DAS changes coming WDW May 20/ DL June 18, 2024

[SueM in MN]

My son got his newest DAS the morning the day of the announcement, but before the announcement. We were told 60 days at the renewal, but I’m assuming it will actually be 30?

Disney’s website tells which will be 30 and which 60. I can’t look it up right now, but what I remember is 60 days was for those before the announcement and 30 days was for after.
That way, when they start the new process there won’t be a lot of people with 60 days

I feel this! I am taking DD (14) next month, overlapping the change. I do my chat tomorrow and am so nervous about it. DD has Type 1 Diabetes but I have never gotten her the DAS pass for that as my condition always allowed for the pass, which has benefitted both of us as she has had some blood sugar issues while in the parks. I feel like having DAS has alleviated some of the stresses of my condition and allowed me to have fun and try to relax. I know how to handle myself and my condition. I'm sad that it is now up to someone else to say, "no, you're fine, no DAS for you". Not trying to be melodramatic, but I know me. Someone I'm talking to through a screen doesn't understand my day to day life and if getting an accessibility pass for a trip for a few days gives me some momentary relief, I really wish that could be granted. I know I have the choice of whether to go to Disney or not, but having been able to use the pass and knowing how helpful it really is, it's a hard thing to now shift my brain back.

The only thing they have said was that DAS will be for a specific group where the line environment itself is the issue.
The have also said there will be other accommodations for other conditions- it just won’t be exactly DAS as we know it.
It’s very frustrating to not know what they have planned for other disabilities, but just because they have not released details doesn’t mean there is nothing

 

[Philsfan77]

TIME FOR A BREAK!

Recent posts are just imaginings and starting to get out of hand. Besides not being of any value to the discussion of changes, it’s divisive within a community that should be supportive of each other. It’s pushing posters away and adding confusion. Let’s put it on hold and wait for details of the changes.

Thinking we should start getting real feedback starting Saturday right? You guys might need to add a few more Mods for the weekend.

 

[babydoll65]

Individual Lightning Lanes are attractions with an upcharge to access the LL and are not included with G+. These include:
TRON
7DMT
GotG
Rise
FoP

Also, rides such as People Mover, Astro Orbitor, the train in both Mk and Ak, the boat ride in Mexico and (can't remember the actual name) the little dinosaur ride in Aks Dinoland.

 

[NumberOneDime]

There are many posts in this thread where posters are mentioning THEY THINK DAS users are abusing DAS while going on other attractions while waiting for their DAS Return Time.
There have been multiple things suggested to prevent this so called 'abuse':

• force DAS users to stay in a specific area while waiting
• track people's phones and penalize them if they are in another line
• track people and cancel their DAS Return Time if they go into another line
• not allow eating or shopping

Even though YOU particular posters may consider this abuse, Disney clearly doesn't and isn't concerned about it.
From the time DAS was begun and even now, Disney includes this in their FAQs on both WDW and Disneyland websites as things a guest can do during their wait time:

"Guests utilizing DAS can enjoy many other experiences throughout Walt Disney World Resort during a DAS virtual wait, such as other rides, shows, concerts, parades and Character Greetings. They can also take a rest in a break area, get something to eat or go shopping."

Some parks have certain attractions with little demand and very short waits (looking at you, Bug's Life). Some who is not able to wait in a 15-30 minute line is not going to be going around riding all the headliners like some of you seem to think.
Screenshot from Disney World Website
View attachment 852444

Does Disney allow DAS users to go into another line? Yes.

Is doing that abuse? Under current rules, no.

Does it attract fakers? I bet it does! It allows you to be in two lines at once!

Should Disney ban the practice and consider it abuse? Probably yes, although I admit this may impact some people with particular needs and should be well thought out.

 

[lanejudy]

Also, rides such as People Mover, Astro Orbitor, the train in both Mk and Ak, the boat ride in Mexico and (can't remember the actual name) the little dinosaur ride in Aks Dinoland.

You are correct that those attractions do not have G+ but they are not ILL$ either. The list I shared was the very few attractions with ILL$.

 

[jo-jo]

No matter what the plan, there are always people who will find ways to cheat. Not even talking just disney stuff. On TV, I hear, this person did this to cheat that store and I'm , I'd never would have thought of that.

It may not work out for us, but it sounds like disney has to do something.

 

[babydoll65]

You are correct that those attractions do not have G+ but they are not ILL$ either. The list I shared was the very few attractions with ILL$.

Sorry, maybe I misread the ops post. I thought they want only rides that do not have lightning lanes at all (standby only)

 

[2tinkerbell]

I guess we are “hyper users” or those that “abuse” the DAS because we get Genie+ and DAS. We mainly go to Disneyland/California Adventures. Disneyland doesn’t have a lot of LL because of size/age, which is basically all of Fantasyland. We are also rope drop people. Oh the horrors!!! We can knock out most of Fantasyland by 10 in the morning before it gets crowded by using the standby lines. We don’t use DAS (maybe we did this last time for Peter Pan???). We then have a nice break sitting at the tables under the Monorail.

As I explained in my 1st post regarding that we “abuse” the system, Disney seems to encourage this. The CM lead didn’t seem to have a problem with it and actually gave us both a Genie+ ride and a DAS return time. We use Genie+ where available and DAS when not available.

I would like someone to explain to me how this is abuse. One goes into the LL whether they use DAS or Genie+. With DAS you are virtually waiting and with Genie+ you are also virtually waiting for your return time. You are doing exactly what others are doing when you go on an attraction with a short wait time while waiting for either their Genie+ time or their DAS return time. You are virtually waiting for your Genie+ time having lunch or a break. Did you realize that one can have multiple Genie+ times? And that you can “stack” them for after your afternoon break? Oh my, talk about abusing!!!

There is no way we get more done than a typical park visitor. I laughed when I have been reading 15 attractions a day. I would be the one having a meltdown! There is so much more to enjoy. We also have to sit over 2 hours on the curb just so my DD can “see” the parade. We have to make other accommodations ourselves so she doesn’t get symptomatic. We have had to leave lines before because the LL is too long. That is our life and we have learned to deal with it and are happy that we have the opportunity.

I wanted to add that we took our beloved “Grams” to DLR about a year before she died. I don’t think Grams went on a single ride with us, but oh the memories! Every time we walk by Autopia my daughter and I laugh. Or we see Mickey Mouse on Main Street USA we recount the experience.

 

[lanejudy]

Sorry, maybe I misread the ops post. I thought they want only rides that do not have lightning lanes at all (standby only)

No worries! Someone else posted a long list of attractions without G+ or ILL$. Some of those do allow DAS but some don't.

 

[starlite_]

From hyperusers, no doubt. especially those who probably shouldn't have DAS as the right accommodation.

I do not believe the majority of DAS holders do this regardless.

Even if Disney heads want to do this...how to implement such a block? Noone polices the standby line. How about eating which are also the resting places for many? Some have proposed blocking that too. Curious on the how with this pie in the sky proposal...can it be done?

Enforcement of abuse is a much lower hanging fruit imho

I agree that working on the abuse first is easier than trying to solve hyperuse (for lack of a better term).

Honestly, if Disney can send to your account your ride pictures via MagicBand, they can track when you enter a stand-by line.

Just to make it clear, I don't think anyone doing this currently is abusing the system, I think the system is flawed and that is on Disney. I also think that if someone buys Genie+ (DAS guest or no DAS guest) then they should be able to use it regardless of anything else, so a DAS guest booking rides with both DAS and Genie+ is perfectly within their right to do so, after all DAS is supposed to be stand-by.

I disagree with those that say DAS users should wait in a room. The point of DAS is that guests can take care of their needs somewhere dif than the queue. So eating, shopping, walking, sitting, bathroom are all things that do that.

I do believe though, that being able to be in two stand-by lines at the same time is part of why it is so attractive to abusers (ABUSERS, not hyperusers or other legit DAS guests). I don't know the solution to this. Maybe it's not letting folks with a DAS return access a dif stand-by line, maybe it's not letting them in if the stand-by line is longer than 20 min, maybe Disney won't do anything so they can pixie-dust DAS guests. It's up to them to decide.

I think at the end of the day we are all simply trying to blue sky solutions on how to make DAS better for those that need it to do Disney Parks.

 

[Tatebeck]

Easier..turn off the app since only tracking while.open. or just logout. No easy way to implement a reliable.process let alone the nebulous aspect of it.

Not so easy, this process thing.

If they wanted to do it, they would obviously make it so that turning off tracking, turning off your phone, or closing the app for more than a couple minutes (the time it would take to do a phone reset, restart the app a couple times if needed, etc) would also cancel the DAS selection.

It would actually be pretty easy.

 

[PrincessV]

I would think Disney would still enable GR in the parks to be able to add/remove people from DAS (or whatever new accommodation replaces it) users’ parties. There is no need to reevaluate the need for accommodation in that case - it’s only a matter of DAS user visiting with Guest B instead of Guest A at that time.

To put it to a real life example… tomorrow I - the DAS user - will be spending the day with Guest A from my Friends & Family list. So I have GR in the park select Guest A as a member of my DAS party and we go about our day. Two days later, Guest A isn’t around, but Guests B and C join me in a park for the day: I ask GR to remove Guest A from my DAS party and add Guests B and C.

This isn’t a departure from how it works now. On my last day visit, Guest A was already in my DAS party, and I went to GR to add Guests B and C - they were already in my F&F list, but only GR could add them to my DAS party. So I then had a DAS party of 4: me + 3. But not every Guest wanted to ride every ride. So when I booked a return time through DAS, I selected only the Guests who would be accompanying me.

The tech is already set up to manage your DAS party for each attraction on your own - the only change would be limiting the ability to select more than 3 additional Guests per DAS selection. I actually think Disney’s IT could handle that, unlike some of the other ideas floated, lol!

 

[2tinkerbell]

If Disney decides that one can’t have Genie+ and DAS at the same time, then they will have to figure out a way to provide the PhotoPass pictures for free because it is offered with Genie+.

I don’t understand why one feels that you can’t have more than 1 return time with Genie+ because that is part of the draw to purchasing it. This is no different than having 2 FPs. Or are you saying that one can’t have a DAS return time and a Genie+ time simultaneously? What happens if your Genie+ time is 4 o’clock in the afternoon? You can’t use your DAS until after you have gone on the attraction at 4 o’clock? What happens to those attractions that don’t have LL? You are just SOL because you scheduled a Genie+ ride? In Disneyland there are more rides without LL than with.

I am out of here. I guess we are the problem or that my daughter doesn’t “really” “truly” need DAS because we utilize both Genie+ and DAS.

 

[lanejudy]

If they wanted to do it, they would obviously make it so that turning off tracking, turning off your phone, or closing the app for more than a couple minutes (the time it would take to do a phone reset, restart the app a couple times if needed, etc) would also cancel the DAS selection.

It would actually be pretty easy.

That would be a punishment to the DAS user, and probably illegal. There is no valid reason the DAS user must be tracked personally, no moreso than any other guest. I frequently shut my phone down because my battery drains pretty quickly.

 

[Tatebeck]

There are many posts in this thread where posters are mentioning THEY THINK DAS users are abusing DAS while going on other attractions while waiting for their DAS Return Time.
There have been multiple things suggested to prevent this so called 'abuse':

• force DAS users to stay in a specific area while waiting
• track people's phones and penalize them if they are in another line
• track people and cancel their DAS Return Time if they go into another line
• not allow eating or shopping

Even though YOU particular posters may consider this abuse, Disney clearly doesn't and isn't concerned about it.
From the time DAS was begun and even now, Disney includes this in their FAQs on both WDW and Disneyland websites as things a guest can do during their wait time:

"Guests utilizing DAS can enjoy many other experiences throughout Walt Disney World Resort during a DAS virtual wait, such as other rides, shows, concerts, parades and Character Greetings. They can also take a rest in a break area, get something to eat or go shopping."

Some parks have certain attractions with little demand and very short waits (looking at you, Bug's Life). Some who is not able to wait in a 15-30 minute line is not going to be going around riding all the headliners like some of you seem to think.
Screenshot from Disney World Website
View attachment 852444

Of course not everyone doing something else while in a DAS virtual wait is abusing the system. But pretty much all of those that ARE faking, taking advantage of, or abusing the system are doing something else while in a DAS virtual wait, usually rides. We are trying to stop the second group, not the first legitimate group.

What I had said that Disney could do if they wanted would not limit shows, concerts, parades, character greets, resting, eating, etc., just rides. If something like that would cut down on the people lying and faking to get DAS and keep DAS for those who actually need it, it may be worth it.

 

[voxparse]

And had Disney been prudent with their announcement, they would have released enough information to quash a lot of the anxiety being shared here. It's hard to adapt to something when you don't yet know what that something will be. I don't blame people who have used DAS for UC/crohns, IBS/IBD for being anxious - they've been given very little information about how replacement accommodations will function. I don't blame people for being anxious about the rider swap as an accommodation now, as there is little information delineating how qualifying for that would be different than DAS.

telling people to just move on and adapt before they have the information they need to do so seems, well, a bit unrealistic.

We can agree to disagree, I have rarely (if ever) had all the information needed to adapt to a situation before I was in the situation. It sucks and I totally agree its not ideal, I was just saying that's what we deal with every day all day and this will be no different. I don't blame anyone for being anxious, that is totally normal. I'm just reminding folks that they have adapted before and will do it again or if this happens to be their first time in the wringer, they'll get through it and they will figure it out because disabled people and their caregivers are 1000% more resilient than just about anyone else on the planet (this part is not opinion )

 

[lanejudy]

Folks -- both mods posted warnings last night and I will repeat it now: we need to stop with all the "solutions." Disney has made their decision. They have lawyers and analysts and data. My understanding is they have incorporated feedback from disability groups and/or DAS users. So many of the "solutions" presented by various posters on this thread would not be allowed and is downright discriminatory.

It is time to move along until we have more info, unless you have a specific question to ask about the info we have at this time.

 

[Philsfan77]

I guess we are “hyper users” or those that “abuse” the DAS because we get Genie+ and DAS. We mainly go to Disneyland/California Adventures. Disneyland doesn’t have a lot of LL because of size/age, which is basically all of Fantasyland. We are also rope drop people. Oh the horrors!!! We can knock out most of Fantasyland by 10 in the morning before it gets crowded by using the standby lines. We don’t use DAS (maybe we did this last time for Peter Pan???). We then have a nice break sitting at the tables under the Monorail.

As I explained in my 1st post regarding that we “abuse” the system, Disney seems to encourage this. The CM lead didn’t seem to have a problem with it and actually gave us both a Genie+ ride and a DAS return time. We use Genie+ where available and DAS when not available.

I would like someone to explain to me how this is abuse. One goes into the LL whether they use DAS or Genie+. With DAS you are virtually waiting and with Genie+ you are also virtually waiting for your return time. You are doing exactly what others are doing when you go on an attraction with a short wait time while waiting for either their Genie+ time or their DAS return time. You are virtually waiting for your Genie+ time having lunch or a break. Did you realize that one can have multiple Genie+ times? And that you can “stack” them for after your afternoon break? Oh my, talk about abusing!!!

There is no way we get more done than a typical park visitor. I laughed when I have been reading 15 attractions a day. I would be the one having a meltdown as well! There is so much more to enjoy. We also have to sit over 2 hours on the curb just so my DD can “see” the parade. We have to make other accommodations ourselves so she doesn’t get overwhelmed and overstimulated. We have had to leave lines before because the LL is too long and/or overstimulating. That is our life and we have learned to deal with it and are happy that we have the opportunity.

I wanted to add that we took our beloved “Grams” to DLR about a year before she died. I don’t think Grams went on a single ride with us, but oh the memories! Every time we walk by Autopia my daughter and I laugh. Or we see Mickey Mouse on Main Street USA we recount the experience.

Let me just say, I don't believe this is abuse. However, comparing usage to that of a genie+/LL user paying for a luxury/enhanced service to that of what DAS is intended to be, provide reasonable accommodation/access to the theme park on par with the general guest isn't an accurate depiction and why I'm guessing some people deem it abuse. The average guest (those using the standby line) can't access two lines at once, which is what the DAS user in your situation is doing. Your wait time is based on standing virtually in that line with the average guest, not on your return time waiting with genie+ users who are paying for an enhanced experience. In your situation, you are waiting virtually with the standby guest, and also now accessing a second standby line. No one else can be in 2 standby lines at the same time. Again, I personally don't lump this in as abuse, but I don't feel you're comparing two situations that are the same when you link it to genie+/LL users.

 

[Philsfan77]

Folks -- both mods posted warnings last night and I will repeat it now: we need to stop with all the "solutions." Disney has made their decision. They have lawyers and analysts and data. My understanding is they have incorporated feedback from disability groups and/or DAS users. So many of the "solutions" presented by various posters on this thread would not be allowed and is downright discriminatory.

It is time to move along until we have more info, unless you have a specific question to ask about the info we have at this time.

Am I correct in thinking Saturday will be the first time the new system gets tested via the virtual chat based on the 30 day timeline for DAS?

 

[sprem96]

If they wanted to do it, they would obviously make it so that turning off tracking, turning off your phone, or closing the app for more than a couple minutes (the time it would take to do a phone reset, restart the app a couple times if needed, etc) would also cancel the DAS selection.

It would actually be pretty easy.

But someone could argue that they're trying to conserve battery life on their phone, so that could never work. Besides Disney doesn't have the authority to tell someone what to do with their phones. And even if they did implement a rule like that, the easy loop hole is leave your phone outside the queue, whether it be a locker/stroller/family member etc.