Johnny, would you mind me asking how your little boy got on.
I am hoping to bring my nephew (And his parents!) out next May for a break.
My lovely nephew will be six, has autism and is pretty much non verbal.
He is pretty good in new environments, in fact he interacts much better than whn he is in his home town. But DLP is a bit busy!
Also, did you have to get him a ticket? (Not bothered about that really, but wondered if autism counts as a disability)
PM me if you'd rather.
Sure, glad to help.
He was fine, loved it. The reason we tried DLRP is having been to Florida 12 times, 7 with him, the travelling is just too tiring and he has fallen ill a couple of times on the plane - so it's just not worth the stress and worry.
He was happy all through the holiday and his general outlook and behaviour benefited from not having to endure the long flights.
The Eurostar was great, he was fine and in 2 hours you are there - well we have a long drive to Ashford, but we had an overnight stay there before and after the holiday.
It's not a substitute for Orlando but given the location is a better option for us now.
The big advantage is everything is closeby, you are at the parks in 5 minutes and the shopping malls are good too and just a short train journey away.
As for the parks they were extremely busy, though he copes very well with them I probably wouldn't go in August again, it was packed. That said he wasn't really bothered by them.
There were a few ignorant people who bothered
me, but he wouldn't really be aware of that.
The EAC (easy access card) we got from Guest Services just inside the park.
His autism is definitely a disability. It's a must have.
It was like a green leaflet with information on and the CM put a black Mickey stamp on it , there are different coloured leaflets depending on the disability.
Some of the rides like Pirates Of The Caribbean are marked with an R, which means you have to speak to the CM and get a time to go on the ride, like a fastpass, but usually you can go straight on.
The rest are unmarked.
As the queue's were heavy most rides we went through the exit, or disabled entrance and just showed our pass to the CM, generally they were friendly and helpful.
If the crowds aren't heavy we would much prefer to queue like everyone else does, but most of the time it was too busy, if it hadn't been for the EAC we wouldn't have been able to go on many of the attractions, it was essential we had it.
Some rides like Peter Pan and Pinnochio only have one car for disabled guests, so if someone is on the ride you may have to wait till they come back.
We did hear having talked to other UK couples reports of queue jumping but with using the disabled entrance rarely witnessed it.
Overall he had a great time, dined out in restaurants which he has never really done before, settled well in the hotel (which was a worry as we have only done self catering in the past) and with the climate not being too intense heat wise it meant we stayed longer at the parks than we would have done at WDW.
Julie was very keen to go again, so that's why we booked.
Any more questions let me know.
