Disneyland and Walt Disney World will soon make changes to their Disability Access Service program in an effort to curb the misuse riddled in the widely used program that results in longer attraction queues and backed-up Genie+ lanes for guests.
Officials hope the changes, which go into effect on June 18 at Disneyland and May 20 at Walt Disney World, will allow guests who need the service to use it.
Here’s what guests need to know about the new changes:
- DAS Advance pre-arrival attraction selection will no longer be the default offering for all DAS guests.
- Unless it’s a family, DAS parties can only have a max of 4 people.
- DAS enrollment eligibility will increase from 60 to 120 days.
- Current DAS guests will need to re-apply.
Disneyland recently updated its DAS website and noted that guests planning to use the program and will be visiting the resort between April 9 and June 17 should note that:
- Pre-arrival conversations to determine eligibility for DAS will be available 2-30 days prior to your visit.
- In-person conversations to determine eligibility for DAS will be at Guest Relations locations.
- Guests will be able to book up to two one-hour return windows for select experiences using the DAS Advance planning option.
The DAS program is widely popular at both coastal resorts with usage tripling over the past five years, Disney officials told Nexstar’s Scott Gustin.
Nexstar is the parent company of KTLA 5 News.
The popularity of DAS increased over the years is likely due to social media “Disneyland line hack” videos that show guests how they can use the program to skip the line without paying for the Genie+ service.
However, the program was intended to accommodate guests who have developmental disabilities like autism and are unable to stand in a traditional queue for a long period of time.
