Visiting Disney World can be daunting, especially if you or someone you love is living with a disability.
Cinderella Castle
Disability Access Service (DAS) is designed to accommodate guests and their families who have difficulty tolerating extended waits in a conventional queue environment due to a disability. The service allows you to schedule a return time that is comparable to the current queue wait for the given attraction. It does not provide immediate attraction access. Disney announced on April 9th that the DAS system would undergo some important changes, and we’re here to break those down for you.
For the most part, these changes seem to be overall positive and beneficial to families using the system. However, it’s important that you understand the updated system and how to utilize it to meet your needs, as these will be put into place on May 20th at Disney World and June 18th at Disneyland. Let’s get into it!
DAS is partnering with Inspire Health Alliance
Inspire Health Alliance will partner with Disney to better serve those using DAS. If it sounds familiar, it’s because Disney Cruise Line utilized the company’s COVID-19 testing services to test passengers before sails.
Magic Kingdom
Having healthcare experts behind the system can be a great thing, especially for those seeking to attain DAS for the first time. It can also help to better inform the Cast Members serving you.
Eligible Party Size is Shifting
Previously, up to six people were allowed in line with a person utilizing the DAS system at any point and time. Now, the party size for DAS will shift from six people to just the “immediate family,” or limit of four people. For example, if you have a DAS pass and are visiting with six of your family members, all of them would be able to join a line with you. However, if you are visiting with six of your friends, only four of them would be able to join lines with you.
Cinderella Castle
This might seem like a downgrade for the system, but by allowing less party members in line with the person utilizing DAS, the people who depend on the system in order to experience rides and attractions can potentially get through a line faster.
Pre-entitlements are changing.
The rules regarding pre-entitlements are changing. Right now, DAS comes with two pre-entitlements. Once the new system is put in place, pre-entitlements and DAS will not be grouped together and will be used as separate options depending on guest needs. For the most part, visitors who are eligible for DAS will NOT receive those entitlements.
Mickey and Pals at Cinderella Castle
As far as those “pre-entitlements” go, we think that those are referring to the ability to skip two lines per day using a DAS pass, or the ability to book these two “skips” in advance. With the new updates, we could see Disney begin to not automatically allow anyone in the DAS system to have those two “skips,” and might require a person in the system to meet further criteria. Disney should release more on this very soon. We’re continuing to look into this and will update you here with more information.
DAS Enrollment Will Be Extended
One of the more helpful updates is that the DAS enrollment will be EXTENDED from 60 days to 120 days. So, once you’re registered within the DAS system, you won’t have to register again for another 120 days.
Magic Kingdom
This is especially helpful for locals or those who visit multiple times per month or every couple of months. It saves the hassle of reapplying for the service, which can be tedious!
We’re always on the lookout for more Disney news and ways to make your Disney vacation easier. Make sure to follow along here for more news and helpful tips.
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Hi I’m curious to know what a pre entitlement is. Happy about the extension from 90-120 days.
Hi Jacqueline. The pre-entitlements are the two ride selections you could choose in advance.
I just went through the new DAS process, and can provide some clarification:
Having healthcare experts behind the system can be a great thing, especially for those seeking to attain DAS for the first time. It can also help to better inform the Cast Members serving you.
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Unfortunately, the people from that company do not seem to understand developmental disabilities or cognitive disabilities – especially those that affect Veterans. They have been shaming people, telling them to suck it up, telling them to do other things like “get a wheelchair” if someone can’t stand, telling them to get a cold cloth if they overheat, telling one person that anxiety and its repercussions don’t matter and yet approving someone else for the same issue.
For my husband, the healthcare professional accused him of lying about his documented 90% disability from combat-induced injuries and how they affect him. She tried to trip him up by accusing him of standing in line at an airport to get to Florida, and we had to tell her that we were in our living room and were driving down, not going on a plane. It was very accusatory and inflammatory. Quite offensive to my husband and his sacrifices in the war.
What’s most disturbing is that even if the medical professional does understand and says you qualify for DAS, the CM can override that decision and say no – as they did for my son.
Now, the party size for DAS will shift from six people to just the “immediate family,” or limit of four people.
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There is a maximum of four people, whether they are immediate family or not. My family consists of two adults and three minor children, and my husband is approved. However, the Cast Member denied our son, as mentioned above. The CM told me in no uncertain terms that the limit was four people total.
The CM said we would have to split up as my husband couldn’t take three minors on any ride alone. Since we can’t leave any of them standing out alone, we will have to go through any ride we all want to go on in two separate batches, doubling the amount of time for us to enjoy the rides, which will limit what we can do together. We now have to cut down what we had planned to do to only a couple of things each day because of the inability to be a family of five.
We are forced to purchase Genie Plus to ensure we can get to at least the kids’ first pick attraction at each park.
Pre-entitlements
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They’re no longer an option for anyone.
Yes I’ve seen tons of complaints about the cast members not approving DAS. This is just another money grab from Disney. Someone figured out another way to squeeze more money out of guests.
First it was introducing Genie + now it’s cutting down the numbers of people using DAS.
If Fast Pass was brought back none of this would be happening, but Disney loves to drop a barrier down at every angle to squeeze every dime from guests.
Waiting in a shorter line for a few rides a day should be free to everyone. They have the software and capability to do it because that’s what Fast Pass was.
They won’t do it because they want to charge for it. Even the people with disabilities aren’t safe. No one is safe from their greed.