Camping with two Autistic children..

[FortForever]

The restroom is a small walk from your camp site, so having to use the potty at night means a long walk to the restroom

I agree this MAY be an issue, depending on your children and your site. I'm going to guess that a 2 year old with autism is still in diapers, and there is a possibility a 5 year old autistic child still wears pull ups at night. Without knowing your particulars, I'll post my experience with camping bathroom issues.

Our son has very severe anxiety issues. As an adult, he is on enough daily medication for it to render the average person unconscious. Even taking all that, his anxiety is still severe, although less severe.

One of his issues, that relates to anxiety, is bathroom issues. It was awful when he was a child, and still exists, although he can handle himself now. He is always worried that he "might" have to go to the bathroom and not have one available. As a result, as a child, he would want to be taken to the restroom 15 million times a night, when camping. When we go anywhere, the first thing he does is find the restroom. We camped so often when our children were little, that this problem had to be solved ASAP. We were spending the majority of the weekends running back and forth to the restrooms.

We bought a chemical toilet that we kept in our tent (inside a smaller tent.) If we had put it out in a potty/shower tent, he would have spent all night in and out of the tent and nobody would sleep. Our toilet took the same chemicals as an rv toilet and could be emptied and rinsed out at the dump station very cleanly and easily. There was never and odors or leaks. It was a great solution for us.

We just had a cheap one, that looks exactly like this. Actually we still have it in the shed, and have used it within the last couple of years and still works perfectly. No seals have ever went bad on it. Although there is no dump station at the Fort, the same can be done at an unoccupied full hook-up site, assuming you are on a tent site. Septic hook ups is the only thing that tent sites do not have.

We camp in a pop up now, that has a built in toilet. Essentially, it is exactly the same thing. The only difference is the bottom portion pulls out from a door on the outside of the camper.

As far as rain goes, I don't consider that a problem. We actually live near WDW and it doesn't rain most of the year. During hurricane season we do tend to have a short daily shower, but usually only lasts 10 minutes or so. Of course there are exceptions, but I certainly wouldn't put that on your list of things to worry about. You have enough just dealing with things that ARE within your control.

I think the only big concern I would have is if your children tend to get up, and stay up, during the night like Tissa's son. Our son always slept through the night, even at a young age, as long as he knew there was a toilet nearby and available ... haha. If your children have a problem with being awake much of the night, that may be much easier to handle in a hotel room or RV of some sort.

 

[Rland8228]

I agree this MAY be an issue, depending on your children and your site. I'm going to guess that a 2 year old with autism is still in diapers, and there is a possibility a 5 year old autistic child still wears pull ups at night. Without knowing your particulars, I'll post my experience with camping bathroom issues.

Our son has very severe anxiety issues. As an adult, he is on enough daily medication for it to render the average person unconscious. Even taking all that, his anxiety is still severe, although less severe.

One of his issues, that relates to anxiety, is bathroom issues. It was awful when he was a child, and still exists, although he can handle himself now. He is always worried that he "might" have to go to the bathroom and not have one available. As a result, as a child, he would want to be taken to the restroom 15 million times a night, when camping. When we go anywhere, the first thing he does is find the restroom. We camped so often when our children were little, that this problem had to be solved ASAP. We were spending the majority of the weekends running back and forth to the restrooms.

We bought a chemical toilet that we kept in our tent (inside a smaller tent.) If we had put it out in a potty/shower tent, he would have spent all night in and out of the tent and nobody would sleep. Our toilet took the same chemicals as an rv toilet and could be emptied and rinsed out at the dump station very cleanly and easily. There was never and odors or leaks. It was a great solution for us.

We just had a cheap one, that looks exactly like this. Actually we still have it in the shed, and have used it within the last couple of years and still works perfectly. No seals have ever went bad on it. Although there is no dump station at the Fort, the same can be done at an unoccupied full hook-up site, assuming you are on a tent site. Septic hook ups is the only thing that tent sites do not have.

We camp in a pop up now, that has a built in toilet. Essentially, it is exactly the same thing. The only difference is the bottom portion pulls out from a door on the outside of the camper.

As far as rain goes, I don't consider that a problem. We actually live near WDW and it doesn't rain most of the year. During hurricane season we do tend to have a short daily shower, but usually only lasts 10 minutes or so. Of course there are exceptions, but I certainly wouldn't put that on your list of things to worry about. You have enough just dealing with things that ARE within your control.

I think the only big concern I would have is if your children tend to get up, and stay up, during the night like Tissa's son. Our son always slept through the night, even at a young age, as long as he knew there was a toilet nearby and available ... haha. If your children have a problem with being awake much of the night, that may be much easier to handle in a hotel room or RV of some sort.

So I feel like this kinda answers my question. Is there no parking at the comfort stations for a gold cart then?

 

[rer1972]

Have you read through the Camping Community Board? Before I tent camped at Ft. Wilderness, I used that forum quite a bit. There are some super knowledgeable and helpful folks on there. They know the ins-and-outs of camping at Ft. Wilderness. Check it out.

I do think there is space to drive carts up to the comfort stations. My point was more that, getting up in a resort hotel room and walking into the restroom is so much easier than walking/taking a cart over to a comfort station at night to use the restroom. Just going from my experiences. As an example, on two occasions I was situated close enough to the bus stops for our loop area that I would here the Fort's buses going from the first one in the early morning to the last one running at night. I was okay with it, but some others may have issues with those types of noises late at night or early in the morning.

Don't get me wrong, I loved camping at the Fort. There are just so many other things that you have to take into consideration when camping as compared to staying in a resort room.

 

[FortForever]

So I feel like this kinda answers my question. Is there no parking at the comfort stations for a gold cart then?

There is no "official" golf cart parking at the comfort stations. However, there is an area in front of them where one or two carts could park. The cleaning people always park in that area, but obviously not in the middle of the night.

I have difficulty walking due to needing knee replacements, and have never had a spot at FW that I felt was too far for me to walk, even taking my young grandchildren with me. You really don't need to drive a golf cart to any comfort station, in my opinion.

We did not camp at FW when our children were growing up. We lived, and camped up north. We always rented resort rooms on our Disney visits. We have only started camping at FW since becoming grandparents and moving to Florida.

My post was more related to autism related bathroom issues, not to proximity of comfort stations to sites at the Fort. Although no site is far from a restroom at FW, it could start to feel quite far if you had to make it 20 times a night. Only you know your own children's needs and habits.

 

[FortForever]

So I feel like this kinda answers my question. Is there no parking at the comfort stations for a gold cart then?

Also, you may want to post on the Disabilities forum here. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of parents of children with autism. I know some of them tent camp at FW.