Traveling in Nov to WDW with Autistic son.

[GINNY69]

Hi everyone I was wondering if anyone could give some advice on how to take on the parks with my 10 year old autistic son. My son has been to disney on numerous occasions but a lot has changed with him since then. He is a lot less patient and he has a lot of anxiety. Some noises can bother him and I plan on taking it slow and going back to the resort for breaks and stuff. I plan on getting the GAC pass. Just curious if anyone had any tricks up there sleave the would like to share that may help make it easier on my son. I was thinking about getting some ear muffs to block out some of the noise and some fidget toys as well.

Thanks for your feed back.
Have a magical day..

[BrerGnat]

We do well to just do whatever our DS's want, and then leave as soon as they say they want to. Sometimes, in the past, we've tried to stretch it out, or we get distracted on the way out and stop to do something else, and this always bites us in the rear end! When my son says he wants to go back to the hotel, he means NOW...not "just after we look in this one store" or "as soon as we go on one more ride, etc." So, really listen to your child's cues to avoid the meltdowns/anxious moments before they become really bad.

My kids love those stupid light up toys they sell at night. We buy one on the first night and then they can play with them the rest of the trip. They are useful in dark areas, dark rides, etc. We like the ones that either blink on and off or spin. They provide much needed visual stim material.

Make sure you don't skip snacks or mealtimes. Low blood sugar can aggravate my son's "quirks" so we make sure we give him a steady supply of food throughout the day.

It helps us to make a short list of the plan of the day. We keep it very general (DS tends to want minute by minute updates, but we avoid this obsession during vacations). We break down the day into 4 or 5 little segments just so he knows what will be coming next; keeps him more relaxed to know that we aren't just going from here to there without a purpose.

[Briansmom]

In order to handle those time when whatever music, noise, etc, is going on that starts to bother DS, we take a MP3 player with 'his' music on it. We have used it at restaurants, during a parade, on the bus on the way back to the resort. It helps block out whatever the intrusive sounds are and he can just focus on what is coming through his headphones.

We also take a favorite stuffed animal that he keeps with him most of the time. It helps occupy him. Of course, this trip will be the first time we have had a smart phone....lol. Those youtube videos of fans, tractors, fave TV shows will definitely come in handy during any extra rough patches !!

Since you are staying at Wilderness Lodge, you have the 'chill' aspect of your resort on your side. That is why we stay at POFQ because it gives us a quiet and relaxing place to go 'home' to every day.

Hope you have an amazing time! We are leaving in 11 days!!! OMG!!

[BrerGnat]

Of course, this trip will be the first time we have had a smart phone....lol. Those youtube videos of fans, tractors, fave TV shows will definitely come in handy during any extra rough patches !!

I hope you don't have an AT&T phone. If you do, do NOT rely on YouTube streaming at WDW. It just does not work well. We have to tell our son "You Tube doesn't work on the phone, only the computer in our hotel room." We have had some serious meltdowns when You Tube videos don't load and play as quick as they do at home. There is a LOT of buffering and sometimes, they just don't load at all.

[Briansmom]

I hope you don't have an AT&T phone. If you do, do NOT rely on YouTube streaming at WDW. It just does not work well. We have to tell our son "You Tube doesn't work on the phone, only the computer in our hotel room." We have had some serious meltdowns when You Tube videos don't load and play as quick as they do at home. There is a LOT of buffering and sometimes, they just don't load at all.

We have Verizon. I sure hope that won't be an issue because I am totally hoping it will come in handy.
As far as YouTube in the hotel room, does it stream with no issues? He has an ipad with wifi only and I had heard that sometimes there is an issue with being able to get it to work in the room. Please tell me that isn't so. I am definitely considering signing up so I can make my phone a hotspot just in case. Whatever it takes, I will do it!

[BrerGnat]

No, the resort wifi isn't very good at all.

We usually have a netbook in the room that we hook up with the actual internet cables in the room. We have used wifi at the Beach Club last December, and it was okay, but not for You Tube videos. You'd want a hardline connection for that, or, make your phone a wifi hotspot, like you said.

I would recommend finding a few apps that are not wifi or network dependent that your son will like or simply pre-load movies or t.v. show episodes that can be watched on a whim.

[Briansmom]

Is the cost of the hard hookup still an extra charge? Might think about taking the laptop......

[shellyb627]

Not sure what your son likes to watch on you tube but our autistic son at 12 still loves sesame street. What we have done at WDW to get through the wait even with the GAC is purchase from the internet (not sure if I can mention exactly where on here) famous website starts with a... ) videos and download them onto an ipod touch. You can stick it in and out of your pocket when waiting on line. The videos also come in hand in the hotel, when eating etc. Any place he doesn't like to wait or has down time that he can not tolerate. Cell service for us with verizon was not good either.

[BrerGnat]

Is the cost of the hard hookup still an extra charge? Might think about taking the laptop......

I am not sure. Depends on where you are staying, I think. At Art of Animation, for example, there weren't even any hard line cables provided (nor an outlet for it), so I don't know what's going to happen with that.

There are apps you can download that will allow you to download and store You Tube videos for offline viewing. Look into that option.

[TexansInNY]

Here are my 2 cents (as always understanding how unique our kids are) - our son who is now 7 and autistic. First, he loves movies..not just loves..I mean loves. To the point I will wait for a couple of hours while he performs the same ritual with every movie there and then chooses.

This ties to iPad we use for movies. That way we have the internet at the hotel or general AT&T. Internet at Wilderness Lodge always seems fine..Animal Kingdom - not so much. As for parks, our schedule starts and ends at deciding what park to go to on what day. Then it is all play it by ear. He may want to ride Small World 5 times..or not at all.. We also have some headphones from Vic Furth that block sound well - he wears them in movies as well...

Finally, we tell all photographers to just take pictures when he is with characters, Santa, whoever - no posing, do not even try... how well does it work? We get some of the most fantastic pictures - like where you cannot even see our son because of the bear hug he is giving Sully or his explaining to Santa exactly what he is to bring and how to organize it under the tree...

So basically the best tip is to know your son and go with what works. Enjoy the beautiful boy and your time!

[kwhitt3202]

I have a 7yr old son with sever ADHD and mild autism. We travel to WDW every year and each is different.
1 - We get the GAC and have a stroller that when he gets too overwelmed he can get into it and pull the visor down to block everything out. On the GAC they put a stroller equals wheelchair stamp and a tag saying the samething on the stroller.
2- We have his favorite snack and drink which keeps him happy.
3- we go to walmart and buy the kids waterproof earplugs for the rides, shows, and fireworks that get to be too loud for him.
4- he is into playdough so we have that for him to play with while waiting for anything.
5- we have it maked on our dining reservations that we have an autistic child.

If he has a favorite toy or stufty I would bring those items. My son has changed every year what his favorite toy was. I just have to watch and see and some times he sees a toy at the parks that he will play with the whole trip.