Introducing the idea of Disney to ASD child

[pddmom]

How do I introduce the "idea" of WDW to my DD 5 (PDD-NOS). She's verbal and moderate to high functioning (depending on the day, hour, minute). We're not going till November and my summer project is to make a picture book for her showing her the park and the hotel (poly.) and all the characters. My kids (dd 5 and DS 3) have absolutely no interest in the movies, tv shows, books. They know who Mickey Mouse is, but that's about as far as it goes.

I plan to work with her spec. ed teacher and OT on this also...do they ever get the idea of a vacation at this age and that it is suppose to be fun. She's a very good traveler, but does have issues with sensory overload, but for the most part is a very easy going kid. Just everytime I bring up the trip she just says NO!

 

[bookwormde]

My son was apprehensive when we took him at 7. This was general in some sense but below I offer a few things I found out through this adventure. By the way I think that trips to WDW are some of the best therapeutic experiences for our children (heading back in Aug. and buying into DVC).

I would first “explore” what the NO is about. While it is not always easy to get this type of detail (at least from my DS8 aspergers) there is generally some concrete basis for this NO, which with a little logical talk and additional information can be alleviated. This may be something that to you may seem inconsequential but for them is “deal breaking”.

If your child is not into the Disney characters, then look at what else WDW has to offer. Does your daughter have any areas of special interest, animals try animal kingdom, anything technical Epcot has some really neat displays and hand on, geography the international area can be a chance to travel the world in an afternoon, theater and acting try the studios.

Don’t assume that what you think is great about WDW will be what your daughter will find interesting. Those of us “on the spectrum” typically have different perceptions. WDW is still a great place for us, maybe even better than for average people, it is unlimited visual pallet for us to study and become immersed in. As I always speculate, I think many of the creative people at Disney have a little bit of the spectrum, so much of WDW in many ways is built just for us.

bookwormde

 

[disneydeb]

we constantly watched all of the pirates of the carribean movies in our house , so we went for halloween we saw about 100 jack sparrows at mnsshp but what fansinated my dgs the most? the castle! at the beginnig of all of the disney movies they show the castle, and zach always said, tinkerbells castle, well when he saw the life size castle all lit up he just stood there and stared at it for about 10 minutes! also hes a little afraid of the dark which we did not realize the first time we went wdw, so now i always bring glow sticks, around halloween time you can get a bag of 15 for about 5 dollars at walmart, and i always bring bubbles for meltdowns, we just move to a quiet place and play with bubbles til he calms down and then proceed, we have yet to be able to sit down at a restaurant for a dinner, so we just do counter service, and the other big thing was playing in ALL the fountains, trust me on this one, bring extra clothes, dont do commando style and have fun

 

[1stluvispooh]

I know you said that your kids have nothing to do with movies but I would at least have them "playing in the background" You would be surprised what they pick-up from just having them around. Or get some of the music and play that. Have you tried to show her the Disney website? We took the kids for the first time when DD was 3 and undiagnosed. I was surprised how she handled it. It took her a while to warm up to the characters but in the end Chip and Dale where her favorites when before going I don't think she knew who they were. As for her saying NO when you try and talk to her about it. DD was the same way she would not want to talk about anything unless it was going to happen in the next minute. In other words to her it may be that she is thinking that she has to stop what she is doing and is going to this strange place NOW. Be flexible and go with the flow

 

[tweedlemom]

Try the Disney Sing along Song DVD's! They're great for getting children acclamated to the characters, music and attractions at Disney!

 

[ericandliz]

We bought the Magic Kingdom board game- it's pretty fun and our DS loves games. It's become his favorite game and I think we've played it about 200 times in the past year-gahh! You can read some of the reviews of the game at Amazon and see if it is something your child may like. We also checked out a lot of YouTube videos of rides- some folks say this wrecks the surprise, but at our house, showing as much of a ride as possible is very helpful.

 

[kaffinito]

How do I introduce the "idea" of WDW to my DD 5 (PDD-NOS). She's verbal and moderate to high functioning (depending on the day, hour, minute). We're not going till November and my summer project is to make a picture book for her showing her the park and the hotel (poly.) and all the characters. My kids (dd 5 and DS 3) have absolutely no interest in the movies, tv shows, books. They know who Mickey Mouse is, but that's about as far as it goes.

I plan to work with her spec. ed teacher and OT on this also...do they ever get the idea of a vacation at this age and that it is suppose to be fun. She's a very good traveler, but does have issues with sensory overload, but for the most part is a very easy going kid. Just everytime I bring up the trip she just says NO!

Hi there! I had the same problem last year with my DS7 (ASD -He was only 6 when we went.) He doesn't like to go anywhere that is unfamiliar to him. I started showing him the websites with all of the pictures of the hotel on it, pictures of all of the rides and attractions, and I showed him my very detailed schedule. I also ordered the planning DVD from the website and let him watch it as many times as he needed to. Then he calmed down about the trip a little bit because it became more familiar to him. (It took me about three months of Disney overdose but it was worth it. When we got there he was fine and had a GREAT time.)

Even the lines were not that bad for him, I had him practice before we went, and I also brought one of those keychain flashlights that he could keep in his pocket for dark places, and he had his own fanny pack. Both of my boys (both ASD) can hardly wait to go back this year!

Good luck with your trip! I hope your DD gets use to the idea and starts saying "yes"!

Me: Mom
DS: (16)
DS: (7)


1975 - offsite
2007 - POR
2008 - (Sept) POFQ

 

[asdmom]

Hi -- we're in the same boat. We go shortly after Thanksgiving this year. We have 3 w/ ASD. The oldest (by then 10) I'm not too concerned about. She's very verbal and can tell us when something it bothering her. The next two (then 8 & 6), our boys, I'm concerned will be a different story -- their reactions to things that upset them are harder to deal with.

Anyway, to get to the point ... I'm going to be doing a picture book as well, but here are some other ideas I have: 1) Disney will send you a free travel planning DVD which will have lots of footage of rides, restaurants, shows, etc. It's not designed for spec. needs travelers, but just so your child can get a visual of it ahead of time. 2) Also we've found quite a bit of stuff on YouTube where people have filmed all sorts of things from their vacations to Disney, that's been great because we can show them the fireworks show, the parades, some rides are filmed, all sorts of things are on there. 3) You can create an itinerary and completely map out your day w/ rides, shows, etc., and then Disney will send you a map of just the attractions you want to see. (They're nice maps too.) So you tell your child ahead of time, next we're going to ____, show them on the map, and then hopefully can find a picture of what it is, or a movie on YouTube, etc. YOu have to go to the main disney website and register there then go into "My Vacation" and you can find your way to the itinerary section.

HTH!

 

[scojos]

if i could just chip in, ds has aspergers, this will be his 3rd trip, but 1st with diagnosis.
TGM is worth his wait in gold for us, to avoid lines and busy areas, he has detailed pictures, and there is a link to various things on his forum boards inc. detailed planning sheets.
if you are talented you could do it yourself, but im not
tracy

 

[letsgodisney]

Dear PDD Mom

I was once in your shoes. I too have a son with PDDNOS and I am happy to report that it is mild. He was afraid of everything.. His first trip to Disney was at age 3 and now he's 12 and we have gone back every year since. (even bought time share last year) I would definitely suggest the Disney sing along song videos but you also might want to check out The vacation videos that Disney offers when you call them at Disney themselves (check the number) It shows everything from rides to hotels water parks and more. It was a bonus and he loved it (and still does). Also you might want to check You Tube on line they have lots of videos of parades, fireworks and just about anything you might want them to see. It really does get them excited. Take it slow, remember to take breaks and have a wonderful time.

 

[lucigo]

Before our first trip I bought an old VHS movie on ebay that was a Disney Sing Along called Disneyland Fun. That seemed to help! We also watched a lot of Disney Channel, so its not too surprising that he loves the characters at Hollywood Studios.

After our first trip it became apparent that he DID NOT like the rides. They caused anxiety. So we started watching lots of rides on youtube to prepare for the 2nd trip. Not sure if it helped as much as the fact that it wasn't the first time, but he was still pretty anxious about most of the rides, although not quite as bad.

We also made him a scrapbook after the first trip on shutterfly with all of his favorite things so that we could talk about them before the 2nd trip. You could make a picture book pretty easily with all the pix you can find online. PM me if you want a link to my son's book.

The last bit of advice I have is more about once you get there. Don't be surprised if her favorite activity is nothing like what you expect it to be. If she wants to spend 30 min everyday sitting in the numbers at Pop Century (ok that was my son but YKWIM) take the time to let her have that. Walt Disney built the world for adults, and too many times I have seen parents shuffling their kids to what they want to do or what they THINK their kids want to do, totally ignoring the fact that their child really just wanted to feed the duck or smell the flowers, or play in the rocks at the gift shop (oops DS again LOL).

Good luck!!!

 

[disneyfool_1202]

My DS 4.5 has HFA / PDDNOS and we started talking about this trip around Christmas time (we're leaving in May). All we'd get was "no" - no no no and... um... no! I tried the movies, sing alongs, watching stuff on the travel channel... nothing worked. Then I remembered how much he loved rollar coasters at the local amusement park so I went onto you-tube and found clips of splash mountain and big thunder.... well I've managed to turn the no into a yes... BUT I completely forgot I'd have to prep him for the cruise we are taking (DCL) right before hand. So now we are back to "no" - but the other day I found pictures of the Mickey slide and now that's also a yes.

I find if I can relate something he loves to something about our trip he is much more excited about it.

 

[stampin_fool]

There are several videos of rides, parades, firework shows, etc on youtube that you could show her to help prepare her for what she will see. My son (high functioning autism) loves the video made by the history channel about Walt Disney World, sorry I can't remember the name of it but you could search for it on the history channel. There are also several shows coming up this week and next on the travel channel featuring Disney. Maybe if she watched these it would help.

Our first trip was when ds was 5 and he did much better than we expected. Before going he wouldn't go near Santa, Easter Bunny etc but while in Disney his favorite thing was to wait in line to get the character's autographs and photos with them. If you are unsure of her reaction to the characters you could try a character meal and explain to the handlers your daughter's situation and they will work with you. You may be surprised by her reaction once you get there because right now it is an abstract concept to her.

Hope this info is helpful. If you have any specific questions, please let me know, I would be happy to help you out any way I could.

Ronda

 

[brergnat]

I wouldn't worry too much about it, honestly. Your child sounds a lot like mine. He is all about "no, I don't like that" (whatever that is). I've sort of learned to stop asking him, and just doing things that I know he will like. For instance, instead of "do you want to go swimming", it's "we're going swimming now". He very emphatically did NOT want to go swimming this weekend, during a heat wave we were having. I pretty much made him go...of course, once we were there, he had a blast, and even swam for the first time on his own and wanted to go to the pool for the next 2 days in a row.

My point is, I think it is tough for these kids to understand future occurrences, and make sense of them, especially if it's something new to them, or something that they can't remember because last time they did it was a year ago (in our case with the swimming).

I would stop asking, and instead, just occasionally throw it into your conversations with her. Find things in "your" world that relate to the trip. If you're flying, next time you see a plane in the air, say "pretty soon we're going to get to fly on a plane when we go to Disney World". Start playing Disney music in the car. Turn on Playhouse Disney every once in awhile, even if they don't watch it. Mickey Mouse clubhouse and My Friends Tigger and Pooh are good for basic character introductions.

My boys are 3 and 2 and neither has EVER watched a Disney movie. Well, my oldest (with ASD) watched Cars a few times about a year ago, but not since.

We go to Disneyland often, and they both love it, even though they don't really understand its history or the stories behind the characters and rides they see. It's all eye candy, really. Your daughter will love WDW, don't fret. Disneyland is where my ASD son is most calm, believe it or not. All the stuff to look at, listen to, and grab his attention makes him just sit and take it all in. He has a great time at Disneyland. We are going to WDW in May 2009. Of course, when I try to get him interested, he's like "no, I don't like it". Today, I casually mentioned that WDW is like a "Giant Disneyland". THAT got his attention.