New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024

[Chi84]

I lost track of this. Any idea what point the litigation is at?

I haven’t been following it either. I believe it was just filed about 4 months ago.

 

[BrightImagine]

As an adult DAS guest, I just wanted to contribute a few thoughts to this conversation.

Many autistic adults are not formally diagnosed - particularly those of us who grew up when autism was less understood. Autism evaluation as an adult is very costly and usually out of pocket. It is in this sense a privilege to have a formal diagnosis. For autistic individuals in the UK, they can receive diagnosis through their health system, but the process can literally take years.

Furthermore, some may not pursue formal diagnosis even if they can afford it, due to the real stigma against autistic people. There are many who wouldn't want to come out as openly autistic. I understand this choice.

Lastly, what I need accommodation for is not autism per se, but my sensory differences. It is not uncommon for autistic people to be noise sensitive or just overall have a lower sensory threshold. (It is not just neurodivergent people who have sensory differences, there are certain medical conditions as well.) These kind of neurological differences are not usually diagnosed by a doctor. I do not have a doctor's note that says I have hyperacusis (noise sensitivity.) And IBCCES, who does Universal's system, will not give you accommodations without some kind of doctor's note.

DAS works like the old-fashioned, original Fastpass. We receive a return time. I have never used the maximum number of guests, but I believe the max is 6. We are not cutting any lines. We are asking to queue like everyone else, but in an alternate location that doesn't cause physical pain.

Edit to add, here is a page following the mentioned litigation. https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/51814816/IL_v_Six_Flags_Entertainment_Corp_et_al

 

[el_super]

Even if, at some point Disney was considering it, seems unlike they would join up with this group until the pending litigation was resolved. No point overhauling the whole system if it has to be changed back in a few months.

My general interpretation is that the ADA would prevent this kind of system from being legal, since either puts a burden on disabled people that doesn't exist for abled people.

Maybe it could work as long as it was fair: have ALL guests register for the pass and require a medical questionnaire as to their ability to ride any attraction. A doctor would sign off on your right to visit any particular attraction and the park would have that on record.

As long as everyone had to do it, no problem right?

 

[pdude81]

I understand why this is being done, but it is unfortunate. Those who really need it will have to go through extra burden because of the abusers. My older son is mildly autistic. He has learned to deal with it and you’d never know it now. But when younger, he’d have infrequent melt-downs. Never got violent and dangerous, but from time to time, he’d lose it, mainly when things didn’t happen when they were scheduled And he was otherwise stressed. At WDW, he generally had no problems and we never used DAS. But one trip, when he was about 4, he was off — the plane was delayed 5 hours, and he took a few days to recover. The thought of getting in a line and not knowing how long it would take was overwhelming him. That trip, we stopped at Guest Services and used DAS. With outside verification required, I’ll bet that a decision like that wont be possible. And that’s too bad.

I doubt outside verification will be required. There would need to be a"day of" method also. That being said, they could offer additional carrots for those authenticating ahead of their trip. And IMO that would generally benefit those needing DAS more than people who try to abuse the system

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

DAS works like the old-fashioned, original Fastpass

It is far superior to the original fastPass. Your return times are equal to the current wait, not to the amount of fast pass capacity left in the ride for the day. It doesn’t sell out.

 

[Tha Realest]

Not to pick any fights, but when those accommodations sufficiently impact the average operational metrics do they pass the line from reasonable to unreasonable? That's where the legal determination has to be codified since one person's not enough is another's way too much. Ambiguity in laws drive this effort from every viewpoint.

If you’re picking a fight, you’re on the winning side. This very consideration is in the ADA:

Sec. 36.302 Modifications in policies, practices, or procedures.

General. A public accommodation shall make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures, when the modifications are necessary to afford goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations to individuals with disabilities, unless the public accommodation can demonstrate that making the modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations.

 

[monothingie]

DAS works like the old-fashioned, original Fastpass. We receive a return time. I have never used the maximum number of guests, but I believe the max is 6. We are not cutting any lines. We are asking to queue like everyone else, but in an alternate location that doesn't cause physical pain.

And it never was a major problem, until Disney monetized FP with G+, incentivizing people to cheat the system.

 

[DisneyCane]

As a guest, I have mixed feelings. I like the idea of limiting abuse of the system, but I do see how it will make trip planning even more hectic for people who legitimately need DAS, as if it's easy today (planning a WDW vacation, in general).

From Disney's perspective, I'm surprised they would pay for a third party to do this. It might boost Genie+ sales, maybe, but that's a risk and at best would offset the money they are paying for a third party service. They'll still need guest services to argue with the entitled, so it's not a long term win from a business point of view and could just be an added expense for the company.

It might make the lines move a little better, maybe, but as others have said, it's not hard to get a doctor's signature and especially for AP's, anyone abusing it is likely to continue doing so. It might only discourage that family visiting for a week from doing the work, and they still might. So, I wouldn't expect any meaningful reduction in wait times, although I would love to be wrong.

It's very unfortunate that there are so many people who look to abuse the system that it makes something like this necessary. I mean, seriously, how despicable of a person do you have to be to want to use a system designed to assist people with disabilities to skip lines?

Personally, I won't even use a handicapped parking space for 10 seconds as an aid to turn around. My wife and I took our pretty severely autistic nephew to Herseypark a few years ago. Even though we could have taken advantage and taken him on the rides with the longest waits multiple times, we just took him on each one once. We felt strongly that the program was offered so kids in his situation would be able to experience everything, not so that he (and we) could get multiple rides with little wait while all of the able bodied people waited even longer because we were abusing the system.

 

[GhostHost1000]

And it never was a major problem, until Disney monetized FP with G+, incentivizing people to cheat the system.

Bingo

 

[pdude81]

And it never was a major problem, until Disney monetized FP with G+, incentivizing people to cheat the system.

I remember they had to change the GAC program when people started increasingly gaming the system.

Also, while there is now a monetary incentive for those willing to lie to get DAS, they waited a long time to make this change after G+ came about. Since FP+ went away in early 2020 we've seen a major rise in influencers and "life hacks" showing people how to get things for free or greatly reduced cost. And as the SB lines get worse while the abuse gets worse, more and more seem willing to make the jump. It truly sucks that people who need line accomodations will have a higher burden, but if this reduces the abuse it should also help overall wait times, which will be far better for the DAS users who do qualify moving forward.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I still say that while this is a shame that folks who actually need this pass are forced to go through another hurdle, I do think the (almost certain) increase in expiration time from 60 days to 365 will make up for it and then some. It's not like getting DAS right now every 60 days is pleasant; it's down right annoying. Getting a doctor to sign a note once a year and then upload it to some portal vs. the current process? I just don't see how it's a clear downside (unless you're an abuser of the service).

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Getting a doctor to sign a note once a year and then upload it to some portal vs. the current process? I just don't see how it's a clear downside (unless you're an abuser of the service).

My understanding is with the current service you can get it day of. I think that’s the major issue.

 

[wdwmagic]

Surely if it was true literally any other news outlets, or this website, would have mentioned something by now.

I think we talked about this months ago somewhere around here, but yes it is coming, and it was meant to come much earlier in the year, but was delayed.

 

[pdude81]

My understanding is with the current service you can get it day of. I think that’s the major issue.

How would they be able to refuse someone who is disabled and bought tickets at the booth without knowing about the pre-verification? There has to be a day of process. However, if the pre-verification process is good for a year and/or gets you some pre-selected attractions, then the only people doing this day of would be those who didn't know about the process, those who didn't care about the process, or those who couldn't/wouldn't get documentation. And I expect the line at Guest Relations is ADA compliant.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

My understanding is with the current service you can get it day of. I think that’s the major issue.

My guess is they will still allow this for folks with certain ticket types (for their trip length) and require APs to do this every single day (and recommend going through the process to get long term access). I suspect this would thwart most abuse.

 

[doctornick]

And it never was a major problem, until Disney monetized FP with G+, incentivizing people to cheat the system.

While that likely accelerated the issue, I don't think that statement is true. Rampant abuse of the system led to the conversion of GAC to DAS well before FP was monetized.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

How would they be able to refuse someone who is disabled and bought tickets at the booth without knowing about the pre-verification? There has to be a day of process.

If there is still a day-of process and this new procedure just lets people skip that line if they do it prior then great. That’s not how I was reading this news but obviously we don’t have all the details.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

This was always an issue amongst local APs. While FP+ was free, remember that for local APs, reservations were often scarce throughout the year at the 30 day window. Granted much better than same day reservations with Genie+ but still enough of a motivator to get DAS and skip the nonsense altogether.

 

[SamusAranX]

While that likely accelerated the issue, I don't think that statement is true. Rampant abuse of the system led to the conversion of GAC to DAS well before FP was monetized.

And that revamp eliminated what many here are assuming (incorrectly) is also part of DAS; the ability to just completely skip the line, no wait time.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

This was always an issue amongst local APs. While FP+ was free, remember that for local APs, reservations were often scarce

Not just for locals, I was an AP but not local but would often book last minute trips. I hated FP+ with a passion since everything was fully booked by the time I knew I was going.