GAC- yes another one.

[Julia Says]

I have looked through the info on the sticky and read several GAC question threads, but still did not find an answer to this one specific question (did find lots of other great info that will help us though).

My 5 yo has autism and is sensory-defensive in some situations (particularly with loud noises). He is over 40" tall, so is tall enough to ride most rides. However, there are some rides that despite being tall enough for, are not appropriate for him. From what I understand, the child-swap is only for children that are not tall enough to ride. Would we be able to get a GAC provision to allow us to do child-swap on rides where it is available?

One other not directly related to the GAC: we bought DS a pair of noise-reducing headphones. Will he be allowed to wear these on rides?

Thanks!

 

[bookwormde]

I can not see why there would be any problem with doing a child swap as needed. If the headphones are an accomidation for a disability and do not pose a significant safety risk then there should be no problem there iether. The best thing is jsut to explain the situation to the CM.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

There is no such thing as "child swap". It is actually "rider swap" and is for when there is a person in a group who will not be riding and cannot be left alone. I have seen rider swaps done when the non-rider is old and in a wheelchair with a medical condition which will not allow riding but the family does not want the individual to be alone.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

You can use rider swap for guide dogs, I'd be willing to bet if you explained it things would be fine.

 

[SueM in MN]

You can use rider swap for people who are tall enough to ride.
I have been the swapped person for something my DD ( who is disabled) wanted to ride with DH and I was not riding, but needed to assist with transfers. You do not need a GAC to do that.

If you are asking to use the GAC for your son who is not riding, they may have accommodations you can use for him as a non-rider. In general though, the GAC is for use by the person whose name is on the GAC ( in your case, your son), for attractions that person will be going on. So, they very well may not let you use it at all if he is not riding.
Your best bets would be to get to that park early to do those rides or use Fastpass to shorten your wait.

For the earphone question, I know he would not be ablero wear them on Soarin (even light hats are not allowed there) and I expect he would not be allowed to wear them on turbulent rides like roller coasters.
The ride CMs would be the final decision makers at each attraction though. It is possible that the greeter CM could agree and the CM doing loading might not agree.

 

[mcissel03]

We just got home from Disney and we did the rider swap. My 10 year old is tall enough to ride all rides but because of his cerebral palsy and other conditions, some rides he didn't want to do. They never denied this and actually offered it every single time we were in that situation.

 

[Julia Says]

Somewhere along the way I got the impression that the rider swap was only for kids too small to ride- I'm not sure why, but I'm glad to be corrected. That's one less thing for me to worry about! Thanks, all!

And I am very carefully planning our fastpass strategy to make sure we avoid as many long lines as possible. Luckily we are all morning people and will be doing rope drops every day.

 

[OneLittleSpark]

For the earphone question, I know he would not be ablero wear them on Soarin (even light hats are not allowed there) and I expect he would not be allowed to wear them on turbulent rides like roller coasters.
The ride CMs would be the final decision makers at each attraction though. It is possible that the greeter CM could agree and the CM doing loading might not agree.

Can he wear earplugs, or are these too much to cope with? If he can cope with using them every now and then, you could carry a few pairs of re-usable foam earplugs around with you, that he could put in if he can't use his headphones. You could also use them for extra protection, if he needs it during very noisy things, such as fireworks (i.e. earplugs and headphones together).

Good luck!

 

[Julia Says]

Can he wear earplugs, or are these too much to cope with? If he can cope with using them every now and then, you could carry a few pairs of re-usable foam earplugs around with you, that he could put in if he can't use his headphones. You could also use them for extra protection, if he needs it during very noisy things, such as fireworks (i.e. earplugs and headphones together).

Good luck!

Unfortunately, no- at least not at this point. I can't take the risk of him taking one out and swallowing it- he still puts things in his mouth. And he wouldn't let me put something in his ears anyway.

He'll just cover his ears with his hands if he can't wear his headphones. That's what he usually does, anyway.