aspergers and discovery cove.

[scojos]

hello again
i have another question for you people in cyber space
i would love to take my kids to DC, ds 10 has add and ds 8 has aspergers, and wanted to know if anyone had any knowledge of how good or bad DC is with invisible handicaps?
also, has anyone done this with an ASD kid, and has it had any effect on them?
they say dolpins have an amazing contact with autistic kids...
we have promised ds 10 to go to aquatica and dh wants to go to Busch for the 1st time. we are staying on site so feel we have less "hassle" than normal and could take some time out to avoid over disneying
info and advice would be great,
thanks
tracy

 

[mazz1]

we went to discovery cove in march 05 with my daughter and son (ages 11 and 8 yrs at the time)

they both have autism and both are very different children and i have nothing but praise for the staff at DC and trainers that where in the water with us

they had patience with the children, allowed us slightly longer time when my son got anxious and had nothing but praise and cheers for him when he finally got up close with the dolphin

we explained in advance during the booking process the childrens needs and on the actual day they really seemed to understand the childrens pace, nothing was rushed and we had a lot of fun with a incredibly cheeky and mischevious male dolphin called capricorn

did the kids love it?, you betcha, we have a much watched video of the actual swim that although seemed expensive at the time it proved to be worth every penny

everything about discovery cove i would recommend, we had a magical day and intend to repeat it in the future

if you do go i would recommend you book a private beach cabana "tented room" for a time out/ cool down space, it was hard to shift me from the cabana after the dolphin swin, i was sooooo relaxed

 

[Christine43]

I would LOVE to go to DC with the kids. We are actually planning on doing this in 2010 as a big trip for my daughter's HS grad. I would love to see my sons interacting with dolphins. If you end up doing this please write about your experience.

 

[jencav5]

Discovery Cove was fabulous! We took our family, including ds who is autistic, in 2005. He was 11 at the time. He absolutely loved it! The staff was all great there, and it's a very relaxing day! We have also done the dolphin encounter with ds at Sea World in CA.

 

[scojos]

I think i have convinced dh to go
of course i will let you know how i get on, i would love to share my experiences with you.
having a major fear of birds though, there will be no information on the avary
tracy

 

[squirrelgirl]

Jencav5 & Mazz1

Hi! I hope you are both still there??!! I saw this post a few days ago, just a couple of days after seeing a special on Orlando vacations for families on FLN tv (Fine Living Network..whatever that is??) They did a profile on DC...and that same week I saw your posts. I have a ds with HFA/ASD and I would love to know more about your experiences or recommendations. My dh & I just booked a trip to WDW today for the kids' fall break in Oct. I suggested he look at the DC website earlier this week, and call to speak with someone there. He was very impressed with their response and understanding about having a child like my ds participate. So...it looks like we are going to do this! AAAHHHH!

I have found that, sometimes, my son makes these has huge leaps in emotional/social/developmental when we do some extra-ordinary thing that and it resonates in a unique way beyond the day-to-day. The fact that they seem to "get" ASD; that they have perscription face masks so DH can "see snorkling; that my 11 y.o. dd will get to "swim" with a dolphin...I am just excited about the idea of all these things!

Anything else you can share or suggest is deeply appreciated!

 

[mazz1]

Jencav5 & Mazz1

Hi! I hope you are both still there??!! I saw this post a few days ago, just a couple of days after seeing a special on Orlando vacations for families on FLN tv (Fine Living Network..whatever that is??) They did a profile on DC...and that same week I saw your posts. I have a ds with HFA/ASD and I would love to know more about your experiences or recommendations. My dh & I just booked a trip to WDW today for the kids' fall break in Oct. I suggested he look at the DC website earlier this week, and call to speak with someone there. He was very impressed with their response and understanding about having a child like my ds participate. So...it looks like we are going to do this! AAAHHHH!

I have found that, sometimes, my son makes these has huge leaps in emotional/social/developmental when we do some extra-ordinary thing that and it resonates in a unique way beyond the day-to-day. The fact that they seem to "get" ASD; that they have perscription face masks so DH can "see snorkling; that my 11 y.o. dd will get to "swim" with a dolphin...I am just excited about the idea of all these things!

Anything else you can share or suggest is deeply appreciated!

i am so pleased that you have got booked, my biggest tip would be to book a early dolphin swim pref a morning time slot and to book a cabana for your own personal use, it is really great for getting out of the sun and for having a private place should your child need to take a break, especially good if he gets overstimulated

the bird aviary can be a little scary at first, the birds come down and eat from a cup in your hand and this freaked my little one so we had one grown up go in and take the feeding cup and once he had a bird he then inched towards the children so they could see it was perfectly safe and nothing to be afraid of after this he was ok

the ray pool is great, both my kids loved it, i would advise beach water type shoes as you shuffle in and the bottom is a little rough

the lazy river has one entry and one exit point and a life guard every few metres, we found that by having a sun lounger near the point of entry and exit we could allow our oldest a little more freedom she wore a float vest at all times so we felt confident to let her float along without holding onto her and we knew that when she got to the end she wouldn't panic as she could see us

the food is delicious and plentiful and the steel drums and music near the food place add to the peaceful tropical atmostphere, it's sedate and relaxing music which we enjoyed

we had the best day of our entire vacation and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend DC to others, the staff are knowledgeable and friendly and seem to want you to have a great a time as possible

the photos and dvd are not cheap but worth every $

i hope you have a great time Marie

if there is anything specific you need to know i will try to answer

here are some photos my brother in law took from the side, they position you so the best shots are taken by their own photographer in the water, we have great priceless photos framed and on display but these are a few my bil managed to get

this is my daughter

and here's my son, he got a massive cheer as it took him ages to get close to the dolpin

and this shows part of our group, there is my nephew, me, dh, james (slightly hidden from view) and my dd Jo with the yellow float vest and the dolphin and trainer, this shows just how up close you get, the white hats are the trainers and the white t shirts are the photographer and video person

 

[mazz1]

just wanted to add

if you choose the seaworld option tickets with you DC ones then i would highly recommend the penguin encounter, it's very reasonable i think about $20 each and great, you go backstage to tour through the care and feeding areas, it's informative and fun and the highlight for my son was getting to touch a penguin, it made his day as you can tell by the picture, he rarely smiles for the camera

a good tip would be to book for the hottest part of the day and then you are in the air con for a good part of the tour

here he is during the encounter march 07

 

[jencav5]

Jencav5 & Mazz1

Hi! I hope you are both still there??!! I saw this post a few days ago, just a couple of days after seeing a special on Orlando vacations for families on FLN tv (Fine Living Network..whatever that is??) They did a profile on DC...and that same week I saw your posts. I have a ds with HFA/ASD and I would love to know more about your experiences or recommendations. My dh & I just booked a trip to WDW today for the kids' fall break in Oct. I suggested he look at the DC website earlier this week, and call to speak with someone there. He was very impressed with their response and understanding about having a child like my ds participate. So...it looks like we are going to do this! AAAHHHH!

I have found that, sometimes, my son makes these has huge leaps in emotional/social/developmental when we do some extra-ordinary thing that and it resonates in a unique way beyond the day-to-day. The fact that they seem to "get" ASD; that they have perscription face masks so DH can "see snorkling; that my 11 y.o. dd will get to "swim" with a dolphin...I am just excited about the idea of all these things!

Anything else you can share or suggest is deeply appreciated!

We had our dolphin time in the afternoon and it was great! We spent most of our time floating around in the water, had lunch, and then did the dolphin experience. My son was afraid to go in the salt water snorkel area (with the real fish). He just stood at the edge and watched us. He was not afraid of the dolphins, though. He was also a little intimidated by the rays, but by the end of the day, he went in and finally touched one. We didn't go into the aviary, but we saw birds and trainers with birds along the fresh water snorkel. The fresh water was so warm, so we loved it in there! The salt water is a little cooler, so we had to get used to it. It was an overcast day the day we went, but it was warm. It was during March. Let me know if you have any other questions.