New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024

[Spaceship|Earth]

But after the new system is in place, THE SAME (slow??) PEOPLE will be in the SAME lighting lane queue, the only difference is they will be paying for Genie+ instead of using DAS.

In my opinion, there will be only a small fraction of people that will give up on WDW because they cant use DAS.

This is what Disney wanted. They don't really care about anything other than converting basically a captive set of Guests from a free system to a paid one.

 

[DryerLintFan]

Of course they are. So are people who buy Genie+. So are standby riders. Anyone in line for any reason is. I'm not sure why that means that people like myself who don't have obvious or visual disabilities, but need DAS, have to "suffer"? I'm not sure I understand why they couldn't just enforce the return times. It would be pretty much the same as if DAS users stood in line.

It might behoove you to just skim a handful of pages. But I’ll respond to this anyway:

1) guests with disabilities who no longer qualify for DAS will have accommodations that meet their needs, but that are different than DAS

2) nobody knows what those programs are yet and were won’t Until people start using the new system and sharing their experience. Disney is keeping the information close to their chest presumably to guard against abuse

3) MANY guests with disabilities cannot make a solid return time. Either due to behavioral meltdowns or needing breaks or whatever, saying you have to be back at a certain time might work for you but it doesn’t work for a lot of others.

 

[Spaceship|Earth]

It might behoove you to just skim a handful of pages. But I’ll respond to this anyway:

1) guests with disabilities who no longer qualify for DAS will have accommodations that meet their needs, but that are different than DAS

2) nobody knows what those programs are yet and were won’t Until people start using the new system and sharing their experience. Disney is keeping the information close to their chest presumably to guard against abuse

3) MANY guests with disabilities cannot make a solid return time. Either due to behavioral meltdowns or needing breaks or whatever, saying you have to be back at a certain time might work for you but it doesn’t work for a lot of others.

Having to be back at a certain time wouldn't meet my needs all the time. Never said it would. In that case, I would lose out or potentially not even ask for a return time in that case if I knew it wouldn't work for me.

I think Disney offering a return time certainly meets "reasonable accommodations". It's up to the Guest at that point to be back for it. If they aren't, well, sorry.

 

[Disstevefan1]

This is what Disney wanted. They don't really care about anything other than converting basically a captive set of Guests from a free system to a paid one.

 

[Chi84]

Happy to help. Here's the thread with the numbers we counted back in September. I was told on Tuesday afternoon by someone who actually knows, "You're in the ballpark. I wouldn't have done it that way." (I may have said something about their coffee budget being larger than my company in response.)

If you read that and think there's no possible way that 45% of guests at Space Mountain were using DAS and 40% of guests at Peter Pan, let me provide more data:

• In this 2020 lawsuit filed against Disney in the US District Court in Orlando, the court noted that these data collected by Disney about Guest Assistance Card (GAC) use were both unchallenged by the plantiffs and convincing to the court (emphasis mine):
  
  In a two-week study conducted by Disney's Industrial Engineering team in April 2013, the team found that GAC pass usage at five of the most popular attractions at Disney (the "GAC Study") was much higher than the percentage of guests in the park who held a GAC pass.
  
  At that time, approximately 3.3% of guests at Disney used a GAC pass, yet the percentage of guests on the most popular rides who had a GAC pass and entered through the FastPass line was significantly higher than 3.3%.
  
  The GAC Study showed that 11% of riders on Space Mountain, 13% of riders on Splash Mountain, and 30% on Toy Story Mania used a GAC pass to access the ride.
  
  Disney's industrial engineers concluded that the small portion of the guest population who held GAC pass was consuming a substantial portion of the ride capacity.
  
  For example, guests with a GAC pass were riding Toy Story Mania an average of ten times more than guests who did not have a GAC pass.
  
  Cite: A.L. v. Walt Disney Parks & Resorts US, Inc., 469 F. Supp. 3d 1280, 1294 (M.D. Fla. 2020). The quote above is on the right-hand side of page 9.
  
  
• So 3.3% of the people in the park were using 30% of Toy Story's ride capacity.
  
  
• Disney said on Tuesday that use of the system has tripled in the last 5 years. (Second cite here.)

Okay, so if back in 2013, 3.3% of guests were using 30% of ride capacity at a popular ride, and use has tripled since then, you'd think roughly 33% to 90% of riders on popular rides were using DAS to access the ride.

The numbers we estimated were in the lower end of that range.

The top end of that range is too high, but it's closer to right than wrong. If you said 50-75% of Lightning Lane use at popular attractions was DAS, I would absolutely believe that.

According to Disney's two numbers, somewhere between 8% and 10% of park-goers have a DAS pass.

So 8 percent to 10 percent of people are using 40 to 70 percent of ride capacity. This actually sounds like a worse situation than what led to the original GAC lawsuit when it was 3 percent of people using 30 percent of capacity. (Feel free to correct my numbers, I’m going off memory about the lawsuit).

Thank you.

I obviously don't expect anyone to just take my word for it, so the numbers are helpful.

That said, there are people on this board who've seen the relevant internal spreadsheets. So I'm pretty confident in those estimates.

Let me put it this way: I was told on Tuesday night that there was genuine concern that when Tiana's opens in June, a plausible worst-case scenario would require almost 100% of the Lightning Lane line to be dedicated to DAS.

You can imagine the impact to everyone else in the park.

And I was reminded about the ADA: "They're guidelines, not a suicide pact."

For the new guy.

 

[pigglewiggle]

Having to be back at a certain time wouldn't meet my needs all the time. Never said it would. In that case, I would lose out or potentially not even ask for a return time in that case if I knew it wouldn't work for me.

I think Disney offering a return time certainly meets "reasonable accommodations". It's up to the Guest at that point to be back for it. If they aren't, well, sorry.

So nothing else will work for you except DAS? I suggest you make the appointment, explain your situation to the healthcare professional and see what they say.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I can see it now. For a very short time when the new DAS is live, there will be a brief time the wait times in the lighting lane will be low. At that moment Disney will spam the social medias about what a great job they have done to listen to their guests and greatly improve their guest experience, LOL!!

A few weeks later the lighting lane will balloon back up to todays levels.

 

[Spaceship|Earth]

So nothing else will work for you except DAS? I suggest you make the appointment, explain your situation to the healthcare professional and see what they say.

Sure, something else could work. Would sure be nice for Disney to inform Guests what the options are so we can be aware and plan instead of speculate. In a world of social media, not sure why they are not publishing further information. It's going to get out anyway.

 

[Spaceship|Earth]

I can see it now. For a very short time when the new DAS is live, there will be a brief time the wait times in the lighting lane will be low. At that moment Disney will spam the social medias about what a great job they have done to listen to their guests and greatly improve their guest experience, LOL!!

A few weeks later the lighting lane will balloon back up to todays levels.

And they'll up the price of Genie+

 

[Touchdown]

Actually it does. The poster's message (the way I read it at least), was a complaint that DAS users are slowing down the standby queues. Believe me, I wish I didn't have an issue that makes DAS necessary for me...

8% guests are using 70% of the capacity. Thats not slowing things down, that’s outright theft. Unfortunately DAS is too generous a program to continue in the same way.

It’s unreasonable and seriously threatening the business. Why else would Disney be taking this PR nightmare action?

 

[Katieg3030]

That would create a disadvantage for the DAS guest as the non-disabled guest can get several attractions done in two hours using standby.

I agree. Because the DAS is the “standby” line for those who need it.. Disney can’t make it longer or more challenging. But I do see why people are feeling slighted by the DAS guest getting to be in 2 lines at once without purchasing genie plus

 

[Spaceship|Earth]

8% guests are using 70% of the capacity. Thats not slowing things down, that’s outright theft. Unfortunately DAS is too generous a program to continue in the same way.

It’s unreasonable and seriously threatening the business. Why else would Disney be taking this PR nightmare action?

For the same reason they do anything.... The bottom line. They know most of these users will opt for Genie+.

 

[RamblinWreck]

I can see it now. For a very short time when the new DAS is live, there will be a brief time the wait times in the lighting lane will be low. At that moment Disney will spam the social medias about what a great job they have done to listen to their guests and greatly improve their guest experience, LOL!!

A few weeks later the lighting lane will balloon back up to todays levels.

I hope so!

My trip starts June 22

 

[Spaceship|Earth]

I agree. Because the DAS is the “standby” line for those who need it.. Disney can’t make it longer or more challenging. But I do see why people are feeling slighted by the DAS guest getting to be in 2 lines at once without purchasing genie plus

I don't disagree, but this is also the case with virtual queue Guests, Genie+ Guests, etc.

 

[RamblinWreck]

For the same reason they do anything.... The bottom line. They know most of these users will opt for Genie+.

I doubt anywhere close to "most" of them will.

But even if every last one of them buys Genie+ and ILL's, they STILL won't put as much pressure on the queues as they are now.

 

[RamblinWreck]

I agree. Because the DAS is the “standby” line for those who need it.. Disney can’t make it longer or more challenging. But I do see why people are feeling slighted by the DAS guest getting to be in 2 lines at once without purchasing genie plus

They absolutely could do both of those things if they wanted to. As long as they could show that the average DAS user was experiencing the same number of attractions as the average standby guest, they'd be pretty bulletproof.

 

[Katieg3030]

8% guests are using 70% of the capacity. Thats not slowing things down, that’s outright theft. Unfortunately DAS is too generous a program to continue in the same way.

It’s unreasonable and seriously threatening the business. Why else would Disney be taking this PR nightmare action?

You would have thought Disney would have learned a lesson when they had to do this in like 2013 I think it was.. they had to discontinue the GAC card that had become very abused. And the majority of the users affected were people with autism and their families. A very long drawn out legal case followed and awful PR as Disney was the monster taking away special needs children’s ability to access the attractions…
but they must have learned nothing, because they created a new program and let it get out of control too

 

[Disstevefan1]

8% guests are using 70% of the capacity. Thats not slowing things down, that’s outright theft. Unfortunately DAS is too generous a program to continue in the same way.

It’s unreasonable and seriously threatening the business. Why else would Disney be taking this PR nightmare action?

Don't worry, after the new system is in place, the same 8% will still be using 70% of the capacity, the only difference, most of these folks will be PAYING. There will not be less folks in the queue.

The problem is capacity, it doesn't matter how folks get into the queue.

 

[Spaceship|Earth]

I doubt anywhere close to "most" of them will.

But even if every last one of them buys Genie+ and ILL's, they STILL won't put as much pressure on the queues as they are now.

That's assuming Disney cares about the lines. Sorry, I don't give them that benefit of the doubt anymore. They certainly care about making more money.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I hope so!

My trip starts June 22

oh boy! when does the new system start?