Disney updates park disability rules with lifetime bans for guests abusing service

Disneyland and Disney World parks have updated their Disability Access Service with tough penalities. Photo / 123rf

Walt Disney theme parks updated their disability rules last week, in an attempt to crack down on guests misusing the programme.

With a carefully designed accessibility scheme that includes allowing guests on the disability programme to skip lines to attractions, last year the park revealed suspicions that it was being abused by guests.

Last November it revealed that requests for the accessibility service had tripled over the past five years.

It is now the most requested service in Walt Disney parks, according to the Washington Post.

Last week the company updated its terms and conditions for the parks’ Disability Access Service with strict new rules.

Currently guests requesting the service can ask to skip queues for some rides or ask for a ride time based on average waiting times, to avoid being stuck in line.

However from last week, guests will now need to arrange either a pre-arrival interview to “determine eligibility for DAS” with the park, or sit one in person.

If the park concludes that the evidence in this interview is false, they threaten visitors with a permanent ban.

“If it is determined that any of the statements a guest made in the process of obtaining DAS are not true, the guest will be permanently barred from entering Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort.”

Lifetime passes and other Disney park services will also be cancelled, for guests found to be abusing the service.

The parks have also tightened up their definition of who would be able to ask for the Disability Access Service.

“DAS is intended to accommodate a small percentage of 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,” reads the company’s terms and conditions.

The old policy only required DAS applicants to have “difficulty tolerating extended waits in a conventional queue environment due to a disability”, which was too broad a definition, according to Fox News.

Not everyone has welcomed this crackdown, including guests who had previously qualified for DAS but now would not be deemed eligible.

“There’s so many other health issues that may be affected by this,” Disney guest Stacey Crane told the Washington Post.

Crane, who had previously qualified due to stomach ailments, would not not be deemed eligible.

“I’m just nervous to see how it’s going to pan out.”