Disney World Cracks Down on DAS Abuse
Walt Disney World has seen an increase in abuse of its Disability Access Service, and is starting to crack down on improper DAS use as a result. This post covers how they’re accomplishing that, along with rumors about Lightning Lane utilization and our commentary about what’s happening. (Updated December 14, 2023.)
This revelation actually comes thanks to two high-profile articles about Walt Disney World suddenly trespassing third-party tour guides from the parks. Walt Disney World has reportedly been banning these unaffiliated tour guides who secure dining and resort reservations, design itineraries, and help their clients navigate the parks–often by acting as an in-person escort.
These guides have reportedly been pulled out of line by Walt Disney World managers, issued trespass notices by Orange County police, and indefinitely banned from all of Walt Disney World property. These trespass notices are not unprecedented–they’re issued whenever guests engage in fisticuffs, have a really bad adult meltdown, or sneak around backstage. A few years ago, there was a dude who went on a tirade about masks and compared himself to the hero in A Bug’s Life, misquoted the movie, and got trespassed. (Note: he was trespassed for the tirade, not misquoting A Bug’s Life. Although that should be a bannable offense.)
The more recent of these stories was published in the Washington Post in mid-December 2023. According to their reporting, dozens of third-party tour guides have been trespassed from Walt Disney World. This has left operators looking for new jobs, moving out of Florida and adjusting their business models to focus on non-Disney tour operations.
In an emailed statement, Walt Disney World indicated that that they are taking additional steps to enforce their rules that prohibit commercial activities, such as tours provided by third-party operators, because of a “significant increase in these rule violations.” Disney indicated that some operators have sold unauthorized services, including in-park offerings like Genie+ line-skipping services and access to the Disability Access Service.
“When this activity happens, it impacts the experience of other guests following the rules — including our guests with disabilities — and impedes our theme park operations,” a Walt Disney World spokesperson wrote. “Just like Starbucks would not permit a third party to come into their stores to sell coffee to their customers, Disney does not permit unauthorized commercial activities in its theme parks.”
This was all consistent with earlier reporting by Insider, which first reported on the third-party tour guide ban. The reason for this is pretty simple and straightforward. Walt Disney World’s official park rules website has a lengthy list of prohibited activities. Among them is that “unauthorized solicitations of any kind, whether commercial, religious, educational, or otherwise, or conducting any unauthorized commercial activities, including solicitations of money or other contributions or donations.”
Conducting a tour on Walt Disney World property is very clearly an unauthorized commercial activity. This isn’t the first time that Disney has trespassed tour guides. Way back in the nascent days of the internet, they did the same with high-profile park history and inside secrets tours that indirectly competed with things like Keys to the Kingdom.
About a decade ago, Disney also cracked down on disabled tour guides who advertised the ability for their guests/customers to bypass lines in the California and Florida parks. The company started by revoking Guest Assistance Cards of the guides, but that story exploded into nationwide headlines and resulted in the overhaul of GAC and creation of DAS.
We’ve been hearing for months that this type of crackdown was on the horizon. However, we heard that it would occur with web services that circumvent Walt Disney World’s policies and systems for various reservations. Disney managed to briefly cause some of those to go offline over the summer, but to my knowledge, they all returned. I’ve been under the impression that more would be done.
What caught our attention–and the part of this story that is relevant to Walt Disney World vacation planners–is the company’s statement that “there has been an uptick in abuses of the Disability Access Service and other services, which impede park operations.”
According to Insider, several third-party tour guides and business owners agreed that not everyone in their industry behaves ethically. One experienced third-party tour guide said there are several companies that are “widely known” to abuse Disney’s rules. “For instance, these companies might tell guides to tell guest services they have Irritable Bowel Syndrome to get a disability pass for themselves,” the business owner told Insider.
Other tour guides indicated that they had witnessed unethical behavior in the industry, with some even leaving certain companies because “their owner was involved in some of those unethical practices, and I didn’t want to be associated with that any longer.”
In our view, this is the most interesting aspect of the Insider story and the one that has the most material impact on the guest experience for everyone at Walt Disney World. We’ve heard rumblings about this issue prior to now, have observed it ourselves, and think the current crackdown might portend more sweeping changes to DAS at Walt Disney World. In our view, this is likely the start of a policy tightening on DAS, line-skipping policies, and other third party activity that’s far from over.
You might notice a lack of DAS coverage on this website, aside from our Guide to Disability Access Service at Walt Disney World, which covers our experience using it with my dad and was last updated when the Lightning Lane-era changes rolled out. The lack of DAS resources here are not an oversight; it’s deliberate.
This blog offers commentary about any and everything, while also soliciting reader feedback via an active comments section. That’s a powder keg for something like DAS, which is one of the most controversial and charged issues at Walt Disney World. Unlike topics like oversized strollers, price increases, parking fees, refillable mug ethics, etc., this has real stakes. DAS users are real people with real feelings, and often, are all to used to judgmental stares in real life. Compounding that with metaphorical ones online is rough, and I don’t want this platform to be a party to that.
With that in mind, I’ll start out with a simple statement. Two things can be true at the same time. First, that reasonable disability accommodations are very necessary for many Walt Disney World guests to have an enjoyable experience, including those with invisible disabilities. Second, DAS abuse is widespread and needs addressing. The first point does not invalidate the second, and the second point does not grant random guests the authority to be arbiters of who “needs” DAS.
Since the controversy several years ago about the Guest Assistance Card, there’s a lot more scrutiny concerning guests using and abusing DAS, along with a belief among some other guests that they are being ‘disadvantaged’ by the system. This manifests itself in visible and audible disdain towards other guests using DAS. I’ve witnessed it repeatedly in-person and in reading online discussions.
I would implore you to err on the side of courtesy. There are myriad invisible disabilities from which other guests could suffer, and the rude words or judgmental gaze of guests ‘scanning’ a person using DAS to ‘make sure’ they really have a disability are awful. I can only imagine how it’d make me feel if I were on the receiving end of that. Anyone using DAS out of necessity would trade places with you in a second and stand in long lines if it meant not being disabled.
I also can’t imagine being on the giving end of that. Okay, you’ve made yourself judge, jury, and executioner…now what? There is absolutely zero upside. Not only is the weight of your eyes or words unfairly falling on someone with an invisible disability at least half the time when you do this, but you’re upsetting yourself with something that’s entirely outside of your control and that you cannot change. Life is too short for that, and it’s far better to be happy at Walt Disney World and focus on your own family.
Look, my apologies for the preachy soapbox with very obvious ‘advice’ that 99.5% of you absolutely did not need to hear. But you know that saying about one bad apple? I’ll err on the side of a long lecture if it might cause even half of that .5% to rethink their behavior. Sorry not sorry, I guess.
To the second point that DAS abuse is widespread and needs addressing, we’ve been hearing ‘rumors’ of this for a while. Not really so much rumors–more unsubstantiated reports from those within the company. The Lightning Lane percentages from those were downright shocking to me. This is the first time I’ve actually seen Walt Disney World publicly admit that there’s an issue and that it needs addressing.
Intuitively, it makes complete sense. Those of you who visited during the phased reopening after FastPass+ had been suspended but before Genie+ rolled out likely saw usage of the FastPass queues. We certainly did! It started out occurring fairly infrequently, and increased (not so coincidentally) as crowds and wait times went up.
There were plausible explanations aside from DAS use. Club 33 members, Golden Oak residents, and other VIPs all had some degree of access to the FastPass lines. However, there were maybe 200 guests fitting the above profile in any park at any given time. They represented a small fraction of all FastPass users–probably a low single-digit number on most days.
As noted above, use of the FastPass lines started slow and got progressively busier during the phased reopening. This makes sense, as there’s a greater incentive to use a line-skipping service when there’s a longer line. If a posted wait time is 15 minutes, even those with the ability or privilege to skip might simply opt for standby. If that same attraction has a 60 minute posted wait time, it’s a very different story.
It doesn’t require a vivid imagination to game out how much worse that might become if a paid line-skipping service is introduced, replacing what was once free and causing standby lines to come to a crawl at times as guests are pulled (very) disproportionately from the Lightning Lane.
Not only would there be more of an incentive to (properly) use the Lightning Lane, but there’d be more of an incentive to abuse it. This occurred even when there was a free FastPass+ option; DAS was a way to skip the lines more often and not be so constrained by “only” having 3 selections.
None of this is speculative. During a DAS lawsuit a few years ago, Disney revealed in testimony and discovery that users of its disability passes experience several more attractions over the course of a day on average as compared to non-users.
The company argued that any expansion of the current system would cause wait times to explode, with Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (for example) increasing by 39 minutes from an average wait time of 69 minutes to 108 minutes. Disney has now prevailed in several such lawsuits.
Now, regular line-skipping costs money but there’s an alternative that’s still free. Again, it doesn’t require much imagination to envision a scenario where some guests justifying abusing the system to themselves. “I’m just taking what Walt Disney World used to offer for free and still should.” “Everyone does it, I’m just leveling the playing field.” “I spend a lot of money and have always been loyal to Disney, it’s the least they can do.” And so on, and so on.
In fact, you can still see this play out in the parks. If you attend Extended Evening Hours, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, or other events outside standard operating hours when Genie+ is not offered, you’ll still see people using the Lightning Lanes. In some cases, you will see a lot of people.
Totally anecdotal, but I’ve noticed it more this year–in particular at the busier Extended Evening Hours that I’ve attended. There were a couple of ExEH nights at Magic Kingdom where I saw the overflow Lightning Lane queues in use at Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Again, it’s probably not a coincidence that usage increases as posted wait times increase.
To be abundantly clear, I’m not suggesting that all of even a majority of these people are abusing DAS. I truly have no clue.
What I have heard, though, is that usage of DAS has increased dramatically in the last few years. It’s possible that this is coincidental, and it’s happening because the percentage of disabled guests visiting Walt Disney World has increased. If the comparison were to 2020-2021, I’d believe that. A unique form of pent-up demand would make sense, especially among more vulnerable populations.
But my understanding is that DAS usage is up significantly as compared to 2019. Other explanations are conceivable, but I think they strain credulity. You can likely draw a straight line between Genie+ (and then higher prices for Genie+) and a rise in use for DAS as the free “alternative” to it.
Now that we’ve established that DAS abuse is almost certainly occurring (again, along with plenty of completely proper use!) what’s Walt Disney World to do about it? Well, this crackdown on third-party tour groups is one step. It’s only a first step, and a small one at that. These tour groups are incredibly small scale, and it’s hard to conceive of them accounting for more than a low single-digit percentage of all abuse.
Most of it is likely happening among individuals–and that’s more difficult to police without running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Ironically enough, changing DAS is also its own powder keg, and a potential lightning rod for controversy. There are a lot of people with a vested interest in DAS, including both the legit users and the abusers.
You might be inclined to think that legitimate users would want to see DAS crackdowns occur. Many of them probably do. But it’s not quite so simple. For one thing, any change brings with it uncertainty until it has been implemented, and many of the families who need DAS most also (very understandably!) crave consistency and stability.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. Which is to say that change can be intimidating and unsettling; many rightful DAS users might prefer keeping the stable but imperfect product rather than rolling the dice on a replacement. I can certainly empathize with that perspective.
Compounding matters is the small but vocal minority of abusers who would complain in bad faith and muddy the waters of any discourse around DAS changes. Knowing that their loophole would be closed, some of these individuals would have a strong incentive to voice outrage, even if it’s baseless and insincere.
Bad faith outrage around DAS might sound shocking…if you haven’t lived through the last several years of social media, in which case, it would be more surprising if this didn’t happen. Either way, it complicates matters and makes an explosive issue even more fraught for Walt Disney World.
Walt Disney World knows this, which is likely why there has been minimal movement on DAS abuse, aside from indirect acts like banning third-party tour guides. This won’t be enough, though. Something’s gotta give–just like it was too big to ignore back when the change was made from GAC to DAS, the same will soon be true. Perhaps they’re starting with low-hanging fruit like tour guides and waiting for an individual system until the new system that allows for the advance booking of Lightning Lanes in Spring 2024.
I’m somewhat surprised that Walt Disney World hasn’t used the protective veil of a theme park association to make industry wide changes. Sort of like how the California Attractions and Parks Association was the face of pushing for reopening a few years ago, which allowed Disneyland to mostly avoid controversy. (Well, to the extent they wanted. Disney still issued some sharp statements, but some of those were very justified.)
Frankly, I don’t know why Disney doesn’t use TEA or some organization like that for creating uniform standards and protocol for any potentially sticky issue. It’d be suitable for everything from security checkpoints to smoking rules, and would give Disney plausible deniability as to their involvement in the crafting of such rules. When it comes to ADA accommodations, standardization could also streamline things for those guests with actual disabilities by outsourcing the process. It wouldn’t just be about sidestepping controversy–it could truly make visiting easier for those with disabilities. Win-win!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on Walt Disney World cracking down on DAS abuse? If you’ve used Disability Access Service at Walt Disney World, what do you think of the experience? Have you noticed high Lightning Lane usage at times when Genie+ was not being offered? Please feel free to share your personal anecdotes about DAS and other thoughts in the comments below! Just be sure to err on the side of kindness and empathy and don’t engage in personal attacks, antagonism, or trolling. Comments that cross any lines will be deleted.
My daughter has mulitple disabilities- both physical and cognitive. We have been going to WDW since 1994 (and Disneyland 1x) and have seen and used the various forms of Disability assistance over the years. It has really been a godsend at times as to ask her to wait 90 minutes on a line would be impossible. As has been said elsewhere here – most people are very nice to her. Over the years I have seen some people (often Teenagers) try to abuse the system by getting a wheelchair that was not needed and using that. I think that was reduced significantly once you needed to verify your pass with Customer Relations.
As with many things companies need to weigh the balance between helping those that need and fighting against abuse.
I know that one reason we have continued to go to WDW is exactly because they have been accommodating to those with special needs – even when it comes to riding on the buses around the complex. I’d hate to see the abuse restrict those that need the help,.
My daughter has mulitple disabilities- both physical and cognitive. We have been going to WDW since 1994 (and Disneyland 1x) and have seen and used the various forms of Disability assistance over the years. It has really been a godsend at times as to ask her to wait 90 minutes on a line would be impossible. As has been said elsewhere here – most people are very nice to her. Over the years I have seen some people (often Teenagers) try to abuse the system by getting a wheelchair that was not needed and using that. I think that was reduced significantly once you needed to verify your pass with Customer Relations.
As with many things companies need to weigh the balance between helping those that need and fighting against abuse.
I know that one reason we have continued to go to WDW is exactly because they have been accommodating to those with special needs – even when it comes to riding on the buses around the complex. I’d hate to see the abuse restrict those that need the help,.
My adult son is autistic and many times, with little exposure, people may not pick up on it. At the same time, he almost got arrested in France when he refused to handover the Coke he purchased just before entering security at the Eiffel tower a few years ago. We have received our share of side eyes at times in DW and it is unfortunate. As someone else commented, I will gladly stand in line for a month and never use DAS again if somehow my son could realize his full potential. In my opinion, there is likely some percentage of the population that is, let’s say, morally corrupt, and that is just the way it is. No matter what Disney does, some portion of the general populace, say 5%, will look for a way to game it. In economics it is said that you don’t try to stop an unwanted activity by attacking supply but rather by addressing demand. Where there is demand (shorter wait times) there will always be supply (people trying to game the system) and this why the DAS will always be imperfect. I trust our legal system and the ADA to provide a framework that ensures Disney does the right thing and if it gets more restrictive to use that is OK.
It has occurred to me that one way to reduce the impact of DAS is to inflate posted wait times. Unfortunately this harms genuine users as much as non-genuine users, but that is arguably immaterial from an operational perspective.
Just echoing Ash! I am eligible, have never used it because I would never wait in lines that were longer than 45 minutes without getting a fast pass, but now, I would consider it. my body just can’t keep up.
Any visit to Disneyworld these days, this is the first thing you will notice – powered scooters everywhere. There is certainly no question Disney policy is being abused. Obviously, there is no way to identify who is abusing the system and who has a legitimate need, but the simple percentages are just not reasonable. There are scooters absolutely everywhere at Disney, and most of the people in them just stand up and hop on the rides when they get to the front of a very short line. We just returned from our first Disney vacation and the abundance of scooters was truly shocking, not just in the park, but on every bus, at every bus stop, and at the resorts. Admittedly, there is a lot of walking required at Disney, and there are many people who would struggle with that due to a host of factors, but I have never really understood why that should entitle them to move to the front of the line at rides. Is it more difficult to stand in line that it is to sit on a scooter in line? Disney clearly goes to great lengths to make their rides accessible to everyone, which is greatly appreciated, but people in scooters can wait in line just like everyone else, right?
Mobility devices don’t qualify for DAS passes. Most/all lines are accessible for wheelchairs and scooters. If you’re seeing people on scooters use DAS or go through the lightning lanes, they qualify for a different reason.
Disney DOES make the folks on scooters wait in line with everyone else. DAS pass deems anyone who has a disability that can be mitigated with a wheelchair or scooter ineligible for the service. So no, all of the people on scooters that you saw are not abusing the system.
For most rides they do, or are given a “come back time” equivalent to the wait time. I’ve used a scooter as I had foot surgery and couldn’t walk for long, but was able to park and get in line. Just needed to keep weight off the foot so I leaned on my husband . I’ve needed a scooter for other health issues and they are sold out of them by 10 AM and had to suffer through the day. Not all illnesses are visible as well.
We have used DAS many times at Disneyland and Disney World for our Autistic Son. While he loves Disney and rides, he also has sensory and anxiety issues that not only make it difficult to wait in line for long periods of time but necessitate lots of breaks during the day for quiet time. We usually take a long break at the hotel in the middle of the day as well as lots of breaks in the parks. This would leave very little time for any rides if it weren’t for DAS.
This is exactly what we do for our autistic son. We do rope drop, go back to the hotel for 3-4 hours and then go until park close. It has been the best solution for our son. He still needs several breaks inside the parks as well, but that midday long break is really important for him. We’ve also been forced to go back to the hotel for 6 hours because our son was having such a severe meltdown after being in a line for 20 minutes
My son was recently diagnosed with a lifelong invisible disease. Right now it is under control with his medications. But if I would be going to WDW, I would probably get DAS, as we never know if he could have a flare of his disease. On top of that, we like to keep his stress lowered as much as possible to prevent a flare. It’s the nature of the beast in his situation.
We have been to Disney as a family 3 times prior to this and I can understand the crackdown on DAS and with third party tour guides. These things affect everyone in the park and I’m glad it’s happening. I hope things work out for those who actually need DAS.
“Anyone using DAS out of necessity would trade places with you in a second and stand in long lines if it meant not being disabled.”
Thanks for that sir. My wife ‘looks healthy’ but has to take a wheelchair to the parks, and we get rude comments like this all the time. We’d gladly trade the disability, the looks, the comments, and dealing with a wheelchair in general.
As a mom to a mentally disabled child that has to be in a stroller as a wheelchair to prevent elopement, that needs DAS, thank you for bringing attention to the people taking advantage of the much needed service for ACTUALLY disabled people.
I’ve been recognized as disabled since 2010. It is an invisible disability unless you are looking for the huge scar on my elbow. I have CRPS and standing in line with kids possibly running into my arm, etc causes me so much stress. That is the reason I use DAS. But I only started using it in 2018. I was embarrassed and never wanted to ask for assistance because I didn’t want the stares and people judging me. When I first asked for DAS, I had my disability paperwork ready to go but was told they didn’t need to see it, which kind of surprised me. But I definitely get looks from people – including CMS. I always have to sit on the right hand side of an airplane, and asking for pre-board (we usually fly Southwest) is horrible!! Most Southwest staff think I’m full of BS. But they have no idea what it feels like when someone runs into, bumps, or even touches my arm. It feels like my arm and hand are on fire. I’m 100% fine showing any paperwork I need to because I’m sure DAS is abused. unfortunately, that makes those of us who really need it look bad.
I have love/hate mixed feelings about this article 😉 I love that you’re talking about DAS, and approaching the topic from a compassionate viewpoint. Thank you! However, I’ve been fearful about how many people seem to be inquiring about attaining DAS in various online groups lately and the attention it’s receiving… because I really hope DAS or similar will continue to be offered. All that said, I’m very confused how these 3rd party tour guides were able to abuse the DAS system in the first place. As a DAS user (and a local living very close to MK), I have to renew my DAS pass every 60 days. Every time I renew, I indicate the specific members of my family who will be able to join me in waiting for rides (always my husband and our kids) and those people are added to my DAS pass with me. I was under the impression that once my DAS “party” is set, that it was set for the full 60 days of my pass with no changes. This raises the question: were the 3rd party tour guides able to constantly update who they were placing into their DAS “party?” If so, an easy way to crackdown on the problem would have been for Disney to enforce a rule that a DAS user’s party has to stay the same for those 60 days until renewal.
Personally, I wish Disney would follow Universal’s precedent and include Lightning Lane access for certain Passholder tiers (such as Lightning Lane access starting at a certain time each day). As a local, I’d prefer not to have to rely on a controversial, non-guaranteed system like DAS and continually reporting to guest services and explaining my situation to renew every 60 days. I’d be happy to attend the parks only during the included Lightning Lane times on my annual pass. I realize that is not a solution for occasional tourists, but I do wish there was a better option for locals who rely on DAS on a regular basis. And yes, I worry about being judged every time I approach a Lightning Lane because those rings turn blue instead of green, and our family waits for the cast member to tap their screen for us to proceed. I’d love to just attend the parks at a certain time on our annual pass and proceed through Lightning Lanes without having to worry about the judgment. We did not renew our Universal passes this year, but we did have the pass level that included Express Pass after 4pm. It was a wonderful option for someone in my situation.
It’s so hard too now because we’ve noticed the Lightning Lane lines are much longer and take longer to get through. Our child is autistic and sometimes even the wait in the Lightening Lane is too long for them and it has started sending them into full-on meltdowns. This makes it much harder for everyone to have fun when we’re fielding meltdowns left and right. It also makes it extremely difficult to diffuse the meltdown when we already told them (sometimes for…hours) that we’re waiting in line for our turn just not in the physical line, then we get there and have to wait more. They don’t understand, and they are overwhelmed, and to them, if we waited in line then it was our turn and they shouldn’t need to wait again. Try reasoning with that for sometimes up to 45 minutes in the lightning lane after telling them “we’re waiting for our turn” for the last two hours in the DAS virtual queue. Such a fine and very difficult line to walk! We chalked it up to increased capacity and park attendance, but sometimes it doesn’t even seem that crowded to necessitate such extended waits in the lightning lane.
on a different note that you did not mention but we feel is also key when discussing disability access – some of the lightning lanes could really be overhauled. Once they merge the lightening lane with the regular line like on Test Track or Guardians, oh my gosh, not only does it take a long time – it becomes extremely stressful (especially for ASD), it can become dangerous (pushing, groups trying to get in front of other groups, etc), and the chaos really sends our autistic child spiraling.
The lack of true journalism in this blog is embarrassing. Completely and utterly FALSE! You should be ashamed. There was well over 20 companies impacted and instead of responding to the dozens of jobs stolen you focus on the completely false narrative that we’re somehow banned for DAS abuse.
Shame on you.
It’s a blog, not the New York Times. Clearly you’re miffed at the wrong person. Chill out.
I completely agree. As someone that knows several affected tour guides that NEVER used DAS (even when LEGITIMATELY available for them to use) I wish this article would’ve delved deeper into that side of it. These are decades old businesses that have changed with the times and always followed Disney guidelines. To the extent that Disney was made aware by several owners of their intentions. We’ve all seen the huge Brazilian tour groups. Explain the difference to me. The banning of guides, in front of high end clients, with no warning or explanation is just ludicrous. This article missed the point.
“This article missed the point.”
Respectfully, this article didn’t miss the point–it chose to focus on a different one. I thought that was pretty clear based on the title and framing, as well as this segue:
“In our view, this is the most interesting aspect of the Insider story and the one that has the most material impact on the guest experience for everyone at Walt Disney World. We’ve heard rumblings about this issue prior to now, have observed it ourselves, and think the current crackdown might portend more sweeping changes to DAS at Walt Disney World.”
I can appreciate that third-party tour guides might want articles that focus on their situation, but this is not that. It’s using the topic and statement from Disney as a jumping off point into a discussion of DAS.
In one of the first paragraphs Tom describes how these businesses were operating under the assumption that Disney would not enforce a rule that is stated on there website and other materials about third party vendors making money of Disney. As he stated and I agree with most of them were most likely not abusing DAS but were blatantly going against other rules that the company has the right to set. To make it seem as though it is some sort of travesty is absolutely ridiculous on your part. They knew the risk, took it anyways and got burned. It’s like being upset at a police officer when you get written a ticket for speeding…
The DAS pass is not “easy” to get -also note you don’t just get to use the lightening lane. You get a return time as if waiting in the regular queue and then wait again in the lightening lane queue so DAS are actually waiting longer than others so this should be noted! I also have the DAS through the 3rd party that was verified by my physician for universal so I do not mind this process. I just want to let everyone know this is not just a fast pass. You are waiting longer than the posted wait times.
Tom, I’ve always respected your work and still do. As to my “missed the point” comment, I guess that the connection to DAS abuse and guides who love Disney and just want people to enjoy it is the issue I have. Your article completely follows the title. I’ve been around since way before the “Dream Tours” debacle a decade ago. Only one company, the guilty one, was punished and rightfully so. The “Insider” article and the negative light that DAS abuse and 3rd party guides being linked is unfair to the majority of people that perform the service and the companies that do it right. This article just propagates it further. It “misses the point” of what guides do.
you’ll never fully fix the issue to everyone’s satisfaction. as a parent of an autistic young adult now I was at Disney world many times before I even realized in 2019 that the DAS existed. It was a miracle as my son certainly cannot deal with excessive wait times and noise in a confined situation. speaking for me personally I would love it if Disney would base some of this on actual medical documentation because for me that’s easy and I don’t have to spend the next month before it’s time for him to call seeking his pass wondering if Disney will simply crack down on him based on a set of checkboxes.
Thank you for pointing out how hard being on the receiving end of those looks is. My daughter and I are both disabled; she has ASD and a physical disability, as well as a feeding tube, and I have a connective tissue disorder and another disorder that makes me pass out frequently. We’ve gotten so many dirty looks and even comments because our disabilities are mostly invisible. Someone last time even had the audacity to say that we should have left my daughter at home because her wheelchair was “in his way” (it wasn’t, we were in line for Guardians and his son kept kicking the wheelchair). Unless my daughter is hooked up to a tube feed, people can be awful.
I totally understand cracking down on DAS abuse, and I hope with it also comes the awareness of what families like mine have to deal with. Trust me, I would gladly stand in a regular line if I was able to give up mine and my daughter’s disabilities.
Our daughter has FASD. She looks normal but she has a low IQ, short term memory, sensory issues where she can’t take large crowds and large noises. I could give numerous examples of her issues but it would take too long. She is 21 years old now and we’ve taken her to Disney with her three times now. Each time we asked for a DAS we brought her doctor’s report with a diagnosis, and a second psychologist report showing her IQ score. The Cast Members really thanked us even though they would have taken our word. We don’t mind bringing these reports. Do you think Disney could require some record of a disability for those whose disabilities you can’t see?
Thank you for things mentioned in this post! We use Disney’s DAS for my son who has autism. He is 27 and relates to things as if he were around the age of 10. We get those funny looks and stares when we are in line, especially to meet characters. When we are in line he has an invisible disability but it is very much there when he is required to interact with people. Shame on those people who stare and then pretend to understand!
On the flip side, there are wonderful people out there who give me hope for mankind! On our very first trip, when my son was 15, he was interacting with a boy in a stroller who was maybe 3. He was very comfortable with this and it made both boys happy. The younger boys parents, who were complete strangers to us, bought our son the same toy they had bought for their son so the boys could be entertained while waiting together. They insisted that it was purely out of joy because they saw 2 kids connect and enjoy the little things. That was on New Year’s Eve, so every year when we are at MK on December 31, we find a child, introduce ourselves, share this story and take them to choose a balloon or light up item just for the joy of it!
My son has severe ADHD, ASD & anxiety, but LOVES Disney. All he wants to do is ride the rides. Without DAS + Genie+ there is no way we could go. We’ve used it at both Disneyland and Disney World and it’s a game changer. He’s not the happiest kid and the most I’ve ever seen him smile is at Disney. DAS is magic and I’m so grateful.