Trip Report (Completed!) This is Autism - When you add a little Pixie Dust!

Hi Everyone!

This will be my first trip report so I am a little nervous. Our family is heading to Disney World in 6 days! It will be myself, my husband and our 2 daughters: Julia who is 11 and Hope who is 4. Hope has severe Autism and SID (Sensory Integration Disorder). Some people think I'm crazy to take Hope to Disney with all of her issues, but I have found Disney to be the greatest therapy for her - she does some amazing things while we are there. This will be her 3rd visit after being diagnosed. I hope I can offer some encouragement (and a little humor) to others who have special needs children and are hesitant to visit Disney.

I have done a pre-trip report on my blog - I don't know if I am allowed to post the link here. I will try to catch up here over the next couple of very busy days! So if any of you are up for the journey with us - welcome!

mary

 

[fractal]

Enjoying the report.


Hope has two amazing parents.

 

[jdnetone]

Amen - Fractal

 

[Figment Forever]

I applaud you for this... I really do. I think the way you anticipate and can ready what Hope needs is incredible. I am also impressed by the fact that you try, when you can, not to take advantage of the GAC. Oh and I love the story of Hope trying to take off Cindy's slipper too.

Thanks so much for the kind words! Thanks for reading!

 

[Figment Forever]

I am really enjoying your report! Hope is such a cutie! I teach children on the spectrum and LOVE that you are getting her to try things out of her comfort zone!!!! I see so many parent unintentionally feed into their child's issues. Your family seems to have a right balance. You are an awesome Disney Mom! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks so much! Sometimes I get strange looks from people who watch me "force" her to try a new thing - I have to remember I am doing what's best for her. I appreciate your encouragement!

 

[Figment Forever]

Lovely photos of the girls with the princesses! Looks like a good interaction with Rapunzel. The "thrilled to be here" shot made me laugh.

I liked Rapunzel - she took a lot of time with the girls. Not rushed through at all. Thanks for reading!

 

[Figment Forever]

Enjoying the report.


Hope has two amazing parents.

You are very kind - Thank you!

 

[Figment Forever]

Amen - Fractal

Thank You!

 

[Figment Forever]

I have enjoyed your report and understand what you are experiencing with Hope. Our Grandson turns 4 on the 21st and he has autism. My son and his wife are planning a WDW trip with him next year and we are planning to go with them. Thanks so much for sharing this it means a lot to us. You have two very beautiful daughters and a very nice family.

Thank you! Happy Birthday to your grandson! I know it will be an amazing trip for all of you!

 

[Figment Forever]

I've been keeping up but haven't posted recently. It's refreshing to read the way you deal with Hope, sometimes "forcing" her to try new things and allowing her to recognize not everything is scary. Great report!

Thanks so much for reading! I remember the first time I "forced" her to ride Small World on last year's trip, she hated it - and now it's a favorite! It's a great feeling when that happens!

 

[Figment Forever]

WOW - it's been a while! Our crazy schedules and homeschool drama has made our lives so hectic lately - but I have promised myself that I will have this report finished by Thanksgiving! lol


Now - I have to confess... The week before we left for our Disney trip, I entered the Disney Parks Moms Panel search and found out last week that I advanced to round 2. Don't know if I will make it any further, but I have to say, it was so exciting to have made it that far! I actually cried when I read the e-mail. (Now you guys know I'm a crazy person!) Keeping my fingers crossed for round 3!




Okay... on to the trip report...


Day 5 – September 22nd

Today was our “pool day”. We decided a couple of years ago that we really needed a day like this. A non-park day where we could relax a little, enjoy the hotel and go to DTD.

It was also laundry day – for me anyway. It was the first time I actually remembered to bring quarters from home only to find that the Laundromats are now a non-cash facility. Too funny!


We woke up without alarms and headed to the food court.

We got 2 bounty platters and split them along with some fruit and cereal that we had in the room. After breakfast, we checked out the gift shop and the playground and then headed for the pool.

It was around 10AM when we got there. There were only a few people there. I thought it was lovely. Last year we stayed at CBR and the main pool was crazy – non-stop – from the early morning hours until late at night. Julia is not really a water slide fan, but loved the serpent slide.

Hope walked to the top of the slide - but turned right around - lol.

Hope HATES water. But a little Disney magic can always help out.

 

[Figment Forever]

We enjoyed the pool until about 1pm when we decided to head to DTD. We changed and then walked to the boat launch and waited a few minutes.

I have to say, this boat ride alone would make me want to stay at PO again. I thought it was great.

 

[Figment Forever]

We arrived at DTD and were pretty hungry so we headed to Wolfgang Puck Express. I think this is my husband’s favorite place to eat. We got one plain pizza and one veggie pizza and split them. Julia decided she liked “my” crème Brule.

After lunch, we explored the stores…

 

[Figment Forever]

Soon after, the skies grew very dark and it was apparent it was going to rain so we went into the Lego store to “play” for a while. That was a good call because it started to POUR. We took our time in Lego. Julia bought a mini pet set that was actually under $5.00. Hope was just happy playing.

After the rain let up and we were off to look around some more.
We went to T-Rex and looked around. Julia has always been crazy for dinosaurs but the place was "wall to wall" packed due to the rain. We could barely walk around.

 

[Figment Forever]

Julia got another Italian ice.

We went into World of Disney and shopped a little bit more. It started to pour again so the store was stuffed full of people. I had the items I purchased sent back to the hotel so I didn’t have to carry them in the rain.


We took a peek in Goofy’s Candy Company.

Julia is taking chemistry this year, so we thought this was appropriate!

Then we began our boat ride back to POFQ. We had a snack and rested a little bit. We thought about going back into the pool but the rain was still sporadic. Ross and Julia headed over to the campfire and had roasted marshmallows. Julia wanted to see the movie at the garden – they were playing The Princess and The Frog. She got a nice place and settled in with a pizza and watched.

It was a nice "relaxing" Disney day. Pools, pizza and a princess. Who can ask for more?

Hope played happily in the room while I finished the laundry. I could see Julia in the garden right from our room – too cool.

After the movie, we all settled in for the night. We had a big day planned for the next day at the Studios which included EMH, so we were all glad to have a good night's sleep.



Up Next: Is this the Studios or a water park?

 

[Figment Forever]

Day 6 – September 23rd Hollywood Studios

The Studios is our least favorite and usually a one day park for us. However, this year, we were all really looking forward to spending a full day and a half here because for the last 3 years, we have had problems in the Studios – wet problems! Yes, for the last 3 years, every “Studio” day has been met with downpours and drama!

Last year, Julia got sick and we had to leave the park in the morning before doing anything. We returned another night just to see Fantasmic and sat in the pouring rain to view it. As a matter of fact, there has only been one time in the past 6 years that we watched Fantasmik and have remained dry. It would have been 2 times but the first year we saw it, we sat front row center and … well yeah… that “wet” was due to our own stupidity!

In addition, we had only been on TSMM one time and had never experienced the new version of Star Tours. So needless to say, we were very excited to be at The Studios this year!


Hope was decked out in her “Sofia” dress. I realized that it would be Hope who enjoys the Studios most this year. With Disney Jr. alone – she was ready for this park. She realized which “friends” hung out here!

For Julia, it is all about Fantasmik, Monsters Inc and the Animation Building. (Julia loves to draw, so that really interests her.)

We arrived with sunny skies!

Julia rode the TOT when she was 6 – but she says, “NEVER AGAIN!”

I wanted to stop for a Photo Pass picture but hubby said the line was too long. So I just snapped this shot.

Once inside, we did stop for a picture with “the Hat”. When we got home, we got a surprise:

Yep – that’s not us! If you recognize this family, or perhaps it’s your family, I am happy to e-mail the pictures to you. It is a lovely picture - I added a few borders.

Luckily, they did get us too..

Hope was not in the mood for a family photo, so I am happy we attempted this shot a few times.

It was a beautiful day! We went right to TSMM and got a Fast Pass to return at 1:30. Then we saw Voyage Of The Little Mermaid. One of my favorites in the park!

 

[Figment Forever]

After Ariel, we walked across to Disney Jr. Live on Stage. I had prepared Hope that we would go to see Disney Jr 2 times. - but NO more. I was certain that she would have been happy just to stay in the show all day long.

The CM thought we were nuts because we were 30 minutes early. But I knew Hope wasn’t going to go anyway else – she had waited long enough to see her friends, so on line we went. The TVs kept her distracted while we waited.

I didn’t get any decent pictures inside – but she was all smiles. This is the first year she reached out for the bubbles and gold doubloons. Last year, she hated that part – it was as though bricks were falling on her instead of bubbles. Not so this year – she loved it!

When the show was done, I told her to say goodbye to her Disney friends and we headed to Play N Dine for our 11:00 lunch reservations.

Keeping with Studios tradition, our drama began.

Now, I make it a point of NOT being early for our ADR’s. With Hope, the less time we have to wait, the better. I actually try to arrive a few minutes past the time. It seems to always work out really well. This time – not so. I checked in at the podium around 11:05 and I was shocked when the CM said it would be at least a 30-40 minute wait. What?!?

I understand that restaurants sometimes run behind, but 40 minutes? It seemed a little extreme. I told Ross what she said and we were deciding who and where we could occupy Hope when all of a sudden, she went ballistic. She started screaming and crying and trying to “get away” from us.
It is times like these, when my mind has to try to get into hers – VERY quickly, which is sometimes, not easy to do.

The first thing I thought was she wanted to see Disney Jr. again. No – she wasn’t going in that direction. Too crowded? I didn’t think so. Maybe she didn’t want to go into the building? No – that didn’t seem it either.

No understandable words emerged from her. She was in full hysterics. Huge balls of tears streaming down her face and she was thrashing herself down on the ground. At this point, we were trying to just make sure she was not going to hurt herself.

It was Ross who had the “a-ha” moment. He said he thought that she wanted to go inside the restaurant, that she “knew” who was in there and she wanted to see her Disney Jr. friends. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t so sure but I went to check on the wait time. It had felt like an hour, but I knew it was only a short time. I asked the same CM who checked us how long she thought it would be and if my husband could take my little one somewhere else for a while and meet us inside after they sat my older daughter and me. To my surprise, she was very snippy with me. I am not use to Disney CM’s being anything other than polite and sweet, so she caught me off guard. She said, “Well, you’ve been waiting 7 minutes and I told you before it would be 40, so it looks like you have 33 minutes left. And yes - you must have your entire party present to be seated.”

WOW – I went back to my husband in shock and a little discouraged. I was out of ideas and ready to leave – or at least try to leave. My husband, still sure he was right, and now highly annoyed, walked right into the place and asked a waitress to speak with the manager. He explained what was going on and asked if we could wait inside at the front or by the bathrooms to see if Hope would calm down. The manager walked out to the podium with him and looked up our name. It turns out, we weren’t even checked in! By this time, it was after 11:30 and our ADR was for 11:00. The manager sat us immediately.

Turns out, Ross was right. As soon as Hope saw we were walking in, she began to calm down. It took her, and the rest of us, a little bit to gain back composure. Her eyes were red all throughout the meal. But it was good to see her smile again – which is what she did as soon as she saw OSO and the rest of the gang singing and dancing.

Even after the episode outside, lunch was very enjoyable. The food was great, very fresh and quite a nice variety. I don’t know if it is because the other buffets we ate at were all breakfasts, but this one stood out.


Of course, the characters were amazing!

 

[Figment Forever]

 

[ksr99]

This is a great trip report! Your families parenting skills and patience is something to admire. I look forward to reading the rest of this report, and you have to let us know if you make it to round 3!

 

[Figment Forever]

After lunch, I knew Hope would want to see Disney Jr. again. So we headed over that way.

After the show, our tradition continued…

The skies opened up and the rain came down like I have never seen before at Disney.

I was worried because the characters in the animation courtyard were obviously not there. I wanted Hope to meet Sofia so bad. My husband loves to remind me that I was probably more excited than my 4 year old – but hey – I admit it!

A CM told us to go inside the animation building area – we would find Sofia and Jake there. We found the line and I was thrilled to see it wasn’t even too long. I had wrapped the autograph books inside a bag so they wouldn’t get soaked. When we were on line I took them out and it was then I discovered – I LOST the pen! I must have left it at Play N Dine. I ran to the gift shop outside of Voyage of the Little Mermaid and bought one and got back before it was our turn. Julia was hysterical laughing at me and Ross of course was annoyed. Running Total: 6 autograph books and (3) $6.00 pens.

Meeting Sofia was nothing less than magical.

When we were done with Sofia, our Fast Pass time for TSMM was upon us but it was POURING - NONSTOP! I can’t even describe it. The ground was flooding and people were just splashing around like ducks. However, we were NOT going to miss TSMM again this year! So off we swam to Pixar Place.

By the time we got there we were saturated and cold! But it was worth it! This was a first for Hope and I was so happy she loved it. She didn’t get the shooting part. But she did wear the 3D glasses the whole time and enjoyed all of it!

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Arghhh with that CM at Hollywood & Vine. Ironically that is the one place we have run into someone rude at the podium as well though not near like your situation. And how dare her not have even checked you in? If Hope hadn't had an issue and y'all sat there waiting you would've never been seated. Unbelievable! Even then, when someone with a child who obviously is having an issue related to not being able to go in is asking nicely to do what you did, there's just no reason to say no. Your husband did the right thing and thank goodness he did!