Help for child with autism?

[emmakatbaby]

Hi all

I am hoping someone knows an answer to my question. We are planning a family trip to Orlando for next summer (2 weeks long----Yeah!!!!) My brother has a son with autism. He does like crowds, loud noises, standing in line etc. The Disney parks allow him to get a Guest Assistance Card so he can avoid those situations. Does anyone know if Universal Studios has something similar? If not, my brother and his family will skip Universal Studios not to put his son in that situation. We probably will too because we want to experience all of Orlando together as a family

Thanks for all the great advice.

 

[damo]

I'm assuming there is a typo in the above post and you meant to say he does not like crowds, etc. Universal will definitely issue him a GAC card.

You may want to consider staying onsite since that allows you such flexibility, not to mention early entry and unlimited express passes for everyone in your party. That may be the easiest way to go.

 

[phamton]

They do have a Guest Assistant pass. You go to Guest Services for it. It is a card that you take to the ride and they will give you a return time for the ride so you don't have to wait in line. The return time can be as early as 10 minutes or one hour depending on the lines.

 

[dsmom]

they have a GAC like disney.

my son is severely autistic and LOVES universal -much more so than disney.

i have to say the employees at universal have gone above and beyond to

make his visits incredible.

 

[gshumaker]

So we too have a son with autism and will traveling to Universal next week for our first trip there. We decided to stay on site to take advantage of the express pass. What does Universal's "GAC" pass do for us over the express pass? He too has a hard time with crowds and lines like the OP's nephew.TIA!!

 

[cuches]

I too have a child with autism. She tolerates crowds and lines that don't exceed a half an hour. Loud noises are ok if they are not sudden and unexpected. from my research they do have a GAC but not as good as WDW.....at WDW you can always either go through the FP lane or the ride exit but at UO and IoA if the line exceeds a certain time they will give you a time to come back but some of our kids might not understand this and just think you're leaving the ride they want to go on and BOOM meltdown. This is why we chose to stay onsite for the fotl perk. I am nervous as this is her first time venturing away from her beloved Disney but we think the rides at IoA are more her speed now that she is older. How many times can we do RNRcoaster?

Another thing that helps our DD when we notice her anxiety level up is having some distractors with us....her favorites include her mp3, holding her Mardi GRAS beads or her koosh ball. She tends to relax when her mind is not solely focused on what is bothering her. We carry a small bag of tricks like that pretty much everywhere and it has been a lifesaver more then once.

Enjoy ur trip!
Tina

 

[emmakatbaby]

I'm assuming there is a typo in the above post and you meant to say he does not like crowds, etc. Universal will definitely issue him a GAC card.

You may want to consider staying onsite since that allows you such flexibility, not to mention early entry and unlimited express passes for everyone in your party. That may be the easiest way to go.

Yes, I did mean to say he does not like crowds or waiting for anything.

Thanks to all for the great advice. I knew I could count on the dis boards for the right answer. I called UO and they acted they did not know what I was talking about. Thanks Disers!!!

 

[dsmom]

if you are staying on property with the express pass you probably will not need the GAC - we never do when we stay at PB or RPR.

We gave up on disney because the GAC was not very consistant- at one ride they would tell us one thing and at another ride they would tell us something else- the final straw was when one worker told us there was nothing wrong with our son when we showed the GAC and he told us to get in the regular line with everyone else.

I'll never forget on our son's first ride on Cat in the Hat. He was really scared and the girl working the line could see this. She took his hand and talked to him very quietly and took him around through the shop and let him get on there. He ended up loving the ride but I'll never forget how sweet she was to
him. There was a great gentleman on Disaster also that let him bypass the front part of the ride and let us load the vehicle ahead of everyone.

On one visit our son lost his owl stuffed animal so we went to lost and found to report it. The guy we talked to told our son he was sleeping and to come back later. He then took our son to the Universal gift shop and told him to pick out any animal he wanted to keep owl company. He picked out a big Scooby Doo and they gave it to him at no charge. The next day they found owl. I said I would pay for Scooby but they would not let me. We have had numerous occasions like this and have to say we love Universal and everyone who comes in contact with our son has been outstanding.

 

[phamton]

On one visit our son lost his owl stuffed animal so we went to lost and found to report it. The guy we talked to told our son he was sleeping and to come back later. He then took our son to the Universal gift shop and told him to pick out any animal he wanted to keep owl company. He picked out a big Scooby Doo and they gave it to him at no charge. The next day they found owl. I said I would pay for Scooby but they would not let me. We have had numerous occasions like this and have to say we love Universal and everyone who comes in contact with our son has been outstanding.

Ahhh...what a sweet story.

 

[spacepixie2]

wow what great experiences and understanding there is at UO/IOA. We will hopefully be going this spring and have a family member with similar issues