Disney Makes Another DAS Disability Pass Change That is Better Received By Park Guests

Disney's Disability Access Pass (DAS) is a service offered to qualifying guests with disabilities to skip the longer standby queue and access attractions through the Lightning Lane.

Earlier this year the program's criteria was changed due to a large amount of overuse and abuse which has resulted in far less guests qualifying for the service. There has been quite a bit of pushback from guests due to these changes and we've heard stories of six hour long waits to apply with lengthy interrogations and strange instructions given to guests by cast members.

Now Disney has made another change to the service but this time it is well received by guests as this is a far more positive modification to the program.

Disney Extends Validity Period for DAS Approvals

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When guests are approved for DAS, their approval is then linked to their park ticket or their annual pass. DAS is only valid for the duration of the ticket or for a set number of days for annual passholders. Once approval is not longer valid, then guests need to reapply for the program again.

Previously, Annual Passholders/Magic Key holders at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World only saw their DAS approval valid for 120 of days. Since annual passes are good for one year, this meant multiple times of reapplying for DAS during their pass period.

Now Disney has changed the validity of DAS to be valid for the length of the ticket or up to 240 days, whichever is shorter. This means annual passholders will only have to reapply twice in one year as opposed to four times to ensure eligibility for the entire year.

Will Disney Extend Validity for Park Tickets?

For those who visit Disneyland frequently but aren't annual passholders, DAS approval is only valid for the duration of the approved person's park ticket. This means that guests using park tickets to visit the parks have to reapply for each visit.

For many guests this can be frustrating especially now with the stricter approval process and many have expressed a desire for longer validity periods for park tickets.

Unfortunately, this just isn't likely since approval is linked to your park ticket or annual pass. The only other option would be to link approval to your Disney account but this isn't a practice that Disney has established yet. I don't foresee this happening anytime soon. If anything, it may be more likely we see the validity period extended to a full year for annual passholders which makes far more sense anyways!

Universal Also Makes Changes to Disability Program

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Disney wasn't the only theme park to make changes to their disability program this week. Universal has now made the IBCCES Individual Accessibility Card (IAC) optional before guests apply for their version of DAS which is called the Attractions Assistance Pass. Previously, this step was required as part of their eligibility process which needed to happen before guests arrived at the theme parks. The IAC card is granted by a third party company that verifies medical documentation. Once a guest is issued an IAC card, they could then apply for Universal's Attraction Assistance Pass.

Now it appears that this step is now optional rather than required although pursuing the card may still be a wise choice in order to bolster your credibility before applying.

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