DAS issues at Magic Kingdom -
I'll start by saying that I am very grateful for the ability of our family to use a DAS; without it, we could no longer do Disney at all. We have a family of 3; and the pass is for my daughter, who was diagnosed with her disability about a year ago.
Our previous 3 trips since diagnosis - DAS has worked perfectly fine. She cannot stand in direct sun/heat for extended time periods, and needs the ability to eat/drink in line. Bathroom breaks are also a pop-up issue, so longer lines can be a problem. We also encountered NO problems this trip at the other parks - they appeared to have trained DAS staff to both issue returns times, and check us back in. Wait times were accurate from DAS within 5 minutes. Almost always, there were 2 distinct Cast Members and/or lines for the 2 different functions - but the DAS lines were also long, so be prepared for that.
Our first MK DAS problem was first thing in the morning; we obtained a 70 minute DAS return time for Seven Dwarves, and headed straight to Pan, since that line is usually shorter and shaded first thing in the morning. We walked up, asked the DAS Cast Member how long the wait was, and he said "5 minutes at the most". I could see that the line was already down the hill past the Tangled bathroom area, and when I asked if he was sure, he acted very put out, and said "I TOLD you it's 5 minutes!" Well, 35 minutes later, we rode the ride. Fortunately, we were able to stay in the shade, and she didn't need to leave the line or use the restroom, but that's a big miscalculation when you ask specifically, and with DAS, riders need more accurate information than that.
Our crisis came for Splash Mountain, which was insanely busy. My son had gotten a return time for 80 minutes, so we went to try to check back in to ride, and the DAS line was literally backed up to the river. It was wall to wall people ( I took pictures), with at least a 30 minute wait to check back in. They had the wheelchair line mixed in, as well as the "Complimentary Return" kinda Fastpasses, which is typical. BUT, with as overwhelmed as the parks were this week, there were TONS of folks trying to use the "Disney screwed up, here's a FastPass". There wasn't a good way to separate our party - there wasn't anywhere close or shaded to wait, and the kids couldn't have gotten back to the line due to the density of the crowd.
So we waited about 30 minutes, and witnessed just horrible service from the one poor, untrained Cast Member trying to deal with all the angry DAS and FastPass folks. The worst part was, there was a management type with a trainee behind him for at least 20 minutes, doing NOTHING. When we got to the front of the line to check in, after watching a large party leave with the adult man in TEARS because the Cast Member wouldn't let him use his passes - he actually asked the guy, "so, what IS your disability?" - which I'm pretty sure is not ok. BTW, he didn't have a DAS - he had the Recovery Passes due to other issues with their party earlier. I mentioned to the Management Cast Member that it would be helpful if they had more help, since the line was so crazy long and many of the folks in the DAS line were struggling. Her response, "Have a Magical Day." with a smirk and a laugh.
So, it was NOT super magical when we finally got onto Splash Mountain, and my kid ends up having a medical crisis during the ride that was TOTALLY avoidable had the DAS worked like it should and like it is promised to work. We had to leave the park after that, and take about four hours before she felt well enough to be up and around again. I can offer more details if needed, but I will be following up with Disability Services. TOTALLY unacceptable.