DAS pass
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Anonymous
| 9 hrs on hold to get a DAS pass for Disneyworld. Any suggestions about the best way to use it would be much appreciated. |
Anonymous
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You mean useing it with the genie and LL? I last went to Disneyworld a year ago prior to those-but I did have DAS for my then 6yo with ASD.
For her, I used it for rides where the lines have a preshow type thing or have noise and lights in the line. She understands the concept of waiting but goes into sensory overload. We would just wait outside nearby till our return time. Lines outside, like for Peoplemover, she was fine with. My kiddo doesn't like and won't go near most rides, we used it on Toy Story Mania and Runaway Railroad and a few others-none of the headliner type rides, she won't do those anyways. |
Anonymous
| I just returned and used it the entire time. I'd never been to MK and was extremely apprehensive about going over spring break. Almost immediately, I felt the hassle of getting it was absolutely worth it. Start with the earliest possible time (ie 9am) no matter the ride(s). It will open up your ability to book the next ride as soon as you tap in. If you haven't already, download the mydisney app to your phone. It will make everything much, much easier. You just go into there and navigate to the DAS slection on the, I believe left side. It will then give you the ability to choose and will provide height restrictions, etc plus wait times. The longer the standby wait time, the longer it will be until you can return for the DAS. Once I got going, I had a system down so I never waited too long for a return time window. For example, I knew seven dwarfs had a ridiculous wait time so when I tapped into a ride right before lunch, I scheduled seven dwarfs immediately. This allowed us to ride the one we tapped into, grab, a bite to eat, relax for a minute, and then walk over to seven dwarfs without having to wait awhile to book or rush over to get there in time. It sounds hectic and I didn't have huge expectations, but my DS had no idea I was managing this and it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We were able to ride every ride except the Jungle Cruise and Aladdin both of which I made strategic decisions to skip based on his preferences (excitement!) and we also rode some rides 2/3x which I had tried to provide as much forewarning as possible that we might not be able to do that. |
Anonymous
| Op- thank you! My ASD DS is horrible at waiting so I’m hoping this helps. Going in with low expectations and just hoping to be able to enjoy being there. |
Anonymous
I'm the pp. It will absolutely help. It turned the seven dwarfs 90 minute wait into a ~5 min wait. Going in with the low expectations like you're planning and keeping the bar low, + staying relaxed will also help tremendously. And here's the thing, my DS (6yo), who loves excitement, rides, etc, I thought would have NO interest in the parades, characters, marching bands, shows was AWESTRUCK by it all. Like, requested the name of each hs marching band awestruck. It was adorable just to see his reaction. That's what made it for me. I also thought, we'd watch the fireworks show (headphones!!) and head back to the hotel, but just in case, booked splash mountain right before the fireworks, so that the return time corresponded to immediately post fireworks. Also ended up being a great decision bc DS caught a second wind during the fireworks and asked to stay longer so we headed over to splash mountain. Upon tapping into splash, I then booked Big Thunder which at that time had immediate openings, so we were able to get that in as well plus then repeat other rides he adored. My biggest takeaway-I booked my first pass for 10am on Peter Pan figuring we could hit a couple of the smaller rides that don't regularly have huge stand by wait times prior to Peter Pan. It was a lesson learned bc even the 15 min standby wait for Dumbo was too much and we came very close to a meltdown at like 9:30 with minimal crowd/heat. That's why my main takeaway for you is regardless of the perceived popularity of the ride or alleged lack of wait times early am, just go ahead and get started with the DAS bookings right away. Like I said, I hesitated to book DAS early am with Dumbo, etc bc I thought we'd be ok and though it did work out, for next time (that's how much fun we had!!), I'll definitely book the first available 9am ride regardless of the ride/perceived lack of early am line for it. |
Anonymous
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If you haven’t been to Disney before- spend some time looking at maps to familiarize yourself with nearby things you might do while you wait for your return time. There are hidden mickeys, little pocket gardens, characters, restrooms etc and it is helpful to have a very general plan for the areas around your “must do” rides. For example there are little arcades in some areas in Tomorrowland, the people mover is a nice way to wait while riding something. There used to be a walkway behind space mountain where you could watch the Grand Prix (that might have been affected by construction).
We like to find the pressed penny machines and watch all of the street performers. We were also surprised by what our kids enjoyed and it was fun to see what caught their fancies. The silhouette artists were fascinating to one child and the other liked the laser scanned photos that go into a glass cube. |
Anonymous
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wait. why are you on hold? I thought you could make appointments up to 30 days in advance to have a video chat with a cast member about this.
I would take care of this online, OP- not on the phone. |
Anonymous
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Also, you can get a DAS on the first day of your trip just by going to guest relations.
If you go to guest relations, you can also get a badge to be able to use your stroller as a wheelchair. That way, you don't have to park your stroller- you can just keep your kid in it as you go through the (shorter, lightning lane) queue. |
Anonymous
You wait in a queue for hours just for a video chat. it took me multiple attempts over three weeks to get through. You need to be able to log on right at 7am and wait an hour + in order to not wait for hours in the queue |
Anonymous
UGH. oh no. I have to do this next month. I was hoping the experience was going to be smoother than that. f*ck. We might just wait and go to guest relations in person in the parks. |
Anonymous
| *whine* whyyyyyyy does Disney suck so hard at customer service these days?? I was never on hold for longer than a minute or two back in the golden pre-pandemic days... |
Anonymous
| It's almost enough (and maybe it is enough, if I'm being honest) to just skip it and go to Dutch Wonderland instead this summer. |
Anonymous
The thing I would be worried about is that the earlier return time slots for rides might be filled and then you have a DASS pass you can't use until the afternoon causing you to have to be in standby wait lines or you're just filling time until your first return window occurs. Honestly, I complained to my spouse while jumping through all the hoops but since neither me or DS had been I went ahead and sunk the time in and within an hour of seeing DS's face/awe thought it was worth ever drop of time spent. I just chalked it up to another drop of time in the bucket, went in with low expectations, and left already planning the return and how to best maximize the DASS pass. *If any does go and waits to get the DASS pass at guest relations in the park, please update how it went. I'm very curious but worried to wait. |
Anonymous
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I have used it in the past.
My child no longer requires that kind of help, but I went with my mom last week. She was in a wheelchair. I used a hybrid-I paid of genie+ for rides I knew she liked. Then for rides that are less popular (Nemo, Living with the Land....) I asked a cast member where the accessible entrance was and they sent us through the ramp on the Lightening Lane. The chair was obvious, so we did not get the DAS. She could transfer to a seat and leave the chair behind on the ride (they moved it for us). There were certain rides we let go (Frozen, pardon the pun) but if that were the goal, I'd get a DAS at the guest relations office, and when the sign at 10:00 a.m. says "90 minutes" ask the Cast member at the Lightening lane if you can come back 90 minutes (a "go back" time) from now and wait somewhere shady. You can only include a few in your party. It used to be 6. They will take a photo of your child. (I didn't like that part). It can be a game changer. The Cast Member at guest relations can also guide you towards sensory friendly rides. |
Anonymous
| Does the window for requesting the DAS pass open 30 days out? |