The 7 Of Us hit the Big Easy a Pre-Trip--WE HAVE RETURNED (Look 4 trip report) Page 3

[katdocnorf]

Poor guy! It's hard for him to understand. Every time my son hears us talking about WDW he runs to put on his shoes so we can leave for the airport!!

Do you have any kind of countdown "calendar" for him?? Billy will actually cross off days on a regular calendar. When he starts to ask about "are we going" yet, we go to the calendar and he counts days with his finger. It doesn't make the days go any faster, but it can help make the "numbers" less abstract.

I've seen some DISers use stickers on a calendar, or the Mickey-head paint cards from the Home Depot, etc.

You could do the same thing with manipulatives if that works better for him. Take a container and fill it with safe objects he can physically count...when Billy was younger we used pieces of uncooked macaroni. He would count out the days left using the macaroni, sometimes over and over (and over!), but somehow it relieved some of the anxiety and made the concept of time more concrete. Each object = one "sleep".

It's difficult enough for us parents to wait patiently...for our ASD kids it must be so frustrating!

Kathy

I try the calendar thing but he doesn't really know how to count to much. He tries but he has never really understood the concept of counting. At school they just try to teach him weather and everyday tasks. He will count sometimes with me but you have to catch him in a rare mood.

He looks at the calendar and the marks I make and I made a different mark for the day we are leaving. But he doesn't really communicate to well so it is very difficult to tell if it is sinking in or not. I can tell you he doesn't not want you to take the calendar off the wall though. That really upsets him. Also when anybody leaves in the Excursion he gets upset too b/c he thinks automatically that it is road trip time when someone leaves in that. It seems like a loosing battle sometimes.. I don't think it will end until we all pack up and get in the Excursion and start driving. At least its less than 6 days before we leave.

 

[katdocnorf]

Found a few pictures and added them. I thought I had one of the Sprint but can't find it right now.

Less than 5 days before we get on the road. We have started packing. Need to pick up some things before we leave. Checked the cooler and the drain blug is broken, so need a new cooler. I guess when we used it for the picnic we had last month it got broken somehow. DSS20's bathing suit is kind of worse for wear so I need to pick one up for him. Food that we plan on taking in the cooler and a few other things. I'll pick milk and eggs and stuff like that up once we get there. I have been letting the food in the house here depleat, so we are having Subway tonight and just kind of playing it by ear each night. I hate leaving a lot of food in the house. Being I am on midnight shift, on the nights I work I dont really feel like cooking either. I am on shift until Tuesday morning and then off for 10 days. We get on the road Wednesday night.

 

[katdocnorf]

HOT TUB, CANNONBALL, EPCOT (Maybe).........

Where was I.....Oh yeah....It was still relatively early so we decided to drive up International Dr to find a place to eat. Came up on a place called Olive Garden. ----Back then there was no Olive Garden in our Area and they were not as wide spread as they are now---- We both like Italian Food and the place looked interesting so we decided to stop there and eat. Hostess told us it would be about a 20-30 min wait...OK... There was these tables in the front lobby with umbrellas on them so we sat, talked about our day and what was in store for the next day. We decided we will go to Epcot. Right about then we get called...our table is ready. We have a very good dinner and the atmosphere was great. WE LOVED IT.. We decided to fill our a comment card and one of the questions was something to the effect like, what suggestions do you have for us? We wrote "Put one in Norfolk, VA" (You know they built one here and had in open about a year and a half later )

We left and went back to the room. Decided we needed to relax further so decided to see if there was room in one of the Hot Tubs. Sure enough there was just one other couple in the Hot Tub so we joined them. We had a very nice time and conversations with them. The next morning I got up early and ran the resort like I did every morning of our vacation. Get just about back to the room and here comes my BF running down the steps and CANNONBALLS right into the pool. He started yelling like a woman . I said "What is your problem, and what possessed you this morning." He said he need to wake up. I told him that pool isn't heated you know. He said thats why he screamed. I think that woke him up. Well he asked if I was going to come it. I told him it was cold. Well he talked me into it and we swam for a while. It got kind of late to go to EPCOT, so we changed our plans.

We decided to have breakfast at the hotel. They had a nice restaurant but we hadn't had a chance to eat there yet. Breakfast was just wonderful. It was buffet style, but they had a jamaican man making omlets to order right up at the bar. And those omlets were just to die for.

After that we looked at our JUNK vouchers. There was a couple of dinner shows, a dance club, Church Street Station, and something else. So we decided to go the Church Street Station. It was Okay but nothing exciting. Alot of shops and some little carnival type rides. It was nice and very relaxing though. That was the last of the JUNK we used. Never have done any of the Dinner Shows to this day. And the dance club didn't really interest us and what ever the other was must not have either. We ate dinner at Church Street Station. I don't really remember much about it so it must not have been all that.

Went back to the hotel and surprise we have a message at the front. Go up to the front desk and we are able to stay the other night, but we do have to switch to a standard room on that night. So our last 2 nights were in a standard room and they were on the first floor, but it was closer to the hot tubs and restaurant. So it was all good.

So the next day we finally went to Epcot. Did the Michael Jackson show, dont remember what it was called back then. Spaceship Earth, Body Wars, Star Tours, and hit and missed World Showcase. I think we did Norway, Germany, Italy and America. Called it a day.

Then Magic Kingdom for a last day. Did POC, back then at the end they had a place where you could dress up like a pirate and get your picture done. We had a big 8X10 wil Mickey and Minnie Kissing at the bottom of it. But here is the one that was taken with our camera.

Us at the Adventureland Sign....it doesn't look like that anymore though.

Then Splash Mountain, Country Bears, Haunted Mansion and Hall of Presidents and we were gone.

Flight home was uneventful. Although we did get first class as promised because of the mess up in our ressies. So that was real nice. We had steak, potatoes and a nice salad. That was better than just peanuts.

 

[KathyRN137]

He looks at the calendar and the marks I make and I made a different mark for the day we are leaving. But he doesn't really communicate to well so it is very difficult to tell if it is sinking in or not.

You'd be surprised. I think a lot more "sinks in" then we think....
Does he respond well to social stories (with pictures?)

Speaking of pictures, I love the idea of dressing up as pirates and taking the picture at POC! Wonder why they stopped doing that?

Kathy

 

[kindakrazy2]

Loving the report! Thanks for the memories of that trip - must have been a combo dream/nightmare trip!

You are getting so close to your trip now!

 

[katdocnorf]

You'd be surprised. I think a lot more "sinks in" then we think....
Does he respond well to social stories (with pictures?)

Speaking of pictures, I love the idea of dressing up as pirates and taking the picture at POC! Wonder why they stopped doing that?

Kathy

Sometimes with pictures he will get excited and point and try to tell you what the picture is.

Yeah I always thought the POC Pics were nice. When we finally went back in 1997 I was looking forward to doing it again almost 10 years later, but it wasn't there. I don't know why.......

Loving the report! Thanks for the memories of that trip - must have been a combo dream/nightmare trip!

You are getting so close to your trip now!

Very close....I am starting to panic that I won't get everything done that I need to before we leave.

 

[KathyRN137]

Very close....I am starting to panic that I won't get everything done that I need to before we leave.

That's eurostress...."good stress" (I wish I had some!!)

Kathy

 

[katdocnorf]

Here is just a few happenings that are just make me crazy......

DSS20 (Justin -- Autistic) -- Today I caught him marking of the next couple of days off the calendar himself... I guess he thought this would make us leave sooner because we would think it was that day?????

We keep having thunderstorms so DH can't change the oil in the truck before we leave and I can't clean it inside and out before we leave.

Also You can't pack but so early because Justin thinks that automatically you are packing so it is time to go. But I can't wait because I have other things I have to get done also. So I waited until today to start, NOT TO EARLY< NOT TO LATE... RIGHT??? WRONG.... Justin picks up on this...packs his matchbox cars in his bag that he likes to keep them in, (And when I say cars, I mean about 50 of them) and brings them down stairs and puts it beside the staircase bannister and sits in his chair by the front door ready to go.

 

[katdocnorf]

Well leaving tonight and still have plenty we need to do. Hopefully it all gets done or that pushes our time later and later. As long as we leave before midnight I guess... It is a 12-13 hours drive. I just wanter to get there early so that we didn't get put in the very back of Fort Wilderness. I would like to be in the center somewhere.... Well we'll see and when we return hopefully I wil have an adventures park free trip report for you guys... SEE YA REAL SOON.....

 

[ILMICKEY]

DSS20 (Justin -- Autistic) -- Today I caught him marking of the next couple of days off the calendar himself... I guess he thought this would make us leave sooner because we would think it was that day?????

I am SOOOOO loving this idea. I'm going to try it too. Smart kid!! He wants to go now.

 

[kindakrazy2]

I'm going to try Justin's method of calender manipulation too! Sounds like a good plan to me!

Today is your day! Woohoo!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! I can't wait to hear about it when you get back.

Drive safely.

 

[katdocnorf]

Well we have returned and I am uploading pics and unpacking. Trying to get the whole trip organized in my head. If I am not to busy at work tonight, (YEAH I HAVE TO GO IN FOR MIDNIGHT SHIFT TONIGHT) I will try to start the trip report.

It was adventurous and lots of mishaps, but all in all it was pretty good. I will tell you this much for now. It was HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT.

 

[KathyRN137]

Welcome back!!

I'm looking forward to reading your report!

Kathy