An old newbie with questions. Sorry for length!

Update:

So I called this a.m. to add dining and the super helpful disney ta tried to find me someone to answer my questions (and it wasn't even her job)-- I just asked her for a phone number -- and I got transferred around several times (there are some pretty disgruntled-sounding people working the switchboard this morning) but here is the total info I ultimately culled after 15 so being transferred around talking to different people:

1) first aid knows of some top secret bathrooms with no autoflush. I base this on my conversation wherein they first told me that yes some of their stations had them but got evasive when I asked more and by the end was suggesting they wrap their toilets with post-it's for him (amateurs)

2) "auto flush toilets are cleaner. They make it cleaner" yes, thank you for that.

3) "no you cannot get back to your hotel. I don't know. I don't... autoflushers are everywhere. There are no other..."

4) "yes, we have a private room that you can utilize for medical 'things' if you are 'authorized' to do those 'things' (portable urinal, camping bags? Dunno what all things are approved or how authorized you gotta be for your kid to pee in a cup ..I have a urologist letter though so...)


So, I am not going to worry.

They either have: a topsecret manual flush potty (unconfirmed)
or: a private room for using portable urinal (confirmed).

And now I go back to being super excited and worrying about all the other little things!

Thought I'd provide this info for anyone else that needs it. I will let you know how it works in reality in August!



Due to an awesome pin code are going in August now for a surprise week-long trip (originally was scheduled for November). I am so super excited to take my kids but now that I have started actually solidifying things, I am terrified. The last time I was going to do this I ended up canceling. I think they are ready, but I've only done Disney with my husband and no kids.

A little background for info: 2 kids,
older son: 10 with original dx of autism but has recently been re-tested and tested off the spectrum. Now his dx is just mood disorder and GAD, as well as some trauma/ptsd-type issues (causes panic fight/flight type response to triggers). Also has some sensory issues in regards to touch, noise and smell. Also has urological issues. WILL NOT/CANNOT use multi-stall bathrooms with auto-flushers. We need single-stall family bathrooms with NO auto-flushers. And I know every single combination of sticky note, wrapping trick ever created. We had to desensitize him with a therapy dog to get him to WALK INTO a bathroom (ANY BATHROOM!) so ...no. Need to know about single-stall bathrooms.

younger son 7: spd, adhd, and ocd.

Questions: (just looking for personal opinions, stories, ideas, etc.)
Time spent waiting in line is not a fear of mine. My kids went to the state fair last year and they were able to tolerate some lines pretty well. What I observed as being the biggest issues were: the bathroom issue. We were able to find a bathroom in the Red Cross station for my son to use. I just went and explained the situation to the doc there and they were super accommodating. I doubt I will find a similar deal at Disney, so can someone please tell me what I'm working with toilet-wise?
Next thing I'm wondering about is: Do you suggest I go and try to get some assistance or just see how it goes? I was going to just see how it goes because my older son actually suffers from paranoia and I don't want to trigger anything with the amount of stimulation and then taking him somewhere and pointing out that he is different or needs help. On the other hand, my fear (as we've been there at the fair): he wants to ride the ride, he can stand in the line, we wait 45 minutes etc we get right to step on and he has a panic attack and won't get on and takes off running. Now we are back to the end of the line again and start over. 45 minutes again. Back to the front. Can't get on again. It is unpredictable because I don't know what triggers him. There is a chance he won't care at all about rides. Last time we discussed WDW he begged to go so he could meet the characters and "go swimming" and watch parades. Does anyone have a child with severe mental health issues like these? Did anything help? Did telling guest assistance do anything for you? We are going last week of August if that helps for thinking about crowds.

Now that I've written a novel maybe someone can give me some insight. Please don't ask me why I'd want to do this though. I've been trying to take my kids for years. Just want to be prepared! We are super excited

to disABILITIES! So, if I'm understanding correctly, your main questions are:
1) finding a single-stall bathroom with manual flush and
2) if there is help for your son and his fear or anxiety with rides

1) Bathrooms: There are Companion Restrooms, which are singles. It's not really a stall, but rather a bathroom. The toilet is likely higher than home, and the sink is right there. But I believe these are automatic-flush. I don't know if the First Aid or Baby Care centers have manual flush. Last I knew, Disney was gradually changing over to auto-flush in all the restrooms. Here is a thread that discusses this very topic; it is from last fall and may or may not still be accurate: http://www.disboards.com/threads/automatic-flush-toilets-spd.3290741/

2) Have you tried watching YouTube videos of various rides with your son? That is commonly recommended for kids with ASD to help them "prepare" for the experience. Disney offers a Disability Access Service card (click link for a thread with more details, you only need to read the first post). The DAS is an accommodation to wait outside the lines, and the person issued the card (your son) must ride. I don't know what would happen with the rest of your party if your son backed out at loading; they might let the rest ride but they may not.

I know you indicated this is a surprise trip. Considering your older son's issues at an amusement park, I honestly would scratch the "surprise" aspect so you can properly prepare him. WDW is much bigger than a state fair.

Enjoy your vacation!

With the DAS card, they cross your time off as you go through the line. If your son bolted out, you'd have to get a new wait time, so it wouldn't really help with that aspect.

I'd still probably get one in case I needed it. The wait in the actual line will be closer to 15-20 min which might help. You also get 3FP+ to use per day for each person for a shorter wait.

lanejudy said:

I know you indicated this is a surprise trip. Considering your older son's issues at an amusement park, I honestly would scratch the "surprise" aspect so you can properly prepare him. WDW is much bigger than a state fair.

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Oh, for sure. For the record though, it was the Iowa State Fair. It was super crowded. It was a good gauge for how he could handle the crowds. It was kind of a test for us for both kids. In my opinion it was way more people per square inch and smells mixed together than Disney was at Spring Break when dh and I went. There are upsides and downsides to surprising kids like my kids. If we DON'T surprise them and say we are going and something happens (someone goes to the hospital, car breaks, house breaks, weather breaks, WHATEVER!) it will be the most devastating thing EVER. They do not adjust well to changes in plans so we generally wait until the day before or day of to tell them ANYTHING...even "we are going to Chuck E. Cheese." I think we are going to surprise them the week before so they have a week to adjust to the news and prepare.

And the main questions I'm trying to figure out here are: what will happen if my son bolts from the line after waiting an hour and a half? Are we all back starting over again? Is there any accommodations that would help with that? I'm mostly worried about inside queuing as he has difficulties with enclosed spaces where he is in close proximity with too many people at once and can't "escape" when he needs to or feels like he can't escape. It can actually become dangerous because he gets disoriented and will just run in any direction not exactly aware of his surroundings.
The other main question was: does anyone know if there are any NON-autoflushers in the World? particularly the magic kingdom where we will be the most. If not, how long would it take us to drive back to our hotel (Wilderness Lodge) and back to the park during mid-day for a restroom break?

It would depend how far in the line you get. The second person to check your DAS would cross off the time. If he bolts after that, you'd have to start over. You could explain, but I wouldn't count on much help since it will appear that you used the time.

If the DAS holder leaves, I would expect the rest of the group to not be allowed to ride. But you could get pixie dust with that. I don't know how much you can depend on pixie dust vs CMs just following the rules.

Can't help with toilets. The DAS would at least allow you to wait most of the time outside the line without confinement.

As Aaarcher said , with your 3 FP+ times and your DAS your wait will be more like 10 minutes rather than 90 minutes, and in many cases the FP lines are very short to walk on, The FP and DAS will minimize your que time in the tight switchbacks. If he refuses to ride tho I am pretty sure your FP time will be marked as used as soon you enter the FP line, you may have till the second checkpoint tho. I don't know of a way around that other than Pixie Dust from an extremely nice CM.

I have not seen a non auto flush toilet in the MK lately, but have by no means seen them all!!

As for driving to and from Wilderness Lodge or Fort Wilderness to the MK parking lot, I don't think there is good one! The boat is the best way to the WL followed closely by the Bus.

That DAS sounds like it could be helpful for his needs then possibly. I guess I'll ask when we get to the park. Is there anywhere that I can find social stories related to rides? Like a picture-based walk-through of, say, Haunted Mansion or something? I know I can't social-story my way through the park, but if I had something that said first the ride does THIS, then it makes THIS noise, along with a picture -- something he could hold onto and read over and over (they both like repetition), I might have a better shot at making things work. Once they do the rides once they will be happy and love it, but there is just going to be this whole getting onto the ride the first time thing we have to overcome. (Sorry in advance, any fellow August people who end up in line behind us!) I don't know if I can post a link, but if you've ever seen "What About Bob" where he is trying to get on the Bus and he's been trying all day and he's pacing and she is like, "This is the last bus to Lake Winnepasaki, Bob..." That is how it is trying new things

If I could show them ahead that might help. We've watched lots of youtube of Wishes in the past and I'm certain now that if the music came on my son would be excited instead of scared so I know we will watch more youtube. Now I need to figure out how to deal with the younger one's "I have to sit in THAT seat or I can't ride this ride..." and the disappearing (eloping) I'm pretty sure they don't have anything that can help with THAT! Anyone tried GPS device on their kids shoes they can reccomend?

Also, WL boat? How long getting back and forth? Could I use that to take a kid over to the hotel for bathroom?

cornflkgrl said:

Also, WL boat? How long getting back and forth? Could I use that to take a kid over to the hotel for bathroom?

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Trying to get from MK to WL with a kid who needs to pee sounds like a recipe for disaster...even from the front gates walking directly to CR could be pushing it, to say nothing of being further inside the park and then waiting to use transportation to a resort. How long can he hold it? I would never be able to hold it that long, unless leaving the park before feeling the need to go. Is there any way his therapist can work with him on the bathroom issue between now and your trip? I'm just not seeing how you can plan to return to WL for bathroom breaks -- late August is quite hot and humid, you'll need to stay hydrated which will require regular bathroom breaks.

I suggest taking a list of the restrooms mentioned in the other thread, and spend time checking to see if any are still manual flush. Sorry I don't have any better ideas at the moment.

Enjoy your vacation!

lanejudy said:

Trying to get from MK to WL with a kid who needs to pee sounds like a recipe for disaster...even from the front gates walking directly to CR could be pushing it, to say nothing of being further inside the park and then waiting to use transportation to a resort. How long can he hold it? I would never be able to hold it that long, unless leaving the park before feeling the need to go. Is there any way his therapist can work with him on the bathroom issue between now and your trip?

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He can hold is forever. But he will do damage. No, we've been working on it with therapists since he tried to potty train. He's 10 now. I've kind of reconciled with the fact that he is only going to go in public under certain circumstances. He even uses a special bathroom at school. It's not just a mental thing. He has physical/medical issues that contributed to this. But THANK YOU because you gave me an idea!!! The person we need to talk to is our pedi-urologist when we see him this summer before our trip. So thank you for whatever you said that made me think of that idea!

to cornflkgrl: remember that at MK you have to take either the monorail or ferry to get to you car even if you drive and that is not counting the parking lot tram. I am not sure if it would be faster to take boat back to WL from MK. plus something to think about a lot of handicapped/companion restrooms also have auto flush and that includes resort lobbies.

I wonder about the baby care centers or first aid for restroom issues. I would recommend taking the boat over driving between MK & WL for speed at any times. Otherwise you would have to take the monorail over to the ticket & transportation center then drive to WL and park then walk to your room.

I would try to find out about whether or not the First Aid centers have non-auto flush restrooms. If not, and not trying to be mean, but there is no way I would even consider going on a trip to Disney with a child that isn't able to use a restroom inside the park.

OurBigTrip said:

I would try to find out about whether or not the First Aid centers have non-auto flush restrooms. If not, and not trying to be mean, but there is no way I would even consider going on a trip to Disney with a child that isn't able to use a restroom inside the park.

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If we went by that, we'd go nowhere with our kids. We've spent a lot of time going nowhere and doing nothing and doing therapies trying to prepare for sensory stuff and bathroom stuff and communication stuff and then we accepted that our experience going places is never going to feel how we think it will feel, but we can make it work. We aren't going to NOT go. That's why I was asking about the parking lot, other options, etc. We carry a portable urinal wherever we go in our car (I don't care what anyone thinks of this at this point). It is very hard to go places and do things, but I'm certain there are far worse health problems he could have and I am thankful he is at a point this year mentally to finally be where we can consider a family vacation like this. So NOT going on a vacation because of his urological issues of our anxiety over accommodating them isn't an option.
That wasn't like a snarky sarcastic remark, just to explain that I'm looking only for solutions within the confines of our vacation taking place and/or experiences and opinions related to how we can include our child in our vacation while accommodating him.

Can someone please elaborate on remark above about TTC? I was at the park almost 10 years ago and I thought I remembered parking at MK and taking a little tram to the gates? Is my memory completely wrong? I don't remember monorailing to the gates!

The trams take you from the parking lot to TTC, where you catch either the monorail or boat to the MK gate.

It sounds like you've got two main concerns: the bathroom issue and the bolting/anxiety issue.

I can offer my suggestions for the bolting/anxiety issue as we deal with some of that. Our number one thing is watch youtube videos of the rides. For months ahead of time. Many of the videos will even include the line, so that was helpful to us as the actual dark, winding lines where you couldn't see the ride were the most stressful points for him. We also did social stories. We made a few for the rides he showed possible aversions to based on the youtube watching (and actually chose not to even attempt two rides based on his reaction to watching them on video because it was clear that would push him over). Another option we are developing for our upcoming trip is a line strip...basically a laminated strip with velcro spots with some pictures of the ride we anticipate having trouble with (for example, the Little Mermaid ride line is dark and winding and you don't see the ride for a very long time). We are velcroing five spots where we can stick pictures of the ride. At what we gauge to be a fifth of the line, he can take that picture off and exchange it for a calming reward (in this case, a sour patch kid because that regulates him). That way we are easing him through his anxiety and letting the valve off a couple times little by little instead of letting it build and then just burst at the actual ride.

When you get to the actual ride, it might be harder for him to bolt. Many of the rides just don't have an easily accessible way to leave the ride unless he goes back the way you came through all the people (which I totally get a kid in flight mode would do). Depending on his calming needs, maybe have something he can hold or have as he gets onto the ride, or just angle your body in a way that his best flight option seems to actually be getting in the ride. I'm sure you've thought of or done most of these before, but I wanted to share what we do or are planning on doing. And I know it's easier in many ways to do the surprise trip, but I think you will appreciate the extra time to prepare him.

As for the bathrooms, we were there last November, and I don't recall any toilets being manual (I have a little one who is scared of the automatic). I would suggest calling and asking Disney directly about this. I think it might be hard to find public ones that haven't been switched over by now, but maybe they can offer you something behind the scenes? Another way less ideal option is to purchase some disposable waste cups (like for camping) and have him urinate into those in the companion bathrooms and then leave the bathroom before you dump and flush his waste. It might be a fix that would allow you to stay in the park, because no matter where you stay, it would eat a ton of your time to have to keep going back and forth to the hotel every time he needs to go to the bathroom (which given the hot time of year, would be a few times at least in order to drink enough water to stay hydrated). Good luck!

Would it be possible to change your vacation to DLR? A round trip from either park to any onsite hotel could be done on foot in less than an hour. The Grand Californian hotel actually has a direct entrance to California Adventure. You could easily get back to the room to use the bathroom.

(And I hate to mention it, but Universal in Florida also has hotels that are walkable from the parks.)

My son has similar issues to yours. We have also "surprised" him with Disney trips before, and we've been able to make it work by showing him lots and lots of YouTube videos in advance. There are many that show the experience from beginning to end--getting in line, waiting in line, boarding the ride, the ride itself, and then exiting, etc. You don't have to tell your boys that you're going, you can just say, "wouldn't that be fun? Wouldn't it be neat if we could do something like this sometime?" It could also give you an idea of what to expect--which rides they might love and which rides you might not want to attempt just yet, or whatever. And then they'll be so excited when they get there and recognize some of the things they've seen on screen!

Definitely go for the DAS when you first get there. It's then your choice whether to use it or not, but there's no harm in getting it and you may find (as many of us here have found) that the DAS absolutely saves your life! If you don't want to discuss your children's issues in front of them, consider writing them down and handing the note to the CM in guest services. Lots of us have done that and it works just fine. And you won't be asked about any specifics at each ride. The card is all the information they'll need at each ride.

As for the bathrooms, my son is also absolutely terrified of that awful flush, but perhaps not the extent that you describe. We've been able to manage by either "tricking" the toilet not to flush (though this only works in the single-stall companion rooms, because if it's a multi-stall then other toilets are flushing all the time). My son will do his business and then we'll flush the toilet after he leaves. But, as you know, this doesn't always work. So more often, we'll give him earplugs (noise-cancelling headphones work too). This has worked really well for us.

I don't know if any of this will work for you, I'm just letting you know how we've gotten through it. Disney is magical and we've only had overall positive experiences at WDW. I'm so excited for your boys to discover the magic! Good luck!

to cornflkgrl: the tram only takes you to the TTC not the front gate of MK. from there you have to ride either the monorail or the ferry boat to the front gate. sorry to say your memory is not correct. you can not walk from parking lot to front gate. if I remember your earlier post you are staying at Wilderness Lodge it might be easier to take the boat from the Lodge which leaves you off near the front gate for your MK days.

cornflkgrl said:

Can someone please elaborate on remark above about TTC? I was at the park almost 10 years ago and I thought I remembered parking at MK and taking a little tram to the gates? Is my memory completely wrong? I don't remember monorailing to the gates!

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At the MK you have a multi step process to get to the park, you park, then take a tram to the TTC (ticket transportation center), there you walk to either the ferry boat or the monorail, either will take you to the MK, then walk to security, then to the entrance. It is actually quite a process, and has been that way since 1973 (except for the security part)

And driving from the WL is another adventure! You can't go direct (that I have found anyway, if anyone else has please let me know). You have to exit the park area and turn around and come back in.

The boats go from the WL dock either directly to the MK or share the trip with the folks at Fort Wilderness. The trip can take 30 minutes or LOTS longer depending on the Pixie Dust.Maybe too long for a bathroom break,but great for an afternoon nap!

and if your son will use a personal urinal maybe you can take it with you and use the companion restrooms or first aid.

charmed59 said:

Would it be possible to change your vacation to DLR? A round trip from either park to any onsite hotel could be done on foot in less than an hour. The Grand Californian hotel actually has a direct entrance to California Adventure. You could easily get back to the room to use the bathroom.

(And I hate to mention it, but Universal in Florida also has hotels that are walkable from the parks.)

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That is an AWESOME suggestion! Unfortunately: planes ... We are still working on that one!
We are driving. It is a longer drive to Anaheim than it is to Orlando from Iowa.

I will be calling Disney Guest Relations on Monday and asking if they have any insight.
I know it is really hard for people to grasp this being such a big deal (it sounds ridiculous to me when I tell people), but that is because we are approaching it from a place of reality. My son suddenly freaked out and refused to get in the pool after happily attending swim lessons for months because he suddenly decided the faucet in the pool was going to turn on and flood the building. Could not get him back in that pool. Who knows what triggered that. I wish it was as easy as telling him that if he goes into a bathroom he can go to Disney World. And I could work on the toilet with him now, get him in the bathroom (which we've done before) and suddenly he -- for who knows what reason -- stops going in again. I wish I could climb in his brain and know what is going on sometimes. I basically don't want him to be obsessing over "WHAT DO I DO?? I HAVE TO PEE?!!!!!" when he is supposed to be saying "LOOK IT'S MICKEY MOUSE!!!!!" He has talked about the possibility of using an external cath before for other events when we have talked about being somewhere where he could not access a single-stall restroom or a private tree. We may have to talk about it again and maybe I'll ask the pedi-urologist about it and maybe he will look at me like I'm INSANE! I feel insane asking about this at this point. Yeah.
I do sincerely appreciate the suggestions though and being able to talk it out. It kind of gave me some different ideas for things we can do. And I had no idea how complicated it was getting into MK. I must have totally mentally blocked that because dh and I were so blissfully happy we just weren't paying attention.