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

[Becky Mouse]

Ok…but if he has a cooling vest, then why were you insisting (incorrectly) that Disney had to provide him one?

And you did say he would be happy with a cooling vest, thus my question.

I think some people are a little confused and think that a disability means that Disney needs to provide them with a FREE service/accommodation, and that just isn't true. There are many people with mobility issues who cannot walk and stand for an entire day at the park. Disney doesn't give those guests free scooters and wheel chairs. However, Disney does rent them out. So, if someone needs a cooling vest and didn't bring their own, perhaps that's an item Disney will sell or rent to them. However, my guess would be that it's almost always cheaper to bring your own!

 

[mercuryvenus]

I think some people are a little confused and think that a disability means that Disney needs to provide them with a FREE service/accommodation, and that just isn't true. There are many people with mobility issues who cannot walk and stand for an entire day at the park. Disney doesn't give those guests free scooters and wheel chairs. However, Disney does rent them out. So, if someone needs a cooling vest and didn't bring their own, perhaps that's an item Disney will sell or rent to them. However, my guess would be that it's almost always cheaper to bring your own!

I never actually said Disney has to provide a cooling vest. I said they need to accommodate. That might look like a cooling vest and it might not.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Do you mean April 19th? If not, you better get on it! Seriously though. I hope it's an easy process for you.

Woops, meant May 9th! My head was reeling after seeing how ugly the thread was as I caught up on reading it that I mixed up the month!

My dates are right in the mix of it- we'll be there June 9-13. So in the park after the change but applying before the change. Thank you, I am very stressed about it!

 

[SteveMouse]

The biggest change seems to be that Cast Members are no longer the first line when it comes to approving/denying DAS. It will now be handled by Inspire Health Alliance.

Inspire Health Alliance employees have the knowledge necessary to "dig deeper" into why a Guest requires accomodations, and the specifics of their disability. Disney College Program Cast Members who work Guest Services don't have that training.

I guarantee you they do not have an expert in at least one of my conditions. There are 5 in the country, and basically 3 that see most patients. One at the University of Pennsylvania, one at Mayo, and one at UCSF. There are about 300 patients in the US. Most docs in the US have never seen a case, let alone 2.

They are going to be offering a return to line accommodation.

I've traveled to WDW with my cousin with MS. It was my trip in 2009 when we ran the half marathon! She ran it, too. She travels to WDW pretty much every year. Her condition is kind of cyclical (is that the right word?) where sometimes her MS is debilitating, and she needs to rent a scooter. Other times it's not, and walking and running is actually good for her and helps reduce the affects of MS. She has become an avid runner since her diagnosis, and being a runner has kept her symptoms more manageable for much of the time (not all the time). However, one issue she has is that she can't ride thrill rides and roller coasters anymore. For many people with MS, rides like those affect their condition and exacerbates their symptoms.

So, depending on symptoms, people with MS can rent a scooter. They can use the return to line option. If they want shorter lines, they can buy Genie+. There are lots of options available depending on their need on a given day!

I think there are a lot of people on here trying to claim that DAS is needed for them, but Disney will be offering other accommodations that are better suited to address the needs of various medical conditions and disabilities.

A real issue is what may be preferential treatment for individuals with developmental delay disabilities. Why should that "crowd" receive DAS while another individual who is also disabled and has the same type of limitation have to pay for a (not as good) accommodation ("good" here means the ability to repeat the same attraction. Genie is once and done (and how will
that work with leaving the line for medical disability reasons ) Discrimination across disabilities is something that could (and should) be challenged, perhaps in court.

 

[Becky Mouse]

I never actually said Disney has to provide a cooling vest. I said they need to accommodate. That might look like a cooling vest and it might not.

Gotcha! That makes sense. Yes, I think Disney will offer a wider range of accommodations now to meet the needs of different medical conditions and disabilities instead of giving a blanket DAS pass to so many. It'll be interesting to learn the details of these other accommodations in the next few weeks.

I also wonder if one accommodation will be allowing some guests to purchase Genie+ in advance. For example, if a guest reports that they will benefit from shorter lines, perhaps Disney will offer them to purchase Genie+ right then for the future trip. That way, guests who need it know they have it and don't have to worry about it selling out.

 

[audrey2580]

Unfortunately, that option was too late for us by the time they released this information. We check in a week after this starts. We have no time after this begins to sit back and see how things play out. If our vacation wasn't until later, it would be easier to digest this info and make alternative plans if we can't get the DAS. They should have given more time between the release of this info and implementation.

Same. We arrive 5/21.

 

[Amydisneyfan]

Please let me know if I'm wrong

People should be considerate for disabilities of all ages adult, kids and service dogs etc 'm very shocked people have been abusing it the system by showing off on tiktok thinking they'd got free Genie plus but it's great that Disney started to crack down on tiktokers and reels when they brag about getting lightning lanes free. They can also see who's got DAS and still using standby lanes while waiting for their booked rides.

Please let me know if I'm wrong what we don't know at the moment is maybe it's possible that Disney could still ban guest who request the video call and gets DAS declined I think if you get declined you might be banned which we don't know at the moment please let me know if I'm wrong as I'm might not be 100% correct

 

[Angel Ariel]

You are not the monolith for your disability. Just like I'm not the monolith for neurodivergent people, or anyone else here is for theirs.

Just because you don't need it except in rare cases does *not* mean it does not apply to others.

The fact that this poster continues to refer to DAS as "line skipping" really says it all. The difference between listening to understand and listening to respond..

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Unfortunately, that option was too late for us by the time they released this information. We check in a week after this starts. We have no time after this begins to sit back and see how things play out. If our vacation wasn't until later, it would be easier to digest this info and make alternative plans if we can't get the DAS. They should have given more time between the release of this info and implementation.

Same. We arrive 5/21.

Yes, agreed. Making my dining reservations today (which is normally a fun planning day!) and I just feel sick with stress over this.

 

[SteveMouse]

I never actually said Disney has to provide a cooling vest. I said they need to accommodate. That might look like a cooling vest and it might not.

I don't think Disney prohibits cooling vests. They certainly DONT provide free wheelchairs, ecvs, or vision correcting glasses. Providing personal equipment is generally considered out of scope as an accommodation (save certain devices for the deaf/hard of hearing).

 

[mercuryvenus]

Gotcha! That makes sense. Yes, I think Disney will offer a wider range of accommodations now to meet the needs of different medical conditions and disabilities instead of giving a blanket DAS pass to so many. It'll be interesting to learn the details of these other accommodations in the next few weeks.

I also wonder if one accommodation will be allowing some guests to purchase Genie+ in advance. For example, if a guest reports that they will benefit from shorter lines, perhaps Disney will offer them to purchase Genie+ right then for the future trip. That way, guests who need it know they have it and don't have to worry about it selling out.

Requiring someone to purchase something is not a reasonable accommodation, per ADA.

 

[The Renegade]

@Amydisneyfan, I don't think being "declined" means you will be banned. Disney does have a statement about folks who are found to be caught lying, though.



Requesting a video call to see if you qualify isn't the same as lying to cheat the system. For example, if someone with a mobility issue calls to ask if they qualify, they might get turned down but I don't think they'd be banned for life for asking. Especially since they may or may not know.

Someone calling and pretending to have Autism or some other disability on the other hand..

 

[koszmok]

This is probably not very practical at this point, but I was thinking about how a truly "equal access" system could be designed if you were starting from scratch, that would solve the problem of people needing to leave the line, especially if they were in a scooter or wheelchair. Imagine a large, indoor air-conditioned DAS waiting room that included plenty of benches and open space for mobility vehicles, and included its own accessible bathroom facilities and made free water available. Each DAS waiting room might be designated for one single ride or for multiple rides in the same area. Anyone who has been issued with a DAS and wishes to do a ride scans into the waiting room and waits in there for whatever the current standby wait time is, minus 15 minutes, at which point they can leave the waiting room and enter the ride via the LL. Anyone leaving the room early loses their place in the virtual line, but given that the room includes bathroom facilities and offers water, there should be no reason for anyone to need to do this. This would deter potential abusers as it would not give them time to do more rides than they would otherwise be able to do, while allowing DAS holders to wait for the ride in air-conditioned comfort, and would fully solve the logistical problem of people in mobility devices needing to leave the line to use the bathroom.

This is similar how DAS works in Tokyo Disney. I never tried so I`m not sure there is bathroom access though. But basically you have to wait in a waiting room the duration of the regular line, and when your time is up you can get on the ride.

 

[LuvinTheWorld]

I'm also interested to see how this impacts line rejoining too as entire families 'rejoin' often which this appears to be able to address as no person without a 'bathroom pass' can rejoin

I don't see how this is even going to work without causing major upset with all guests. If it is going to accommodate previous DAS users with medical requirements that can't be cleared up with a quick potty break, then it can't be time limited and the entire party will need to leave and maybe not come back for a while. Then when they do come back and "rejoin" they will be placed in front of another party who won't even know what happened and will consider them "line cutters". I can see this upsetting many people in the regular line.

 

[rdaky]

I'm skeptical. I'm not sure it's going to make a difference in wait times. As a local, I know a lot of people who use DAS- annual pass holders who go multiple times per week and there are cast members who have DAS, too. And I have 2 kids who are neurodivergent but we actually don't use DAS because neither of them have an issue in lines. They just don't want to wait, but I don't know anyone who actually wants to wait. So we don't have DAS because I'm not going to use that reason to skip lines when they aren't kids who need it. (I'm not saying other people don't need it, but just saying that mine don't) It has been suggested to us, multiple times, by other locals that we should just get DAS. One of my kids recently went with a group of 50+ local teens and was the only one without DAS. So if anything, maybe a curb on HOW often you use it would have been helpful, too, because there is definitely some abuse happening among locals.

 

[Becky Mouse]

Requiring someone to purchase something is not a reasonable accommodation, per ADA.

Not a lawyer, but I think it depends on the need and use. I think you're referring to accommodations in the work place. In the work place, your employer needs to provide free accommodations up to a reasonable point. So, a workplace might provide a magnifying lens for a computer screen, a desk near a bathroom, a place to pump milk, and a place to store breastmilk. However, if providing an accommodation is expensive and would negative impact the company, they don't need to provide it. You can't require your employer to provide a million dollar accommodation, for example.

As for theme parks, that isn't quite the same as work place accommodations. Typically, unless something is grandfathered in, everything needs to be handicap accessible (ie., ramps, the ability to allow someone to get on and off a ride by stopping it, etc.). However, there are some rides that just aren't safe for different medical conditions. Disney doesn't have to change the ride for people. They just post a warning so that people who have, say, a heart condition or epilepsy know they shouldn't ride it. If I'm pregnant, I can't get angry at Disney for not accommodating me on Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster, for example. I just shouldn't ride it. That isn't violating my rights--It's an amusement park! As or other accommodations: If someone has a mobility issue, Disney offers a paid scooter rental. They don't give it for free. The idea that all companies must provide free accommodations to all guests must be inaccurate. Imagine if I went to a coffee shop and then demanded they provide me with a free wheel chair to use in their store. Things don't work that way.

If someone says they have, say, IBS and may have urgent restroom breaks, Disney will probably respond by offering something like a free Return to Line pass. That is a free accommodation they will offer. If that person then says they would really benefit from standing in shorter lines (why?), I think Disney could then respond with allowing them to purchase Genie+ in advance to make sure it doesn't sell out. That would be more of a gesture, as the accommodation would really be the free Return to Line pass.

 

[thRob]

I'm so excited about the changes to the DAS pass system. This is a much needed change and will continue to help the people who truly need it

 

[nalababybear]

I don't see how this is even going to work without causing major upset with all guests. If it is going to accommodate previous DAS users with medical requirements that can't be cleared up with a quick potty break, then it can't be time limited and the entire party will need to leave and maybe not come back for a while. Then when they do come back and "rejoin" they will be placed in front of another party who won't even know what happened and will consider them "line cutters". I can see this upsetting many people in the regular line.

Yeah, it'll be a learning curve. So was G+ for folk. People are able to adjust and learn.

 

[ryang25]

I'm skeptical. I'm not sure it's going to make a difference in wait times. As a local, I know a lot of people who use DAS- annual pass holders who go multiple times per week and there are cast members who have DAS, too. And I have 2 kids who are neurodivergent but we actually don't use DAS because neither of them have an issue in lines. They just don't want to wait, but I don't know anyone who actually wants to wait. So we don't have DAS because I'm not going to use that reason to skip lines when they aren't kids who need it. (I'm not saying other people don't need it, but just saying that mine don't) It has been suggested to us, multiple times, by other locals that we should just get DAS. One of my kids recently went with a group of 50+ local teens and was the only one without DAS. So if anything, maybe a curb on HOW often you use it would have been helpful, too, because there is definitely some abuse happening among locals.

This is interesting to read. My local park in England, Alton Towers, has just introduced a pre-book scheme for their equivalent (Ride Access Pass). Limited numbers available and you need to pre-book.

Conditions like T1D and inflammatory bowel disease are absolutely eligible here and are actually one of the higher ‘levels’ in terms of assistance required.

Not clued up on US law but I suspect that will fall foul as you couldn’t just turn up on the day and get assistance.

I also think AP holders would be very annoyed as they already iirc have to book their park days.

 

[razlime]

I think that goes both ways. You yourself called me able-bodied but how do you know that I am?

Excuse me? I don't believe I've ever replied to you.