Traveling with Autism to Disney World Part 2 – DAS Pass
Another great perk of Walt Disney World is the Disability Access Service Pass at the parks.
The DAS allows Guests with disabilities as well as an allotted number of people from his or her party to schedule a return time at a specific attraction that is comparable to the wait time when they first arrive at that attraction. To get the DAS Pass your entire group needs to visit the Guest Relations Lobby located near the entrance of each of the four theme parks. You only have to do this once on your trip and it is valid for the duration. My suggestion is to get to the park early on the first day you are visiting with all members in your party and get this set up for your entire group right away.
Important things to note about the Pass:
1. Everyone in your party has to be present in order to get the Pass added to their Magic Band. Caleb had his picture taken by them so they knew which person in the party was the person with Pass. If you have people that aren’t coming until later you can add them at a later time by visiting either the Guest Relations Desk or a Guest Experience Team Member (only in Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios as of right now at the following locations):
Also located in two of the Parks (Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios) there are Guest Experience Team Members. These members can assist you with any problems you might be encountering; they can add on additional members if everyone was not present at the Guest Relations desk the day you received the pass, they can also get you signed up for your next ride at these locations as well; instead of having to go to the ride itself to sign up. They are a fantastic team and helped us when we ran into a problem where our pass wasn’t scanning in correctly. It ended up that the whole electronic system was down at the time. They were so quick to help and actually walked us over to the ride and took us right up to the front of the ride.
Guest Experience Team Member Areas look like this & can be found in the following Locations:
Magic Kingdom Park
The Guest Experience Team at Magic Kingdom park is easily identified by their blue shirts with the castle logo. They can be found roaming throughout the park and at fixed podiums in the following lands until park close:
- Main Street, U.S.A.
- Adventureland
- Frontierland
- Fantasyland
- Tomorrowland
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
The Guest Experience Team at Disney’s Hollywood Studios wear blue shirts with The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ logo. They are available to assist Guests from park open to park close at these locations:
- Hollywood Boulevard
- Echo Lake
- Toy Story Land
- Sunset Boulevard
2. To get the DAS pass for a ride we would visit that attraction someone in our group could go up to the ride (not everyone had to be there to do this) and have the team member with the Ipad (usually located right near the podium where you scan for the fast pass; sometimes there was a large white sign that stated Child Swap & Disability Access and you would go to that team member instead) scan your band for everyone in the group and they would look at the current standby line and tell you when to return to the ride (it was that time they gave you or later. For example if they gave you a return time of 3:15pm; you could show up then or anytime after that time). Please note the guest with the DAS pass (In this case: Caleb) must be tall enough and willing to ride that attraction in order for you to sign up for that ride with the DAS pass.
3. You can only do ONE Disability Access Pass at one time. Once you complete that ride you are able to sign up for another one again by either going to that ride or visiting the Guest Experience Team Members if you are in Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios.
For Example: Your pass will show up on your My Disney Experience Account under your plans for the day as soon as you sign up for that ride. Then once used it will disappear and once you get the next one then that one will appear with a time. When you return to the ride you will go right through the Fast Pass Line and scan your band. Remember the person with the pass will Always Scan First; it will light up blue for that guest and that alerts the Team Member to look at their screen to click the okay button. Then ever person in your group after that should light up green and be good to go.
Overall the trip went well and Disney World is a fantastic vacation spot for our family. They were so accommodating and helpful when we had any questions or concerns. My goal is to help other families feel comfortable and confident in taking a family vacation. I am so glad we tackled this first big trip to Disney World and I feel very confident that we can tackle many more destinations and of course Disney World will be on our list again too!