This is for families with individuals that use the DAS system. With no FP+ it was a challenge to manage needs, expectations and the abilities of our son. Our party was made up of Mom,Dad, and 4 adult children (23-29). One of our sons is classified as moderately autistic, has epilepsy and mild scoliosis. This is our 14th trip and the absence of FP+ was especially trying for us. Our son works at a skills training center and is used to hand sanitizing and mask wearing.
We always plan our visits for slower times of the year, trading shorter park hours for lower crowds. Our strategy is usually to rope drop a park favorite ride, space our fast passes out and DAS other big draw rides in-between. We fit in lower wait time rides as we go. For our son this strategy means he can know what ride is coming next and avoid dead times. This helps manage expectations, overloading from the crowds, and extended periods of standing, which can be hard on him physically.
We had moved our trip several times, and when we decided that those dates were a go the wait times were 20 min. or less for headliners. By the time the trip arrived I was already concerned as wait times were looking more like peak summer.
The first two days the heat index was 105 and with social distanced lines much of the waiting was done outside. This added another level of stress for our son. He kept trying to go to the fast pass entrance to scan in as usual. We waited in outside lines a lot, including waiting for mobil orders so we could enter restaurants. We were able to ride favorite rides, mostly using DAS, but in between we were stuck waiting in lines for rides that are usually walk ons. This was the most challenging trip we’ve ever had at WDW. There was no way to avoid long line after long line. Even being able to hold two DAS return times simultaneously would have made a huge difference.
Our original plan was to schedule a bounce back for early December for myself, hubby and our son. While our trip was still fun, it was also much more wearing and stressful on our son than we had anticipated. By the end of our stay we had decided not to schedule a December trip. For a typical family the number of long waits are something to take into account and probably isn’t a deal breaker. For us, the mental and physical toll on our son was something we don’t feel we should repeat. We’ll look at late Sept. 2021 and re-evaluate the situation with FP+ and wait times.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I’m sorry for your difficulties during your park days.
I’m so sorry for the disappointing and distressing experience. 
Here’s looking to brighter days ahead. 
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How wonderful to have parents like you. 
It wasn’t that the experience was bad. It’s more that for our money and his effort (coping with changes, crowds, heat, etc) it wasn’t worth it this time. He LOVES Disney. For him the trip is worth the discomfort of all those things that are difficult for him. He wants to go and he lets us know. This time, he didn’t enjoy it the same way. It was just too much with little return for him.
I think I get what you mean. You invested in him and his experience and it wasn’t as good as usual. Just too much out for it enough in?
As well as being much different than he’s accustomed to. Knowing about mask wearing and other differences isn’t the same as experiencing the differences.