Given the long lines and busy crowds, some Disney park visitors are lying with fraudulent claims about disabilities and special assistance needs to get around the system.
Now the parks are cracking down on those who are disingenuous by overhauling the rules and regulations governing accessible services – particularly by introducing a lifetime ban for those found to be lying about a disability.
“Much [content creators] “Abuse it because queuing is not good content,” says one Reddit user wrote. “They should all be banned because they are abusing a disability program for profit.”
Earlier this week, Disney introduced changes to its DAS services that had previously allowed registered guests to join a queue virtually instead of having to physically stand in line.
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DAS has become infamously popular with guests and social media content creators who have been abusing the service to avoid purchasing Genie+ passes, Disney’s official pass that allows guests to skip the line on certain rides.
The new policy, set to take effect June 18 at Disneyland in California and May 20 at Walt Disney World in Florida, will now bar entry and pre-purchased passes to anyone caught trying to circumvent the system permanently refuse.
“If any statement made by a guest in the process of obtaining DAS is determined to be untrue, the guest will be permanently denied entry to Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort,” Disney’s website now says. “All previously purchased annual passes, Magic Key passes, tickets and other park products and services will be forfeited and non-refundable.”
Other changes to be implemented with the launch of the new DAS program include limiting DAS parties to four people (unless it is a family gathering), increasing DAS registration eligibility from 60 days to 120 days and requiring all current DAS members to reapply for eligibility.
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“THIS is intended to accommodate a small percentage of guests who are unable to wait in a traditional queue for an extended period or time due to a developmental disability such as autism or similar,” Disney’s guidelines now clarify.
Disney did not provide details on how it planned to determine whether or not a visitor lied about their disability.