DAS - Flexible on rules?
 

Hi all! :wave:

I'm going back to Orlando next April :pgig:, for the first time since being diagnosed with a chronic pain and fatigue condition. :zzz:

I'm aware of how DAS works (receive a return time roughly equal to the current wait time), however the nature of my condition will strongly limit the amount of time I'm able to be in the parks. I may only be able to be in each park for an hour or two at a time due to fatigue, in which time I might only have been able to ride one ride (or none at all depending on return times!).

The Disney DAS guidance says the following:

My question is, has anyone had any experience of using this and finding they're flexible with the rules on DAS at all? e.g. shorter return times, allowing more than one DAS return time running at once, etc.

I'm happy to bring proof, a full explanation of my condition, etc, but I'm wondering if they really are as accommodating as the above seems to imply - if not, I'll just have to be very hot on planning my fastpasses!

Thanks for any info, much appreciated!

You could ask a CM when there however I’m pretty sure they don’t bend the rules as far as reducing wait times or allowing more than one pass at any one time as this would place them in a sticky “my disability is worse than your disability” discrimination place.
Their additional services more than likely refer to the offer of wheelchair services, ECV hire etc, rather than anything else.

I think they pretty much have to stick to rules or all sorts would abuse this, you will have 3 fastpasses to use alongside DAS, only one DAS running wouldnt work as they are done electronically. Have you learnt about 'pacing' yourself, and building in rest breaks to your day at parks. Look also at ECV maybe. I hope you manage a good trip. X

They arent able to look at 'proof' of disability,

In terms of wait times, it really does depend on the attraction whether there is given a wait time or not I found. Also as said you will have your 3 regular fast passes. I'd be inclined to book one for slightly before you plan on arriving then the next two directly after each other to then allow you to do the DAS in between something like:

9-10
Plan to arrive around 9:30 so straight to ride
go get DAS return time
DAS return
11-12

That way you are still trying to minimise how long you are in the park. As others have said they can't legally look at proof of condition and too many people would abuse it if they allowed the rules to be broken. The DAS system itself will only allow you to hold one pass - I had an issue last year where one of my passes hadn't been used properly (the ride FP tap thing had broken so I couldn't tap to say I had used it) and the system itself had to be adjusted to allow me to get a new one. It was a big faff but its how they stop people saying they need DAS and then just rinsing all the rides. I also think its worth consider an ECV. The parks are huge and just walking them can actually cause more fatigue than you realise until its too late and you are stuck the other side of World Showcase. My sister has a hip condition and although she walks fine at home she can't cope in the parks even for a few hours so rents an ECV to make things easier.

Unfortunately not, they stick to the guidelines. It would create many problems otherwise!

I'd definitely look at ECV hire and look at maps before booking your FPs so your not zig zagging around parks unnecessarily. Have a great trip.

I also have a chronic pain and potential fatigue issue. Disney won't change the rules to accommodate sadly. They won't look at proof of medical condition either.

Firstly, I looked at all the park maps and planned rides so that we weren't crossing from one side of the park to the other. I know most would say it's a waste to use FP's for as soon as it opens but this helped keep our times minimised for being in the parks.

An example:

MK - Opens at 9am.

I would book a Space Mountain FP 9-10am, I would head to Buzz and get a return time as we first got in the park then ride a couple of lower wait time rides, like People Mover and Speedway, then head for our Space Mountain FP just before 10am, after this I would head back to Buzz for our DAS return time.

Second FP would probably be 7DMT 10-11am. I would head round to Peter Pan or Winnie the Pooh and get a return time for one of those then ride 7DMT, I would then hope that PP or WTP return time had opened up and head there. After that I would probably get a return time for another attraction but would completely depend what you wanted to do.

I would book my next FP for 11-12pm and again look for the shortest and longest wait times of attractions near the FP. I would get a return time for the longest wait and try and ride some of the lesser time ones before the return time.

I hope that made sense. Last year I used Touring Plans and it was amazing. It really helped me to plan things and it also gave me approximate walking time between the attractions (you can choose the pace) and it also told me the approximate wait times we would have. It was a god send and I'm just about to re purchase it for our next trip. I think it's $15.99 for a year.

Was great for helping find hard to get ADR's too x

When planning now remember you dont have to walk to the ride to get a DAS - the blue guest assistance umbrellas that are scattered about have CM's who can book them which saved us so much time this year, also if for some reason u cant find one of those location another member of your party could run across to get the DAS sorted as everyone in the party is linked. This year I booked several for my niece as we had split up todo fps - her and my mum the smaller rides whilst i did the big ones and i could book her DAS for rides i knew she would like to do when i was passing them

Also remember as soon as you have tapped in for ride 1 you can amend ride 2 to an earlier time. We did this frequently and managed to get fast passes soon after each other.

I love touringplans