News New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024

[lentesta]

Did you mean to say 2010?

2010 is when the article was written, yeah. So that was in the days with FastPass but before FP+. If you want to say all the stuff they've done since then adds 1 more attraction to that, I wouldn't argue.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

I admittedly plead ignorance as I don't know ADA law and I don't know what would qualify as "reasonable accommodations" but just off the top of my head :

Give qualifying DAS families 4 or 5 anytime, any ride LL's per a day that could be used on rerides or good for any park.

Limit DAS to standby waits of 30 minutes or more

Have an attendant or 2 with the DAS guest and the rest of the family go through standby. Install "DAS touch points" close enough to the loading zone that would notify the DAS group through the MDE app to start making their way to a special entrance straight to the loading zone to meet up.

 

[lentesta]

And would have no reason to have G+. No way is that true.

A decent ballpark estimate of domestic G+/ILL revenue is $700MM - $1B per year.

There's no chance a publicly-traded company is giving that up.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I wish they were only rabid warthogs, being a picky eater is the one thing my ds doesn't have as part of his condition even though it's extremely common
The bendy dark tunnel is a que ds has a problem with even though he loves SM. I would say why he needs a DAS for other peoples comfort as well as his but it would be a roadmap for cheaters

This.

The fact we have to redact our comments on this topic for fear of abuse is the fundamental problem

Disney charges too much…doesn’t give us enough back…and people are cheats and schemers

It all sucks

 

[lentesta]

I'm not saying DAS doesn't take capacity away... but I don't buy DAS using 60% of total park capacity, as Disney has a lot of capacity in attractions that are going underutilized like Carousel of Progress, Tiki Room, etc. Unless they picked one particular attraction to point out or focused on the major attractions.

It's not total park capacity. I don't think anyone's saying that. At the headliner attractions, DAS use can be 50-75% of the entire Lightning Lane line. A decent rule of thumb is newer rides = higher DAS use.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I admittedly plead ignorance as I don't know ADA law and I don't know what would qualify as "reasonable accommodations" but just off the top of my head :

Give qualifying DAS families 4 or 5 anytime, any ride LL's per a day that could be used on rerides or good for any park.

Limit DAS to standby waits of 30 minutes or more

Have an attendant or 2 with the DAS guest and the rest of the family go through standby. Install "DAS touch points" close enough to the loading zone that would notify the DAS group through the MDE app to start making their way to a special entrance straight to the loading zone to meet up.

I think that may make things worse

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

2010 is when the article was written, yeah. So that was in the days with FastPass but before FP+. If you want to say all the stuff they've done since then adds 1 more attraction to that, I wouldn't argue.

Interesting

It was also the bottom of the housing crash

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

So what do you suggest people to do? Just sit around and do nothing. Im sorry people watching is not fun if you ask me. When we eat should i not book something and wait until dinner and lunch is over? Or even breakfast when i eat in the other 3 parks? Come on now. We know noone would do that. Heck its even encouraged when the system went live and explained. You want to debate about holding both a DAS and Genie we can have that convo but imo no way is Disney risking losing out on any money from Genie for anyone willing to pay for it.

I don’t blame anybody for using the system Disney has given them to its full extent, but your post is a perfect illustration of why there are a lot of people who continue to push back on the notion that DAS users are waiting in standby just like everyone else and nothing should be done to legal users. Yes that’s technically waiting as in you can’t just enter without the delay, but it’s not like everybody else. You say people watching for the length of the standby isn’t fun, it’s not as if people standing in hours of standby lines are doing it for fun either.

I think this is a different conversation than DAS for people who don’t have the ability to fully maximize their standby “wait” times to do park related things. This is where it gets very hazy and why I think scapegoating people who lie to receive DAS isn’t completely accurate. I think the ability to be in two places at once where one is not caretaking or the like, contributes to the huge DAS numbers that are overwhelming LL and some attractions. It also goes without saying that it’s a huge motivator for people who qualify but don’t need it every time for every line to use it as much as they can. I would. Who wouldn’t want to have their wait time eaten up while doing something else? Again, don’t blame anybody for working within the system they’re given.

 

[Happyday]

We will have to agree to disagree. Just because you qualify for an accomodation, doesn’t mean you should poweruse it to avoid all waiting to the extent that you are skipping waits you would otherwise be able to do. Part of the problem here is that even if nobody is lying about their disabilities to get DAS, it is being used in such a way that it is sucking up a huge amount of overall ride capacity. It was never designed to do this, it was designed to allow guests with a disability to have the equivalent experience of a guest without, not to have a superior one. This is “soft abuse.” You’re right, it doesn’t technically violate any rules, but it’s absolutely what destroyed the system and forced Disney to change.

Absolutely, some DAS users also have other underlying issues that makes it so that the time in-between rides they are attending to other issues that for a normal person may take 5 minutes will take 30+ minutes or medical procedures that may require a trip to first aide for a private area to accomplish. Again trying really hard not to divulge to much no foder for the abusers. Which makes it hard because they aren't even 'soft abusers'

 

[Disstevefan1]

Just thinking about this.

So Disney said it would ban folks who falsely use DAS.

That means Disney initially approve a faker for them to abuse the system.

We know Disney wants NO paperwork about a persons disability.

So then Disney approves a legitimate disabled person for DAS. Some time later Disney thinks this person is faking and bans them for life.

The legitimately disabled person sues Disney and at trial presents a doctor with PROPER MEDICAL PROOF OF DISABILITY!

I find it hard to believe Disney could win that one.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I admittedly plead ignorance as I don't know ADA law and I don't know what would qualify as "reasonable accommodations" but just off the top of my head :

Give qualifying DAS families 4 or 5 anytime, any ride LL's per a day that could be used on rerides or good for any park.

Limit DAS to standby waits of 30 minutes or more

Have an attendant or 2 with the DAS guest and the rest of the family go through standby. Install "DAS touch points" close enough to the loading zone that would notify the DAS group through the MDE app to start making their way to a special entrance straight to the loading zone to meet up.

Introducing a skip the line element is problematic on two fronts. One it would encourage more abuse as people would seek to sign up other party members for greater access. Two, it limits access below what is offered to everyone else. If most people are experiencing 7 - 10 attractions per day then you’ve got a problem in only offering accommodation to four or five.

Forcing families to split up is also problematic because other guests are not required to split up. There are also issues with the level of care that needs to be provided. Pinging people to rejoin their family tries to solve that but misses the other challenges that can slow down a lot of people. You’d have to add waiting areas to load platforms and then coordinate a second merge point right there at loading.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don’t blame anybody for using the system Disney has given them to its full extent, but your post is a perfect illustration of why there are a lot of people who continue to push back on the notion that DAS users are waiting in standby just like everyone else and nothing should be done to legal users. Yes that’s technically waiting as in you can’t just enter without the delay, but it’s not like everybody else. You say people watching for the length of the standby isn’t fun, it’s not as if people standing in hours of standby lines are doing it for fun either.

I think this is a different conversation than DAS for people who don’t have the ability to fully maximize their standby “wait” times to do park related things. This is where it gets very hazy and why I think scapegoating people who lie to receive DAS isn’t completely accurate. I think the ability to be in two places at once where one is not caretaking or the like, contributes to the huge DAS numbers that are overwhelming LL and some attractions. It also goes without saying that it’s a huge motivator for people who qualify but don’t need it every time for every line to use it as much as they can. I would. Who wouldn’t want to have their wait time eaten up while doing something else? Again, don’t blame anybody for working within the system they’re given.

Exactly.

Users of the current system are not “abusers”…the system gives them an advantage over the rest

Scenario :
Magic kingdom opens at 8:30
Das with genie can book a LL for 8:35 at Peter Pan, a DAS at mine train at 9:45 (assume 75 minute wait from open) and then a second LL at Pooh for 10:05

No other mortal can do that logistically

And it’s even more of value later in the day when the park has its total crowd

 

[Happyday]

That is correct and you can also hold your 2 pre booked attractions as well… this is why i said from the get go. The pre books NEEDED to go immediately once they first started seeing this trend. They are under no obligation to hand them out. Not only did they give 1 they gave 2!!! They cant be that clueless. Can they?!?

Absolutely the prebooks need to go. Some people with DAS don't even get to use them I think the last time we made it to a show as a prebook and the others were wasted as we weren't in a position to get to the ride in the allowed 1 hour.

 

[Happyday]

Part of our planning to accommodate DD's disability is the timing of our trips. We don't go during peak travel times. There's never been a 3hr wait for us to use DAS for, because there's been no 3hr standby wait in the parks for anyone.

I went through our DCA day 1 in my head last night, with the number shared here of 10 attractions being the average for most typical guests/day. We did 9 attractions, give or take one or two, and that's including rides we did more than once. We didn't have some huge advantage over everyone.

Yes! We as well do not go during peak times! Maybe that is why we don't see some of these scenarios? Just a thought. We as well do not average more than 8 maybe 9 rides and that includes ones that are almost always a walk on when we are there.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That is correct and you can also hold your 2 pre booked attractions as well… this is why i said from the get go. The pre books NEEDED to go immediately once they first started seeing this trend. They are under no obligation to hand them out. Not only did they give 1 they gave 2!!! They cant be that clueless. Can they?!?

Absolutely the prebooks need to go. Some people with DAS don't even get to use them I think the last time we made it to a show as a prebook and the others were wasted as we weren't in a position to get to the ride in the allowed 1 hour.

Because they didn’t think of people using DAS and lightning in consort. That’s a rookie mistake but I can say with certainty it’s true. Very typical of management.

So they are cracking the whip on one. Big shocker: it’s the free one

 

[Angel Ariel]

Absolutely the prebooks need to go. Some people with DAS don't even get to use them I think the last time we made it to a show as a prebook and the others were wasted as we weren't in a position to get to the ride in the allowed 1 hour.

Prebooks are more stressful than anything in our experience, as it goes straight to the issues we had with fp+ - that is needing to know a month in advance exactly where in the park you're going to be at a given time. That's just not possible for us no matter how much I try to have a touring plan ahead of time. Something always changes our day/our plans, even with morning ones. That's just how our lives are in meeting DD's needs. This last trip I finally just gave up on them entirely and we started just letting them expire. Would it have been nice to ride Indy again? Yep. We weren't crossing the park to get there to do it though.

 

[Happyday]

I have no doubt that most use DAS aren’t living it up on some kinda picnic.

They call them “disability” for a reason

But my point is there is a way to take advantage of it.

There are two possibilities here:
1. Enough abuse it’s interfering with the smooth operation
2. Disney is using it as an excuse for their own incompetence

Neither are good for any of us

I agree. It just feels like some people don't understand that, some comments feel like the DAS users are to blame and that they don't understand how it affects others. I understand it affects others we are very well aware of it and try and do what we can not to "abuse" the system. Everything we do takes a lot longer than a neurotypical person (again no details for foder) that includes actually getting on and off some rides.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

A decent ballpark estimate of domestic G+/ILL revenue is $700MM - $1B per year.

There's no chance a publicly-traded company is giving that up.

Yeah…

I don’t get an inference made to that at this point?

It doesn’t scan at all.

When I start my own burner board… it’s gonna have one rule: if you say “why don’t they just get rid of genie and give me my fastpass+ back?!?”…you get the penalty box

It was awesome you could book soarin from your bathroom 90 days in advance for free on your trip to port orleans…but those days are GONE, sister

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I agree. It just feels like some people don't understand that, some comments feel like the DAS users are to blame and that they don't understand how it affects others. I understand it affects others we are very well aware of it and try and do what we can not to "abuse" the system. Everything we do takes a lot longer than a neurotypical person (again no details for foder) that includes actually getting on and off some rides.

Well it’s not those traveling with disabilities/issues that are being tossed shade

It’s those that are outright lying or stretching the grey areas too far because it’s more convenient/better value for them at the general public’s disadvantage

The cheaters are creating a “fun/value”disability for them.

Isn’t it stressful enough?

 

[Ayla]

This. At EPCOT you can enjoy festival booths while waiting for a DAS return time. At MK you can watch a parade while waiting. Not equal to standing in line at all.

Agreed, which is why the whole "but we are in line, just not standing in it!!" whining makes me laugh.