Any Advice for our unique family?

[JennyDrake]

My best advice would be to go in with no expectations. The heavily planned, reservation loaded touring style popular with a lot of Disers is only going to lead to heartache sooner or later with that many special needs.

Take your time. Go with the flow. Be flexible. If what works best right that moment is sitting on a bench eating ice cream for an hour, just do it. Don't get worked up about itineraries or what you're "missing." Half of Disney done happily is better than all of Disney done stressed out and cranky. (And you have ten days. Chances are you can do all of it anyway.) Make your trip about living in the moment rather than anticipating the next thing. Be prepared to scrap any plan if it isn't working and walk away.

AMEN to this! I would encourage you to do minimal planning except for a general outline of maybe what park what day and CS or TS. I went with a friend and his mother (age 84) with mobility issues. If we'd had *much* of a plan, it would ahve only been frustrating.

If your kids start to melt down, STOP. Sit on a bench. People watch. Eat ice cream.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, when getting tired and cranky (anyone!) go back and take a nap or swim! The parks will still be there and everyone will be much happier.

 

[MISSREBECCA76]

I want to thank you all for your input. I am a planner when it comes to WDW- However last time we went (in January) we took our 84 year old grandfather and although we had a plan, it was not nearly as structured as it had been in the past. It taught me that sometimes less truly is sometimes more!

We go to WDW at least once a year and the kids have seen things enough that we know what they like and what they don't like. We as parents, have seen it enough to know what is worth the wait for us.

To make things super magical for our kids, we leave our touring plans to the Disney Characters. Each night after they go to bed, one of the characters 'visit' and they leaves a note, a special souvenir from where we visited that day and a schedule for the next day. We use that schedule to set the pace, and we can create a very laid back plan which includes plenty of ice cream eating and pool time. If they complain that we are missing anything, we just remind them that we have to do what Mickey, Minnie or whomever planned for us since we are their guests. That usually quiets any complaining pretty quickly.

We have all the autographs we need from past trips so we do not wait in line for any of those. We have character meals planned and will get some pics it is not a major focus of our trip.

The cruise is going to be VERY laid back- we are not going on any excursions, we may not even get off the boat. And the three days, two nights, we are staying at WDW after the cruise are going to be spent just enjoying the pools, Blizzard Beach (weather permitting) and Downtown Disney/Disney Quest.

We know our daughter's epilepsy is not photo sensitive so that will give us one less thing to worry about.

I am hoping we are able to just disconnect, unwind and have a calm, relaxing time- everyone in our family is in need of it!