Disney World has been in hot water lately over guests who are frustrated with the Orlando-based theme park for a number of reasons.
Last year, Disney World increased the price of annual passes by between $30 and $100, depending on the pass type, and also hiked the prices of food and beverages at several dining locations.
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The theme park even increased ticket prices by $10 to $15 in November and December this year, when tickets are in high demand.
Related: Disney World hopes to win back consumers with generous offer
While the increased prices at Disney World have angered guests, some of whom are already taking on debt to fund a visit to “the happiest place on Earth,” another controversial change that the theme park made last year is reigniting backlash on social media after a visitor photographed a sign spotted at Magic Kingdom.
A sign spotted at Disney World reignites criticism
After Disney World began limiting Disability Access Service (DAS) passes (which allows guests with disabilities to avoid waiting in long lines) to only guests with developmental disabilities early last year, it faced outrage from members of the disabled community who accused the theme park of excluding them.
In this photo provided by Walt Disney World Resort, Mickey Mouse stars in the “Mickey and Friends Cavalcade on July 2, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Amid the sharp criticism, Disney (DIS) said in a statement last year that it would commit to expanding support services for its guests with disabilities.
However, a new photo is making rounds on social media raises questions about that commitment.
Theme park photographer Bioreconstruct took to social media platform X on Jan. 4 to show a photo of a sign at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom that states that due to a shortage of electric conveyance vehicles (ECVs), which helps disabled guests travel around the park, guests can join a waitlist to rent out the vehicles.
“The waitlist is initiated daily once the last ECV is rented out,” reads the sign.
Guests are prompted to scan a barcode with their photo to sign up for the waitlist.
Sign seen at Magic Kingdom offering guests an option to join a waitlist for ECV. pic.twitter.com/xrNACsRY11
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) January 5, 2025
The sign comes during a time when Disney World is facing massive to above-normal crowd sizes, according to MickeyVisit.com’s Disney World Crowd Calendar.
It is also important to note that the waitlist isn’t anything new. Since 2022, Disney World has allowed guests to digitally sign up for it every time ECVs were fully rented out at the park.
However, the photo has already garnered over 15,000 views on the platform, with some X users raising concerns over the theme park’s ECV shortage.
First they F with DAS so people with real disabilities are now ‘not’ disabled for DAS purposes.
They tell us to rent ECVs.
Then they don’t even have enough ECVs.
Lost my business, and EXCITED for Universal’s Epic Universe.
Universals treats disabled people with respect.
Disney…
— Bruce Brandt (@k8smate) January 5, 2025
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The last place in the world I want to be is inside that park when every ECV is rented out. Might as well walk around with a pair of shin guards on
— Ryan Barr (@Imagineer6) January 5, 2025
Gavin Doyle, founder of MickeyVisit.com, encourages consumers who plan to visit Disney’s theme parks to rent wheelchairs ahead of their visit if they need one in order to avoid encountering this issue.
“We highly recommend that our readers rent wheelchairs in advance for their full length of stay to avoid the worry of not having an ECV available to them,” said Doyle. “Then the ECV will be delivered directly to your hotel. The other big downside of a day rental is that you can’t park hop with the scooter and have to rely on the other park having a scooter ready for you. There’s no guarantee of this. If a guest is planning on doing a day of ECV rental, they should plan to arrive before park opening to handle the rental.”
Consumers fight back against Disney’s DAS policy change
Disney is currently facing a petition from the grassroots group DAS Defenders for limiting DAS passes to guests with developmental disabilities last year.
The petition calls for Disney to restore its previous DAS policy, which accommodated individuals with a wide range of disabilities. It has garnered over 33,500 signatures so far.
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“By limiting the DAS so severely, Disney has left out a wide array of disabled individuals, including cancer patients, many people with autism (even though it says this is who DAS is for many are still rejected), veterans with PTSD, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, ALS, Guillan-Barre, those with rare diseases and more,” said DAS Defenders in the petition. “As one of the world’s biggest companies, boasting a value exceeding 200 billion dollars, Disney should not be excluding groups of disabled people and their families.”
Disney’s DAS policy change has led some families with disabilities to feel more anxious about their Disney trips.
According to a recent survey by Barbara Burgess-Lefebvre, a theme parks researcher at Robert Morris University, who polled 300 individuals who previously used Disney’s DAS, 90% of families who have used the service state that they now have “heightened anxiety” when applying for DAS.
Also, 36% said that they will not be revisiting Disney’s theme parks due to the updated policy.
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