New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024

[flynnibus]

Here's what MickeyBlog reported after talking with Attraction Cast Members about the Attraction Queue Re-Entry process.

How Disney World's New "Return to Queue" Feature Works

Disney has recently rolled out a new "return to queue" feature for guests who need to step out of a standby line. Here's what we know.

mickeyblog.com

in other words… a complete hack that is not enforceable and does not scale.

This will crash and burn for Ops

 

[RamblinWreck]

I think the first screening that takes place, honestly, is does the DAS seeker fit one of these 2 criteria:

1) Is a child
2) Is an adult traveling with his or her child

If you’re an adult traveling yourself or with other adults, you aren’t going to have much luck except in a very rare circumstance.

 

[flynnibus]

Yeah, this isn’t going to be an issue. If it’s abused though they’ll just tighten it systemically further.

So you mean like when i said… “unless Disney makes some major changes we don't know about yet”

The current systems as described are self defeating and not really sound. They won’t hold up.

And the issue with your just hand waving these concerns away with ‘they’ll just tighten them…’ is there aren’t simple tweaks to add. The concept has fundamental issues that make it hard to handle at scale. Be it staffing impacts or per atttraction constraints that will make a policy managable for guests.

I mean look at that post from dcbaler from blogmickey…. You really think that is gonna hold up under customer load?

 

[WDWTrojan]

I think that remains to be seen legally - I personally don’t think it should be up to a business to decide what disabilities receive what accommodation.

If DAS is not a requirement of the law, Disney would be better off to not offer it to anyone in my opinion.

This take is ridiculous. Someone who is hard of hearing gets a closed caption device. Someone who has mobility issues gets a wheelchair. Accommodations are always based on what the guest’s specific needs are.

 

[Grantwil93]

How so you think the greeter CM is gonna know who is in their party or not? How will they know the difference between multiple groups of peoole being together or not?

Well, ideally, the guests come up and say "my child had... issue and can't wait inside that long" and the greeter will then say "okay, we'll we can do x, y, z"

And let's say the guests pick the meet the rest of party at merge option. The greeter will then explain that the child and 1 caregiver can waitout here near greeter or wherever they want while the rest of the party goes into standby. The greeter will tell the party that is goung into standby that once they get to the merge point, tell the CM that they have people outside and then call the caregiver to come into the LL to meet them. The merge CM will pull them to the side and they will wait while the caregiver and the other person wait in the LL. They don't skip anyone. Then once they all meet up at merge, they get put into the line and wait the rest of the way post merge

That's the "ideal" scenario of this. Emergency Situations are more nuanced and will be handled case by case. Depending on where you exit in the line, how many need to leave, etc.

 

[lazyboy97o]

At another attraction that offered a Single Rider line option, the Cast Member encouraged solo travelers to use that line and also informed us that if we had to leave the Single Rider line for whatever reason, we would need to return to the back of the line.

Holy hell if this is an actual policy.

 

[Chi84]

This take is ridiculous. Someone who is hard of hearing gets a closed caption device. Someone who has mobility issues gets a wheelchair. Accommodations are always based on what the guest’s specific needs are.

You would never see this argument with other accommodations. Not standing in a line at a theme park noted for long lines is a different animal. It’s something everyone wants.

 

[lazyboy97o]

You would never see this argument with other accommodations. Not standing in a line at a theme park noted for long lines is a different animal. It’s something everyone wants.

Most people would like a bigger bathroom but hotels aren’t allowed have interviews to determine who can have access their accessible rooms.

 

[Chi84]

Most people would like a bigger bathroom but hotels aren’t allowed have interviews to determine who can have access their accessible rooms.

Right but a disabled person can’t sue if all the accessible bathrooms are occupied.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

This take is ridiculous. Someone who is hard of hearing gets a closed caption device. Someone who has mobility issues gets a wheelchair. Accommodations are always based on what the guest’s specific needs are.

But someone who is hard of hearing doesn’t have to interview for and have a random CM determine the amount of the hearing loss and decide if they get to use a CC device or sit in an area where there is an interpreter.

Not standing in a line at a theme park noted for long lines is a different animal. It’s something everyone wants.

Yes, that’s what makes this complex, there is a benefit to saying you are disabled. But the fact that it is being abused, does not mean people who actually need it should get denied. I’m not sure what the best solution is myself.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

You posted that in response to some posters indicating that cast members were laughing at people with disabilities on these calls, which most of us found to be unbelievable.

Again, I only said a forum exists for the purposes of laughing at WDW's customers.

I stopped reading it a long time ago because a number of posts were flat out mean-spirited.


After poking around a bit though, it wasn't hard to find a thread in the forum on the topic of guests with disabilities, with CM's venting over the topic of (perceived) fakery in the days of GAC.

It is somewhat interesting to hear from the POV of CM's the same discussion - more or less- that is now occurring in this thread. They relay accounts of a number of guests acting horribly.


Rude GAC users (disabled guests?) are called "entitlement gators."

 

[WDWTrojan]

Again, I only said a forum exists for the purposes of laughing at WDW's customers.

I stopped reading it a long time ago because a number of posts were flat out mean-spirited.


After poking around a bit though, it wasn't hard to find a thread in the forum on the topic of guests with disabilities, with CM's venting over the topic of (perceived) fakery in the days of GAC.

It is somewhat interesting to hear from the POV of CM's the same discussion - more or less- that is now occurring in this thread. They relay accounts of a number of guests acting horribly.


Rude GAC users (disabled guests?) are called "entitlement gators."

The fact you can’t differentiate between cast members mocking and laughing at guests to their face vs a forum where they talk about the silly things guests have done in the past is wild.

I worked in Guest Relations, we’d be immediately reprimanded or fired if we laughed or made fun of a guest with any concern, no matter how ridiculous it was. You can be sure we were talking about it backstage, though. Never about disabilities or anything serious though.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

It's 100% a longer wait than just going in standby, so it's designed to be used only for those who actually need it.

Yeah this sounds like a really good solution and was what I kept trying to explain when I posted that nobody would **want** to abuse this.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Yes. This

And Disney wants you to learn about these things by asking CM's in person. Not in a formal list with greater detail online or a video. To curtail the spread of strategies to abuse

Thanks. Rolling out out in this manner makes sense.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It's 100% a longer wait than just going in standby, so it's designed to be used only for those who actually need it.

An accommodation must be equal to or greater than the standard service. Making people wait longer because they sought an accommodation is incredibly problematic. That the purpose is to deter abuse doesn’t matter.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I mean look at that post from dcbaler from blogmickey…. You really think that is gonna hold up under customer load?

I think Disney thinks the following things are true:
1. These new alternatives aren’t really that appealing versus just waiting in standby or purchasing Genie+ so people won’t use it unless they have to AND;
2. The number of people who will actually have to use this (who didn’t get DAS) is going to be minuscule. I think Disney is correct on both counts.

We’ll see though.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

This take is ridiculous. Someone who is hard of hearing gets a closed caption device. Someone who has mobility issues gets a wheelchair. Accommodations are always based on what the guest’s specific needs are.

Someone who is hard of hearing gets a closed caption device and somebody who has mobility issues gets a wheelchair, but they both get to skip lines at theme parks.

 

[flynnibus]

Well, ideally, the guests come up and say "my child had... issue and can't wait inside that long" and the greeter will then say "okay, we'll we can do x, y, z"

And let's say the guests pick the meet the rest of party at merge option. The greeter will then explain that the child and 1 caregiver can waitout here near greeter or wherever they want while the rest of the party goes into standby. The greeter will tell the party that is goung into standby that once they get to the merge point, tell the CM that they have people outside and then call the caregiver to come into the LL to meet them. The merge CM will pull them to the side and they will wait while the caregiver and the other person wait in the LL. They don't skip anyone. Then once they all meet up at merge, they get put into the line and wait the rest of the way post merge

That's the "ideal" scenario of this. Emergency Situations are more nuanced and will be handled case by case. Depending on where you exit in the line, how many need to leave, etc.

All that is fine… but here are the holes in the model.

Guests won’t be limited to making this determination in front of the CM. They’ll be anywhere in line and then will abandon their spot in line to make their way to the greater. (Imagine this scenario when extended queues are being used too… yuk).

When the guests reach the CM… whatever excuse they give the CM is basically going to be bound to let them do the return to the merge point option. They won’t be in a position to deny someone… nor is sending them back their spot in line really an option.

So even denying the size of the group is problematic…. Because sending anyone back through the standby will cause grief.

Smart people will just break into smaller groups too… the CM has no meaningful way to determine who really is with who… nor a good way to deny them without sending thrm out of the line entirely.

The CMs aren’t going to burdened trying to communicate back and forth who is who at the merge to the greeter and vise versa, etc. so it’s likely returners or their party are going to cog up merge waiting.

There is no real way for the merge CM to police who matches with who… so they eill rely on guests just saying’i belong with those people.

It would be fine in a linited use exception scenario… a few times an hour. But it’s not going to be like that…

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

An accommodation must be equal to or greater than the standard service. Making people wait longer because they sought an accommodation is incredibly problematic. That the purpose is to deter abuse doesn’t matter.

The service is the attraction and their ability to access that attraction. Accommodations for disabled people often make it take longer for that person to access a service, based upon the nature of the disability.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The service is the attraction and their ability to access that attraction. Accommodations for disabled people often make it take longer for that person to access a service, based upon the nature of the disability.

That can only be due to the inherent nature of an accommodation. It cannot be an intentional choice. An elevator can be slower than the stairs because of how it operates, but you can’t make it slower to deter people from using it.