Down time for ASD kids

[scojos]

Hi was wondering in anyone could suggest some nice theme park places to do down time with my 8yr old?
i would like something that does not involve removing him from the "disney"bit, but remove him from overload, does that make sense???
has anyone ridden the monorail from MK to Epcot to do this, and how long does it take?
AK is his fav park, so not a problem, and we liked the water fountains at epcot and poohs thingy at MK, but any other suggestions are more than welcome.
Thanks
Tracy

 

[sl_underwood]

just subbing.. could use the info too.

 

[packetminnie]

In the MK we like to ride the TTA in Tomorrowland. They allow you to stay on as long as you want.

In EPCOT there are many many places to unwind. In UK the gardens behind the shop, in Morocco there is usually an empty room at the front of the structure that is very cool and relaxing. In Japan, there is the toy museum, usually not many people there. The car wash over by Test Track and if you're looking for an empty space to get away from people -- over by the old Wonders of Life pavilion is usually deserted.

In Disney Studios, I don't know many places that aren't crowded. They have the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Sometimes it isn't very crowded in the Backlot area near there.

In AK, we like to sit and watch the river. There is an eating area behind Flame Tree BBQ, it's quite aways behind Flame Tree. Also, we go looking for Divine.

In all the parks, for my DS 10, Hidden Mickeys and his Nintendo DS are the keys to a successful vacation.

 

[mazz1]

we like to take the boat over to the grand floridian and maybe eat a picnic in the gardens over there, afternoon tea in the garden lounge is nice and sedate too and the staff coped very well with my two disturbing everyones elses peace childrens tea is choc milk that comes in it's own china teapot and pb and j sandwiches which was a great treat for my youngest

we also like the boardwalk, again taking the boat from the international gateway in epcot, we have been known to grab a ice cream from beaches and sit on the man made sand beach for a short while just watching the boats come and go

another tip if you are thinking of riding the monorail for a break is to ask if you can ride up front with the monorail driver, you may have to wait but there's nothing stopping you going to the end of the line and back for time out

 

[Ctsplaysinrain]

We like eating a late lunch at Coral Reef- nice and calm in there and my son loves fish.

 

[Poohgirl]

I agree with the monorail, the train, people mover, the living seas tank area is great. I just asked my ASD Ds(10) and he said that he likes the carousel of progress, it takes a while and calms him down. He also likes many of the live shows that were in the shade and although there were a lot of people it was quiet because they were watching...

 

[mickey&minniealways]

I used to take my DS (now in his 20's) on the air tram in fantasy land. It never had a line. Now we do the train for DD12 who needs that down time. Usually though we just go back to resort for a while to swim.

 

[BrerVeritas]

TTA and the living seas are a must.

I have a 4 year old with ASD, and the thing that worked by far the best for me was closed counter service restaurants. These aren't always easy to come by, but early in the morning or during EMH, you can usually find a couple. They don't lock them up, they just close down the counters and leave the building empty.

A closed Pinnochio's Village Haus was a life saver during the P&P fireworks last August.

Also, even if they aren't closed, sometimes there are empty sections.

Examples:
the back of PVH near the bathrooms.
Inside The Land at the tables farthest away from Soarin. (Almost always emmpty when I was tehre in early August)
Upstairs at Columbia Harbour House


Oh, and as an honorable mention, try Tom Sawyer's Island. Its so far removed from the crowds and noise that it feels like another world. Its pretty easy to avoid crowds there if you stay away from the fort, and my son liked the cool dark caves.

 

[mamacate]

We found more spots than I expected. Because of my son's challenges (not ASD but very similar in terms of overloading/sensory/meltdowns), it's not realistic for us to go through the multi-step process of leaving the parks in the middle of the day. However, a middle-of-the-day break is very much needed. We went to the Whispering Canyon Cafe at WL for lunch and took the boat across, and that was great. We find the monorail pretty stimulating, so much preferred the boat, but every kid is different.

At the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle station, there's a little eating area that overlooks the moat, across the path from the bathrooms. We found that to be a relatively peaceful place. It's not NOT stimulating, but in the circle in front of City Hall (right as you come in the parks) we found CMs playing playground games with kids, very casually, and that offered some nice downtime when things in the "lands" got too frenetic.

We're back next month so will probably give Tom Sawyer's Island a try, and possibly the riverboat too. I would think those would make a nice break. Last year I was surprised to find that he got less overstimulated than I expected--it's just that all the stimulus was GOOD!

C

 

[Gr8dan2]

We've used these too. While there are baby changing stations and highchairs for the little ones, there is also a small 'play' area that usually has some disney video on and legos/duplos etc. There is rarely anyone else that comes in and stays for any length of time there.

There's one in MK between the hot dog place on main street and Crystal Palace, tucked back in by the restrooms. In Epcot its back behind Test Track, well the old building that used to be an eating place, now used during some of the festivals and stuff. In Animal Kingdom its about 1/2 way down to Africa on the left tucked in behind one of the gift shops. Can't think of where in HS though, drawing a blank.

We've also used the closed CS restaurants for this.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I don't have an ASD child, but we often choose to do our character breakfasts at around 11:00 in the morning, which provides a nice long cool break at a potentially challenging point in the day. 2-3 hours in the park is about right for us before we need a change of scenery so we hop on the monorail to Chef Mickey's or scoot over to the Crystal Palace.

 

[bzzymom]

We have done really well finding things for DS (10 ADHD). At MK, TTA is really good. Sometimes we even ride it two times in a row. The train is also nice as well. We go into shows like country bears, tiki, hall of presidents to sit and relax. Sometimes we sit down and snack on fruit. He is "too old" for the pooh playground place now but he watches his little sister play

We have taken the monorail to and from epcot before. He likes going to epcot because you go over future world before getting into the station. At Epcot, he likes to mess around in innoventions, and in the area where you get off mission space, and the imagination rides. The boat ride in Mexico is a good relaxing cool down place as well. We also try to catch some shows around the world.

At MGM, he likes to mess around in the area after you get out of the animation tour.

AK is great because he likes to do the kid discovery places, and just look at the tree of life. He really likes the dino land playground.

If DS starts acting up, we have a system where we have to stop and sit for awhile until he settles down before we can go on. We have left the park and gone back to the room early before, and we haven't had a problem getting him to settle down since.

 

[Mel6197]

As soon as you walk in, on your right hand side is the building,

If you go all the way threw it there is theater seating with cartoons,
Usually empty, and COOL

Nice place for my daughter to sit and watch tv and calm down... with out leaving the park..

At Epcot
She loves the Car wash area by test track

 

[scojos]

thanks mel6197 thats a great idea for all my kids, esp josh!
keep the ideas coming, can anyone give my a time for the monorail to epcot and back, 40 mins? longer...
thanks
tracy