Revamped Disney Disability Access Service (DAS)
If you are the parent of a child with special needs, you will be happy to know that the revamped Disney Disability Access Service (DAS) is amazing. First, you can now be approved 2 to 30 days prior to your arrival. That means that you don’t have to spend time at Guest Services when you arrive at your first park. In addition, you can now plan the DAS reservation in the My Disney Experience app! No need to run ahead to rides and meet with cast members to plan a return time. You can do it right from your phone!
In order to get registered ahead of time, you request a video chat with a cast member. It took over an hour for our turn in the video chat queue. Once you connect with a cast member they spend a few minutes talking with you about your needs. You need to have your loved one with you who will qualify for the service. Since our trip was a surprise, our cast member took off their Disney pin and pretended to be a friend of mine as she casually chatted with my son and me. This part of the process took about 5 minutes.
Once you qualify for the service, you are then put in a different queue to chat with a different cast member in the planning department. This cast member pulls up your park pass reservations and helps you choose 2 pre-planned ride times per day. Certain rides are excluded but any ride that has a typical Lightning Lane is available to choose from. You have a 1 hour window to use the pre-planned rides; they have a definite reservation expiration for these.
But you also get to choose one more DAS reservation when you arrive at your destination park. For example, I chose a 6:00 Haunted Mansion and 6:30 Big Thunder Mountain as our preplanned DAS rides. When we arrive at the park, I can log into the app and choose one additional reservation. This reservation does not have an expiration time. Once you use that reservation, you log back into your app and choose the next one.
I already had my strategy mapped out for the preplanned DAS reservations so the time spent on that portion of the chat l was done in about 30 minutes. I would love to help you plan for your vacation as well. As your planner, I can take time to talk with you before you register for the DAS. We can put together your list of most wanted rides and the times of day that would work best for you. Having a plan is not only to keep the registration process quicker but also key in making sure you have a perfect trip! And I’m here to help!
If I can help you and your family plan a vacation and use the DAS, please email me at BethAnn@101dreamvacations.com or contact me on my facebook page 101 Dream Vacations by BethAnn.