I’ll probably wish I’d read the next 40+ pages before commenting… but here goes—
Except
DAS is not really the same as LL or FP. With those you are offered the next available time. At DL two weeks ago, there were instances where the next available LL was in 5 mins. Sometimes it was hours away.
DAS is solely based on the current standby time. It is designed that way because the whole point is that you are still “waiting in line” you are just waiting elsewhere.
That’s why you can repeat them. Because G+ is giving you a shortcut pass at a specified time. But DAS is the same as standing in the standby line… you haven’t shortcut anything. You are just “standing (or sitting) by” the standby line. Most of the time, the wait is longer than the standby time, especially if you need an ADA ride vehicle.
I miss waiting in the standby queues at DL. Many of the new LL are nicely themed, but for example at HM, I missed showing all of the cool cemetery theming to dgd and ddl. And Imagineering are about to expand and refresh all that theming to be even more immersive. But I’ll never see it, unless they also redo the queue to be ADA compliant. Which is unlikely, given that they use every inch of that super tight queue, and then some.
Indy is another queue I would love to see again, but I cannot stand that long and even if I get there early, there are elevation changes throughout that are trip hazards due to drop foot.
Jungle cruise has stairs that I can’t climb easily. I tried in 2015, and I missed a step and fell, scraping my leg, and hurting my wrist.
I miss out trying to look for hidden Mickeys in the queues too. Which means my whole party misses out. There’s no way for the rest of my party to go thru the line and have me join them at the LL merge point either, so that they could see the theming without me. So many lines are not accessible to scooters and wheelchairs. I have other issues that qualify me for DAS but I use a
scooter to not slow everyone else down, and give me the stamina to do more than one day in the parks. But if my disability was manageable with only the scooter, I’d have the added disadvantage of having to go to a GS kiosk or to the ride itself to get every one of my return times, instead of being able to do it in the app. Which takes more time and effort that non-disabled guests don’t have to deal with.
So I find it to be a gross misrepresentation to categorize DAS as the equivalent of Genie+.
It seems like there’s always been this sense that DAS is some special super pass that gives us a giant advantage. I just don’t see it that way. Two weeks ago was the least crowded I’ve seen
Disneyland in probably 20 years. And still in 5 days
, using DAS & G+ we got less done than we ever did back in the Happy Hearts days of going for 1-2 days max. with 4 kids under 8-10 y.o. in tow & before we knew anything like the GAC existed.
Even with DAS, we still purchase Genie+, to optimize our day.
One does not take the place of the other. Sure, some people are able to manage using just G+. And many people feel like G+ is unneeded with their DAS… but that was the same before when FP was a free program and accommodations were given via GAC.
I don’t care if Universal changes to the new system, I’m not sure we’ll ever go back to USO (although the roller coasters were
awesome!) and I know I won’t be going to USH. I would like to go back to Magic Mountain someday, because that’s where DH and I met… but since I’m the extreme coaster lover & DH had disc replacements in his neck which make wild roller coasters an unwise ride choice, I kinda doubt we’ll ever go back there either.
But I sincerely hope that Disney stays with their current DAS procedures. I do not feel like it’s too easy to get. One of my sons has a 50% success rate with it being granted due to autism. First time was in person pre-pandemic. The CM told him that since he was able to ask for it, his autism wasn’t severe enough to qualify, he never even got to explain exactly why he was asking. The next time (after the pandemic), the CM was impressed that he was aware of and could voice his needs. Both times he had to write out ahead of time what his explanation would be re: his limitations in order to be able to clearly communicate them. But he had very different results. Autism is not some magic word that gets you DAS.
Neither is any other condition.