Neverland Club at the Poly for Autistic DGD?

[thumpersfriend]

Well, it is official that we will be going to the world next April 2lst. Hope this is a fairly good time to go. Question about the Neverland Club at the Polynesian. That is where we will be staying ,and my DGD will be 4 then. She is autistic and I wondered if they take children with autism and if anyone has had their child there and if they did okay? Would you think they would be experienced with this? Thanks for any advice. She started school 2 weeks ago when she turned 3 and is now holding our hand to walk! So now we feel that there is a good chance she will do okay there.

 

[batt01]

Hi,
I have a 5 year old daugher with autism. Regarding your question, is she potty trainned? I don't know for certain, but they might require this. If she is, I would feel very good about letting her stay at the Poly kids club. If I were you I would call them and ask, or stop by on your fist day of vacation so they can get a chance to know her. Most of all - good for you for realizing that you will need some "down time" on your own. Take advantage of it and enjoy yourself!

When we brought our daughter to WDW last year she absolutely "woke up" from much of her autism! For three wonderful days we had a very typical girl (although still non-verbal). Definitely get a GAC card. The CM's treated her like royalty. Especially if she likes the characters....show your GAC card at the charachter meeting tent at Toon Town Fair. We did this and they escorted us around the back and we entered each greeting room from a special door where we were placed at the beginning of each line. WHen she was done visiting with one charachter a CM escorted us right to the next. Even the people in line were nice about allowing us more time with each charachter. I will never ever forget watching her dance with Cinderella's mice.

Have a grand vacation. And feel free to PM me with any questions!

 

[thumpersfriend]

Thank you for your quick reply. Not sure if she will be potty trained or not. Yes, I think it would be nice for us to have some down time and maybe take my son and daughter-in-law out to a sit down restaurant. That will be something new too, the restaurant situation. I would love to see her act like a typical 4 year old too, I just don't expect it because she is so great the way she is,just in a different way. Isn't it funny how just the little things bring us such joy when with the NT child it is just taken for granted? Not sure how she will be with the characters yet but it would be so wonderful to see her excited. The only thing I am sure of is she will love the pool and the monorail. The rest will be just an added bonus to me.

 

[tw1nsmom]

When it comes to the potty training, make sure she's thoroughly trained. They won't assist in any way in the bathroom. Last year we put the kids in Simba's clubhouse so that we could eat at Boma. We were paged about halfway through and had to go in the bathroom and help DS who had had some trouble getting his pants undone and had had a tiny accident in his underwear. He had to stay in the bathroom until DH got there to help.

I would make a reservation, but be prepared to cancel. I would also make sure that the restaurant was at the same resort as the kids club.

 

[SueM in MN]

Hi,
I have a 5 year old daugher with autism. Regarding your question, is she potty trainned? I don't know for certain, but they might require this.

They are licensed as a day care and do require that children without special needs are toilet trained.
Since they are a day care, they are covered under the ADA (American With Disabilities Act). Because of that, if the child is not toilet trained (or not completly toilet trained) because of a disability, they are required to make reasonable accomidations, and can't just say the child may not come because of not being toilet trained.
That might include things like having a family member come every few hours to toilet her; having a family member available within the resort by beeper in case she needs changing; requiring she wear a diaper or pull up over underwear to contain any accidents. The individual CM you talk to (either on the phone or in person) may not be aware of this, but the manager should be.
Here is a link to ADA FAQs regarding day care. Question number 16 pertains to toileting; the second paragraph talks about children in situations where the day care doesn't normally provide toileting assistance to any children.

Definitely get a GAC card. The CM's treated her like royalty. Especially if she likes the characters....show your GAC card at the charachter meeting tent at Toon Town Fair. We did this and they escorted us around the back and we entered each greeting room from a special door where we were placed at the beginning of each line. WHen she was done visiting with one charachter a CM escorted us right to the next. Even the people in line were nice about allowing us more time with each charachter. I will never ever forget watching her dance with Cinderella's mice.

I just wanted to mention that exactly what a GAC provides depends on the needs of the person it was issued to, so even though the OP's child was handled this way, not everyone with a GAC will be handled like this. The GAC is generally not meant to shorten or eliminate waits in line, just to provide needed accomidation for the person's needs.

 

[thumpersfriend]

Thanks SueM, you are a wealth of information for us. Thought it would be fun for her at the Neverland Club so will keep this as a possible option. Has anyone ever used it?

 

[SueM in MN]

I had personal experience with using that particular information about the ADA (although we have never used the Kids' Clubs at WDW).
No one has popsted about using it recently, but I know some people had posted in the past that their kids with special needs did use the Kids' Clubs.

 

[SueM in MN]

no one has posted recently, bit some people in the past had been very pleased with Kid's Night Out and Fairy Godmothers, so that is a good reminder.

Hopefully, someone who has used them recently will post some information.

 

[thumpersfriend]

Great information, thanks again. Wrote the numbers down for everything.

 

[tigger2on]

Though my child is not autistic,( severe brain injury at 14 months... non-verbal, non mobile & 100% dependent) we have had great experiences with Disney childcare.
We have use AKL, Poly and even the Oceaneers Club... and we left her 4 hours. They will not change her diaper and if they had a major problem would page us.
They even asked us if we were bringing her back again. They were however, very nervous in the beginning as is to be expected when given the unknown. But they did great and had a blast!
Hoping to do another cruise but unsure since there are rumors now that the kids will not be allowed in on their own. Though that was still the rule when we went in 2001 and they took her without one of us no problem.
If not, grandma usually comes with us so she'll get extra special time with her as well as us.

 

[BriNJ]

We just got back from Disney, and the kids spent an evening at the Neverland Club. DS is 6 and has sensory issues, DD is 4. They really enjoyed it. The only complaints that DS had was that it was loud, that there alot of kids and that it was dark. He was able to deal with that, but I'd be careful if your kiddo has problems with any of those things. There were alot of activities to do including arts and crafts, dress up, video games, movies etc. From talking to my son and observing them there, it doesn't seem like any one child gets constant supervision, its more like there are people in each room who deal with potential problems so that thrilled both of mine that no adult was shadowing them. We were told that they do not deal with bathroom issues, that the child has to go in and manage everything on thier own. We did not leave the resort (well, we did after 2 hours, just to have something to do) just in case there was a problem.

If you are looking for a night out, without alot of worries, Id go with the in room babysitter. I've heard good things about them and your DD would be in a familiar place with one person focused on her- so they could do what she wants, not what alot of other kids want. I know for us, I was NOT relaxed with the kiddos at the Neverland Club, I wasn't worried, but I was on edge waiting for a page from them.

HTH
Bri

 

[mlwear]

Hi,

When we brought our daughter to WDW last year she absolutely "woke up" from much of her autism!

I am so glad you wrote this. This is exactly how I felt with my autistic son. It was amazing. There were still issues, but it was like he was more the "typical child" than he has ever been. More importantly, he was so incredibly happy the whole time. He talks about the trip (last August) still and loves to look at the pictures. I can't wait to go back. I'd love to hear if others experienced this.

As far as Neverland club goes. I know many swear by it. I think kids are safe there, but neither of my kids came out begging to go back. My older son said he thought we'd never get back. He told us he was starving as there was no "buffet" as we promised. He was given one slice of pizza and a drink. He was 10, then. He played video games for a while, but quickly became bored. As for the autism. They seemed to acknowledge that they had heard of it, but weren't really going to go out of their way to accomodate my son. No doubt, they were kind, I would never say they weren't. When I was filling out the registration paper, I explained he is autistic. The lady handling the paperwork just said "OK". There was a section for medical conditions. I listed autism. There was a section for "anything we need to know" or something like that. It was one line about 3 inches long. I asked her what I should write and listed some concerns to her. She took the "no liability" approach and said just write what you think we should know. I ended up writing, "He is autistic!" Again, I know my kids were safe there. But, I just had that uneasy mother's instinct feeling the whole time they were there. I was miserable and we picked them up early. DS with autistic is not very communicative and didn't complain not express any pleasure being there. He did bring out some sort of bracelet he made. The bracelet broke within an hour, causing a huge meltdown (parents and grandparents of autistic kids know what I mean here). We picked them up just in time to watch the fireworks and get my older son something to eat. I am very much in the minority of not liking Neverland club. Seems everyone else loves it. So, take my opinion with that in mind. Maybe there was something going on that caused an off night? But, I won't leave my kids again. If I do choose to have some time without the kids, I will try one of the in room services, next time.

Regarding TS: I was shocked with how well my son handled TS. I think he was worn down from the day a bit. We always try to get a table that is off to the side of the room. TS may still be possible. I really think you will be surprised.

 

[thumpersfriend]

Thank you so much for your reply, mlwear. I have tears in my eyes right now! I have thought that maybe it would be sad to go to Disneyworld because it would be even more apparent that our beautiful granddaughter is a little different. I want it to be such a great experience for my son and daughter-in-law too because I am so very proud of them. You have given me alot of hope and I am greatful! Hope I have worded my thoughts right.

 

[MBW]

And our experience with our HFA 7.5 year old son was not so great.

We arranged for in-room sitting for our two younger children, but wanted our older two to be able to play and socialize at the center. The center staff were fine knowing our son's issues, and I felt confident that his older sister would help out, as they are very close. Unfortunately, problems arose when another child started bullying my son, and although the staff finally intervened and had the parents of the offending child retreive him, the damage was done and my son was unhappy enough that the center called in the middle of our dinner at Artists' Point, asking me to pick him up immediately. Fortunately, we had planned on the two older children returning to the room with the babysitter after a couple of hours, and we were dining in the same resort as the center and our room, or else our evening could have been ruined.

We used both Kid's Nite Out and Fairy Godmothers on this trip and they were great. The sitter from Fairy Godmothers was the same one we had 4.5 years ago - a former special ed teacher who was wonderful with all of our kids. I think in the future we'll stick with in-room sitting.

 

[thumpersfriend]

So are the Fairy Godmothers older ladies? Did your kids scream or carry on when you left them? I guess I worry a little about her being with a lot of other kids, especially if she is bullied. Just a protective grandma I guess. Only happy things should happen at Disney. Thanks for so much information!

 

[Crazy4Disney72]

I've never taken any of my kids to the Disney kids clubs, mainly because I thought they wouldn't take my autistic DS because he wasn't potty-trained, didn't potty-train until age 7 while at WDW! Anyway, interesting to learn that they would have taken him since he has special needs, but I still don't know that I would be comfortable leaving him there. All autistic kids, just like all kids, are different, so this may not apply, but my DS can get very upset about seemingly nothing and strike out at other kids. At school there is an aide who stays pretty close by him to monitor the situation, but I wouldn't expect Disney to be able to put someone right there with my DS at all times, so I would be afraid to just leave him there because I would feel terrible if he hurt or scared another child with his outbursts.