By D’land Diva
* Edited to add: The new Guest Assistance Card is called Disability Access Service Card. *
In the D’land Diva family, we are incredibly blessed to have grandparents that LOVE to spend time with our kids at Disney. We all are also incredibly blessed to have Annual Passes to Disneyland.
Yesterday, we spent a late afternoon and evening at Disneyland, and it was the first trip that we have taken together since the changes to the Guest Assistance Card or GAC have taken effect. Both my husband’s step-mother and his father have limited mobility and own their own scooters. On our trips in the past, they have simply gone through the exit or an accessible entrance to rides and transferred to the ride vehicle.
Upon entering the park on this trip, my in-laws went straight to the Main Street City Hall for information on how to now access rides for those in scooters. They were not given a card, but were given information. Guests with other assistance needs, such as those on the Autism Spectrum would have been given a card.
Much of the process for getting on rides is the same for those with limited mobility: The scooters would be allowed through the exit of the ride and they would transfer. There were a number of rides, however, that would require them to visit a podium with a cast member stationed at it to sign up for a time to return the ride. In other words, they went to the podium, asked for a return pass and were given a return time.
Our first stop was the Haunted Mansion Holiday, and we were given a return time for about twenty minutes later. We noticed that it was the exact amount of wait time for the stand-by line for the ride. This trend would continue on Peter Pan. It would seem that they tie the return times to the actual stand-by time. When we returned to Haunted Mansion Holiday and Peter Pan, the process was the same as before: We went through the exit and it was a limited wait before boarding the ride. Guests can obtain a new return time card as soon as soon as they have used the old one. On rides like Winnie the Pooh and Casey Jr. Circus Train, there were no podiums. We went up the exit of the ride as we normally did.
In all, we found that we much preferred having a scheduled time to return! The accessibility line was shorter on these occasions. There was not a long wait on Main Street to obtain this information and there was not a long wait at either podium to get a return pass. By the way, the return pass was like a card that was surrendered upon your return.
Now, to be fair, I have seen long lines at Main Street City Hall for those needing the GAC or information on the program. Both of my nephews are on the Autism Spectrum and will be using the GAC on their next trip, so I hope to write about that for you.
In the meantime, please know that the cast members we have talked to have reported that guests have been very happy with the changes. Our experience was positive. The negative stories that I have read about- the long waits, for example, we did not find to be true. If you do find a long line on Main Street, and you have a park hopper, a good suggestion might be to visit the Guest Relations desk across the way Disney’s California Adventure. This has worked for us in the past when we have needed. The Disney website says that cards may be issued at “Guest Relations Main Entrance Locations.”
For more information on Guest Assistance Cards and policies, please check the Disney website here.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
FYI, the new pass, that has gotten so much press recently, is called the DAS, or disability access service card. On October 9th, this system was changed over from the old pass, which had been called GAC, or guest assistance card.
I have heard several stories lately about families with kids with special needs have been having trouble with getting assistance in WDW. (The most recent stories I have heard are Diabetic kids who have unstable blood sugar numbers. They need to jump lines because the excitement makes their levels jump.) How does this DAS actually work and would they give it to these families?
Went to Disneyland in March 2014. Our experience with the new DAS card at Disneyland was AWFUL!!
We have been previous AP holders, and have used the GAC card, not as a “get to the front of the line free” card, but as it was intended – to have a less sensory stimulating area to wait for our time to ride that is *attached to the ride we are going on*.
Our child is on the spectrum, and has great difficulty with transitions. With the new system, we spent our 4 day Disneyland vacation going from meltdown to meltdown.
We started our day, after getting the DAS at City Hall on the Roger Rabbit ride in ToonTown, but then we had to LEAVE ToonTown to go to Fantasyland in order to get a time for Gadget’s Go Coaster – first Meltdown!!! Gadget had a 30 minute wait time – which we would have happily done in the quiet area at the back of the ride with the old GAC card. Instead, since we were in Fantasyland, we used the suggestion to go on a “low wait time ride” and rode the carousel. But when we were done & it was time to go back to ToonTown for Gadget’s go Coaster – another Meltdown!! “WHY do we have to leave Fantasyland????”
OMG!!! that’s two meltdowns that DID NOT HAVE TO OCCUR in just one hour!!
When we had to go to the kiosk to get a time to come back to a ride, he would have a meltdown EVERY TIME because he didn’t understand WHY we had to LEAVE the ride/area he was in and wanted to go on in order to go do something else!!
If we had been allowed to wait in an alternative area, attached to the ride, as the old GAC system allowed, regardless of the wait time, at least THAT would have made sense to him.
But instead, we had to stem off the meltdown and redirect to another, “waiting activity”. Then there would be another meltdown when we had to transition him away from the “waiting activity” to go back to the ride for our appointed time. We would wait in the Fastpass line, go on the ride – and have to go back to a kiosk and start the meltdown – transition – meltdown cycle all over again. Over & over. 4 freaking days of hell meltdowns that did not have to happen!
We were give a few extra “anytime” Fastpasses for rides, but it still didn’t address the issues and meltdowns created upon having to LEAVE the place where our kid wanted to be in order to go get a time at a kiosk to go to the very location we had just left. Made no sense at all to any of us!
We understand that the rampant abuse of the GAC card system necessitated an overhaul, but this new DAS is NOT appropriate for anyone other than able-bodied people who have no problem planning out their Disney day and happily running all over the Park to a fixed schedule!!! That is NOT someone who requires accommodations in order to appreciate the Disney experience!!
Oh that sounds terrible! I’m so sorry you had that experience. My nephews are also on the spectrum and after several trips kind of figured out a system that works for them: they head to city hall and in addition to getting DAS they ask for several front of the line passes for their group. They are usually given 3. This helped tremendously with their trips and meltdowns because I totally get what you are saying about the transition times. I’m not sure that the front of the one passes ( I cannot for.the life of me think of what they are called) are always given, but it might be worth a try on your next trip.