My child is LOUD in the hotel room....what to do?

[debm]

We just returned from our trip today. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem with loud children in their hotel. I don't mean anyone else's but MY OWN!! We have 4 children, one of which has Down syndrome. Aaron doesn't talk but he is quite loud, much like a deaf child voices. He has unusual grunting and squealing type sounds that he makes to get our attention or "talk" to his siblings. We usually stay in the villas with our DVC points and I've never really given it much thought but this time we stayed at the Poly. We are still allowed in 1 room because of the ages of the kids. Well, the 2nd night there we returned home after Illuminations at about 10PM. I was getting the kids ready for bed, brushing teeth etc. when the phone rang. I thought it was my hubby who was out filling our cups with soda. I was surprised to hear a female voice telling me politely that my children had woken them up for the 2nd night in a row at 10:30. I think I said I was sorry, but I was so shocked that I know I also said it was probably her kids that I heard in the hallway at 7AM running and banging! I thanked her and hung up. Then I started really thinking about it. We weren't out terribly late---at least by our standards. Yes, we do sleep in in the AM instead of going to EE. But I think what I am more concerned about now is the noise level of my 9 year old son. He is always that way. We try constantly to get him to be quiet but it doesn't work. He is really only truly quiet when he is watching a parade or show at WDW!!

There must be others out there with special needs kids who are "noisier than average." What do you do? I never did get a hotel call or security visit but then again our phone was unplugged a lot because my 2 year old likes to "talk" on it. I know there are parents who "let" their kids bang and run around the halls etc. etc. at all hours. We aren't like that, honest. We always remind them to be courteous of others but it is different with our 11 and 6 year old versus the other 2 kids. The youngest can be loud too as he gets easily upset by Aaron and just the fact that he is 2!! I know he will grow out of that but I don't see Aaron changing much. He does communicate with sign language but uses his voice as well.

Any suggestions? Have you ever mentioned this at hotel check-in?? Thanks!!

 

[ally_87]

Heyy!
First of all, I don't think that you should have recieved a phone call about being too loud. Maybe that's just my opinion but I was at Disney World during the Christmas Break and in my hotel there were many loud children in the halls at night and also quite early in the morning. To me late is after 11:00pm which usually is the start of "quiet hours", so being considerate I agree with, but at 10:30pm, I don't consider late. I personally have never called someone's room and asked them to keep it down because they were keeping me up or waking up children, even if they are being noisy. Kids wil be kids, and especially when they are at WALT DISNEY WORLD having the tmie of their life.
Sorry I'm not even really answering your question, I just felt you were not in the wrong so I decided to tell you that.

*sorry if I have offended anyone...that wasn't my intent*

 

[mbb]

I know it wasn't intended to, but I just have this wonderful picture in my head of your little guy..."living life out loud"

That's a wonderful thing

To address your question, though..our guys need to bounce...as in on their feet, on the bed...it's a stimulation thing for them. We always try to request a ground floor room. Sometimes that works, other times it doesn't.

We bring our noise machine with us - our kids are light sleepers, and that works to cover any noise from other guests in the hotel.

I wish that you hadn't received a phone call..we have before,.. and I felt bad as well...the best you could do would be to request a corner room, top floor.

HTH!!

 

[riu girl]

As the last poster mentioned a corner room is ideal. You could also request a room without an adjoining room.

We recently got back from All Star Movies and I couldn't believe it (we were given a corner room, top floor with no adjoining door). I heard nothing at all. I assumed that the rooms beside and under us must have been empty (but DH said he saw people going in/out of the rooms on numerous occasions). I kept shushing my kids since I assumed they were extrememly quiet families. We are anything BUT quiet.

I also have a special needs child (DD7) who rarely watches tv at home (we don't have cable or satellite). She was fascinated with the children's programs on tv (none of which she had ever seen) and that kept her calm and quiet in the room. Have you tired anything like relaxation cd's or a strobe light? They seem to calm my daughter as well as a ton of Yoga. I couldn't believe that we needed none of these on the holiday. I had no idea what effect the childrens shows would have. I will never get cable or satellite now or else I think she would simply stayed glued to the tv day in and day out.

Maybe next time when you reserve your WDW room, tell them that you have a special needs child and due to his issues, you really would appreciate a corner room, top floor with NO adjoining door.

Suzy V.

 

[Carrieberry]

Personally I don't think anyone has a right to directly call a room to complain. I would feel much better getting one of those calls directly from the hotel rather than from a next door neighbor. Furthermore, I also don't think 10:30 is late. I have son (6) that is autistc AND deaf. He wears a cochlear implant in the day time and makes these low level noises when he has it on. I made up little cards explaining it to people if they look at us funny on our upcoming trip! He does not sign but uses a communication board with pictures. "Be quiet" is not a concept that is easy to teach, most concepts are difficult to teach in general. When he does not have the implant on he can't hear how loud he is and he can get VERY loud with squeals and the like. If I get a phone call from some nasty neighbor I will say to them " I'm so sorry he woke you up but he is deaf and can't hear how loud he is being. You're welcome to come over and try to explain it to him if you like." I bet that will get them to shut up quick! It is one thing if you are letting your children run up and down the hallways in the wee hours of the morning totally unsupervised with no consideration for your fellow vactioners, but it is another when you literally can't do anything about it.

 

[AJKMOM]

If a family is up early for EMH, or they have small children, then, sorry, but 10:30 is late. I would never call anyone after 10pm, and would expect my kids to be quiet then. I don't have any way of knowing if you son was really loud, or they were just overly sensitive, but, I would be upset if my children were woken up by loud noises at 10:30. Sorry.

 

[debm]

Thanks for the responses so far. After reading the last post I realize that I don't want this to become an issue of whether 10:30 is late or not. For us it was actually only 9:30 because of the time difference and for those coming from CA it would only be 7:30!!! I do admit that I am not a morning person and for years I was made to feel that was wrong by my mother. She is up by 7AM and expects everyone else to be also. We tend to stay up later and sleep in later as a family. Especially when we are at Disney we don't want to miss the fireworks or the electrical light parade or anything else that is in the evening. My sister, on the other hand, is much the opposite. Her two boys go to bed by 7:30 and are up at 5AM. When I asked her what she did at WDW last month she said she brought their sound machines so that they wouldn't hear other people. At least she was understanding enough that everyone is on different schedules.

And it is not that I don't "expect my kids to be quiet" because I do tell them that we need to respect quiet times and my husband and I model that. BUT it is virtually impossible for me to get 4 kids into a hotel room, dressed for bed, etc. without noise. And my 9 year old is the "icing on the cake." And yes, MBB, Aaron is quite cute. And yes, he likes to jump on the bed too. The problem is the 2 year old thinks he can be just like his older siblings!

The suggestions for a corner room are good. And I'm also thinking ground floor because of any foot noise. Plus when the elevator stopped working in our building that was a problem with the oversize handicapped stroller. It is just harder to fold down and go down stairs with--especially when Aaron is running off.....

Thanks again. Anybody else had this come up??? I guess I'm just wondering how the hotel will react or will they give me a "big red X" upon check-in if I mention it??

 

[minkydog]

No, we have not gotten the "dreaded phone call"...yet...but i expect it any time. My son Christian,9,has severe mental retardation, autisim, & hearing loss, and he is also very loud. he does not talk, but uses gestures and sounds to 'talk" to us. different tones have different meanings.He's a sweet kid and we are used to his squeals and hoots, but I forget that others might not appreciate him so much. Usually, we take him for a long walk while everyone else is getting ready for bed, trying to wear him down a little. I find it hard to take him to a hotel, because he gets so agitated and i feel like I am constantly apologizing to people.

I don't know if you are a camping family, but that is finally what we resorted to. We bought a pop-up camper and it has really helped. Every time we take him out in it, he has the same bed, same set-up, same smells, etc. He hoots and squeals, but somehow it doesn't sound so bad in a campground. He is much better behaved in our "little house," as we call it.

Cathy--mom to John,18, Eleni,11, and Christian the Amazing Wonder Boy,9

 

[debm]

Christian sounds a lot like our Aaron! We know what the tone of voice means and the different inflections. He doesn't mind the hotel at all---in fact he loves them. We have one about 2 miles from our house and when he senses we are getting ready to leave on vacation we can't drive past it but he is asking to stop. He thinks we ought to stay there. Unfortunately we have another 900 miles to travel!!! As far as camping--that is a good idea but I am not much of a camper. We had a pop-up growing up and it was great. I know I would get too stressed trying to pack for it. We've talked about some kind of trailer some day but haven't gotten too serious. I still like my hotel room!!

 

[ugadog99]

After reading your post I thought I might make the suggestion of trying the cabins at FTW sometime. There would be plenty of room for your family and you wouldn't have to worry about a little noise! Seems like the perfect place for your needs.

 

[AJKMOM]

I didn't mean that everyone should expect silence after 10pm, I know it's Disney, and not the Ritz in New York. I just wanted people to realize that there is a bigger picture here, and some families might be sleeping at 10:30pm. What if they were going for a special character breakfast the next day? And, it isn't just the special needs kids that can be loud. I hear plenty of kids running around very late and/or very early.

Our autistic son is one that never needs sleep, so it is tough to get him in early, and he is always the first up at WDW. We found the best thing was to go when we could stay at the cabins in Fort Wilderness. With the privacy and a kitchen for snacks, it was great. We could go out for walks to tire him out. We did many nightly walks around the block.

If that isn't an option, we found it was better to pick a hotel with outdoor corridors, so we could go from the room directly outside. No hallways to echo us or others whose kids weren't on our schedule. You could take him to the playground or pool to burn off excess energy. Maybe walk to the convenience store that each onsite resort has. Just a thought from someone with a 16 year old, who has been there 10 times.

 

[ugadog99]

Actually, I wasn't talking about camping at Ft. Wilderness. I was talking about staying in the cabins. There is a full kitchen, bunk beds, a double bed in the back and a pull down Murphy bed. The cabins are wonderful and we enjoy them very much. The cabins would give you the space you need and since they are independent units, no one could hear the sounds being made. The Fort is great and your children would love it and you wouldn't have to worry about what others might or might not hear.

 

[SueM in MN]

Actually, I wasn't talking about camping at Ft. Wilderness. I was talking about staying in the cabins. There is a full kitchen, bunk beds, a double bed in the back and a pull down Murphy bed. The cabins are wonderful and we enjoy them very much. The cabins would give you the space you need and since they are independent units, no one could hear the sounds being made. The Fort is great and your children would love it and you wouldn't have to worry about what others might or might not hear.

We have never stayed there, but it does sound like a good suggestion. Since no room is right "next" to yours, there is not so much problem with sound traveling.
I am surprised that we have not gotten one of those phone calls yet. My DD doesn't talk (at least not that most people can understand), but when she starts giggling and squealing, it's enough to wake the dead. The other annoying thing she does is knocking on the wall after she is in bed to get your attention so she can sign something to you. We've found about the best way to deal with it at home is to read to her (our goal is to get thru re-reading all the Harry Potter books before the next one comes out in July). At least if she falls asleep while I'm reading to her, she's not making noise.

 

[wide awake]

I'll go along with the Ft. Wilderness cabins. I'm thinking about staying there because DS is autistic and on the GFCF diet. While he is usually quiet and goes to bed about 8:30 and gets up at 6:30 I would like the extra space for him to relax, and also the room to jump around. If the cabins are too expensive I would call and talk to the hotel manager before you arrive. I know when I pose the situation as our family not wanting to be a nuisance to others I usually have my requests granted. I asked for a single family table on our last cruise...DS has a habit of negating many parts of normal conversation...I told DCL it would probably irritate other guests...and we had our table to ourselves. I am sorry you got the call...I'm wondering if the other guest tried to have the hotel talk to you but the hotel personnal told her it was too early ?

 

[leise]

We have a similar problem. My DS (5) is autistic, needs little sleep , and likes to bounce on the beds, flush the toilet, run the taps, bang the doors and shout out whole sentences from books at the top of his voice while he is in hotel rooms. It is nothing short of a miracle we have never had that phone call. Add to this that when we are at WDW, coming from the UK we have a -5 hour time difference, so for the first few days he is up EARLY. Last stay, the first morning he was up at 3am prompt. Eventually he will sleep in to 5.30am maybe 6am. And when he's awake he wants to BOUNCE. :jumping4:

I feel so sorry for anyone staying near us. Generally, once it's apparent he really is up, we all have to get up and bundle him into the car. Last time we took him to the 24 food court at CR, and he played on the amusement arcade until 7am. Of course he then falls asleep at 5pm in the evening, staying up to 8pm by the second week. There's not really much we can do about it, short of tie him to the bed. I did have some success with his personal CD player but it only lasts for so long.

LOL about the 10.30pm! I would love your kids to wake mine up at that time! They might get into a new routine and we might get to see some fireworks.......

 

[Carrieberry]

Leise-
How does he do on the plane? My DS 6 is autistic and Friday will be is first time flying!

 

[leise]

Hi Carrie
We've flown a few times now, and it generally seems to go better than I expect. He's okay with the actual flying thing, the problems we have are;
1) He endlessly kicks the seat in front - we get round this by either asking for two sets of seats one in front of the other, so he'd just be kicking us, or by explaining the situation to the airline. When we've flown to Orlando we go with Virgin and they are great . Both times they've seated us with no-one in front of us. He also likes to lie on the floor under his seat.
2) He can't wait for boarding. Most airlines will pre-board us, which is great cos it means he doesn't get in the scrum of people getting on.
3) Going to the toilet! It was so simple when he was in diapers/nappies! The last 9 hour flight - he must have gone to the loo 20 times! Mostly I think to play with the taps and the flush.

The worst flight we had was a 4 hour one back from the Canaries a couple of years ago. The whole plane was full of screaming kids and he was tired. I had to resort to singing nursery rhymes to keep him from meltdown.
Last time I took a suitcase full of things for him to do on the flight, and all he did was listen to his Ultimate Disney CD for hours. But I like to be prepared! Also he won't eat any airline food so I had to take him something to eat.

We always tell the airline before we fly, and they are usually really helpful. The cabin crew are always willing to bend over backwards if they know there's an issue. Ask for pre-boarding, it makes so much difference. You can settle him down before everyone else gets on.

We generally haven't had any problems with other passengers either. I think because he's still quite young, people are willing to accept a little noise. Whether it will be the same when he's yelling at 10 I don't know. He doesn't look autistic at all, but there's enough going on for most people to realise there is something different about him.

Another thing that helped was I found a storybook about going on a plane, and did some little visual pictures about what would happen, so he was a bit more prepared. Knowing he'll get to Disney at the end seems to help!

Sorry this is so long, hope it helps

 

[Carrieberry]

leise-

Thanks for all the info! We will be sure to let the airline know when we check in. He is deaf also and it is already listed on his reservation. I will bring plenty of snacks, the laptop for him to watch DVDs (though he prefers the screensavers!) and other stuff to hopefully keep im busy. He does fine in the car for 6 hours when we drive from Az to CA a few times a year so hopefully that is a good omen. Once he gets his seat belt on he will now he can't get up, and we use picture communication with him right now and can show him an order strip that says airplane, car then Mickey. Whe he has meltdowns he will usually just grabs onto my hair or hits me with his blankie, so it shoud not affect the other passengers too much! Thanks again!!

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't know if this will be helpful or not, but the Orlando airport has a website at http://www.orlandoairports.net/goaa/main.htm
If you go to the links on the left side, you will find one link under Passenger Terminal called Arrivals Walkthru that has pictures and some information about things you will see when you arrive at the Orlando airport.
Another link called Departure Walkthru that includes scenes of departing from the airport. The only problems I can see with them is that they show specific things like specific airlines and gate numbers (which might be a problem for some people with autism if you are not using that airline or gate).

 

[ladydancer]

After reading the posts I'm a little nervous. I just booked our WDW trip last night. We are getting 3 rooms @ Pop for 3 families. My son and his family consist of a 16 month old, a 6 yr old autistic boy and a 9 yr. old. I'm afraid the baby will be crying and keep the 6 yr. old awake or the 6 yr. old will keep the baby awake with his noises and constantly pacing back and forth. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to request a bottom floor because of the pacing. The noise of the baby crying or the 6 yr. olds noises is another issue.