This post is one of a multi part series on the WDW Disability Access Service. These posts are based upon our own personal experience with using DAS with our daughter, so your mileage may vary.
In our first article in this series, we provided an introduction to the Disability Access Service: what it is? how it works? who is eligible? In today’s article, I will walk you through the process of signing up for the DAS.
Before You Sign Up
Before you start the process of requesting a DAS for yourself or members of your party, you need to be sure that you do the following:
- Make sure that everyone in your party, including the person who needs the DAS pass, is added to the Friends and Family list of the person who is making the request in that person’s My Disney Experience account. This ensures that everyone will be able to ride with the person who has the DAS pass.
- Make sure that all of the people in your party have a valid ticket linked in My Disney Experience.
- Make sure that the person who needs the DAS is present when you make the request.
- If you are doing a pre-arrival request via video chat, make sure that it is between 2 to 30 days of your park visit. If your visit is beyond 30 days, you will be asked to wait. If it is within 2 days, you will be asked to make your request in person at Guest Relations.
Registering for the Disability Access Service
Once you have made sure you have completed the pre-steps, you are ready to register! I’ll walk you through the process of making the request ahead of time via video chat. However, if you do it in person, the process is fairly similar.
STEP ONE: Visit the DAS Registration Web Site
You can find the registration site here.
Some items to note:
- Pre-arrival registration is available from 7AM – 10PM Eastern Time
- You will need to register from a device that offers both audio and video chat. That means you will need to use a phone or other device that supports a webcam and microphone.
- The person making the request must be 18 or older
- You will be asked to log into your My Disney Experience Account
- The video chat experience is only offered in English
STEP TWO: Initiate the Chat
On the above web page, there will be a link to request a live chat with a Disney Cast Member. Click on this link. This will start a text-only chat. At this point, you will be put into a queue for your video chat. While you are waiting, you will be asked to accept the DAS Terms and Conditions. You will also be asked for the following items:
- The name of the person for whom you are request the DAS pass
- Is this person with you at this time?
- Has the person had a DAS previously?
- Who else will be visiting with the person?
STEP THREE: Start the Video Chat with the DAS Cast Member
Once it is your turn, you will be prompted to begin a video chat with the DAS Cast Member. You will be asked to click on Accept to start the video chat. Depending on your device, you might also be prompted to grant permissions to your web browser to access your device’s video camera and microphone. Obviously, you will need to accept this to continue.
When we signed up, it took around 13 minutes from the time we requested the live chat until the time when we entered the video chat. I know many websites have reported crazy long wait times, but that hasn’t been my experience. Perhaps we have just been lucky. Who knows?
STEP FOUR: Complete the Sign Up Process with the Cast Member
At this point, the Cast Member will ask you to put the person who needs the DAS on camera. They will take a picture of the person. This is to protect against fraud. When you attempt to enter a ride queue via the Lightning Lane using a DAS, the cast member will verify that the person who shows up at the ride matches the picture before letting you through. While this may seem like a pain, it prevents unscrupulous people from using DAS without the person actually being present. It is sad that there would be people who would try to game the system, but that’s life I guess.
Once the Cast Member captures the picture, they will then ask why the person cannot tolerate waiting in line. They aren’t looking for a medical diagnosis or condition. They are looking for what behavior or symptom is driving the need for an accommodation.
For instance, if you say “they have autism” or “they have heart disease”, that isn’t good enough, as some people with these conditions may be able to wait in line without any issues. You would need to say what specifically about their condition prevents them from waiting in the normal line.
Also, people with only mobility issues generally are NOT eligible for the DAS pass. Most rides either allow you to take a wheelchair/scooter through the line or use some alternate loading area. Therefore, if this is your only issue, you will be denied by the Cast Member.
Wrap Up
After you register, your DAS pass is active for 60 days, starting from your first park day. If you visit again outside of this window, you will be asked to sign up again.
Signing up in the park at Guest Relations offers a pretty similar experience, except for having to wait in an actual line, rather than a virtual one!
One other note, which I will cover in a future article, is that if you sign up ahead of time, you are allowed to register for up to two advance return time selections per day of your visit. This is similar to the old FastPass+ system where you could book a one-hour boarding window online prior to your visit. There are some restrictions and nuances, but I’ll save those for the next article in this series.
Overall, I feel that Disney has done a good job with the sign up experience. Being able to do it before one’s trip means one less item to stress over. You can enter the park on your first day and start your vacation without having to worry about waiting at Guest Relations!
If you have any tips for signing up for the DAS pass, feel free to leave it in a comment. We’d love to hear about your experience!
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