Current autism accomodations

[Betty Rohrer]

Thank you for this! Very helpful for planning!

something to remember about these restrooms is if someone is in when you get there they could take longer than normal to get finished as there are used by handicapped who take longer and may not be your best bet if it is a rush stop if you know what I mean. have seen people banging on door tell those inside to hurry up their child can not wait much longer

 

[SueM in MN]

something to remember about these restrooms is if someone is in when you get there they could take longer than normal to get finished as there are used by handicapped who take longer and may not be your best bet if it is a rush stop if you know what I mean. have seen people banging on door tell those inside to hurry up their child can not wait much longer

I agree.
There is often a wait because the person using it is disabled and needs extra time, but families also use them, often with multiple people - the biggest I’ve seen come out while we were waiting in line to use it was a family of 6. Even if each person only takes 2 minutes, that’s still a 12 minute restroom stop!
There are often long lines to use the Companion Restroom, especially the ’Rapunzel’ restrooms in Fantasyland, near the entrance to Toy Story Land in the Studio, the lower level at The Land and the one close to the Africa entry Africa in AK.

We use the Companion Restrooms because my daughter needs to be catheterized, which means we need a restroom with a sink and a toilet in the same place. I’m pretty fast at it, but ‘pretty fast’ still means at least 10 minutes to wash hands before, get out supplies, do the procedure, clean up and put things away.
At least 1/4 - 1/3 of the time, people pound on the door while we are in there. At the first ’pound’, I usually yell something like, “I’m in here with a disabled person. We will be at least [x number ] of minutes more.” Some are very polite and apologize or tell us to take our time. Some say something like they need to use the changing table and I let them know whether or not this particular Companion room has one (and that all the regular restrooms do have them).
Some are rude - especially at MK.
People forget that if they can hear me, I can likely hear them too. I’ve heard some pretty ‘interesting’ things:
PERSON 1: She said she’s going to be a while. Why don’t you use the regular restroom?
PERSON 2: Because I want to use THIS one.

PERSON TO CHILD: Pound on the door again. They will be faster if you do that.

As I’ve come out or while waiting in line, I’ve been told things like “these are for families. You have your own restroom stalls to use.”

Most (but not all) of the accessible stalls in the regular restrooms are big enough to get a wheelchair in and the remodeled ones include a sink. They are often in the back of the restroom though, do not easy to get to.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Thank you for this! Very helpful for planning!

I printed out the bathroom list and put it in our lanyard. The first time I was telling my family hold on it's in my phone... that did not work so well..lol

 

[Orion Nebula]

A few non- DAS things that I found helped my son with sensory issues:
1. Make sure that you throw some post-its in your pocket to cover the sensors on the self-flushing toilets. They are LOUD, and my son freaked out every time we had to go to the bathroom the 1st day w/o them.
2. When we were at Magic Kingdom and he would get over-whelmed, we walked or rode the monorail/boat to the Contemporary. The grounds outside are generally pretty quiet, and there are some nice quiet areas inside, as well(terraces, little reading books).
3. It varies by child, I'm sure, but we did better without the DAS. He preferred to stand in line with us with noise-cancelling ear phones and my phone. The one time that we tried to do a DAS return time, he kind-of freaked out because he felt like it wasn't the "right way" to get on the ride.

I really made an effort to study-up on the DAS for our trip, but we never used it. Just an example of how all kids are different.

Good idea on the post-its, my son gets magnets at school and I had never thought about that before. He was freaked out each time during our trip last week. And one time (years back)... he was peeing in the urinal, it flushed early so he covered his ears and turned away from it WHILE PEEING...

 

[DisneyOma]

We've been bringing our son with autism for over 10 years now, starting at 13. There was a time when WDW has been wonderful with autism, especially the cast members. Most of them can tell right away and are amazing. Goofy asked if it was okay to touch him, Chip and Dale (his favorites) spent like 10 minutes with him because he ran to them and start kissing them on the head!! Really heartwarming. Where WDW does not do such a great job is, in my opinion, reaction to the non-disabled guests complaining or taking advantage of the accommodations. So Disney has had to tone it down considerably.

It was an adjustment for us to go from the GAC which allowed us to go into the fastpass lines, to the DAS to sign up for a return time, but Shawn is good at receptive language so he understood the change (which was tough because of the former ability to get off and back into the line in the past lol). We made a conscious effort to spend time at shows, street entertainment, snacks, etc. so it didn't feel like "waiting". Between Fastpasses and a DAS we were good. Hopefully by the time we go in January, Fastpasses will be back or we will probably have some issues.

Actually the GAC was discontinued because of overuse by GAC guests. It backed up the FP queues in some attractions so much that it was impossible to maintain. The rapid return into the FP queue was one of those problems. I could see people not using GAC complaining because they may not have even been able to ride something once.

 

[Dizzymom3]

Are the parks still providing accommodations for kids with autism? Specifically those that have sensory issues, self regulation issues, difficulties in crowds, and difficulties with patience?

Any specific accommodations I should know about that have helped your family?

My son 4 years old, is autistic and has issues with self-regulation and patience. I wasn't sure what Disney would be like, but we spent a LOT of time prepping him for his first experience in December 2020 and specifically went during the time because the crowds were less. We had such a great time that we went back in Feb 2021 and are planning on returning again in April 2021. If you look up guest services for disabilities, Disney gives you a visual guide - we used this along with a visual schedule and found it was invaluable in preparing him for what he was about to experience. We also looked up many YouTube videos - strolls through the park, hotels, rides, to get him accustomed to what to expect. We got the DAS pass in December and it was very helpful and easy to use. During our first trip, I did not get a "stroller as a wheelchair tag" as my son has no mobility issues, but because he was overwhelmed with the sights and sounds, he wanted me to hold him constantly. There are some very long queues when you are holding a 40-lb child, and I ended up with back issues after the trip. So the next time we went back, I asked for a stroller tag and that worked wonderfully as we were able to leave him in a place that made him comfortable very close to the point where we had to exit, and that made it a much more pleasant time for us both.

 

[Makmak]

I agree.
There is often a wait because the person using it is disabled and needs extra time, but families also use them, often with multiple people - the biggest I’ve seen come out while we were waiting in line to use it was a family of 6. Even if each person only takes 2 minutes, that’s still a 12 minute restroom stop!
There are often long lines to use the Companion Restroom, especially the ’Rapunzel’ restrooms in Fantasyland, near the entrance to Toy Story Land in the Studio, the lower level at The Land and the one close to the Africa entry Africa in AK.

We use the Companion Restrooms because my daughter needs to be catheterized, which means we need a restroom with a sink and a toilet in the same place. I’m pretty fast at it, but ‘pretty fast’ still means at least 10 minutes to wash hands before, get out supplies, do the procedure, clean up and put things away.
At least 1/4 - 1/3 of the time, people pound on the door while we are in there. At the first ’pound’, I usually yell something like, “I’m in here with a disabled person. We will be at least [x number ] of minutes more.” Some are very polite and apologize or tell us to take our time. Some say something like they need to use the changing table and I let them know whether or not this particular Companion room has one (and that all the regular restrooms do have them).
Some are rude - especially at MK.
People forget that if they can hear me, I can likely hear them too. I’ve heard some pretty ‘interesting’ things:
PERSON 1: She said she’s going to be a while. Why don’t you use the regular restroom?
PERSON 2: Because I want to use THIS one.

PERSON TO CHILD: Pound on the door again. They will be faster if you do that.

As I’ve come out or while waiting in line, I’ve been told things like “these are for families. You have your own restroom stalls to use.”

Most (but not all) of the accessible stalls in the regular restrooms are big enough to get a wheelchair in and the remodeled ones include a sink. They are often in the back of the restroom though, do not easy to get to.

I’m so sorry that people are terrible and do things like that. I also feel it’s terrible that you feel the need to explain things to people, it’s not fair to you to have to do that. I also hear snarky comments from people quite often when there isn’t “an obvious” disabled person with a companion. Disney needs more large rooms for families to use, and truly really I hope handicap stalls are not put in the very back areas which seems so odd now that you bring it up. Do we know why public restrooms were designed that way?

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I’m so sorry that people are terrible and do things like that. I also feel it’s terrible that you feel the need to explain things to people, it’s not fair to you to have to do that. I also hear snarky comments from people quite often when there isn’t “an obvious” disabled person with a companion. Disney needs more large rooms for families to use, and truly really I hope handicap stalls are not put in the very back areas which seems so odd now that you bring it up. Do we know why public restrooms were designed that way?

I know at my small park we had to put the handicapped stall at other end than door in case someone did not want to bring wheelchair in stall with them. could not have chair blocking the door. so that is one reason probably more but i do not know

 

[sharadoc]

Actually the GAC was discontinued because of overuse by GAC guests. It backed up the FP queues in some attractions so much that it was impossible to maintain. The rapid return into the FP queue was one of those problems. I could see people not using GAC complaining because they may not have even been able to ride something once.

Well we went during the least crowded times so not an issue, but that was a long time ago. Not so much overuse by guests who deserved it, but guests who exploited the fact that CMs couldn't ask for proof, or families of 12 or more utilizing a GAC, or someone who was entitled to one renting themselves out as tour guides. I remember when this first happened, apparently the overuse was much more at Disneyland, that it could have been more than 50% of riders utilizing a GAC.

So many folks felt that kids using GACs did nothing but get off and go back on. That's not the case with most. We rarely saw another family during the slow times using a GAC at the same time that we did. We would usually be the only family at TSM waiting for example.

 

[sharadoc]

What were non-disabled guests complaining about?

Not understanding the disability and perceived "cutting in line", the "who do they think they are" attitude. There was a lot on here and still happens. You know, just because you have a disabled kid doesn't entitle you to special treatment. I hate conflict but I would get caught up in the conversations lol. For us, the attention that Disney gives our disabled kids gives us parents the chance to relax a bit, enjoy family time, help the non-disabled other kids not have to take a back seat to the disabled kid all the time. We were always so appreciative of the opportunity to take away the stress of the potential freak-out at any given moment, or touching strangers, or grabbing their stuff to look at it. But we learned, we're not special and we don't deserve special treatment. So we don't go as often and we hope we don't have a meltdown in the middle of Frontierland

 

[Lilsia]

Not understanding the disability and perceived "cutting in line", the "who do they think they are" attitude. There was a lot on here and still happens. You know, just because you have a disabled kid doesn't entitle you to special treatment. I hate conflict but I would get caught up in the conversations lol. For us, the attention that Disney gives our disabled kids gives us parents the chance to relax a bit, enjoy family time, help the non-disabled other kids not have to take a back seat to the disabled kid all the time. We were always so appreciative of the opportunity to take away the stress of the potential freak-out at any given moment, or touching strangers, or grabbing their stuff to look at it. But we learned, we're not special and we don't deserve special treatment. So we don't go as often and we hope we don't have a meltdown in the middle of Frontierland

I realize people make comments, but you alluded to Disney changing it's policies due to complaints. If you are referring to them changing GAC, that was just a disaster and cast members did not follow the policy and were letting it become an instant front of the line pass. That was not sustainable and not something that changed due to complaints.

 

[DisneyOma]

Are the parks still providing accommodations for kids with autism? Specifically those that have sensory issues, self regulation issues, difficulties in crowds, and difficulties with patience?

Any specific accommodations I should know about that have helped your family?

There's the DAS, but that only works for attractions. For sensory issues, I'd bring noise cancelling headphones, or at least a hooded sweatshirt? Patience, crowds, self-regulation? Check with your child's school to see what they do?

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I can't say that accommodations for autism have changed much during Covid, but we are making accommodations for ourselves that we don't normally do.

1 - Renting a car. We normally use Disney transport but this will be a mask break.
2 - Staying at BLT because of proximity to MK in case we need to make a quick exit and lots of dining options that are close.
3 - Practicing skills he'll need at home A LOT. We've been bringing him out more to practice masks in unfamiliar areas.
4 - Kiddo hates public bathrooms because of the noise too. After reading this, I think I may try having him wear noise cancelling headphones. We'll practice this too.
5 - Bringing an iPad basically everywhere so he can tune out when he gets overwhelmed.
6 - Take advantage of the relaxation stations. Also considering more snack type food options, more often, instead of fewer big meals.
7 - Husband and I are going with the expectation of more pool time and also possibly having to switch out in case kiddo decides to flip over the masks and needs to leave. Not ideal, but it is what it is.
8 - Lastly, we usually try to 'stretch' him a little on trips, it helps keep him flexible. Have him ride something new, for example. This may not be the trip to do that.

 

[DisneyOma]

8 - Lastly, we usually try to 'stretch' him a little on trips, it helps keep him flexible. Have him ride something new, for example. This may not be the trip to do that.

It's awesome that you not only try to help him get used to new things on trips, but also realize that wearing a mask is going to be that new thing and that it would be too much to add even more new stuff to this trip. Hope you all have a wonderful time!