive, so I kept sending messages.

 

[StaciMay]

Can I ask why you guys are waiting online?..
It took me 2 mins in person at epcot.
I feel it's a great idea but I hate Disney IT and no way I would wait hours.... the stress alone would mess me up.

I am waiting on hold today because I have the time
and my son does not have school today. He will be in school tomorrow and Friday and we have so many afterschool activities soccer, football, etc. with my other children. I will not have time to do it Thursday and Friday and then we leave Saturday morning for our trip. I thought it would be nice to have the two extra fast passes booked in advance. I'm just doing things around the house, packing a little bit, etc. But having to have my phone available for chat is annoying!

 

[Liquidice]

Can I ask why you guys are waiting online?..
It took me 2 mins in person at epcot.
I feel it's a great idea but I hate Disney IT and no way I would wait hours.... the stress alone would mess me up.

In retrospect it probably wasn't worth it - although seeing the DAS Advance Selection for 2 rides each day makes me feel a lot better knowing I have those, just like with FP+.

Hopefully in the future the waits won't be so long like this as Disney works out the kinks in the system and perhaps there is less demand for it.

I will say though, it wasn't like I spent those 7 hours doing nothing but stare at the screen waiting for someone to join. On a laptop or PC it makes a loud pop noise when someone sends you a message - so I turned my speakers up very loudly and did other things (was on work meetings and stuff) while I waited. I'm lucky that I currently work from home most days, so I can wait the 7 hours, I'm sure not everyone can do that.

 

[tinkerbelllacey]

I did exactly the same as you - although my messages did not always say hello sometimes they were not as nice lol.

I don't know if that hurt me at all - but I wanted to make sure the chat stayed alive, so I kept sending messages.

When Rick came on did he type first in the chat? Did you have to hit the fairy godmother or did you have to type hello? Sorry for all the questions but I think I had missed it at 855 as there was a hello message besides the fairy godmother and I was trying to respond but lost connection.So glad you got through. Thank you

 

[StaciMay]

Well, a new message just popped up and it says… "We apologize for the continued wait times. Due to the high-volume we wanted to share that we will be available again tomorrow starting at 7 AM Eastern time. You're welcome to continue to wait and stay connected to your browser for a cast member but may need to re-join the queue again tomorrow morning if we're unable to assist this evening."

 

[Liquidice]

When Rick came on did he type first in the chat? Did you have to hit the fairy godmother or did you have to type hello? Sorry for all the questions but I think I had missed it at 855 as there was a hello message besides the fairy godmother and I was trying to respond but lost connection.So glad you got through. Thank you

He typed first into the chat and I heard the "Pop" noise that plays when they send you a message.

The first message I got was...
"Rick at 13:39, Oct 13:
Hello and welcome! Thank you for contacting Walt Disney World®! My name is Rick. How may I help you?"

I didn't have to hit anything - I just started typing back, I responded hello right away to make sure he didn't disconnect.

 

[Mcmd11]

He typed first into the chat and I heard the "Pop" noise that plays when they send you a message.

The first message I got was...
"Rick at 13:39, Oct 13:
Hello and welcome! Thank you for contacting Walt Disney World®! My name is Rick. How may I help you?"

I didn't have to hit anything - I just started typing back, I responded hello right away to make sure he didn't disconnect.

Thank you for answering all our questions. It is amazingly helpful and kind after waiting so long to have a thought for us on hold or thinking of going on hold.

 

[Liquidice]

Thank you for answering all our questions. It is amazingly helpful and kind after waiting so long to have a thought for us on hold or thinking of going on hold.

Of course, I'm happy to help. I had a ton of questions about this process before it launched - and I definitely want to share what I've learned so far. Disney has not done a great job of telling is what to expect either - so I feel like its important to share with everyone what to expect!

 

[tinkerbelllacey]

He typed first into the chat and I heard the "Pop" noise that plays when they send you a message.

The first message I got was...
"Rick at 13:39, Oct 13:
Hello and welcome! Thank you for contacting Walt Disney World®! My name is Rick. How may I help you?"

I didn't have to hit anything - I just started typing back, I responded hello right away to make sure he didn't disconnect.

Thank you so much for responding and answering our questions. I hope we get connected today as tomorrow may be too late as we arrive tomorrow night.

 

[Dispro1]

[

In retrospect it probably wasn't worth it - although seeing the DAS Advance Selection for 2 rides each day makes me feel a lot better knowing I have those, just like with FP+.

Hopefully in the future the waits won't be so long like this as Disney works out the kinks in the system and perhaps there is less demand for it.

I will say though, it wasn't like I spent those 7 hours doing nothing but stare at the screen waiting for someone to join. On a laptop or PC it makes a loud pop noise when someone sends you a message - so I turned my speakers up very loudly and did other things (was on work meetings and stuff) while I waited. I'm lucky that I currently work from home most days, so I can wait the 7 hours, I'm sure not everyone can do that.

Did you happen to ask about your next trip concerning the advance passes...I think you said you have another one planned before your DAS expires, or was that someone else?

 

[SueM in MN]

You’ve never “had” to use your return times, you could just go to the next attraction and cancel the pending ones. It’s interesting to see that your pre selected ones now can expire, like the old FP+ return windows. I guess it makes sense since now you have two instead of just one? Makes me feel somewhat uneasy though, to be that tied to the schedule

correct - DAS Return Times were and still are valid until used, cancelled, modified or the park closes. I just didn’t add all the ‘ifs, ands, or buts to my answer.

We often had to ‘abandon’ our daughter’s DAS Return Times without using them because she needed to leave the park before the start time arrived. So, in our case, they just expired at park close.

When there were 3 free Fastpasses for every guest, we always scheduled them, but they often expired without being used - something with our daughter took longer than expected, we couldn’t get her ready in time to make our first Fastpass time, she was ‘done’ with the park before the Fastpass time.
There were times when we were a little late and the CM kindly let us in after we explained our issue.
Trying to keep on a schedule didn’t really bother us that much, if we couldn’t use the Fastpass, we couldn’t use it.
If it makes someone uneasy to be tied to scheduled DAS Advance Selection window times, remember you don’t have to do 2 per day. It says « up to 2 ».
If only scheduling 1 per day or not scheduling DAS Advance Selections for every day of your stay feels more comfortable to you, that is an option.