Need help planning trip w/ disabled child..

moopdog

Dreaming of Disney....
Joined
Feb 2, 2005
Messages
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My Sis-in-law has a disabled child (heart disease and hearing impaired) and they have just had a strong desire to go to disney - and go NOW because his disease is so unpredictable (high mortality rate).

They are driving since he can't fly and will arrive on 4/9 and leave disney for home on 4/14. They want to stay in the ASmovies since he's only 3 and Toy Story is his whole world! They don't want to schedule a lot and I will try to convice her to plan one character meal so they don't have to deal with lines & autographs, etc. It will be both parents, a 12 year old girl and 3 year old boy.

I was just wondering a few things:

*any specials going on with the meal plan or certain hotels (on site only) at the time they're going? (CODES??)

*what "benefits"/if any can they get because of his disabilities?

*Is this week going to absolutely CRAZY? (I think it's the week before Easter)

*Any other tidbits I need to pass along to her? She's not a big planner like me!

Thanks!!
 
My DD has heart stuff also- born with a heart defect- there might be certain things that he can not do.
my DD who is almost 11 does not have the stamina to walk thru the park, we have a stroller for her, but at 3 yr old, i would guess a stroller is a given :)
depending on childs heart, if they have to do meds during the day, any equipment that he needs stuff to consider. I think he would love crystal palace (pooh and tigger) I know that my 3 still love going there, heck I do too. lunch is cheaper than dinner for character dining. If you have any specific questions, PM me and I can tell you what we do with our heart kid and what she can handle, but that is her, it is not a "universal" thing, each kid reacts different to things.
 
I just sent you a PM -

I'm sure there are places, and people that can help!!

Good Luck in your search!!
 

moopdog said:
My Sis-in-law has a disabled child (heart disease and hearing impaired) and they have just had a strong desire to go to disney - and go NOW because his disease is so unpredictable (high mortality rate).

They are driving since he can't fly and will arrive on 4/9 and leave disney for home on 4/14. They want to stay in the ASmovies since he's only 3 and Toy Story is his whole world! They don't want to schedule a lot and I will try to convice her to plan one character meal so they don't have to deal with lines & autographs, etc. It will be both parents, a 12 year old girl and 3 year old boy.

I was just wondering a few things:

*any specials going on with the meal plan or certain hotels (on site only) at the time they're going? (CODES??)

*what "benefits"/if any can they get because of his disabilities?

*Is this week going to absolutely CRAZY? (I think it's the week before Easter)

*Any other tidbits I need to pass along to her? She's not a big planner like me!

Thanks!!


Hi, I would suggest a letter from the childs Doctor and be specific about his/her condition. Go to guest services as soon as you arrive and get your specialty pass/guest card to help castmembers determine how they can direct/assist you through the attractions.
Other than that I am not aware of any other assistance for the disabled. My daughter also has impairments, hers are mobility and we are always trying to plan before we go on how we can navigate through the parks so it will be easier and for her. I just joined the site and I am also looking for advice for our next trip. Anyway hope this helped, maybe you already knew this info.
 
The main accomodation she will need is a GAC to use the stroller as a wheelchair so that he can stay in it - yuo can get this from guest services at any park.

Hope she has a magical holiday.

Sue
 
We were there the week before Easter 2 years ago and you are right it is crazy. Stress to them that if at all possible be there early when it opens. By being there early and with fast pass we were able to ride everything we wanted. We also went back late at night which probably with her health issues won't be an option. Mornings were fine but around noon it became oppressive with people. If they can swing it have hoppers so if a park turns out to be crazy they can try another. One day at MK it was wall to wall people early so we hopped on the monorail and went to Epcot and it was fine -wasn't an EMH at MK just turned out to be crazy. They should watch the video with her and figure out what she really wants and concentrate on those in the AM. One good thing with a three year old they should be able to hit fantasyland heavy in the AM while most people are hitting the mountains and at three will like things that don't get as crowded as the day goes on, people mover, tiki birds,train etc. After avoiding Easter for years we had a great trip with a little planning and I hope they have one to.
 
You are right about the time; April 4 is Palm Sunday, so she is planning on going the week before Easter. She may not be aware of this, but the week before Easter is one of the busiest weeks at WDW. We have been at WDW over Easter before and the parks will be packed (in fact, for Easter Day, MK usually closes to guests who are not staying at one of the WDW resorts early in the day). Because it is so busy, we have found the CMs to be a bit less accomidating to people with special needs - it's not that don't want to be helpful, but with so many guests in the parks, they are just concentrating on keeping things going.

If they can get to the parks early (like right after opening), they will usuallly find smaller crowds and shorter waits. Because the parks are open later, some people stay out late and don't get to the parks right at opening. I can't get to the parks that early (I am not a morning person and my yougest DD, who is disabled, requires too much getting ready in the morning), but my DH, older DD and other members of our party have gone at opening and found they were actually able to get on most of the Fantasyland attractions with short waits early in the morning (like some they could walk right on and went on twice without waiting more than 5 minutes each time).

Because it's busy, WDW doesn't typically offer a lot of special prices for rooms during Easter/Spring break (they can fill the rooms without doing any specials). In fact, she is very likely to find that all the rooms at all the AS resorts are full, so even getting a room at all may be a big problem and getting a room at the Toy Story area at ASMovies may be totally impossible (that is a highly requested area in any case since many small children are wild for Toy Story).

I know she wants to go NOW, but going a few weeks after Easter is likely to make their trip a lot more pleasant. There is a noticeable difference in the crowds the farther away you get from Easter.

If you haven't already, look at the disABILITIES FAQs thread. There are 2 parts that will be helpful.
The first is the links to the official Disney website's disability pages, which includes the text portion of the Guidebooks for Guests with Disabilities. Those have (kind of general) descriptions of the attraction, which include warnings for those attractions that someone with heart problems should be cautious of. It also includes information about restrictions like height requirements. You can get a printed copy of these Guidebooks at the WDW hotels and at Guest Services in any of the parks. The park maps are also coded to show which attractions have restrictions/warnings (they have a red triangle icon for precautions).

The other part on the disABILITIES FAQs thread that will be helpful is the information about Guest Assistance Cards (to avoid typing so much, we call them GACs).
GACs are not a "benefit" for disabilities; they area tool to help the CMs know what sorts of accomidations the person needs. Although some people feel more comfortable having a doctor's note when they ask for a GAC, you actually don't need one and the CMs at Guest Services may not even want to look at it. If she does get a letter from the doctor, it should talk about things the child needs; not the child's diagnosis or problems. For example, saying a child has heart problems doesn't really tell anything about their needs. Some children with heart problems have no restrictions and don't need any accomidations; others may have a lot of restrictions and have a lot more needs.
What you do need is to think about the child's needs for accomidation and ask for assistance that will meet those needs. That might be things like using a stroller in lines, as Sue & Co. mentioned.
 












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