DAS changes coming WDW May 20/ DL June 18, 2024

[sarahk0204]

A lot of those things aren't as common anymore, and I'm sure a lot of that has to do with expectations of guests. It spreads through word of mouth and online that one guest received "x" and then everyone gets upset if they aren't given the same thing. Those little bits of pixie dust became expectations and aren't sustainable or realistic to be given to all.

DD 20 is finishing up her CP. She works in food and beverage carts at one of the parks. She told us that a young girl guest came up to her cart and announced "It's my birthday. What are you going to give me for free?" While DD is allowed to give away the occasional product as a way of making magic for guests, it is at her discretion, and a guest demanding free stuff rubbed her the wrong way. She told the guest that she could get a free birthday button at Guest Relations.

Now since this guest was a child, it is most likely a parent who created these expectations. And no, such expectations are not sustainable. (And I am not equating DAS with free Mickey bars.)

 

[Jellybean9]

Oh I love the spoon theory! I think the most accurate analogy that people will understand of the time a disabled person has vs. non disabled is the rich vs. poor.

A rich person's time is not the same as a poor person's time. This is because the rich person has the resources to make their time more efficient. A rich person can afford to pay for someone to cook their meals, clean their house, and care for their children. A poor person does not. So the time a rich person has in their day is not equal to the time a poor person has. Same can be applied to a disabled person vs. non disabled.

Now, that's not to say Disney is responsible for making that time worth more for disabled guests, but I don't think it's at all accurate when others imply that a disabled guest's time of waiting outside of the queues is equal to able bodied guests.


Actually, overstating the time is exactly what Disney intends to do. It is not for nefarious purposes, it's purely for guest satisfaction. That may seem counter intuitive but think of it this way: If a person gets into a line that says 45 minute wait but rides after 30 minutes they're happy. If a person gets into a line that says 45 minute wait but rides after 60 minutes they're angry.

The timing will never be exact, but Disney would rather add in a time buffer that makes guests happy vs. getting it wrong in the other direction and making guests mad.

Yes, I'm very familiar with Disney erring on overstating vs understating. Because as you said, timing will never be exact.

 

[Madteaparty001]

Yes, I'm very familiar with Disney erring on overstating vs understating. Because as you said, timing will never be exact.

Apologies, I just re-read your post and must have misread the first time because I thought you were indicating that Disney would not want to overinflate their time.

 

[lanejudy]

Think about what you just said. You’re saying that someone should provide their own accommodation by incurring additional expense. Well, if a member of your party can’t tolerate waiting in line, buy Genie+ and ILLs.

I'm not sure to whom you are responding -- maybe the posts about a person wearing a foot boot? Anyway, to clarify...

A mobility device, glasses, hearing aids, sunglasses, hats, hoodies, sunshades/parasols, sensory toys, electronic devices, foods/drinks, etc. are all allowed into the parks and something the person can buy and use elsewhere (if they so choose). It is not possible to buy their own version of G+ or ILL$ or to use them anywhere except at Disney parks. It is not generic, it is specific to a Disney trip and only available through Disney. Therefore it cannot be required to be purchased as an accommodation. If a disabled person so chooses to buy those things to assist with their time in the park, that is a choice they have just like all other guests. But there must be a "free" option to access attractions as accommodation for those who need it.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

For folks that have recently applied, did you feel that rider swap was being pushed as an alternative to DAS yet? Are they encouraging your group to wait in line alone while you wait to use the swap? Or do we feel like that's not going to be after the 20th as well? My apply date is May 9th so I'm in the weird gray window.

Rider swap won't work for us, I usually travel alone with my son.

 

[SueM in MN]

Sorry if this has been mentioned, I’m new to this group, but looking at the official Disney wording on MDE they seem to have taken out the immediate family wording and it now just mentions 4 people will be allowed including the DAS holder. Is this a deliberate rewrite of the words to avoid the immediate family discussion and who would be included.

I noticed they changed it on the websites - the information on My Disney Experience app actually links to the website.
Disney has said they will be updating and providing more information on May 20 for WDW and May 18 for DL.
They may have decided just not to address it until then since there has been a lot of speculation online about what the words "immediate family" mean in this case

I reached out to Walt Disney World Accessibility Services Team via email with a specific inquiry, but unfortunately received the same canned response as everyone else that didn't address my concerns at all. It's frustrating to feel like just another number in their system.

I hope the first person to try and locate a cast member for assistance with a bathroom pass that fails to get one "in time" (if you know, you know) documents their experiences on social media because I believe it's important for others to be aware of the challenges faced by individuals with these type of disabilities at Walt Disney World. If that person is me I DEFINATELY will. Although my disability is invisible, it won't be if this scenario happens.

I have one more trip planned before my pass expires in July. I can't cancel that trip since I've already purchased tickets for my nephews and don't want to disappoint them. However, if it weren't for these plans, I would seriously reconsider visiting during this transition period and explore other vacation options that prioritize accessibility and customer satisfaction.

I think right now Disney has been completely overwhelmed with emails.
Hopefully, they are able to pull out the ones with specific questions to reply to later

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Nah - super easy. Just mentally divide the family into 4 groups. Have 4 people separately claim to need DAS. Presto - each family signs up for the same ride at the same time and you have 20 people boarding together.

If you are going to lie about 1 person needing DAS, why wouldn’t you lie about 4, especially given that you already know “what to say” to qualify?

You really don't have to lie. I realize that a lot of the conversation is around presumptions about people who lie, cheat and abuse knowingly but that's not the full story either.

At least from what my CM has repeatedly said over the past several years they have been working at Disney you don't have to lie to get multiple DAS for a larger party. I don't even think it's embellishing too much either on the number of people previously stated other than it's not likely to have too many 20+ people. However, previously CMs would assign another person in the party as DAS in order to get more people past the limit if there was a larger party who complained, demanded, expressed that they have a larger party, etc. That cannot be construed to mean that larger party lied to get the DAS (the initial one). It does speak to the various comments about people wanting to ride with so and so. Much of this was left to CM to CM and in that way if they are going to have just specific CMs at the offset take care of it and not leave it to situations at the park with more variability in CM to CM that will help that part of it.

I don't know if they will allow additional members of a party beyond the limit be added to the profile but just limit the number of riders like some posters have thought about but in the past it wasn't solely (nor would I expect in the future) just people trying to lie their way in. People naturally want to ride an attraction with their other members of the traveling party, grandpa wants to ride Dumbo with the grandkid while dad wants to ride teacups and so on. But that doesn't mean a program will automatically be set up to allow that and realistically a limit should be applied fairly and equally to all that would qualify for it rather than a party of 10 getting something a party of 5 was denied (that would be my opinion at least).

 

[lanejudy]

CMs would assign another person in the party as DAS in order to get more people past the limit

If this is true, that CM should lose their job.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Think about what you just said. You’re saying that someone should provide their own accommodation by incurring additional expense. Well, if a member of your party can’t tolerate waiting in line, buy Genie+ and ILLs.

Edit: I’m not sure why the quote didn’t carryover, but I was speaking to a user who said rent an ECV for a user with a physical disability

Could have been me, because that is the answer Disney will give for mobility and/or stamina issues. The lines are ADA compliant for mobility devices, which is the only obligation Disney (or any business) has. Disney isn't obligated to provide the mobility device, just to allow it and to make the lines accessible for it.

 

[SueM in MN]

DD 20 is finishing up her CP. She works in food and beverage carts at one of the parks. She told us that a young girl guest came up to her cart and announced "It's my birthday. What are you going to give me for free?" While DD is allowed to give away the occasional product as a way of making magic for guests, it is at her discretion, and a guest demanding free stuff rubbed her the wrong way. She told the guest that she could get a free birthday button at Guest Relations.

Now since this guest was a child, it is most likely a parent who created these expectations. And no, such expectations are not sustainable. (And I am not equating DAS with free Mickey bars.)

I've seen a lot of posts on Facebook with these kind of entitled expectations:
"My child was wearing a birthday pin. We didn't get any pixie dust. All we got was people wishing her happy birthday."
"We are on our anniversary trip and are booked at Pop Century. How do we get pixie dusted with an upgrade? We'd like to get upgraded to Contemporary."
"Our trip was ruined. I promised my daughter she'd get free cupcakes at every restaurant when they saw her birthday pin and she only got one. What did we do wrong?"

There used to be some fun experiences, like waking up Tinkerbell for the first guests in a gift shop at MK (it involved telling Tink to wake up/ringing an bell and a light flittered around). It became something people promised their kids they could do, which led to people running to the shop and pushing/shoving to be first. In an attempt to stop that, it changed to ringing a bell any time to call Tink. I don't think it exists anymore

For folks that have recently applied, did you feel that rider swap was being pushed as an alternative to DAS yet? Are they encouraging your group to wait in line alone while you wait to use the swap? Or do we feel like that's not going to be after the 20th as well? My apply date is May 9th so I'm in the weird gray window.

Rider swap won't work for us, I usually travel alone with my son.

It is listed on the website as a possible way to manage waits in line. I have not seen any posts from people who were encouraged to use it yet.
I expect they will have more details on May 20. That is the first time that all guests will be going on trips that are totally after the May 20 start date.

 

[krismom345]

I know it’s been mentioned but an obvious way to alleviate LL lines is to OPEN PARKS LATER. We never needed the DAS (in those days it was GAC) when we could avoid the heat and crowds and sleep/rest/swim for a few hours midday.
Maximizing ticket value and coordinating the unknowns of virtual queue return times make breaks unrealistic for my crew.
There simply isn’t enough >time< when the parks close so early.
And yes, we suck it up and pay for After hours events and stay deluxe for evening magic hours which means we visit half as often.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I know it’s been mentioned but an obvious way to alleviate LL lines is to OPEN PARKS LATER. We never needed the DAS (in those days it was GAC) when we could avoid the heat and crowds and sleep/rest/swim for a few hours midday.
Maximizing ticket value and coordinating the unknowns of virtual queue return times make breaks unrealistic for my crew.
There simply isn’t enough >time< when the parks close so early.
And yes, we suck it up and pay for After hours events and stay deluxe for evening magic hours which means we visit half as often.

I appreciate this, but Disney's made it clear that's not going to happen. The days of MK being open to midnight or 2am are not likely to return.

 

[starlite_]

The only way Disney is going to fix the actual issue at the root of all of this is to add ride capacity.

I would also add I think it's a huge jump to say all 8% of DAS users are "very happy" - we don't have data to base that on at all. There's still lots of reasons DAS users have difficulties in the parks and may not be ranking high on guest satisfaction. Not all of that 8% are riding significantly higher numbers of attractions than the average guest either. Some are, absolutely - those who likely don't actually need DAS. But that's not all DAS users.

That... would arguably be worse. 8% of guests using at least around 50% of ride capacity and they aren't even ranking high on guest satisfaction.

 

[audrey2580]

For folks that have recently applied, did you feel that rider swap was being pushed as an alternative to DAS yet? Are they encouraging your group to wait in line alone while you wait to use the swap? Or do we feel like that's not going to be after the 20th as well? My apply date is May 9th so I'm in the weird gray window.

Rider swap won't work for us, I usually travel alone with my son.

I just applied on 4/21 for a trip 5/21+. It is just my son and myself as well. He has Crohns and there was no mention at all of rider swap or bathroom pass etc. I will be in the park on 5/22 and plan to get some details about how those would work for our future trips

 

[Angel Ariel]

That... would arguably be worse. 8% of guests using at least around 50% of ride capacity and they aren't even ranking high on guest satisfaction.

My point being that we have no idea what the guest satisfaction rate of DAS users is. If Disney disaggregates their data they *may* have such numbers, but without Disney sharing it any statements about it are speculation

 

[Kgrace1989]

Sorry if this has been mentioned, I’m new to this group, but looking at the official Disney wording on MDE they seem to have taken out the immediate family wording and it now just mentions 4 people will be allowed including the DAS holder. Is this a deliberate rewrite of the words to avoid the immediate family discussion and who would be included.

My understanding is (and please note the info I’m getter comes from a Disney CM -( not not one who works directly with this issues) so I am getting info on changes second hand.

But what I’ve heard from him is that Disney's stance on party size is 4 is a hard limit… UNLESS the other people beyond the 4 person limit are additional minor children.

So for example, let’s say two parents have a child that qualify’s for the DAS…
If they have 3 other minor children in the family that makes them a party of 6 but they would all be allowed to be on the DAS.

Disney has decided the immediate family will be included, but they are capping it at 4.

While I support the party size limit because they simply don’t have the capacity to sustain large parties repeatedly using the LL on a spontaneous schedule…

Where I think this will be most frustrating, is for families of 4 who bring grandparents, or adult groups of friends going together over the number of 4.

However, they are also aware that the larger groups are one of the central reasons they need to cap it. It was the larger groups that were masquerading as “friends” and “family” that were actually the “independent” tour groups using the “guides” access to a DAS.

 

[SteveMouse]

Developmental disabilities are not mental issues. Not all hidden disabilities are mental. You can have hidden physical disabilities. Not all physical disabilities are mobility issues. WDW has adapted most of their queues to accommodate the common mobility issue aides.

I would consider someone with a foot boot on temporarily disabled. This would impact their entire park day, and not just waiting in line. What other options are you expecting in this scenario?

It's not Disney's (or a grocery store. or mall, or....)responsibility to provide guests with a wheelchair, walker, knee scooter, etc. for free. You are welcome to bring your own, as long as it meets safety requirements.

Think about what you just said. You’re saying that someone should provide their own accommodation by incurring additional expense. Well, if a member of your party can’t tolerate waiting in line, buy Genie+ and ILLs.

Edit: I’m not sure why the quote didn’t carryover, but I was speaking to a user who said rent an ECV for a user with a physical disability

It is long-standing federal law and policy that individuals are responsible for providing their own personal equipment such as eye glasses, hearing aids, wheelchairs, ecvs, walkers, etc. Disney does not require you to rent theirs You are welcome to bring your own. Disney provides rental equipment as a convenience to park guests.

Infrastructure is a different matter. Disney is required to provide physical and/or programmatic infrastructure to enable accessibility. Certain tools for audio services are included, mostly because of technologies required to transmit audio.

Accessing attractions is a key component of visiting a theme park. It is not permissible under current law to charge additional fees for accessible access. That would be discriminatory.

 

[Kgrace1989]

For folks that have recently applied, did you feel that rider swap was being pushed as an alternative to DAS yet? Are they encouraging your group to wait in line alone while you wait to use the swap? Or do we feel like that's not going to be after the 20th as well? My apply date is May 9th so I'm in the weird gray window.

Rider swap won't work for us, I usually travel alone with my son.

Please take this with a grain of salt.

I’m getting info second hand from an employee there.. but my understanding is party’s of 2 won’t be offered rider swap (as RS is based on one person waiting with the member of the party that doesn’t ride).
They will offer other accommodations to meet the needs of party’s of 2.

 

[SueM in MN]

My understanding is (and please note the info I’m getter comes from a Disney CM -( not not one who works directly with this issues) so I am getting info on changes second hand.

But what I’ve heard from him is that Disney's stance on party size is 4 is a hard limit… UNLESS the other people beyond the 4 person limit are additional minor children.

So for example, let’s say two parents have a child that qualify’s for the DAS…
If they have 3 other minor children in the family that makes them a party of 6 but they would all be allowed to be on the DAS.

Disney has decided the immediate family will be included, but they are capping it at 4.

While I support the party size limit because they simply don’t have the capacity to sustain large parties repeatedly using the LL on a spontaneous schedule…

Where I think this will be most frustrating, is for families of 4 who bring grandparents, or adult groups of friends going together over the number of 4.

However, they are also aware that the larger groups are one of the central reasons they need to cap it. It was the larger groups that were masquerading as “friends” and “family” that were actually the “independent” tour groups using the “guides” access to a DAS.

We don’t know since nothing has been released yet. But, there could be multiple ways they handle the number.

They could have one firm number for friends and another for family.
They could have a less firm limit for the number of guests linked to DAS, but have a smaller, firm number allowed to be included in any DAS Return Time

Please take this with a grain of salt.

I’m getting info second hand from an employee there.. but my understanding is party’s of 2 won’t be offered rider swap (as RS is based on one person waiting with the member of the party that doesn’t ride).
They will offer other accommodations to meet the needs of party’s of 2.

The way Rider Seitch works presently, at least one person waits outside of the attraction with the non-rider while the rest of the group waits in the Standby Line, then rides. After they finish, the second group rides.

It would be very difficult to administer Rider Switch the way it is now with a party of 2. There are many people with disabilities who can’t be left alone, so there would be no way to send the non-disabled person thru the line.

 

[notatallmagic]

Question for Annual Passholders who need DAS..

How does the DAS day count (30 days out) handle pop-up trips? Thinking maybe last week of May, so 30 day out "call clock" would be next week.

We have several trips (airfare, paid Disney hotels) hard core scheduled for summer. But we also have done/were hoping to do several 1-2 day pop ups (yay $39 airfare).

So I generally make park pass reservations just to be safe. We've generally "used" about 75% of these...no shows would be health issues and just life.

We've always just renewed the DAS just in case...will that still work? Any advice or experiences would be great! Thanks!!