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

[2tinkerbell]

what would stop Disney from using rider swap for a solution to a family of 4 with an autistic kid?

In our situation it probably would work.

 

[Baytothemax]

In the reply I received, the following was stated:

"If your visit begins May 20, 2024 or later:
Beginning May 20 at the Walt Disney World Resort, there will be an updated process for Accessibility Services conversations. Guests can learn more on our website for Guests with disabilities. In this video discussion, health care professionals may be available, if needed, to help determine appropriate accommodations. Guests will not be asked for medical documentation.

Please know we will not determine any Guest’s future eligibility until our processes are updated on May 20."

"Guests will not be asked for medical documentation." Wonder if we can volunteer to supply the info. Would not be against ADA because the person with the disability wants to provide the info.

"Please know we will not determine any Guest’s future eligibility until our processes are updated on May 20." Our trip is set to begin May 26. So, say even if I can speak to someone on April 27th, does this mean I will get no answer regarding me getting DAS until May 20th OR does this mean we have to wait to speak to someone until May 20? Disney, as usual, is as clear as swamp water.

Logically they’d be setting themselves up for an absolute **** show if they held everyone to the 20th, but who knows what or why they do things.

I had happened to start a trip the day DAS went live. Needless to say I actually did not get DAS that trip (which was only a single day visit) because the city hall line went to the firehouse and I could not wait in that.

 

[lanejudy]

since getting it just for my wife met our family's needs, we didn't see the need to involve him. He was only 2.5 then so he wouldn't be interested in riding anything my wife couldn't ride (if that makes sense). With these changes, I think it's pretty obvious that we need to get it for both of them, so that we can manage best as a family unit.

I may have missed your wife's needs and you don't need to explain again, but just pointing out that if both individuals have the same needs and as a party of 3 you are unlikely to split up, getting both approved could just add a layer of complexity to the situation. With DAS if 2 members of the same party had DAS, the non-DAS holder(s) could only have 1 return time at any given point. If all were riding together, both DAS would need their own return time and you could only be listed on 1.

However if both have different needs and/or it's possible the family may need to split, yes it could be beneficial to get both approved for accommodations. Such situations might include the little one not being tall enough to ride, therefore DAS cannot be used if it's the child's accommodation.

 

[Liquidice]

Rider switch allows 2 people to go through the lightening lane.

Right this was in response to ryang25 saying that to make Rider Switch "equal" to a standby wait, it would make sense to make the return time for the Lightning Lane 10 minutes shorter than the standby line time.

So in his example, if you were waiting outside by yourself for the rest of your party to finish riding and the ride time was accurate, if a Rider Switch Lightning Lane has a "start" time like DAS does (I don't believe this to be the case though) - the person waiting outside for the ride by themselves could get into the Lightning Lane 10 minutes before their party returns which would mean they would have to ride by themselves.

If the person wanted to ride with someone else, they would have to wait until the party completed their ride, which would mean the person waiting outside had waited the amount of the standby line plus however long it takes to get through the Lightning Lane.

Its all hypothetical and in practice I don't believe this is how the Rider Switch actually works because IIRC the Lightning Lane pass you receive is like a recovery pass and works immediately and does not expire even though the intention is for you to use it within 1 hour.

This actually seems ideal from a flexibility perspective for disabilities.

 

[SteveMouse]

I've been thinking a bit about how necessary an accommodation may be and how that impacts what is offered to a particular individual, thinking about "impact level" of the accomodation.

I cannot physically step up more than an inch. My hips are immobilized, as is my back. Any step greater than an inch (with or without handrail) or substantially sloped and no handrail is impassible to me. I need flat. The DAS really has nothing to do with this set of needs/limitations.

But for those general issues where DAS may help, at what point should Disney offer the accomodation? If someone is at 90% (whatever that means) of "normal?" 50%?25%? At some point, everyone would qualify for the accommodation, resulting in the accommodation becoming the new normal.

 

[SarahC97]

View attachment 850857
Based upon this screenshot from the Disneyland disability guide (which was posted in the DAS discussion in the Disneyland forum) it looks as though Disney is moving towards rider switch as opposed to DAS for conditions requiring frequent restroom use. For example, a party of 4, one of whom has IBS, could do a rider switch with two members of the party (who don’t have IBS) riding standby, following which the other two (including the person with IBS) could ride with LL. Such a system would obviously make it much less attractive for a party of (for example) six healthy young people to lie about one of them having IBS, as even if approved, four of them would still have to go through the standby line at each ride. Obviously there would be special cases like solo travelers, or parties of two where one person has the condition and needs the other person’s assistance to use the restroom, for which rider switch would not work, in which case the existing system could still be used.

I think this could be the golden ticket accommodation. It still avoids the need for the person with particular needs to wait in the long standby line which is what so many have the issues with. Yes, splitting up parties sucks, but you still have the ability to go on your vacation and ride the rides - unlike the return to queue system which would prevent that for some people.

I just wonder how they will handle it for parties of 2 or solos.

I need to catch up on this whole thread but I have to say I think a rider swap scenario like this could potentially really work for me. I just wonder how it will be used. Like, would you have to go to the CM at the ride? Could you use it for VQ? Do you think this is an accommodation that will be assigned to your profile like DAS and you'll have to do the call ahead of time to be approved?

I know no one really knows but I'm really curious to see how it plays out. And I hope the CMs on the virtual chats for this will have the time to listen and explain. I've got issues.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't think so - in our case, it's more of a 'be sure to explain your whole situation to the CM' where we did not necessarily have to spell ALL that out before. WIth this change, we now need to get DAS for our son, simple as that. We didn't have to before, getting it for my wife was enough to cover our needs.

ETA: Our son would likely have qualified last year as well, just to clarify, but since getting it just for my wife met our family's needs, we didn't see the need to involve him. He was only 2.5 then so he wouldn't be interested in riding anything my wife couldn't ride (if that makes sense). With these changes, I think it's pretty obvious that we need to get it for both of them, so that we can manage best as a family unit.

Right but your primary concern was the situation with "that leaves me as his sole caregiver while in the line, and she is significantly younger and stronger than me, and can wrangle him in a way that I cannot now that he's 40+ lbs."

The conversation around your child's qualifications is not related to your issue with your wife leaving. And the PP's comments were "What might work is get the DAS for your 3 year old. You don't need the diagnosis, since medical paperwork is not required, you just need to describe the need and since it is a developmental disability, she mayqualify for DAS." which put that way (and I qualified IMO) as more coaching (need-based over diagnosis based is still the primary assumption tweaks to the program would go IIRC).

Ultimately you have two concerns that are not the same

1) what to do with your child should your spouse leave the line

2) would your child qualify for an accommodation from Disney (DAS, rider swap, etc) due to their own issues.

But those two are separate. #1 is a situation many traveling parties can find themselves in while #2 is specific to your family.

 

[Liquidice]

I need to catch up on this whole thread but I have to say I think a rider swap scenario like this could potentially really work for me. I just wonder how it will be used. Like, would you have to go to the CM at the ride? Could you use it for VQ? Do you think this is an accommodation that will be assigned to your profile like DAS and you'll have to do the call ahead of time to be approved?

I know no one really knows but I'm really curious to see how it plays out. And I hope the CMs on the virtual chats for this will have the time to listen and explain. I've got issues.

I suspect the Rider Switch and Return to Queue accommodations will be based off of things that already exist today.

The way Rider Switch works today is you see a CM outside of the ride (the same CM you used talk to if you were trying to get a DAS return time) and tell them you need to setup a Rider Switch / Swap.

The CM then asks who all is riding first and who is waiting outside. The CM usually allows 1 person to ride twice (once in standby and once to join the person waiting). The CM will then scan the Magicbands of those who will be waiting outside / riding a second time and send the rest of your party through the standby line.

If it uses the existing Rider Switch system just with maybe a little more flexibility for disabilities (by offering it at all rides, etc), you do not even need to sign up for it or have it added to your profile. You would just ask for it at the entrance to the ride. It is a service offered to anyone, primarily to families with young children who do not meet the height requirements to ride a ride - but it seems Disney is expanding the definition so it could also be used for Disabilities.

For VQ, you would need to first have a virtual boarding group that was called and then you could also setup the rider swap the same way.

 

[Disneychick75]

They have previously politely refused to look at documentation or proof of disability. It put the CM into a grey territory previously, so I think they will continue to refuse.
And, really, the diagnosis or condition is not the important thing. It's the issues/concern the guest expects to encounter

Aren't they supposed to be using the health company they used during covid in conjunction with CMs? That is what I'm understanding. So the decision might not rest solely with the CM. Just wondered if paperwork explaining why someone has trouble in lines might help a person's chances. This would actually take the onus off the CM.

 

[Jibrille]

The post from the person who mentioned 14+ as the expected "caregiver/supervising role" age. That's right from Disneyland.

If they think a 14 year old can be a caregiver, they obviously think they can also wait in a line (aka, a lesser task).

View attachment 850877

My 14-year-old who is on the spectrum? Yeah that will go well. He doesn't need the accomodation of DAS on his own, but he's also not able to just be by himself because he has social delays and he also wears headphones because the noise gets to him. It's just the two of us that go to the parks, and I'm the one with the qualifying disabilities.

 

[Disturbia]

Right this was in response to ryang25 saying that to make Rider Switch "equal" to a standby wait, it would make sense to make the return time for the Lightning Lane 10 minutes shorter than the standby line time.

So in his example, if you were waiting outside by yourself for the rest of your party to finish riding and the ride time was accurate, if a Rider Switch Lightning Lane has a "start" time like DAS does (I don't believe this to be the case though) - the person waiting outside for the ride by themselves could get into the Lightning Lane 10 minutes before their party returns which would mean they would have to ride by themselves.

If the person wanted to ride with someone else, they would have to wait until the party completed their ride, which would mean the person waiting outside had waited the amount of the standby line plus however long it takes to get through the Lightning Lane.

Its all hypothetical and in practice I don't believe this is how the Rider Switch actually works because IIRC the Lightning Lane pass you receive is like a recovery pass and works immediately and does not expire even though the intention is for you to use it within 1 hour.

This actually seems ideal from a flexibility perspective for disabilities.

RS start time is adjusted to standby time (inflated) and doesn’t expire BUT at SDD our RS turned blue because it was over an hour (ran to MMRR which was down all morning with our recovery pass but that LL wait was over 30 mins; ride takes few mins and then we had a bathroom break). She said the first party rode over an hour ago and I had to argue with her that MMRR was down all morning and our DD had not ridden anything. Our RS clearly said valid until park close. Take pictures of your RS and the party esp at HS. This was 2022

We were using Genie+ (didn’t know DD qualified for DAS.

Given height restrictions there were only 2 rides that DD could do.

 

[CarouselofColor]

My 14-year-old who is on the spectrum? Yeah that will go well. He doesn't need the accomodation of DAS on his own, but he's also not able to just be by himself because he has social delays and he also wears headphones because the noise gets to him. It's just the two of us that go to the parks, and I'm the one with the qualifying disabilities.

The person you quoted, in my opinion, is interpreting the policy in a pretty fatalistic way- the whole "14 year old thing" isn't anything new, and is there to make sure you don't have 7 year olds taking charge of 4 year olds for the sake of a rider swap, not there to say that every single existing 14 year old, regardless of ability, is fine to be on their own. I wouldn't read too much into that verbiage for your specific situation.

 

[Disturbia]

Regular Rider Swap (or Baby Swap as it used to be called) supposedly has a 1-hour return window for the 2nd party to ride. I haven't used it myself in recent years, but supposedly that window has not been enforced. However another Swap cannot be obtained until the prior one is used.

This was changed to valid until end of day a few years ago but at HS they want you to stick to the 1 hour esp at SDD

At SDMT and FOP they make the entire party stand together (when utilizing standby+using RS) and then issue the RS when you near the ride sign which is active immediately. I’ve only seen this on select rides and it works in our favor because if the first party comes back faster than the posted standby (usually the standby time is inflated) then the second party can immediately get into the LL queue. Initially I was shocked and antsy about this change esp when they asked our child in the stroller who was NOT riding (didn’t meet height requirements) to stand in the outdoor line for SDMT with the sun directly bearing down on us.

 

[Ash10]

Then you could go through the line, and step out at the load area, letting the CM know you prefer to head to the exit and re-enter LL with your mom.

What?

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

I suspect the Rider Switch and Return to Queue accommodations will be based off of things that already exist today.

The way Rider Switch works today is you see a CM outside of the ride (the same CM you used talk to if you were trying to get a DAS return time) and tell them you need to setup a Rider Switch / Swap.

The CM then asks who all is riding first and who is waiting outside. The CM usually allows 1 person to ride twice (once in standby and once to join the person waiting). The CM will then scan the Magicbands of those who will be waiting outside / riding a second time and send the rest of your party through the standby line.

If it uses the existing Rider Switch system just with maybe a little more flexibility for disabilities (by offering it at all rides, etc), you do not even need to sign up for it or have it added to your profile. You would just ask for it at the entrance to the ride. It is a service offered to anyone, primarily to families with young children who do not meet the height requirements to ride a ride - but it seems Disney is expanding the definition so it could also be used for Disabilities.

For VQ, you would need to first have a virtual boarding group that was called and then you could also setup the rider swap the same way.

I was wondering the same thing. Can anyone go up and request a rider swap? If so that seems particularly rife for abuse.

For example, let’s say a group of adults with questionable morales wants to ride Slinky
Adult 1 says they need to rider swap, so their band gets scanned and Adult 2 joins the line.
A few minutes later Adult 2 leaves the line.
Adult 1 and “friend” enter the LL.

This works very neatly with any even number of riders. For odd number of riders, take turns being the one to “sit out."

Because the “friend” doesn’t even need to swipe in, they could immediately get off the ride and become the next “Adult 2.”

Repeat ad nauseum.

There needs to be some mechanism preventing the LL from being abused. The only reason why it works with traditional rider swap is that someone HAS to stay with the “baby,” so it is self policing.

 

[Liquidice]

RS start time is adjusted to standby time (inflated) and doesn’t expire BUT at SDD our RS turned blue because it was over an hour (ran to MMRR which was down all morning with our recovery pass but that LL wait was over 30 mins; ride takes few mins and then we had a bathroom break). She said the first party rode over an hour ago and I had to argue with her that MMRR was down all morning and our DD had not ridden anything. Our RS clearly said valid until park close. Take pictures of your RS and the party esp at HS. This was 2022

We were using Genie+ (didn’t know DD qualified for DAS.

Given height restrictions there were only 2 rides that DD could do.

Good to know. Hopefully with Disney now updating its guidelines to use Rider Switch for disabilities, CMs will be retrained or the system will be updated to allow the RS pass to have more flexibility in return time.

 

[Disturbia]

I was wondering the same thing. Can anyone go up and request a rider swap? If so that seems particularly rife for abuse.

For example, let’s say a group of adults with questionable morales wants to ride Slinky
Adult 1 says they need to rider swap, so their band gets scanned and Adult 2 joins the line.
A few minutes later Adult 2 leaves the line.
Adult 1 and “friend” enter the LL.

This works very neatly with any even number of riders. For odd number of riders, take turns being the one to “sit out."

Because the “friend” doesn’t even need to swipe in, they could immediately get off the ride and become the next “Adult 2.”

Repeat ad nauseum.

There needs to be some mechanism preventing the LL from being abused. The only reason why it works with traditional rider swap is that someone HAS to stay with the “baby,” so it is self policing.

No. Not everyone gets a RS. Kids get turned away at TOT if they meet height requirements but are too scared to ride even though the website says too scared to ride qualifies. CMs check the waiting kid’s height if they seem to be over 3.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

No. Not everyone gets a RS. Kids get turned away at TOT if they meet height requirements but are too scared to ride even though the website says too scared to ride qualifies. CMs check the waiting kid’s height if they seem to be over 3.

This was in response to the comment above about changing the existing RS program such that you would not need to sign up for it or have it added to your profile and instead just asking for it at the entrance of the ride. I was thinking about the potential risks to such a scenario.

 

[elvispursley]

Delete

 

[Disturbia]

This was in response to the comment above about changing the existing RS program such that you would not need to sign up for it or have it added to your profile and instead just asking for it at the entrance of the ride. I was thinking about the potential risks to such a scenario.

There are cameras with facial recognition and your phones and Mb data. It’s good Disney is getting a bit stricter so it will make things better for their target market (families with young kids addicted to Nintendo!).