A Mother-Son Adventure in Autism! (8/29) Itinerary, 1st Draft (!)

[KathyRN137]

Nice to meet you too! Looking forward to reading on!

I love that Disney's Christmas season starts from the day after Thanksgiving and goes into the first week of January!

Decorations start going up the first week of November! (Department stores are even earlier!)

I was so nervous for you when you were going Christmas week. I think your current plan will work out much better.

Agreed!!



Kathy

 

[TanzUnited99]

The things we go through when planning a trip to Disney World!

Eek at the January crowds - I can't believe that was during the low crowd periods! Look forward to hearing all about the other way...

 

[KathyRN137]

The things we go through when planning a trip to Disney World!

Eek at the January crowds - I can't believe that was during the low crowd periods! Look forward to hearing all about the other way...

This was DHS on a Fantasmic night; the crowds really swell now that Fantasmic isn't shown every night!


Kathy

 

[mousescrapper]

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It wasn’t until January, when I spent an uncomfortably crowded evening in Disney Studios with six friends, a few hundred strangers, and a gazillion Brazilian tour groups that I finally came to my senses.

This was January... supposedly one of the least crowded times of the year!


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man that looks super scary...was it really that bad...I must have filed that away

 

[KathyRN137]

man that looks super scary...was it really that bad...I must have filed that away

Yup! This is when we decided to give up Fantasmic and have something to eat instead!


Kathy

 

[lovethattink]

Some days have really surprised us in attendance!

I subscribe to Tourping Plans. My husband jokes that some days we just need to do opposite of touring plans, since so many people seem to have caught onto it. We check the wait times now, instead of the crowd levels before heading out.

My son is on the spectrum and depending on the crowd levels, the noise, the lighting, etc., we have a hard time planning anything. Surprisingly, he has been doing relatively well with Star Wars Weekends, in short time periods (just a few hours). But this heat is bothing him the most now.

 

[KathyRN137]

My son is on the spectrum and depending on the crowd levels, the noise, the lighting, etc., we have a hard time planning anything. Surprisingly, he has been doing relatively well with Star Wars Weekends, in short time periods (just a few hours). But this heat is bothing him the most now.

Oh, I can imagine! But everyone says that most younger kids think the best thing about WDW is their resort pool, anyway!

Good plan to break things down into smaller bits... that's what we used to do when Billy was younger.

Thanks for reading!



Kathy

 

[MEK]

You are too much with all the cliffhangers. I can't wait to see what you have in store.

 

[lovethattink]

Good plan to break things down into smaller bits... that's what we used to do when Billy was younger.
Kathy

Does that mean their is hope for longer park days?

I come armed with a back pack full of sensory reducing things. Ear muffs to reduce noise. A brush for the Wilbarger brushing protocol. A flashlight for the dark. Extra clothes incase something gets wet. Wide rimmed hat. Cooling vest. Cooling pad. Frozen waters. And gum.

You are too much with all the cliffhangers. I can't wait to see what you have in store.

 

[Rayvn]

Hi! My name is Leslie and I have a 3.5yo who is on the Autism spectrum. He will almost be 5yo when we go in September 2012. I hope you don't mind me reading your posts to get ideas on how to make sure my son has a magickal trip!

Leslie

 

[ZFamily5]

Subbing! I love your writing style! I got hooked on it after reading the Spectrum moms TR and since then I have read all of your other TRs!! Can't wait to hear all about it! Autism has effected some people very close to me and Billy is adorable (I'm sorry if it comes across like I'm treating him like a little kid)!

 

[KathyRN137]

Big, big changes, folks!

As you can see, my report has a new title. Our November Family trip will now be a Mommy & Billy trip!

We had several reasons for making the decision; some having to do with school & sports schedules and others due to financial constraints. Admittedly I am disappointed, but I’d rather do this than have to wait another year to go with the whole family. Billy really misses “his” Walt Disney World!

What else has changed? Well, I cut off our last night so we’ll be returning home on a Saturday evening instead of Sunday. I want Billy to have a full day to de-compress (plus, it saved $$ on the airfare.) So our current dates are:

Arrive Thursday 11/3 and Depart Saturday 11/12.
Old Key West

Two very good DIS-Friends, DisMomAmy and MRYPPNS, will be there with their families during part of that time! I had already made some which-parks-which-days decisions awhile back, but I’m looking at their itineraries and will most likely do some switching around. One thing’s for sure: we have tickets to MVMCP on Wednesday 11/9, the same night as DisMomAmy & Co.! Amy has two boys so I think Billy will enjoy meeting and hanging out with them for part, if not all, of the party!

He’s so excited because he realizes that we will now get to see TWO different nighttime parades: the Main St Electrical Parade (which he has only seen on YouTube) and the Mickey’s Merry Christmas Parade during the party! He’s also looking forward to meeting Phineas and Ferb and riding the new Star Tours 2.0 at DHS. Those are the things he’s been talking about the most!

ADRs:

As I said, I may be making some itinerary changes based upon what my friends are doing, so I may be changing the few ADRs I did make. Originally, Ed and Tricia were going to be joining us mid-week so I had made one dinner ressie for Mom & Dad at Wolfgang Puck Dining Room… that’s obviously been cancelled!

I also cancelled a character breakfast at Cape May Café for Tuesday morning. Billy and I may need a sleep-in morning by then and he’s told me a few times that he doesn’t want to do any character meals this time!! (Well, he may have autism, but he’s still a thirteen-year-old boy!) We may have to see about this one, though. Mommy would like to visit with Pooh and Friends at the Crystal Palace!

I would really like to keep our dinner ADR at Via Napoli, but I’m having second thoughts about Billy…

http://www.**************.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/4865942853_c72955591410.jpg​

He loves pizza, but he’s terribly afraid of fire so if we go we would need to request a table far away from Stromboli, Vesuvio, and Etna!!

http://www.**************.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/4866559534_07abd696b21.jpg



http://www.**************.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/4865940931_885338a3b61.jpg​

Well, that’s it so far… I need to tweak my itinerary a bit more! Bye for now!


Kathy

 

[Poolrat]

Changes changes- Glad it not cancelled.

A mommy/son trip will be fun!!!
I hope you get all the rearranging done.

 

[lovethattink]

I'm sure you and Billy will have a great time. And a day to de-compress sounds good!

My son absolutely loved the P&F meet and greet! We've gone on Star Tours 4 times now. He loves, loves, loves the changes to the attraction. And this is coming from the boy who cried his heart out when the attraction closed and was being changed.

 

[MRYPPNS]

Looking forward to see what your touring schedule will be! (fyi: this is not a family trip for me, I'm going with 2 girlfriends)

 

[KathyRN137]

Looking forward to see what your touring schedule will be! (fyi: this is not a family trip for me, I'm going with 2 girlfriends)

Ah yes, I forgot! Hopefully I may still run into you, though!


Kathy

 

[KathyRN137]

Changes changes- Glad it not cancelled.

A mommy/son trip will be fun!!!
I hope you get all the rearranging done.

Yes, I do need to get moving on that!

This will be a laid-back trip; the only person I need to please is the autistic teen, so I pretty much plan plan on rolling with the changes day-to-day!

I'm sure you and Billy will have a great time. And a day to de-compress sounds good!

My son absolutely loved the P&F meet and greet! We've gone on Star Tours 4 times now. He loves, loves, loves the changes to the attraction. And this is coming from the boy who cried his heart out when the attraction closed and was being changed.

I'm trying to get back into reading trip reports; I'll be sure to check yours out!


Kathy

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm really excited to finally meet Billy!! I think the two of you will have a great time sharing your love of Disney. It will be a whole new kind of trip for you.

By the way, Via Napoli has a nice area with outdoor, covered seating. That could be a good choice if you decide to keep your ADR. But if memory serves me correctly, you can see the ovens from right where you check in. Maybe save a little something special for Billy to look at that will keep his eyes busy while you are checking in? I'm sure if you explain the situation they will work with you. We have a lunch ADR for Saturday... but it sounds like you'll be on your way home by then.

 

[KathyRN137]

By the way, Via Napoli has a nice area with outdoor, covered seating. That could be a good choice if you decide to keep your ADR.... I'm sure if you explain the situation they will work with you. We have a lunch ADR for Saturday... but it sounds like you'll be on your way home by then.

Our flight is at 8:30 pm so we'll probably get a 5:30 DME pick-up...plenty of time to do stuff on Saturday!

I guess you're using Touring Plans to choose which parks which days, huh?


Kathy

 

[lovethattink]

We are staying at the world part of your Nov trip too. Originally I had resies for Nov 4 to 7, but that all changed when we found out my husband was being transferred. Now we are staying Nov 11 to 14th.