Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
Using it when you don’t actually need to use it, even if there are situations where you do need to use it.
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New DAS System at Walt Disney World 2024
- Thread starter AEfx
- Start date
Figgy1
Well-Known Member
That can be a very fine line with no way to fix
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
Unless we are talking about the severely developmentally disabled (which I agree, should still qualify, and do!), the difference is they have agency whereas children do not. Also WDW will still always be a place that caters to children even if it welcomes people of all ages. Their business model is still based around it.
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
I mean, 490 pages and we’re still going with this line? Ok….
I’m not talking just autism, but yes the most severe cases of neurodiversity may not outgrow their need and they should still be eligible as adults. They will most likely require a caregiver as well.
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
True! Which is why they had to cut users because it became unsustainable.
Figgy1
Well-Known Member
2 in parks for my ds
But on the flip side, some of neurodivergent people may need DAS as children but not as adults. I know there are some adults who have been denied and they are angry and feel they should qualify because they have a disability Disney lists right on the website. But some of those people also hold full time jobs, have families, are functioning members of society. So I can see how it is hard to justify giving it to all neurodivergent adults (some should still qualify though as you stated).
Tigger&Pooh
Active Member
"Over use" in the sense of why Disney is changing the DAS qualifications refers simply to the fact that too many individuals were using DAS. There was over-usage of DAS within the parks. It's not referring any any individual/party specifically doing anything "wrong." It simply refers to the fact that too many people were qualifying.
Splash4eva
Well-Known Member
They have also said the number was 8% they could have weeded the liars out & then limited party sizes even more & figured out re rides… we can agree to disagree but if you believe this was purely a lets make the guest experience better i am not buying it
Ravenclaw78
Well-Known Member
Learning coping mechanisms doesn't mean you're no longer disabled. Holding a full-time job and a family doesn't mean you're no longer disabled. I didn't use DAS for the first few trips we took to WDW, and let me tell you, "coping" with the parks and being able to actually enjoy the parks are light-years apart. FastPass gave me the ability to ride any headliner I could get a slot for, but the 1-hour window constraint amped up my issues to overdrive anyway. I've had some luck in brigning sensory toys and fidgets with me, but that can only go so far. Same with anti-anxiety meds, and they put me to sleep as soon as the stressor is passed. I hope I'll qualify for DAS under the new system, and if I don't, hopefully the return-to-line will work OK and I'll be self-aware enough to catch myself starting to panic from the sensory overload with sufficient time to find a cast member and get out of the queue while I'm still able to act rationally. Trust me that nobody wants to be anywhere near a 6' 3", 285 lb AuDHD adult whose "coping" has reached its limit.
Ravenclaw78
Well-Known Member
As far as overuse, the ability to make a new DAS reservation while still in the LL queue for the last was the one part of DAS that actually did feel like cheating to me. I guess that and sometimes being able to see a show or ride something with a short wait time while the clock ticked down on a DAS return time. It did occasionally let me do more in the parks some days than a neurotypical adult might without a very solid touring plan. The other times, I'd spend the wait time sitting in one of the quieter areas of the park to decompress or aimlessly browsing the gift shops or getting lunch. The 10-minute rule addresses some of this and I'm actually happy it's been implemented.
I had this whole thing written up and the page refreshed and erased it…. Here’s take two
I never said those people are no longer disabled. DAS is not for ALL people who are disabled. As you stated, you can sense when a panic attack is coming up or when you may need to remove yourself from a situation. You can ask before getting on the ride what to do, or wait outside the ride and meet up with your party at the merge. A child can’t do those things. They may not have learned coping mechanisms to understand when they have reached their limits or when they are triggered. Do you see a difference between neurodivergent children and adults? Not saying you shouldn’t qualify; that’s not up to me, but children and adults are absolutely different (I’d say expect the most extreme cases). Adults can also make choices on when they travel to help alleviate some of their triggers, children cannot.
Ravenclaw78
Well-Known Member
Sometimes can. And sometimes my wife or daughter notices the external signs in time. OTOH, sometimes it goes from "0 to 60" so fast that there's no time to catch myself or for someone to intervene. So yes, there absolutely is a difference between children and adults, but I'm not convinced that categorically saying "well, adults can just cope with it" is reasonable either.
I didn’t mean it as a catch all, not ALL adult, but a lot of them have learned coping mechanisms (myself included). Of course there will still be those times where we may not notice them and react, but will that be in EVERY line or is it a “might happen” in line scenario? I feel like *most* adults it is not going to happen every single time in every line, but will happen on occasion.
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
Occasionally? You definitely got to do more than any standby guest.
Ravenclaw78
Well-Known Member
Genie+, when working as intended, or a decent touring plan will get you as many attractions as we did most days if you avoid the longest waits. Since we don't do thrill rides much, FoP and RotR are the only things we do that often have a >60 minute posted standby time. We did one trip where I bought Genie+ as well as using DAS, solely so I could compare the two in terms of availability and see whether the paid version would work for us instead of DAS, and the answer was that we had some trouble getting what we wanted for the morning because the requirement of getting up at 7 AM every morning to book stuff was extremely untenable for us, but otherwise the two were quite comparable on all but the two most crowded days of that visit. The trouble is that Genie+ wasn't always working as intended, because DAS abuse (including perhaps those of us with legitimate DAS use cases who are functional enough to handle 20 minute waits) was eating up LL availability for popular rides on busier days so people paying for Genie+ weren't getting value from it and standby wait times were increasing. Like I said, I'm all for the 10 minute rule, and I'd be in favor of any other reasonable compromise that adds value to the paid options without at least maintaining parity for disabled guests. I'm not going to not make the best use I can of the accomodations provided, but I'm also OK with those accomodations being somewhat reduced or altered to operate more fairly.
Ravenclaw78
Well-Known Member
Right. For instance, fireworks shows are an absolute non-starter, and we have to find someplace like an out-of-the-way gift shop where they can't be heard at anywhere near full volume or we have to leave the park before they start. So we get a couple more rides, but neurotypical people can experience Fantasmic and the fireworks shows and other evening entertainment that I can't handle with or without DAS.
Ravenclaw78
Well-Known Member
Yes, we did. And they were absolutely miserable. We could only ride about half the rides in the parks and I spent the whole week constantly on-edge, arguing with other guests or CMs who were triggering my fight/flight reflex, and barely avoiding a complete meltdown. We only went back because my daughter enjoyed it so much despite all that. With DAS, we were able to approach the park in a way that allowed me to only need the same amount of decompression as the average neurotypical guest would need.
G+ seems to work well for those who do afternoon/evening touring, but not so much for those of us who do mornings and sometimes go back later. I’m excited for the switch to the new system where I can pre-book earlier time slots (hopefully). I hated trying to stack for afternoon as it was always up in the air how afternoons and evenings would actually end up going. Sometimes we made it back to the park and other times we didn’t. Rope drop was honestly the best time to get on the non headliner rides with minimal wait (or late at night but we aren’t park closers).