WDW Summary of NEW DAS changes and Disney Genie - Post ONE is an updated summary

[SueM in MN]

Has anyone had their time for their Advanced selection windows switched without being notified? We noticed today that our time for Animation Experience was switched to mid afternoon after having been set up for mid morning. This is for 11/28 but we arrive next Friday (11/26], so we plan on swinging by to guest services that day to see if we can get it changed to something else, since I don’t want to have to deal with this and have it possibly messed up even more before our trip since we have 8 days.

Someone else posted they got a message cancelling their DAS Advance Selection for Festival of the Lion King - apparently there was an issue with the particular time slot they had. It’s probably a similar situation and instead of cancelling it, they changed. I’m not sure Guest Relations will be able to change it, but if they can’t, you should be able to just let the DAS Advance Selection expire and get a regular DAS Return Time for it.

We have two upcoming trips - both times on our first day, we fly in early morning, but wouldn't be to parks before noon.

If they give us the "First Available" - we might not even be in the air yet; let along at the parks. Any idea how this would be handled?

Same with the last day - our airport transport leaves the hotel around 4pm; so we would need our two attractions before then...

You can tell the CM about your availability situation and see if they can find a time that fits for the attraction you want. There may not be, but if the first available time doesn’t fit, you don’t have to accept it. You csn ask to look for a different time or attraction.

I'm in the same boat!

Crazy thing though - I logged in right at 7am; and got the chat with the Cast member asking me to fill out the form to select my attractions right at 7:05. Did that; but then they came back and asked if we'd had our Video Chat? Told them no, and they said they would "transfer us"? How did we end up with the abiilty to select attractions before the Chat?

it sounds like you were probably transferred to the wrong video chat queue

So, I'm getting a "this page isn't working" error now on my computer after 4 hours, but when I clicked the app on my phone, the chat comes back up?

Now what do I do?

You could give the computer another try to see if the page issue resolves, but if the phone has the chat, I would probably just stay on the phone.

 

[notatallmagic]

So, we filled out our attraction requests right at 7:05; they transferred us to the Video Chat queu (we must have been sent the wrong place somehow?); filled out the Guest Information Form and they said we "qualified" at 11:04. Now still holding at 12:33...is this all still normal-ish?

 

[jlundeen]

I have a question for anyone who has been using the new online DAS return time feature on the app.

I understand that the "tile" for use doesn't appear in your dashboard of the app until you enter the park, right? And you can request only one at a time, I know, but if you are hopping to another park, can you make a request at the next park before you arrive there, like in transit? Or do you have to actually ENTER the next park before you can request a return time....

 

[SueM in MN]

I have a question for anyone who has been using the new online DAS return time feature on the app.

I understand that the "tile" for use doesn't appear in your dashboard of the app until you enter the park, right? And you can request only one at a time, I know, but if you are hopping to another park, can you make a request at the next park before you arrive there, like in transit? Or do you have to actually ENTER the next park before you can request a return time....

The tile doesn’t show up until the Person registered for DAS has entered the park.
It may or may not stay showing up for that park after the DAS holder has left the park (that was inconsistent for us).

If you are park hopping, you won’t be able to make a DAS Return Time in the second park until the person registered for DAS enters the park you are hopping to. Since there are 4 Theme parks, the app doesn’t know which you are going to until you enter.

 

[jlundeen]

The tile doesn’t show up until the Person registered for DAS has entered the park.
It may or may not stay showing up for that park after the DAS holder has left the park (that was inconsistent for us).

If you are park hopping, you won’t be able to make a DAS Return Time in the second park until the person registered for DAS enters the park you are hopping to. Since there are 4 Theme parks, the app doesn’t know which you are going to until you enter.

That makes sense.... thanks!

 

[Islamom]

After dealing with the chat feature for almost 6 hours, I was cleared to go to the next step. After another hour, a video chat person came on the chat. He asked if my daughter was there. I said yes and at that point was disconnected. I am unable to reconnect due to the high volume of people trying to chat. I just get the swirling blue circle. At this point what would you do? Thanks for any ideas. My daughter has had the DAS for 3 years.

 

[notatallmagic]

After dealing with the chat feature for almost 6 hours, I was cleared to go to the next step. After another hour, a video chat person came on the chat. He asked if my daughter was there. I said yes and at that point was disconnected. I am unable to reconnect due to the high volume of people trying to chat. I just get the swirling blue circle. At this point what would you do? Thanks for any ideas. My daughter has had the DAS for 3 years.

We had that too - just keep trying to login. I am super NOT techie, but it kicked me out on my laptop after 5 hours, but I logged in on my phone, and the chat picked back up there. Try another device if you can!!

 

[notatallmagic]

Sigh. Angry mama bear here.

We had our DAS pre-approval experience today. I may post this in another group as well, but our experience was quite relevant for this forum's topic.

I'll start with the positive stuff -
1) Both of our chat/texting Cast Members seemed competent, quick, and helpful.
2) We were able to book for our entire 3 day trip; today was 30 days out from the FIRST park day, so that was nice. I had recieved conflicting reports on that issue.
3) I let them know that we would be arriving late the first day, and leaving early on the last day, and they were able to work with that.
4) TIP: Be SURE to pre-plan your pre-book attraction requests, have your traveling party specified in MDE, and have your Park Reservations and Reservation # ready. They seem to want to move quickly (understandably).

Now the Ugly -
1) Logged on right a 7am. At 7:04 the Chat came live, and asked for my List of desired attractions; the Cast Member then came back and asked why I hadn't done my Video Chat - and that was what I had requested! When I explained, they did say they were "transferring" me back into that queue;
2) Waited just over six hours. The system kept glitching and timing me out; so after my laptop NOT letting me back in, I tried on my phone, and that worked! The very same chat window popped up, so I ended up doing the whole process on my (Samsung) phone.
3) I filled out the "pre-cert" questionnaire about 4 1/2 hours in; then waited another 90 minutes or so. We also had to pick our attractions again - so what we'd entered the first time must not have "saved" anywhere.
4) MY VERY UN-FAVORITE PART - My 18 year old kid is the one with the disability. Diagnosed not quite 2 years ago; multiple Disney trips since then using DAS (and being approved immediately) every time. When we've requested in person, her disability is visually obvious; but likely not obvious on the Video Chat feature (maybe that was the issue?). In any event, the Video Chat Cast Member was simply RUDE, and implied that my daughter didn't qualify for a DAS. My daughter clearly stated the issues she has that qualify her for DAS; she gave specific examples of park issues we've had when DAS wasn't functioning properly last summer (losing conciousness among them)...and the Cast Member continued to say, "sorry, I need MORE!" Seriously?
5) I get that there's abuse of the system, but being super rude to any park guest who has repeatedly used DAS in the past? Not sure what that's about? We have only ever used the same traveling group...not sure what the trigger would have been for the harsh treatment. My kid was in tears. Super sh#$#y treatment by the Cast Member, and totally unnecessary. I was proud of my kid for standing her ground, staying calm, and advocating for herself, but it was really crappy treatment. She was ultimately approved, but it was harsh.

In summary - I felt we needed the advance DAS for our December trip due to the super high anticipated crowd levels. But we have one more trip before our Annual Passes expire, scheduled for a typically less busy time of year. I'm not sure I'd put my kid through this kind of nastiness again. We've never had anything but pleasant experiences at the parks getting the DAS in person. I get that these folks are busy, but there's simply no excuse for that level of rudeness. I was shocked. Abuse of the system? I'm sure there is. But it's not likely to be abused by folks who have REPEATEDLY used DAS in the past; who request medical related resort accomodations, etc. Epic Disney fail, IMO.

 

[Ariel620]

Sigh. Angry mama bear here.

We had our DAS pre-approval experience today. I may post this in another group as well, but our experience was quite relevant for this forum's topic.

I'll start with the positive stuff -
1) Both of our chat/texting Cast Members seemed competent, quick, and helpful.
2) We were able to book for our entire 3 day trip; today was 30 days out from the FIRST park day, so that was nice. I had recieved conflicting reports on that issue.
3) I let them know that we would be arriving late the first day, and leaving early on the last day, and they were able to work with that.
4) TIP: Be SURE to pre-plan your pre-book attraction requests, have your traveling party specified in MDE, and have your Park Reservations and Reservation # ready. They seem to want to move quickly (understandably).

Now the Ugly -
1) Logged on right a 7am. At 7:04 the Chat came live, and asked for my List of desired attractions; the Cast Member then came back and asked why I hadn't done my Video Chat - and that was what I had requested! When I explained, they did say they were "transferring" me back into that queue;
2) Waited just over six hours. The system kept glitching and timing me out; so after my laptop NOT letting me back in, I tried on my phone, and that worked! The very same chat window popped up, so I ended up doing the whole process on my (Samsung) phone.
3) I filled out the "pre-cert" questionnaire about 4 1/2 hours in; then waited another 90 minutes or so. We also had to pick our attractions again - so what we'd entered the first time must not have "saved" anywhere.
4) MY VERY UN-FAVORITE PART - My 18 year old kid is the one with the disability. Diagnosed not quite 2 years ago; multiple Disney trips since then using DAS (and being approved immediately) every time. When we've requested in person, her disability is visually obvious; but likely not obvious on the Video Chat feature (maybe that was the issue?). In any event, the Video Chat Cast Member was simply RUDE, and implied that my daughter didn't qualify for a DAS. My daughter clearly stated the issues she has that qualify her for DAS; she gave specific examples of park issues we've had when DAS wasn't functioning properly last summer (losing conciousness among them)...and the Cast Member continued to say, "sorry, I need MORE!" Seriously?
5) I get that there's abuse of the system, but being super rude to any park guest who has repeatedly used DAS in the past? Not sure what that's about? We have only ever used the same traveling group...not sure what the trigger would have been for the harsh treatment. My kid was in tears. Super sh#$#y treatment by the Cast Member, and totally unnecessary. I was proud of my kid for standing her ground, staying calm, and advocating for herself, but it was really crappy treatment. She was ultimately approved, but it was harsh.

In summary - I felt we needed the advance DAS for our December trip due to the super high anticipated crowd levels. But we have one more trip before our Annual Passes expire, scheduled for a typically less busy time of year. I'm not sure I'd put my kid through this kind of nastiness again. We've never had anything but pleasant experiences at the parks getting the DAS in person. I get that these folks are busy, but there's simply no excuse for that level of rudeness. I was shocked. Abuse of the system? I'm sure there is. But it's not likely to be abused by folks who have REPEATEDLY used DAS in the past; who request medical related resort accomodations, etc. Epic Disney fail, IMO.

I'm sorry that happened to you and your daughter. There is no excuse for that. I'm surprised they even needed to speak with your daughter. I was under the impression that the parent can do all the talking and just call your daughter in when they need to take the picture. That is awful that they questioned her so rudely, I would send a complaint to guest services if I were you.

 

[MinnieMSue]

I'm sorry that happened to you and your daughter. There is no excuse for that. I'm surprised they even needed to speak with your daughter. I was under the impression that the parent can do all the talking and just call your daughter in when they need to take the picture. That is awful that they questioned her so rudely, I would send a complaint to guest services if I were you.

i assume it is because she is an adult at 18 is why they spoke to her. There are probably situations when someone of adult age is not able to speak for themselves though.

 

[Islamom]

I just wanted to thank everyone for the info on this thread. I was successful today In preregistration for our December 1 MK visit. It took 5 1/2 hours but everything went well in the end. Thanks!

 

[notatallmagic]

I'm sorry that happened to you and your daughter. There is no excuse for that. I'm surprised they even needed to speak with your daughter. I was under the impression that the parent can do all the talking and just call your daughter in when they need to take the picture. That is awful that they questioned her so rudely, I would send a complaint to guest services if I were you.

Yes, she is 18 now; since her diagnosis is less than 2 years old, it has been a whirlwind of the normal "teaching adulting" combined with all the things that come with a life-altering health condition.

She wanted to do all the talking, and it took everything in me to let her. The Cast Member was simply a bully - and every single reason my daughter stated for needed her DAS was fully legitimate. Had I been "in the frame" or next to her - maybe a different outcome? I am very hesitant though to allow this to happen again - we simply could NOT experience Disney without DAS; and have two trips planned and paid for. Our alternative would be to go in person on day of arrival and ask in person for our second trip. Her disability is visually obvious then, and we've never experienced anything but kindness in person.

 

[notatallmagic]

i assume it is because she is an adult at 18 is why they spoke to her. There are probably situations when someone of adult age is not able to speak for themselves though.

Yes, she is 18; and I was not "in frame" as she really wanted to do this herself.

I feel deeply for those of us who know that Disney is only possible with DAS; and who have been granted DAS graciously and kindly in the past. I hope our experience was an anomaly; I cannot imagine treating people this way.

I know that there has been abuse of the system; and that Disney has now created a paid system that almost encourages more frequent abuse. I would anticipate that Disney would "flag" certain high risk requests (and we've all read those stories on these Boards); but we have been using DAS since diagnosis 2 years ago for multiple trips and had only asked for our family group of 3 which has been our "normal" for over a decade.

I'm not sure that anything excuses what happened; I would just encourage parents and others who need the DAS to be ready to advocate for yourself and what you need.

 

[CBMom01]

I'm in the same boat!

Crazy thing though - I logged in right at 7am; and got the chat with the Cast member asking me to fill out the form to select my attractions right at 7:05. Did that; but then they came back and asked if we'd had our Video Chat? Told them no, and they said they would "transfer us"? How did we end up with the abiilty to select attractions before the Chat?

I think I got the same thing but the chat said to follow that link only if I had active DAS already

 

[jlundeen]

anyone who is there now or has been recently use the DAS? Our arrival is this Saturday, and we have the advanced registration and a couple of rides booked for each day, but wondering what day-of experience is? Are return times fairly close to booking? I know some things are being snapped up pretty quickly by the G+ and ILL systems, like Slinky Dog, so are return times hours away for those, or closer in?

Thanks!

 

[DisSurfer878]

anyone who is there now or has been recently use the DAS? Our arrival is this Saturday, and we have the advanced registration and a couple of rides booked for each day, but wondering what day-of experience is? Are return times fairly close to booking? I know some things are being snapped up pretty quickly by the G+ and ILL systems, like Slinky Dog, so are return times hours away for those, or closer in?

Thanks!

DAS return times day-of, in park, do not work like advance selections or Genie+/formerly Fastpass where you select a time for some point in the future. Your DAS return time is given based on the length of the current standby time. So let's say you wanted to ride Peter Pan. The standby line for Peter Pan is 45 minutes long. You go in the app, request the time, and it will be the length of the standby line minus 10 minutes. So if you requested the time at 10 am, and the line is 45 minutes long, you would get a little thing that says "return to ride any time after 10:35 am". Does this make sense?

 

[jlundeen]

DAS return times day-of, in park, do not work like advance selections or Genie+/formerly Fastpass where you select a time for some point in the future. Your DAS return time is given based on the length of the current standby time. So let's say you wanted to ride Peter Pan. The standby line for Peter Pan is 45 minutes long. You go in the app, request the time, and it will be the length of the standby line minus 10 minutes. So if you requested the time at 10 am, and the line is 45 minutes long, you would get a little thing that says "return to ride any time after 10:35 am". Does this make sense?

Yes, thank you. I understand this, I've used DAS many times before. My question was not worded well.... what I am asking is if people who have been there recently or are there now have seen any big difference is the length of the return times since the implementation of the Genie system....

If we arrive mid morning, some mornings rather than rope drop, are there normally still morning return times available on the more popular rides? I understand that it's based on standby lines, but just wondering if folks are seeing any difference from the before-Genie-times.

 

[Starwind]

Yes, thank you. I understand this, I've used DAS many times before. My question was not worded well.... what I am asking is if people who have been there recently or are there now have seen any big difference is the length of the return times since the implementation of the Genie system....

If we arrive mid morning, some mornings rather than rope drop, are there normally still morning return times available on the more popular rides? I understand that it's based on standby lines, but just wondering if folks are seeing any difference from the before-Genie-times.

IT has been reported elsewhere that the posted standby wait times seem to be inflated [longer] than the actual time it takes to get through the standby line. [Aside- there is much speculation on why this is] A longer standby wait time would necessity create a longer DAS return time.

One thing you can do to see the wait times yourself is go into the MDE app and click on the second icon on the bottom from the left [upside down teardrop] This will bring up the park map and the current wait times. You can use the filter to choose the park you want to see. So, if you were to play with it around the same time you are concerned about, you might get an idea of what wait times are like - understanding YMMV.

SW

 

[jlundeen]

IT has been reported elsewhere that the posted standby wait times seem to be inflated [longer] than the actual time it takes to get through the standby line. [Aside- there is much speculation on why this is] A longer standby wait time would necessity create a longer DAS return time.

One thing you can do to see the wait times yourself is go into the MDE app and click on the second icon on the bottom from the left [upside down teardrop] This will bring up the park map and the current wait times. You can use the filter to choose the park you want to see. So, if you were to play with it around the same time you are concerned about, you might get an idea of what wait times are like - understanding YMMV.

SW

Thank you!

 

[ilgirl51]

I've been reading through the posts, but I apologize if I missed this...
Are you allowed to use the day-of DAS on the same attraction you requested ahead of time? (It's possible we could miss a pre-assigned time for an attraction at Magic Kingdom due to lunch going long.) The cast member said he couldn't get another time that worked, and the lunch is at Steakhouse 71, so there are no other times.