New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024

[NotTheOne]

Maybe, but honestly it would never occur to me to go to guest relations about how individual rights operate. I would always personally assume that I would go talk to someone at the ride.

I would at least expect that they would be able to give me the basic information of what AQR and Rider Switch are, but if they said I had to talk to operators at the ride for more details, that would make sense to me. I do concede that from the original poster,it might have been that they could not at least produce basic information about what the accommodation were, and that is bad.

I can 100% see going to GR to lodge a complaint that the attraction CMs had no idea what to do. I can't see going to GR to ask how the accommodations at individual attractions are supposed to work.

 

[jennab55]

With all this info and insider knowledge. Im curious can anyone tell us or even know what % of DAS was being used by locals/AP who frequent more often vs people who actually come to disney on vacation?

This is what I wonder as well. I have a feeling a large percentage was APs. I of course have no actual proof, just a thought as they would put more strain on the system then the family who comes annually or less often.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I can 100% see going to GR to lodge a complaint that the attraction CMs had no idea what to do. I can't see going to GR to ask how the accommodations at individual attractions are supposed to work.

the former is what my post was about (the one you quoted a bit ago ) - not the latter - just to clarify.

If someone has gone to an attractions CM and doesn't get an answer, there aren't really any other options for a guest other than guest relations at that point. And guest relations should be prepared to handle such situations.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

How is arguing about that now going to help anything? Wouldn’t it be better to find out what Disney is actually doing first? We often see children alone in the queues; it doesn’t seem necessary to prepare for it.

In any event I’m not going to argue with you about what we should be arguing about.

Perhaps we're talking past each other a bit. I see this more as a discussion point, than an argument. If I may be so bold, the discussion of how young is too young to be in line alone - came up as something that was indirectly reported- in post 8,169:

"I’ve seen reports of people being told their accommodation is having their 11yr old (or other aged) child wait in a standby queue alone and then the adult can meet them at the merge point."

In this thread, we do not have first-hand accounts of the cut-off age being 11. I'm 100% with you there. And it is fine if the discussion between the two of us ends with this post.

I am reading this thread because I want to know what the new policies are. I'd like to know what age Disney say is okay to be alone when using AQR, especially since every guest can now use AQR. My point is not to argue, but to learn useful information from this forum.

I hope someone can relay that information to us. Soon! Please!

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Maybe, but honestly it would never occur to me to go to guest relations about how individual rights operate. I would always personally assume that I would go talk to someone at the ride.

I would at least expect that they would be able to give me the basic information of what AQR and Rider Switch are, but if they said I had to talk to operators at the ride for more details, that would make sense to me. I do concede that from the original poster,it might have been that they could not at least produce basic information about what the accommodation were, and that is bad.

I would hope Disney would be able to produce a guide like this one from Universal https://www.universalorlando.com/webdata/k2/en/us/files/Documents/universal-orlando-riders-guide.pdf

(Maybe Dinsey already has this, I'm not sure, but it seems like it would be handy to have something that explains how the new procedures will work. If you look through the above pdf, every individual ride is listed with specifics.)

 

[Chi84]

Perhaps we're talking past each other a bit. I see this more as a discussion point, than an argument. If I may be so bold, the discussion of how young is too young to be in line alone - came up as something that was indirectly reported- in post 8,169:

"I’ve seen reports of people being told their accommodation is having their 11yr old (or other aged) child wait in a standby queue alone and then the adult can meet them at the merge point."

In this thread, we do not have first-hand accounts of the cut-off age being 11. I'm 100% with you there. And it is fine if the discussion between the two of us ends with this post.

I am reading this thread because I want to know what the new policies are. I'd like to know what age Disney say is okay to be alone when using AQR, especially since every guest can now use AQR. My point is not to argue, but to learn useful information from this forum.

I hope someone can relay that information to us. Soon! Please!

On one hand I think the DAS accommodations were too generous and had become too cumbersome in numbers to continue without changes like this. So many of the people whining just don't like the accommodation being offered - yet it will work for their needs, even if they don't like it.

On the other hand, I don't love some of the people on this forum dismissing concerns from people who find the seemingly different policies from ride to ride to be acceptable. Yes a few minor things will vary from attraction to attraction, but what shouldn't change is how a guest is accommodated. For example, a single mom with an 11 year old son being told that they can be given a return time at Big Thunder so the kid doesn't have to wait alone, while being told at Space Mountain the child should wait alone until merge is seemingly kind of an unnecessary layer of stress. The policy should be more consistent and trained to a "t" with front line CMs. Instead it just seems like it's been a game of telephone from park ops execs to front line managers to the front line CMs.

Is this what you saw? That’s why hypotheticals are unproductive.

I’m not at all sure whether the 11-year-old was an example or a report.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The fact Disney has basically kept an air-gap between Guest Relations, DAS policy management... and the operations of running the attractions is a recipe for disaster.

It basically creates a lack of ownership of the concern. On the GR side they just throw the ball over the fence to attractions and have no ownership of the woes the other team may create. And the attractions have no ownership of the woes they create... because complaints goto GR... not them.

It just festers a 'not my problem' environment where humans get to hide in silos.

Unfortunately this isn’t rare either, in my 20+ years of customer service in Vegas I can’t count the number of times the executive team made an unpopular policy, without providing specifics of how it would work, and then left it up to the front line employees to implement and deal with the fallout.

The people who make these decision never have to deal with the complaints and upset guests face to face, they leave that to the front line workers who have no input on the policy.

 

[NotTheOne]

Unfortunately this isn’t rare either, in my 20+ years of customer service in Vegas I can’t count the number of times the executive team made an unpopular policy, without providing specifics of how it would work, and then left it up to the front line employees to implement and deal with the fallout.

The people who make these decision never have to deal with the complaints and upset guests face to face, they leave that to the front line workers who have no input on the policy.

I agree 100% that the front-line employees need to be more informed of what the policies are and that yes, the executives never have to deal with the face-to-face fallout.

But no way should front-line employees have ANY kind of say on disability/DAS policy...part of the reason DAS is a mess is because front-line employees weren't properly vetting people and handing them out like candy.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I agree 100% that the front-line employees need to be more informed of what the policies are and that yes, the executives never have to deal with the face-to-face fallout.

But no way should front-line employees have ANY kind of say on disability/DAS policy...part of the reason DAS is a mess is because front-line employees weren't properly vetting people and handing them out like candy.

But those employees are the ones who actually have viable solutions, they are so far removed from the decision making process they won’t be heard though.

The end result is those employees will take matters into their own hands to take care of their guests, and the cycle of abuse will repeat.

I can provide a dozen examples of “official” policies at my current job that none of the employees follow because they inevitably result in irate guests, it’s easier to just break the rule, make them happy, and send them on their way.

 

[NotTheOne]

But those employees are the ones who actually have viable solutions, they are so far removed from the decision making process they won’t be heard though.

The end result is those employees will take matters into their own hands to take care of their guests, and the cycle of abuse will repeat.

I can provide a dozen examples of “official” policies at my current job that none of the employees follow because they inevitably result in irate guests, it’s easier to just break the rule, make them happy, and send them on their way.

Hopefully, Disney leadership above the line employees will observe more closely and either re-train or remove those employees who aren't following the new policies.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I’m not at all sure whether the 11-year-old was an example or a report.

IMO, it doesn't matter whether it was an example or a report.

Disney should have a firm policy in place.

Any one of us might visit WDW with family that includes children, and any one of us might find that we need to use the restroom mid-way through a 90-minute queue.

It would be useful to know what age child is allowed to stay in the queue alone to mark our place in line.

 

[Chi84]

IMO, it doesn't matter whether it was an example or a report.

Disney should have a firm policy in place.

Any one of us might visit WDW with family that includes children, and any one of us might find that we need to use the restroom mid-way through a 90-minute queue.

It would be useful to know what age child is allowed to stay in the queue alone to mark our place in line.

Well in that case I would pick 14 because that’s the age they can go to the park unaccompanied.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Hopefully, Disney leadership above the line employees will observe more closely and either re-train or remove those employees who aren't following the new policies.

Experience tells me they won’t, it’s easier for the low level managers to look the other way also, it’s one of the biggest problems with massive corporations with level upon level of bureaucracy, the disconnect from the executive office making the unpopular decisions is almost as far removed from the supervisors as it is to the front line employees… and the supervisors are the ones dealing with the most upset guests and usually the ones ok’ing the abuse in the first place to make the problem go away.

The senior executives will mandate something, it’ll get watered down a bit at the lower executive level, it’ll get watered down a bit more at the senior manager level, watered down a bit more at the supervisor level, and watered down a bit more at the front line worker level.

An executive mandate like “no cups of ice, no ice water, we sell bottled water” becomes “its ok to give them a cup of ice if they buy a bottled water” at the manager level, which becomes “it’s ok to give someone a cup of water if they drank too much and need one” at the supervisor level, which becomes “here’s an empty cup, there’s a water fountain next to the restrooms” at the front line employee level. Still prioritizing selling $7 water, which is the important part to the executives, but also providing a customer friendly solution to the guests who find $7 for a water offensive.

 

[C33Mom]

Experience tells me they won’t, it’s easier for the low level managers to look the other way also, it’s one of the biggest problems with massive corporations with level upon level of bureaucracy, the disconnect from the executive office making the unpopular decisions is almost as far removed from the supervisors as it is to the front line employees… and the supervisors are the ones dealing with the most upset guests and usually the ones ok’ing the abuse in the first place to make the problem go away.

The senior executives will mandate something, it’ll get watered down a bit at the lower executive level, it’ll get watered down a bit more at the senior manager level, watered down a bit more at the supervisor level, and watered down a bit more at the front line worker level.

An executive mandate like “no cups of ice, no ice water, we sell bottled water” becomes “its ok to give them a cup of ice if they buy a bottled water” at the manager level, which becomes “it’s ok to give someone a cup of water if they drank too much and need one” at the supervisor level, which becomes “here’s an empty cup, there’s a water fountain next to the restrooms” at the front line employee level. Still prioritizing selling $7 water, which is the important part to the executives, but also providing a customer friendly solution to the guests who find $7 for a water offensive.

You are describing what used to happen with DAS and what cannot happen now that GR doesn’t have the ability to offer it anymore.

Going back to @Grantwil93’s post, I am surprised that DAS usage of LL has already decreased from about 60% to less than 20% given that the highest capacity using APs probably still have old DAS approvals that won’t expire until July. I wonder if Disney has already started making more LL capacity available to Genie+ users. Genie+ would work better for so many ex-DAS users if you could reliably get one ride on all the headliners without waking before 7AM.

 

[Splash4eva]

Perhaps we're talking past each other a bit. I see this more as a discussion point, than an argument. If I may be so bold, the discussion of how young is too young to be in line alone - came up as something that was indirectly reported- in post 8,169:

"I’ve seen reports of people being told their accommodation is having their 11yr old (or other aged) child wait in a standby queue alone and then the adult can meet them at the merge point."

In this thread, we do not have first-hand accounts of the cut-off age being 11. I'm 100% with you there. And it is fine if the discussion between the two of us ends with this post.

I am reading this thread because I want to know what the new policies are. I'd like to know what age Disney say is okay to be alone when using AQR, especially since every guest can now use AQR. My point is not to argue, but to learn useful information from this forum.

I hope someone can relay that information to us. Soon! Please!

If we have learned anything in the short time the system has been out. It will depend on the ride the park the day of the week and where the sun & moon is positioned

 

[TrojanUSC]

I agree 100% that the front-line employees need to be more informed of what the policies are and that yes, the executives never have to deal with the face-to-face fallout.

But no way should front-line employees have ANY kind of say on disability/DAS policy...part of the reason DAS is a mess is because front-line employees weren't properly vetting people and handing them out like candy.

Except that the front-line CMs job was solely to listen to the stated needs that the guest stated and issue DAS if those needs were not mobility related. That was it.

Disney assumed DAS would be less ripe for abuse but it became more abused with the perfect storm combination of no Fastpass for many months post COVID combined with a paid LL service that guests find to be too limiting.

 

[Grantwil93]

This is what I wonder as well. I have a feeling a large percentage was APs. I of course have no actual proof, just a thought as they would put more strain on the system then the family who comes annually or less often.

I don't have proof other than irl conversations, but AP's/DVC seem to be a huge chunk. CM's were probably the second highest. With day ticket holders being the least impactful on DAS.

Which makes sense given so many guests show up not even knowing that anything exists beyond MK, it would follow that the repeat guests are more likely to hear about something like DAS

I know practically no CM's are getting it via the interview. Even those who could theoretically provide documentation of something like Autism. This whole thing is a massive population reduction of the system

 

[jennab55]

I don't have proof other than irl conversations, but AP's/DVC seem to be a huge chunk. CM's were probably the second highest. With day ticket holders being the least impactful on DAS.

Which makes sense given so many guests show up not even knowing that anything exists beyond MK, it would follow that the repeat guests are more likely to hear about something like DAS

I know practically no CM's are getting it via the interview. Even those who could theoretically provide documentation of something like Autism. This whole thing is a massive population reduction of the system

so I wonder why CMs aren’t getting approved? Don’t they get asked the same questions as everyone else?

Yes I think the visitors who come often are putting the strain on the system. I think the people who come once a year or less are probably buying G+ already even if they are getting DAS. At least we did the last 2 times we came in 2021 and 2022. I do also wonder if they are being more lenient on approvals of DAS for non APs.

 

[Grantwil93]

You are describing what used to happen with DAS and what cannot happen now that GR doesn’t have the ability to offer it anymore.

Going back to @Grantwil93’s post, I am surprised that DAS usage of LL has already decreased from about 60% to less than 20% given that the highest capacity using APs probably still have old DAS approvals that won’t expire until July. I wonder if Disney has already started making more LL capacity available to Genie+ users. Genie+ would work better for so many ex-DAS users if you could reliably get one ride on all the headliners without waking before 7AM.

I do want to clarify I can only speak for 1 attraction that I'm not able to name(sorry, I care enough to post but not to get in trouble). I don't know what the ratio looks like property wide. But I do think it's a good indicator of what Disney is going for here.

 

[TrojanUSC]

Maybe, but honestly it would never occur to me to go to guest relations about how individual rights operate. I would always personally assume that I would go talk to someone at the ride.

I would at least expect that they would be able to give me the basic information of what AQR and Rider Switch are, but if they said I had to talk to operators at the ride for more details, that would make sense to me. I do concede that from the original poster,it might have been that they could not at least produce basic information about what the accommodation were, and that is bad.

Except that like there's still a huge swath of people who will go to GR for disability accommodation then be unable to be accommodated. Thereby GR has to explain to them what they can offer, which is AQR and rider swap. It would make the most sense for GR to at least know the basics - but there does seem to be a real lack of consistency with whether there can be companions, how and when the family meets back up, etc.