WDW Summary of NEW DAS changes and Disney Genie - Post ONE is an updated summary

[mamaofsix]

Well, a horrible start to my process this morning. When I clicked to start the video chat, it kept re-routing me to the general chat for Disney Accesibilty Services, not the video chat. I had multiple cast members coming on and not knowing how to help me get in the video queue! I think I'm finally there, but it took until 7:40. Now I've likely added HOURS to my wait.

This was a terrible experience. Disney needs to fix its system, especially for people who are already struggling with high anxiety.

 

[Aela]

So what time does the chat window open in the morning? 6am est?

 

[SueM in MN]

So what time does the chat window open in the morning? 6am est?

Live chat is available from 7:00 AM – 10:00 PM Eastern Time.

 

[SueM in MN]

Well, a horrible start to my process this morning. When I clicked to start the video chat, it kept re-routing me to the general chat for Disney Accesibilty Services, not the video chat. I had multiple cast members coming on and not knowing how to help me get in the video queue! I think I'm finally there, but it took until 7:40. Now I've likely added HOURS to my wait.

This was a terrible experience. Disney needs to fix its system, especially for people who are already struggling with high anxiety.

Just a clarification - was the place you clicked the link in the screenshot with a blue arrow pointing to it? Just trying to understand what happened.



Tapping that doesn’t connect directly to the video chat. It goes to a text chat window where guests are asked to type in some information. After reading the information and possibly asking a few more questions in the text chat, the CM asks if you are on a device with microphone and video. If you are, the CM starts the video chat portion of the registration. Before connecting to the video chat, a message comes up to request access to your microphone and camera. After tapping to agree, the video chat portion should start.
If you got to that point, but the video chat would not start, I think (but don’t know for sure) that you would be routed back to the text chat window.

 

[Aela]

This is what I see after clicking. I believe this is correct.

 

[mamaofsix]

Just a clarification - was the place you clicked the link in the screenshot with a blue arrow pointing to it? Just trying to understand what happened.

View attachment 646970

Tapping that doesn’t connect directly to the video chat. It goes to a text chat window where guests are asked to type in some information. After reading the information and possibly asking a few more questions in the text chat, the CM asks if you are on a device with microphone and video. If you are, the CM starts the video chat portion of the registration. Before connecting to the video chat, a message comes up to request access to your microphone and camera. After tapping to agree, the video chat portion should start.
If you got to that point, but the video chat would not start, I think (but don’t know for sure) that you would be routed back to the text chat window.

Yes, it was this box I clicked. My husband is in IT. He was sitting right there with me and said that it was definitely a loop problem on Disney's end.

 

[SueM in MN]

This is what I see after clicking. I believe this is correct.

Yes.
That is exactly what you should see after clicking to begin the video chat. That is the first step in the process.

 

[Aela]

Yes.
That is exactly what you should see after clicking to begin the video chat. That is the first step in the process.

I’m at a 3 hour wait… so far.

 

[SueM in MN]

Yes, it was this box I clicked. My husband is in IT. He was sitting right there with me and said that it was definitely a loop problem on Disney's end.

What did you see after clicking that box? If it was what Aela posted, that is what you should have seen.

 

[Aela]

It keeps dropping, and I’m reconnecting. I assume it isn’t restarting my wait.. but honestly I’m not sure.

 

[mamaofsix]

Update: we got through!

-Got into the live chat queue at 7:40am after a rough start with the chat box redirecting to the improper channel. Disney finally fixed the issue after multiple attempts and chats with cast members.
-Received a chat invitation to proceed with video at 9:00am
-Live Video started at 9:05am
-Ride Selection started at 9:30
-Ride Selection finished at 11:20.
-Entire process, start to finish, was over 4 hours.

*Despite previous reports to the contrary, I WAS able to register all 3 of my children at the same time during this video chat. We share one MDE account and all three were able to be registered, each with 5 different ride guests from our extended "family and friends" of 18 total travelers.

*The cast member I was live chatting with did not seem to understand that I wanted overlapping ride times for all three kids so that our entire group could ride together. They basically told me this was impossible due to the lack of time windows available for each ride. They did not want to keep checking different rides and times to find overlapping ones. BUT, I persisted with asking for different rides and times and we DID end up finding overlapping times for 2 rides per day of our stay. I was surprised at how resistant the cast member seemed to be to help me. Glad we did not give up.

The ride selections took a long time because of this back and forth, so it was 11:20a.m. when we finished - 2 hours to select our rides!

To sum it up, DAS does not seem friendly for large families. We have six children, so even if not traveling with grandparents, etc., we still are too large for the "group of 6" rule. That being said, if you have multiple members of your party who need to register at once, you CAN do this via video chat. It IS possible to book overlapping times for your party, you just have to keep trying different rides and times of day until you find one. I really wish they would accommodate for large family groups and let you all have the same window for the advanced selections. Here's an example of what our times looked like for Pirates of the Caribbean. Basically, we have to get there at 2:30 on the button to fit all of our times. If we don't get there right at the minute of our overlapping times, I am worried they will not let us in. All of our rides overlap in this way, with only 1 minute being the same on all three together:

 

[mamaofsix]

What did you see after clicking that box? If it was what Aela posted, that is what you should have seen.

No, this was not what I saw after clicking. The chat opened with a cast member asking what they could help me with. Disney eventually figured it out, but it was definitely an error in the coding on their end. Some sort of a glitch. After 40 minutes, they fixed it and when I clicked that box, the correct message came up and sent me to the video queue.

 

[SueM in MN]

It keeps dropping, and I’m reconnecting. I assume it isn’t restarting my wait.. but honestly I’m not sure.

Mine dropped a couple of times, but came back up to exactly the same in the chat window.
Multiple people have been told that dropping and reconnecting doesn’t restart the wait.

 

[Aela]

Update: we got through!

-Got into the live chat queue at 7:40am after a rough start with the chat box redirecting to the improper channel. Disney finally fixed the issue after multiple attempts and chats with cast members.
-Received a chat invitation to proceed with video at 9:00am
-Live Video started at 9:05am
-Ride Selection started at 9:30
-Ride Selection finished at 11:20.
-Entire process, start to finish, was over 4 hours.

*Despite previous reports to the contrary, I WAS able to register all 3 of my children at the same time during this video chat. We share one MDE account and all three were able to be registered, each with 5 different ride guests from our extended "family and friends" of 18 total travelers.

*The cast member I was live chatting with did not seem to understand that I wanted overlapping ride times for all three kids so that our entire group could ride together. They basically told me this was impossible due to the lack of time windows available for each ride. They did not want to keep checking different rides and times to find overlapping ones. BUT, I persisted with asking for different rides and times and we DID end up finding overlapping times for 2 rides per day of our stay. I was surprised at how resistant the cast member seemed to be to help me. Glad we did not give up.

The ride selections took a long time because of this back and forth, so it was 11:20a.m. when we finished - 2 hours to select our rides!

To sum it up, DAS does not seem friendly for large families. We have six children, so even if not traveling with grandparents, etc., we still are too large for the "group of 6" rule. That being said, if you have multiple members of your party who need to register at once, you CAN do this via video chat. It IS possible to book overlapping times for your party, you just have to keep trying different rides and times of day until you find one. I really wish they would accommodate for large family groups and let you all have the same window for the advanced selections. Here's an example of what our times looked like for Pirates of the Caribbean. Basically, we have to get there at 2:30 on the button to fit all of our times. If we don't get there right at the minute of our overlapping times, I am worried they will not let us in. All of our rides overlap in this way, with only 1 minute being the same on all three together:

View attachment 646995
View attachment 646996

I entered at 9:30 cst, which is 10:30 est. I’m at a 3 hour wait, I’ll see if I get in. If not, I’ll get up at 7 est tomorrow

 

[mamaofsix]

I entered at 9:30 cst, which is 10:30 est. I’m at a 3 hour wait, I’ll see if I get in. If not, I’ll get up at 7 est tomorrow

Hope you get through!

 

[mamaofsix]

Could somebody confirm: If you are a few minutes late or early for your advanced DAS return time, will they still let you in? I'm remembering the old fp system where if you were early they didn't let you in, but if you were up to 15 minutes late, they did? Anyone have first hand experience with this?

 

[DisneyElite4]

I logged on at 7 a.m. on Wednesday for our 7 night trip. I was connected immediately, approved quickly and making selections in less than 5 minutes. Technically it was 31 days before our first park day, but we are DVC, and we were able to make selections for all park days. I got disconnected right before confirming times for our last day, but the CM just gave me what I had requested and made her best guess on times based off what I had chosen before, and she was right! I really don’t care too much about the advance selections - I wanted to do the pre-registration so we can skip the waiting on our first park day to be approved. We’ve actually always lucked out and never had a long wait in the past, but you never know what it will be like.

Edited to add: The DAS is for my son, who has autism and has used it on every trip to WDW. He actually wasn’t awake when I first logged in as I was expecting a long wait, so we had to wake him up rather quickly. Fortunately he was chipper and happy.

 

[Aela]

I got though, all finished.

 

[SueM in MN]

No, this was not what I saw after clicking. The chat opened with a cast member asking what they could help me with. Disney eventually figured it out, but it was definitely an error in the coding on their end. Some sort of a glitch. After 40 minutes, they fixed it and when I clicked that box, the correct message came up and sent me to the video queue.

Thanks for the update and explanation. I was wondering about the first screen since I’ve seen posts in other places where people expected to have the video part of the video chat start as soon as they clicked it.

 

[Evita_W]

Could somebody confirm: If you are a few minutes late or early for your advanced DAS return time, will they still let you in? I'm remembering the old fp system where if you were early they didn't let you in, but if you were up to 15 minutes late, they did? Anyone have first hand experience with this?

As with the old FP, up to 5 minutes early or 15 minutes late. If there are extenuating circumstances, sucj as being stuck on a ride, having a co flicting ADR, ETC. they may sometimes allow later.