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

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

Yes...because in this case after they pointed out that their party was a small child, they were informed to follow the policy, which is to speak with the attractions cast member at individual rides, about how they can accommodate her unique needs. This CM didn't continue to tell her the child would need to wait and hold their place in line, which is what the other poster kept emphasizing and the part that I found hard to believe.

No, technically they reiterated that my child should wait. It was ONLY after I said I would not leave my five year old that they said I would have to explain my ‘unique’ situation to a CM onsite.

 

[Philsfan77]

I will agree that both were likely told something similar - that they could talk to a CM at the entrance and ask for how they could be accommodated using the queue re-entry (and as we have seen, other options as well). My original point was that the video chat CMs are not being trained well enough on the other accommodations and their training is focused on trying to give DAS to less people. The video chat CMs should know what accommodations are available to individuals and be able to speak to them and explain to people how they would work for their unique situation instead of pushing it to the front line CMs.

I do tend to agree. I wish there was more information out there related to what the return to line queue will actually look like. I also think a concrete answer can't be given because it will ultimately be ride specific, party specific and individual specific. The process is going to look different for rides that already have LL/Genie+ lines versus those that dont. It also may look different for rides with indoor queues versus outdoor queues. So keeping it gray, doesn't lock them into a situation where someone was told they would definitely get this specific return to line option at all attractions.

 

[2tinkerbell]

My DD doesn’t do well with the Haunted Mansion stretch room and the over crowded hall before boarding the doombuggy. In the past she had been directed to enter the exit and bypass these areas. However, for about the last 10 years she was told that “they don’t have staff available” for her to do that. This last time was probably the best ever! She asked and was again denied the bypass. She explained to the CM what her problems were with the stretch room and afterwards the hallway. This particular CM was very accommodating. She had us stand to the side while the stretch room continued to load and was full. We were allowed to enter a completely empty stretch room and were told where to stand next to the wall. I noticed that the room was not packed full, even though I was providing a small buffer zone. I did my usual standing with my arms around my DD. When the doors opened we were instructed where to queue up on the hallway where it was the least crowded.

I am recounting this as an example of how great CMs are and how accommodating they can be. DLR is our usual park and we have not met a CM that hasn’t been wonderful.

 

[Princesca]

No, technically they reiterated that my child should wait. It was ONLY after I said I would not leave my five year old that they said I would have to explain my ‘unique’ situation to a CM onsite.

I don't think it should be acceptable to leave people guessing as to how their disabilities will be accommodated until they're actually in the park and have no ability to plan or compensate.

 

[GoingSince1990]

It always seems to be this notion that with the RTQ option that, the person using it, will always just magically return to the LL line in time and wait for their party to merge with them and everything is hunky dory. I want to know is where is the information if that doesn't happen. What happens if a person who used RTQ and doesn't make it back in time (some disabilities force people to be gone for extended periods of time, not to be compared to a pee break of a small child), how are they joining their group (I know guests would not be cool with people budding them after the merge), how if they already got to the front and had to ride the ride. This one-size-fits-all policy of RTQ to fix a lot of disabilities is really short-minded and would only cause more issues when the people that used that accommodation run into that said situation.

From what I’ve seen, in this case the rest of the party would wait at the LL merge point until the person who had left the line and returned through the LL caught up with them.

 

[lanejudy]

The video chat CMs should know what accommodations are available to individuals and be able to speak to them and explain to people how they would work for their unique situation instead of pushing it to the front line CMs.

I suspect that is because which of the alternative options may differ based on attraction and conditions at the attraction at that point in time, as well as how the alternatives work may differ based on attraction. Day-to-day operations at attractions are almost always left to the attraction staff for final say. That's not new. Individuals who need vision accommodations were in this same situation 10 years ago when DAS rolled out and they were told to ask at the attraction. Those who need a "wheelchair return time" sometimes are directed straight to the exit, sometimes given a return time. It varies. There are "typical" processes but not "always" processes.

Once we get first-hand reports from within the parks, I suspect we'll start to see some "general" truths of how it works at each attraction. But posting that as a documented, announced, definitive procedure would be a challenge.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree I do hear what you are saying that this is a small change not a large one (even though it feels like a large one to those who were previously using DAS and now have been denied or maybe denied).

As an example, here are smaller park changes, including changes to Genie+ that Disney took the effort to put a blog entry out for and fully explain the changes. True these are multiple changes, but each one is a small change: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ng-more-value-and-flexibility-to-your-visits/

I'll go back to, if Disney looked at their customers and considered that their customers with disabilities are more likely to suffer from anxiety and changes such as these cause lots of anxiety - they would have put more effort into documenting how the changes would work.

If DAS was somehow a money maker for them, they would have a larger marketing budget and would have put more time and effort into documenting the changes in detail and easing that anxiety. But it is just my opinion and we can both respectfully disagree with this I don't believe Disney is targeting people with disabilities or even a particular person. I do believe that Disney is motivated by profit and it is logical that they will put more effort in whether that is assign more resources or having a larger marketing budget to communicate things better when they stand to make money.

I think you're thinking large vs small change but you interjected money spent and rollout. I think DAS adjustments are a large change from what it used to be especially in the last several years but I don't think that it costs the purported $1Billion that MDE and MB did for example.

I do think because of what it is Genie+ cost a decent amount of money and the complexities involved in the product required a different approach such as creating the video and marketing a completely different product than what FP+ especially that it now costs money and isn't included in your park ticket (and even then Genie+ roll out isn't like it was the most amazing thing, it was still confusing to me personally like why name it Lightning Lane to be used but then have a separate thing called Individual Lightning Lane) but I don't think that adjusting DAS and having these other accommodations necessarily costs the same as that due to what is being done.

I more responded because the vibe of your comments. To come up with other changes Disney did and point the finger at those and say well they did a better job at that and spent more money on that why couldn't they do that for the disabled community well because those changes aren't going to be tit for tat. I doubt you'd find many people disagreeing about profit, I think that's a motivating reason to adjust things in general (that's talking about why the change occurred not the how part), but it's a different mentality to then say they spent the least amount as possible because of who is affected by the change.

Either way of course agree to disagree applies we're looking at things from different levels is all!

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

I don't think it should be acceptable to leave people guessing as to how their disabilities will be accommodated until they're actually in the park and have no ability to plan or compensate.

Agreed. And since it’s just the two of us, there’s really no Plan B if we get there and there’s no other option offered.

 

[Liquidice]

No, technically they reiterated that my child should wait. It was ONLY after I said I would not leave my five year old that they said I would have to explain my ‘unique’ situation to a CM onsite.

While I 100% believe you were told this, I don't think this is what Disney would want you to be told. I've heard Disney is closely monitoring how things are going wrt the updated DAS rollout, and I recommend you and anyone else that has had an experience that doesn't seem to make sense (or you experience a rude CM or Inspire Health employee) to email Disability.services@disneyparks.com and Guest.services@disneyparks.com - they need to know that people are being told to leave their small children in line while the adult leaves for medical reasons. Someone is going to listen to them and I pray nothing bad happens.

 

[jennab]

No, technically they reiterated that my child should wait. It was ONLY after I said I would not leave my five year old that they said I would have to explain my ‘unique’ situation to a CM onsite.

They actually said “your 5yr old should wait in like while you exit”? Or was it a more general statement of “the rest of your party should wait in line while you exit”?

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

While I 100% believe you were told this, I don't think this is what Disney would want you to be told. I've heard Disney is closely monitoring how things are going wrt the updated DAS rollout, and I recommend you and anyone else that has had an experience that doesn't seem to make sense to email Disability.services@disneyparks.com and Guest.services@disneyparks.com - they need to know that people are being told to leave their small children in line while the adult leaves for medical reasons. Someone is going to listen to them and I pray nothing bad happens.

Agreed. I planned on doing so - beyond comprehension that this would be even a consideration. Granted, I lean more on the overprotective side but I wouldn’t even feel comfortable leaving my 10 year old in line solo.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

They actually said “your 5yr old should wait in like while you exit”? Or was it a more general statement of “the rest of your party should wait in line while you exit”?

It was a general statement until I reminded them that my party was my five year old (which they already knew because I told them that in writing in the upfront questions). They then said yes, you can leave and meet them when you return, to which I said no.

But again - as I mentioned earlier - this person was reading ENTIRELY off a script. Any normal person who was thinking for themselves would pause and understand how ridiculous the suggestion is. But because they are blindly following a script, they just kept going.

 

[jennab]

It was a general statement until I reminded them that my party was my five year old (which they already knew because I told them that in writing in the upfront questions). They then said yes, you can leave and meet them when you return, to which I said no.

But again - as I mentioned earlier - this person was reading ENTIRELY off a script. Any normal person who was thinking for themselves would pause and understand how ridiculous the suggestion is. But because they are blindly following a script, they just kept going.

Yeah that’s odd. I did see a report of an adult who only got her DAS approved when she traveled with her young child, but could not use it while traveling alone.

I feel like in these situations, IF you must leave the line you take your daughter with you and you both get to return to the LL after you attend to your needs?

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

Yeah that’s odd. I did see a report of an adult who only got her DAS approved when she traveled with her young child, but could not use it while traveling alone.

I feel like in these situations, IF you must leave the line you take your daughter with you and you both get to return to the LL after you attend to your needs?

We’ll see. My situation isn’t really an ‘if’ - it’s a given. The only variable is how often and that’s somewhat dependent on the duration of the line. I also inquired about how it would work if I had to leave the line twice (which has happened) - she didn’t know.

I’m bracing myself for a very unpredictable week with A LOT of resort time.

 

[lanejudy]

No, technically they reiterated that my child should wait. It was ONLY after I said I would not leave my five year old that they said I would have to explain my ‘unique’ situation to a CM onsite.

Once you reminded the CM that your "party" was only you + a young child, they told you to speak with a CM. I'm not seeing how that is telling you to leave the 5-yr-old alone in a queue.

Granted, I lean more on the overprotective side but I wouldn’t even feel comfortable leaving my 10 year old in line solo.

That's a situation of knowing the rules of your environment. WDW allows 10-yr-olds (7-yr-olds, actually) to be alone in a queue. Any parent is welcome to be more protective and refuse to leave a child that age alone, but that doesn't mean WDW has to change the accommodation to meet the preference.

But because they are blindly following a script, they just kept going.

Are they "blindly following a script" or just refusing to allow exceptions and thus sticking to the script despite pushback? The CM shifted the advice to "speak with the CM," rather than "leave the child in the queue." That does seem to follow what most are reporting. I've seen exactly 1 report in the past two days of someone granted a DAS because they would be alone with a young child.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Agreed. And since it’s just the two of us, there’s really no Plan B if we get there and there’s no other option offered.

There’s always the Plan B of enjoying the many things you can do that don’t have long lines. If a genie appeared right now and offered to transport me to a Disney park for the day on condition I wasn’t allowed to do any ride that had a line longer than 20 minutes, I would still have a wonderful time. Like in Epcot right now I could do the Three Caballeros, The Land, Figment, The Seas, and enjoy strolling through the Moana land and around World Showcase. But I guess judging by the many reactions when I posted this opinion yesterday, there are many here who disagree with me on this.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

Once you reminded the CM that your "party" was only you + a young child, they told you to speak with a CM. I'm not seeing how that is telling you to leave the 5-yr-old alone in a queue.


That's a situation of knowing the rules of your environment. WDW allows 10-yr-olds (7-yr-olds, actually) to be alone in a queue. Any parent is welcome to be more protective and refuse to leave a child that age alone, but that doesn't mean WDW has to change the accommodation to meet the preference.


Are they "blindly following a script" or just refusing to allow exceptions and thus sticking to the script despite pushback? The CM shifted the advice to "speak with the CM," rather than "leave the child in the queue." That does seem to follow what most are reporting. I've seen exactly 1 report in the past two days of someone granted a DAS because they would be alone with a young child.

As I mentioned above, when they initially suggested I leave my party, I reminded them that they were five. She then repeated that yes, I could leave them alone. When I said no, they suggested speaking with a CM. My point is that even making this suggestion is nuts (and entirely off brand for Disney).

And yes - I am familiar with the 7-year old rule - which is why I specifically said 10 and admitted to being slightly overprotective. But 7 is not 5.

And yes - she was following a script. Most of it was verbatim from the website (which is why I was familiar with it bc I’ve been following this thread since Day 1 and it’s been reposted so many times, I practically have it memorized myself).

 

[Princesca]

There’s always the Plan B of enjoying the many things you can do that don’t have long lines. If a genie appeared right now and offered to transport me to a Disney park for the day on condition I wasn’t allowed to do any ride that had a line longer than 20 minutes, I would still have a wonderful time. Like in Epcot right now I could do the Three Caballeros, The Land, Figment, The Seas, and enjoy strolling through the Moana land and around World Showcase. But I guess judging by the many reactions when I posted this opinion yesterday, there are many here who disagree with me on this.

Is the genie charging a ticket price or is this a free day of lower tier rides?

 

[jlundeen]

There’s always the Plan B of enjoying the many things you can do that don’t have long lines. If a genie appeared right now and offered to transport me to a Disney park for the day on condition I wasn’t allowed to do any ride that had a line longer than 20 minutes, I would still have a wonderful time. Like in Epcot right now I could do the Three Caballeros, The Land, Figment, The Seas, and enjoy strolling through the Moana land and around World Showcase. But I guess judging by the many reactions when I posted this opinion yesterday, there are many here who disagree with me on this.

It's great this works for you, but this is not necessarily why many people will spend many thousands of dollars to visit "the most Magical place on earth." Most of us want to experience the magic as much as we can in the few days we are there before heading back to where ever we are from - and will pay a lot to do it! Much of that includes just the "being in the Disney Bubble" but much of it also includes the magic that only the attractions can fulfill.

People visit for many reasons... and some only get the chance occasionally.

 

[Sprinkles&Sprints]

There’s always the Plan B of enjoying the many things you can do that don’t have long lines. If a genie appeared right now and offered to transport me to a Disney park for the day on condition I wasn’t allowed to do any ride that had a line longer than 20 minutes, I would still have a wonderful time. Like in Epcot right now I could do the Three Caballeros, The Land, Figment, The Seas, and enjoy strolling through the Moana land and around World Showcase. But I guess judging by the many reactions when I posted this opinion yesterday, there are many here who disagree with me on this.

I don’t disagree but this isn’t entirely about me. But I appreciate your optimism.