Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[nickys]

It's allowed because the 3rd party (IBCCES) conforms to HIPAA due to the fact that the board that is reviewing the information are medical directors (and not Universal Team Members). You can still get a card without medical records but IBCCES is allowed to ask you direct questions as it pertains to your medical condition whereas Universal (or Disney) are not allowed to.

I personally think this is something Disney should do for a few reasons:

• it lasts for a year instead of 60 days
• will greatly reduce fraud
• benefits the legitimately disabled guest with a better experience (lower wait times in the LL queues)

It’s more difficult for international guests though. I think it involves a phone call too, not sure how that works.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

MK agreed you can get a solid 2 selections even if times arent as ideal as you like but again. Cant complain as they are bonus rides. In regards to hopping in other lines it all depends. If something is say 15 minutes yea 20-25 max great but beyond that most DAS users legit ones most likely cant deal & if you are not legit im sure those dont wanna wait either. Again its obviously a nice plus but in no way something that is making me ride everything & be gone by 2 lol. Ive definitely been able to “master” both Genie/DAS together to get rerides on attractions i want but believe it or not this past Thanksgiving i would say 90% of my rides i would have happy with my Genie ones.

Magic Kingdom has a ton of attractions (that are great in my opinion) that never have a line though. CBJ, Tiki Room, Philharmagic, TSI, HOP, people mover, COP, the stage shows, the parades, HEA, etc. With even the slightest bit of planning I am confident that your average DAS user could spend the entire day occupied doing something in between return times without the benefit of the 2 additional pre-selects, and also still have a much better day than even the best Genie+ poweruser. The preselects are just completely unnecessary in my opinion.

 

[Splash4eva]

Magic Kingdom has a ton of attractions (that are great in my opinion) that never have a line though. CBJ, Tiki Room, Philharmagic, TSI, HOP, people mover, COP, the stage shows, the parades, HEA, etc. With even the slightest bit of planning I am confident that your average DAS user could spend the entire day occupied doing something in between return times without the benefit of the 2 additional pre-selects, and also still have a much better day than even the best Genie+ poweruser. The preselects are just completely unnecessary in my opinion.

I totally agree that they are not needed. To this day i dont know why they offered it.

 

[Laketravis]

If you drill down into the details of the Six Flags lawsuit though it’s mostly about misconduct by Six Flags employees and not necessarily about the IBCCES process itself.
Here are some of the specific allegations in the Six Flags Suit:


Source: https://www.courthousenews.com/disa...-action-against-six-flags-and-magic-mountain/

It is primarily about the requirement to pre-register with a "for profit" third party organization. The in-park experiences cited are in support of the primary argument.

 

[Dranth]

I have no use for trash people who abuse systems designed to legit help people who need it so forgive me if this comes across as harsh but if they want to fix the abuse, drop the two pre-selects and if you get in line using DAS, you aren't able to get in another rides stand by line. Walk around, shop, eat, etc. sure but no rides. That would be as close to the "equivalent" of what a standard guest goes through who doesn't buy G+ while still not having to wait in the actual line.

If you want to get on other rides while waiting in the DAS line, get G+.

To help with this, Disney should really fill in some spaces with more interactive elements that people who are waiting for rides could use. Think more things like the shooting gallery that doesn't require a line.

Finally, if you are caught abusing the system, trespass the whole group immediately and give them a life time ban.

I know it would be extremely difficult to implement and enforce without opening the door to all kinds of legal issues but something needs to be done with the human waste that is gaming the system.

Again apologies to anyone who legit needs to use the system as intended but it really seems the only way to "fix" it is to make it less desirable so people won't abuse it.

 

[Andrew25]

I agree that having 2 pre-selected attractions is an odd choice - maybe just have 1? Should be prevented from jumping into a different line for more popular rides, but I don't think it hurts to let them into a theater show or Carousel of Progress. Not saying its either fair or unfair, but you also don't want to "force" people to wait in the hot Florida sun.

I still think the bigger issue with LL/DAS is the ridiculous amount of downtime we're seeing through the parks and recent popular attractions having very low capacity. Blame DAS all you want, but I still believe the lack of investment into the parks while attendance increases YoY is the biggest driver of all of the park's current issues. Lack of additional attraction capacity prevents them from properly giving them refurbs and maintenance, resulting in daily downtime. Driving standby waits dramatically as Disney tries to feed the LL backup.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

ut if they want to fix the abuse, drop the two pre-selects and if you get in line using DAS, you aren't able to get in another rides stand by line. Walk around, shop, eat, etc. sure but no rides.

This is great in theory but probably impossible to execute. It would require everyone to scan into every ride and attraction, including rides that don't currently have any scanning/lightning lane.

 

[Jrb1979]

This is great in theory but probably impossible to execute. It would require everyone to scan into every ride and attraction, including rides that don't currently have any scanning/lightning lane.

It would be hard to execute DAS from using standby at the same time. They sure can do it with Genie+. If have return time for 60 minutes for DAS, you can't book a Genie+ return time in that 60 minutes.

 

[Splash4eva]

I have no use for trash people who abuse systems designed to legit help people who need it so forgive me if this comes across as harsh but if they want to fix the abuse, drop the two pre-selects and if you get in line using DAS, you aren't able to get in another rides stand by line. Walk around, shop, eat, etc. sure but no rides. That would be as close to the "equivalent" of what a standard guest goes through who doesn't buy G+ while still not having to wait in the actual line.

If you want to get on other rides while waiting in the DAS line, get G+.

To help with this, Disney should really fill in some spaces with more interactive elements that people who are waiting for rides could use. Think more things like the shooting gallery that doesn't require a line.

Finally, if you are caught abusing the system, trespass the whole group immediately and give them a life time ban.

I know it would be extremely difficult to implement and enforce without opening the door to all kinds of legal issues but something needs to be done with the human waste that is gaming the system.

Again apologies to anyone who legit needs to use the system as intended but it really seems the only way to "fix" it is to make it less desirable so people won't abuse it.

So if i get a DAS for say 7D’s and its a 90 minute wait. During this time VOTLM, Philharmagic, Peoplemover, CoP are all walk ons. You suggest DAS users should not be allowed to enjoy those attractions?

 

[Andrew25]

I have a conspiracy. I do think WDW/UOR are inflating waits a bit to accommodate DAS. I can understand a wait-time being off by 10-20 minutes. But a 40-minute wait, posted at 90?

 

[Disstevefan1]

I have a conspiracy. I do think WDW/UOR are inflating waits a bit to accommodate DAS. I can understand a wait-time being off by 10-20 minutes. But a 40-minute wait, posted at 90?

Sincere question. How does inflating wait times accommodate DAS?

 

[Splash4eva]

I have a conspiracy. I do think WDW/UOR are inflating waits a bit to accommodate DAS. I can understand a wait-time being off by 10-20 minutes. But a 40-minute wait, posted at 90?

If they are doing this it would only do the opposite. You would have way more downtime. Imo they are doing this to make DAS users forced to buy Genie+ if you ask me.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

It would be hard to execute DAS from using standby at the same time. They sure can do it with Genie+. If have return time for 60 minutes for DAS, you can't book a Genie+ return time in that 60 minutes.

Why would they do this though? Genie+ is a separate paid system. All that would do would be to discourage DAS users from purchasing Genie+ which is not something Disney wants to do.

 

[Andrew25]

Sincere question. How does inflating wait times accommodate DAS?

Accommodate as in for themselves, not DAS users. Basically, if they inflate an attraction's wait-time, they might deter a DAS user from booking that attraction, allowing standby to flow a bit more and move them elsewhere in the park.

At UOR for example, (especially during HHN) they've been keeping waits high enough to deter DAS users from simply walking straight into the express line (policy is if wait-time is posted at 20 or less you can just use express, if not you get a return time), but I've seen Uni post wait-times at 25, even if it's a walk-on.

At WDW it's worse with so much downtime, so they've been having to accommodate themselves to include downtime in addition to DAS.

 

[Touchdown]

Sincere question. How does inflating wait times accommodate DAS?

Das return times are based on standby times, the longer the wait the longer before a DAS person can enter the LL and get a new one.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Accommodate as in for themselves, not DAS users. Basically, if they inflate an attraction's wait-time, they might deter a DAS user from booking that attraction, allowing standby to flow a bit more and move them elsewhere in the park.

At UOR for example, (especially during HHN) they've been keeping waits high enough to deter DAS users from simply walking straight into the express line (policy is if wait-time is posted at 20 or less you can just use express, if not you get a return time), but I've seen Uni post wait-times at 25, even if it's a walk-on.

At WDW it's worse with so much downtime, so they've been having to accommodate themselves to include downtime in addition to DAS.

Oh, so inflating times to deter DAS users. I don’t think so.

My opinion is that wait times are inflated because MONEY, not to deter DAS use.

As we know, WDW has trespassed the un official tour guides who may have been misusing DAS and both WDW and UNI have made it extremely hard to even qualify for their DAS.

I have not experienced the new system Universal has implemented, but the system Disney implemented truly turns away folks who need it for sure; decisions made by random cast members and most who qualified before are now turned away.

I think we need not worry the DAS system will be abused at WDW going forward UNLESS you personally know the cast member making the random decision as Disney does not want to see any documentation on a disability and folks are truly disabled are being rejected at random based on how the random cast member feels at that moment.

So for all the folks who worry the DAS is being abused and increasing wait times, don't worry, many of those legitimate disabled folks are now being rejected and their only hope is (maybe) ILL as the waits for standby and regular lighting lane will be too long for these folks.

 

[Bastet]

So if i get a DAS for say 7D’s and its a 90 minute wait. During this time VOTLM, Philharmagic, Peoplemover, CoP are all walk ons. You suggest DAS users should not be allowed to enjoy those attractions?

Yes, because people waiting in the standby line can't enjoy other attractions while stood in line.

 

[SingleRider]

So if i get a DAS for say 7D’s and its a 90 minute wait. During this time VOTLM, Philharmagic, Peoplemover, CoP are all walk ons. You suggest DAS users should not be allowed to enjoy those attractions?

Can someone waiting in standby for 7DMT enjoy those at the same time? If not, DAS users shouldn’t be able to either.

 

[Splash4eva]

So inflating times to deter DAS users.

My opinion is that wait times are inflated because MONEY, not to deter DAS use.

As we know, WDW has trespassed the un official tour guides who may have been misusing DAS and both WDW and UNI have made it extremely hard to even qualify for their DAS.

I have not experienced the new system Universal has implemented, but the system Disney implemented truly turns away folks who need it for sure; decisions made by random cast members and most who qualified before are now turned away.

I think we need not worry the DAS system will be abused at WDW going forward UNLESS you personally know the cast member making the random decision as Disney does not want to see any documentation on a disability and folks are truly disabled are being rejected at random based on how the random cast member feels at that moment.

As a DAS user i will respectfully disagree that Disney has made it harder and i do not know anyone who has been rejected by Disney who has needed it…

 

[Splash4eva]

Can someone waiting in standby for 7DMT enjoy those at the same time? If not, DAS users shouldn’t be able to either.

I get your “logic” & “basis” but personally think its a ridiculous take to have especially if people really believe DAS users take up so many LL. Where are you putting these people? In some holding pen until their time is up…