autism

[s&k'smom]

Just wonderfing if any parents with children diagnosed on the autism spectrum have been to WDW lately? We are planning on taking our soon to be two kids next October 2002. Our son will then be six and he is diagnosed with PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder), our daughter is due in six weeks. (Thats why we are not going this year!). Our favote resort is Wilderness Lodge and we are hoping to stay there. I've heard you can get a pass to hop to the front of the line but any other tips out there. We are waiting another couple of months to reserve the hotel just to make sure our son can handle it. We'll see. We are from the East Coast so it will only be a 3 hour flight. Thanks for any hints. PS this is a great web site.

 

[tammie]

hi.....we have a son with autism age 8 and he is non verbel name johnathan.....we been to disney twice with him.....last trip was in sept.....we are planning the next trip this sept with him..... we have a special stroller for him that i brought for him online....my stroller is allso like a wheelchair and my special pass does say on it that i use the stroller as a wheelchair.........and children with autism and special need children and grownup have no probem getting on the rides very quicky.....allso we had to bring my son food with us becouse they do not sell his food in floridia.........so if he like something special bring it with you........the charector are really good with children with autism..........we allso learn that the play area at amimal kingdom in the dug out is a great place for these kids......johnathan love playing and digging in the area........he could spend an hour there and not want to leave.........allso we take our son to sea world for a the day and he love the dolphin allot.....he love to pet them and watch them......we plan to go to sea world twice this year............has for the plane we brought a slinkky that johnathan play with and other toys he love.......allso play this the slinkky in the park and keep him happy..........if you have any other question just ask.............i hope i help......goodluck.............tammie

 

[teri]

Sure, we have been many times. There is a section in the new FAQ about helping sensitive kids have a good time - please feel free to check it out. Just click on the link in my signature.

 

[SueM in MN]

just wanted to welcome you and encourage you to ask as many questions as you need to after you look at teri's information. She's got a lot of good stuff gathered there.

 

[tammie]

hi....i am a parent of a son name johnathan that has autism and is allso non verbel......he is 8 and we made the trip down to wdw twice with him and we are planning going down in sept again.......we have a special stroller we use for him that my insurance paid for so he can handle disney.......we allso bring down johnathan food becouse they do not sell his food in the grociey store down there.........we get the special pass and they put on it that he has autism and the stroller is to be use has a wheelchair.... and that works great for me.......the charecters are wonderfull with johnathan allso.......we allso bring johnathan favorit toys down to disney that his busy while we walk around the park....he love a slinky that keeps him busy........we allso like going down during off season so the crowds are low and makes geting around the park easy for us and for him...........if you have any questions let me know and i will try to help......we allso are stay at the fw cabins so i can cook johnathan food without going to a foodcourt.......microwave is something i must have..............i hope this help.......goodluck tammie..............

 

[s&k'smom]

Great suggestions. I too will be packing my son's favorite foods. And I also heard of the pass to get help with the lines which will be a must for us. We took him when he was 1 1/2 before his diagnosis and when I look back I can see how certain things got to him. I will seriously look into the FW site, funny never thought of that. We found a transportation company that will make a grocery store stop and plan to pick up things there too. Lucky he loves to walk, really loves it but we also plan to rent a stroller (double). You can never plan to far ahead with Autism! It certainly makes life interesting. Sam has taught us so much, we think he'll have a good time especially at the water parks. Thanks again.

 

[momejay]

I'm a single mom of 2 with autism. I find a trip to Disney 10 times easier than a trip to the grocery store. I guess I'm lucky that all the stimulation actually calms my two. We take breaks when my son needs it most. He is addicted to swimming, so we take swim breaks in the afternoon. (this is also when the parks are most crowded so it's good to get away)
My son is non-verbal so he gets to wear a pin with his name on it. We can usually get them at the gift shop so it doubles as a souvenir. (not that we'd take our eyes off him, but he's sooo quick)
Get a GAC if you can it really helps! We try to use fast pass & we try to hit the most popular rides instead of going to the parade or fireworks.
Hope this helps!

 

[D L and K's Mom]

I have a darling little boy named David. Although David's primary diagnosis is not Autism he has many, many Autistic tendencies. A few things we do are. We also bring along the stroller and use the "special pass". We also rent a VCR for the room and bring along some of David's "comfort videos" so he will have some routine (we always watch a video before bed). David loves to "Rock" so we request a first floor room (can you imagine if there was a family below us....poor people) bed rails for the room. Because of some of Davids physical problems he is still in diapers so we ship down a case of diapers, wipes and snacks along with his nebulizer directly to the hotel so it is waiting there for us when we check in.Another thing that we have found to help is we go back to the hotel mid afternoon and take advantage of the pool. We are usually the only ones there. David has a special suit with floatation devices sewn right in so he just swims around at his leisure and enjoys the quiet. We have tried the pools later in the evening, but the crowds and the noise bother him. We have been to Disney quite a few times and have had a few little problems (The Hawiian Luau scared him to death..all the fire and the loud drums but he loved Fantasmic..go figure?!?).I have top say the CM's have always been wonderful. We have worked with a wonderful lady named Joey Freeman at special services in Disney and she has helped us make some special requests (early check-in so we are not waiting, the VCR, etc) Have a great time, relax and enjoy the trip!!

 

[saymama]

I am leaving tonight to go to Disney with my 2 boys that have autism.
I am so nervous that it's not funny. We are driving so we won't actually
get there until Monday, so this weekend I will be tied in knots.
I will let you know who it goes. Maybe even updates while there. We are
bringing a laptop, but don't know how dail-ups work there.

 

[s&k'smom]

Thanks everyone for the continued replies. I am saving all the replys for when I make our reservation this fall. saymama please reply to all of us when you get back and let us know how everything went. My son will be six when we travel and I feel better about it already. And we will definately need a vacation by then. I've told my husband if it can wait another year to be repaired it will have to wait. We need some disney magic. I just keep changing my mind on where we want to stay. I can't agree more about staying on the 1st floor too. No balcony's for us. And the afternoon break is the most important suggestion. We have always done that and what a difference it makes. My little PDD angel is behind me jumping up and down so I had better sign off. Thanks again everyone. I'm so glad I stumpled across the web page and I'm not the only disneyaholic. It's so nice to be able to discuss our kids and disney. PSmomejay I completely understand about the grocery store!!

 

[D L and K's Mom]

The first two times we went down to Disney we stayed at the Poly just so we would be on the monorail. It worked out GREAT!!! Hubby and DS and DD went to the parks in the morning, DS and I left when it started to get hot and crowded. Just hopped on the monorail and got off right at the hotel. It was so nice to just ride and get off at the door, no walking etc. We also really liked how quiet and tranquil it was there. Now that DS had been a few times he is getting used to the Disney Thing and we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge last time and this trip the BC in July. We also found that DS really enjoyed the baot ride tot he hotel, but unfortunatly it is a 2 parent thing..he enjoyed it too much and we both had to keep a hand on him so he would sit and not stand up!!! Good luck!!!!

 

[s&k'smom]

Just a couple more suggestions! About a month before we go anywhere overnight I make sure I don't wash our son's blanky or pillowcase. It is amazing how the familiar scent of home eases his anxiety. When we took our son to WDW we stayed at WL and stumpled across how to do a charactor breakfast. We made a reservation for one the last seatings it must have been around 10ish. Plus it was in the middle of the week during a slow time in WDW. Not only were we the only ones there but we had the charactors all to ourselves. The breakfast was at the WL. The low noise level really made a difference. We made the mistake of trying a charector breakfast at Crystal Palace and the accoustics were really rough on autistic ears not to mention ours! Work with your hotel to find out if they have a breakfast and when would be the quietest time to go. We got some priceless pictures. And boy was it nice not to fight a crowd or wait for the charectors to come by. I love swapping tips with you guys. Thanks for the Poly tips D & L's mom, that's my first choice for a hotel this time.

 

[SueM in MN]

Good ideas. Make sure to take the blankie and put it in a drawer or someplace safe during the day. I've read a couple of posts lately where kids blankies have gotten mixed up in the sheets when Housekeeping came.