Disney is giving out lifetime bans to guests who lie about disability status

Paul Hoskin
·3 min read
2
People visit the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., April 18, 2022. The company recently updated its Disability Access System, or DAS, for both parks.
People visit the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., April 18, 2022. The company recently updated its Disability Access System, or DAS, for both parks. | Ted Shaffrey, Associated Press

Disneyland or Walt Disney World guests who lie during disability registration will receive permanent bans at the parks.

According to ABC 7, the company recently updated its Disability Access System, or DAS, for both parks. To be eligible for the program and a pass, guests with disabilities will soon need to be interviewed by Disney personnel. In the past, they would receive it automatically.

This change will be in effect this year, starting May 20 for Walt Disney World and June 18 for Disneyland, per KTLA 5.

What is DAS?

The DAS program is offered to park guests who “due to a developmental disability like autism or similar, are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time,” according to Disneyland’s DAS website.

According to Los Angeles Times, the pass doesn’t immediately take recipients to the front of the line. Rather, the recipients are provided with a return time for an attraction; and once it’s ready, they’ll go to the same line with guests who’ve paid to skip regular wait times.

Disney officials told Nexstar, a parent company to KTLA 5, that the program is popular between both parks, with its use “tripling over the past five years.”

What are the new policies?

According to the DAS website, any guests who made false statements while trying to obtain DAS eligibility “will be permanently barred from entering the Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort.” In addition, “any previously purchased Annual Passes, Magic Key passes, tickets and other park products and services will be forfeited and not refunded.”

Los Angeles Times featured some other changes that will occur with the DAS program:

  • The parks will provide more training and hire on more cast members to help guests understand what accessibilities Disney offers.

  • Experts from Health Alliance — a health insurer — will work with Disney to determine an applicant’s eligibility for DAS, if needed.

  • Party sizes for DAS recipients will be lowered to three other people, but KTLA 5 claimed a recipients’ family as a party may be given exemption to the rule.

For guests visiting either park between now to Jun. 17, 2024, the DAS website noted to guests:

  • Pre-arrival conversations for DAS eligibility are available as early as 30 days prior to visit, and as late as two days before.

  • In-person conversations for DAS eligibility will be located at Guest Relations areas.

  • Guests using the DAS Advance plan can reserve “up to 2 one-hour return windows for select experiences,” per the DAS website.

Why Disney is updating its DAS program?

According to KTLA 5, the program’s change is to “curb the misuse” of the program, resulting in “longer attraction queues and backed-up Genie+ lanes for guests.”

Shannon McEvoy, a Florida-based travel agent who helps book travelers with disabilities, told Los Angeles Times that she has received “troubling requests” from interested clients.

“I’ve had healthy people reach out and ask how they can get a DAS service pass and guest pass, and they don’t have a particular disability,” McEvoy said to Los Angeles Times. “It’s sad these people are trying to game a system that is near and dear to my heart.”

Per ABC 7, the change may be an effort to minimize the number of people “allegedly abusing the program.”

“They’re announcing that you will be banned from Disneyland or Disney World for conceivably the rest your life,” David Koenig, a business author, added to ABC 7. “So, they’re really trying to scare people from trying to cheat this any further.”