Dining with a child with Autism...

[peterpanandwendy]

Hi everyone! I wanted to hear folk's anecdotal stories or tips about how you dine with your child with autism while in Disneyland? I have had a TON Of good advice about the Disability pass and stuff... what I'm wondering now is about the general day to day stuff...

Here is my plan... I am opting to not make any reservations for anything fancy. I just have no clue when my daughter will be "on", and when she will be "off", and I don't want to have to cancel a reservation last minute. We are planning to stick to mostly CS places where we can make a quick getaway if we need to, or take the food some place quieter. Thoughts about this?

The only meal I plan on reserving is the RBT Fantasmic! Package so that we can have good seats for the show. I know my 7 year old will love the show, so even if my daughter can't handle it and one of us has to take her away at least two of us will get to watch the show, lol.

WOC dessert package is out for me, as it is not worth it to pay $80 per person only to have to take her away if she can't handle it. (And I would feel TERRIBLE if she disrupted someone else's $80/person evening).

I do plan on bringing lots of her favourite snacks, and her cup that she likes to use.

Any other thoughts or suggestions? Parents of kids with autism, what do you think? Do you have anything else to add?

 

[Butterfly123]

When my son on the spectrum was young and we had more behavioral issues we always made sure to stay at a close hotel on Harbor. We often stayed at the Camelot because the family suite had a small dining table. We would take mealtime breaks and go back to the hotel most of the time for sandwiches or other easy meals. We would stop and pick up food at Von’s before we checked in. He really just needed some down time from all the stimulation, and it made the park time much easier to handle. It saved us a bundle of money, too. We still did snacks and the occasional meal...we just took our cues from him.

 

[peterpanandwendy]

Thank you! Yes, we are booked at the Tropicana, because I also figured it would be best to be as close to the hotel as possible. Can you tell me where Von's is? Would I need to take a taxi? We are flying into LAX and taking the DisEx, so I won't have a vehicle. Would it be worth it, do you think, to get a cab to get groceries? I know the Tropicana has a small shop at the bottom for milk and breakfast stuff etc...

 

[Butterfly123]

I know you can get groceries delivered. I’ve never done this because we drive in...I’m sure others can give you more information. The Von’s we go to is on Chapman...too far to walk, probably. There is a 7-11 on Harbor that’s walking distance. Also there is a Target not too far...maybe also a little far to walk. There are probably more grocery options, we are just used to stopping at Von’s on Chapman. Uber is also an option...not sure if a Taxi or Uber would be cheaper.
Honestly, I would consider a delivery. I’m not sure what your daughter likes to eat, but sometimes some familiar food is a nice thing with so much out of routine things going on!

 

[nikkislaght]

we just got back from our 9th trip.. so is now 13 , he will eat at the same restaurant each trip.. we are now at the point were we can do a nice sit down meal, but still need to get the meal over as fast as possible. he will only eat at a place he knows, when went to the Blue Bayou and it was a disaster ! so back to the Rocket Pizza for the rest of the trip. he did try something bran new this trip , a cheeseburger.. he said it was ok.. we take plenty of our own snacks with us.. and will eat back at the hotel if need be.

 

[ErinTwinmom]

Each kid is different, I don’t worry as much about where mine would like to eat because 9 times out of ten what they would really find comforting is there school lunch box packed with something familiar and then the rest of us can eat any where we like, and everyone is happy.

 

[peterpanandwendy]

I know you can get groceries delivered. I’ve never done this because we drive in...I’m sure others can give you more information. The Von’s we go to is on Chapman...too far to walk, probably. There is a 7-11 on Harbor that’s walking distance. Also there is a Target not too far...maybe also a little far to walk. There are probably more grocery options, we are just used to stopping at Von’s on Chapman. Uber is also an option...not sure if a Taxi or Uber would be cheaper.
Honestly, I would consider a delivery. I’m not sure what your daughter likes to eat, but sometimes some familiar food is a nice thing with so much out of routine things going on!

I looked into delivery, but I would need an American credit card We are Canadians. So delivery is not an option for us, sadly.

 

[Butterfly123]

I looked into delivery, but I would need an American credit card We are Canadians. So delivery is not an option for us, sadly.

Oh no! That’s so frustrating. Maybe some fellow Canadians can hop in with some ideas.

 

[peterpanandwendy]

Yeah, I hope so too The dining thing is the only thing I'm sort of stressing out about about the trip. For the most part she is okay, but I really don't want to be running back to the hotel all the time, lol. I guess we will have to play it by ear a bit. I think I will look into Uber or a cab to pick up some stuff when we get there on the first day. It might save some headache later on. The idea of packing lunches she knows is a good one, incase we can't find something she will eat. A simple peanut butter and jam sandwich will usually suffice.

 

[Butterfly123]

I’m sure you will have a great trip. For my son the meal breaks helped to give him a calm quiet break from all the stimulation, and the food was a familiar comfort. Disneyland became my sons really happy place...I hope your daughter loves it, too!

 

[lalasmama]

Semi-dining related... A few months ago, we had a thread going on "quiet places" around Disneyland. Unfortunately I don't remember the title of the thread, but if you look through the pages, I'm sure you can find it--I think it was pretty obvious in the title. At any rate, many quiet places would be good meal areas, as well as good kid-recharging areas.

My daughter isn't on the spectrum, but at her first trip (8 years old) we were in the middle of the ASD workup. We had one really bad meltdown (other kids too close and she didn't want to take turns on the video games in what was Innoventions at that time). So, my only (duh!) reminder is watch for your child's known triggers, and get to a calm place when you can to try to avoid/prevent/minimize child-stressing behaviors. In our case, I was left to carry a 50 pound, overstimulated, screaming 8yo outside and to a quiet place where we could do "tight hugs" until she could re-center.

Like you're planning, we did lots of counter service and quick service meals so we could easily get food she liked (without anything gooey).

 

[peterpanandwendy]

Semi-dining related... A few months ago, we had a thread going on "quiet places" around Disneyland. Unfortunately I don't remember the title of the thread, but if you look through the pages, I'm sure you can find it--I think it was pretty obvious in the title. At any rate, many quiet places would be good meal areas, as well as good kid-recharging areas.

My daughter isn't on the spectrum, but at her first trip (8 years old) we were in the middle of the ASD workup. We had one really bad meltdown (other kids too close and she didn't want to take turns on the video games in what was Innoventions at that time). So, my only (duh!) reminder is watch for your child's known triggers, and get to a calm place when you can to try to avoid/prevent/minimize child-stressing behaviors. In our case, I was left to carry a 50 pound, overstimulated, screaming 8yo outside and to a quiet place where we could do "tight hugs" until she could re-center.

Like you're planning, we did lots of counter service and quick service meals so we could easily get food she liked (without anything gooey).

Thanks! Yeah, we LOVE to take a few sandwiches over to Pirate Lair Island and sit in the shade and let the kids free for a little while away from crowds and noise. That is probably one of our favourite ways to enjoy some quiet time. I also have a gorgeous photo of my daughter from 4 years ago when she was only a year and we found solace on the Mark Twain. There was this lovely cabin with plush seating and we hung out there and it was perfect, plus I think the noise and the movement of the boat helped to calm her

I will look into that other thread and see what other suggestions are available!

 

[ebharris]

Re: being Canadian, if your city doesn’t have Uber or Lyft sign up for both about a week before you go and you should receive first trip promos. Also, keep in mind that you will need to have data (or be on wifi) to access both.

For Von’s you shouldn’t need a US credit card. You should be able to use a Canadian card, and where it asks to enter your Zipcode put in “00” and then the 3 numbers in your postal code. Let me know if that works!

Good luck!