New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024

[Drdcm]

One last thing. The distinction between autism/neurodivergence vs all other conditions doesn’t make sense to me and typically isn’t how accomodations are determined. It’s always about functional impairment and the resulting consequences, it doesn’t matter what the diagnosis is. The diagnosis is the source of the disability, not the result

 

[Happyday]

This isnt attacking anyone in particular cause everyone has their own group dynamics and needs. But im just gonna say it. Cause it's less convenient than just waiting for standby in terms of time spent. Same with rider swap. Some of the arguments ive seen across social media of why DAS is the only thing that can possibly work for them are hilarious.

Cause for many people, it's about having the accommodations that gives them the best day(which honestly is a totally fair viewpoint to have) and not about doing whats meerly reasonable. And I get it. Splitting the party and having some wait nearby for potentially over an hour only then to have to navigate the LL and find their party to then finish the line from merge isn't ideal for time spent. But it's seeming like people are saying that the time isn't the issue when DAS let's everyone go do whatever. So it has to be that no one in the party is willing to wait in a line.

And in that case, I'd say you are pretty much out of luck now. And I sympathize with that.

As for lost buisness, like ive said previously, I'm pretty sure Disney feels it will be fine. It especially sucks because no other large scale theme park provider in the country really has a product nearly as good as what Disney does in terms of rides catering physical and mental disabilities and even just the youngest and oldest of us. So where else do they go? I'd say universal might be a good option with EpIc Universe.

I understand however I'm going to point out again Universal is a no go for a lot of people that go to Disney. The actual accessibility of their rides is unattainable. There is no way we would be able to get on 90% of their rides.

 

[The Mom]

I think many are unsure about the logistics of how the exit and return thing will work, so we won’t really see too many ‘yeah this will be fine’ until more people have experienced it.

However I’ve definitely seen some who have stated it’s exactly what they need and can be even more helpful than DAS for them if it’s working well because even with just the LL wait they may have to exit without warning.

This. No one has actually experienced the new system. We will know better after a month or so how it really compares to the old system. And unfortunately, disabilities are not uniform, so some may do fine with the new system, and others may find it unworkable.

But right now many are in the "I know this isn't going to work for me" stage, and we don't have enough information to know if that is a correct assessment.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

I think the reality is that anyone who has previously received DAS is never going to want to switch to the new system because it doesn’t benefit them as much, regardless of whether the accommodation fits the disability

Totally. I think there’s also a contingent of people who think DAS is about more than accessing each attraction and should be a consolation system of sorts, to improve the entire day and compensate for potential struggles one may encounter not only at Disney but in their life in general.

 

[Drdcm]

@Todd H your situation is terrible and I think they screwed up. If you’d like, I’d be happy to help you look at ways to phrase some of the limitations to get the point across. I’m sure you did this already, but figured I’d offer because I’m pretty good at this stuff. My experience is that people sometimes have trouble articulating why the alternative doesn’t work. If interested just send me a PM.

 

[Disstevefan1]

The reason people don’t want to do return to line is because DAS is far superior and easier

Disagree. Folks don't want to do return to line because its very stressful to do, there will always be folks in the queue thinking you are jumping in line and you need to explain over and over what's happening and there WILL be someone in the queue that will make an issue out of it.

 

[JAN J]

This isnt attacking anyone in particular cause everyone has their own group dynamics and needs. But im just gonna say it. Cause it's less convenient than just waiting for standby in terms of time spent. Same with rider swap. Some of the arguments ive seen across social media of why DAS is the only thing that can possibly work for them are hilarious.

Cause for many people, it's about having the accommodations that gives them the best day(which honestly is a totally fair viewpoint to have) and not about doing whats meerly reasonable. And I get it. Splitting the party and having some wait nearby for potentially over an hour only then to have to navigate the LL and find their party to then finish the line from merge isn't ideal for time spent. But it's seeming like people are saying that the time isn't the issue when DAS let's everyone go do whatever. So it has to be that no one in the party is willing to wait in a line.

And in that case, I'd say you are pretty much out of luck now. And I sympathize with that.

As for lost buisness, like ive said previously, I'm pretty sure Disney feels it will be fine. It especially sucks because no other large scale theme park provider in the country really has a product nearly as good as what Disney does in terms of rides catering physical and mental disabilities and even just the youngest and oldest of us. So where else do they go? I'd say universal might be a good option with EpIc Universe.

All good points.

Some of the solutions, even if they's re not as effective as DAS (especially regarding lower waiting times), from an accessibility standpoint, might work just fine. We just have to hope people won't abuse these as well .

The sad part is that a good chunk of the lost business (which I don't think will be that large) will be people/families that actually have/deal with severe disabilities, where DAS might indeed be the only solution (and for those to whom this is true, they will know). Most others will still go and learn to use the other accommodations (which will yield varying results), and cheaters will either conform or find other accommodations to game.

Because in the end, WDW has no similar peers anywhere in the world.
Sure, there are other great parks, but people hardly plan family vacations JUST for that.
UNI Orlando has that crowd too but it's smaller.
Even Disneyland. I've been a couple of times and even though I love it, it doesn't feel the same going to Cali JUST to go to DL, as it feels going to Florida JUST to do WDW.

And Disney knows that.
And while that remains true, the elasticity of their demand will remain massive.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Disagree. Folks don't want to do return to line because its very stressful to do, there will always be folks in the queue thinking you are jumping in line and you need to explain over and over what's happening and there WILL be someone in the queue that will make an issue out of it.

The return to line system does not involve walking past people, it involves use of the lightning lane. For attractions without lightning lanes we don't know how it will work yet, but most of those attractions have near non-existent waits so it shouldn't be an issue anyway.

 

[JAN J]

I think a lot of people are pretty rightly nervous about trying to leave and return to a queue.

I don’t think Disney wants to make that seem like an appealing and easy to use option.

I also want to highlight that I would wait in queue for a family member who couldn't comfortably wait, even for my entire family/group. But I can already see the angry stares from the crowd of then they try to join me...

 

[Splash4eva]

I think the reality is that anyone who has previously received DAS is never going to want to switch to the new system because it doesn’t benefit them as much, regardless of whether the accommodation fits the disability

As a GAC and DAS user i will disagree. When they switched everyone was in an uproar but realistically DAS still worked for what anyone needed it to be so anyone who complained imo was just entitled. This is a different animal as there is jo realistic alternative Disney js really providing

 

[pigglewiggle]

I also want to highlight that I would wait in queue for a family member who couldn't comfortably wait, even for my entire family/group. But I can already see the angry stares from the crowd of then they try to join me...

If it's a line where a lightning lane doesn't exist for the guest to use to meet up with their party, I would hope then a CM would guide the guest to their waiting party.

 

[JAN J]

I understand however I'm going to point out again Universal is a no go for a lot of people that go to Disney. The actual accessibility of their rides is unattainable. There is no way we would be able to get on 90% of their rides.

Not just the accessiblity, there are more thrill / extreme rides that would be unappealing to people with mobility / sensory disabilities

 

[Ayla]

I think the reality is that anyone who has previously received DAS is never going to want to switch to the new system because it doesn’t benefit them as much, regardless of whether the accommodation fits the disability

Bingo.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

As a GAC and DAS user i will disagree. When they switched everyone was in an uproar but realistically DAS still worked for what anyone needed it to be so anyone who complained imo was just entitled. This is a different animal as there is jo realistic alternative Disney js really providing

I still think there needs to be time to actually see how the non DAS accommodations work in practice, and how difficult they are for people to work with. I understand that’s easier said than done, especially for people with trips that are very soon.

The exact same things that are being said now were said when GAC changed to DAS. Trips were cancelled, “I know what I/member of my party can handle so I already know this won’t work”, only instant entry will work for my situation, this can’t be legal, the waiting period is going to be impossible for us, deal with the liars not us, etc. Few considered it a less convenient but doable system until it actually got going.

 

[Angel Ariel]

It does make it harder to be sympathetic when every other suggestion is shot down. Yes, of course DAS is the only answer for some. But others seem to have a lot of excuses of why they can't leave the line and join the party when it's time or other offerings.

it's also hard to share reasons why things like leaving the line and joining the party later don't work when we're actively trying to not give abusers any ideas to use. Which then makes it difficult to be sympathetic because people who aren't having that experience themselves can find it difficult to understand when not given concrete examples. Kind of a vicious cycle.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The return to line system does not involve walking past people, it involves use of the lightning lane. With attractions without lightning lanes we don't know how it will work yet, but most of those attractions have near non-existent waits so it shouldn't be an issue anyway.

The confrontations that require physical separation of stand-by and Lightning Lane are not just instigated by those in stand-by. Someone waiting at merge for their party is absolutely open to abuse for faking, not paying, etc.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I also want to highlight that I would wait in queue for a family member who couldn't comfortably wait, even for my entire family/group. But I can already see the angry stares from the crowd of then they try to join me...

It has already been posted that the return to queue system will not involve "cutting past" people. Rather, the person who returns to the queue will use the lightning lane and will meet the rest of their party at the merge.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

As a GAC and DAS user i will disagree. When they switched everyone was in an uproar but realistically DAS still worked for what anyone needed it to be so anyone who complained imo was just entitled. This is a different animal as there is jo realistic alternative Disney js really providing

People said the exact same thing when GAC changed to DAS. Nobody has actually tried return to queue yet to see if this is true.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

If it's a line where a lightning lane doesn't exist for the guest to use to meet up with their party, I would hope then a CM would guide the guest to their waiting party.

At WDW, realistically, what attraction that doesn't have a lightning lane is this going to matter for? Peoplemover? I assume the person returning would just wait by the escalator, the same place where DAS enters now. Shows? Those are almost always just a line for the next show anyway. Swiss Family Treehouse? I mean, there really aren't attractions that don't have lightning lane that build up long waits. I guess *maybe* some of the character meet & greets but it probably wouldn't be a big issue there to move past people to join your group since those lines move by group anyway. The RTQ system should actually work very well for most.

The only non-show non-character attraction in all of WDW that doesn't have a lightning lane and consistently builds up actual waits that I can think of is Astro Orbiter.

 

[Splash4eva]

I still think there needs to be time to actually see how the non DAS accommodations work in practice, and how difficult they are for people to work with. I understand that’s easier said than done, especially for people with trips that are very soon.

The exact same things that are being said now were said when GAC changed to DAS. Trips were cancelled, “I know what I/member of my party can handle so I already know this won’t work”, only instant entry will work for my situation, this can’t be legal, the waiting period is going to be impossible for us, deal with the liars not us, etc. Few considered it a less convenient but doable system until it actually got going.

As i said anyone who said that were entitled. DAS provides exactly what is needed. A way to enjoy a ride or attraction w/o having to stand still in a line…
This new policy does not do that. This return to line feature is just not logical and Disney is hoping people just dont need to use it. They are taking a gamble