I am technically still on my last day and wanted to provide some updated
DAS info.
Party: Myself plus 7 guests
AK: At Guest Relations I was told to go to a Guest Experience (blue umbrella stand) person. She was after the Oasis. They set me up in under 5 minutes. AK had plenty of Guest Experience stands and they would give me return times for any ride, and the FP line cast members with iPads would give them for their rides. For setup, I had everyone’s magic bands in my hand ready to go and she seemed to really like that I did this, as the iPads can be finicky and it was easier for her.
MK: A Guest Experience stand in each land. We were told by one (who still gave us the return time) that GE isn’t supposed to issue return times, and soon it’ll be enforced that you can only get them at the ride you want them for, but any member of your party will still be able to fetch it. We had some success getting return times for another ride by going to the FP cast member at the ride we just exited. So if you’re on your way across the park to get a return time, you may as well try at other rides along the way. Some said they could only issue for their own ride. It was fairly inconsistent but still convenient when it worked. I did see the say no to me but do it for a mom alone there with her child who was in a wheelchair, so I think they will rightfully make exceptions to this.
Epcot: There are no Guest Experience stands here. I didnt see anyone walking around with iPads, only at lines. We only utilized it at Frozen and had zero issue with it.
HS: The placement of the GE stands was really convenient, only 4 but at sensible places. We did get grief here about return times for over 6 people once, but they were kind and still did it for Toy Story Mania. We also got it easily for Slinky Dog for 8, no questions.
Galaxy’s Edge: Zero issue using DAS for just my husband and myself, but saw someone else be told the max will be 6 as that’s what the ride holds, and not 8 unless the DAS holder comes back out and gets another return time. This makes sense considering it’s for the purpose of the DAS holder getting to experience the ride with their family/friend/loved ones. They were angry but it’s totally reasonable. I didn’t even expect to get 8 on my DAS, period. This was the best thing I used the DAS for because I found the hallways and cattle holding rooms quite nerve wracking. It made that ride waiting experience go a lot faster.
My experience: I won’t go into it too deeply because I will get emotional, but it truly changed my trip and allowed me to have a full Disney experience just like I see so many other people have. I have to take longer breaks than my family members and this ended up being okay because now I was doing it during time they would otherwise be standing in line. They got to rest, get snacks, shop, walk around, go on no wait attractions while I did what I needed to do to feel 100%. I didn’t feel like a burden for the first time ever.
Disney was in a word, AMAZING in this regard. I got zero guff, I felt no judgment, and the concept of being able to say “can I get a return time?” eliminated any and all calls of attention to what I was doing. Well, once a group of guys got very irritated because Smuggler’s Run is not doing Fast Passes. We got a few comments as our line passed the standby. Other than that, people just assume you don’t know the correct word for fast pass or something. I heard one person mumble “you know it’s $500 a day to skip the lines” to her friend and that was kind of funny.
In any case it certainly and rightfully isn’t skipping the lines, so if there’s a good planner in your group in terms of time management, have them plan the DAS just like FP’s. We were able to be strategic about handling our ‘waiting time’. We did a lot of ‘let’s let this person who doesn’t want to go on this ride go ahead and get a return time for Slinky Dog while we ride this ride, then we will all eat lunch near Slinky while we wait’. The first day we didn’t do this and did a lot of walking all over the place.
I figured in the regard of planning this long winded post would be helpful! If you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to ask! I have a long drive tomorrow and I’ll try to check again tonight too.