I was at the parks this past week as a solo traveler with
DAS under the old rules. I witnessed the new procedures at a few of the rides, and inadvertently ended up testing out AQR at Mickey’s Fun Wheel.
For Mickey’s Fun Wheel, the posted wait was 10 min, so I thought I’d be fine in the standby line. After about 17 min, I still hadn’t made it halfway through the queue. Since I knew I’d never make it to the front in time and needed to leave, I asked the family behind me to assist me with removing the queue chains since it was hard to reach in my ECV. I returned to ride entrance, and told the CM I had been in the line, but I need to leave for awhile. I asked the CM what the procedures would be if I chose to return to ride it. He let me know that it was no problem at all, verified I was solo and told me I would just need to see him when I returned, and he would send me straight to the front with a pass. I left for about 30 min. When I returned, the same CM was there and gave me a card to take down the exit path and hand to the CMs at the boarding area.
I only witnessed the new procedures for other rides while I was in line using my DAS.
For Fantasyland, CMs at Peter Pan, Alice and Mr. Toad were very clear that they were not issuing return times for family members who may have difficulties with the queues. CMs took their time explaining that party members that could not handle the queue may wait outside the queue, but at least 2 members of the party must wait in the standby queue (party sizes happened to be 4 or 5 each time). The members waiting outside would rejoin their party via the merge at Peter Pan, the exit for Alice, or the mobility entrance for Mr. Toad. They were firm that those were the only accommodations provided for parties that did not have mobility needs. I did not ask about the procedures as a solo traveler, because the CMs there were already aware that I have DAS.
When a ride reopened after a closure, all DAS users were being advised that they would have to wait until the app showed a posted wait time and book their return times in the app. Ride CMs would not be able to issue a return time for them, even if the app had not updated to reflect that the ride was open already. I felt bad for these families, since it had already been 20 minutes after Fantasyland reopened after the fireworks and some of the rides were still not updating in the app.
My advice for anyone needing a Location Return Time, just ask for a Wheelchair Return Time. CM’s were visibly overwhelmed at times trying to ensure they were doing every step correctly, that any new terminology thrown at them was almost treated as a red flag. It probably didn’t help that management seemed to be lurking nearby them, hopefully just to intervene if a situation escalated. When I requested a Wheelchair Return Time, it was just more familiar for them and they immediately took care of it. Also, I witnessed that LRT parties were allowed 6 total guests, the LRT user + 5 additional party members.
The last ride procedures I witnessed was for TSMM. A teen was able to wait outside the line while his family entered the standby. Once they reached the merge point, he just alerted the CM that he needed to join his family and pointed them out. She held the standby and LL lines, and let the teen join them.
In all situations, the CMs explained the procedures and reunited families very smoothly. There were no elaborate explanations needed, and no undue attention was drawn to the parties utilizing accommodations. I’m glad I was able to see it in action in different scenarios, just in case I’m denied under the new rules.
