I want to thank everyone here for all the helpful advice they gave about taking our four year old to Disney World. I had posted how my anxiety was revolved around losing her in a crowd. I used just about every piece of advice here....I swear she had enough information on her person to open a credit card in my name if she got lost 
but I wanted to make sure someone could contact us right away if she was seperated from us. She loves walking, so in order to keep her with us, we got her a child sized backpack, with long adjustable straps (you know the black nylon piece that adjust the size of the padded straps) and we just held onto the black strap piece. That way, we had a hold of her, but we avoided the "leash" image that people sometimes stare at and tsk-tsk about, but we knew she was safely within reach. We also had the backpack carrier and when she got tired of walking we put her in there and she was happy.
Luckily, we avoided crowds at a lot of places we went, although there were some super crowded areas on certain days (we were at Magic Kindgdom one afternoon of a MNSSHP and the crowd levels were insane). We had problems with other people, especially *adults* being in such a rush to get somewhere that they plowed right over her, and to be fair it also happened once to my younger son...he was sleeping inhis carseat at the airport (all the way off to the side to not be in the way) and this woman was talking on her cellphone and just plowed right into his seat. I can understand how those things could happen, but what bothered me is she looked down and just kept walking, no apology or anything for waking my sleeping toddler. That's the only thing that got me...there were two occassions were someone actually knocked her down to the ground and kept going without so much as an "I'm sorry". They were just too busy running to get to the next activity to notice.
So, midway through the week I finally decided to put on her button that said "BLIND CHILD". I really, really hate broadcasting or branding her to the world as visually impaired, and usually we don't need to. But, I think I made her a little anxious about getting lost with all my preparations over it, so anytime someone would bump her it really made her very anxious and upset, where she normally isn't. So, I figured maybe the button would help people be a little more respectful of her personal space. I'm glad I did it, there was a huge difference. Of course, there were some people who swung in the complete opposite spectrum once she had her button on, I heard several people yelling loudly "BE CAREFUL...DON'T WALK OVER THERE SHE'S BLIND!" and do a huge dramatic circle around us but she didn't notice, I appreciated their effort, and it gave her the space she needed to be able to walk without being trampled to death. So, all in all it turned out really work well.
We ultimately decided not to get the GAC, since she is so young we figured we would just hold her for any moveable walkway rides and we didn't have any problems getting on or off rides. Her absolute favorites were basically gentle motion rides...she *loved* the teacups and we did them what felt like a million times.
She also loved the Dumbo ride and the Carousel, the Triceratops ride at Animal Kingdom, the Boneyard at Animal Kingdom, she even liked It's a Small World and Buzz Lightyear...she loved the "ping ping" of the shooting effects, and she loved the Tommorrowland Tram. She also *loved* *loved* *loved* the petting zoo at the Animal Kingdom. She was just tickled pink to touch a goat, and one of the trainers happened to see her button as I was describing the pig (which was out of reach behind the pen) and she brought the pig over to let my dd "see" it with her fingers and she was pleased as punch!
There were a couple of places that were too overwhelming because the noise was too loud. It happened on the Buzz Lighyear ride, but the Lilo and Stich thing was way too much and it terrified her. Anything where something touches or grabs her out of nowhere and unexpectedly we learned *very* quickly to avoid.
She also did not like silent characters. She had no interest in touching or being touched by any character that didn't talk. However, it was the exact opposite with speaking characters. Pocohantas was at the wildlife center in Animal Kingdom and we were one of the few people there. So, she walked right up to her and she fingered the fringe on her costume and felt her long hair and declared Pocohantas very pretty.
She went wild over Belle's costume because it was so "crinkly" and immediately told me that she wanted to dress just like her, so we ended up buying her a Belle costume and she wore it the last two days we were there.
She had a great and fabulous time. We've been back since Saturday and all she can do is talk about the trip and ask when we can go back!
So, thanks for helping us out with a few pointers...we can't wait to go back!
but I wanted to make sure someone could contact us right away if she was seperated from us. She loves walking, so in order to keep her with us, we got her a child sized backpack, with long adjustable straps (you know the black nylon piece that adjust the size of the padded straps) and we just held onto the black strap piece. That way, we had a hold of her, but we avoided the "leash" image that people sometimes stare at and tsk-tsk about, but we knew she was safely within reach. We also had the backpack carrier and when she got tired of walking we put her in there and she was happy.Luckily, we avoided crowds at a lot of places we went, although there were some super crowded areas on certain days (we were at Magic Kindgdom one afternoon of a MNSSHP and the crowd levels were insane). We had problems with other people, especially *adults* being in such a rush to get somewhere that they plowed right over her, and to be fair it also happened once to my younger son...he was sleeping inhis carseat at the airport (all the way off to the side to not be in the way) and this woman was talking on her cellphone and just plowed right into his seat. I can understand how those things could happen, but what bothered me is she looked down and just kept walking, no apology or anything for waking my sleeping toddler. That's the only thing that got me...there were two occassions were someone actually knocked her down to the ground and kept going without so much as an "I'm sorry". They were just too busy running to get to the next activity to notice.
So, midway through the week I finally decided to put on her button that said "BLIND CHILD". I really, really hate broadcasting or branding her to the world as visually impaired, and usually we don't need to. But, I think I made her a little anxious about getting lost with all my preparations over it, so anytime someone would bump her it really made her very anxious and upset, where she normally isn't. So, I figured maybe the button would help people be a little more respectful of her personal space. I'm glad I did it, there was a huge difference. Of course, there were some people who swung in the complete opposite spectrum once she had her button on, I heard several people yelling loudly "BE CAREFUL...DON'T WALK OVER THERE SHE'S BLIND!" and do a huge dramatic circle around us
but she didn't notice, I appreciated their effort, and it gave her the space she needed to be able to walk without being trampled to death. So, all in all it turned out really work well.We ultimately decided not to get the GAC, since she is so young we figured we would just hold her for any moveable walkway rides and we didn't have any problems getting on or off rides. Her absolute favorites were basically gentle motion rides...she *loved* the teacups and we did them what felt like a million times.
She also loved the Dumbo ride and the Carousel, the Triceratops ride at Animal Kingdom, the Boneyard at Animal Kingdom, she even liked It's a Small World and Buzz Lightyear...she loved the "ping ping" of the shooting effects, and she loved the Tommorrowland Tram. She also *loved* *loved* *loved* the petting zoo at the Animal Kingdom. She was just tickled pink to touch a goat, and one of the trainers happened to see her button as I was describing the pig (which was out of reach behind the pen) and she brought the pig over to let my dd "see" it with her fingers and she was pleased as punch!There were a couple of places that were too overwhelming because the noise was too loud. It happened on the Buzz Lighyear ride, but the Lilo and Stich thing was way too much and it terrified her. Anything where something touches or grabs her out of nowhere and unexpectedly we learned *very* quickly to avoid.
She also did not like silent characters. She had no interest in touching or being touched by any character that didn't talk. However, it was the exact opposite with speaking characters. Pocohantas was at the wildlife center in Animal Kingdom and we were one of the few people there. So, she walked right up to her and she fingered the fringe on her costume and felt her long hair and declared Pocohantas very pretty.
She went wild over Belle's costume because it was so "crinkly" and immediately told me that she wanted to dress just like her, so we ended up buying her a Belle costume and she wore it the last two days we were there. She had a great and fabulous time. We've been back since Saturday and all she can do is talk about the trip and ask when we can go back!
So, thanks for helping us out with a few pointers...we can't wait to go back!
We have had people literally trip themselves on my daughter's white cane, throw it off her rythm and get up and keep going without a word! For the most part when people see her cane, they do give us a WIDE walkway & we absolutely appreciate it! We try our hardest to keep her out of the thick of it, of course.
