No I didn't because I don't believe if your needs are met by having a wheelchair or scooter you need any additional assistance. That was not the reason I ever used a GAC or asked for a DAS. I did so to avoid being trapped inside a large congested area where the people around me would inadvertantly cause me harm by their careless bumps and collisions into my fragile body.
I do not go to Disney World over the summer because I know it is far too crowded for me to just roll down the sidewalk without encountering these sorts of collisions. I do not go out to a busy park during the day for the same reason. (My NYE visits begin after dark where I "hang out" in a less congested area and only start touring during night time EMH when the crowd is far less.) I hang back and wait an extra 30-45 minutes after a park closes so the crowd can clear before I attempt to make my egress out, for the same reason. When I watch fireworks, I park myself against a fence so the majority of me is protected from people just walking by. If I'm going to a parade, I park myself right at a rope line, otherwise I hang back far away from the crowd and just catch glimpses of the taller floats. (I do this at parades and fireworks, because I'm far more exposed in front where my legs and arms stick out than in back where my chair's wheels and a backpack create a buffer zone for me.)
If a Standby line is under 20 minutes I know the crowd is light enough there is a lot of space for me to move without getting crushed. I can give myself that 3-5 feet of buffer just by moving more slowly through the line. Might mean that some impatient people cut around to go in front of me, but I'm pretty adept at braking fast enough to avoid getting hit. And my peripheral vision is damn good so I can sense them coming fast enough to save myself most times.
If the Standby line immediately breaks off to a separate wheelchair holding queue (like with Star Tours), I'm more likely to go in when the posted time is higher than 20 minutes. I do so because I know I'll be put in an area with other people who most likely have similar medical issues and know enough to be careful of one another. Seeing someone with a power wheelchair pretty much makes me relax because I know that person inherently understands what it is like to be so vulnerable to accidental injuries.
Now if you want to know what medical condition I have that warrants such protection, it is called Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. I got it when I was 2 yrs old back in the 70's before they had sufficient medication to stop the disease from ravaging my body. Rheumatoid Arthritis is different from what people usually think of in old people (that's Osteoarthritis). With RA your body's immune system goes haywire. It starts attacking healthy joints and systematically destroying them. It's unpredictable and debilitating. You go to bed feeling fine and wake up the next morning feeling as if someone came in the middle of the night and took a baseball bat to your knee. During a "flare-up" the joint swells, becomes warm and has intense pain. Just touching it can create extreme agony; using it or putting weight on it is almost impossible. A "flare-up" can last days or weeks and the entire time the body is destroying all the soft tissues of the joint.
I have no cartilage left in my joints. I have joint contractures (where your joints no longer bend or straighten more than a few degrees) in every joint in my body. My elbows are fused and won't bend at all. My hips are locked in a position where I can not bend them at 90 degree angles so cannot sit normally in any seat. My knees also have the same issue. My wrists are so contracted that my hands curl inward toward my body. Same with my fingers. Makes it very difficult for me to grab or manipulate things like park passes. I could not do the old "two finger" scan of the old ticket system so was always bypassed. The new "one finger" system I can do better, but not being able to flatten my index finger means half the time it doesn't work for me and I have to be swiped in by a manager with a reset. SeaWorld doesn't even bother asking me to try because the CMs see my hands are so gnarled. I can walk (about 10 feet) but have to lean over at the hips, balance myself on the balls of my toes because of my knees and ankles, and shuffle my feet because I cannot lift them more an 1/4 inch. A simple 1" step may as well be a 10 foot wall for me. An incline of even ADA quality is like Mount Everest because of the way it affects my balance. So I walk reaaaaal slow, bracing myself with a cane and railing (or arm from a family member) so I don't fall. One little fall means I will injure myself and end up with a flare-up or broken bone. (I also have severe Osteoporosis from the medicines and condition taking over my body at such a young age.)
My biggest concern in crowds is that I know my feet stick out on my footrests. I cannot bring them any closer to my body because of the contractures. People often do not see my feet and constantly trip over them or bang into them. God forbid I let one of my hands dangle outside the chair. And even though I now take medication that suppresses my immune system to keep the flare-ups down and another medication to deal with the daily pain and stiffness, one good knock and I'll be dealing with an injury that has me in my room the rest of the vacation. Not to mention just doing something like sitting in my chair can cause my arthritic back to flare and my feet to swell. (My 2nd week of vacation I dealt with the back spasms that had me on narcotics and stopped me from doing anymore Food & Wine.)
I rarely get this body moving early in the morning and I cannot predict what it will be like the next day or a few hours from now. That's why I enjoyed the GAC freedom to do what I wanted when I could. But I never used it for a commando park tour or as an "unlimited immediate pass" to ride. I find that characterization laughable. I ALWAYS have an issue boarding a ride. If there was a wheelchair-accessible vehicle then I always waited longer to use it. If there wasn't I either didn't go on the ride or had family help me transfer and/or secure myself in. (Occasionally I could get a CM to buckle my seatbelt for me on Soarin' and a stranger to unbuckle it at the end.) People with genuine severe disabilities rarely if ever are able to commando park tour because their disabilities get in the way.
Now I have DAS to at least save me from always asking for help to get a FP from the machine and allow me not to have to skip a ride because I couldn't get to a park early enough for a FP (the case with TSM).
Will DAS work? Initially I think it'll keep out the cheaters. That's good. My concerns are that it won't provide enough help to the people who need it, all for the sake of keeping out the ones who don't. It seems difficult for some folks in this thread to understand the need because they do not share it. It is far more than just waiting in a line disabled people worry about. Those of us who've been stuck waiting an extra 30 for an accessible vehicle know that well.
My Star Tours example was a situation where I gladly waited the 20 minutes. I would have preferred waiting inside where it was air conditioned and I was away from the pedestrians who could harm me. Before DAS I never used a GAC for this ride and always did just that. I patiently waited my turn until CMs could fit me into a ride cycle. (Remember I never used a DAS this time either. I was given the Return Time ticket based on my having a wheelchair and the regular queue having stairs.) My suggestions to GR about this were to address these issues. I used Universal as an example because their 30 minute limit is more in tune to rider crowd level and actual wait times. But hey, if Disney sticks to the 10 minute rule, I'll just get in the habit of getting my Return Time ticket and timing it with a bathroom break. Just like I'm now timing my TSM rides with a trip to the Backlot Bar.
My next trip will be NYE. That'll be a good test to see how DAS has evolved. I don't come to Disney then for rides. I go for EMH and Christmas celebrations. I sleep most of the day and go out after 5pm. I make dining reservations and go around looking at decorations during normal park hours. I avoid Magic Kingdom on Dec 31st because I know it is so bloody crowded. I avoid EPCOT too now because I've made the mistake getting trapped inside a mob-like scene there that still gives me nightmares. I go to MK on Dec 30th and see the trial run of the NYE fireworks. Then I may ride something afterwards when EMH starts and the crowds go home. I go to DHS on Dec 31, eat dinner and go to my fireworks viewing spot away from the crowd and by a fence. Then I'll go on TSM, maybe see Muppets and spend the rest of the night at Osborne Lights dancing with the CMs. I close both parks both nights meandering my way out well behind the crowd. Jan 1st I may go to Animal Kingdom because I know the parks are usually dead that day. Depends just how tired I am from my Nightowl schedule.
I don't know how the CMs will handle DAS with TSM immediately following the fireworks. Everyone makes a beeline for that ride and even with a GAC I spent an hour trying to do that ride. My fireworks viewing spot is almost on the other side of the park, well behind the crowd so I know they'll beat me to it. And while I can get a DAS time, I'm not sure the timing will work out to not keeping me waiting that hour just later on when I really wanted to be at Osborne. (DAS will just delay us wheelie users an hour when we'll be competing for the same vehicle at 1:30am instead of 12:30am.)
I'll have MagicBand and FP+ then too so I'll be able to schedule some rides with a much easier to manipulate computer and smartphone. (Those are adapted for my gnarled hands to use.) I may find I don't use DAS at all. But it is nice to have the option.
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