Disney World Makes Minor But Maybe Major Change to DAS Policy
Disney just changed a single word in its Disability Access Service policy that could be consequential for DAS approvals & denials going forward. This covers the before and after of language change, plus our commentary about the motivations (or lack thereof) for making this tweak and how it could end up being minor but meaningful in practice.
As quick background, Disney overhauled DAS at Walt Disney World and Disneyland prior to the start of last summer. According to the company, the changes were due in large part to abuse, misuse, and proliferation of the program’s use–with issuances of DAS tripling from 2019 to last year. For more about the specifics of the new-look Disability Access Service, plus our commentary about winners & losers, as well as collateral damage and more, see Disability Access Service (DAS) Changes at Walt Disney World FAQ.
We’ve been following this saga closely for the last several months, receiving reports from readers and reading accounts of other guests applying for accommodations after the overhaul of the Disability Access Service at Walt Disney World. Obviously, it’s a highly sensitive subject that is very, very personal since it is, quite literally, make or break for some guests trying to experience Walt Disney World. There have been widespread reports of guests who previously had DAS being denied and advised to use alternative accommodations, some of which are new–or are revised and highlighted more prominently.
Suffice to say, it’s been a contentious ~9 months between the company and the disabled community. Many fans have hoped that Walt Disney World and Disneyland would relax the policy or overhaul it once again, and there’s been a grassroots campaign to accomplish exactly that.
Fast forward to late January 2025, and the DAS policy has been updated in multiple locations on both the Walt Disney World and Disneyland official websites. Here’s who Walt Disney World now indicates DAS is aimed to assist:
Old language: “DAS is intended to accommodate only those Guests who, due to a developmental disability like autism or similar, are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time.” (Emphasis added.)
New language: “DAS is intended to accommodate those Guests who, due to a developmental disability like autism or similar, are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time.”
It’s worth noting that this is essentially Disney’s statement of intent for DAS, as variations of this language appear at the very top and throughout Walt Disney World’s official DAS page. It’s not something minor buried in an FAQ or something inconsequential.
Turning to commentary, it may seem like only one little word, but there’s undoubtedly a reason being made for the change. This isn’t just someone on Walt Disney World’s web team hastily making changes, like we’ve seen countless times in the last year that have resulted in mistakes for the attraction lineups at hard ticket events, refurbishments, and so forth.
Every word written on the DAS materials would be scrutinized by Disney Legal. They would have the final say, and approve or dictate any verbiage changes or loosening of limiting language. The flip side of that is that Disney’s lawyers would’ve done precisely the same prior to launching the DAS overhaul. An army of attorneys probably spent months poring over every word on those websites prior to publication–especially the statement of intent for the new-look DAS.
In other words, that “only” was approved by Disney Legal and its removal is likewise being approved by Disney Legal. But probably not from the perspective of concerns about legal exposure, as those conservations would have already happened, extensively. Disney Legal undoubtedly performed comprehensive litigation risk assessments, which is precisely why they elected against using IBCCES and steered the overhaul in a different direction, even if many disabled guests would’ve preferred that. (Universal has since stopped requiring IBCCES, likely as a result of ongoing litigation concerning the service at Six Flags.)
The overhaul to DAS will almost certainly give rise to more litigation, regardless. Accessibility changes inevitably do, and it’s likely Disney’s perspective that it’s the cost of doing business. The die is cast, irrespective of this “only.” (I’d also expect Disney to prevail in any such lawsuit, as Disney Legal is meticulous and methodical.)
I’m very reluctant to play armchair attorney on this as I have zero relevant expertise and Disney Legal has countless lawyers who do. Second-guessing them seems slightly silly. With that said, the thing that surprised me from the outset was Disney using limiting language tailoring DAS to guests with developmental disabilities.
Parsing the language, it’s not just the “only” that matters there–it’s also the “due to.” The policy is not using developmental disabilities as an example, it’s narrowing the scope of the accommodation to developmental disabilities and providing autism as an example. Removing “only” might change perceptions, but it doesn’t change the policy.
For this to be a material change from a legal perspective, I’d think the word that would need to be stricken is “developmental.” By limiting the accommodation to only guests with developmental disabilities, it’s possible Disney is pre-screening out a class of disabled individuals that might run afoul of the ADA. If so, that’s still true with a straightforward reading of the statement of intent, since “only” simply reinforces the “due to” (just like previous iterations included “small percentage” of guests language).
But again, I’d imagine Disney Legal did their due diligence on this and determined that, when it came to legal exposure, alternative accommodations to DAS were sufficient for all other classes of disabled guests. Playing armchair attorney here is foolish.
Given all of that, it’s nevertheless safe to assume this verbiage change is deliberate, but is not being made from the perspective of exposure to litigation. It’s also safe to assume this isn’t happening haphazardly and came after careful consideration and analysis. So what could be the reason for Disney making this change ~9 months after launch?
My best guess is that Disney wants to soften the perceived limitations in the policy among prospective applicants. To make it appear less harsh or stringent, to encourage guests other than those with developmental disabilities to apply for DAS. It could be a way of unofficially expanding the scope of eligibility without making any substantive changes to the policy or overhauling the program yet again.
This might have occurred if the Inspire Health Alliance health professionals and Disney Cast Members who work together to determine appropriate accommodations have also seen internal policies loosened. That could mean either giving them greater discretion in approving DAS applications, or informally expanding eligibility criteria for DAS without more material guest-facing language changes.
Beyond that, it’s difficult to say why this change might have happened. And it’s impossible to know how it’ll play out in practice until there are more reports of DAS approvals and denials. Even then, what’s reported isn’t necessarily representative of the program as a whole, as there’s self-selection bias in who is most likely and least likely to share their experiences. “We’ll never know what this means in practice” isn’t exactly a satisfying assessment, but it’s probably accurate.
Disney is in an unenviable position here with tremendous amounts of push-pull.
On the one hand, there have been heartbreaking stories of DAS denials, many of which have gone viral for good reason. These have made it really seem like a more flexible and humane approach offering greater discretion to Cast Members is necessary. All of this strongly suggested that Disney went too far with the DAS overhaul, and needed some degree of relaxing its policies.
On the other hand, Disney needs to avoid relaxing its rules too much, or else risk a return to the rampant abuse that was fostered by hugely popular TikToks and influential social media groups. This has been exacerbated by a sense of entitlement, lack of shame, and Disney creating an incentive for DAS scammers by monetizing line-skipping via Lightning Lanes.
It’s a really tough for Disney to balance this, but as we’ve said repeatedly, there has to be a middle ground. The pendulum swung from one extreme to another, and there has been a lot of collateral damage among disabled guests who needed DAS and have been denied under the overly-stringent system.
Then there’s also the impact on the guest experience for everyone else, which is faster-moving lines and lower wait times. We discussed this at length in Here’s Why Standby Lines and Lightning Lanes Are Moving Faster at Walt Disney World. The bottom line is that the DAS changes and, to a lesser extent, switch from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass are having a significant impact. It should go without saying that there are controversies, downsides, and unfortunate realities to the above. But the improvement to the flow of lines–standby and Lightning Lanes–as well as lower wait times is also undeniable.
In the end, there’s a lot for Walt Disney World and Disneyland to balance, and I wouldn’t want to be on the team tasked with that. It’s a really tough and delicate needle to thread. Here’s hoping this single-word change to the DAS eligibility criteria on both coasts is exactly what’s needed to achieve that unicorn of reduced abuse, approvals for those who truly need DAS, and lines that continue to flow smoothly for everyone.
We also hope that the softening of the DAS policy language results in a softening of the interviews. We’ve heard from countless readers who have been denied, and there’s a word that has been used repeatedly to describe the process: interrogation. While we can appreciate how stressful this process is for Cast Members and the verbal abuse they take for disgruntled guests, there’s still gotta be a better way of handling the process that feels less adversarial. Disney has an exemplary reputation for guest service and accommodations. It would be a shame to lose that as even more collateral damage to the DAS overhaul.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on the slight language change to DAS policies at Walt Disney World and Disneyland? Think this is prompted by legal exposure, Disney wanting to informally expand DAS eligibility, or something else? Hopeful that this will result in increased approvals for those who truly need DAS while keeping abuse low? Agree or disagree with our assessment of the changes or policy as a whole? Please try to stay on topic–we’ve noticed some of these DAS comments sections get heated and personal. Discuss the policy itself, not others’ use (or lack thereof) of it.
I assume you’ve seen the new class action lawsuit against Disney, and I think we now know why the word “only” was removed.
The central assertion in the lawsuit is that Disney’s new accommodation criteria screened out guests with physical disabilities. The lawsuit quotes the above section, including and emphasising the word “only”, and goes on to explain the harm by explicitly limiting the programme to such guests.
I agree with all your points about how the original wording would have been throughly reviewed to Disney’s satisfaction, but I do find this pretty coincidental. Given that I am not even a lawyer, I’m not going to try and play armchair lawyer other than noting this timing…
We have used this pass for 3 years for a child that no longer qualifies. Even with the verbage change I am not applying again. I do not want my 10 year old questioned by a cm and made to feel different or bad about her issues. She already apologizes non stop for being different and feeling like she is ruining our trip with the need for breaks. I would be happy to pay for my other family members if they could provide the das system. LL doesn’t work the same it is too rigid. I’m not asking for a free pass just for an accommodation for my child that works for her. I understand they are a business.
I have a complicated view of DAS. On one hand, it’s definitely a service which I think should be expanded to those who could really use it. On the other, it was previously (and still might be) heavily abused or at least overused, and it made Disney draw a harder line than they may have otherwise had to. They had a role in doing it, but they also have all the power to stop it, so that’s what they did.
I had never applied for DAS or any of its predecessors before, despite visiting WDW as a child on the autism spectrum. As an adult, I’m not significantly affected by AS symptoms or behaviors, and I don’t self-identify as autistic.
However, I have narcolepsy, and just prior to the change, I thought I would try to get DAS, as lines can be very difficult. They are slow moving and often dark, and that combined with narcolepsy often results in me having a “sleep attack” which can be very uncomfortable to try to fight through, even if I take stimulating medication in the morning. Despite the policy change, I applied for DAS anyways, as my plans were already underway. However, of course I was denied because I did not fit the criteria. While it’s frustrating to know I probably would have qualified before and now I don’t when I have figured out it could be useful, I think more restriction is probably necessary.
Well, let’s see what happens next time. I can tell you that the new (now older) verbiage disallowed Veterans with PTSD, anxiety issues, and issues of being in very enclosed dark spaces, from receiving DAS privileges. I’m only talking about the tight tunnels you sometimes are in with a crowd of people in front of you and behind you and no way out. But even for people with these issues, they said their guest (my wife) could wait in line, then when she gets up front, I could join her. What a perfect trip to WDW. Me, by myself walking around, while my wife waits in line for 2 hours. That’s what I pay $250 a day for.
My husband probably would have qualified under the previous rules set in place for DAS, but not anymore. He’s never attempted it before, but was considering it next trip before the new rules took place. Our last trip was very hard on him. I’m sure that no veteran wants to discuss or recall their negative experiences that created their PTSD or similar conditions, especially not to a complete stranger. It upsets me that Disney seems to use this as a marketing scheme to get more people to purchase LL instead of expanding a service to more of those who truly need it.
unfortunately this policy is ABUSED. I know someone who gets it for themself and gets his family with him and he lies, he has no disability BUT they give it to him and he laughs as he never has to wait. TOO MANY SCAMMERS
Perhaps they need more stringent trained screening because so many people have gotten away with using “I have anxiety” “I have IBS”. Half the world has whatever they deem to be anxiety. There are so many clinical definitions for anxiety. What KIND of anxiety? Generalized anxiety disorder, clinical anxiety? and so on. If you have a real diagnosis it is going to say more than just garden variety anxiety. And IBS? Again, it IS an issue but, there are degrees and other complications that can come along with it. People hear what buzz words to use and they decide for themselves that they have that condition. No professional diagnosis. I have not been able to get a DAS like I used to and I have CPTSD: complex post traumatic stress disorder, which occurs over years of abuse. Lines are SO scary for me. I feel like I’m trapped. I also have a severe case of fibromyalgia. Some days it is better and some days it’s a lot worse and even standing for 20 minutes is a chore. BUT I don’t go when I am having a bad flare. That being said I can’t plan that. And when plans are made that can’t be changed I have to adapt, or suffer. I LOVE going to WDW but I don’t want to make it grueling for the people I’m with because I am suffering. They have to be included in the consideration. They have to pick up the slack for me. They are willing to do it, but that’s not fair to them.
This is all a very hard topic. 🙁 Disney allowed things to happen for many years and when they pulled back, it upset many guests. I know that families of all kinds want to go to Disney, but in the end, the only thing Disney is required to do is follow ADA laws. Everything outside of that is a bonus. You may think I am being insensitive, but these DAS guidelines affect my family as well. We had to accept it, just like we have to accept it at movie theaters, grocery stores, malls and every other place we visit. None of those places give us special access because of the family member with ASD and ADHD combined. Disney is not required to offer DAS. They are not required to make special accommodations for those of us who have these real struggles in life. They are required to follow and comply with ADA laws.
unfortunately this policy is ABUSED. I know someone who gets it for themself and gets his family with him and he lies, he has no disability BUT they give it to him and he laughs as he never has to wait. TOO MANY SCAMMERS
I have met these people at Disney on the busses. They were offering me tips on how to skip the lines. This was in 2023.
You are using the exact same words in your remark as Gail in her post. Where did you copy this from?
sounds like the only scammer is you
I believe that if a family has a member that has already (repeatedly) been determined to have a developmental or ND disability that resulted in their need for and approval for a DAS pass, that this should be saved in the system. Maybe a quick re-check” has anything changed?” but not the entire process every time, because as someone above said, these are not disabilities that go away over time. Things like requesting vacation time from work, flight commitments, DVC rentals, and other non-refundable things are serious concerns in addition to just the Disney specific reservations, they really should allow significantly more time to obtain DAS approval, not 30 days only. That is really unreasonable for most families.
that would make sense. I believe when we got it for my oldest back in 2019 they said it was forever. but then it was only our trip time in 2022 and 2024.
This is very reasonable.
My wife is neurodivergent and a combat veteran with PTSD and a TBI. Prior to the change last summer, she always qualified for DAS. Last July she applied and was approved. However, she was denied when she re-applied for at the beginning of our Thanksgiving trip. They couldn’t give a plausible explanation of how the rules had changed because her diagnosis and symptoms did not change. It was a humiliating experience for her and led to an anxiety attack while she was on the zoom call with the cast member/medical professional. They offered suggestions on other accommodations, but the policy varies from ride to ride and even CM to CM on how it will be handled. Some gave us a return time. Some said I had to stand in line and when I got to the front, I could call her and she could meet me up there. She was so angry and defeated by the whole process, she wouldn’t get on a ride for 3 days. She wanted to get to Magic Kingdom early one morning to see if she could be the veteran of the day for the flag ceremony. After the call and outcome, she was so upset and mad because she felt like Disney didn’t care about her or her disability that she didn’t want to do the flag ceremony anymore. I finally convinced her to let me talk to the CM at the lightning lane entrance of Slinky Dog and I explained the situation. The CM apologized for how my wife had been treated and stated we weren’t the first ones to say it was a horrible experience. Long story shorts, it was a terrible experience.
Does your wife have VA disability? I feel like disabled veterans should automatically qualify for DAS. They can use the same documentation or verification that Shades of Green uses when you want to purchase military park tickets. Sad to say, I’m sure your wife’s experience with DAS denial under the new rules is happening quite frequently. I’m very sorry for you both. Unfortunately, I’d much rather pay for LL than have my husband verbally share what he’s gone through that would have qualified him under the old DAS rules.
This just happened to my husband. Was approved last summer under the new guidelines and was now denied with no explanation other than they are allowed to not reapprove you each time. They didn’t seem to care about the fact that the disability didn’t change from October to now. It’s disappointing. Someone mentioned to me that they feel Disney is just constantly weeding out adults being eligible and laying heavily on the developmental disability aspect making children the only real approvals now. It’s frustrating.
So, as an attorney, though not in CA or FL, I could see a very large change with the removal of only.
The first version implies they will only provide that service to development/autistic concerns. “You can only have DAS if you have XXX”
Removing the ‘only’ changes the intention making it more of a “this is why we have this plan, but let’s chat about what is wrong with you.” It removes automatic discrimination against folks with other concerns and implies they will keep an open mind, but want you to realize they may still say no to your other issue.
Disney is only required to follow and stay in accordance with ADA laws. There are no laws in place requiring special privileges/access/accommodations for somebody on the spectrum, suffering with PTSD, ADHD, etc. There are laws protecting employees on the spectrum under the ADA, but not guests. Disney is required by law under the ADA to ensure their transportation, public accommodations and such both protect and make safe people who suffer with a disability. I know people hate hearing this, but nobody is entitled to a theme park trip. I do believe everybody should be able to enjoy life, even in difficult circumstances, but the problem is we live in the land of entitlement and it is no longer a privilege, but now an entitlement and that is what Disney Corporation is trying to balance.
I recently applied for and was granted access to DAS at Disneyland for the first time since the big change – it is such a different interview process! All of the follow up questions were very specific to neurodivergence (does your son have a 504/IEP/accommodations at school? what happens when your son gets dysregulated? could he cause harm to himself/others?, etc.) so clearly they have been trained to focus on/detect that type of disability. My son actually is autistic and I was worried we wouldn’t pass the interview!
About the thirty days out to apply for the DAS pass, you can make a room-only reservation. You still have to give a deposit,but the balance isn’t due until you arrive at your hotel. So this is easy to cancel if not approved for the DAS pass. If and when you are approved for the pass, you then can modify your reservation to include tickets which the balance would be all due then.
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This is a good point. It is not a great option for those who may want to go after an offer like free dining or a room discount.
I suspect Disney’s best approach is to try to limit the scope of use, not try to reduce misuse, so that only those who truly need the accommodation apply in the first place. They’ve already done this with changes like the 10-minute buffer before a new reservation can be made. I also wonder if the often inflated wait times are a (slightly sneaky) part of this strategy.
Disney could certainly go more extreme along these lines. For example, they could require all guests to scan their park ticket for access to stand by lines (with the intention of denying access to those who have an active DAS reservation), or alternatively require DAS guests to wait in a sensory waiting area for the duration of their equivalent standby wait time (with provisions to check out and check back in to pause the wait time). Most parks have moribund areas that could be put to this use.
Agree with your first paragraph. You’re right that the second paragraph is “more extreme.” 😉
The staffing requirements of the first suggestion alone make it a non-starter. Nevermind the inevitable backups that would occur at attraction entrances.
As for the second, Disney is rather fond of guests eating and shopping when not in lines. That’s how we got FastPass in the first place!
I think it will definitely increase the people who get approved. I know someone who’s daughter with a wheelchair and also uses crutches etc was denied because she didn’t have a intellectual disability however she has a hard time standing for long and her wheelchair was a motorized one so she couldn’t go through all the lines with it . they made it work but it was a big difference in their last trip compared to this one. I know getting it for my autistic children was a little challenging because they asked what problems they have wit standing in line and one is an eloper (no prob getting him the pass) but the other gets overwhelmed and panics if in a big crowd and freaks out. so that was approved but a little harder because I had to answer things just right. I hope this opens more accessibility to people.
DAS has never been meant for someone with mobility issues even before the change came.
GAC/DAS was never intended for mobility issues. At one point Disney allowed it and people took serious advantage of it. They redirected it. A wheelchair isn’t meant to go through the line. One person takes the wheelchair to the front where the CM is, the rest of the family goes through the line. When the family gets up to the front, the wheelchair enters with the family. If that person needs somebody to stay with them, then 1 guest with the guest in the wheelchair go to the front and wait for the rest of their party. There is nothing unfair about this process.
Maybe they changed the language to reflect that they may potentially consider specific situations, not just developmental disabilities.
I’m thinking of others who are disabled due to accident or injury, children and adults alike. Some of those disabilities may be cognitive, as autism has cognitive symptoms; others may involve motor skills; others may involve the loss of a limb or limbs. Some may be cumulative. I don’t understand this. What of a disabled parent who is disabled due to accident, injury, or previous illness, and who wishes to go to a Disney park with their children?
They are welcome to apply for DAS, and may or may not be approved. If they are not approved, they are still welcome to purchase Lightning Lane access if they want to reduce their time spent in line.
In your example, I think Disney’s position would be that missing a limb does not make someone “unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time.”
Linda, nobody is entitled to a Disney trip. Your comment makes it sound like you believe this is a God-given right. It is like college, taking a cruise, etc. Those are privileges. Having said that…..a loss of limb is a disability and Disney accommodates those people by following ADA laws. If a person (and I wish this on nobody) is missing a leg, that is a mobility issue and most likely they are using a wheelchair or they have learned to live life without it. It is different than having Autism and your brain unable to think or process situations like most people. Mobility issues were never truly meant to fall under GAC/DAS. This is why Disney had to make changes.
The thing about the DAS crackdown that bugs me most as an outside observer is that guests can’t apply for DAS until they have purchased non-refundable park tickets and are within 30 days of their trip. So if they’re relying on DAS to have a manageable park day, and then get denied, they’re well past the point of no return and can’t cancel or adjust their plans easily.
I second this concern. While I’m generally in favor of the “crackdown” and the reduction it has caused in overall wait times, I agree that people should be able to know whether or not they’re approved much earlier in the trip planning process.
Especially because the types of conditions for which DAS is being granted aren’t the sort of thing that will just “get better” or resolve themselves, why not let people apply 90 days out?
I strongly suspect any party who has made a legitimate request for a refund after being denied DAS has been granted one. I’d be shocked if that’s not actually the case.
The problem with making that the published policy is that you’ve all of the sudden introduced a new loophole to exploit with cancellation rules. Basically, the moral of the story is that anything at Walt Disney World that can be gamed, will be gamed.
Maybe Disney would provide a refund, but what about your airline and DVC rental broker and authorized park ticket reseller?
I’m not suggesting a change to the cancellation policies. I’m suggesting allowing people to apply for DAS further in advance of their trip.
The problem of allowing people to apply before buying tickets is that people would apply just to see if they get approved when they do not have a planned trip. This could cause a backlog because they have limited cm’s doing das interviews and we saw this when they made the changes last May. I agree that Disney will most likely refund you if you are denied. Not everyone qualifies for DAS. Some people applying can access the park using other accommodations offered by Disney but it may not be their preferred one. DAS was not intended to be a fast pass for large groups of people. It is for the DAS user and Disney generously allows 3 others to accompany a user on an attraction at a time. Disney is not a necessity but a luxury.
Yes, this is very annoying. What I have read on a used-to-be-popular message board is, when they are declined DAS, Disney has been great about giving a full refund with no penalty.
It’s a step in the right direction, but only a step. There also needs to be some serious auditing and oversight done WRT the Inspire Health employees as well as CMs doing these interviews. I’m fairly plugged in to the disabled theme park community and many, many of the stories of how disabled guests have been treated in these interrogations (and that is what they have been, not “interviews”) are horrific. It’s the absolute opposite of Disney’s stellar customer experience standards, and I fear long term damage has been done to that reputation even if the pendulum manages to swing back to the middle and they find a happy medium. Disney may have needed to scare the scammers away by cracking down on abuse, but they have also scared away guests with legitimate need for accommodation by subjecting them to an ableist, dehumanizing process that’s unnecessarily adversarial and creates anxiety in disabled guests. I am neurodivergent myself but have never sought out DAS because my mastery of the various line skipping services has always meant I don’t have to (funny enough, “hacking” and gamifying park touring is one of my special interests as a ND person). At this point though it’s a necessity because I could never subject myself to one of these interviews.
I agree. it really didn’t feel like an interview like the last time we went to Disney. it felt very much procedural and scripted. I had to word my responses in such a way to get the pass even tho I knew that my 3 autistic kids should have no problem getting it. I got lucky in that the cast member I spoke with has a child and spouse with autism so she knew a bit more than just a cast member who just is there as their job.
Maybe the initial language was an intentional ‘overreaction’ to scare away the people who were (and most certainly still are trying) abusing the policy and now were seeing the softening of the language to placate the masses?
This strikes me as a plausible explanation. Start strong (but without running afoul of the ADA) and gradually relax over time once the dust settles and the abusers have sufficiently been deterred.
The problem is that, during that same span, so have legitimately disabled guests been deterred.
I am sorry to report that there has been no change in how the video chat actually handles neurocognitive and psychiatric issues that are similar to autism, regardless of the change in verbiage. Temporal lobe epilepsy and my other diagnoses have identical sensory symptoms as autism and I used the exact justifications that my doctor recommended and cried intermittently throughout the call. I have made two attempts since the initial set of changes and another today following this news. This is still only for people with severe developmental disabilities or autism–and does not include any psychiatric or cognitive conditions. I am a solo traveler who works in the medical field. There has been no softening. My doctor recommended I had everything written down this time because I was laughed at and had a meltdown during the first interview, which as others mentioned, felt like being in an interrogation room. I knew all of their questions, and I read my answers to them thoroughly and honestly. They again asked how my condition impacted my ability to be in a queue, what accommodations I have in other environments, and what treatment I received for the condition. I wanted to ask the evaluator directly how my condition was different and why they are able to practice assessments without providing their license or NPI# but I got scared and you can’t challenge an inherently flawed system. I have an IBCCES card. It makes no difference. Meet-up and return to queue will be based on the discretion of the CM for solo travelers. In the post-evaluation chat, the CM casually mentioned “you were almost there” but couldn’t tell me what I said that excluded me. Bottom line is that true cognitive evaluations for disability accommodations I’ve completed privately generally take over an hour–and there are scientific instruments used to guarantee validity and reliability. This is an entirely subjective non-medical process where a five-minute set of questions designed for exclusion are implemented by a first name only doctor to create the illusion of fairness and protect against lawsuits. My autistic adult companion has been offered DAS four times with my assistance since he is mostly non-verbal.
I agree that one word is just a step in what needs to be a major overhaul of policy. I say that as a parent of a 33 year old Developmentally Delayed daughter. I have seen the DAS go from making our family vacation as fun and magical as it can possibly get to it currently being a financial burdening disaster of a trip. When last I went in September, we were unable to us the “pass” as it only allowed for 4 people when there where 5 in our party. Disney World simply refused under any circumstance to allow all 5 on the pass because while it was 1 party, it was 2 families (that were related). I was told that it had to be 5 immediate family members. Therefore, to keep the party together so that my daughter would not experience any “upset/breakdowns” (because for someone like her, routine meant our entire party goes everywhere together), I had to purchase lightening lane passes, over and above our costly admission tickets, and it wasn’t always able to get us on a preferred ride. We are not asking for privilege; we are just asking for assistance in making the magic of Disney available to those who are unable to process or have the ability to enjoy it like everyone else.
I’m sorry that happened to you. Feels like the Cast Member could’ve allowed one more person. But there has to be a limit, right? In 2020, I watched 17 people in one group go through. And if they move it to 5, someone will complain that it’s not 6. Maybe the answer is to give the CMs some leeway based on circumstances, like crowd levels, time of year, etc. But the requirement to do an interview AFTER the date where you can cancel is ridiculous. You should know before the date where you have to cancel whether or not you have access to DAS. It’s a tough problem with no easy solutions. If you open the flood gates, we’ll be back to the days of gangs of rascal scooters running around, but if you slam the door, you make it difficult for people with actual disabilities to access the magic.
DAS is always controversial and this blog has always had quite friendly comments so I’ll tread lightly. You mention entitlement in the article and I think that is a large part of the problem. Not just gaming the system, but the thought process that due to special circumstances I/my kid/my entire family cannot wait in a line. Defining those special circumstances is tough and people are always going to draw the line in their favor; Disney doesn’t have to. (I’m reminded of the Syndrome line that when everyone is super no one will be.) No one finds waiting in a 120-minute line fun, and it is not our god-given right to ride that attraction.
John –
If the CM allows it for one it runs the risk of becoming an entitlement situation. “Ugh, I read where you did it for others” or “I know you can do it, you did it for my cousin last year”. That is literally the very thing Disney is trying to curb. We can no longer get it for our whole family. We have to split because we are more than 4. Unfortunately, those are the rules.
Kevin –
I agree wholeheartedly with your comment. None of us have a right to a Disney trip, riding a ride, etc.