Parents of autistic children, which hotels do you stay at?

[Nik's Mom]

Hi,
I'm wondering which hotels you have stayed at with your autistic children and how did they like it?

We have stayed at WL (2 times), AKL, and Poly with our boys and they have always been very happy, espcecially at AKL. This time we are staying at a value. So, where have you all stayed? Is there a hotel that you thought was a bad choice for your child after the fact?

 

[Kaler131]

How old are your boys? I have two sons (with Asperger's) and they LOVE Pop Century! They are 11 & 5. We always request the 80's or 90's building poolside. It's somewhat quieter and not far from the computer pool (they love to swim). We also get ground floor-so we can get back to the room quicker without having to take the stairs/elevators....that seems to help a lot.

 

[pilgrimr]

Our son, who is autistic, is 6 and we have never had a problem staying at any of the hotels. We stayed at AKL, PORS, and ASMu. I was little nervous with AKL with a balcony, but he was fine. He did enjoy PORS because it was quite and there was a nice playground for them to play.

 

[bookwormde]

I have stayed at AKL, OKW, WL, BCV all were great with AKL and WL having the great visual “wow” factor. I have also stayed a Cypress Harbour and it was very nice but not practical to come back for lunch and a swim break every day. If there are not some great discounts for our June trip (12+ person family trip) I may try CBR or Bonnet Creek for the non-OKW portion of our vacation.

bookwormde

 

[BeckyScott]

We stayed at POP.

I don't think it makes much difference to my boys as long as it has a pool.

But refillable mugs with Frozen Coke, okay, we lived on those. I had 'em for breakfast. They thought they'd really hit the jackpot, three pools and "all you can drink" Frozen Coke.

 

[bkfree]

My son is autistic and 9. We always stay at a hotel that has an interior hall and balcony. He loves being able to sit on the balcony and see what's going on. He is HF and Mr.Careful so no worries about the balcony.
Last trip we stayed at YC and it was wonderful. SO much to see and do right at the resort and could walk to DHS and EP.
We are going back on Dec 3 and staying at AKL.
He absolutely loves everything about WDW.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

To be honest generally we do not stay in hotels and normally stay in a private villa as we like the extra room, cooking facilities and a private pool.

Have stayed in a 1 bedroomed villa at Boardwalk and Joshua was fine and are doing a split-stay holiday next April, Polynesian resort/villa at Terre Verde.

The main advantage of staying on WDW property is the location, other than that we personally prefer a villa over a hotel room.

 

[Nik's Mom]

We've never stayed at a value before, but are trying to make this a budget-friendly trip. I am currently booked at AS Movies, but we are thinking of switching to Pop. Glad to see some of you have stayed at Pop with no problems!

My boys are 9 and 6. They are huge fans of animals, but AKL is too expensive for us on this trip. Pop seems like it has a better food court, plus I know it has a lake and the boys would love to walk around and check it out.

 

[BeckyScott]

When we were at POP, there was a resident family of ducks. (don't know if they're permanent residents or they were just on vacation too) The kids thought that was insanely crazy, these ducks would just show up at the outdoor food court seating, in the swimming pool, etc.

And walking along the lake there were lots of small animals that they'd never seen, since we're not from the south. Like those little lizards. They thought that was pretty neat.

So in spite of it being a Value, there's plenty there to experience if you take the time to look around.

 

[disneydeb]

with dgs we usually stay at pop, he loves the big icons, and when i showed him on the computer all the different places he keeps pointing to pop, we love the pools and splash fountains, we have stayed at fort wilderness homes, which were nice having the convience of a full size fridge and dishwasher as dgs only eats certain foods, the only one i regret staying at with him was the hilton at downtown disney, i made sure i got a fridge there so we could keep his snacks and milk cold, but other than that the restaurants downstairs were too expensive, it was a very nice hotel though, we have also stayed at royal palace on buena vista drive, i didnt particullly care for that one, nothing really to do except the pool and we went to downtown disney, but this was the year before we found out dgs had autism and he was meltdowns everywhere! like i said the last 2 were nice hotels but they were not disney!

 

[Nik's Mom]

Thanks for all of the comments! Keep them coming!

 

[MikeAidanEoinMom]

We stayed at pop for 1 night in July. My 5 yr old with Aspergers loved the big key board (he is also hyperlexic) he would have stayed there all day. We also stayed at Movies as he is a big Toy Story fan. HTH

 

[LuvsTinker]

We always stay at CBR. My son is 8. This last trip he loved the new Pirate ship water play area. He loves walking over the bridge that is connected to a small island and seeing all the ducks and turtles.

I don't think the arcade is as large as some other resorts.

The rooms are being converted to Finding Nemo theme, and one section Trinidad So. is being converted to Pirate rooms; the Pirate Rooms will cost a little more.

 

[KirstenB]

We've been members of DVC for many years, so we always choose one of their properties. With our younger dd, who has mild autism, we've done OKW, and AKV. Dining out with her can be a challenge, so we do counter-service, or get our food to go, and bring it back to the room. When she gets overstimulated, she likes to find a quiet corner somewhere just to talk to herself, so having extra room is a huge help.

 

[blondietink]

We have stayed at BC, CS, AKV, OKW & BWV. My kids loved all of them. As long as there is a pool and a balcony they are generally happy. We have also visited all of the other hotels and they loved them, except I think the All-Star resorts were a little too stimulating for them after getting stimuled all day in the parks. W also do better as a family in a 1 bedroom villa or studio than a regular hotel room. Just MHO.

 

[Goingtoseethemouse]

I am so surprised that no one has said Fort Wilderness! Fort Wilderness is AMAZING! My daughter LOVES the petting zoo, being able to ride her bike, the CHip & Dale sing a long and the campfire and movie every night! I love that in the cabins you can have cereal or what ever else food you want (you can even have it delivered from the garden grocer) so you dont have to go trampling around to find food! My daughter adores spinning around in the gold carts and looking at the horses! Plus you cant beat the playgrounds and teatherball courts! I especially love the privacy and peace!
The cabins are AWesome, they have bunk beds and room for a family!

 

[kaffinito]

We have done POP, AKV, POFQ and POR. If you asked either one of my ASD boys, they both choose POR over all of them. They thought POP was ok, but they both thought it was too big, too loud, and had too many people. They loved POR though, and want to go back there.

However, next trip we are going to try the Poly. I think the Poly will be a good choice for our family, and if I'm wrong, then next trip it's back to POR for us!

 

[DisDreaminMom]

We have always stayed at values. I liked POP the best, because it's not so very huge and DS liked the icons. We are staying at AKL in December and I got it just for DS, though I know DD will enjoy it, too. I think Contemporary would make him go gaga, though. He likes the whole modern, train, industrial thing. We had an ADR at Chef Mickey's but I canceled it because I didn't want DS to bug me the entire trip about how he would rather stay at CR than our resort.

In June, we are doing ASSports, and I am cringing at the thought, but it was the only Value available during our trip. I hope it doesn't drive us all nuts.

Who know it would take so much planning to be a mom to these kids???

 

[bkfree]

I am so surprised that no one has said Fort Wilderness! Fort Wilderness is AMAZING! My daughter LOVES the petting zoo, being able to ride her bike, the CHip & Dale sing a long and the campfire and movie every night! I love that in the cabins you can have cereal or what ever else food you want (you can even have it delivered from the garden grocer) so you dont have to go trampling around to find food! My daughter adores spinning around in the gold carts and looking at the horses! Plus you cant beat the playgrounds and teatherball courts! I especially love the privacy and peace!
The cabins are AWesome, they have bunk beds and room for a family!

I agree that FW is a great choice for ASD kids. We go camping alot and my kids love everything about it and most of the campgrounds we visit have the same amenities that you descibe above. If we were not already campers, then it would be a great choice for us. But because it is already a regular family activity, my kids would rather stay at the resorts , which for us is different than the norm. And, I rather like not having kitchen duty at WDW.Camping and our condo at the beach all include Mom in the kitchen. WDW is the one vacation where I can leave all the cooking and cleaning to someone else.
But for those whose kids have not camped, it would be a great choice for sure.

 

[kaffinito]

We have always stayed at values. I liked POP the best, because it's not so very huge and DS liked the icons. We are staying at AKL in December and I got it just for DS, though I know DD will enjoy it, too. I think Contemporary would make him go gaga, though. He likes the whole modern, train, industrial thing. We had an ADR at Chef Mickey's but I canceled it because I didn't want DS to bug me the entire trip about how he would rather stay at CR than our resort.

In June, we are doing ASSports, and I am cringing at the thought, but it was the only Value available during our trip. I hope it doesn't drive us all nuts.

Who know it would take so much planning to be a mom to these kids???