We survived a week at Disney with diabetes!

[Jen_in_NH]

This was our first trip to the World since my son was diagnosed with diabetes. It went pretty well, all things considered. He had some record high and low blood sugars, but we were planning on that, and for the most part, could get the numbers back to normal pretty easily.

The first aid stations were wonderful to use for pump changes, and the staff were all really nice. The housekeeping folks brought us up a sharps container, so we weren't lugging them back home, which was great.

The only thing that was tough is that Disney will not tell you the carb counts for food. Everyone here had warned me, so I made sure to travel with a measuring cup, but it still made for some WAGs for meals. Some better than others....

We didn't end up getting a GAC for anything, and for us, I can't see any situation where it would have helped. Maybe if it were warmer, or when he's older and a bit heavier to carry through a line, it would help.

Anyways, just thought I'd share. Thank you to everyone who helped us figure out how this would work for us - it was a great trip, and I really appreciate all your advice.

 

[christymarie]

That is great! It sounds like you guys had a good time and made some great memories.

I'm confused about what a WAG stands for.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I'm confused about what a WAG stands for.

Wild *** Guess

 

[PatsMom]

Glad to hear that you had a great trip! And I hope you have many more.

 

[christymarie]

Wild *** Guess

ROFL, I knew that.

 

[Sawx04]

Glad you had a great time!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I'm glad I found this post. My 9 year old DD was just diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. We are DL veterans and are planning a big 50th celebration trip to DW in 2011. It is good to know these things going in.

I'm glad to hear that things worked out okay, even with the WAGS. Hopefully in a couple of years I'll be better at counting and measuring!

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for posting how things went. Nice to hear the information you got here was helpful.

I'm glad I found this post. My 9 year old DD was just diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. We are DL veterans and are planning a big 50th celebration trip to DW in 2011. It is good to know these things going in.

I'm glad to hear that things worked out okay, even with the WAGS. Hopefully in a couple of years I'll be better at counting and measuring!

don't know if you saw, but in post #3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread, you will find links to some past threads and other resources about going to WDW with diabetes that may be helpful to you.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Thanks for posting how things went. Nice to hear the information you got here was helpful.
don't know if you saw, but in post #3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread, you will find links to some past threads and other resources about going to WDW with diabetes that may be helpful to you.

Thank you!

 

[Daydreamer64]

The only thing that was tough is that Disney will not tell you the carb counts for food.

I am so glad that the trip was a success.

I remember reading your previous posts about the trip and thinking how nerve wracking our first few trips with diabetes and diabetic kids were for us.

We found the pocket book called "Calorie King", and the calorie king dot com site, both were suggested by our Ped. Endo, to be of great help when we are traveling with our T1 diabetic child.

We keep one copy in the van at all times, one copy in the diabetic storage area with his supplies in our home, and one in the diaper bag/ my purse at all times.

He's now in the 8th grade and we check out the food places that his class might visit on field trips, figure out what he wants to eat on the trip, and make a cheat sheet of items he may order - with sizes, so he can just pull that out instead of carrying the book around with him.

The book is not too big to carry, but it's a bit thick for a "pocket sized book", it fits fine in the diaper bag/backpack/purse.

It has tons of fast food and regular food counts for carb counts.

If we can't find the exact food item in question, we look at several similiar food items and do a reasonable average for the carb count.

You'll find as time goes by, that similiar food items can vary widley in carb counts, so an average usually works for us.

You will also find that you will memorize the counts to hundreds of items and be able to just pop the numbers out of your head with no worries at all.

Younger kids can eat well at the parks by having things like cut up hamburger meat, hotdogs, without the buns, grilled chicken/vegis like broc, green beans, and fresh vegis to dip in ranch dressing ( very low carb- 0 to 2 g. per serving ), cheese chunks, toddler beef sticks, toddler snack packages of dried fruit, cereal, and so on - they are individually packaged so the carb count is already on the box.

Just about any prepacked snack package works well because you can be sure of the carb count.

We ask for items like shaved/crushed ice and use the pre packaged individual crystal lite products like Punch or Lemonade, put it in a water bottle, for thick syrup use less water, shake it up, then pour this over the ice for "icecream/slushie" type of snacks. Cups with a straw and spoon work well for this snack.

When your little one is big enough for popcorn, you can give it to him as a snack as it is very low carb, as long as it's buttered, and not something like carmel for instance. We buy popcorn at the parks and eyeball it for serving sizes now as we have gotten good at eyeballing sizes, and Nick is old enough to tell us if he feels low or high.

When he was first diagnosed with diabetes, we even carried our own popcorn to the movies or parks that I pre-measured/microwaved in the food court at the resort, used a measuring cup and then put in a snack cup or baggie so I knew how many carbs to count.

I try to avoid diet items like artificial sweeteners for little kids, as I'd rather have fresh foods to give them, BUT, the diet "icecream" and popcorn has served us well in places that have tons of kids with yummy snacks that weren't the best snacks for a diabetic child.

I'm sorry that this was so long, I just wanted to give you some ideas for future outtings!

Anyway, I HTH!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Daydreamer,

Thanks for the tips! My DD was just diagnosed last month and the Calorie King book has been a godsend.

 

[daneenm]

So glad your trip went well Jen!

 

[Alice clones]

thanks for sharing. my dd 6 was just diagnosed with type 1 on thanksgiving. we love to do big disney trips every few years and were wondering what to expect the next time we go. suprised to hear that they don't offer carb counts.
glad you had a magical time though!

 

[momof2mouseketeers]

I am finding this all very interesting. This will be our first trip since ds was diagnosed with T1. He normally does really well and the pump makes everything so much easier, but I am a bit concerned about the heat. He doesn't do so well diabetes wise with the heat. He's 13, so I hope he'll be sure to let us know if he is feeling different. I've thought about a GAC for standing in the heat, but I don't know how he would feel standing off to the side by himself at times. I do like how the majority of the queues have covering unlike BG,here in Va.

Any advice? I'm off to look at the FAQ now.