Disney World with an autistic child

[Todd H]

Anybody else have an autistic child? Our son is autistic and we'll be heading to Disney World in a few days. We took him last year and as far as the rides go he did very well. The lines, however, were a different story. He absolutely hates it. We managed last year but I did feel bad for the people in line around us.

This year we are going to try and get a GAC to see if that helps. Our doctor wrote us a note in case it is needed. Hopefully it will make his trip more enjoyable.

 

[DisneyJoe]

http://allears.net/pl/dis_aut.htm

 

[Lucky]

We get a GAC and it's very helpful, but we also avoid the busy times of year.
There are some things - parades, firework shows, Fantasmic - where a GAC doesn't help.

 

[Todd H]

Thanks for the link. There's a lot of great information there.

We get a GAC and it's very helpful, but we also avoid the busy times of year.
There are some things - parades, firework shows, Fantasmic - where a GAC doesn't help.

Yeah, last year we avoided the parades and fireworks because my son hates loud noises. We actually used that time to ride some of the rides. Walked right on to a few of them, which pleased my son greatly since he loves riding the rides.

 

[jlandis44]

I also have a similar situation, as my son is Asperger's. For us, it's kinda the same deal. We avoid busy times of year, only do fireworks and loud things if he suggests it (and we've even brought earplugs for him, and that worked like a charm!). The other thing we now do EVERY DAY is to take a break starting sometime between 1-2PM and go to the hotel to just relax in front of the TV. He belly-aches a little about it, but almost always falls asleep for 20-30 minutes. Then, we head back to another park sometime around 3-4PM. It helps immensely for his tolerance of the situation. Fortunately, he doesn't get bothered by lines (but I DO!) so I can't offer any suggestions there. But, I would also strongly suggest always having the park hopper option. Some days, I've found that we adults might think that the best place to be would be DHS, but after an hour there and a few meltdowns later, find that taking him to a different park is all it takes. Flexibility is the biggest trick that I find as adults we can do to help manage the situation with a child with these needs. Good luck!

 

[Todd H]

I also have a similar situation, as my son is Asperger's. For us, it's kinda the same deal. We avoid busy times of year, only do fireworks and loud things if he suggests it (and we've even brought earplugs for him, and that worked like a charm!). The other thing we now do EVERY DAY is to take a break starting sometime between 1-2PM and go to the hotel to just relax in front of the TV. He belly-aches a little about it, but almost always falls asleep for 20-30 minutes. Then, we head back to another park sometime around 3-4PM. It helps immensely for his tolerance of the situation. Fortunately, he doesn't get bothered by lines (but I DO!) so I can't offer any suggestions there. But, I would also strongly suggest always having the park hopper option. Some days, I've found that we adults might think that the best place to be would be DHS, but after an hour there and a few meltdowns later, find that taking him to a different park is all it takes. Flexibility is the biggest trick that I find as adults we can do to help manage the situation with a child with these needs. Good luck!

Thanks. Great to talk with someone else who is raising an Aspie.

I have Asperger's as well, which makes me wonder if it is hereditary. I've learned to handle crowds pretty well but it still bothers me sometimes. Last year DHS got so packed that I had a bit of a meltdown myself. So I definitely know what he's going through.

He did fairly well last year with the exception of the lines. I'm hoping the GAC helps in that regard. And I've learned anything that is too loud will send him into fits. He will stick his fingers in his ears and shut his eyes tight. So no fireworks shows unfortunately.

One positive about Disney World is it helps him open up quite a bit. He absolutely loves the place. It's all I've heard the last few weeks from him.

 

[ann0d]

My son has Aspergers and luckily for us, he loves Disney, nothing bothers him there, but definetely get a GAC so you can avoid the lines. I know I wouldn't think twice if that was the situation for me. Personally I would rather see a child go to the front of the line, than be upset in line. I'm not talking about children who are disrepectful or bratty, but any child with a disability. KWIM?

 

[Todd H]

My son has Aspergers and luckily for us, he loves Disney, nothing bothers him there, but definetely get a GAC so you can avoid the lines. I know I wouldn't think twice if that was the situation for me. Personally I would rather see a child go to the front of the line, than be upset in line. I'm not talking about children who are disrepectful or bratty, but any child with a disability. KWIM?

My wife worries about what others might think of us when we use the GAC. Personally, it doesn't bother me. I'm just thankful at how accommodating Disney is for families with Autistic children. Kudos Disney.

 

[loveofamouse]

my son has aspergers. We use GAC and always provided him his own, from home, stroller so he had a place he felt comfortable. Our stroller had a shade that went all the way down to the tray so he could "shut out" what was too loud. He also has an MP3 player with both music, white noise, and nature sounds to call him. We carried pacies as he was an oral stimmer. Now he sucks his thumb.

 

[Todd H]

The best thing we've found to calm our son is Angry Birds on our iPhones. For some strange reason when he feels stress from the crowds, playing Angry Birds calms him down.

We're going to try and schedule our next trip for September when the crowds are really low. I have Aspergers myself, and while I can deal with the crowds pretty well, they still bother me. I actually lost it a couple of years ago and had to find a quiet spot.

 

[arko]

I have a 12 year who is high functioning autistic and the GAC is the key to making the trip an enjoyable one even with larger crowds. And no don't feel guilty about using one, most of the time you use the fastpass line so nobody even knows anyway(not that I would care what they thought).

One thing we learned about going to shows like say The Lion King in AK was to speak to a CM and get a seat near an exit and find out how to exit a show in during the performance if it proves to much(having a seat near that exit makes it easy and less disruptive to others). Also be prepared and pick a spot where you will meet up if you have to exit with your child and the rest of the family finishes the show.

I have yet to find a CM that wasn't extremely helpful over the years. Now that my son is older and has learned to tolerate more noise etc these things are less of an issue, but I remember how being prepared made the meltdowns less painful than they could have been.

The first time we went to see the Indy show at DHS the explosions were too much and I took my son to the back while my wife watched the end, and the CM's came over with ice cream without asking and helped distract him and calm him down.

Also be prepared to do only certain rides, shows if they don't like something and if you are travelling with siblings who want to do more you may need to split up at times. Also they may want to ride one ride over and over again.

 

[pixiesteno]

We have a son who was diagnosed with mild to moderate autism at 3 and his is now 22. We did not take him to WDW until he was 15, there was no way he could have handled it when he was younger. I am happy to report that he does fine most of the time while there. We still avoid really crowded times for the most part for efveryone in the whole family.
He attended college in Winter Park (northeast side of Orlando) and he actually went over to WDW during Thanksgiving break on his own. He said it was okay but he only went the one day. He did get on the Tower of Terror during our trip in 2008 - not good!!!! I didn't think that it would be, but he said he wanted to so we were there to help him put the pieces back together. Let me tell you, he was white as a sheet and shaking after the ride. During subsequent trips in 2009 he became very self-reliant with traveling via the bus system - "I'll meet you at EPCOT in a few hours".
What we have found with him traveling over the years is allowing for time to hit the pool after riding in the car all day. We have started staying at FW campground and he seems to enjoy the time in the RV with his beloved TV/DVD player and no mousekeeping to distrub him during down time. There are still times when he will start to get this panicked look in the eye and we usually find a spot to kick back at that point. We never used a GAC, probably because we didn't know about them on the first trip in 2004. We were just so used to looking at the signs of stress and knowing how to get him to chill we didn't need it. Would I ever advocate for him to go for a long stay during Christmas/New Year's timeframe - no, and I don't think he would want to.

 

[Todd H]

Just returned from Dollywood and the difference between the CMs at both parks is night and day.

Dollywood gives you a Disability Pamphlet and tells you to show it to their CMs at the exit of rides. During our trip, many of the CMs would ask what's wrong with him (a no-no in my opinion) or flat out state it looks like there's nothing wrong with him. Lots of eye-rolling when we would show up with the pamphlet. They were terrible and treated us poorly.

 

[Sans Souci]

Just returned from Dollywood and the difference between the CMs at both parks is night and day.

Dollywood gives you a Disability Pamphlet and tells you to show it to their CMs at the exit of rides. During our trip, many of the CMs would ask what's wrong with him (a no-no in my opinion) or flat out state it looks like there's nothing wrong with him. Lots of eye-rolling when we would show up with the pamphlet. They were terrible and treated us poorly.

I am sorry to hear that. I would definitely give them feedback. My son is an Aspie and we have found WDW to be second to none for accomodations. I guess we take it for granted.

It's hard when your child doesn't "look disabled." ASD isn't going anywhere and I think businesses need to incorporate better training for accomodating persons with ASD.

 

[Todd H]

I am sorry to hear that. I would definitely give them feedback. My son is an Aspie and we have found WDW to be second to none for accomodations. I guess we take it for granted.

It's hard when your child doesn't "look disabled." ASD isn't going anywhere and I think businesses need to incorporate better training for accomodating persons with ASD.

I've written a nice letter to them and will drop it in the mail today. I've found that if you want to get someone's attention, a handwritten letter does the job much better than an e-mail. I let them know of our displeasure. I'm sure it won't amount to much but it makes me feel better.

The whole time we were there, my son kept saying "want to go to Disney World." I think we all take for granted how great the staff at Disney World are.

 

[jlthomas81]

I am so glad to have found this thread!! We are taking our first trip with our autistic 3 year old (not our first Disney trip) in September and have been going back and forth over the GAC. I am the one who says we can just deal because he is only on the mild to moderate side of the spectrum. But I do know that waiting is one area that he just can't handle nor can he understand why he cannot just walk up to something and do it, as I am sure you all understand. We were preparing ourselves for a very eventful trip, and not in a good way. However, I do believe that the GAC will at least give us the opportunity to not have to wait as long on the longer waited rides. He has been watching Disney documentaries on Netflix and I can already tell that we will be riding Toy Story more times than I care to And now we are reconsidering the Park Hopper. Even though we have an 8 day ticket, it will allow us to be more flexible where he is concerned. For those of you with experiences with the card, what is your experience with riding a particular ride over and over, for instance if our son wants to do Toy Story 10 times in a row. How should we handle that?