Autism and Disney Parks

[earldw28]

I am glad a thread was started about this to hear what other people have to say about it. I have a nephew with autism and my aunt and uncle have been contemplating taking him to WDW but as with most kids with autism he is very tense around crowds and loud noises. However, they took him to a local fair or carnival and he absolutley loved to ride the stuff they had there. It's easy to find status quo information about this topic but to hear other peoples personal experiences helps. I really hope he gets to go soon, he is almost 9 years old and I would love to be there when he goes.

 

[BuzzLite_Fran]

we have been going to WDW since 2002. Since that first trip then my daughter was 6. She is mild-moderate MR and displays some characteristics of Autism. Well on our first trip in 2002 Our daughter stepped into that wonderful world of Disney and all the characters she had been watching in the annimated movies came to life for her. SHe at that time was not very verbal, and has trouble with her speech. It was like something came alive in her soul and brain. Ever since that trip she began to do better in school, her grades got better and now for the past 5 years she has been on the A/B honor roll at school. Although her work is modified due to her disability she still works hard and does her best. Ever since then we have been going back to WDW every year except 2006. I cannot express to you all how much I love Disney for this. Of course there has been some special CM who have been so special to us and have spent time with our daughter down through the years, and have made all her dreams come true.

Thank you so very much WDW for making our daughter so very happy each and every year! We love you!

You can also read the story in detal about my daughter and her Special Fairy Godmother here in another thread

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=222997
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=250301

 

[PotteryGal]

we have been going to WDW since 2002. Since that first trip then my daughter was 6. She is mild-moderate MR and displays some characteristics of Autism. Well on our first trip in 2002 Our daughter stepped into that wonderful world of Disney and all the characters she had been watching in the annimated movies came to life for her. SHe at that time was not very verbal, and has trouble with her speech. It was like something came alive in her soul and brain. Ever since that trip she began to do better in school, her grades got better and now for the past 5 years she has been on the A/B honor roll at school. Although her work is modified due to her disability she still works hard and does her best. Ever since then we have been going back to WDW every year except 2006. I cannot express to you all how much I love Disney for this. Of course there has been some special CM who have been so special to us and have spent time with our daughter down through the years, and have made all her dreams come true.

Thank you so very much WDW for making our daughter so very happy each and every year! We love you!

You can also read the story in detal about my daughter and her Special Fairy Godmother here in another thread

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=222997
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=250301

Your story is a wonderful one - moved me to tears. That is where Disney stands out for me. Our kids aren't singled out, made to feel different, but they are made to feel special. For that, we will always return to WDW. Thank you Disney!

 

[Blonde Princess]

Our son who is now nearly 11 years old, is Autistic. Presently, he has a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. We have only known of this officially for approximately 3.5 years. Prior to this it was suspected. He also has ADD and other often associated conditions.

We travel to WDW from New Jersey, approximately once every 6 weeks. While others believe we are Disney obsessed and don't understand, ( and while we might in fact be Disney obsessed) much of the reason why we go is our son. He LOVES Disney and is actually obsessed with it to a certain degree. He knows more about Disney than nearly anyone. We have been on tours there and he even knows things the tour guides don't. He can navigate Disney, tell you facts and for some reason focusses to the point of being able to remember precisely details about the physical layout, theming, words stated on the attractions. For example he somehow just walking up and down Mainstreet managed to memorize the names and locations of the people and stores listed in the second floor windows of all the places along Main Street.

Most importantly, our son has little age appropriate behavior. This is the only place he acts like a kid. His 8 year old brother and our friends have all commented on this. We love to see him have fun, like a kid should, without worries, etc.

Relative to shows, Fantasmic is his favorite. Although he is hypersentive to noise, and crowds, it does not matter at Fantasmic, other than he puts his fingers in his ears at time. Same with fireworks.

He just absolutely loves Disney.

 

[ann0d]

My son 8 has Aspergers and he L-o-v-e-s Disney ( and Universal) - noises has never bothered him or crowds. Plus he has lots of energy, so we can go all day in the park without him tiring out! Funny thing when he was 6 and we were there he had to ride any car that was purple! We were so glad when all the rides had the same color car, On the Speedway and Dumbo and Teacups we waited until a purple car was available. People who don't understand Autism would react to this, but it made our vacation so much easier to wait and not have him cause a scene! This past December he could have cared less what color it was. His "thing" this time was reading everyones name tag! It was kind of cute actually, he would say hi and ask them which contintent they were from, So it was nice starting conversations with the employees. Funny story - one employee told him he was from Africa and my son said I'm from North America! Everyone got a chuckle out of that. Also when we were at Universal we took the boat from our hotel over to the park, we got to know the morning boat driver really well! He said he would adopt our son! (hmmm the temptation! LOL - just kidding folks!!!!) By the way when we got home we looked on ebay and found an actual Disney employee tag with his name AND get this - it had our home town on it. Talk about fate - we got it for him and he can't wait to go back and show everyone his Disney name tag.
Funny thing he hates to go to new places but amusement parks never bothered him.


Oh one more thing I have 3 older children who I took 3 times to Disney, but the 8 year old (he came along after the other three were much older) with Aspergers is the most fun to take and would go with him anytime - he truely puts the magic in Disney for me and my husband (who hated Disney until the 8 year old came along)!!!!!!!!!! We have taken him alone 3 times already and plan to go back in 2009.

One drawback - Food he only ate Chicken nuggets and pizza for a week. And as much as his love dinner/breakfast with the charachters - it's a waste of money, because he eats next to nothing! But he loves it, and we are lucky we can do this for him!

This is such a cool thread, so many stories touch home with me!

 

[docandsix]

Not much to say, but...

our family's impressions mirror most of those posted above. Our youngest was diagnosed "on the spectrum," as they say, about a nine months ago, a few months after our last visit to WDW. His major manifestation of autism characteristics is a speech delay, so we did not have then, nor do we now have with regard to our upcoming trip in April, too many concerns regarding crowds and noise. At the time of our last trip, he struck me as spooked by big, scary things that I thought he would like (like Lightning McQueen, e.g.) in the same way many toddlers are bothered by Santa Claus, when they meet him in person. I really didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but, as I said before, he hadn't yet been diagnosed, so I wasn't really "on the look out," either.

Presently, his greatest passion in life is all things to do with pirates, so we cannot wait to get him to the Magic Kingdom in April.

Incidentally, with therapy, he has made tremendous progress in the last eight months. Many of our friends simply refuse to believe that he has autism of any kind or in any degree. So there is hope for all of you parents out there!

 

[joanna71985]

Our son who is now nearly 11 years old, is Autistic. Presently, he has a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. We have only known of this officially for approximately 3.5 years. Prior to this it was suspected. He also has ADD and other often associated conditions.

We travel to WDW from New Jersey, approximately once every 6 weeks. While others believe we are Disney obsessed and don't understand, ( and while we might in fact be Disney obsessed) much of the reason why we go is our son. He LOVES Disney and is actually obsessed with it to a certain degree. He knows more about Disney than nearly anyone. We have been on tours there and he even knows things the tour guides don't. He can navigate Disney, tell you facts and for some reason focusses to the point of being able to remember precisely details about the physical layout, theming, words stated on the attractions. For example he somehow just walking up and down Mainstreet managed to memorize the names and locations of the people and stores listed in the second floor windows of all the places along Main Street.

Most importantly, our son has little age appropriate behavior. This is the only place he acts like a kid. His 8 year old brother and our friends have all commented on this. We love to see him have fun, like a kid should, without worries, etc.

Relative to shows, Fantasmic is his favorite. Although he is hypersentive to noise, and crowds, it does not matter at Fantasmic, other than he puts his fingers in his ears at time. Same with fireworks.

He just absolutely loves Disney.

That's awsome! Maybe I should hire him as a tour guide.

 

[wbboy29]

My son, too, has Aspergers. We took our first trip in 1998 when he was 10. He was very cautious about all the attractions and sometimes would feel sick to his stomach before going on one. After he went on and realized there was nothing to be scared of, he was excited to do it again. He's always been afraid of loud noises but WDW really hasn't scared him much with that aspect. That first trip (and since), every character was a delight to him. And I'm not sure, but it seemed as if all the characters knew he was "different" and would be even more kind to him. I can't praise Disney enough for teaching their castmembers how to handle "special" kids. I've watched with tears in my eyes while a severely disabled child in front of us in a wheelchair was being quietly and kindly hugged and patted on her head by Chip and Dale. She was beaming! It touches your heart. My son has always been more than happy to get hugs and smile for the camera. That's something that doesn't happen much in the real world. As another reader above stated, he's looks just enough "normal" to fit in until someone tries to interact with him - then he doesn't communicate well. Since that first trip in 1998, we've gone every year at least once, sometimes twice. He's 20 and still loves it - it's the one place I think he feels comfortable with who he is and no one is trying to judge him. We also have made a trip to Discovery Cove. He did fine in the water with the dolphins but I don't know if maybe he didn't get such a reaction because he's so high functioning:shrug:, but he still really enjoyed it.

Besides the fact I love it, that's a big portion of why we keep coming back. Thank you, Disney!:sohappy:

This brought tears to my eyes. This is exactly why I loved working at Disney World (in entertainment) for so many years. I have since moved on to other performing opportunities, but these kinds of interactions are my fondest memories of my 5 years at "The World." :wave:

 

[Kriszee1]

My autistic son is 4 years old. We have taken him to Disney twice (his past 2 birthdays). We learned many lessons on our first trip, so we were well prepared for the 2nd! He is a "sensory-seeking" autistic, but he is bothered by the close proximity of guests in line and waiting for more than 5/ 10 minutes. The guest assistance pass is a godsend and this year we did use the stroller as a wheelchair, because it blocks out all of the noise and views of the crowds. For our first trip, we didn't do this and he pretty much tried to rip down the gates surrounding Dumbo as well as come 3 inches from throwing himself onto a boat in Living with the Land. The stroller, which was his own from home, provided the sense of security he needed with all that was going on around him.

Disney gives him just the right amount of stimulation that by the time we eat dinner he can ALMOST behave at a restaurant. He watches all of the planning videos and movies during the year. During our first trip, he was frightened of the characters, but for this past trip, he did go up to them. He's very, robotic about it. There is no true emotion, they sign the book and say cheese...that's it, but it is such a milestone for him socially.

Since we returned in November, he is now "greeting" everyone. His speech therapist is amazed at how well he is doing. He is making eye contact and doing parallel play at his peer group sessions. Do I think that Disney has alot to do with it, yes. It's quality family time and alot of one on one time with him. There's no fears, mommy & daddy can be just like him and relate better that after a hard day at school and work. I think there are so many factors that make the trip enjoyable.

I never realized that there were so many other parents of autistic children here at wdwmagic. We should start a fan/ support/ tip group!

 

[GenerationX]

It is wonderful to hear that so many others with loved ones (or themselves!) have found the same joy in WDW that my son has. It really says something about the Disney Company that so many people on the autism spectrum have such profound experiences at WDW.

Blonde Princess - I think our sons would get along great. My son (12 yrs old) also loves Fantasmic, despite the loud noises. For several years, he insisted on wearing his Sorcerer Mickey costume to the show and mirroring Mickey's arm movements during the show.

 

[SANDKRUSER]

My autistic son is 4 years old. We have taken him to Disney twice (his past 2 birthdays). We learned many lessons on our first trip, so we were well prepared for the 2nd! He is a "sensory-seeking" autistic, but he is bothered by the close proximity of guests in line and waiting for more than 5/ 10 minutes. The guest assistance pass is a godsend and this year we did use the stroller as a wheelchair, because it blocks out all of the noise and views of the crowds. For our first trip, we didn't do this and he pretty much tried to rip down the gates surrounding Dumbo as well as come 3 inches from throwing himself onto a boat in Living with the Land. The stroller, which was his own from home, provided the sense of security he needed with all that was going on around him.

Disney gives him just the right amount of stimulation that by the time we eat dinner he can ALMOST behave at a restaurant. He watches all of the planning videos and movies during the year. During our first trip, he was frightened of the characters, but for this past trip, he did go up to them. He's very, robotic about it. There is no true emotion, they sign the book and say cheese...that's it, but it is such a milestone for him socially.

Since we returned in November, he is now "greeting" everyone. His speech therapist is amazed at how well he is doing. He is making eye contact and doing parallel play at his peer group sessions. Do I think that Disney has alot to do with it, yes. It's quality family time and alot of one on one time with him. There's no fears, mommy & daddy can be just like him and relate better that after a hard day at school and work. I think there are so many factors that make the trip enjoyable.

I never realized that there were so many other parents of autistic children here at wdwmagic. We should start a fan/ support/ tip group!

I never realized it either! I had posted once a long time ago about something my son had done (pulled Pluto's tongue) during a character breakfast and got flamed :fork: from so many people I've been very protective of myself to post much since. It's hard to try to explain my son's actions to people when so many of them don't understand. I'm sure many of you feel the same way every day. Again, that's why we enjoy Disney - he can be himself and no one judges him or you. I'm so happy to hear your son is doing so well. As a parent of a 20 year old - it feels like an uphill battle sometimes but always is worth it!