New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I personally like the term overuse better it feels less harsh, but at the end of the day Disney’s actions with the change make it pretty clear that using it ‘legally’ and within the confines of the program was a problem worth fixing.

Overuse is fine. I was trying to use “soft abuse” to clarify that it wasn’t things like people lying. Just people using it to a much greater extent than it was designed for. Either way, that overuse is a big part of why it’s gone now.

 

[Absimilliard]

So using DAS as Disney literally tells you to use it is now abuse. Got it

The abuse was made worst by having roller coaster enthusiasts, vloggers, unofficial tour guides and the likes all claim the same illness to get a DAS and skip the lines.

Those are the people who abused it.

 

[Vacationeer]

WDW’s wants it to seem like the whole park is available to every guest every day. They need that perception to help sell very expensive park tickets. It might cost $100-$200 a day to get into parks. Look at all that covers! Reality is you get a portion. Not the whole shebang. Fair would be everybody paying for each individually. Then nobody would care who only got 3 attractions, who got 8 or 15, who got easy rides or headliners. Some people are paying out the nose for hardly anything, others paying less doing much more.

The parks created this imbalance by leaning into capacity issues to push higher spending, and ended up with a ludicrous gap between what people may pay and what they might get. Expanding all 4 parks one hour a day would improve guest experience. But they’re not going in that direction. They prefer pushing us all to compete harder with each other.

 

[Disstevefan1]

This is how I feel also but only time will tell. If the new system doesn’t work for us we’ll stop going, or go far less, that’s likely true for everyone that legitimately used DAS.



You’ve written this several times but you are misinterpreting the data.

It’s true that 8% of guests use DAS but you also have to take into account their friends/family, it’s more like 35% of all guests (assuming an average group size of 3-5 including the DAS member) that are ”using” DAS.

You are also misinterpreting the 70%… the original post was that DAS was using 70% of the LL capacity, not the total capacity, since LL is about 75% of capacity we can estimate DAS uses about 52% of total capacity.

So the “real” problem is 35% are using 52% of ride capacity, still disproportionate but a FAR cry from 8/70!

We aren’t going to see a huge decrease in standby as a result of this, the best case scenario is those 35% are now using 35% rather than 52%, a 17% decrease, and that’s assuming none of them qualify for the new DAS or buy Genie, which won’t happen, my guess is at most standby will decrease by 10% as a result of this, those 60 minute waits will now be 54, not something anyone is going to notice and far from a solution to the mess Disney has created by not adequately adding capacity to the parks.

Totally agree. These changes will not magically decrease the wait times.

I will say now, EPIC Universe opening will have a more significant impact on WDW wait times than the DAS changes.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

So using DAS as Disney literally tells you to use it is now abuse. Got it

Using DAS for an indoor queue when your reason for getting DAS was heat intolerance to outdoor queues is absolutely soft abuse. Is this really controversial? That kind of overuse is likely why the system failed.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Totally agree. These changes will not magically decrease the wait times.

I will say now, EPIC Universe opening will have a more significant impact on WDW wait times than the DAS changes.

I’m not sure the goal is decreased wait times, unless you’re referring to the big picture and not standby waits.

I think this is to gain more control over LL queues, stabilize those waits more effectively, as well as free up capacity in the LL to improve guest satisfaction related to G+ and in turn sell more of it.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Totally agree. These changes will not magically decrease the wait times.

I will say now, EPIC Universe opening will have a more significant impact on WDW wait times than the DAS changes.

Epic universe will likely increase, not decrease, MK’s attendance numbers.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I’m not sure the goal is decreased wait times, unless you’re referring to the big picture and not standby waits.

I think this is to gain more control over LL queues, stabilize those waits more effectively, as well as free up capacity in the LL to improve guest satisfaction related to G+ and in turn sell more of it.

One thing is for sure. the will sell more G+ and ILL.

DAS changes aside, I wonder if they even cared about guest experience or guest satisfaction.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Epic universe will likely increase, not decrease, MK’s attendance numbers.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Epic universe will likely increase, not decrease, MK’s attendance numbers.

Oh good! You think they will totally drop PPRs in response to EPIC???!!

 

[Grantwil93]

Using DAS for an indoor queue when your reason for getting DAS was heat intolerance to outdoor queues is absolutely soft abuse. Is this really controversial? That kind of overuse is likely why the system failed.

It's interesting that people can't understand that just because they weren't breaking any rules, doesn't mean the system itself wasn't broken

So many people have come in here with hypotheticals that were not breaking rules, but showed why the system itself was flawed. Only to get the arguments of, "it's not breaking rules to use it that way," or "well my family with my autistic child didn't use it like that."

This whole situation is essentially like the true story of the guy who rigged the state lottery (Jerry and Marge go Large is a movie about this) he didn't do anything against the rules or illegal. He found flaws in the lottery and exploited them.

A system being used correctly can still be flawed system

 

[mysto]

The forum is speaking about DAS as if it's gone. I think it is alive and well but slightly altered. We'll have to wait for Len to run some new numbers to be sure, it'll be a while as some still have outstanding "old style" passes.

A tour operator used his/her DAS pass for 10 paying guests obtained for one of a number of ailments. Now that guide has to coach two of his guests through the video for a single ailment and coordinate obtaining reservations between the 3 passes. Not much of a difference. Other scenarios are similar, the only barrier to entry is the willingness to lie which hasn't changed.

The threat of banishment is new but how would that ever come up? As retaliation during a divorce? Guided guests trying to get a refund from the guide?

 

[Splash4eva]

The abuse was made worst by having roller coaster enthusiasts, vloggers, unofficial tour guides and the likes all claim the same illness to get a DAS and skip the lines.

Those are the people who abused it.

Agreed there but noone would deny that at all…

 

[The Mom]

The parks created this imbalance by leaning into capacity issues to push higher spending, and ended up with a ludicrous gap between what people may pay and what they might get. Expanding all 4 parks one hour a day would improve guest experience. But they’re not going in that direction. They prefer pushing us all to compete harder with each other.

This. Expanding hours might help with the guest experience, as many guests would hit the "E" attractions first, and then spend time in other areas. So guests coming in late in the afternoon/evening might not have to wait as long.

But WDW decided to increase the number of paid events in the evenings, which has made the experience worse for the guests who have not paid extra.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Len even mentioned that there were internal concerns that when Tiana opens that the number of people attempting to ride that ride, with a DAS could equal the entire capacity for that ride.

The concern was DAS could end up using the entire LL capacity - not entire ride capacity.

For splash, I’m pretty sure wheelchairs and ECV’s, etc. will still need to go through the exit.

 

[mysto]

This. Expanding hours might help with the guest experience, as many guests would hit the "E" attractions first, and then spend time in other areas. So guests coming in late in the afternoon/evening might not have to wait as long.

But WDW decided to increase the number of paid events in the evenings, which has made the experience worse for the guests who have not paid extra.

Also I lament the practice of running rides at partial capacity at open. If they were running full tilt from the get go lines would build up slower and more people could ride.

 

[Splash4eva]

No, using it when you don't need it is abuse, though. Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD do it.

Again if you need DAS for whatever reason and use it within the rules its not abuse imo…
Now with that being said i can somewhat see your point and yes there are plenty of times where lines are short ill walk on and not bother but those rides whether some books a das or not is not causing an issue. A 15 minute walk on and someone books a Das is not causing issues

 

[Splash4eva]

Using DAS for an indoor queue when your reason for getting DAS was heat intolerance to outdoor queues is absolutely soft abuse. Is this really controversial? That kind of overuse is likely why the system failed.

Is you think this is what failed the system i will respectfully disagree with you…
Pre books re rides and party size to me again are the major issues with the problem …

 

[Disstevefan1]

The concern was DAS could end up using the entire LL capacity - not entire ride capacity.

For splash, I’m pretty sure wheelchairs and ECV’s, etc. will still need to go through the exit.

I wonder if as a result of the DAS changes will we see more ECV and wheel chair usage in the parks?

I have no idea either way, I know many folks who previously qualified for DAS and now do not were already were using wheel chairs, I am just wondering if we will see more.

I suspect we will see an increase of wheel chairs and ECVs in the stand by queues.

 

[ditzee]

View attachment 786744

And this is why Disney's attitude towards guest happiness is not the priority anymore. Disney can take take a crud on people's heads and some will say, "Oh but it's Disney's crud and it's really not crud, it's Mickey bars with extra chocolate.". It's like a bad relationship where one side has all the power and the other side cowers and won't stand up for themselves.
I hope Epic really does slam Disney. People will reach a breaking point with Disney. The question is when and how. The parks are bringing in bucks and the movies are losing bucks.
Make Disney earn your park money. If the company is providing a lesser experience for you and your family, let them know.