Guess we'll see how other disabilities are dealt with over the coming days.
Disney's new verbiage on the DAS page:
What to Know About DAS
- DAS is intended to accommodate only those Guests who, due to a developmental disability like autism or similar disorder, are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time.
- DAS doesn’t provide immediate access to experiences, but rather allows Guests to request a return time for a specific experience that is comparable to the current standby wait.
- The Guest for which DAS is being requested must be present during registration and must experience the attraction when redeeming a DAS return time at Walt Disney World theme parks.
That language is not new. The first point has been on the Disney sites DAS pages since April 9. The only thing I see that's changed is it had said "small number of guests" in some places instead of "only those guests".
The other points have been on the Disney sites since 2013 when DAS started.
There were several places with information about DAS - the general DAS page, a link for more information under the registration process and then under the link for registration.
Each stated it a little differently, but they were essentially the same.
do you still need to register 30 days before your 1st day of your trip if the new das is good for 100 days?
We have a trip in august, i emailed the disability team and got a cut and paste back of the website but wasnt clear.
It's still 30 days in advance of the trip. It's restated on the websites "as soon as 30 days in advance of the trip."
It's not 100 days. The websites say:
"DAS is valid for the length of the ticket or up to 120 days, whichever is shorter. Once the service has elapsed, Guests need to re-register for the program."
The
Disneyland website previously had the 'length of the ticket' wording. The WDW website previously only listed DAS remained valid "up to" a number of days.
Same. I also think there will be a decent number of folks who are unaware of the change and will show up at the parks to register/renew DAS in person - we may never hear from them because most DISers are planners, though.
This is becoming a theme, I think. My CM wasn’t so direct, and the one specific question they asked seemed strange in the moment, but coupled with your experience and that of a couple others, I think this was what they were getting at: sorting people into “can’t wait in queues at all” vs. “can wait if allowed to leave for short breaks.”
That is simply bizarre - dining has nothing to do with DAS!
Oh, much better wording, Disney! Commas are important, lol!
This was and is still my concern: have the CMs received adequate training to discern what disabilities can be accommodated by a “brief” leaving of the line vs. those that will need to be one for hours, or even the rest of the day? I assume this is where Guests are going to need to use the “right” words in their interviews.
I’m also intrigued by the notion that every location has magically come up with a means of making this work… overnight. I’m a WDW parks veteran of 30+ years: I know the queues inside and out. And I cannot fathom an easy way for people to navigate this. And as a solo visitor, how exactly do you leave the line and “rejoin your party”??
Other experiences beside this board: I've been monitoring a number of other places on the web since the upcoming changes were announced. I will be continuing to do that.
Additional questions: the last 2 times I registered my daughter for DAS, we were asked additional questions after having answered the usual questions about concerns with waiting in line. I believe they were doing those questions for data collection during those calls rather than for registration.
And, that would be the point where guests would be divided into those who can leave briefly vs those who can't. Those questions would be pertinent even for the guests with developmental disabilities - needs vary and some might need to leave the line, but could return.
As we always have, we would ask that people not share their specific concerns or what they said.
Dining has nothing to do with DAS: that is true, but it's pertinent to the OP's registration.
They had 4 day tickets to be used over a 7 day period (I think I remember the 7 day period right). But, they had dining reservations for 5 days.
The new wording says "DAS is valid for the length of ticket or up to 120 days, whichever is shorter"
In the OP's situation, which dining was cancelled would make a difference in DAS start or end date; day 1 or 5 would change the start or end date. A day in the middle wouldn't.
I THINK (hope) they would eventually make DAS valid for the whole date range for those date based tickets. That would be easier and would allow the user to have some flexibility within the window the tickets are valid.
Training of CMs: it's up to the guest to understand and explain their needs. The CM needs to understand the available accommodations and be able to explain to the guest how to use them.
I'm sure there will be people sharing what they said to CMs, but the CMs will be looking at the process as DAS being primarily for people with developmental disabilities and other guests receiving other accommodations.
@lanejudy and I will be watching for and removing sharing of information that might be abused
Every location coming up with means of making it work overnight: we first heard about it on April 9, but Disney has likely been working on the changes for a long time. We don't know when they started working with Inspire Health, but it wouldn't surprise me to hear it had been a year or even longer.
One of the things Disney has said is that much of the work with Inspire was going to be park based - looking at changes to attractions and procedures to better accommodate guests. They also indicated a lot of the training would involve front line attraction staff.
My family was at WDW from April 14 to May 1, 2024 and did notice some changes that had been made. Some were CM interactions and some were queue changes.