New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024

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jennab55

Well-Known Member
Vclguy90 said:
Too high of expectations? How? Is it too much to ask for his entire party to be accommodated so they all can be together? Hell, why stop at 4. Maybe just the DAS person should be the only one allowed to utilize it and everyone in party pays for an MPLL (which are not equal and would be a super stressful to coordinate, btw) This is my qualm with Disney. Disney used to be that accommodating and Disney used to have a difference. Now it doesn't and it's super nickel and dimey with little value. It almosts seems like it happened overnight, which is jarring and therefore I can't fathom how people can defend them taking away accomodations/rides/portions/services/etc. in effort to make more money can truly be justified. I kinda feel these individuals are speaking about Disney as if they knew how it was in the past; but really they don't. 😶
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Yes, I think the expectation is too high of having extended family included on DAS. Again, that’s part of the reason the system was broken before. So if I go on a multi generational trip with my extended family of 16 people we should all get DAS so we can stay together? No. I think 4 is a pretty nice number (and then additional minors in immediate family). They could realistically just do disabled person and helper (2). So I think 4 is a good balance. Also, even non disabled families have to split up for things. That is life.
 
J

jennab55

Well-Known Member
Fido Chuckwagon said:
I'm sorry this is slightly more inconvenient for you when you want to bring a large group, but the current system was not sustainable, and there has been a noticeable improvement for everyone in the lightning lanes since they made this change.
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Yes. Besides rides being down, I’ve only heard from people that BOTH standby and LL lines have been much shorter since the implementation of new DAS. The standby lines being shorter should also help some people who were previously on DAS and now no longer qualify.
 
C

Comped

Well-Known Member
jennab55 said:
Yes. Besides rides being down, I’ve only heard from people that BOTH standby and LL lines have been much shorter since the implementation of new DAS. The standby lines being shorter should also help some people who were previously on DAS and now no longer qualify.
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Or those of us who do qualify but don't want the hassle. I noticed it was significantly shorter for a bunch of lines while walking through Epcot over the weekend, than previously.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
jennab55 said:
I mean they are accommodating the DAS holder and helper. That’s really what is needed. The other 2 people (4 max) and just a nice extra. Why don’t you just buy LLMP for the extra people and coordinate ride times? Sorry but to me this seems as though your expectations are too high. Since most of your family can wait in a queue, there’s no need for all of you to have DAS, that was part of the previous problem…. The 4 of your immediate family could wait in the queue and your brother, mom, and dad could meet you at the merge point. Then you all still get to ride together and no one is left alone either.
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Fido Chuckwagon said:
You still can get DAS for 4 people, and if you want more than 4 people, you can get DAS for those 4, and then easily purchase LLMP for the remaining people, and then just stagger your pre-selects so that you can line up grabbing DAS return times for the 4 to match the pre-selects. (IE: You grab a lightning lane for Jungle Cruise for 10-11. You get to the park at 9:15. The first 4 people with DAS grab a return time for Jungle cruise on entry. You grab a lightning lane for Haunted mansion for, oh, let's call it 11:30. As soon as you tap into Jungle Cruise, you grab a DAS for haunted mansion for the other 4. Rinse and repeat. There's no reason you can't make that work and still avoid having to wait in standby line. You might have to *slightly* space out your lightning lane return times, but there's also plenty of other stuff to do in the parks. In the alternative, you can just grab LLMP for everyone.

I'm sorry this is slightly more inconvenient for you when you want to bring a large group, but the current system was not sustainable, and there has been a noticeable improvement for everyone in the lightning lanes since they made this change.
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We will be purchasing LLMP as well. We have always done both since the original GAC was retired. Even when the GAC was a thing, we would supplement with paper Fastpass. This was easier because they didn't enforce the end time on the Fastpass back in the day. We've always managed to adapt and always had larger groups. For the most part it has always been transparent to Matt. The issue now is that LLMP has less same day / flexible availability and the DAS accommodates less members of our party.

It absolutely unequivocally should not be this complicated. It was always complicated to navigate with a larger party, but having to fuse together multiple systems shouldn't be this difficult.

Honestly, if they wanted to say that they would accommodate 6 people on the DAS if we also paid for LLMP for everyone I'd do it because I was already buying LLMP.

Angel Ariel said:
This assumes that the 76 year old parents can meet the needs of the 47 year old DAS user on their own. The OP said the brother lives in a group home, so I wouldn't make that assumption.
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You're not wrong. To paint a picture here, my mother is 5'2", my brother is 6'1". While he's not particularly strong, he can be when he wants to be. It's been years since he's ever had to be restrained in a theme park. What's more likely now is that he has an itch and his arm goes elbow deep into his pants to address it. Forcably removing his arm from his pants is something that really only I'm strong enough to do.

Comped said:
I will say that on Sunday, I went to Epcot for the first time in a few weeks (probably at least a month or so which is a long time for me), and decided to try my luck with getting a return time for LWTL instead of sitting on Zoom during the week, waiting for quite a long time, and likely having an argument with whatever poor underpaid CM has to try to understand how my diagnosis fits into the limited guidelines Disney has for getting it.

Turns out it was really easy and painless, and exactly how it was before for getting a return time without all the annoyances of getting one through the old system (mainly an annoying amount of waiting every few weeks, or now sitting on a call for a renewal twice a year under strict guidelines and a high likelihood of rejection). And the CM who initially put in my return time into the system was so nice about it all that I actually gave her a cast compliment over making the whole thing rather easy. I enjoyed my absolutely gigantic peanut butter cookie from the nearby food outlet, one of the best cookies from the cookie stroll this year I guarantee, and simply waited out my time of 30 minutes or so in relative comfort. And this was after 6:00 in the evening, when the ride gets especially popular because of the holiday lights! I honestly think that if this is the standard going forward that I might just do the return times permanently and skip the automatic system. Because nothing particularly changes except me not being able to use the app for choosing rides. A little more walking, but it's an annoyance at worst. Nothing I can't handle especially when compared to the hassle qualifying for the new version takes up.
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Can you clarify this. Were you able to get a return time by visiting the attraction without having a DAS? If that's an option, that would absolutely work as a means of complimenting this.

I'll be honest, the biggest thing I'm worried about is Matt's favorite attraction, Jungle Cruise. I'd like to do as many family friendly attractions with all 7 of us as possible, so I'm hoping that when we're in our booking window I can book that as a LLMP for our two MK mornings. Failing that, my expectation is that two adults (probably myself and my father) will wait standby while the rest of the family uses the DAS.

Purduevian said:
I am sorry for your situation; I seem to have kicked the hornets' nest on here and sparked the "fairness vs advantage" debate again when it comes to DAS.

I personally feel like Disney is accommodating your party, because your brother plus up to 3 people do not need to wait in standby lines. I understand this isn't ideal for you and isn't what used to happen, but I do feel like this is fair not only to you, but the tens of thousands of other guests not utilizing DAS on that day.

I don't think your brother should ever be in a standby line, but I think you have 3 choices right now.
1) Everyone uses standby
2)Split the party up for DAS rides (can meet at the merge)
3) Everyone use LLMP/LLSP (This can be combined with 1&2)

Again, I hope you have a wonderful trip. Please report back here on your experience, I'm sure it will be helpful to others in your situation.
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You hit this on the head here, and it's the crux of the argument against me. Determining what is a "fair accommodation" is a difficult task. I would argue (and have made the case on podcasts) that the previous accommodation was probably too generous. With that said, we were eligible for it and I don't feel guilty for utilizing it.

Previously, Disney had a very soft cap of 6 guests and they allowed you to pre-book 3 DAS reservations ahead of your trip. I have no way of proving this (perhaps @lentesta knows), but I suspect that they instituted the pre-booked DAS reservations as a means of further amortizing the initial cost of the Fastpass+ infrastructure. Fastpass+ was retired around the same time as advanced DAS was introduced.

Because of the soft cap, poor enforcement, and the pre-booked experiences, the system was remarkably advantageous and a target for abuse. I recognize this will come off as somewhat self serving, but I think they largely corrected this with the exception of two MAJOR flaws:
  1. The approval process has to take place before tickets are required to be purchased. The tickets are non-refundable and if Disney is truly limiting this accommodation to guests with a "developmental disability like autism or similar" then that group needs to know definitively what the accommodation will be.
  2. The reduction of party size from a soft 6 person cap to a hard 4 person cap is a significant over correction.

Disstevefan1 said:
If folks are waiting 30 minutes in the LL queue for this A ticket ride THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN!
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That has nothing to with DAS and everything to do with a ride being broken. That happens daily.
 
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J

jennab55

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
We will be purchasing LLMP as well. We have always done both since the original GAC was retired. Even when the GAC was a thing, we would supplement with paper Fastpass. This was easier because they didn't enforce the end time on the Fastpass back in the day. We've always managed to adapt and always had larger groups. For the most part it has always been transparent to Matt. The issue now is that LLMP has less same day / flexible availability and the DAS accommodates less members of our party.
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Couldn’t you plan ahead of time and pre-book the LLs with LLMP? Wouldn’t that make it easier to coordinate with DAS knowing what ride you have planned when?

Other than that I suggest going to early hours if you can, as lower crowds for the first few hours.
 
Vegas Disney Fan

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
jennab55 said:
Couldn’t you plan ahead of time and pre-book the LLs with LLMP? Wouldn’t that make it easier to coordinate with DAS knowing what ride you have planned when?

Other than that I suggest going to early hours if you can, as lower crowds for the first few hours.
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Good advice, our typical day is now rope drop, afternoon break at the hotel, and return at sundown. We’ve had decent luck avoiding the worst of the lines with this plan, it stinks to miss 3-5 hours of afternoon park time but we find we get more done in the first 3, and last 3, hours than we’d get done by sleeping in (or leaving early) and staying through the day.

This is the biggest thing I miss about FP+, we’d book them for 1, 2, and 3 and it would make our afternoons super easy to navigate. Now we typically spend that time sipping cocktails poolside.
 
J

jennab55

Well-Known Member
Vegas Disney Fan said:
Good advice, our typical day is now rope drop, afternoon break at the hotel, and return at sundown. We’ve had decent luck avoiding the worst of the lines with this plan, it stinks to miss 3-5 hours of afternoon park time but we find we get more done in the first 3, and last 3, hours than we’d get done by sleeping in (or leaving early) and staying through the day.

This is the biggest thing I miss about FP+, we’d book them for 1, 2, and 3 and it would make our afternoons super easy to navigate. Now we typically spend that time sipping cocktails poolside.
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Yep, this is what we do too! I can’t deal with the afternoon crowds and we all need a break to chill by then!
 
D

DoubleSwitchback

Well-Known Member
I'm surprised they call what Burgess-Lefebvre did as "research", as she only made an effort to contact those most aggrieved about the changes. Saying "X% of former DAS users" is highly misleading, implies she has some sort of representative sample.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
“What is your concern with being in the line?” the park employee asked.

“What do you mean, what’s my concern?” Steffen remembers replying. “My concern is I can’t be in the line.”
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Ergo... Disney's problem and the way entitlement works...

The next day, she pulled out a card certifying her disability and needed accommodations. It said she needed frequent rest areas and may need to leave lines quickly. A cast member still asked her to read the card out loud.
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"certifying"??

"Acute Flaccid Myelitis" being handled like a chronic condition??

This seems like a poorly researched article
 
J

jennab55

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
Posting this here: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/202...b3uf3ZsFc4du3XOO4k_aem_H2Fg105PimygXcvhMJZ1Sw

I'm curious, @lentesta, did they approach you for this article or were these quotes from things you put out in your podcast.
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Sounds like it was written with info from the people on the shady disability fb page…. Probably the only people who were actually surveyed and all of them believe they, or anyone else who claims any sort of disability, are entitled to DAS.
 

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