ericandliz
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2007
- Messages
- 53
We just returned from our son's first trip to Disney. He is 6 and autistic, and had a fabulous time. My best tip is to watch clips of the inside of certain rides on You Tube or other outlets on the internet prior to the trip. This relieved many anxieties for him. There are a lot of written descriptions of the rides out there, but watching the videos may show some things that may or may not set people off. It really helped knowing just how wet you get on certain rides, what the seating situation was, and how steep some of the roller coaster drops were, as examples. Of course, seeing this on video first is a bit of a spoiler for some, but for others where having a map in your mind of what to expect can really make the trip better. We had our computer with us at the hotel and even used it at night to preview rides he had seen and wondered about earlier in the day. He really likes Stitch and wanted to do Stitch's Great Escape, and even after a lot of explaining of how scary it was, he sill wanted to try it. I finally showed him the You Tube version and that was good enough to convince him to not do it (too dark, mom). Favorite rides were Big Thunder Mountain, Test Track, and Soarin.........HATED Small World and cried the entire time, and I should have previewed that one with him but who would think this ride would be a bad one?????. I asked him about it afterwards and he said "it was only for girls!", due all of the dolls ???? He seemed embarrassed to be on the ride....but this is how it works with autism sometimes, you just never know!
I've also seen this before on other posts, but if you can, renting a car is really a good idea if you do not drive there. We had an intermediate size car from Budget and paid $144 total for the week in late September, after a lot of searching on the internet for the best deal. We signed up for Budget Express and had it all set prior to our arrival and were permitted to cut in front of about 40 people waiting in the regular Budget line since we had our Budget Express card, which was mailed to us months prior. This was so vital as we had just been on the plane 3 + hours and it was just the two of us and waiting patiently in a long line was not in the cards for either of us at that moment.
We did use the transportation a little bit, since he LOVES that kind of stuff and was really into the buses, trams, and monorails, but it was nice to be able to have the car as an option for food runs to places he is familiar with, since food can be a challenge sometimes.
We did use the Guest Assistance pass, but as I've seen at other posts, no doctor's note was needed although we had one but they do want to see the individual, although autism is hard to "see" sometimes. Anyway, after eyeing him up (?)they gave me a pass. We used it about half the time as we are working on waiting in lines, etc like others, plus crowds were very light the last week of September. There was an almost hour long wait for Kilimanjaro Safaris so it did come in handy for that as it was a very hot and buggy day there.
Stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside, which worked out so great for us in many ways, but reviews seem to be hit and miss. Our room (2745) was very quiet but again, it was not full there. We are a family of 6 but only two of us got to go this time, so it was more than enough room for us. Already planning a trip in April and we will return there.
Pin trading was also a huge, unexpected hit, and a great way to initiate some social skills that sometimes autistic kids can struggle with. It's a bit tricky for him to comprehend walking up to complete strangers (Cast Members) to trade and how that is ok, band we just went thru a whole "thing" on strangers and how we don't just go up to people and trade stuff, or carry on a conversation, back home. Anyway, he got very bold about this by the end of the trip and would see a CM and bolt for them and want to trade. I did mention each time to CM's, etc that he was autistic, and things went just fine. Some CM's tease and stuff prior to my declaration of autism, and he did not "get" their jokes, but almost all of them were great and got right down at his level and let him take his time picking out what pin to trade.
Autographs too were an unexpected hit. He used to be afraid of any character, but wanted to wait in long lines for autographs and hugs. Again, I was very vocal about his autism, and everyone was extremely accomodating. We did a character meal at the Garden Grill, and that was a great setting. He loved the fact that the restaurant moved, and the characters visited us twice and Chip tried to eat his dinner, which we continue to hear about weeks afterwards.
Overall a fabulous time!
I've also seen this before on other posts, but if you can, renting a car is really a good idea if you do not drive there. We had an intermediate size car from Budget and paid $144 total for the week in late September, after a lot of searching on the internet for the best deal. We signed up for Budget Express and had it all set prior to our arrival and were permitted to cut in front of about 40 people waiting in the regular Budget line since we had our Budget Express card, which was mailed to us months prior. This was so vital as we had just been on the plane 3 + hours and it was just the two of us and waiting patiently in a long line was not in the cards for either of us at that moment.
We did use the transportation a little bit, since he LOVES that kind of stuff and was really into the buses, trams, and monorails, but it was nice to be able to have the car as an option for food runs to places he is familiar with, since food can be a challenge sometimes.
We did use the Guest Assistance pass, but as I've seen at other posts, no doctor's note was needed although we had one but they do want to see the individual, although autism is hard to "see" sometimes. Anyway, after eyeing him up (?)they gave me a pass. We used it about half the time as we are working on waiting in lines, etc like others, plus crowds were very light the last week of September. There was an almost hour long wait for Kilimanjaro Safaris so it did come in handy for that as it was a very hot and buggy day there.
Stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside, which worked out so great for us in many ways, but reviews seem to be hit and miss. Our room (2745) was very quiet but again, it was not full there. We are a family of 6 but only two of us got to go this time, so it was more than enough room for us. Already planning a trip in April and we will return there.
Pin trading was also a huge, unexpected hit, and a great way to initiate some social skills that sometimes autistic kids can struggle with. It's a bit tricky for him to comprehend walking up to complete strangers (Cast Members) to trade and how that is ok, band we just went thru a whole "thing" on strangers and how we don't just go up to people and trade stuff, or carry on a conversation, back home. Anyway, he got very bold about this by the end of the trip and would see a CM and bolt for them and want to trade. I did mention each time to CM's, etc that he was autistic, and things went just fine. Some CM's tease and stuff prior to my declaration of autism, and he did not "get" their jokes, but almost all of them were great and got right down at his level and let him take his time picking out what pin to trade.
Autographs too were an unexpected hit. He used to be afraid of any character, but wanted to wait in long lines for autographs and hugs. Again, I was very vocal about his autism, and everyone was extremely accomodating. We did a character meal at the Garden Grill, and that was a great setting. He loved the fact that the restaurant moved, and the characters visited us twice and Chip tried to eat his dinner, which we continue to hear about weeks afterwards.
Overall a fabulous time!
