Hey Howdy Hey Crystal and welcome to planDisney!
I am so excited to hear you will be ringing in the new year with us here at Walt Disney World Resort! There is so much going on right now in Walt Disney World as well as some exciting changes coming in the nearish future you may be able to experience. Thank you for your question about
Disney's Disability Access Service (DAS), let's go over some of the details.
DAS has been such a great addition to the parks, helping those that may have difficulty waiting in lines still experience attractions with friends and family is such an awesome benefit. The best part about DAS is that it is free and you can apply for DAS in two ways. If you wanted to, you can go online and apply for a video interview with a Cast Member before leaving for your vacation to determine if you qualify for DAS or not. This process also gives you access to
DAS Advanced Planning which we can go over more shortly. You can also apply for DAS once you get to the parks by visiting the Guest Services locations towards the front of each park. This option does not come with DAS Advanced Planning, just a forewarning.
While I cannot give you specific information on Guests that may or may not qualify for DAS, if you have medical concerns that may interfere with your ability to wait in traditional standby lines, I would go ahead and apply. If you go with the video interview and are approved, you then will have access to DAS Advanced Planning. After your interview, you will be given a text-only phone number in which you will set up 2 advanced DAS pass return window times for your day in the park for each day you plan to visit the parks. You will also have access to 1 rolling DAS pass which you can now control through your
My Disney Experience app which will be unlocked if you qualify for DAS. With this traditional pass, you can book your return window for the attraction you select and after you tap in for your return time, you get another one. You can also book these by talking to the greeting Cast Member at the attraction you would like to experience if you did not want to go through the My Disney Experience app.
One thing that I would highly encourage you to do with your plans going forward is to think about a plan B if DAS does not work out for some reason. I would look into
Genie+ and
Individual Lightning Lane purchases which will make waiting in lines much less frequent! With Genie+, your personal Genie will give you access to Lightning Lanes which are lines with much less of a wait time than standby lines. You can book these through your My Disney Experience app as well starting at 7:00 a.m. EST for Guests staying at a Disney Resort Collection accommodations. Individual Lightning Lanes are for those really popular attractions where you can purchase them to experience certain attractions in each park such as with the new
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT.
Hopefully, you have an idea of how the DAS process works and your options. Please feel free to reach back out if you have any further questions, we would be happy to help!
Have a Magical Day,
Nick