You are welcome to assume their motivations, but you don't know them. I would suspect overall park operation is the biggest motivator here, as the majority of paying guests (who aren't part of a DAS party) are having an increasingly worse experience. But I don't have any knowledge of the decision making process.
If they were indeed focused more on the bottom line with attendance dropping, should they focus more on taking care of the 30ish percent of guests using up more than 50% of line capacity or the 70ish percent of guests using less than 50 percent of the line capacity? Which group brings in more revenue and is staying home in larger numbers as the experience degrades?
That's just hyperbole.
Yes. This is from the same poster who started posting about Disney losing money at the Box Office because she implicitly claimed their films pushed too much of a message of inclusivity, then realized how bad of a look that was from a poster in a thread complaining that Disney isn't inclusive enough for her disability, and then backed off.
Why are you trying to equate a typical child with those with disabilities? And if Disney is giving tips for those with disabilities how to "cope" with a line, wouldn't that work for typical children too? You can't have it both ways. You can't say, "yes, those with disabilities can wait in the SB line", and then claim that a typical child can't.
I agree, those that are faking it will be discouraged from doing this. But then it comes down to making a worse experience for those with legitimate medical issues. Which is really crappy.
They unequivocally did not do it for this reason.
I think that many have forgotten that Disney themselves have built a reputation of being very friendly to those with disabilities. Everyone knew that Disney would make your day as great as possible. For many, WDW is the ONE place that they could go and feel somewhat "normal". Disney cultivated this and has profited greatly by it. They still charge everyone full price and don't do what they do in Europe, letting the caretake in for free, so everyone pays full price.
I think you’re thinking that “neurodivergent” means people who have lower support needs (some people with Asperger’s, ADHD, etc.) I can see why you’d think that that because the term tends to be more popular in those circles. ND means people with things like Level 3 autism as well. Some ND children might, for example, slam their head into the pavement, start screaming lines from tv shows hysterically, biting and scratching others, taking their clothes off, etc. if escalated. Most NT children aren’t going to do that.
Can you share what you’ve heard the “real” reason is, or no?
Everyone but the DAS abuser was having a bad experience. The standby queue guest, the Genie+ guest, the legitimate DAS guest. A huge number of local APs and even Cast Members took a system designed for the disabled and exploited it so they didn't have to wait in long lines or pay for LL access. These people knew what they were doing and knew the laws that prevented Disney from actually verifying their needs as legitimate and they used those laws to gain an advantage over the disabled. The number of people who engaged in this behavior is downright shocking. Disgraceful.
The real reason is what I just stated above. The guest experience for everyone was completely eroded by these abusers to a point that it was untenable. People talked openly and casually about how "easy it is" to get DAS. And then Disney finally woke up and realized how drastic this accommodation is and that the number of people who are requesting/getting it does not reflect society. When you have more than half of LL scans as DAS scans and it was a fraction of that just 10 years ago, it's pretty clear what's going on. The system used to be built on trust but clearly that's not possible any longer.
Yeah sorry, cross posted. Disagree with how they’re handling it, but the abuse of the system was unacceptable.
Let's see what the attraction specific accommodations look like and how much friction (if any) guests are faced with. I am told that the attraction CMs are not supposed to ask questions or interrogate guests as it is a public setting and they aren't trained to ask such questions.
There is also an idea no one that go DAS legitimately bought G+ even though there have been multiple people in this thread that legitimately did get DAS and bought G+.
I think what's off putting the most to some folks is that this really is a two-fold change. Yes, it's to weed out rampant abuse. But they are also absolutely restricting access to a different class of disabled people, so to speak. As in, there are absolutely legitimately disabled people who used the service for many years who no longer will be able to. And I totally can appreciate the frustration with that fact. However, I'm optimistic that the accommodations offered at each attraction will be sufficient.
