BE WARNED I’M EXTRA CRANKY TODAY

TODAY’S EXTRA LONG VENTING: DAS

The fine print: “Disability Access Service (DAS) is designed to accommodate Guests who have difficulty tolerating extended waits in a conventional queue environment due to a disability (including non-apparent disabilities). The service allows Guests to schedule a return time that is comparable to the current queue wait for the given attraction. It does NOT provide immediate attraction access.”

What is a “Conventional queue environment”? It quite simply put is a line. This also means Lightning Lane queues.

Granted, FastPass lines existed way before Lightning Lane but they were still problematic. The issue isn’t new here. There are new issues though put in place before Genie went live to facilitate a better transition but those changes impacted some DAS guests negatively. Notice I said “SOME”…I do not speak for everyone. Just those like myself and the countless others that contact me DAILY. I speak for them too. Why? Because I can. I will never stop advocating for those whose voices are usually dismissed. Myself included. So yeah, get used to it. I’ve been doing this part for years too and I won’t stop being that voice. Here’s that cranky part I’ve been telling you about.🤨

DAS was designed to provide a way for those who cannot do a regular line for their disability, visible or not, to actually go on an attraction. It was to give those guests the ability to wait OUTSIDE the line and to then go to the attraction AFTER THAT WAIT, which is usually equal to or less than the posted wait depending on the day. We don’t get in first. WE’VE ALREADY WAITED!

So here we are, returning to FastPass lines that we are now put in to wait in again. This was a huge pet peeve of mine before and now that it has returned it is again. This DEFEATS the purpose of the DAS! Add that time onto our waits.

If we can’t wait in the main line, we still can’t wait in the FastPass…yes yes Lightning Lane lines whatever, I still call APs APs so there.

The OTHER issues I keep speaking of? They are changes put in place before Genie was activated. They include things like what was done at Haunted Mansion. Previously, they escorted DAS guests through the dark sardine can of a hallway to the DAS loading area where, hellooo we also wait more-we KNOW we will. They used to have us go down the chained off path on the left of the hallway. They widened that path over the closure but then cut it off to entering DAS guests when opened. It is now only used as an exit. So many of us that have wheels and/or service dogs are made to walk down the sardine hallway with everyone else. Look, this is the problem with that, NO ONE LOOKS DOWN IN THE DARK. We are bumped into, pushed, stepped on, and the dogs are in an even worse position😳.

This creates a significantly difficult situation for some DAS guests and their SDs to manage. Also that hallway is one step away from a nightmare as it is packed in so much if an actual emergency were to happen, the mass panic that would ensue … well lets just say it terrifies me to think of it. I’m surprised the Fire Marshall has never stepped in to manage that mess but here we are.

To those who say we don’t deserve any accommodations and we get so much already, like we are treated like royalty🤨honestly that is the dumbest thing ever. So you want what I have? You think this life is like getting a plaid? I have brain damage, spinal cord damage, a coiled previously ruptured aneurysm sitting at the base of my brain that means I can never ride a rollercoaster again. I can’t feel my legs like normal people do and I take two meds to help me walk. I take 5 meds to manage my blood pressure because since the aneurysm nearly killed me it messed up my blood pressure and it can’t even go a little out of wack so they monitor me constantly. You want that life? You can have it. I’d really love to be able to walk miles like I used to and get lunch with a friend then walk those miles back to where I was and only be warmer from my pace and the hills involved. I’d really love to just not have constant pain and constant buzzing in my legs from my toes to my hips. Oh yeah, I’m treated soooo well as all of these issues are invisible but everyone just knows right? I can’t walk around with my MRIs and medication list stuck to me like badges. Wouldn’t that be interesting? NOT!

LOOK my life and the lives of other DAS guests is harder than a neuro-normal person can imagine. We are not asking for plaids. We are asking for equal accommodations under the law. We can’t do what you can but we can if we are given the right manageable accommodations. Oh and YES, there are DAS guests that can manage these changes perfectly fine. They have different issues and also feel like those of us complaining are just complaining to complain. Granted there are those types of individuals in ALL walks of life but that is not all of us either. Have a little compassion and empathy for those of us who can only spend a few hours at the parks and just want a few things we can actually enjoy.

DAS is for LINE MANAGEMENT. Sadly the rampant fraud is a MAJOR issue and is the reason for so many changes and for the high degree of difficulty getting the DAS in the first place.

WE DON’T JUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE.

WE WAIT THAT TIME OUTSIDE THE LINE. THAT’S the accommodation.

I do want to point out that not all who get in the way we do are us. Club 33 members, DVC members, and VIPs get FastPass entitlements or plaids to escort them in. So just because you see a happy group of teenagers bounding into an attraction like a DAS guest does doesn’t mean they are DAS. Don’t be quick to judge, they may actually have one of those free FastPasses.

OK, this was a long one but I’m super frustrated and as I keep getting daily messages from my followers about their negative experiences. And it just makes my blood boil so I needed to vent.