Approaching WDW without DAS
Updated: Oct 19
If you are heading to Walt Disney World and you or a loved one have been denied the use of their disability pass service, you will need to rethink your approach to the parks. These are some of the thoughts we had when brainstorming how to make a trip work for our neurodivergent family member. If you are looking for an updated list of the accomidations Disney is offering instead of DAS click here. (updated 10/19/24)
General Walt Disney World Strategies
Know your needs:
Our first piece of advice is to know the strengths and weaknesses of the disabled guest. Even within the same disability the level of difficulties varies widely. My ASD family member can not manage crowds. Panic attacks are not a strong enough word for what happens. Even having worked with a therapist for years this creates issues in all aspects of his life. So our goals are not just line avoidance, but managing crowd levels as a whole. He is an early morning riser, so that works to our advantage.
Pick what time of year to visit:
Be very very intentional about WHEN you are going. There really isn’t an off season at Disney any more. But crowds the weeks before and after Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Spring break, any three day weekend are going to be worse. Summers are less crowded, but if heat in any way creates more of a problem, pick another time. We do not go in the summer anymore. It is too hard on some of the health issues of our family members.
Must Dos:
You will need to come up with a very clear realistic idea of what is important for your family to accomplish. No one is going to manage doing it all in one day at the Magic Kingdom, even with DAS and being there rope drop to close. What are three or four Must Dos? For our son it would be Tron, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates, and the Haunted Mansion. Would he like to do more than that? Maybe. But we are looking at a new normal, so we are making priority lists. We try to make sure we hit something that is important to everyone on our trip, so we make these plans as a family. It helps our son to be involved in the planning process to feel more in control.
Get to the park early:
Rope drop/Early Entry will be your friend if the person with the disability can manage early mornings. You will need to get there at least an hour before the scheduled opening. That way you can wait at the front of the large number of people waiting to get in. If that isn’t possible, because sometimes that crowd can be a lot too, wait over to the side. Then do not waste your time with the big E Ticket ride at the park unless it is your only goal for that morning. Everyone is rushing to Flights of Passage. GO ride Safari, Everest, and dinosaur instead before attendance picks up.
Escape the midday crowds:
Plan to take a huge break in the middle of the day. Take your family swimming. Enjoy some of the other activities at the resort. Here is our post on what to do on rest days, hopefully it will give you some ideas.
Return to the parks in the evening:
Go back to the parks a couple of hours before the park closes. The closer you are to the park closing the shorter the times will be, especially for E-ticket rides like Flights of Passage or Rise of the Resistance. If you go back in the evening, plan around the nighttime shows. These are a great time to ride some of those E-ticket attractions that will have longer lines. But you will have to be very intentional in avoiding the fireworks crowds. Beyond just those guests with anxiety or ASD, anyone with a mobility issue of any kind will have a hard time navigating through them. We have maps of areas that create bottlenecks to help you plan how to navigate better.
Sensory breaks:
You need to have a plan for sensory breaks or quiet areas to regroup in the parks. If something triggery happens the hotels will be a long way away. You need a plan on where to go and what areas are quieter to regroup if something goes wrong. Disney has a list here for every park. We have our list and maps at this link that are a little more extensive.
Parks are less crowded on party days:
If there is a day a park closes early, for a party or a night time event, go to that park for the day. Most people do not use park hopper, so they will want to avoid parks that will not give them as much time. Consequently the park will be less busy. GO to Magic Kingdom on a Not So Scary Halloween Party day, the day will be less crowded and lines shorter. Just make sure you head out in the afternoon before the party goers arrive.
Lightning Lane Multi Pass:
The easiest way to help accommodate these new normals are to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass - especially for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Not everyone will be able to afford this, and not everyone will be willing to give Disney any more of their hard earned money. We get that. But the changes they have made to their paid access service will make it more user friendly for those of us who struggle with lines due to a wide variety of disabilities. Is it a 1 to 1 fix for losing DAS? No, the comeback times only give you an hour window. You can only use it to ride any of the available rides once. Popular rides may not have available times. But you should be able to use it effectively to mitigate the time you spend in line. We have a FAQ post here with information on how to use LLMP, and our best suggestions for the order of the rides.
Attend an After Hours Event:
Another easy way that helps to avoid long times is to go to an After Hours Event, if you can afford to. We attended one last spring and were able to do almost every ride with little to no wait. Also we got great pictures with very few if any people in them as an added bonus.
There is not going to be a one size fits all approach for those of us who have any kind of disability that makes waiting in line for any length of time untenable. We feel there are ways a trip can be approached to still allow those of us with disabilities to still find ways to enjoy our happy place.
Planning a Walt Disney World Vacation? Click here for our planning guide. Need tips for planning a Walt Disney World Vacation with someone with a disability? Check out the disability section of our blog here. Need help navigating the parks using DAS? Click here. No longer qualify for DAS and need help figuring out now to approach a day at the parks? Click here for our ideas on how to flip your thinking and still have a good experience at Disney.
