Whatever the motivations (apparent and secret) for Disney to drastically change the DAS (Disability Access System) for guests with disabilities, it is certainly impacting and appearing to reduce the number of disabled people visiting the Walt Disney World Parks. During a recent visit, my husband and I saw fewer visibly disabled visitors and experienced a number of challenges enjoying the trip compared to previous visits in recent years.
To summarize, Disney decided to rewrite the DAS policy to grant it generally only to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (like Autism). However, we have all likely seen stories of people with Autism, cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, and others being denied the use of DAS. In a recent article, I highlighted how I was denied DAS prior to our trip. Since we had already paid for the trip, we went ahead and made the journey with a commitment to do our best and enjoy ourselves.
Despite being annual visitors (sometimes more) for many years, we’re not sure about returning to Walt Disney World due to the change in access and increasing inhospitable attitude toward people with disabilities (myself included). There are many other places we wish to travel to that seem more motivated to provide accessibility and actually want our business.
A Lot of Things Have to Go Right with a Disability
I have severe childhood-onset rheumatoid arthritis that significantly impacted my development and growth (and contributed to other health conditions), which would have seemed to qualify me for DAS, especially given that it was actually cast members who recommended I use DAS after a couple of overheating/exposure events, but yet I was still rejected. In addition to using a motorized wheelchair for mobility, I have to manage complications from my long-term illness that include chronic pain, severe fatigue, plus heat and sun sensitivity. My condition can vary day by day, with some days being better (or worse) than others.
During our trip, I was experiencing significant pain and fatigue, what is considered in my illness a flare of symptoms. It cannot be controlled, but I have strategies to help manage. It’s also possible the stress of the situation and lack of accessible accommodations also contributed to how I was feeling.
In any case, we have learned through experience to visit the Parks from early morning rope drop to minimize time in the heat and sun, take long indoor lunch breaks for me to rest and recover, and know where to go inside when I need additional recovery time. I wear a large hat and strong sunscreen. We also carry cold bottles of water and a small cooler with ice packs to apply. We found we needed all these tools and strategies, yet still had to depart the Parks early when I was too tired and in pain to enjoy myself.
We used the early half-hour to queue in attractions with outdoor lines that would be too hot for me later in the day. While this strategy is good, it really only helps with a single attraction. The rest of the time, we strategized where to go based on indoor queues and the length of the queue.
There are significant sections of queues (even with newer attractions like TRON Lightcycle Run, Slinky Dog Dash, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure) that require waiting a long time outside in direct sun and heat, which can be extra dangerous for people with a variety of disabilities. While we did our best to manage, skip, or navigate these situations, it has me considering all the extra work we had to do to enjoy our vacation because I was denied an essential accessibility accommodation.
Unfortunately, as it happens, sometimes queues would jump in time length after we entered. Mostly this is not a problem if the queue was inside or under shade, but I also had several times when children in front or behind me were kicking my wheelchair, dropping objects on my legs (this caused me pain for the rest of the day), or jumping around and banging into me. Children will do these things, but the adults were not managing them nor caring about their behavioral impact on others like me. Although I tried to turn or stay out of the way, in a crowded queue this was impossible to do and no way I could get my motorized wheelchair back out of line. These experiences were exhausting and wore me out on multiple days. Previously, DAS would have moved me quickly through a queue, reducing my risk from an hour-long exposure to pain and fatigue.
We also noticed that my wheelchair battery wore down more on this trip as I had to navigate through the long queues. It made me wonder about all the things Disney leadership seemed to not consider (or care about) when cutting DAS away as an accessibility accommodation for most disabled guests.
Accommodations Hard to Come By
Another significant set of challenges revolved around new rules that worsened boarding access to some attractions and poor cast member training. For example, after years of doing so, we were no longer allowed to put the transfer seat in the front row of Na’vi River Journey for some unexplained safety reason. Transferring to the back was much harder for me and involved lifting my legs over the seat back for the front row. We explained our need and experience, but we were told we couldn’t ride otherwise. So we acquiesced but didn’t return another day during our stay and are not sure we ever will.
Our first time at the Expedition Everest attraction, we were told I couldn’t bring my wheelchair up to the car for boarding and my husband had to push it in manual mode (not easy with a 250 lb motorized wheelchair plus me). On a return ride, this rule didn’t exist. We think it was meant for scooters and not motorized wheelchairs like mine that can maneuver safely in tight spaces.
At the meet Mickey and Minnie Safari Adventures, the cast member wouldn’t allow me to enter with my motorized wheelchair. This appeared to be flat-out discrimination. We went to a Guest Services desk and complained. They said perhaps re-training of that individual was needed and offered us to go back, but by then, I was too sad and disheartened, plus I was just worn out. We decided to leave Animal Kingdom after that experience.
As the DAS interviewer had suggested, we approached cast members twice to ask for return times when the outdoor queues were too long and hot for me to manage at Slinky Dog Dash and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Otherwise, I would not have been able to visit these attractions. For me, it was awkward and uncomfortable to have to plead my case, share personal details repeatedly, and beg for dispensation to be granted the accessible accommodation I needed. I am glad we did and that my husband encouraged me to do so, otherwise I would have missed some favorite experiences.
All of these access issues significantly impacted our experiences and enjoyment of Walt Disney World. They could have been prevented by better disability competency training and working with disabled guests to understand that flexible accommodations may be necessary on demand to make full inclusion possible and comfortable.
Closing
There are many impacts of the DAS rule change that worsened our experience of Walt Disney World and made it feel inequitable. It was also complicated by the worsening of onsite accessibility accommodations and cast member training on interacting with disabled guests.
We had to do a lot of work to manage things so that I would be as comfortable as possible, yet often I got worn out and experienced an increase in pain and fatigue. While Disney World used to be a vacation where I could take a break from daily accessibility battles to just relax and have fun, it no longer feels easy but instead is effortful. I felt a lot less welcome as a disabled guest and we observed many fewer visibly disabled people than in previous years. This has me wondering if the decision to reduce accessibility is a feature (on purpose) and not a bug (not accidental).
It definitely feels like I pay more to get less. It feels unequal that disabled guests don’t get discount tickets (like they do in Disneyland Paris) when I no longer feel I have equal access to experiences. When I cannot do as much because I need more frequent breaks from heat, sun, fatigue, and pain and have to leave the parks earlier in the day, when I am not enjoying as many experiences due to inaccessibility, is that a fair experience for disabled Walt Disney World guests?
