Taking on the World with Four Extra Chromosomes!

[ashleypmo]

We're planning a Spring, 2013 trip to WDW!!! We'll be taking another family with us (it will be their first WDW trip!), and there will be 14 of us in all: 4 adults, 3 teenagers, 3 inbetweenies, and 4 littles with Down syndrome. Theirs will both be 5, and ours will be 6 & 7. And yes, we are crazy!

So...My biggest concern is keeping up with the 4 littles w/ Ds. We'll be taking 2 double strollers, and I would LOVE suggestions of double strollers that work well in the parks (BTW--- I think I've already decided I hate the new WDW strollers, just by looking at them. The old blue ones were SO easy for the kids to doze off and nap it--- these don't look conducive to napping. )

I know there will be times when we let everyone else go on the bigger rides, and the two mommies will stay with the littles. My now-5 year old is VERY hard to keep up with, and I'm a little concerned about keeping up with two! (Oh--- I should mention that we have no idea about how the other 3 will act at WDW. Both families are in the process of adopting them from Eastern Europe at the moment. We've met our daughter-across-the-sea, and from that meeting I think she's going to be a perfect partner-in-crime for DSDs5. . But the other family hasn't met either of their daughters yet, so we have no idea how mischievous they may or may not be)

Back to my point... I'm thinking of putting harnesses on DSDs and DDDs , and then leashing their harnesses together. I figure they'll be easier to chase if their together, and surely being attached will slow them down just a bit...maybe. Of course, I'm sure I will get quite a few dirty looks and nasty comments about driving them like sled dogs or cart horses, but I'm up for that. I can already envision myself saying, "Normally, I believe in educating people in love. But I'm tired, and you're ignorant, so buzz off." Hopefully I'll respond in a more Disneyfied manner than that, tho.

The other thing I'm pondering... I had a situation once where DSDs5 got away from me in a crowd, and people evidently just watched him making his way toward the busy driveway/parking lot and nobody stopped him. As I was searching frantically for him, a man finally got my attention and pointed--- yes, POINTED--- toward where my son was climbing through a fence and about to fall headlong into the path of an SUV. I hate that we're such a litigious society that we're scared to take a chance on stopping someone else's child to keep them from harm.

So I'm thinking (which often gets me in trouble)... what could I have printed on the back of a tshirt that would basically say, "Hey-- I have special needs and should NOT be walking around without an adult EVER, so if you see me without an adult, STOP ME and take me to a CM, or call (XXX)xxx-xxxx."? That is, of course, much too long to fit on the back of a child's size 5 tshirt, so does anyone have any ideas or input? I'm wondering whether that would be like a sign saying "Hey, pedophiles! If I don't have a grown up with me, then I'm lost, so here ya' go!" But if he's wandering around without a grown-up, he's going to be vulnerable anyway, and I think that it might be better to give the 99.9% of WDW guests who are NOT pedophiles permission to grab my child and take them to a CM, or at least to engage him in conversation while they dial my cel phone number, than to risk him wandering around unnoticed and ending up in the men's room, or who knows where.

Which leads me to another question: how likely are the CMs to recognize an unattended child and approach them? Like lots of children with Ds, DSDs tends to look down while walking, so most people don't even notice he has Ds if he's just walking around. And he's tiny---he's easy to overlook, you know?

TIA!

 

[KPeveler]

Ok, you've got a ton of questions I will try to start answering them.

First of all - you are going to want to get a "stroller a wheelchair" GAC tag. This will allow you to take the stroller into lines, which should help considerably with keeping track of the little ones.

Use the harnesses if you want - you will see LOTS of people using them in Disney. You adopted beautiful special needs children from other countries - if other people want to be judgmental, they can just... well... I'll just say my response to them would not be Disney-friendly.

there are places online where you can get custom tattoos. There are some people here who get them and put an emergency phone number on it, then put it on their child's hand everyday. This may be easier than t-shirts, especially if they see t-shirts there they want to buy and wear!

There are other people here who will chime in soon with more advice!

 

[ashleypmo]

Custom tattoos-- LOVE that idea! Thanks!

Yes, on our last trip (only had 4 kids, the youngest being DSds who was 2), we totally rocked the "stroller as wheelchair" pass. We didn't do an additional GAC, as really that covered his main need, which was for a "safe" zone to keep from becoming overstimulated, and to allow me to transport him safely, since his loose ligaments made carrying him a lot like trying to hold onto a 20 pound bag of water with a ferret inside. This time, I'm anticipating we may need to GAC for the 3 adopted children to utilize quiet waiting areas, when possible. I'm thinking that since they have spent their whole lives institutionalized, they might get a wee bit overstimulated, strollers or no strollers.

And thanks for the encouragement on the harnesses! I'm already envisioning our 4 little chromosomally enhanced cuties linked together, caravan style!

 

[disneyfamiof4]

I have no input on your questions I just wanted to tell you

Thank you for adopting special needs children...the world needs more people like you!

 

[disneymomma01]

I can already envision myself saying, "Normally, I believe in educating people in love. But I'm tired, and you're ignorant, so buzz off." Hopefully I'll respond in a more Disneyfied manner than that, tho.

I LOVE this!! I will have to remember this quote!! I can think of lots of time this would have been so handy!!