tarak
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
We just returned from WDW and Universal and I thought I'd share our experience, in case it would be helpful for anyone. My son (15) was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. He can have seizures at any time, but they are frequently triggered when he's tired or during periods of inactivity - riding the bus home, long car rides, some of his classes, etc. During our prior trip to WDW, he had a few while waiting in line. Sometimes he can tell when one is about to happen, and we can get him to a safe place, which isn't really going to happen in a long queue. He weighs about 180 pounds or so and is pretty much solid muscle because he throws shot put, discus, and javelin for high school track. In short - a lot of kid going down suddenly. So it seemed to make sense to set up DAS for him, if he was considered eligible. I logged on to the DAS site right at 7 am on a Sunday and the process was completed in about half an hour. I anticipated having to give more detail, but the CM related that she worked with someone who had epilepsy and I think she anticipated the exact problem we wanted to prevent.
For the most part, the app was incredibly easy to use. We did have our return time vanish twice. The first time, I mentioned it to the CM, understanding that we might just have to get a new return time, which would have been fine. Turned out the CM also uses DAS for epilepsy and he said the app glitches from time to time. He said he always takes a screen shot of the return time just in case, so we did that going forward. He made the current time our return time and let us through. The second time, I closed and reopened the app, and the return time reappeared.
We also got an AAP for Universal, which uses the paper passes. You get the return time at the attraction and then go back when your window opens. DAS has a few advantages - you can get your return time through the app and not have to go to the attraction first. This wasn't a problem for us at Universal, but I could see it being an issue for some folks. Once you've hit the tapstiles, you can schedule your next return time. It basically works like the old fastpass + system. One could consider the Universal system more "fair," as it pretty much replicates what the other park guests are doing. I hate the paper pass, however. My son is one of those who does not look remotely disabled. When we went back for his return time at Velocicoaster, we heard someone in standby comment about another guest in front of us that "she doesn't look disabled." I felt bad for her because if we heard it, she likely did, as well. My son would happily stay in line for 90 minutes if it meant he could join the military, as he's dreamed of for years. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but he'd obviously prefer to not have epilepsy.
At the end of the day, the pass was very helpful for rides like Space Mountain and the Mine Train, which had standby waits of over an hour most of the day. Without the DAS, we would probably have skipped those rides. Ditto Universal, although I would recommend booking a room at one of the deluxe resorts there to get the Express pass, if you can swing it - it's cheaper than adding it to a ticket and you have the ability to actually do something while waiting for your return time (ET had an 85 minute wait at one point). Maybe it was bad luck, but Universal was absolutely packed the day we were there and MK was much less busy (we were comparing wait times).
For the most part, the app was incredibly easy to use. We did have our return time vanish twice. The first time, I mentioned it to the CM, understanding that we might just have to get a new return time, which would have been fine. Turned out the CM also uses DAS for epilepsy and he said the app glitches from time to time. He said he always takes a screen shot of the return time just in case, so we did that going forward. He made the current time our return time and let us through. The second time, I closed and reopened the app, and the return time reappeared.
We also got an AAP for Universal, which uses the paper passes. You get the return time at the attraction and then go back when your window opens. DAS has a few advantages - you can get your return time through the app and not have to go to the attraction first. This wasn't a problem for us at Universal, but I could see it being an issue for some folks. Once you've hit the tapstiles, you can schedule your next return time. It basically works like the old fastpass + system. One could consider the Universal system more "fair," as it pretty much replicates what the other park guests are doing. I hate the paper pass, however. My son is one of those who does not look remotely disabled. When we went back for his return time at Velocicoaster, we heard someone in standby comment about another guest in front of us that "she doesn't look disabled." I felt bad for her because if we heard it, she likely did, as well. My son would happily stay in line for 90 minutes if it meant he could join the military, as he's dreamed of for years. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but he'd obviously prefer to not have epilepsy.
At the end of the day, the pass was very helpful for rides like Space Mountain and the Mine Train, which had standby waits of over an hour most of the day. Without the DAS, we would probably have skipped those rides. Ditto Universal, although I would recommend booking a room at one of the deluxe resorts there to get the Express pass, if you can swing it - it's cheaper than adding it to a ticket and you have the ability to actually do something while waiting for your return time (ET had an 85 minute wait at one point). Maybe it was bad luck, but Universal was absolutely packed the day we were there and MK was much less busy (we were comparing wait times).
