Planning a trip with a special needs child (ASD)...

[clov878]

My daughter is 6-years old and has Asperger's, sensory issues, and hypotonia (low muscle tone). She's pretty high functioning, but new situations - environments out of her comfort zone, chaos/crowds, etc...can be reallllllly difficult and challenging (for all of us).

We are currently in the process of planning a trip - and preparing her (which takes awhile - and has been built into her therapy sessions, as well as at home).

We are aiming for the first week in March. We are probably staying at Shades of Green - if I can multi-confirm that it's not super chaotic, otherwise we'll probably need to grab a condo off-site (I'd prefer to stay on-site, so escaping quickly is somewhat easy, if needed).

I've done a fair amount of research and I know March isn't the least crowded time, but I understand there aren't as many crowds as...say, May or December? We had hoped for October originally, but that just isn't enough time to get her ready and we also don't want to wait nearly another full year.

I'm just looking for advice/suggestions/experience?

How accomodating (we will have MD notes with us to bring to Guest Relations), specifically with children on the spectrum?

Thanks in advance.

 

[disnutnat]

The only piece of advice that I have is that when you go to Guest Relations, tell them the needs of the child. This will help to avoid some of the crowds and chaos. There are also plenty of quiet benches to sit on out of the way in the shade when needed - just seek them out. I would also suggest a park hopper ticket so that if you get to one park and find that it is far to crowded, you have the ability to jump to another park that may not be so crowded. I hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[clanmcculloch]

You don't need the doctor's note. Many CMs will actually request that you put it away and not show it to them. They're not allowed to ask for one and frankly, they're not doctors and a diagnosis won't tell them your child's needs.

What you need to be able to do is explain your child's needs and what problems you expect to encounter. The CM at Guest Relations is then best able to determine which accomodations will best help your child and issue a GAC (Guest Assistance Card; see the stickies at the top of this forum for even more info) that will best help you.

Based on your list off issues, I would highly advise that you get a stroller as a wheelchair tag. That should help with issues involving her low tone as well as provide a safe place to retreat when the world becomes overwhelming. The tag will allow you to bring the stroller into lines with you.

In addition to a GAC, what helps us immensely is a good touring plan. I'm fond of TourGuide Mike. It costs only $20 (you can save $3 by clicking on the ad on the Theme Parks board here on the DIS; they're the board's sponsor) and it's the best $20 I've ever spent on our trips. A GAC can only help with lines. There is so much more to the parks than just lines. If you're stuck in wall to wall people trying to get from place to place then that can be a problem too but Disney can't do anything about that. TGM will tell you which park will be least crowed on any day of the year and will also tell you which part of the park will be least crowded. We hardly have to use our GAC now that I use the TGM way of touring (I do use it occasionally but not often). It's wonderful!!

 

[bookwormde]

There are lot of threads in this section about being prepared for a trip with an ASD child that have tons of ideas, tricks and practical advice and experiances so just dig back through the threads. We have a big group of ASD parnets on the community board so if you have non Disney specific questions feel free to join us.

I took my DS aspergers for the first time at about your daughters age. There is a bit of a learning curve, but even our first trip was magical.

Welcome

bookwormde

 

[kehlyrsmom]

I have two children on the spectrum the oldest has been diagnosed with Aspergers and ADHD and the youngest Moderate Autism/Apraxia of speach.

We have gone every year since 06 and will be there again in less than 45 days. We stay on site and have stayed in the values except twice when we got some pixie dust and were upgraded to SSR. We ask for a quiet room at the resort. The first year we did not take any breaks who knew at the time we would go back to WDW every year. Anyway we know take a break in the afternoon to swim/relax, some nights we see the fireworks/pardes other's we don't. We take noise cancelling headphone for my son since he is very senstive to sounds as well. Neither one of the my children like the 3D showe. Request a planning DVD that will help get your child ready, my son wants to watch ours every night before bed time.

The first year we went mid-August we did get the Guest Assistance Card but there were just way to many people. We have now been going every year the week of labor weekend and it is great. After labor day the parks are very empty. We also rent a car, I don't think my kids would do well waiting for the bus.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I have 2 asd children. We have been to WDW 6 times and each trip gets better. My biggest piece of advise would be to get to the parks early, preferably just before the turnstiles open. This will allow you to get on the busiest rides with minimal wait. We do this every trip and havre rarely had to use the GAC.

We also make sure to take an afternoon break to give our kids a break fromt he crowds. Oh, another suggestion. We did a picture schedule to let our sons know which park we were visiting on each day, and which rides we would go on. That was very helpful for them. This way, they knew exactly what we would be doing each day.

We have been in early and mid March and have not experienced really heavy crowds. If you get to the parks early, you will probably be able to walk right onto some rides. Especially if you use a good touring plan, like those on the Unofficial tour guide site or TourGuide Mike website.

 

[SueM in MN]

The information another poster mentioned about GAC (Guest Assistance Cards) in the sticky thread is in post #6 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread. You can find that thread near the top of this board or use the link in my signature to get there.

I agree with the posters who suggesting using a stroller as a wheelchair (there is more information in post 6 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread about doing that). It will help your child's stamina since you mentioned she is hypotonic.
A stroller also provides a little space/separation and a 'safe refuge' for kids with special needs.

TourGuide Mike is great for the reasons a previous poster mentioned and many people who previously used a GAC found they had a better experience not using a GAC and following touring plans from TourGuide Mike.
GACs only help while you are actually in line, but touring plans help you to know where to be and when to avoid the crowds. That helps a lot to just be able to get around and avoid a lot of other guests (as other posters have noted)

 

[clov878]

Thank you so much for the tips/advice. I will do some back digging and hopefully find some more info.

She has picture books already and a countdown calendar and we're working on auditory sensitivities and "space" issues in occupational therapy and at home, in further prep.

We do have a stroller for DD. But that actually leads to another (general) question - we will probably have 2 strollers (we have a baby, too, who will be 1 at the time we go)...if we get a tag for 1 stroller, what do we do with the other while we are waiting in line?

Thanks!

 

[clanmcculloch]

The regular untagged stroller would be left in whatever stroller parking area there is for the attraction. You might want to look into a sling for your soon to be toddler. I've known people who have used these at WDW for toddlers and loved the experience.

 

[ElizabethG]

This is something I noticed on the first trip with my ASD son (he was 6 at the time). The "black box" rides made him very anxious. He is fine with the open air rides. He can see while waiting exactly what the ride is going to do an can relax (well, a little). The rides that take place in a building caused a lot of anxiety because he didn't know what was going to happen around each turn. I found it very helpful to revisit rides he had been on already. He was a lot more excited about them the 2nd time around. If I noticed he was getting anxious, we would revisit a ride and he would relax. He really liked small world and I swear we rode it 20 times. (That ride kind of saved our trip).

 

[clov878]

I normally baby wear, so we will most definitely have a sling with us. I was mostly just wondering where the strollers went while waiting in line. Thank you.

I am already anticipating Its a Small World being one of DD's favorite rides...so I am preparing myself mentally for multiple rounds!

 

[koolaidmoms]

Here is a link to our trip report from December 2009. Our Vacation Report with an ASD (6) and 2 Pooh Sized Mommies

Hope this helps some.

DS (now 7) has gone to WDW 5 times and LOVES it. It is one of our best family vacations because we now know how to work it so that we can all enjoy the vacation.

 

[SueM in MN]

I normally baby wear, so we will most definitely have a sling with us. I was mostly just wondering where the strollers went while waiting in line. Thank you.

I am already anticipating Its a Small World being one of DD's favorite rides...so I am preparing myself mentally for multiple rounds!

She may surprise you and not like it at all.

My youngest DD has cerebral palsy, ADD and sensory issues. I was prepared for her to love Small World, but it took a number of rides on it over the years for her to even tolerate it.

She would somehow twist her arms around so that she could suck her thumb, twirl her hair, have one arm over her eyes and somehow still be using her arms to cover both ears.
We figured out that is was just too intense of stimulation for her. There is something always happening on Small World, something always moving, lots of colors and the music is there the whole time.

She actually did better at Epcot, where the attractions were more low key.
I’m a strong believer in looking at youtube videos to get an idea of what to expect.

 

[*BTMRR*]

I have a child with sensory issues. We've stayed at several hotels at WDW, and Shades of Green was definitely the least chaotic. Be sure to ask for a quiet room in the newer section. We were near the end of a hallway on the ground floor of the newer section, patio facing the golf course, and it was sooo quiet and peaceful. It's a walk from there to some of the resort amenities, but for me the nice quiet hallways were worth it after all the noise of the parks.
The walk to the Poly for the monorail is not bad at all (use your strollers, obviously). Or you can take SoG transportation. Best wishes

 

[su_A_ve]

In terms on least chaotic, I like CBR. For one, the buses tour around the complex, so you don't have to go to the main lobby, which is the most chaotic place. Not sure about the other mods, but the values only stop at the lobbies, and those buses get full.

To me, best time to go is late October, November and early December, provided you avoid things like pop warner, Food and wine, etc.

And, go Monday to Friday, as the weekends will get crowded if the weather is nice, with locals.

 

[kirstenb1]

A couple of weeks before we left, we showed our dd Youtube videos of the rides we were going to try her on. She really liked watching them. We also brought headphones, and made her an MP3 playlist with many of the songs from the rides. Not only did she have it to listen to on the drive down, it helped her in the parks too, when she was in line with crowds of people. We brought her chewy tube, and crunchy snacks into the parks.

 

[wlake]

We find POR to be very calming for our son with sensory issues. We live in the woods, so being surrounded by trees and green is what he's used to. There's no in-your-face Disney theme there, either. I'd also like to stress what some previous posters have said about YouTube videos -- you may lose a few hours of your life to them but it's nice knowing what to expect.

The best quiet place at MK is Cinderella's wishing well, to the right of the castle as you're facing it. We sat there for almost 20 minutes last Aug. and only one family even turned to look at us -- the few other people we saw just hurried right by. The best quiet place at AK is the trails around the base of the tree. We strolled many of them and didn't see any other people at all.