Autism & WDW hotels

[Deb286]

Thank you all for all the great advice for this trip and good ideas for accommodation which I'll definitely consider if we're lucky enough to be able to come again.

Since you mentioned you're going to the doctor, our story: When the meltdowns began to change for the worse (age 6.5), we did a sleep study with overnight EEG and discovered that she has a serious form of epilepsy and wasn't having a sleep structure - she was having subclinical seizures almost all night, every night, which was seriously exacerbating behavior issues during the day (I can't imagine behaving nicely when seriously sleep deprived). There are disorders that start at different ages, such as this one. She's now being treated with major anti-epileptics and it has helped daytime behavior tremendously. Anyway, it took way too many doctors before someone believed me about the behaviors getting much worse. It helped me to keep a log of meltdowns and show it to her doctor so they would take me seriously. Also, definitely note any regression or stagnation in educational goals as that is a excellent indication that something new is happening. I hope you have a fabulous vacation.

This is interesting thank you. My son has had an EEG, but the doctors were looking for absence seizures so wasn't done overnight. No one's ever mentioned him having a sleep study. I think I learn more from other parents and their experiences than I do from the specialists!

 

[lanejudy]

I think I learn more from other parents and their experiences than I do from the specialists!

oh so true about many diagnoses!

 

[kaytieeldr]

evening: parks. We never hit the parks early in the day

Are you aware of the new After 12 tickets?

 

[DLgal]

Are you aware of the new After 12 tickets?

We use the Armed Forces Salute tickets. They are already the best discount tickets in existence.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Gotcha!

 

[sharadoc]

Really, the best thing you can probably try to move over to a Fort Wilderness Cabin. Barring that, don't let the complainers get you down. They can ask to be moved it they're too disturbed.

I was going to mention this as well. My son is now 24 but he could never stay in a regular hotel room, that in itself caused major anxiety. We learned that a cabin or villa was much better, he had a living room, a couch, a kitchen for his foods that he likes. We have done one or two nights in a regular room and he's been okay but we could never do it for longer.

We love a cabin because there is no issue with noise around the walls, floors or ceilings. And he can jump around and make noise as much as he wants and we don't have to shush him. It gives him the ability to be the "same" at Disney as he is at home.

My son isn't bothered as much by other noises so we can use a villa, we like OKW because those rooms are bigger and we can park close to the room and not have to run through hallways. He does have an issue with too many crying babies, so that's a bit of an issue when we're in the parks but we have been able to manage.

Good luck! It can be stressful but hopefully you can manage.

 

[sharadoc]

My 23 year son has autism and a seizure disorder and just completed his 23rd trip to WDW. We have had great days, tough days and 2 spectacular meltdowns in DHS and BB. I agree call Disney and explain your situation and ask for a room at the end and no connecting door. Also consider ground floor so he can get out on the grassy area if needed. For our guy the key is planning, together we plan each day in sections ie morning park time, afternoon break at the pool or water parks, evening dinner and return park visit or just down time at hotel. My son takes a low dose of Prozac and it works very well. Have a great time

Wow my 24 year old son is the same! Autism and seizure disorder that started when he was 16. We feel the seizure meds create more anxiety and so then we medicate when necessary against the anxiety. We'll be bringing it all to Disney on our next trip. We have had meltdowns too where he laid on the ground in Tomorrowland screaming No. We had to pick him up by his legs and arms and put him to the side.

 

[just stella]

Really, the best thing you can probably try to move over to a Fort Wilderness Cabin. Barring that, don't let the complainers get you down. They can ask to be moved it they're too disturbed.

This is really not a great line of thinking and one I hope OP does not subscribe to. "The complainers" could be parties like mine who have noise sensitivities in their group, and may have great difficulty and upset of their own during disturbances. Let's not think of others as just "the complainers", but those who may have SN of their own.

 

[kaytieeldr]

OP is caring, and concerned with bothering others.

GF, where their reservation is, has only adjoining rooms. Even end rooms adjoining to one room on the same floor and at least one room above or below.

My first suggestion was to move to FW Cabins, which are each freestanding, e.g. no common walls.

My next suggestion - "Barring that..." means it they can't or won't change resorts, here is an alternative suggestion.

For whatever reason neighbors don't like or are bothered by or can't tolerate or can't stand the noise, whether they knock on her door or stomp on the floor or pound on the wall or ceiling or notify the resort, by taking any action they are the complainers. They can ask to be moved.
OP
Even as considerate as she is, OP should be concerned with only her family.

 

[maxiesmom]

OP is caring, and concerned with bothering others.

GF, where their reservation is, has only adjoining rooms. Even end rooms adjoining to one room on the same floor and at least one room above or below.

My first suggestion was to move to FW Cabins, which are each freestanding, e.g. no common walls.

My next suggestion - "Barring that..." means it they can't or won't change resorts, here is an alternative suggestion.

For whatever reason neighbors don't like or are bothered by or can't tolerate or can't stand the noise, whether they knock on her door or stomp on the floor or pound on the wall or ceiling or notify the resort, by taking any action they are the complainers. They can ask to be moved.
OP
Even as considerate as she is, OP should be concerned with only her family.

Wow. I usually agree with you, but not on this at all. No one should be expected to tolerate someone pounding on the walls or ceiling, or stomping on the floor. And the OP gets major kudos from me for doing their best to make sure their family isn't doing such things. It is great the OP is concerned with others. And I honestly think it is on the family who may do such things to do whatever they can to stop or lessen the impact.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Wow. I usually agree with you, but not on this at all. No one should be expected to tolerate someone pounding on the walls or ceiling, or stomping on the floor.

Nope. Apparently I wasn't clear. I meant the disturbed neighbors reacting to the noise the OP's son will probably make. She's being greatly considerate. I still maintain she should, if possible, switch to the cabins (or, like a PP suggested, the Treehouses.) Voila! No abutting neighbors to be disturbed.

But if she can't or won't, the neighbors can and should ask to be moved. Doesn't matter if they're just annoyed, or if they have their own issues like the noise-sensitive poster to whom I responded. They should ask to be moved.

 

[Lilsia]

Nope. Apparently I wasn't clear. I meant the disturbed neighbors reacting to the noise the OP's son will probably make. She's being greatly considerate. I still maintain she should, if possible, switch to the cabins (or, like a PP suggested, the Treehouses.) Voila! No abutting neighbors to be disturbed.

But if she can't or won't, the neighbors can and should ask to be moved. Doesn't matter if they're just annoyed, or if they have their own issues like the noise-sensitive poster to whom I responded. They should ask to be moved.

I don't agree that the innocent party(those who are being disturbed) should be the ones with the hassle of moving. If I was travelling with young children and have unpacked and settled into the room, and another guest is being loud and disruptive, I would not want to pack back up and move to another room. And that room may or may not be in as good of location. Heck, even if I was travelling alone, I would not want to waste my time packing back up and moving when I have done nothing wrong. The OP is being considerate in not wanting to disturb others. The occupants who are causing the issues are the ones that should be moved if it comes down to that.

 

[DisneyOma]

For whatever reason neighbors don't like or are bothered by or can't tolerate or can't stand the noise, whether they knock on her door or stomp on the floor or pound on the wall or ceiling or notify the resort, by taking any action they are the complainers. They can ask to be moved.

Even as considerate as she is, OP should be concerned with only her family.

Wow. So everyone should just be concerned with themselves? Wouldn't that make the people who you labeled "the complainers" not really complainers at all, and just people being concerned with their own family?

Luckily, the people who are moved usually get a better room than the one they were leaving due to disruptive neighbors.

 

[kaytieeldr]

To everyone attacking my options (and it is an attack). No. FIRST the extremely concerned OP should consider moving to a resort with freestanding units, so as to avoid disturbing any neighbors.

Barring that - in other words, if that is not possible for whatever reason - the OP should be concerned about her family.

There is absolutely no point in advising the OP to ask for a room change. Any other room in the entire resort will still have people in adjoining rooms, whether next door or upstairs or downstairs.

Therefore, the disturbed guests (yes, complainers, no, not with any disparagement intended - merely a brief description) would be the ones requesting a room change...by complaining to the resort about the noise and asking to be moved.

Now, what better suggestions do you all have for the OP?

 

[lanejudy]

In the hotel world, the party who contacts management about loud neighbors is more likely to be the group who is moved. Is it disruptive to the room being moved? Yes. But it likely is easier and quicker to get that party into a quieter room than to try and deal with the noisy room. That's just how hotel management works.


Now back to suggestions for OP:

I applaud OP for being considerate and thinking of impact to others. A house offsite might be the best option in the future, or a stand-alone unit such as @kaytieeldr suggests. However, since those are not an option at this time, I suggest calling the Disabilities line and explaining the request for "few neighboring units" - they may be able to word it in a way that the room assignors will understand. Maybe. I'm not familiar with the GF so I have no specific recommendations other than that. Top floor or bottom floor will eliminate one set of neighbors; at the end of a hallway would eliminate another. Asking for a "quiet" location may well put the OP in an area with neighbors who would be particularly disrupted, if they also requested "quiet area."

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[bookwormde]

While all of our kids are different I would offer a few suggestions/thoughts:

Around 8 demands are ramping up so more stress and related meltodwns are quite common

WDW is a very differnt set of circomstances form homelife particularly since the "school" stresses are not there, and as parents we have a much better opportunity to "listen" to our kids as they self advcate if we take the approach that there are no must does. With that said, having more space than a tyical hotel room can be quite helful so a DVC villa or cabins can offer much better opportunites to manage sensory issues if that is a contributing factor.

I do understand your concern about others, but a meltdowns are just part of ASD and the public is slowly understanding at some level, so to not make that your primalry concern, especially since the sience is begining to more fully apriciate that many of our kids are hyper emapthic when it comes to caregivers and have difficulty differniating between their own emotions and that of others so it can be a hidden trigger. I guess I am saying try to relax and do not make ASD a driving factor, beyond common sense (yes i hyerplanned our fanilies first coulple of trips before I figured out that being relaxed myself was the best enviroment our son could have.

As and FYI we became DVC members to have extra space for when we had enough of the parks, athough now renting DVC is so much easier I might have done that, Of course since limited ASD diet was also a big factor.

Whatever you decide try to relax and enjoy your vacation

 

[ladyjubilee]

Thank you all for all the great advice for this trip and good ideas for accommodation which I'll definitely consider if we're lucky enough to be able to come again.



This is interesting thank you. My son has had an EEG, but the doctors were looking for absence seizures so wasn't done overnight. No one's ever mentioned him having a sleep study. I think I learn more from other parents and their experiences than I do from the specialists!

Did he have a stay in Epilepy Monitoring with continuous EEG? If so, the doctors might not push for a sleep study as the results will be similar....and sleep study may not work for your family. After my son's last EMU stay, they recommended a sleep study, but only certain places can do pediatric sleep studies....and it turned out even the pediatric sleep study location in our area was not set up for the needs of a severely autistic aggressive child. Ultimately, none of the facilities could do a sleep study for my son.

 

[cobright]

Not to jump on this thread a month after its sailed or anything but from a practical advice standpoint there's at least one thing you can do that helps...

I have a particular anxiety disorder that often results in night terror episodes. It's much better now but prior to one trip to WDW a few years back I got concerned about neighboring rooms, and hit upon a bit of a fix.

A memory foam mattress topper for a king sized bed is about $50. A strip of canvas can be glued with contact cement across the top edge and they can be cut to fit the wall as needed. Holding them up can be done with command adhesive hooks (use a lot of them) or small T-Pins. If you use pins, push them in at a 45 degree downward angle. When you pull them out just push inwards against the wall all around the little hole and it will collapse and blend in with the wall texture. Or a simple frame can be built using PVC pipe and fittings like a photographer might have for their backdrop cloth.

I've tested this in hotels with joining rooms (so I could be on the other side of the wall) and it makes a very noticeable difference.

It is a bit of a hassle. An average size room needs 2 or so king sized foam mats to make a difference. Memory Foam is heavy, actual soundproofing foam for studio recording it much lighter and works better but ends up being more expensive and harder to find. And getting it packed back into luggage can be a Kafkaesque nightmare.

But it does help.

 

[DrunkJam]

Hi,
I just wanted to add in our experience, my son is autistic, and, actually, his meltdowns were LESS at WDW than they were at home.
I am not belittling, or saying there will be no problems, and you have been given some advice etc, but, we travel from the UK too, and I just wanted to say that minus a few bumps, and given planning, he was actually much calmer in WDW, and more able to cope with changes. I wonder if it is because he associated the place with positive. I mean, of course we did all the usual no long queues (sensory overload) DAS, stop when it was too much etc
I guess, just offering additional hope. CM s were also super helpful if he was ever anxious or if we didn't know something (the tiniest thing may become CRUCIAL to know for him, I'm sure you get it)

 

[lapola]

Walt Disney World Resort offers a host of services to help Guests with cognitive disabilities—including those on the Autism Spectrum—maximize their Resort experience.