DAS and Anxiety Question

[DisKatieO]

Hi folks!
I'm looking for opinions from you fine people I am thinking about inquiring about a DAS accommodation during my next trip to WDW. However, I have a really hard time asking for help and an even harder time asking for something if I'm not sure if I'm "worthy" so...here I am asking for your thoughts.

I have PTSD, a generalized anxiety disorder and a panic disorder (I just lump it all under anxiety). It's especially bad in crowded situations where there's a perceived threat that there's no way out within a reasonable time frame. To give you an example of how this works for me is, I can drive on a crowded road if I can see a place to pull off or know I only have 30 more minutes to go, but I haven't driven on a highway in 10 years because I can't predict the spots where there will be nowhere to pull to the side. To put this into a Disney context, I can do any outside line ok because I can jump out if needed without a commotion (though it can be a time waste when i need to bail)...inside lines where I can't see an out? That's a different story and has previously ended my Disney day.

I feel like I missed out on so much of my last trip because of this. I didnt even try ToT, which is my favorite ride, bc I didn't know how much of the 90 minute wait would be inside, so I couldn't mentally prepare. I ended up exhausted by having to be "on" all the time against my rising anxiety about uncertain waits and had to take a long daily break just to reset. I ended up just walking around most of the trip/eating because those were "safe" things to do.

For context, my next trip I will be traveling alone, and it's actually part of my CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy). The question is...is this an appropriate use of DAS or am misapplying the parameters? I know there will be an interview to determine for sure, but Im more asking - am I asking too much? The LAST thing I want to do is abuse a system if it's not meant for me. I'm very much a rule follower I also understand there will still be a wait for DAS lines and CERTAINLY don't expect an immediate entry...it's the planning portion that seems like it would be a balm for my rattled nerves.

Appreciate you reading!

 

[kandb]

I received a DAS a few times for anxiety with no problem at all. I get the same "stuck" feeling and need to feel like I can get out easily. I explained it was not needed for the majority of rides but for some but they gave it to me anyway without a problem. One waiting area I could not wait in for a long period of time was POTC, that que made me extremely anxious and claustrophobic but once I had the DAS, the 5 or 10 minutes, I could handle. I explained that I didn't mind waiting for a ride, I just didn't want to wait in the crowds of people for an extended period and I just got a "return time" when I wanted to ride. The DAS made me be able to do any ride I wanted and really helped. Good Luck!

 

[DisKatieO]

I received a DAS a few times for anxiety with no problem at all. I get the same "stuck" feeling and need to feel like I can get out easily. I explained it was not needed for the majority of rides but for some but they gave it to me anyway without a problem. One waiting area I could not wait in for a long period of time was POTC, that que made me extremely anxious and claustrophobic but once I had the DAS, the 5 or 10 minutes, I could handle. I explained that I didn't mind waiting for a ride, I just didn't want to wait in the crowds of people for an extended period and I just got a "return time" when I wanted to ride. The DAS made me be able to do any ride I wanted and really helped. Good Luck!

Oh my gosh, POTC was what ended my day! I'm glad I'm not the only one and really appreciate your thoughtful response.

 

[mamabunny]

We have a family member who has anxiety, and everyone who travels with her has an app on our phones called "Emergency Chat". The logo for it looks like this:

It's an app that will let you text someone when you are too overwhelmed to speak.

You can customize the opening screen (shown below) to help give the person you are communicating with more information.

You "text" with the other person, by handing the phone back and forth so you don't have to try and talk when you are not comfortable with speech in the moment. It's just another tool to have ready (like knowing that you can use First Aid at the Parks) in case you need it.)

 

[DisneyOma]

OP, I think it's an appropriate request for you, but be prepared to still be stopped in the queue inside for up to 10 minutes. I'm thinking queues like Soarin' where they let you through the tapstile, but then you wait in the narrow hallway for a bit to then be placed in your row. Hopefully they have all 3 theaters open when you go (only 2 running when we were there) and the loading process is faster. Same thing at FOP, except the halls are much higher. RotR does the same thing with preshow waits - and some of the preshow stuff is in smaller rooms.

 

[mistysue]

We have a son who can't handle certain line conditions, and it helped me put it in perspective when a CM asked if someone else was having the issue we were having, would we feel it was an appropriate use? Would that person seem worthy to us? For whatever reason I was feeling like we could power through, skip over things or simply rule out about half the park when it was busier but when I thought of it as being someone else it was totally a legit use of the system. Only you can experience your own circumstances, but if you met someone mirroring what you are going through, if you would feel they were fair in asking for assistance, then you are worthy of that same assistance.

 

[CeCe0906]

My granddaughter has the same diagnosis as you, and we used the DAS successfully at WDW last year. It is definitely a worthy use of the service.

One thing that helped us I think is that there are many YouTube videos of the rides and queues, we used our plane rides and planning time to view. Many of them show the queues as well as the rides. You can preplan somewhat that way. We also looked for videos " with the lights on or when people had to leave the ride when it stopped, to understand that she would be safe if that happened. For her anyway, knowing what happens at each step and keeping the waits under ~20 min worked pretty well.

. I also found out that at WDW, you can skip the stretching room on Haunted Mansion by asking a CM.
Rise of the Resistance, while it is an awesome ride, is a multiroom experience where you are inside small rooms, without an obvious exit, before the main ride experience. My granddaughter did ok, but we watched the videos, and she knew it was coming, and we strategized ahead of time.

At shows, tell the CM you need to sit at the end of a row. You can say I have a DAS, I need to sit at the end or near an exit, they will accommodate.
Flight of Passage may also be an issue for you, you are locked in pretty tight on the ride vehicle in visually a small room

You might try taking a friend with you; a little distraction can make any wait time seem shorter.

I don't know your budget, but a VIP tour could be helpful to you. The guide could give you the security of knowing the queues, the usual waits at each point, and how to bail effectively if needed.

 

[kandb]

My granddaughter has the same diagnosis as you, and we used the DAS successfully at WDW last year. It is definitely a worthy use of the service.

One thing that helped us I think is that there are many YouTube videos of the rides and queues, we used our plane rides and planning time to view. Many of them show the queues as well as the rides. You can preplan somewhat that way. We also looked for videos " with the lights on or when people had to leave the ride when it stopped, to understand that she would be safe if that happened. For her anyway, knowing what happens at each step and keeping the waits under ~20 min worked pretty well.

. I also found out that at WDW, you can skip the stretching room on Haunted Mansion by asking a CM.
Rise of the Resistance, while it is an awesome ride, is a multiroom experience where you are inside small rooms, without an obvious exit, before the main ride experience. My granddaughter did ok, but we watched the videos, and she knew it was coming, and we strategized ahead of time.

At shows, tell the CM you need to sit at the end of a row. You can say I have a DAS, I need to sit at the end or near an exit, they will accommodate.
Flight of Passage may also be an issue for you, you are locked in pretty tight on the ride vehicle in visually a small room

You might try taking a friend with you; a little distraction can make any wait time seem shorter.

I don't know your budget, but a VIP tour could be helpful to you. The guide could give you the security of knowing the queues, the usual waits at each point, and how to bail effectively if needed.

I never go in the stretching room at HM. Yes, they always let us skip it and it's one of our favorite rides.

 

[kandb]

One ride I love but do not go on anymore is Spaceship Earth. I can handle most of the ride but when I get to the top, I start to feel anxious. I can handle the anxiety for the short time but I know on occasion that ride gets stuck and I would panic if I was up high and had to wait for them to fix the ride or we had to leave the ride and walk out. If it was going to be just a few minutes I could handle it but I know that ride goes up very high and has no emergency exits to the outside, so it's a no go for me. Most other rides I can handle without any issues.

 

[kandb]

Not sure if you fly but we do and I purchase an extra leg room seat up front because I feel much more comfortable being in the front of the plane (aisle seat as well). My sister does this as well since she is claustrophobic. My sister does not go on any rides at all. We still both go to disney with our families tho and have a great time. PS-I have driving issues as well. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[DisKatieO]

OP, I think it's an appropriate request for you, but be prepared to still be stopped in the queue inside for up to 10 minutes. I'm thinking queues like Soarin' where they let you through the tapstile, but then you wait in the narrow hallway for a bit to then be placed in your row. Hopefully they have all 3 theaters open when you go (only 2 running when we were there) and the loading process is faster. Same thing at FOP, except the halls are much higher. RotR does the same thing with preshow waits - and some of the preshow stuff is in smaller rooms.

This is super helpful in preparing, thank you! RotR is one that I didn't get to do, so knowing what I'm in for is so essential in my "process." I really appreciate it.

 

[DisKatieO]

Not sure if you fly but we do and I purchase an extra leg room seat up front because I feel much more comfortable being in the front of the plane (aisle seat as well). My sister does this as well since she is claustrophobic. My sister does not go on any rides at all. We still both go to disney with our families tho and have a great time. PS-I have driving issues as well. Hope you have a great trip!

These are all great tips, thank you so much for sharing your experience!

 

[DisKatieO]

We have a son who can't handle certain line conditions, and it helped me put it in perspective when a CM asked if someone else was having the issue we were having, would we feel it was an appropriate use? Would that person seem worthy to us? For whatever reason I was feeling like we could power through, skip over things or simply rule out about half the park when it was busier but when I thought of it as being someone else it was totally a legit use of the system. Only you can experience your own circumstances, but if you met someone mirroring what you are going through, if you would feel they were fair in asking for assistance, then you are worthy of that same assistance.

This is such a thoughtful way of putting it. Thank you.

 

[DisKatieO]

My granddaughter has the same diagnosis as you, and we used the DAS successfully at WDW last year. It is definitely a worthy use of the service.

One thing that helped us I think is that there are many YouTube videos of the rides and queues, we used our plane rides and planning time to view. Many of them show the queues as well as the rides. You can preplan somewhat that way. We also looked for videos " with the lights on or when people had to leave the ride when it stopped, to understand that she would be safe if that happened. For her anyway, knowing what happens at each step and keeping the waits under ~20 min worked pretty well.

. I also found out that at WDW, you can skip the stretching room on Haunted Mansion by asking a CM.
Rise of the Resistance, while it is an awesome ride, is a multiroom experience where you are inside small rooms, without an obvious exit, before the main ride experience. My granddaughter did ok, but we watched the videos, and she knew it was coming, and we strategized ahead of time.

At shows, tell the CM you need to sit at the end of a row. You can say I have a DAS, I need to sit at the end or near an exit, they will accommodate.
Flight of Passage may also be an issue for you, you are locked in pretty tight on the ride vehicle in visually a small room

You might try taking a friend with you; a little distraction can make any wait time seem shorter.

I don't know your budget, but a VIP tour could be helpful to you. The guide could give you the security of knowing the queues, the usual waits at each point, and how to bail effectively if needed.

This is all such great info and Im so glad your granddaughter was able to enjoy WDW! Thank you.

 

[CeCe0906]

This is all such great info and Im so glad your granddaughter was able to enjoy WDW! Thank you.

Just FYI, I had a note from her therapist, but they didn't need it. I just had to just give an example if how her issues would affect her waiting in line. If you think your anxiety would prevent you doing this.print out what you told us and hand it to the CM at guest services. They can ask you if they have any questions.

Or if you do the video call, you can have a friend talk to the CM, and you just have to be nearby for the end of the call so they can take your picture.

We got the DAS set up at guest services in person at the one outside the International Gateway at Epcot. Since it is outside the gates, we did it on our arrival day. We were staying at the Dolphin and just walked over, but you should be able to take Disney transpo over to the Boardwalk or the Yacht Club and walk over easily. It was nice having it out of the way, one less thing to stress over. We went around 8 pm and had no line at all.

Using the DAS was pretty easy. We would get a return time for a moderate wait ride like 30 to 1 hr (now even easier in the app) and then either get a snack or do a low wait one, or bathroom break or do some photos. Then ride, and repeat. If I knew were going to be eating a meal or watching a show, we would get a return time for a longer wait ride (> hr).
If you have a park hopper, you can get a return time from the blue umbrella for a ride in the park you are hopping to. So you have one ready to go by the time you get there. You can also do this if you go for a mid day break.

There's no deadline on the DAS return. Once you have a return time, you can go anytime after that on that day. If you change your mind, just cancel and get a new one

Hope you have a successful trip.

 

[herrmannpt]

Just FYI, I had a note from her therapist, but they didn't need it. I just had to just give an example if how her issues would affect her waiting in line. If you think your anxiety would prevent you doing this.print out what you told us and hand it to the CM at guest services. They can ask you if they have any questions.

Or if you do the video call, you can have a friend talk to the CM, and you just have to be nearby for the end of the call so they can take your picture.

We got the DAS set up at guest services in person at the one outside the International Gateway at Epcot. Since it is outside the gates, we did it on our arrival day. We were staying at the Dolphin and just walked over, but you should be able to take Disney transpo over to the Boardwalk or the Yacht Club and walk over easily. It was nice having it out of the way, one less thing to stress over. We went around 8 pm and had no line at all.

Using the DAS was pretty easy. We would get a return time for a moderate wait ride like 30 to 1 hr (now even easier in the app) and then either get a snack or do a low wait one, or bathroom break or do some photos. Then ride, and repeat. If I knew were going to be eating a meal or watching a show, we would get a return time for a longer wait ride (> hr).
If you have a park hopper, you can get a return time from the blue umbrella for a ride in the park you are hopping to. So you have one ready to go by the time you get there. You can also do this if you go for a mid day break.

There's no deadline on the DAS return. Once you have a return time, you can go anytime after that on that day. If you change your mind, just cancel and get a new one

Hope you have a successful trip.

I didn’t think you could request a return time until you tapped into the 2nd park. Have you had recent experience of requesting a return time for a park you are hopping too? We will be going back to the hotel for a mid-day break most days of our upcoming trip. It would be very helpful if we could have a return time lined up for our second park of the day. We have two people in our party that will qualify for DAS and can only tolerate limited time in the park before a break.

 

[CeCe0906]

We did a day last August where we did Magic Kingdom in the morning and we park hopped to Epcot around dinner time, we had an ADR at a restaurant there. Before we left MK, we stopped at the Blue Umbrella, and got a DAS return for the Frozen Ride at the Norway Pavillion. We then took the monorail to Epcot and went to Norway to ride before dinner.

It would have worked fine, but the ride went down right before we got there. So we ate and rode afterward.

I don't have any experience with the app, it wasn't available for DAS when we were there. At that time we had to go to the ride or a blue umbrella to get a return time.
We went to the ride if we were close by, but often used the CM at the blue umbrellas if the ride we wanted was further away. That way our travel time to the next ride was part of our wait time.

 

[kandb]

OP, get the pass and when you talk to the CM, make sure you mention that your last trip, you went on very few rides because of your anxiety to wait inside the rides. It's obvious you legitimately need the pass. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[lanejudy]

I didn’t think you could request a return time until you tapped into the 2nd park.

You can't do it yourself on the app, but there have been reports that the blue umbrellas can issue a Return Time for your next park.

 

[Sunnywho]

You mentioned Tower of Terror, which even with a DAS can still be a challenge. The DAS/fast pass line skips the outside line, which sounds like the more manageable line, then merges just inside the building, so you still experience the first elevator show and the lines between that and the ride elevator.