Why is trying to register for DAS so frustrating? NOTE FROM MOD: this is about OPTIONAL VIDEO DAS Registration

[figmentfinesse]

Chiming in with another good experience this morning!

Atomic clock pressed the button at 7 am on the dot. Was ready to chat at just 7:17! Video chat was brief and the cast member was just lovely. From there, we waited a few minutes for the advance selection section which took a bit because they were saying my partner’s email was wrong (it wasn’t lol!). The cast member had us type all our park days, our two desired attractions, and whether we would like morning afternoon or evening each day. We did not get a selection past that, but 5/6 park days ended up being right in the frame I would have requested and the other day is just an hour later than I would have liked, no worries there! Everything is showing in mde beautifully.

From first button press to log off, it was 64 minutes. Very reasonable! I definitely recommend trying right at 7. Not sure if the holiday was in my favor but it’s possible that was a factor as well.

 

[JoJoGirl]

Not having a great experience this morning. I’m at my parents’ house and requested the video chat on my iPad at 7:03am through my MDE. It’s 11:36 now and that request is still “spinning” nearly four hours in.

Not sure if there was an issue with my iPad, so we started another chat request on Mom’s iPad around 9:30. That request is still spinning, but at least it opened up a chat window we can watch. I’ve been sending short messages every so often to be sure it’s still active. MDE on Safari kept logging us out so we opened the chat window through the app, it showed the chat still active with all my little messages intact. No replies yet.

This is so frustrating! I don’t know if there is a glitch somewhere, or if this process really takes this long. I wish chat would at least send an automated message from their end every 15 minutes or so to let me know that we are still in the queue.

Update:
It took a while be we were finally able to complete the chats and advance scheduling. For us it took over six hours, but a lot of that was my fault for not realizing my adblocker was keeping the chat window from opening properly. We also had a lot of miscellaneous issues with logouts, devices needing cleared and rebooted, and the general cumbersome-ness of the process. It did cause some stress, especially for my mother.

The chat CMs are wonderful once you get through. We were able to advance schedule all the attractions we wanted (admittedly not the headliners) in the 10:30-3:00 timeframe we requested. Had to adjust one dining reservation to accommodate a ride window, but that was OK! So happy to have this done and know we have some concrete plans to work from.

 

[ilgirl51]

I'm glad it finally worked for you. It was a frustrating experience for me too, but well worth it in the end. I hope you enjoy your trip!

 

[brettchief]

The pre-registration process took us about 7.5 hours total. I didn't mind waiting, as I just kept the computer open and looked at it every once in a while to see if there was a response. That being said, we may forgo the prereg in the future and just sign up at the parks the day of.

 

[SueM in MN]

Moved this from another thread, which I closed to avoid having many threads giving experiences

I thought I would share our experience with pre-registration for our upcoming trip!

Last Saturday we logged on to MDE and chatted to request pre-registration for DAS at 9am. Around 2:30pm a CM came on and chatted to see if we qualified, basically asking when our travel dates were. Once we got through that, we were transferred to the queue for video chat. Finally, around 4:30pm we were connected with a CM via video chat. Very easy, pleasant experience. The CM was very helpful, quickly qualifying us for DAS. Remember that whomever in your family you are signing up for DAS must be present, as they briefly talk to them (just to say hello, nothing too personal) and take their picture. Once the video chat ended, we were transferred to chat with another CM to set up advance selections for up to 2 attractions per day of our trip. Keep in mind, those attractions with individual lightning lanes (Flight of Passage, Rise of the Resistance, etc) do not qualify for these pre-selections. We got most of the selections we wanted, but some attractions were not available (Slinky Dog Dash, Soarin come to mind).
We were able to set up: Epcot - Spaceship Earth and Mission Space, MK- Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan's Flight, Studios - Smugglers Run and Toy Story Mania, AK- Dinosaur and Kilamanjaro Safari.

So, the pre-registration took a total of over 7.5 hours. When you go to set it up, make sure you are able to be close to your computer for quite a bit of time. The website also kept kicking us off and we had to re-sign in every 30 minutes or so. We did not lose our place in line, and the CM stated this is a known problem others are having. Have backup attractions in case the ones you want are filled up. The CM reminded us that once we enter a park, we will be able to make another DAS selection, the 2 you set up prior are "bonus". You can set up DAS at guest relations the day of park visit, but you would not be able to have the 2 bonus attraction selections. Once you qualify for DAS, it is good for 60 days, and it is good to up to 6 members of your party. If you have more, you can try to add them the day of your park visit, according to the CM.

Besides the time it took, this was a very pleasant experience. If you have someone in your party or family that you believe would qualify for this, I highly recommend you do it!

 

[Orion Nebula]

I didn't even know you had to pre-register for DAS these days? I always walked up to the service desk on my way into the first park and it took 2 minutes.

 

[lanejudy]

I didn't even know you had to pre-register for DAS these days? I always walked up to the service desk on my way into the first park and it took 2 minutes.

It isn't required, but registering by video chat up to 30 days prior to arrival is now an option. Details are in the WDW Summary of New DAS Changes and Disney Genie post pinned near the top of this forum.

 

[Orion Nebula]

It isn't required, but registering by video chat up to 30 days prior to arrival is now an option. Details are in the WDW Summary of New DAS Changes and Disney Genie post pinned near the top of this forum.

My main question is why are people even dealing with that? So many of them are spending hours trying to get through this process. I have two kids that have always required it and I had to speak to a CM each trip. It was always a painless and quick process.

 

[Dindi]

I registered last week. I got online about 7:00am and it took about 10 minutes before I was connected. Entire conversation including picking our rides look less than 30 minutes. Loved not having to wait in line at the park and being able to pre-select two attractions per day.

 

[lanejudy]

My main question is why are people even dealing with that? So many of them are spending hours trying to get through this process. I have two kids that have always required it and I had to speak to a CM each trip. It was always a painless and quick process.

People have different reasons. Those who pre-register are allowed to schedule 2 Advanced Selections which are like FP+ with a 1-hour window to ride; this is in addition to the DAS Return Times that can be done while in the park. Some people really want those extra 2 rides set-up to plan around. Some people struggle with talking to someone in-person and are more comfortable to do this from the comfort of their home. Some just want it done so they don't have to wait in a queue at Guest Relations when they arrive. There may be other reasons as well. Others decide to wait and just get the DAS on-site at the first park like in the past.

 

[Orion Nebula]

OK I did read through the link some, but didn't really understand that you could schedule their FPs ahead of time. That makes more sense now and good to know heading into the future.

 

[Selket]

People in my traveling party for my early December trip obtained the DAS from Guest services in the park without issues. Was a quick process. The wait time on the phone was reportedly really long back then so the thought was just to do it at the park.

I believe they also were able to make "advance selections" with the CM for a few days later (5 days?) when they got their DAS at guest services. Our trip was around 7 days so they had the advance selections for the last 2 days I think. I had not seen anyone mention that the CM's could do that but I don't follow this thread. If your trip is longer and you get the DAS at the park you may want to ask the CM if they can add some advance selections for you for 5 or 6 days after your DAS starts.

 

[SueM in MN]

People in my traveling party for my early December trip obtained the DAS from Guest services in the park without issues. Was a quick process. The wait time on the phone was reportedly really long back then so the thought was just to do it at the park.

I believe they also were able to make "advance selections" with the CM for a few days later (5 days?) when they got their DAS at guest services. Our trip was around 7 days so they had the advance selections for the last 2 days I think. I had not seen anyone mention that the CM's could do that but I don't follow this thread. If your trip is longer and you get the DAS at the park you may want to ask the CM if they can add some advance selections for you for 5 or 6 days after your DAS starts.

The reports I have seen indicated that the CMs in the parks are not able to make DAS Advance Selections. The people I read comments from who were able to make them after registering for DAS in a park (instead of using the DAS video registration) made the DAS Advance Selections online using the link for making DAS Advance Selections on the Disney World DAS website page.

 

[Selket]

The reports I have seen indicated that the CMs in the parks are not able to make DAS Advance Selections. The people I read comments from who were able to make them after registering for DAS in a park (instead of using the DAS video registration) made the DAS Advance Selections online using the link for making DAS Advance Selections on the Disney World DAS website page.

Thanks Sue! I was aware she made them since we are linked on MDE and I could see them but I wasn't sure how she did it!

 

[Brett Wyman]

Positive experience to report today. Today was our 30 day window for DAS. I was refreshing the web page at 6:59am and joined as soon as the link went live. By 7:04 the video chat was ready. They do of course now ask what the DAS reason is, which I think is a great change. They don't ask the child anything other than to pose for the photo. That took about 5 minutes total. The video chat then ends and they transfer you to the DAS ride registration team, which is chat only. For 7 days in the parks it took us about 20 mins and we got all the ride selections we wanted.

 

[DisSurfer878]

Positive experience to report today. Today was our 30 day window for DAS. I was refreshing the web page at 6:59am and joined as soon as the link went live. By 7:04 the video chat was ready. They do of course now ask what the DAS reason is, which I think is a great change. They don't ask the child anything other than to pose for the photo. That took about 5 minutes total. The video chat then ends and they transfer you to the DAS ride registration team, which is chat only. For 7 days in the parks it took us about 20 mins and we got all the ride selections we wanted.

What do you mean "they now ask the DAS reason is"? They've always done that. You didn't just walk up before and say "I need a DAS pass" and they were all "ok here you go".
I'm confused.

 

[Brett Wyman]

What do you mean "they now ask the DAS reason is"? They've always done that. You didn't just walk up before and say "I need a DAS pass" and they were all "ok here you go".
I'm confused.

Never asked us in the 3 years we've been using the service. Asked to see the child but never asked why.

 

[DisSurfer878]

Never asked us in the 3 years we've been using the service. Asked to see the child but never asked why.

Wow, that's.... something. And definitely against the policy Disney has held for DAS. Thanks for sharing.

 

[OurBigTrip]

Never asked us in the 3 years we've been using the service. Asked to see the child but never asked why.

Glad they're finally doing it correctly for you.

 

[ttintagel]

I suspected that one of the reasons for moving to the video chats is that the in-person circumstances at Guest Relations were conducive to a lot of irregularities, and stories like this tend to make me think my suspicion was probably correct.