Video Chat

[HappyDisneyWife]

Well, after being in queue for nearly 6 hours, I was finally asked if I was ready for the video chat at 10:10 pm EST last night. I excitedly answered “yes” and a screen popped up with a msg stating “you need to allow camera & mic access for this page & refresh.” For the record, I was using Opera on my iPad Pro (since people said chrome worked better than safari). I could choose camera, but mic wasn’t ever an option. So, after refreshing twice, it shut me down.

With safari, it’s easy to turn on both camera + mic, so that’s what I’ll be using next time!

 

[Dispro1]

Well, after being in queue for nearly 6 hours, I was finally asked if I was ready for the video chat at 10:10 pm EST last night. I excitedly answered “yes” and a screen popped up with a msg stating “you need to allow camera & mic access for this page & refresh.” For the record, I was using Opera on my iPad Pro (since people said chrome worked better than safari). I could choose camera, but mic wasn’t ever an option. So, after refreshing twice, it shut me down.

With safari, it’s easy to turn on both camera + mic, so that’s what I’ll be using next time!

Oh no! I'm so sorry! This video chat seems to be so sensitive to certain systems/software! Maybe safari will work fine if you have a newer phone than I do? Can you try again in the morning at exactly 7am? The wait time was so much less right at 7am than I waited on my other attempts and then at least if something goes wrong again, you haven't waited 6+ hours. It seems like minutes really matter too just like with the virtual queues for rides. Good luck whenever you try again!

 

[Claire82013]

This morning, I followed your steps exactly and I finally got everything done!!! Thank you for the details! It took about two hours total, but part of that was waiting in the planning queue to do the advance passes after I had done the video chat. I was using my daughter's laptop which is pretty new which I think may be part of the reason it worked this time?? I really think using an older phone (I have an iPhone 7 but have updated IOS) may have been part of my problem?? I remember someone else mentioning using an iPhone 11 so I was thinking maybe my older phone was the reason I kept getting stuck in a loop where I was sent back to the pre qualification chat instead of the queue for the video chat?? I hope others who haven't registered yet will have an easier time going forward.

Seems like there might be something to using chrome! I’m so happy for you.

 

[♥ Mandi ♥]

Those of you connecting via your phone, how do you keep the chat connection from being reset when the phone is locked or you exit out of Safari?
Is there any way to prevent that?
If not. we'll do from a laptop.

 

[Liquidice]

This morning, I followed your steps exactly and I finally got everything done!!! Thank you for the details! It took about two hours total, but part of that was waiting in the planning queue to do the advance passes after I had done the video chat. I was using my daughter's laptop which is pretty new which I think may be part of the reason it worked this time?? I really think using an older phone (I have an iPhone 7 but have updated IOS) may have been part of my problem?? I remember someone else mentioning using an iPhone 11 so I was thinking maybe my older phone was the reason I kept getting stuck in a loop where I was sent back to the pre qualification chat instead of the queue for the video chat?? I hope others who haven't registered yet will have an easier time going forward.

Glad you finally got everything to work!

I definitely think using a phone or tablet could potentially be an issue - the chat itself seems to need to be connected to hold your place in line all the time, and I think you had mentioned as well as others messages about getting disconnected.

Most mobile devices don't hold their connection open indefinitely because they are trying to conserve battery life. Laptops tend to do a much better job at this.

If it matters, I work in IT (not for Disney though lol) - don't know exactly how Disney chat works, but based on what I've seen and yours and other's experiences, I think laptop or some kind of desktop PC is the best route for success.

 

[otg]

Those of you connecting via your phone, how do you keep the chat connection from being reset when the phone is locked or you exit out of Safari?
Is there any way to prevent that?
If not. we'll do from a laptop.

I took the lock off my phone. Left the chat window open. My screen turns off after a few seconds so I just opened it and checked it every five minutes or so.

 

[anne60]

My experience - I've tried off and on over the past week. I would estimate that I waited about a total of 15 hours (not consecutively). I logged in at 8 am this morning and was contacted at about 9:30 to fill out the form. About 15 minutes later I was connected to the video chat. The cast member was very nice and took my family member's photo with little trouble (I was connected on my phone). He then disconnected and told me I would be contacted through the chat to make my selections. After about 5-10 minutes, another cast member contacted me for that. There was a little hiccup because the DAS was not showing on my MDE yet, but he got that fixed and walked me through the selections. Overall I would say this was totally worth the time I invested and mostly because I was able to discuss the disability in private and ahead of my vacation. We are dealing with a new diagnosis and I could just see myself breaking down in Guest Services and basically being upset the entire first day of our trip. I'm beyond grateful this option was available.

 

[gottalovepluto]

While waiting for video chat we got “no connection available, message us notice” and then we typed a question asking about that and it shows in the chat and the message is gone right now. Is the connection restored? Stay on this chat?

 

[Dispro1]

While waiting for video chat we got “no connection available, message us notice” and then we typed a question asking about that and it shows in the chat and the message is gone right now. Is the connection restored? Stay on this chat?

When I got that notice, it appeared in a black stripe across the top of my screen. Sometimes it would then turn gray and would say message restored and the message would disappear completely and the screen looked normal. At that point, I was still connected. If your screen looks normal and you no longer see the words connection unavailable, it was probably restored and you just didn't notice because it happens fast. I would hang on to see what happens as long as the connection unavailable message doesn't reappear. I found that if I let my screen go into sleep mode, I was much more likely to lose the connection so try to keep your screen active as much as possible. Good luck!

 

[2tinkerbell]

Sorry but this process doesn’t seem very effective. I am not understanding why 1 person can’t do everything - as in determine you are eligible for the assistance and assign the advance selections.
It also is bothering me that you have to complete a form vs verbally explain things. Not that I would do this (lie) but with a written form Disney now has concrete proof of lying to get a DAS. They then have the legal right to ban you.

While my DD qualifies for DAS (at least the past numerous years) I am worried about getting it. We plan on purchasing Genie+ and the rides that are Individual Attraction Purchase. We are meeting up with friends for the majority of our trip. Sometimes my DD does great without utilizing DAS return times and sometimes she really needs it. Her greatest disability is her variability, especially towards the evenings. If we have a good touring plan, I am not sure how much we will use it. When we were last at Disneyland, I think we only used it a couple of times in like 4 days. I am worried that Disney now has the data to question why we need it and that perhaps we are trying to take advantage.

 

[Liquidice]

Sorry but this process doesn’t seem very effective. I am not understanding why 1 person can’t do everything - as in determine you are eligible for the assistance and assign the advance selections.
It also is bothering me that you have to complete a form vs verbally explain things. Not that I would do this (lie) but with a written form Disney now has concrete proof of lying to get a DAS. They then have the legal right to ban you.

While my DD qualifies for DAS (at least the past numerous years) I am worried about getting it. We plan on purchasing Genie+ and the rides that are Individual Attraction Purchase. We are meeting up with friends for the majority of our trip. Sometimes my DD does great without utilizing DAS return times and sometimes she really needs it. Her greatest disability is her variability, especially towards the evenings. If we have a good touring plan, I am not sure how much we will use it. When we were last at Disneyland, I think we only used it a couple of times in like 4 days. I am worried that Disney now has the data to question why we need it and that perhaps we are trying to take advantage.

I thought the form you fill out was simply a form with your name, number, MDE email address and a reservation number if you have one? Thats what the form asked for when I did this earlier. AFAIK you do not need to write down any reasons for why you need DAS in the form, unless that changed recently.

Also - when I did this, there was only 1 type of CM, and it took me waiting over 6 hours starting at 7:03am. This is because there are a limited number of video chat CMs. By having multiple layers of CMs, they can filter out people who don't need the video chat CM and decrease wait times for people who really need the video chat CMs. Similarly, making the ride selections via chat only opens up the video chat CM for people getting DAS and requiring the video chat.

I do think the bad part of having multiple CMs is it opens the door for issues, like I experienced on my 2nd chat which took over 16 hours and was because when the first CM put me into the queue to video chat it did not work correctly and I ended up back in a queue to talk to the first CM that takes the form data again.

You also don't need to do the video chat, you can opt to still go to guest services and get DAS the same way you previously have - the drawback is you don't get the DAS Advance Selections if you do it this way.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Helped a family member with this today. He used Chrome on a newer iphone, Lock Screen off, plugged into charger. Started around 9:30am PST, entire process from DAS approval to ride selections took until 2pm. We’re pretty happy with that considering what others have been through.

Tip- do this as soon as your last trip day hits the 30 day mark. I suspect rides run out of slots, for instance our first day we’ve got a 7:30pm test track but wanted something near 5pm. Mid-trip we’ve got a 3:30 slinky, wanted 10am, agent said she booked soonest available. The further into our trip we got the closer the times got to the 10/noon/5pm slots I had requested.

I was glad we had our trip schedule in front of us and we had written down our ideal DAS advance selections ahead of time.

Oh! Our group changes mid trip from 4 to 5 and the agent had no problems with that. She had us check the Disney account to make sure everything looked ok before signing off.

 

[mzozzietj]

I appreciate this thread for helping to set my expectations. I got through the initial CM with the form so quickly I was flying on false hope for a bit. I've now been waiting almost 4 hours for the video chat portion. I'm hoping we can get through soon as my daughter isn't usually up past 9. This is certainly challenging as I couldn't start the process until she got home from school.

Thanks for sharing all of your experiences to help give the rest of us an idea of what to expect!

 

[anne60]

Sorry but this process doesn’t seem very effective. I am not understanding why 1 person can’t do everything - as in determine you are eligible for the assistance and assign the advance selections.
It also is bothering me that you have to complete a form vs verbally explain things. Not that I would do this (lie) but with a written form Disney now has concrete proof of lying to get a DAS. They then have the legal right to ban you.

While my DD qualifies for DAS (at least the past numerous years) I am worried about getting it. We plan on purchasing Genie+ and the rides that are Individual Attraction Purchase. We are meeting up with friends for the majority of our trip. Sometimes my DD does great without utilizing DAS return times and sometimes she really needs it. Her greatest disability is her variability, especially towards the evenings. If we have a good touring plan, I am not sure how much we will use it. When we were last at Disneyland, I think we only used it a couple of times in like 4 days. I am worried that Disney now has the data to question why we need it and that perhaps we are trying to take advantage.

The form does not ask anything about a disability. It just asks name, email, phone and reservation number if you have one.

 

[airplane]

I started the process at 7 o’clock this morning with Jose. Filled out the first form at 7:20. I did the video chat at 10:20 with Rain.
unfortunately I was disconnected before I could make the ride selections.
I used Chrome on my iPhone 8 and had no connectivity issues. I think it was a mistake on Rains end.

 

[Dispro1]

I started the process at 7 o’clock this morning with Jose. Filled out the first form at 7:20. I did the video chat at 10:20 with Rain.
unfortunately I was disconnected before I could make the ride selections.
I used Chrome on my iPhone 8 and had no connectivity issues. I think it was a mistake on Rains end.

Did you find the link on the DAS page for DAS planning? This link is different from the Video chat link and you can go directly to the queue for the planning chat to book your advance selections. I did this the other night to make some changes to what I had booked and it was pretty quick!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Did you find the link on the DAS page for DAS planning? This link is different from the Video chat link and you can go directly to the queue for the planning chat to book your advance selections. I did this the other night to make some changes to what I had booked and it was pretty quick!

Thanks for this tip, trying it out today as we want to make some changes if possible! Link for anyone looking.

ETA: took about two hours, CM who answered was able to make the changes we wanted

 

[Dispro1]

Thanks for this tip, trying it out today as we want to make some changes if possible! Link for anyone looking.

ETA: took about two hours, CM who answered was able to make the changes we wanted

Thanks for posting the link. I don't know how to do that lol! Sorry it took you two hours (only took me 25 minutes) but glad you got it done!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Thanks for posting the link. I don't know how to do that lol! Sorry it took you two hours (only took me 25 minutes) but glad you got it done!

That’s probably what I get for doing it Sat afternoon

 

[airplane]

Thank you so much for posting this link I will try tomorrow and let everyone know how it works out! Thank you!