Disney World Cracks Down on Third Party Tour Guides Abusing DAS
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.
We have three children. The oldest has ADHD, OCD, and generalized anxiety. By the time we were going to the parks with her she was old enough to cope without DAS between strategies she had learned in therapy and medications. However my youngest, now 4, has sensory processing and cannot manage a park day without DAS at his age. We have gotten the IBCCES card for him which requires submitting documentation ahead of our park visit for theme parks such as Universal and Six Flags. I wonder if the use of this system is in the works for Disney if they are reporting issues with DAS abuse.
I am going to Disney World in a couple weeks with an adult with cancer who fatigues easily and a grandson who has ADHD. When I heard about the DAS option from a friend with an ADHD child I was relieved to know that we could get some accomodation. Her experience was that the cast were super helpful with her ADHD child aside from just shortening time standing in line in person. We were offered advanced registration to two events per day at the time we registered. The high wait rides are not on that list and the advanced registrations we did receive are at odd times and at opposite ends of the parks, so not sure that will be much help. We can only be “in line” for one ride at a time, so its mostly for the convenience of being able to go sit down somewhere out of the hubbub of the line while we wait. I can see how it could be abused and maybe Lightning Lanes achieve the same thing. I am only familiar with Fast Pass since my last trip was in 2019 and not with this particular group of family. I will post again when I get back.
With DAS, you can go ride other rides that have no line or watch shows while “waiting” in the line that you are queued up in. In late November when essentially all rides will have a line, it is probably not as useful, but during lower times of year, it can be especially useful. As a generic example: we would essentially “rope drop” (arriving right when the park opens) the 3rd-biggest ride in the park and then do a bunch of medium-wait rides when they have no wait. As more people arrived to the park, we would do the 2 biggest rides through DAS, watch shows, eat lunch, and do the smallest rides that never have a line that time of year. In addition, you can queue up for the next ride the moment you do the final tap in for the current ride. In this sense, DAS reduces wait times far more than Fastpass+ ever did, without even considering the advance reservations (which are usually quite booked anyway). It’s important to reiterate, I think everyone (including myself) in these replies would trade these reduced wait times for not having a disability in a heartbeat, but there is no denying that it is very effective in allowing you to go on more rides in a single day.
If you are harnessing the power of DAS in terms of saving a place in line and two advance reservations AND effectively planning the rest of your day, it absolutely will lead to you enjoying more attractions. But as a fellow parent, I would say that is to your credit of committing to maximising the enjoyment for your family and a happy side-effect rather than an abuse of privilege.
Re. your comment on the usefulness of the advance reservations- I found it came down to preparation. The only rides we could not reserve were super new things, like GOTG. Stuff like Star Wars and Slinky Dog Dash that are very challenging normally were fine.
We started with the days we wanted to be at certain parks and worked back from there. Once you know your ‘fixed’ big rides, is easier to piece around them, even if you don’t always get the best times or the optimum sequencing.
In turn, having an itinerary gives (particularly children) confidence that they will get the chance to do the things they want to do the most.
I have hidden disabilities and use DAS. I’m young-ish (mid 40s) have MS and have had a stroke. The MS is complicated because MS can manifest itself differently in different bodies. I look “normal” folks might not be able to look at me and see my disability from the MS or deficits from my stroke. To them I look like I don’t need DAS. I’ve gotten dirty looks and heard grumbling before. It’s very disheartening. My body hurts every. single. day. Muscle cramps, when I get overheated I get heat exhaustion symptoms (vomiting, etc.) that last for hours, going down or upstairs is hard for me b/c of the MS & left over stuff from my stroke. Yes, I look “normal” but I would give everything to not have MS & to not have to use/rely on DAS so that I can do something normal like go to Disney. I don’t mind sharing whatever documentation that I need to share to prove that I have disabilities and need DAS. In fact, I’d rather just give the documentation instead of being questioned and made to feel like I have to justify my pain & be questioned like I’m trying to scam someone (Disneyland DAS registration was a horrible experience). I get that waiting in a long line isn’t fun and it’s hard when you see folks walking past you but just remember that just because some looks “fine/normal” doesn’t mean that they are. We’re in the most magical place on earth, let’s show some kindness and compassion towards others.
As someone who has used DAS twice since 2020 and never beforehand, I think it’s not just abuse but also the nature of the times.
For example, when I was an undergrad, I would often just ask my professors for basic accommodations for tests, and they would just simply say, sure, no problem. As a graduate student at a big state school, I took some undergraduate classes, and the professors were instantly like: oh, everything has to go through student disability services. You have to get assigned a disability advocate, talk through your needed accommodations, and take all of your tests at the disability testing center. Which was all fine, but it all seemed rather.. overkill for relatively minor accommodations. Unfortunately, though, it is necessary nowadays to prevent cheating.
Nowadays, it is simply not possible to do as many rides at Disney without long waits using Genie+ compared to Fastpass+. I imagine that a lot of new DAS traffic is abuse and their process will be refined even further, but the increase in use cannot be separated by the significantly more waiting required at Disney compared to before.
I appreciate your outlook and viewpoints on DAS. I too have an invisible disease and have endured the looks and a few remarks from strangers. I’m in my late 30s but have had issues since I was a 8 years old. My Make A Wish was to Disney and it embarrassed me to hear grown adults pop off rude comments. Just because so don’t “look sick” doesn’t mean I’m not. I suffer from liver and kidney disease and I am post cancer. The fatigue, dehydration, and low tolerance for extreme heat or cold (and I’m from TX) is a pure annoyance. I’d gladly trade DAS to be healthy and not worry about when my organs will fail. Along with that I have PTSD. DAS provides me a chance to sit in the AC while waiting for a ride which I’m thankful for. I hate that people abuse it but last I checked you could have up to 12 people on one DAS pass. That’s probably how some are abusing it.
My son is autistic and used DAS legitimately. Now that we do an interview on zoom and he is present, speaking with the cm, it’s obvious we aren’t faking. How do the cheaters get past this process? Once a man in the standby commented to me that we were in the handicap line and that my kid looked normal. I told him I’d cut my arm off and stand in line for 12 hours if it meant my son didn’t have autism. It shut him right up and everyone applauded.
“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.”
The minds ability to rationalize is incredible. Without it we probably could not live with ourselves. I’m not perfect, far from it and I believe in “judge not, least you be judged” but I would send along some advice.
Karma is a bitch. I’d be very concerned about cause and effect. You mess with Mother Nature and she may just decide, “OK, if you’re willing to fake a disability because you don’t want to wait on line then let me help you out with that permanently.”
I don’t think anyone who reads your blog abuses DAS but for those who stumble in here and are not sure what the fuss is about, ask yourself, would you be willing to trade 365 day of good health inside and out for 1 day of a few extra rides at MK? Do you want to have to explain yourself to God, the Universe or whatever comes next after this existence? “I know it was wrong but Hey at least I’m not Bob Chapek, right?” is not going to cut it as an answer.
I have a lot of “stuff” I’m not looking forward to reviewing and explaining but I wouldn’t want to add something as stupid and creepy as this to it.
I agree with Tom that there’s a direct connection between the increase of this reprehensible abuse and Genie+, another ignoble act.
WE ALL KNOW WHAT THE ANSWER IS.
Shorter wait times.
Nobody’s risking their soul to save 30 minutes.
More rides and shows will eliminate wait times.
There needs to be some correlation coefficient of hotels to rides. You build a hotel you build two rides.
SAVE THE PARKS, BUILD RIDES AND ENTERTAINMENT.
The Parks are the future.
People will always need a place to get away and things to do when they get there.
Streaming is the entertainment delivery system that exists at the moment and as such it can’t be overlooked BUT it’s NOT the future. I remember when tv in the NYC area had 7 channels. That’s it.
Pictures flew through the air and you needed three things.
A black and white tv, an antennae and someone to stand on the roof holding that antennae in odd ways while you took your turn watching a show.
Then came cable, satellites and VCR’s. Anyone still have a VCR? If so contact me, as I have Video tapes of every Disney movie ever made….until DVD’s came along.
If you have a dvd player let me know as I have every Disney film ever made on DVD and then blue ray (must be over 400).
Are you aware that Best Buy announced they will no longer sell DVD’s starting Jan 2024?
In the future we’ll probably have a chip planted in our brains at birth that deliver programming. I can see us standing on the Geek Squad line at Best Buy, “My heads not working right. I can only get Disney++++++++++++++ by standing on the roof with my finger in my right ear.”
DISNEY STOP GIVING THE PARKS SHORT SHRIFT!!!!!!!!!
Stop neglecting them while using them as piggy banks for all your losing endeavors.
The PARKS ARE THE FUTURE if you take care of them.
PS if you weren’t bleeding money maybe you wouldn’t have to SQUEEZE every penny out of people who like you (until they don’t).
The comment about Karma is extremely harmful and I would implore you from saying things like that in the future. First of all Karma is not real, its a just a belief like a religion, you cannot expect everyone to believe in it. Second of all if a disabled person read this comment, whats to stop them from thinking that you think they did something wrong in their life to deserve their disability. Good things happen to bad people, bad things happen to good people and this magical concept of Karma is about as real as unicorns, but harmful nontheless. Lets not rely on Karma for keeping people from doing the wrong thing.
Did you not read Tom’s post? He’s referring to those who DO NOT have a disability but are gaming the system so they can utilize DAS benefits – like people who park in handicap spots but are not disabled. Karma is a regular word people use in everyday life – if someone’s really mean to someone and then accidentally bangs their head on an overhead light, someone is bound to say, “Well, that’s karma.” It just means you got what’s coming to you by what you put out in the world. How is this thread in any way offensive? Super odd post.
I read his article, did you read my comment? When you imply that Karma is real, that implies that people’s situation in life is a result of how good or bad they are. Which simply isn’t true. People who are absolutely morally horrible have great lives and never deal with any hardship, and good people who always try to do the right thing get handed crap cards all the time. Basically this comment is saying don’t lie about having a disability or Karma will get you and you might just end up with that disability. First of all, thats a nonsensical statement, for a very large portion of the population threatening them with something they don’t believe in (and isn’t based in reality) is a waste. Second of all, what does that imply? Does that imply that people who are disabled, at some point did something to deserve it? Karma is not real, threatenining people with it is not useful. We should use rules and real consequences to drive good behavior, not make believe concepts.
Okay Karen. Neeeeeexxxxxxxtttttt!
A true sign of maturity. Someone kindly (I didn’t insult anyone or was rude in any way) pointed out that something you said might be harmful and explained how and asked you to reconsider your words…and the response to call them a Karen. I’m not going to argue with you, but maybe reflect on that a bit, and lets all do better. Also maybe Tom can do an article on the abuse of the word Karen, so many people throw it around now for every little thing I don’t even know what it means anymore! Is it just anyone who annoys anyone for any reason? Have a great day!
My companion uses DAS due to invisible cognitive/psychiatric diagnoses, and receives disability benefits as a result of his functional limitations. There is no way he would have been able to tolerate our visit waiting in the regular queues. To be honest, combined with Genie+ and ILLs, we did accomplish more in a day than guests without DAS and these paid services could. Since it was only one day, I can’t compare the amount of rides we could have accomplished without Genie+ or ILLs with a non-DAS guest who also did not use any paid ride reservation services. DAS within the app essentially functions as an extra LL reservation not subject to the 120min rule, however you need to be within a particular park to use it. And thanks, Tom for explaining the decision to not give more details about how to use all of these things together, as I had sent a lengthy narrative of how our reservations worked during a parkhopping day to try and educate DAS users. I can see how this information could further encourage misuse.
Nonetheless, I agree it was a bit too simple to get approved. I had all of his documentation, doctors notes, medical history, diagnoses, disability evaluations, and that was shut down quickly in the interview. They just wanted me to say that he could not tolerate lines without a severe crisis. As far as ADA, 6 FLGs somehow circumvents this by using an external verification service to review documentation prior to issuing passes. This is a bit problematic for disabled guests without medical documentation, as some people don’t have adaquate medical care or the executive functioning needed to get government assistance. Disney could follow suit with the external verification service and at the same time have a tighter but equal process for folks without medical documentation. It would reduce wait times for the DAS video interviews, reduce staffing costs, and (perhaps?) deter folks from misusing the system through the perception that it would be harder to get. Like most things in life, there is a counter-argument for every position. I hope that folks who truly benefit from DAS will still have access. It is extremely complicated. Additionally, while some DAS users may disagree, I don’t think getting to make several pre-visit ride reservations in addition to the in-park service is necessary or fair given how effective the in-app DAS reservation system is. It was nice, but now that (subject to change) pre-visit reservations are not currently offered for all guests, I can see how this pre-visit reservation option in particular, would feel especially unfair to non-DAS guests.
Disney is cracking down because they are losing revenue from guests not buying Genie +
So here’s an unpopular answer
The guest with the disability gets DAS free, but everyone else in their party pays the same price as Genie + for DAS
The problem with that is getting you whole party to go together since they are using 2 different systems to access the lighting lanes (DAS and Genie +). Also should the family be penalized for the disability holder by forcing them to pay to ride with them. 12 people seems excessive but maybe on a case by case basis only say standard is 4 or 5 more and approval for the extra people only if its like you have 6 kids and one will be left out or something like that.
Universal is hiring a third party to check documents and verify if the request for DAS is rightful. As a mother of an autistic child, I would prefer to have this kind of document check, than to have people judging him and our family.
I agree. Been to WDW 4 times with our autistic son. First time 2013, didn’t know about DAS, wish we had, didn’t do any of the more popular rides. Subsequent times I’ve brought all his UK documents to show but have never been asked for them. I don’t have a problem doing this at all. He’s 18 now and we’d be happy to provide his adult documentation.
My son is autistic with SPD and I’d be more than willing to show documentation to prove. I’ve actually tried in the past and they wouldn’t look at it
I may get a lot of hate comments for this but this situation could be easily fixed. Anyone applying for a DAS card needs to prove their disability with a letter from their doctor. It should be that simple. Both my adult daughter and I are on the autistic scale. My daughter suffers extreme anxiety and all through her high school and university years found it almost impossible to sit an exam due to her overwhelming anxiety for which she takes medication to help her keep it under control. During her school years we had to get a medical report from her doctor which we submitted to the school/university and she was given special dispensation. Why can’t this be introduced at Disney, it would solve all the problems. This report wouldn’t need to be kept on record which protects the persons privacy but just needs to be presented for inspection before the card is issued. I cannot stand in lines for a long time due to serious knee and hip issues. I walk with a slight limp but other than that no-one knows the seriousness of the situation. I use an ECV when in the parks and get all sorts of hate and suspicious looks as I can get out of my ECV and get on rides quite easily with a bit of help from my daughter. Because I appear mobile people think there is nothing wrong with me and I don’t need to be in an ECV, I am just being lazy, this is far from the truth. I would only be able to stay in the parks for about an hour if I didn’t use it and before anyone comments on me being overweight or exercising more I will state I am normal weight for my height and age and walk 30 minutes every single day, I just can’t tackle a full demanding day on my feet. I truly understand the hate that is out there directed at people with hidden disabilities but both my daughter and I would be more than happy to get a doctors letter if we were going to apply for a DAS, which I might add we don’t use as we choose to pay for lightning lane instead. I think people have to be more reasonable and expect to show some form of evidence that they need a DAS card, that would go a long way toward helping to solve the problem. The people with genuine disabilities probably wouldn’t mind doing it and the ones that would kick up a stink are the ones that are in the wrong anyway.
Thamk you for posting about the disabilities that cannot be seen!!
i have a sever anxiety disorder and Narcolepsy.(sorry if the spelling is wrong)…Standing in line for 60-120 minutes is very painfull mentally…and exhausting..pardon the punn..sure i have medication for both,it doesnt take both away but makes it managable(sometimes).
Ive experienced harrasement for using the service and not using it..with Narcolepsy the sleep attacks just happen…i have no control over them. I dont even know that i have fallen asleep till i wake up..Sure it may be for a few minutes…but being called a drunk or a druggie is very hard to take..along with if people cant see either disability you get..theres nothing wrong you…go stand in line..
I dont who to feels worse…myself or my husband..how embarrasing for him to hear those comments..we both put on a smile abd deal with it the best we can,even knowing that we are both hurting inside..
So I see questions/comments about providing ‘proof’ of a disability to Walt Disney World. Legally, they cannot require proof, which is why the current system operates as it does. I would imagine that many of those with legit disabilities would happily provide proof, but that cannot be the foundation for accommodations. (If Cast Members decline to even look at your documentation, they’re not being rude–they’re not supposed to do so as a matter of policy/legality.)
On a related note, comments about renting wheelchairs or ECVs to abuse DAS are actually off base. Those abusing the system know exactly what to say to get one and are not bothering with renting a mobility device, which oftentimes won’t qualify for DAS on its own, anyway.
With that said, there are ways to sidestep this while not running afoul of the ADA or HIPAA. In fact, at least one other major theme park operator already does exactly this. I would anticipate Disney’s system looking similar to that in the future, assuming it can survive legal scrutiny.
(Note that this is not my area of expertise, and my understanding is based on research from 5+ years ago.)
I know this article addresses WDW, but what do we know about Disneyland? I’ve actually tried to show my son’s neuropsychological evaluation to cast members (my son has ASD and SPD) when signing him up for DAS in 2019 when we went, and they wouldn’t even look at it. How can Disney go about proving disabilities without violating ADA?
My daughter uses the das system and it has been great for the most part. I do sometimes wish the LL was separate bc sometimes the waits are longer than expected and she can have a hard time. She has Down syndrome and is nonverbal, so her way of letting us know she’s “over it” is loud whining and yelling, or worse trying to leave the line! It is infuriating to think of people pretending to have disabilities. I had some previous friends tell me they lied about their own children to receive the pass. I was shocked. My daughter LOVES Disney but there are many parts of a vacation with her that add a ton of stress and I can’t imagine lying about your child’s abilities/health to skip some lines. I don’t wish for her to be “typical” because she is amazing as she is, but her differences are not without difficulty. I will add, her first trip was so incredible because of the many CMs who took the time and care to make her feel included and seen, they truly went above and beyond. Love Disney for that!!!
I too have a adult child who uses DAS at Disney. He has ASD and cognitively a 3 year old in an adult body. I have seen FB Disney groups where people are there to find out the things to say to qualify for DAS. When people are told being in a wheelchair doesn’t qualify for DAS others coach them on what else to say so they could qualify. I know many families have multiple individuals needing DAS but I also see where a group of 10 will get multiple DAS passes to skirt the 6 people allowed on a DAS rule. I do wish they would do what Universal does and require documentation. I do believe there are many who abuse the DAS. I also believe they are the minority. There are fb groups for everything! When people are told wagons aren’t allowed in Disney some reply that they were told in their “wagon group” they are if needed for disability. So not only are some people abusing DAS there are some claiming disability to bring their wagons. There are some who truly need a wagon for their loved ones medical needs. I have seen tik tok videos about how to “get your wagon in”. Abuse of Disney’s generosity creates longer waits for everybody and more congestion.
We’ve been to Disneyland twice with our family and used the DAS pass system for our son who is autistic. Even using the lightning lane was hard for him. A 15 minute wait is already pushing it for him. He also has sensory processing disorder, and even wearing noise cancelling headphones, he gets so overwhelmed by all the noise/people/smells/things brushing up against him, etc.
One time, the wait in the lightning lane was 20 minutes and he had such a bad meltdown, that we had to go back to the hotel for 6 hours. We live far away and the trip was so expensive, it was a huge blow to miss that much time. It took us 3 years to save in order to go.
People abusing the system make it so much harder for people with actual disabilities like my son. Something has to be done to stop the abuse, but I worry about how the changes will affect my son’s experience.
It’s against the law to ask for proof of diagnosis, but crap, sometimes I wish I could just show them his neuropsychological evaluation and his long list of struggles at school and therapy notes. I wish people could see/understand how difficult it is for him to function in a world/society that he can barely navigate even with accommodations.
He absolutely loves Disneyland and keeps asking when we can go again. We can’t afford to at this point. I hesitate to put him through all the years of saving, only for him to have such a difficult and challenging experience while we are there.
My heart breaks for my 4 other children who desperately want to go as well. It’s definitely a sensitive subject and a difficult one to address. Those with actual disabilities are really hurting and deserve better.
we use das. The one time my child really really wanted to ride a ride “right now” we tried just waiting in the regular line. It was Frozen. the wait time was 45 minutes. We had all the things to distract, to pass the time, we had no problem handing our phones over. Still didn’t make it. 25 minutes into the wait, the stress got to be too much. She ended up throwing up all over the floor (thankfully people moved really fast out of the way). Our day was done. She wanted nothing to do with the park after that and we just hung out at the hotel. My kid looks completely normal. Stop judging people. My guess is disney will follow universal and roll out the IBCCES card. I’m torn on this because the company didn’t respond to my request about how they protect info.
Maybe Tom (or someone who knows a heck of a lot more than I do) can help me. I understand the purpose of the ADA, but I’m curious…if they changed the policy, no one is FORCING us to give our medical information, right? It’s our CHOICE whether we want to give that information to help us/family members with disabilities have a better time at WDW? So why couldn’t they require proof of a condition? If you don’t want to give the doctor’s note, etc., you don’t have to, but then you can’t use the service. I know it isn’t perfect, but wouldn’t that be better than people lying and making things more difficult for those with true issues? Or the ADA forbids them to do this?
It’s against the law to require proof of disability. I tried showing my son’s neuropsychological evaluation with his his multiple diagnoses (Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, Anxiety, etc) the first time we applied for DAS in 2019 (back then you applied inside the parks) and they wouldn’t even look at it.
Yes- I totally agree!!!!! I have apps on my phone for my disabled adult children that I use to coordinate their medical care. I have zero issues with providing documentation that they are legit. My son has had three near death experiences over the years. He and my youngest are past Make A Wish recipients. It’s a shame that honesty is going by the wayside. I also purchase Genie + to further accommodate my son’s needs.
My daughter is 31 and mentally challenged. To look at her she basically looks normal, until she has to wait to get on a ride and then all hell breaks loose and everyone stares and makes rude comments because they don’t understand. When she was little Disney still had the Guest Disability Pass which brought you into the attraction through the exit or the handicap entrance. We didn’t have to wait in line and therefore she enjoyed herself immensely. They even had her pass waiting for us at check in at the resort. But now that it has all changed, she can’t go on more than 1 or 2 rides most times. The DAS pass doesn’t work for us, which is why if we go to WDW, its only for the Halloween party with fewer guests. She doesn’t understand why we are at WDW but only going to the MK…. she loves the other parks. I cannot afford to pay the ticket prices for 1 or 2 rides. WDW should bring back the old pass and be more diligent in who they give it out to. I would never be offended providing a drs diagnoses for her. They say they can’t ask that well I say they can and they should so everyone can enjoy WDW!
Great article. I’m using DAS for the first time this next trip. I have a life-long invisible condition that wasn’t too much of an issue last time I went to WDW, and I just relied on regular breaks and self-regulation. But it was a hard slog. This time, my circumstances have changed and my condition is much more of an issue. I’m really grateful for the provision of DAS because it means I won’t have to compromise on other parts of my day in order to stand in line for a really long time, which will ultimately mean I have to opt out of things way more often because of my ability to endure all of the stressors.
I am a little worried how others may react – I look healthy, after all. And I’ve been judged so often over my life because people don’t understand my disability at all, despite it being very common it’s rarely spoken about. People don’t see the adjustments I have to make to my daily life to appear ‘normal’.
I, for one, would welcome tighter controls such as requiring medical notes or prescription information. Those who are legitimate don’t have an issue providing evidence.