Disney Disability Access Service (DAS)-my family review

 As a family who recently visited Walt Disney World, and made great use of the Disability Access Service (DAS) I wanted to share my experience!  The system is brand new and just launched in the Fall of 2021.  

Please note that this is simply an overview of my family's experience.  I do not work for Disney and am not qualified to say who qualifies for this service.

What is DAS?

Disability Access Service (DAS) is a program offered at Walt Disney World theme parks to assist Guests who have difficulty tolerating extended waits in a conventional queue environment due to a disability.  Please contact Disney staff to determine if you qualify.  

More information: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/disability-access-service/

How to pre-register for DAS?

You can talk to Guest Services at the park, or 30 days before your visit, you can do a virtual video chat to sign up online.  When the new system launched the wait times were insane.  I tried on 3 different days, one being an entire Saturday, 15 hours waiting.  I think my issue was that after being open for a few minutes, even though my computer stays on, my browser goes to sleep which disconnected the chat.  For future chats, I avoided Safari and had much better luck.  

To do your video chat click this link: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/disability-access-service/register/

Near the bottom of the page, there will be a box that says 'Request Live Video Chat'.  Click there to begin the process.  Once connected, your cast member will send you a form to fill out, and then you will do a live chat.  They can determine eligibility and set up your pass if you qualify.  

How to pre-select your rides

After your pass is set up, you can pre-select two rides per day.  The cast member who set up your DAS will transfer you to this department, or you can return another day by clicking this link

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/disability-access-service/register/

More information about the DAS Advance Selections:

Not every ride is available for an ADVANCE selection.  See your options here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/faq/guests-with-disabilities/attractions-available-for-das-advance/

Your advance selections DO NOT impact how you use your DAS at the park.  These are simply two rides per day that are booked in advance.  This made using our DAS and planning for the day much less stressful.  We tried to have our advance selections a bit later in the day but knowing that we had those two rides already booked was very comforting.

You can see in the above screen shot that I have an advance selection scheduled, and a DAS ride booked.  

HOW TO USE YOUR DAS:

You must have the My Disney Experience (MDE) app on your phone.  Once your ticket is scanned for park entry (this can be a paper ticket, magic band or through your phone) and you are connected to the park wifi, then the DAS box will appear in your app when you tap the 3 lines on the bottom right.  If this box shows on your app but doesn't do anything, make sure you are scanned into the park and are on the Disney wifi.  

You are able to make your first ride selection as soon as you enter the park, even if you have advance selections scheduled.  You can make your next selections as soon as you scan into the first scheduled ride. Most of the time, this means that while in line, you can pick your next ride, however the Disney wifi doesn't work inside most of the buildings, so often we had to wait until after the ride was done and we were back outside.  

To redeem your DAS, you will enter each attraction through the Lightening Lane.  There will be a clock that shows the time and you can scan your ticket (or phone or magic band) when the ride shows the time of your reservation.  The person in your party who the DAS pass is for will have to scan into the ride first, and then the rest of your group that is reserved on that pass can scan.  Most of the time you will have to scan again closer to the start of the ride.  

You have a one-hour window to use your DAS.  If you miss this window, just talk to the cast member at the Lightening Lane entrance and show them that you had the ride booked.  

Every ride in each of the parks is eligible for the DAS, except Remy's Ratatouille Adventure at Epcot which uses a virtual queue.  If a ride isn't showing on your app that means it is either closed, temporarily unavailable (broken down), or the standby line is too long.  Yes, even rides that aren't an option for the advance scheduling are available for the DAS when you are in the park.  This includes popular rides like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Rise of the Resistance, and Flights of Passage.  

To scan into a ride using your phone, scan as shown below, do not hold your phone flat against the scanner.  Once the system acknowledges your eligibility, the light will turn green and you can go.  As mentioned earlier, the person who holds the DAS must scan first, and then the rest of the party can follow.  

Troubleshooting:

Sometimes, we would select our whole party when booking a ride even if not everyone was going to ride.  If not everyone in the party goes on the ride, they don't scan into the system and they aren't removed from that ride.  The system thinks they they haven't yet gone on the ride and they already have a booking, so they can't be scheduled for another ride.  Most of the time I could go back into that scheduled selection and select 'cancel' for the person still waiting to ride, and then proceed with a new booking.  A few times, however, there was a glitch and I wasn't able to do this through my app, but a quick visit to a guest services cast member at a blue umbrella and they could easily fix this.  

We also had to click 'confirm' a few times, sometimes, before the booking would actually go through.  On our first day at Magic Kingdom, the wifi was very sporadic and glitchy.  We would often have to walk around to find a better connection in order to book our rides.  The rest of our week was better, but we were there the week of American Thanksgiving, so it was very busy.  

The other concern was around phone battery.  Between the DAS, maps and quick service food ordering, we were on our phones a lot, but other than our first day, I only needed to charge my phone at the park on the days when my phone didn't charge properly overnight.  On our first day at Magic Kingdom we were still figuring out the system and it felt like constantly trying to stay connected to the wifi, so we did go through our battery more.  I'm glad we had portable battery packs with us, but we didn't need them everyday.  

Genie+ and Lightening Lane

Disney has changed the Fast Pass system to the new Genie+.  This is a paid service, at $15 USD per person per day to skip the standby line.  This system is very similar to the DAS but is only available for select rides, and specifically excludes 2 rides per park.  Those rides offer an Individual Lightening Lane where you can pay specifically for one ride.  Even if you add Genie+, you still need to buy an Individual Lightening Lane in order to skip the standby line for those two rides per park.  The prices range from $7-$15 per person per ride and change based on season and demand.  If you purchase an individual lightening lane pass for a ride, you cannot purchase it again and would have to wait in the standby line to experience that ride again.

Except for the Remy ride, the DAS pass works on EVERY ride, including those that offer the Individual Lightening Lane purchase.  So if you qualify for DAS, it is NOT necessary to add the Genie+ service, or pay for an individual Lightening Lane.  Plus, you can use the DAS multiples times for the same ride.  On the day we were at Animal Kingdom, we started and ended our day with the Flights of Passage ride, as it quickly became our favourite.  

We loved being able to use the DAS.  We only waited in standby lines that were relatively short, and while we were waiting for our reservation time on another ride.  For a lot of our rides, we had to run up the ramps to get to the start as we bypassed a very long standby line (at one point it was a 4 hour wait to ride the Rise of the Resistance ride).  We constantly had standing reservations while we either went on other rides or took a break or had something to eat.  It felt daunting to be able to do all the rides we wanted but this system made it much more manageable.