DAS pre-registration live chat: How long should I expect to wait?

[Cocolynn]

I could just cry! After 8 hours I made it through to video call with the lady and it was 10:07. Had to wake up my daughter for them to take her picture and then...the line disconnects. I have no idea if they took the picture or not and there is no way to get back on. I'm just so disgusted.

 

[Epcot Mom]

I wanted to report back on my experience yesterday. I started the chat at 9:15 Central. 10 hours later almost the minute they first person joined the chat. My phone made no noise, I just had to notice the chat from them. They verified my upcoming trip and that my travel party was linked on MDE and put me in a queue for the video call. 30 minutes later the video call picked up. We had a little bit of trouble as the first invitation to the video call I could not hear her. She sent me another invitation and it worked fine. She asked me a few questions, snapped my picture while we were talking and moved me into the queue for the advanced return time person. That person picked up almost immediately. The process for doing that was a little cumbersome and would have been easier had I know what was not allowed to be a choice but I didn't know what I didn't know. Anyway, that took about 40 minutes and boom, after only 11 hours I was done. I was told that when you have to login again (for me it was every 30 minutes) it saves you place in the queue so don't sweat losing your place in line.

Hang in there everyone! The video person did tell me they have more people coming on board this week so they are expecting the wait times to go down soon.

 

[SueM in MN]

I wanted to report back on my experience yesterday. I started the chat at 9:15 Central. 10 hours later almost the minute they first person joined the chat. My phone made no noise, I just had to notice the chat from them. They verified my upcoming trip and that my travel party was linked on MDE and put me in a queue for the video call. 30 minutes later the video call picked up. We had a little bit of trouble as the first invitation to the video call I could not hear her. She sent me another invitation and it worked fine. She asked me a few questions, snapped my picture while we were talking and moved me into the queue for the advanced return time person. That person picked up almost immediately. The process for doing that was a little cumbersome and would have been easier had I know what was not allowed to be a choice but I didn't know what I didn't know. Anyway, that took about 40 minutes and boom, after only 11 hours I was done. I was told that when you have to login again (for me it was every 30 minutes) it saves you place in the queue so don't sweat losing your place in line.

Hang in there everyone! The video person did tell me they have more people coming on board this week so they are expecting the wait times to go down soon.

Thanks for the update.
I‘ve read a couple of articles recently about Disney phone wait times in general being up. They were bad before, but recently have been even worse. My own GUESS is that is partly connected with Disney trying to push reservations for everything online (assuming most guests would use it) and with not enough staff/not enough called back.

For others calling, the attractions available for DAS Advance Selections are taken from this list on the WDW website: Attractions for WDW DAS Advance Selections

The exact attractions and/or times available vary, so there is no guarantee of getting exactly what you plan. At least knowing what is on the list will help.

There is a thread about WDW DAS changes stuck near the top of the disABILITIES Board. The first post in that thread is updated and includes a link to that list of attractions.

 

[Cierese]

Our turn today. Took only 7 hrs total......

Question: I have to fix some days because my park reservations were wrong... Do you go back through the entire same process to fix this?

 

[Cierese]

Our turn today. Took only 7 hrs total......

Question: I have to fix some days because my park reservations were wrong... Do you go back through the entire same process to fix this?

It's slightly different, but this morning has taken 3+ hours start to finish just to update my selections

 

[LynJ]

Been in the queue so far almost 5 hours, with no signs of life..

Start to finish, 7.5 hours today, which is a Saturday that includes Christmas and New Years within 30 days.

 

[Lsdolphin]

i tried doing the video chat for the DAS several times before leaving for our trip and after wasting time on hold I gave up and decided to just try using the Genie+. Well I’ve just bought the genie+ for the past three days and it Has been absolutely useless to me. I can only last a few hours first thing in morning before having to leave the park. So the first night here I purchased the genie+ Just after midnight and then I was unable to access the genie+ to make selection at 7:00 am next morning. I just kept getting message that I was ineligible (I do have park reservations for each day). Finally after I arrived at MK I got onto genie+ and the only rides available to select were all rides which had a lower wait time than what was being offered via genie+. So at 8:30 am PP and JC were already only available for the afternoon! The second morning I was on genie+ right at 7:00 am and PP was showing for 9:10 I immediately clicked then got a screen asking for a code...by the time I went to my email and got the code they had sent and went back to genie+ the time I was given to confirm was 10:50 so I went back and refreshed genie + and got 11:20 .....ended up with HM for 9:40 am and the current wait time was only 10 min...so no use for genie+. Pirates was a 10 min wait while the genie+ offering was over an hour later....today was third day and I bought genie + again (I’m obviously a slow learner) repeat of yesterday unable to get PP or JC anytime before 10:50. I selected HM again and confirmed but when I went to the “My Day” it wouldn’t open. I went to the guest services and the CM looked at my iPhone and tried to bring up the My Day screen but was unable to get it to work. She asked if I was familiar with DAS and offered to set it up for me. It took all of 5 minutes for her to set it up. So I just wanted to say it might not be worth spending hours on hold when you can just walk into the guest services and let them help help you. I went to the guest services in MK over behind the Sleepy Hollow.

 

[KLK622]

Quick question, does the child in need of the DAS need to be on the call? I would like to attempt this during the week, but my son is at school and couldn’t be on the phone. Maybe if I start during the day I would get through after he got home? It’s hard to plan with the long wait times. The information says person requesting or parent/guardian so I wasn’t sure.

 

[LynJ]

Quick question, does the child in need of the DAS need to be on the call? I would like to attempt this during the week, but my son is at school and couldn’t be on the phone. Maybe if I start during the day I would get through after he got home? It’s hard to plan with the long wait times. The information says person requesting or parent/guardian so I wasn’t sure.

The person it's for has to be available. They take the kiddo's picture.

 

[KLK622]

The person it's for has to be available. They take the kiddo's picture.

Thanks! Is that the only interaction they need with the child? Or do they need to be there for the chat? Just trying to figure out what to expect. I can certainly try to have my son explain why he needs the pass, but it might be difficult for him.

 

[anomamatt]

I did it this morning for my daughter who is 7. I clicked the button right at 7am and to my surprise had a CM ready to video chat at 7:03. My daughter wasn’t awake but I got her up. The cm asked if she was excited about visiting and said he took a picture. I did all rhe talking about why she needs a DAS ahead of time without her in the room.

obviously I had a very fast (exceptionally fast) experience today. Maybe that isn’t normal. But I was done with everything in 45 mins.

I far preferred this experience as opposed to talking to GS about these things in front of my daughter.

 

[KLK622]

I did it this morning for my daughter who is 7. I clicked the button right at 7am and to my surprise had a CM ready to video chat at 7:03. My daughter wasn’t awake but I got her up. The cm asked if she was excited about visiting and said he took a picture. I did all rhe talking about why she needs a DAS ahead of time without her in the room.

obviously I had a very fast (exceptionally fast) experience today. Maybe that isn’t normal. But I was done with everything in 45 mins.

I far preferred this experience as opposed to talking to GS about these things in front of my daughter.

Thanks! This would be ideal...I don't like the idea of talking about him in front of him. I will probably try a few mornings this week before school and then next weekend if it doesn't work out.

 

[SueM in MN]

Quick question, does the child in need of the DAS need to be on the call? I would like to attempt this during the week, but my son is at school and couldn’t be on the phone. Maybe if I start during the day I would get through after he got home? It’s hard to plan with the long wait times. The information says person requesting or parent/guardian so I wasn’t sure.

The Disney website info about DAS is all written from the viewpoint of addressing the disabled person DAS will be issued to. That is who the questions are about and is the person whose picture will be taken.
They could be clearer, but the Disney website says this in several places (my bold):
« The Guest requesting to use DAS must be present during the video call. »

and this:
»If DAS is provided, you (or a parent/guardian if under 18 years of age) will participate in the registration process, which requires having a photo taken. »

 

[Loro]

Thank you to everyone else who has posted here! I wanted to add my experience:

Just setup this morning. All times in EST.

Logged in at 6:58 AM and refreshed the DAS page with the link at 7 AM sharp. Clicked the link immediately after. Was joined by rep for pre-registration at 7:18 AM, video screening began at 7:26 AM, and finished by 7:33 AM. Took about 30 minutes to setup the Advance Selections (would have been shorter if Disney's website chat didn't glitch out temporarily). Everyone was extremely nice and easy to work with. They accidentally left one person off the Advance Selections, but getting that fixed now.

Definitely seems like getting in there right at 7AM is the way to go if you can.

 

[LynJ]

Thanks! Is that the only interaction they need with the child? Or do they need to be there for the chat? Just trying to figure out what to expect. I can certainly try to have my son explain why he needs the pass, but it might be difficult for him.

My kiddo was there for the chat, but I explained the issue. They agreed that she was "definitely qualified" and snapped her photo. She probably could have explained her issue, but they didn't ask her to do it herself.

 

[KLK622]

My kiddo was there for the chat, but I explained the issue. They agreed that she was "definitely qualified" and snapped her photo. She probably could have explained her issue, but they didn't ask her to do it herself.

Thanks..very helpful. My son being right there for the chat will probably depend on how long it takes me to get through. We just told the kids about the trip tonight so I have 1 week to try to get through..I am going to try in the mornings and if I get on quickly my husband is going to go wake him up once I know I am through...I just don't want to wake him up early for an entire week if I don't end up getting through before its time for school (we are in central time so I need to be ready before 6 am).

 

[KLK622]

Just wanted to give a quick update on my experience. I was up and ready to chat at 5:50 AM central time. I refreshed right at 6 am CT and asked to join the chat and was told it was full..so I logged out and logged back in and tried again at 6:02...that time I was let in and told it could be several hours. Around 6:50 am I received the prescreen questions and was put into the second prevideo chat at 6:58. At 8:10 I was asked if I was ready to video chat...I had just dropped my son (who the DAS is for) at school, so I quickly went and pulled him from school and used a side room at school for the chat. It took her about 1 minute to qualify us and then she explained how DAS works. At 8:18 I started our preselections and was done by 8:30. Many times were already sold out for our days and Slinky Dog had no available times for our Hollywood Studios day (we are there the 18th, 19th and 20th).

Thank you all for your help!

 

[Chrissy56]

. I was told that when you have to login again (for me it was every 30 minutes) it saves you place in the queue so don't sweat losing your place in line.

THANK YOU FOR THAF INFO!! That has been my biggest concern today when I am getting booted every 30 minutes. I was worried I was going to the end of the queue every time.

 

[smartlabelprint]

So I logged onto to chat around 7pm tonight. Around 11pm i first contact. Thru the runners of agents. Got some DAS times and was done around11:47pm

It was disappointing the return times were for times we won't be in the park since we need to leave anywhere between 1-3 because my kids can't take the whole day there. Slinky dog dash, the earliest return time was 4:30 in the afternoon. So I'm not sure if we will get to ride slinky. The online agent said we could modify when we got to guest relations, any one have success with that?

Can you start your day later if they can only be in the parks for a certain length of time?

 

[kylkat]

Yesterday I signed on at 12:41 pm. They came back at 10:30 pm and closed the chat as they were closing. I signed back on around 930 am today. They need some type of queue management. This is crazy! The chat times out about once an hour and makes me log in again. Does not appear that I have lost my place but there is no way to know. I called them and got a person on the phone and relayed my concerns and suggestions. She told me to email guest.services@disney.parks.com. I wrote them a very polite email with my suggestions, which also included reading their book on providing exemplary customer service called "Be Our Guest" However, I am still in the queue!
What are the wait times at the parks to get the card? If I don't get through could I do it when I arrive?