Trip to Disney and we need a DAS for our child - so worried I think I might cancel :-(

PatMcDuck said:

I would schedule all character meet greets that you want to experience, with your FP+ DAS does not include access to Meet and Greets, as far as I know. If you get to the park when it opens, you can get on many things in that first golden hour. And in August, its pretty hot, you would want to return to room by 1 pm anyway.

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It does. I used mine to meet the princess and Tink

Dentam said:

That info will come in handy for our next trip to WDW though since I'm sure my mom will still need a wheelchair. We only ran across one or two rides at DL that gave us a timed ticket to come back. Most had us go into a separate line or even oddly up the exit line - didn't like those!

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Disneyland is different then WDW since it is older and less accessible.
They have budgeted money to make more lines accessible, but they are somewhat limited by space.

At WDW, you can use DAS for attractions with Fastpass. The character with Fastpass are considered Entertainment attractions. The ones without Fastpass don't usually have a way to let anyone wait somewhere else and come in when it's their turn.
That's where some of the misunderstanding comes from - you can use Fastpass for the characters with Fastpass, but not the others (at least at WDW, I'm not sure how characters work at Disneyland).
At WDW, those include things like:
Princesses at Princess Fairytale Hall (Anna, Elsa and other rotating Princesses)
Mickey and Tinkerbell at Town Square Theater
Ariel at her Grotto
Pete's Silly Sideshow

The Character Connection at Epcot

I am on ASD, I have been going since I was very little. One we all react differently. You may find that your DD's can do a lot more than you think, I could at a young age, at home I was always in meltdown but take me to Disney back in the days with no DAS and I was fine for hours. For my the constant change kept me wanting more, although I know some on the spectrum are opposite. I would not put a time frame on how long your dd can last until you get there.

Second, as other suggest, get there early, rope drop, since your children are 3 and under, you won't really be waiting in the lines that get two hours or longer. And early in the morning you will be able to get on just about everything dgd will want. I remember in DL when my mom would take us at rope drop and we road everything in fantasyland before the park opened to everyone, with MM, or whatever it was called back then. She then got a few fast passes and did things in between, like a charactor breakfast at 10, and a ride on the boats at 12. By one we had done almost everything I could go on at 3 and we headed back for a nap and a swim and dinner at a resort. Then back to the parks for the fun night rides and fireworks, we always did jungle cruise and haunted mansion at night.

I never went to WDW when I was little and it is much bigger, but I am sure you could get on almost as much in the am there also. Just space it.

Also, have things she can use while in the stroller or walking, my mom always made me walk because I had so much energy. But she gave me oh know my brain went died, those bendy flexible sticks, pipe cleaners or something and I would play with them, or one of those things that have numbers in a square and you had to get them in order from one to nine. It always took me 20 minutes or so and by them we were at the top of the line.

Also brings food and water in, times goes faster when you are eating so 20 minutes when eating gold fish seems like two. Also, if hot in August bring a change of cloths, there are still those water park places, correct. Sorry my ASD has a hard time distinguishing between WDW and DL, so I am trying to keep it general, but there use to be the water ball, or the tug boats with water play, or the sprinkles coming out of the ground, that breaks up the mood, cools her off and helps her refocus when you get back in line.

Hope this helps. Not to many grown ups who can tell you what it is like as a child with ADS, and I know we are all different, but here is my thoughts and things I remember from DL as I was small, I didn't go to WDW till I was 14 or so, and little kids rides where not my thing then.

Oh I'm new here, but a huge Disney fan and know quiet a bit. So you know I have ASD but my boyfriend uses and ecv, when there because he was hit by a Mac truck when he was young and still has joint problems, and head injury problems.

I did not realize we could use a DAS at meet and greet with FP+, for some reason. Thanks for reminding me of this.

2tinkerbell said:

I think that I would go with the idea of so what if that (2-3 rides) is all you can do, that is all you can do. I guess I am more willing to go with the flow than other people.

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aaarcher86 said:

If you go into it with the understanding that you'll at least get to do 3 rides and attractions (at least because of FP+) and you're satisfied with that, then you won't be disappointed. How would you handle your child's time situation anywhere else? This isn't much different.

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Many great suggestions already here. These two posts sum up our experience with our youngest son. Years ago, before our youngest was born, it was just our two older boys. At that time, we were park commandos and felt like the longer we stayed in the parks, the more "value" we derived from our vacation. Since then, that perspective (and many others!) have changed! The DAS helps a little, but we only use it once per day - maybe twice a couple days. We still don't spend more than a few hours in a park per day, but that's OK because we know that's all we can do and we just enjoy the many other parts of Disney that are accessible to us right now under the circumstances.

aaarcher86 said:

You really need to figure out what your expectations for the trip are, and then determine if they're feasible. I think it's pretty silly to get so worked up you'll cancel over something like this - but that's completely up to you.
. . . go back to the hotel for a swim and then do a character meal for dinner. You'll have full days, packed with fun and memories. Your CHILD doesn't know they aren't riding all the rides offered, or seeing all the people offered. That's just you stressing about something that doesn't even matter.
. . . How would you handle your child's time situation anywhere else? This isn't much different.

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I really can't understand the need to diminish and ridicule someone's concerns about a DW trip with their child who has special needs. It really is insensitive. You are not in their shoes and have no idea what will or won't be too difficult. I have a child with autism and it is a challenge no matter where you go let alone a place like DW. Does that mean it can't be done, No; but, there is a great deal of pre-planning that is involved and I applaud her for asking for advice.

You also do not know if they are staying at a DW hotel, which would make it much easier and offer many more options to help make the trip worth it. If they are just driving in each day, maybe the cost of a ticket, $100 per person only to be able to stay in the parks for 3 hrs may not be worth it.

How about just offering support instead of criticism.


To the OP, are you staying at a DW hotel? That can make a big difference in the advice to offer. Are you staying at a hotel near DW?

There are some things offered in the parks for little ones that your child might like that do not have a line or are a short wait. You could do those in between the waits for your fast pass and DAS times. For example in MK The train ride around the park, casey jr splash n soak station etc. but it depends on what type of activities your child likes. My son and many kids on the spectrum sometimes have very strong reactions to different types of stimuli so I don't want to recommend anything your child might not even tolerate. If you do a google search for toddler attractions for DW a lot of interesting info comes up for each park. For me, doing a lot of Google searches was most helpful in planning for a trip with my son who has autism.

I hope everything works out and if you do go, you have a wonderful time.

bocaj1431 said:

I really can't understand the need to diminish and ridicule someone's concerns about a DW trip with their child who has special needs. It really is insensitive. You are not in their shoes and have no idea what will or won't be too difficult. I have a child with autism and it is a challenge no matter where you go let alone a place like DW. Does that mean it can't be done, No; but, there is a great deal of pre-planning that is involved and I applaud her for asking for advice.

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The person you reprimand wears shoes very similar to those worn by the original poster.

bocaj1431 said:

I really can't understand the need to diminish and ridicule someone's concerns about a DW trip with their child who has special needs. It really is insensitive. You are not in their shoes and have no idea what will or won't be too difficult. I have a child with autism and it is a challenge no matter where you go let alone a place like DW. Does that mean it can't be done, No; but, there is a great deal of pre-planning that is involved and I applaud her for asking for advice.

You also do not know if they are staying at a DW hotel, which would make it much easier and offer many more options to help make the trip worth it. If they are just driving in each day, maybe the cost of a ticket, $100 per person only to be able to stay in the parks for 3 hrs may not be worth it.

How about just offering support instead of criticism.


To the OP, are you staying at a DW hotel? That can make a big difference in the advice to offer. Are you staying at a hotel near DW?

There are some things offered in the parks for little ones that your child might like that do not have a line or are a short wait. You could do those in between the waits for your fast pass and DAS times. For example in MK The train ride around the park, casey jr splash n soak station etc. but it depends on what type of activities your child likes. My son and many kids on the spectrum sometimes have very strong reactions to different types of stimuli so I don't want to recommend anything your child might not even tolerate. If you do a google search for toddler attractions for DW a lot of interesting info comes up for each park. For me, doing a lot of Google searches was most helpful in planning for a trip with my son who has autism.

I hope everything works out and if you do go, you have a wonderful time.

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Kudos for snipping my post to eliminate all the areas of advice in order to make it something it's not.

aaarcher86 said:

Kudos for snipping my post to eliminate all the areas of advice in order to make it something it's not.

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Actually what I did was just to highlight the portions of your text I was speaking to. They were not clipped to mere snippets as you put it which would change the meaning of your words in any way. Your full post was already on the thread for everyone to see and the . . . Obviously denotes there are missing portions of your quote.

Leaving out the advice you offered does not change the fact that you posted Comments which were insensitive and unnecessary. Does the OP really need to know your opinion of her for feeling or thinking what she did?

kaytieeldr said:

The person you reprimand wears shoes very similar to those worn by the original poster.

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That doesn't mean the comments were not insensitive.

Just because she may share a similiar situation that does not excuse the comments made. In fact it's worse that she is in a similiar situation because she should have know better than to judge someone's feelings over what is or is not stressful to them when having a child with special needs. We should support each other.

OK - enough arguing and back to advice.

This tip may not help you because your kids are quite young and may not be able to stay up late at night, but...

A friend of mine just went to WDW in February and didn't have fast passes for Anna and Elsa. About an hour before closing the Anna and Elsa wait time still said 85 minutes. They got in line and it was really only 10-15 minutes long. They often boost up the wait times nearer to closing to discourage people from getting in line.

I had the exact same experience with Toy Story Mania this past August. About a half hour before closing the wait time sign said 75 minutes and it was only a 10-15 minute wait.

Good luck! I think your trip will be wonderful.

Pre-FP+, there were always plenty of non-headliner rides with short lines, so as long as you weren't counting on headliners you could fit in a lot more. I don't know if that's still the case, though.

Hi OP! Don't cancel. You'll be ok. Better than ok because you'll be in a beautiful fun place. I have two boys on the spectrum. One is very low functioning. He is 4. The other is 6 and functions higher than my youngest but still needs help. I have confidence that the DAS will work well for our family. Obviously we loved the GAC but this will work. SO MUCH good advice from everyone. I know just having these amazing children on the spectrum can be overwhelming but with all of these tips and research you will be better than fine. All my well wishes to you. We ASD parents understand and will always be available for your Disney support!

ttintagel said:

Pre-FP+, there were always plenty of non-headliner rides with short lines, so as long as you weren't counting on headliners you could fit in a lot more. I don't know if that's still the case, though.

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That is still the case.
We have been on 4 long trips since DAS and Fastpas Plus started and have had no more problem than before finding things with short waits.
We have also found that our actual wait in the Fastpass Plus line is usually shorter than it was in the Fasypass line.