Chapter 148
DAS Good

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(Originally posted March 23, 2014)

We walked along the trail to Big Thunder Ranch, and we were VERY excited to see that Pancho was out! Once again, it had been months since the last time we’d seen our old friend.

While we were back at the Ranch, we couldn’t leave without petting the goats too. They’re quickly cementing their places as some of our favorites.

After we’d had our fill at the Ranch, we continued walking over to ride Haunted Mansion Holiday. This time, the ride stopped for a while when we were right in front of Zero in the graveyard, so we snuck a quick picture.

Dinner was going to be in Critter Country, but it was still way too early, so we killed a little time by riding Pooh. Even so, it was probably only about 4:00 when we gave into our appetites and decided to eat. We went over to Hungry Bear Restaurant and ordered the special Gay Days sandwich: the Bear Meal.

This was very good, and Tracy and I both enjoyed it a lot. If we had one complaint, it would probably be the fact that the waffle was a little on the sweet side, but I think that could easily be fixed and this would become a very popular staple as a permanent menu item. Disney seems like they keep flirting with the chicken and waffles idea, but can’t decide how they want to implement it. As you’ll notice, we also decided to substitute Sweet Potato Fries for the regular fries because we can never pass up this delicious Hungry Bear treat when we have the opportunity.

We headed home after eating because we had to walk Biscuit (I’ll be honest, by now we had started calling him “Bisquick”) before we headed out again for the evening.

While we were home, we also ate the cookie that had come with our dinner. It wasn’t anything special, but it was tasty.

That night, we went to a surprise birthday party for another of Tracy’s coworkers, Jose. It was a fun time, but we were excited to come back to this face because this was actually one of our last nights having a temporary pup. The week had flown by, and Soc would be picking him up again on Monday morning.

October 6-9, 2013

Now, we had been warned that Biscuit did NOT get along with cats, but Crooky kept trying to come over while we were dog sitting. We were a little worried that he would hold a grudge against us after we shooed him away time after time for a week, but as soon as Biscuit was gone, Crooky was back.

Tuesday was a bittersweet and a stressful day for me as we prepared to head to Disneyland. We knew that it was the last day of the GAC program before the new DAS system was going to be implemented on Wednesday.

Now, I should note that I was actually really happy with the idea of the DAS. I felt like the new system provided me all the assistance I needed while also still feeling a little more fair than the GAC. I was still mad about all the unfortunate circumstances and subsequent witch hunt that led to them getting rid of the GAC, but the new card seemed like it would be perfect for me.

Unfortunately, there were two major problems with the DAS. First of all, I totally understand why certain families were turned off by the idea. I have a brother with autism, so I absolutely understand why parents of kids with special needs were worried about the idea of their kids having to wait at all. I’m sure the DAS has made it much harder for certain families to do Disneyland, and I really feel for those people. I do wish that there were some sorts of tiers to the system that would still favor certain people in a similar way to how the GAC did while still implementing the DAS system for those of us who it benefits.

The other major problem, which affected me much more personally, was that a lot of the rumors leaking from Disney sources made it sound like it would be very difficult for me to qualify for the DAS. From everything I was hearing, they were going to be MUCH stricter about limiting the number of people allowed to use this system, and I certainly have a “disability” that falls into more of a grey area.

Here’s why I knew the DAS would be the perfect system for me: the new card allows you to get a time for your next ride at one of several kiosks spread throughout both parks. The return times take into account the current standby wait and then shave off 10 minutes to account for the time it takes you to walk there and actually get boarded. This new format was exactly what I always needed. I never rallied for front-of-the-line access like was granted by the GAC. Instead, I just needed a way to wait for my turn without needing to physically stand still in line.

Here’s why I was worried Disney wouldn’t give me the DAS: according to the new rules, people with “stamina disorders” (those that limited how much time you were able to stand) were supposed to be directed by cast members to use Fastpasses or get a wheelchair rather than getting a DAS card. Now, renting a wheelchair every time we go to the parks just isn’t a viable option for me (for many reasons), but I was worried that if I explained my disorder a certain way, I would immediately be denied the DAS pass and be out of luck when it came to visiting the parks. You wouldn’t believe how many sleepless nights I spent obsessing over exactly how I would state my disability to the cast member in order to qualify for the DAS and how scared I got that the Disney experience was going to be ruined for me because the new policies were supposed to be so strict.

For this reason, it almost felt like a “last meal” of sorts when we went to the parks with the GAC for the last time on Tuesday. We figured we should do the sorts of things we might not get to do again if I was denied the DAS the next day.

It was a Halloween Party night, so we were relegated to DCA. We began by heading back to Cars Land to get a Racers return time. While we waited, we also rode Toy Story Mania before coming back and taking our spin through Radiator Springs.

The night had already gotten away from us, so we made our way toward the exit at this point, though Tracy stopped at Elias and Company to buy me a birthday present on the way out. I didn’t know what the next day (nicknamed “DAS D-day” by the Disney Twitter community) was going to bring for me, but I had to hope it would all turn out okay.

I was nervous all day on Wednesday as I read reports on Twitter about peoples’ successes and failures at getting the DAS. I wished I could just go to Disneyland already and get it over with.

When Tracy got home, it had just been pouring rain for a while and she had a major headache. Moral of the story was that she REALLY wasn’t in the mood to go to the parks. After I begged for a few minutes, though, she finally acquiesced (but she wasn’t happy about it). Traffic was bad en route and I feel like we almost got into a few car accidents, but we reached Mickey and Friends and rode the tram in. I had seen that Disney was obviously anticipating major crowds at Guest Relations during the first few days of switching to the new system (which was one reason I really wanted to go on this rainy day), but we figured that DCA would have less of a line than Disneyland.

There was no line at the Chamber of Commerce (perfect!), and I’m happy to report that all my worrying was completely for naught. It’s true that the cast member we talked to did mention the option of using Fastpass and/or a wheelchair, but once I explained why these wouldn’t work for me, he quickly took my picture and issued me the new DAS card. I felt lighter than air to be honest. Our ability to tour Disneyland hadn’t actually been ruined by the GAC scandal after all, and this new system seemed like it would be great for us. We actually got our first wait time then and there at the Guest Relations desk (we chose Toy Story Mania), and it was already almost time to ride by the time we walked across the park.

I got another of my best scores ever, and I was just really happy with how the whole evening had turned out.

Suddenly, Disney felt magical again as we were able to leave the thoughts of the stressful GAC/DAS nonsense behind us.

Now at the time, it took several weeks for us to use the new system enough to form an accurate opinion of it, but now that we’ve been using it for almost six months, here are some of my thoughts.

On the whole, we have been really happy with the DAS. I feel like it’s a very fair system and one that fits my needs almost perfectly. We’ve never had to wait more than a minute or so for the cast member at any of the Guest Relations kiosks scattered throughout the parks, and the interactions to get our wait times always go very smoothly. I think that it’s generally very fair that they take off 10 minutes from the current wait when they write up a time for us to come back (and I loved that during the busy holiday season they actually took off 20 minutes, so we were able to get more than one or two rides done on our visits during that month).

One aspect to the system that I think is FANTASTIC about the Disneyland version and sounds AWFUL at WDW is that we have those Guest Relations kiosks where we can get a time for the next ride. We could be in Fantasyland and get a time for Radiator Springs Racers, and then by the time we park hop and maybe grab a snack, it might already be time for the ride. At WDW, on the other hand, you actually have to go to each individual attraction to get your times, so I imagine that the card would be extremely inconvenient to use when those parks are so spread out. Rather than being able to kill time walking across the park or riding other low-wait attractions in the area, it seems like you’re basically stuck just sitting and waiting out your time in the parks there.

In terms of our system, we’ve only had a couple complaints. For one, there are a couple attractions (Peter Pan’s Flight and Jungle Cruise are the ones that come to mind) where waiting to get in through the exit can often take quite a while if there are multiple parties waiting to get on. Peter Pan’s Flight isn’t awful because I can sit down on the wall by the exit if need be, but I just have to stand while waiting for Jungle Cruise—which sort of defeats the purpose of the card. I don’t have any ideas for how to address the issue at these few attractions, but it would be great if there was a way. The other annoyance we have encountered several times is when we get a wait time and then we arrive at the attraction only to find that it’s down. In this instance—especially, for instance, if we are waiting for a Fantasyland attraction and the area has closed for fireworks—we basically just need to start again from square one waiting out a different attraction. I think it would be great if they would issue you immediate entry on a different attraction of your choice if the one you’ve already waited for happens to be down when you want to return.

I think these are actually my only personal complaints about the system (which is really a testament to how well it works for me in particular). As I’ve said before, I understand that it’s certainly not perfect for everyone. Some people have disabilities that make it literally impossible for them to wait at all, so I imagine that the DAS makes it much harder for them to tour the parks than the GAC did. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there are still some growing pains in store for the DAS as they tweak it to accommodate changes like MyMagic+ (which I still pray never comes to Disneyland). For now, though, I’m quite happy with how it all turned out. And I’ve never felt discriminated against or scrutinized by the cast members since the switch-over to the new system in the way that I had during the middle of the GAC scandal. Whenever I need to replace my DAS after two weeks, they always do so promptly and with a smile, so I’m happy that everything has gone back to “normal” on that front.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that my opinion remains the same from when I first wrote about the GAC many months ago. If you have any sort of disability, PLEASE don’t hesitate to find out your options and you should absolutely never feel bad about getting a DAS if you need it. Everyone deserves to have the best possible time at Disneyland (whether you’re a local or on vacation), and I do still think that Disney is setting out to accommodate everyone as much as possible.

And now, back to our story.

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