New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Yes, Disney did lose a lawsuit-

Ault v. WDW? They didn't lose that, they settled it, and it had nothing to do with line-skipping accomodations, it had to do with the use of mobility devices in the parks.

 

[pdude81]

Disney didn't do all of this to lessen standby waits. They did it to make genie+ more enticing to people and make more money. That much has been pretty widely agreed upon in most DAS threads I've read.

Genie+ doesn't become more desirable if standby waits drop significantly - that would make people less interested in buying genie+, not more. While I do expect there will be visible differences in LL waits, I doubt there will be a significant drop in standby wait times.

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.

 

[pdude81]

My husband and I were saying the other night that it's like Disney has hired AI NPCs who have no emotions and think only about line engineering and the bottom line. The inclusivity family company is no longer inclusive and no longer family oriented. Iger might want to take that into consideration as he realizes park attendance and movie attendance have both dropped. They'll drop even farther if steps are not taken.

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?

Now I understand your point, that they should not be forcing families with a disabled member to split apart just because some people are cheating the system. However, without the ability to ask for medical documentation to issue DAS, they have to treat all users equally. AQR sounds like a reasonable offer to guests in many cases. Not so much for the cast who have to make these judgements on the fly.

 

[Kingoglow]

What they are doing now is cruel and heartless. Unfortunately, "cruel and heartless" is 100 percent on-brand for Disney nowadays.

That's just hyperbole.

To anyone stating that this wont be upheld in courts, I challenge you to try the new system and see what works and doesn't work for you. If the new system doesn't work for you and you find it discriminatory, then make your case in the courts. Then take Disney to court yourself. Let's see your conviction.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

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.

 

[jaklgreen]

Do you have any experience with very young neurotypical children? The majority of them absolutely CANNOT wait in 90+ minute waits for a headliner over and over again. They would experience the exact same symptoms as a neurodivergent child if you tried.

Disney is not defining a disability. Their system is needs-based, not diagnosis-based.

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.

 

[jaklgreen]

I personally think the new accommodations will be less print to abuse as many people do not want to be separated from their traveling party. That is the number one complaint I have seen about people being denied and told the queue re-entry is that they don’t want to wait away from their family.

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.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Disney didn't do all of this to lessen standby waits. They did it to make genie+ more enticing to people and make more money. That much has been pretty widely agreed upon in most DAS threads I've read.

They unequivocally did not do it for this reason.

 

[jaklgreen]

My husband and I were saying the other night that it's like Disney has hired AI NPCs who have no emotions and think only about line engineering and the bottom line. The inclusivity family company is no longer inclusive and no longer family oriented. Iger might want to take that into consideration as he realizes park attendance and movie attendance have both dropped. They'll drop even farther if steps are not taken.

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.
So yeah, WDW attracts more with disabilities than any other theme park. That should be taken into consideration when looking at the numbers. That is just the reality of the US Disney parks.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Do you have any experience with very young neurotypical children? The majority of them absolutely CANNOT wait in 90+ minute waits for a headliner over and over again. They would experience the exact same symptoms as a neurodivergent child if you tried.

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.

 

[DisneyHead123]

They unequivocally did not do it for this reason.

Can you share what you’ve heard the “real” reason is, or no?

Tom Bricker mentioned in his comments section it is because Genie+ was basically not working as planned, and they wanted to fix the functionality of Genie+. Which - I guess that’s not technically about making more money, but Genie+ is already priced for demand. If it becomes a better product and demand goes up, it’s already a given that the price will go up and they will make more money. So them saying “No, no, this is only about us fixing the current version of Genie+.” sounds like semantics. The end result, if they succeed in doing that, will be increased profit.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

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.

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.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Can you share what you’ve heard the “real” reason is, or no?

Tom Bricker mentioned in his comments section it is because Genie+ was basically not working as planned, and they wanted to fix the functionality of Genie+. Which - I guess that’s not technically about making more money, but Genie+ is already priced for demand. If it becomes a better product and demand goes up, it’s already a given that the price will go up and they will make more money. So them saying “No, no, this is only about us fixing the current version of Genie+.” sounds like semantics. The end result, if they succeed in doing that, will be increased profit.

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.

And to be clear, because a lot of people still don't realize this, but not getting DAS is not the end all. By being denied DAS, Disney isn't tell you you're out of luck, they are just not convinced that this is the right accommodation for you; it is now reserved for exceedingly rare circumstances. Accommodations are available to everyone at each attraction still.

 

[DisneyHead123]

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.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

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.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

And just one final thought on how Disney did this to "make money off of Genie+" -- From what I've heard, Disney does not expect these abusers to purchase Genie+. So, that's completely incorrect. They are most often local APs or CMs who visit very, very frequently so purchasing Genie+ so frequently is just financially unsustainable.

 

[natatomic]

I’m not sure if not wanting your family split up is going to be a valid reason the new system won’t work, ONLY because Disney already splits up families with little ones all the time with their rider switch process. If a child is not tall enough for a ride, that child is not even allowed in the line. Disney has been splitting up families for decades now, and people have dealt with it. I know there have certainly been complaints about it, because I was on the receiving end of those complaints an an attractions CM for many years. Now I get it - please don’t get me wrong - I’m a parent of many littles and it can be a pain. And I assume it would be a pain when you add in the variable of a disability. But it would seem like the precedent has been set for ages, and regardless of the hassle, I would imagine in every family both parents have experience being the sole caretaker of their own child/children from time to time. Again, not saying it’s ideal, but…I don’t know if any court would agree it’s unreasonable.

 

[Purduevian]

And just one final thought on how Disney did this to "make money off of Genie+" -- From what I've heard, Disney does not expect these abusers to purchase Genie+. So, that's completely incorrect. They are most often local APs or CMs who visit very, very frequently so purchasing Genie+ so frequently is just financially unsustainable.

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+.

So if those users non longer qualify for DAS... Disney isn't making any additional money off them.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

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+.

So if those users non longer qualify for DAS... Disney isn't making any additional money off them.

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.

 

[Chi84]

I just wanted to jump in and say that for a topic so controversial and emotional, the posters in this threads have been amazingly level-headed.

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