EE at waterparks..

[scojos]

Can you very knowledgable people confirm that they do EE? (THats not expedition everest johnny
We have an autistic child so with GAC can do most rides quite easily but the water parks, which are of course his favs, were a nightmare last year due to queues (he struggles with close contact from anyone so the GAC was a god send, but they dont operate GAC system in water parks...
And is it worth doing EMH in other parks, only ever stayed off site before, TGM says avoid them even if staying on site, has anyone got any feedback for me??
thanks
tracy

 

[Shazzie B]

We were there end of August this year and the water-parks opened at 9am for Disney guests. Still some queses, but alot smaller. In July and early Aug I believe they do in the evening also-but if it's anything like the main parks the queues will be worse.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

With Joshua, who is also autistic, we have found the Disney water parks a big turn-off. We always have problems with them, although he loves water he either seems to just get hyper-active and over excited in the water or just hate every minute of it.
He is so much happier playing in the pool at a villa (we tend to do a split stay).

I wouldn't entertain going at a weekend, and if going during the week would wait till an hour or so after park opening and try then, the early build up will have subsided and it maybe easier.

As I am sure you will know with our special children it's sometimes difficult to predict how they will react, Joshua doesn't dislike crowds so much it's just a lack of patience if there are excessive queue's, hopefully you will have better luck than we do.

Also, slightly off topic, we have felt for some time the kiddie areas could be improved and updated, but that's just my opinion, hopefully Aquatica may offer something different.

As far as EMH goes , we have stayed off-site and on , I would recommened for Magic Kingdom, we had a great hour or so around Fantasyland last year using EMH got on everything without the need to queue.
To be honest we try not to use our GAC too much, if there is a small queue we encourage Joshua to be patient and just wait our turn and to be honest generally he is pretty good, it just depends on how long the wait is.

 

[lawlesslovewdw]

Hi Tracy. Our son is also autistic and hates crowds. The only really good times that we had on our last holiday were at TL. He really enjoys the water and the tidal wave and KC. He wont go on the big rides as they are too unpredictable. We have always avoided the water parks at weekends as the locals use them too, Monday always seems to be a good day. The earlier you arrive the better, some people manage all the rides before the majority of the crowds arrive.
The early morning emh at MK are good however the evening EMH are busy. We have done both and will go for am emh for rides.

You didnt say which part of aug you visted the later the better. Disney run the free ddp to encourage people in during the quiet spells which start the mid end of aug. We didnt really notice much increase in crowds in the parks during this period just really crowded resturants (we wont be doing the ddp again it was too busy and the waits were sometimes beyond belief, we had more than 1 meltdown, but hey if you dont try!)

 

[scojos]

we are going the 11th aug next year with the ddp. Josh has "funny" eating habits, last year we went to the golden coral and he had a HUGE ham salad, for breakfast!! I had to blackmail him to eat some donuts , not many kids out there like that, lol!!
he loves disney which is why we deprive ourselves through the year to pay for these holidays, much like many other people on the DIS I am sure, but this year we went AI to turkey, which was great for him, he could eat what and when he wanted, hence why we have taken the (FREE) ddp this year.
We were going to do a villa too Johnny, but think the advantage of staying on site (PORS), will be that we can get back quickly for down time if we need to. We have not done on site before, but will hire a car for quicker movement, the quoted time for on site movement seem long, and a crowded bus is not my idea of a good time, nor joshs.
Another question, if we have dinner at cm, can we leave the car there and go back to it after fireworks, or is that not allowed?
again, if we breakfast with stitch (has anyone done that if so whats it like?) can we leave the car there?)
thanks, still got loads of questions, but i am sure ill think of them slowly!!!
tracy

 

[scojos]

oh yeah, another question, with the 180 day ADRs are we allowed to book 180 days from our first day? ie will some of the reservations actually be 190 days in advance
tx

 

[Shazzie B]

Yes, that's what we did this year. Had to make a second call to book last 4 days though!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi Tracy,

If you have a dinner reservation at a Disney resort you can park for up to 3 hours there.

It's mainly for Joshua's sake we stay in a villa, he doesn't like restuarants that much so we have to stay in accomodation with cooking facilities, plus we do like the extra room and privacy - just means we can relax a bit more, do not always get the time at home.

The reason we do a split stay now is because we just find a 3 week stay in a villa too long, me and Julie want some entertainment in the evening for part of the holiday so I could go down for a drink in the evening or Julie could go to DTD on her own to do some shopping etc - if Josh doesn't want to go with us it's still means me and Julie have the option to go out.
Just gives our holiday a better balance, it's common for Joshua not to want to go out after 5pm or so, and on occasions we have been stuck in the villa more than we would like.
Next year's plan is better for solving that plus the villas we are staying at the Omni and SSR give Josh plenty to do too.

Hoping to get into the likes of Golden Corral ourselves next time, as I am sure you can appreciate we have to try and get past these little obstacles and hopefully a buffet-style restaurant may be a possibilty for us.

 

[DisneyJo]

We did EMH at BB 3 times this August, it was a bit of a struggle getting there at 8am but OMG so worth it we basically walked on all the rides we wanted to do (all of them except the 2 big ones) several times, went round the lazy river and swam in the pool and were done by 10.30am when most people were just getting there! TGM also has a best days for the water parks which is worth looking at

We're going 14th to 28th August next year!

You say you're going to use a car, remember that for MK you can only park as close as TTC then have to monorail or boat across the lake so it's often better getting the bus for that park

 

[scojos]

johnny, josh loved the golden corral, in fact we all did
food choices were great and staff amazing, we went to the 1 on 192, explained to the staff about joshs medical condiditions the first time and they were so good we ended up there probably 7 times, for bfast lunch and dinner in 2 weeks , josh just adored the omelette bar has he could have what he wanted the lady remembered him and did a special "smiley face" omelette with ham and cheese, and tomato just for him (the other 2 kids were quite green!!!
I apreciate that my josh and your josh have different problems, but the staff at the gc were amazing
would also recommend jt bbq place, food was amazing, staff very attentive and the bbq is in the middle of the restaurant, which isn t v busy, josh was fascinated watching them cook.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We did actually try and go in Golden Corral last year but he wouldn't get out of the car.
A shame because it does kind of restrict us and also is part of the reason we have never booked an ADR.
It's not shyness or anything he is friendly and affectionate towards anyone, he just doesn't like change from the routine.

Familiarity is a big thing for him, which is why for part of our holiday we stay in a villa at Indian Creek, if we drove past and went onto Windsor Palms (which is next door) he wouldn't be impressed!

We even have to stay at the villa for the last 2 weeks of the holiday, I am sure if he left there he would be reluctant to move onto staying somewhere else.
Hence our Omni/SSR stays are at the beginning.

Like you say our children are different.

 

[TinkTatoo]

...... josh loved the golden corral, in fact we all did ....

I have two children with autism and my DS Aodhan (10) loves Golden Corral. He says it's his favoutrie place to eat in Orlando. He loves fresh pasta and steak and at GC he can eat as much as he likes.

.....would also recommend jt bbq place, food was amazing, staff very attentive and the bbq is in the middle of the restaurant, which isn t v busy, josh was fascinated watching them cook.

Thanks for the tip - both DS and DD were fascinated when we ate at Japan in Epcot when they could see the chef preparing all the food

Going back to the water parks. Both our kids love them and we get there at opening time to get on as many rides as possible as they can't tolerate waiting later in the day when the lines are so long. I think if you can take advantage of EE at a water park it would really be worth it

 

[Shazzie B]

See you bright and early at the waterparks then-we're at Disney 15th-29th August 2008. I'll be wearing a Mickey Tankini-Emergency purchase following embarressing incident on Crush & Gusher-can't see me wearing it anywhere else than Disney!

 

[scojos]

See you bright and early at the waterparks then-we're at Disney 15th-29th August 2008. I'll be wearing a Mickey Tankini-Emergency purchase following embarressing incident on Crush & Gusher-can't see me wearing it anywhere else than Disney!

see you there