Our experience using the Disney DAS Pass at Walt Disney World

At Walt Disney World Resort, the new Disability Access Service (DAS) pass has its up and downs. We experienced the new DAS system Friday, Oct. 29, 2021.

By Edward Tittlebaum

Disney’s Guest Relations added the DAS pass to our son Walter’s pass due to his Autism, but did say that since he is not the primary account holder, the pass may not appear on our My Disney Experience (MDE) app.  Luckily, within an hour it appeared on both of our phones. You can view the DAS tile on your MDE app this by clicking on the three lines at the bottom right and scrolling all the way down to the bottom of the tiles.

Once your DAS pass is set up, it’s valid for as long as the person with the DAS is attending the park that day. Guest Services will also remind you that you may only use the DAS pass on rides or shows if the person who qualifies for the DAS meets the height requirements and is willing to go on that attraction.

Just like before the update on the ticket system and My Disney Experience, you can still walk up to any attraction, Guest Experience Team, or Guest Relations to get a return time.

The plus side of using the app is that if you are on one side of the park, you don’t have to rush to find a Guest Experience Team cast member or run over to your attraction of choice to get a return time. Just like using the Disney Genie+ paid service, once you have scanned into the ride, you can go on the app and pick your next DAS time. You’re also able to ride the attraction multiple times, unlike Genie+, where you can only get the Lightning Lane option once per attraction.  This is great for us, as Walter likes to ride several attractions multiple times during the day.

I will also add that my son has good and bad days. With the old system, having to go to an attraction to get a return time was sometimes a hardship. Walter would be so excited to go onto the attraction and, understandably, due to higher wait times we would be asked to come back at a later time. On the bad days, Walter would have a meltdown. Having the DAS on the MDE app allows us to grab a return time without him seeing the ride building and potentially experiencing distress.

The downside of scheduling the DAS pass through the app is that you have to wait the full posted wait time.  If the wait time says 80 minutes, you’re waiting 80 minutes, whether or not that’s really the full and current wait time.  Sometimes, if you visit the cast member at the attraction for a return time and if the wait is short enough, they will let you into the Lightning Lane or give you a shorter wait until your return time.

Attractions without Lightning Lanes, such as Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros at Epcot, will still allow you to use a DAS pass. Now, attractions like this do not have touch points, so cast members advised us to stop at Guest Services to have the DAS marked as used so we could pick another attraction; we found we could just cancel the DAS return time on the app once we finished experiencing the ride.