Long Flights

[CBMom01]

This is a bit more generic than Disney, but a thread in the Podcast forum touched this point:

Does anyone have experience doing long flights with older kids who have cognitive and/or emotional regulation issue that make long flights difficult? Not just talking about kids who get bored & cranky. More like the potential for true meltdowns. This is what keeps us going to Disney rather than more international travel

 

[podgirl]

This is a bit more generic than Disney, but a thread in the Podcast forum touched this point:

Does anyone have experience doing long flights with older kids who have cognitive and/or emotional regulation issue that make long flights difficult? Not just talking about kids who get bored & cranky. More like the potential for true meltdowns. This is what keeps us going to Disney rather than more international travel

Yes, we’ve been on long flights (to Asia) with our intellectually disabled son who also has dyspraxia (motor planning difficulties). The big problem has always been that he literally will not sleep on a plane, so it makes it difficult on us, as we can’t be sure what he will do if we fall asleep. He has had meltdowns in airports due to all the waiting around, but fortunately not on a plane. It’s definitely stressful, but worth it in the end to get to visit other countries.

 

[TioAdis78]

Coming to Disney is a four hour flight, and usually a six or seven hour ordeal for our two autistic children. Even the easiest flight is stressful, but it helps alleviate the stressful to plan ahead (videos, fidget toys, their favorite books, where to sit at the airport, on the plane, etc) and to announce your circumstances to everyone as you move along. Then, and this part makes some people uncomfortable to do, but people mostly react well when put in motion in a respectful yet firm manner:Tell every person in a position to help you, that your child has a condition and that any assistance they might provide will be forever appreciated. It's never 100% smooth sailing, but it helps and our flights in and out of Orlando, and elsewhere in the US.
Disney is the only place we go these days, though, not because of the flight itself, but because navigating other types of vacations grew increasingly difficult: these kids are not built for hikes, or for sight seeing of any kind, and as a parent it's very hard to relax and enjoy the scenery when every new place you visit is a potential location for a sensory meltdown.

 

[CBMom01]

Coming to Disney is a four hour flight, and usually a six or seven hour ordeal for our two autistic children. Even the easiest flight is stressful, but it helps alleviate the stressful to plan ahead (videos, fidget toys, their favorite books, where to sit at the airport, on the plane, etc) and to announce your circumstances to everyone as you move along. Then, and this part makes some people uncomfortable to do, but people mostly react well when put in motion in a respectful yet firm manner:Tell every person in a position to help you, that your child has a condition and that any assistance they might provide will be forever appreciated. It's never 100% smooth sailing, but it helps and our flights in and out of Orlando, and elsewhere in the US.
Disney is the only place we go these days, though, not because of the flight itself, but because navigating other types of vacations grew increasingly difficult: these kids are not built for hikes, or for sight seeing of any kind, and as a parent it's very hard to relax and enjoy the scenery when every new place you visit is a potential location for a sensory meltdown.

For what it’s worth, I can sympathize with your kids. I can’t sleep on planes. (Even under good circumstances, though I’ve never been fortunate enough to fly true first with a flat bed). It’s enough to cause anyone to have a meltdown on a long flight

 

[CBMom01]

Yes, we’ve been on long flights (to Asia) with our intellectually disabled son who also has dyspraxia (motor planning difficulties). The big problem has always been that he literally will not sleep on a plane, so it makes it difficult on us, as we can’t be sure what he will do if we fall asleep. He has had meltdowns in airports due to all the waiting around, but fortunately not on a plane. It’s definitely stressful, but worth it in the end to get to visit other countries.

That’s brave of all of you

I am thinking that the first time I will have to bite the bullet for first class because there’s more chance both of us could sleep. I know mine would wake me up if he started winding up but I worry about disrupting others.

 

[TioAdis78]

For what it’s worth, I can sympathize with your kids. I can’t sleep on planes. (Even under good circumstances, though I’ve never been fortunate enough to fly true first with a flat bed). It’s enough to cause anyone to have a meltdown on a long flight

I would totally spring for a first class seat with one of those beds if we could! We've lucked out in getting them to nap during takeoff and landing, which are really the two most complicated times!
As for me, I could sleep while standing up on a transatlantic train ride, to be honest

 

[CBMom01]

I would totally spring for a first class seat with one of those beds if we could! We've lucked out in getting them to nap during takeoff and landing, which are really the two most complicated times!
As for me, I could sleep while standing up on a transatlantic train ride, to be honest

Jealous. I once dozed for 15 minutes on a nice, reclining business class seat. Most I’ve ever slept on a plane

 

[supergirl04]

I think that was my post/question you’re referencing. Thanks!
We are within driving distance of WDW so we got here yearly. Would love to visit Disneyland but have no idea how to prepare for a flight. My son is nonverbal and has trouble waiting. The drive to Disney itself is an ordeal that we are just used to. Every trip is different.

 

[CBMom01]

I think that was my post/question you’re referencing. Thanks!
We are within driving distance of WDW so we got here yearly. Would love to visit Disneyland but have no idea how to prepare for a flight. My son is nonverbal and has trouble waiting. The drive to Disney itself is an ordeal that we are just used to. Every trip is different.

You are right. Quoted the wrong person

 

[AprilsZoo]

As for me, I could sleep while standing up on a transatlantic train ride, to be honest

That would be quite a trick!
(The transatlantic train ride, not the sleeping part…)

Add me to the list of people who can’t really sleep on a plane… even in first class. (Of course, I’ve only flown domestically— so in a lay-flat seat, it would maybe be different). I can catnap, but usually only 10 mins, tops… so it’s really more like just resting my eyes.