Touring the Magic Kingdom Without DAS
Updated: Oct 31
***Read about our experiences managing a trip to the parks without DAS - coming soon.
With the changes to Disability Access Service (DAS), including the new restrictions on who can qualify, we started to brainstorm how we would manage a Walt Disney World trip with our neurodivergent family members without the use of DAS. These are the ideas we came up with for touring the Magic Kingdom and thought we would share in case they helped other families in a similar situation. If you are looking for a general plan on how to approach your Walt Disney World Vacation without DAS click here.
Know that our personal plans will involve following this strategy, but in tandem with purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass (LLMP) and Single Pass (LLSP). We know that is not a realistic choice for many people - and that you may have an ethical problem with purchasing this after having been denied DAS. There are some rides like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, TRON Lightcycle/Run and Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train that will be very difficult to experience with a limited wait-time without purchasing it, so keep that in mind. You can read more about using LLMP here.
There is not going to be a one size fits all approach for those who have any kind of disability that makes waiting in line for any length of time untenable. Also of note, we have always needed to navigate the parks in a way that avoids crowded areas and bottlenecks as much as possible. We have a post detailing our best strategies for managing this here which includes a map for the Magic Kingdom. We also have suggestions on where to go to take a sensory break if crowds get to overwhelming here.
Must Dos:
You will need to come up with a very clear realistic idea of what is important for your family to accomplish. We try to make sure we hit something that is important to everyone on our trip, so we make these plans as a family. Read more about finding your Must Dos here.
Currently Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is only available via Virtual Queue or with the purchase of a LLMP. Read more about Virtual Queues here. If long lines are hard for you we don’t recommend trying for the Virtual Queue. Currently, once Virtual Queue groups are called, people are waiting in line upwards of an hour or more in the actual queue before getting to ride. So unfortunately if this is a must do for you we really do recommend purchasing LLMP. Since this ride is new and popular the LLMP for it is hard to get. If you are planning MK on your first park day it is likely you will not be able to get a reservation for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure - remember people arrive up to 14 days already before you can book that day. By checking later in your trip you will increase your odds of being able to grab this coveted Lightning Lane choice.
TRON Lightcycle/Run is a must do for your family we really feel the only way to manage without a long wait is to but a Lightning Lane Single Pass. The ride recently changed from a virtual queue to a standby line and typically the line is still over an hour long. We've been watching the stand by line times, and there are a few times during the day the line maybe be 30-40 minutes, but these are at random times in the middle of the morning or afternoon, so you will have to keep an eye on it and by fleible if you want to attempt to ride it wihtout LLSP.
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 (most popular rides in the parks) ride at the park unless it is your only goal for that morning. Everyone heads for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or TRON. If you head there also it will still be crowded and overwhelming. You will however be able to knock out a number of other attractions with your Early Entry time if you play your cards right. Read more about Early Entry here.
We recommend heading toward Tomorrowland first if you want to ride either Space Mountain and/or Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. If those are not a priority for you, without getting caught up in the Seven Dwarfs or Peter Pan crowds, head to Fantasyland for Winnie the Pooh, Tea Cups, Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid and/or "it’s a small world".
To sum up, of the attractions that are open during Early Entry, we recommend trying for 2-3 of these:
Space Mountain
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Winnie the Pooh
Tea Cups
Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
"it’s a small world"
You will not be able to do all of these suggested attractions before the park opens for everyone, so again pick your must-dos. For our family we would try to hit Space Mountain, Buzz, and probably Pooh if possible.
At “official” park opening:
After the Park opens you will need to move out of Fantasyland as quickly as possible. A large portion of the guests not able to do Early Entry will join the crowds in Fantasyland, quickly making that area untenable for someone who struggles with crowds. However, there will be a bunch of people who head directly to the left side of the park - Adventureland, Frontierland, and Liberty Square. Those areas will still take a little to get super crowded, but if you head that way quickly after normal park hours start, it will be much better in terms of both wait times and crowd levels.
The key attractions on the left side of the park are:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Jungle Cruise
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Of those, Haunted Mansion and Pirates will be the easiest to meander to, and it will take a bit for their wait times to go up. Jungle Cruise and Thunder Mountain, however, are incredibly popular and so lots of people will flock to them quickly. If either one of these is a must do for you, (Thunder Mountain is super important to one of our family members,) we recommend hustling over and riding it as close to normal park opening as possible. You likely won’t manage both in the morning with lower wait times, and if you can’t make it over to one of them quickly it’s possible neither will be viable in the morning. Another alternative for these two attractions is trying to ride one or both of them during fireworks and right before the park is closing.
Midday Break:
With walking between attractions, possible rests may be needed between the attractions, and actually riding the attractions it will probably be close to or a bit past midday at this point. Around this midday point we would most likely exit the park and return to our hotel for bubble time/lunch/pool time and return in the evening. Is it possible to stay in the park all day? Yes. There are less crowded attractions and shows you can participate in. We have suggestions for areas to take a sensory break within the park here. But it is not something we personally would attempt with our neurodivergent family members. Trying to get them to power through the day often results in a breakdown that will make doing anything for the remainder of the day impossible. Taking a break at the hotel allows them to regroup, recharge, and get excited for evening activities.
Returning in the Evening:
We would most likely return to the park at dinner time or just after dinner. Pro tip - eating at one of the Monorail resorts for quick service is less crowded than trying to eat at the parks. Then our goal would be to get off of the Main Street and out of the Castle Hub area as quickly as possible. There is no way anyone who struggles with crowds can manage this part of the park for any length of time, especially around the fireworks.
If the fireworks are not a priority, this is actually a great time to get in one or two rides while all the people are amassed in front of the castle. Try Jungle Cruise, Thunder Mountain, or Space Mountain then. You could check the wait times for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan, but they will likely still be lengthy. Note, if the park is open past the fireworks, a bunch of people will head right to Jungle Cruise following the fireworks, so make sure you time going there well before the end of the fireworks. The listed wait time will look deceptively low right at the end of the show so people will flock there since it isn’t far from the hub.
Happily Ever After:
If experiencing the fireworks is important to your family but the prospect of managing the chaos of the crowds in front of the castle is too much, we recommend either heading behind the castle to watch them or heading to one of the monorail hotels and watching it from the dock/beach. While you won’t see the projections, it’s still a magical experience. Also, you will need to commit to trying to stay away from the hub and Main Street after Happily Ever After in order to avoid all the craziness as people flood from the hub into other areas of the park or else push their way out of the park.
End of the Night:
We feel like the only realistic way to try and do either Peter Pan or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train without LLMP is to attempt them right before park closing. The posted wait times are often longer than the actual wait at close to discourage people from popping into them at the last second. But as long as you are IN line at park close you will be allowed to stay in line and complete the ride.
Remember that you can be in the park up to an hour after the official closing time, even though the rides are closed. It is much nicer walking out toward the end of that hour, after most of the guests have already left. If you try to leave too early you will find yourselves stuck with the masses, either when exiting the park or waiting for your transportation. For us, finding a place to sit for a bit and then leaving a little later is much less stressful.
Character Meet and Greets:
We typically do not prioritize character meet and greets when we are with our neurodiverse family members. To get our character interactions we will do character meals. The meals are better because our family members can see the characters coming and decide how much they want to interact with the characters, or if they just want to sit back and bubble. The characters are generally really good about reading the table and seeing who wants to say hi and get a hug and who they should just wave at.
There are two character meals at Magic Kingdom: Cinderella’s Royal Table and Crystal Palace. Be Our Guest has the Beast, but he does not come to greet guests at their table. There are also character meals available at most of the Magic Kingdom area hotels, including Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary, 'Ohana (breakfast only) at the Polynesian, 1900 Park Fare (breakfast and dinner) at the Grand Floridian, and Story Book Dining (dinner only) at the Wilderness Lodge. To read more about character dining check out our article here.
If the other meet and greet options around the park are important to your family, we recommend checking times that are available and lining up about 15 minutes prior to one of the times to minimize your wait. For the princesses at Princess Fairytale Hall, who greet guests throughout the day, we recommend getting in line to see them toward the end of the evening. To meet Mickey Mouse, it's better to try to see him in the morning as many people will stop to see him on their way out, resulting in a longer wait-time in the evening.
Dining:
If you plan to eat a meal in the park try to avoid peak meal times and make use of Mobile Order if it is available. Read more about Mobile Ordering here. Around lunch and dinner the quick service dining locations in the park will be very crowded, making it hard to find a table and even if you can find one the area will be loud and very busy. We have found this is not ideal for our neurodiverse family members. To avoid the dining chaos we will try to time lunch early if we plan to eat in the park, or a little late and have lunch at one of the nearby hotels or back at our own hotel. For dinner we will often plan a sit down meal, which is a much more controlled environment and allows our neurodiverse family members to bubble if they need to.
We know it can feel a bit like a brave new world without the use of DAS, and for some it may even feel like a Disney vacation is no longer viable for your family. For us Disney has always been a safe space where our differences don’t mean we cannot have a magical time. While these changes to the accommodations Disney is willing to offer don’t feel very magical right now, Disney will still be our go to family vacation; even if we have to approach how we plan and handle our days with more intention for our neurodiverse family members. We hope these tips we have put together will help you and your family reclaim your own magical vacation.
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.
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