Your recent experiences with autism

forgop

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
My son was diagnosed at 3 and he just turned 7 last week. Obviously there's a huge difference in getting a 3 year old around Disney with the prior GAC vs a 7 year old in the new Disney plan. I understand the GAC was heavily abused and changes needed to be made, but now I feel as though it's not a viable option for us to return to Disney and not incur numerous meltdowns having to get a pass to return some time later. My son can have meltdowns waiting are red lights or when traffic is slow, let alone the idea of walking by an attraction and not getting do walk up to something and go on it as he wants to.

When the changes were announced, I emailed Disney and they claimed they would try to accommodate everyone like us on a case by case basis, but that's easier said than done. Have you experienced a drastically different experience under the new plan compared to prior trips under the GAC?

If the plan is exactly as it sounds, I don't know that returning to the parks is a viable option as I'm not about to return and find misery and meltdowns in a crowd in what is supposed to be the happiest place on earth. If that's the case, I seriously need to weigh my options of selling my DVC membership.

Your thoughts?
 
I think you know your child best.

If he's not able to wait in any type of line, a Disney vacation probably isn't the best option god you.

Even with the old GAC system, there were waiting periods at some places.

As a parent of an autistic child, I think it's part of your job to help him learn the process of waiting. Life doesn't offer a GAC. There will be lines.

Perhaps you could look to work with him, with the end goal of getting to go on a Disney trip. Lots of practice, social stories, etc.

It can work, if you prepare.
 
I think you know your child best.

If he's not able to wait in any type of line, a Disney vacation probably isn't the best option god you.

Even with the old GAC system, there were waiting periods at some places.

As a parent of an autistic child, I think it's part of your job to help him learn the process of waiting. Life doesn't offer a GAC. There will be lines.

Perhaps you could look to work with him, with the end goal of getting to go on a Disney trip. Lots of practice, social stories, etc.

It can work, if you prepare.

I get what you're saying, but 16 hours of driving each way and 5 park passes for a full 7-10 days is quite an investment to then find out on day 1 that it'll be a complete nightmare when we have to walk by TSM or whatever it is that catches his eye.
 
I think you know your child best.

If he's not able to wait in any type of line, a Disney vacation probably isn't the best option god you.

Even with the old GAC system, there were waiting periods at some places.

As a parent of an autistic child, I think it's part of your job to help him learn the process of waiting. Life doesn't offer a GAC. There will be lines.

Perhaps you could look to work with him, with the end goal of getting to go on a Disney trip. Lots of practice, social stories, etc.

It can work, if you prepare.
:thumbsup2
 
I get what you're saying, but 16 hours of driving each way and 5 park passes for a full 7-10 days is quite an investment to then find out on day 1 that it'll be a complete nightmare when we have to walk by TSM or whatever it is that catches his eye.

Which is where I think you really have to consider if it's a good option. What do you do to keep him entertained in the car for 16 hours? Anybody can go to the ride to get a return time. But even once the time is up you will have a wait in the FP line.

There's just no instant gratification at Disney. There's a wait to get the DAS card. You'll have 3 FP+ option to use. He doesn't sound like a planner type but possibly letting him know now what to expect would help.

In your situation I would try a less expensive, closer theme park first as a trial run.
 
You aren't going to be able to walk up to something and get on it as he wants to like you mention. You will be given return times using the DAS.

Have you read the sticky thread?
 
Even with the new system, you get in the FP line and will most likely have some sort of wait. FP doesn't mean instant access. It only means a line that is shorter then the standby.

I don't think there is any way to totally erase any sort of "wait". Nor can there be really.
 


You aren't going to be able to walk up to something and get on it as he wants to like you mention. You will be given return times using the DAS.

Have you read the sticky thread?

I know that we'll be unable to get directly in to an attraction and have read how the new plan is supposed to work. That said, the prior GAC along with our stroller as a wheelchair would have us on TSM even bypassing the regular FP lane and on in 10 minutes.

I think I've just given up on there being any chance it'll allow us to make him be happy no matter how many social stories we have along the way. As far as occupying him on a 16 hour drive, he does great between watching movies on the DVD player or just watching the trees/cars on the road. On the other hand, giving him an iPad to occupy his time is quite a risk as it'd be nothing for him to throw it once he gets upset at waiting.

I may give it a try to take him to a closer park and see how things go, but I'm not counting on it being a success.
 
I know that we'll be unable to get directly in to an attraction and have read how the new plan is supposed to work. That said, the prior GAC along with our stroller as a wheelchair would have us on TSM even bypassing the regular FP lane and on in 10 minutes.

Yeah stories like this are things of the past. If you're worried about wasting money I would definitely try a closer less expensive park. Disney won't give you any type of accommodation that avoids waiting.
 
Nobody can guarantee you a 10 minute or shorter wait throughout the parks. However, there are steps you can take to minimize waits:

Go at a slower time of year, as opposed to peak vacation times
Plan ahead, including:
Use a touring plan, even loosely, to know which park is expected to have lower crowds, as well as which section of the park will have lower crowds at various times of day
Schedule FP+
Talk with Guest Relations about your concerns; go back and talk to them again if needed
Use the DAS in conjunction with your FP+ choices
Use a runner to get the DAS return times so he doesn't go near the ride until it's time to enter the queue
Take breaks away from the parks during the busiest time of day
Take breaks in the park - alternate rides and shows
Bring along distraction techniques - whether that is his own music, small toys, hidden Mickey searches, or whatever works well for your son - and make this something special he only gets in lines
Use a stroller as wheelchair, including a towel or other covering that will help provide him with a "safe retreat"
Plan non-park days at the resort
Try to stick with normal "routines" for waking, meal times, bedtime, etc.
Work with his therapists to help him improve waiting

Some of these suggestions may not work, you may come up with others. Ultimately, you will have to decide whether he is "ready" for such a large undertaking, and whether your budget can make it work. That may mean waiting a couple of years.

Good luck with your planning and enjoy your vacation!
 
I agree about trying a closer park that has rides he'd like. The DAS is pretty close what most other theme parks have always offered as an accommodation so it will give you an idea of what it would be like. There are also variations. For example, some parks will allow you to ride first, but then you have to wait what would have been the queue time for that ride before you can use the access pass at another ride. I honestly don't know of any non-WDW park that worked the same way as the GAC ended up working.

I don't actually think the trip to WDW is impossible. If you can go at less busy times of year, get to the parks early, and use a touring plan to figure out less busy parks/areas combined with FP+, it's unlikely that you'd ever have to wait more than 10 minutes. You'll still be able to get a stroller as a wheelchair tag to give him his safe space. It sounds like in the past he's managed 10 minutes when he had the stroller. A member of your party will be able to go ahead to get DAS times so he doesn't have to go to the ride first. While waiting, you can go on rides where he isn't using the DAS (so using FP+ or the normal queue if it's short enough for him). It may also be worth investing in a strong protective case for the iPad; ones exist that probably would be able to handle being thrown by a 7 year old (and some might make it harder for him to throw). That would be useful outside of WDW.

Good luck! If it really looks like WDW isn't going to work, hopefully you'll be able to find other vacations that your family enjoys even more than WDW.
 
Some of the above suggestions are fantastic.

Going at the slowest possible time of year is probably a key one, along with rope drop, using FP+ for rides like TS Mania, and using a runner to get the return times. iPads and other devices help lots. My son's iPad is in a $80 waterproof survivor case, that can survive anything, it says.

Does your child love Disney? My (now adult) child always DID love Disney parks, rides, movies, and characters. (Autism and Down Syndrome). But my nephew with Asbergers HATES theme parks, and the crowds, and always did. So my sister and her family had to work with that reality. (He loves fishing, and aquariums, and being in the woods for example) they did some vacations where Dad would take him somewhere, and Mom would take niece for the day….. Different strokes and all.

It is a difficult situation. I have more trouble with other aspects of the vacation, like toileting, managing his heavy WC, carrying food trays, finding family restrooms, getting on and off the bus with that heavy chair, etc vs the ride DAS situation. (it is usually just me and DS, so we have no "runner" option, and it is getting harder to take him to Disney, as I get older!!)

Forgot to answer your question; I took DS to DL with the DAS and did not have a drastically different vacation experience. It was fine, actually. But I do think their (DL) DAS is easier to work with, using the kiosks that give return times for any ride in either park. I will try the WDW DAS with DS in the Fall.
 
On a trip with my 8yo now. We were onsite at Universal and then came here and tried the DAS and WOW universal is so much better for our needs. We can still do a little Disney but can't really use the DAS. We just get there at rope drop and let him reride his favorites. Guest services would provide no additional accommodations and only wanted to go on and on about the abuse. Guest services at Universal was so helpful and welcoming.
 
Have you experienced a drastically different experience under the new plan compared to prior trips under the GAC?

I'm going to preface my answer by saying that all my experiences have all been at Disneyland and not WDW.

To answer your question, we used the GAC four times with our son who has autism and have used the DAS once with another trip planned for August. A full write up of our experience can be found in this forum by searching but the short version is this: we experienced a slightly different trip using the DAS as opposed to the GAC but I hesitate to say that the experience was a worse one. In some ways, touring with the DAS was a better experience and in other minor ways is was an inferior one.

You know your child best and if you decide that Disney will no longer work for your family, then that is probably the right choice for you. For us, we made the transition from the GAC to the DAS with some planning, forethought and a number if discussions with our son about how things were going to change.

ASD kids love routine and hate unexpected change so the more advance notification we could give our son about the new way of touring the better. I first brought up the changes at least three months before our trip and trust me, that discussion did not go well, at one point DS asked me why Disney hated him. I dropped the topic for a little while and the next conversation we had went better and the one after that was even better. We kept talking about it right up to the point we got to the park. By that point he has wrapped his head around the new "normal" and it was fine.

We still did things to make the days easier, we brought his Nintendo DS and made sure he always had headphones and sunglasses. We also made sure that we never stayed in the park past where he could cope but instead left for a rest at the hotel before he had reached his breaking point.

The key to the DAS is preparation whether it takes the form of talking to you child about the changes or making good us of FP or FP+ or just picking the right time of year to go.

Good luck with whatever you do and if I can help with any ideas to make your trip easier, please ask!
 
Because our amazing ASD kids are very visual, why don't you make up an ordered checklist for the rides. You could put pictures on it that help show what is expected each step off the way. If you laminated the page, then you could mark it off, each step, for each ride and write the return time on it :thumbsup2

eg.
'Name of Ride'
Step 1 - Find Cast Member at ride entrance

Step 2 - Get CM to give us time we can come back and ride

Step 3 - Find a nice grassy spot to sit down and play iPad/DS etc.... or Visit XXXX shop and take photo of favourite toy... or go to XXXXX Cafe and have an ice-cream. (You could put any activity in here for each ride wait)

Step 4 - Check that our watch says 10:00 (or whatever time is the return time)

Step 5 - Walk back / Skip back / Walk sideways back to 'Ride'

Step 6 - Find the CM and get him/her to cross off our card

Step 7 - Find the sign that says FP or Fast Pass and follow the signs until we reach the front of the ride.

Step 8 - Have fun on 'Ride' and don't forget to smile for the camera!


I hope that made sense? :goodvibes
 
I know that we'll be unable to get directly in to an attraction and have read how the new plan is supposed to work. That said, the prior GAC along with our stroller as a wheelchair would have us on TSM even bypassing the regular FP lane and on in 10 minutes.

I think I've just given up on there being any chance it'll allow us to make him be happy no matter how many social stories we have along the way. As far as occupying him on a 16 hour drive, he does great between watching movies on the DVD player or just watching the trees/cars on the road. On the other hand, giving him an iPad to occupy his time is quite a risk as it'd be nothing for him to throw it once he gets upset at waiting.

I may give it a try to take him to a closer park and see how things go, but I'm not counting on it being a success.

I understand your concerns and share some of the same worries. I too have a child with Autism. He is 13. The past two years he used the GAC and it made a big difference. I know everyone 's experience is different but for us it greatly shortened wait times, allowed for a less congested waiting area and when my son did have a meltdown I felt the cm's were very understanding and supportive.

With the changes in support for those with special needs, the differing information on how FP+ is working and the long lines it is creating, on top of reports of MB failures to work at the parks it is only natural there is going to be worries over whether or not a trip to DW is possible.

Meltdowns for kids with autism are overwhelming and exhausting, especially in 90+ temp. They are very different from a typical childs meltdown. In addition, how one child with an ASD handles stress and the environment can be very different from another child with an ASD. Unfortunately when people do not fully understand these differences I have found there can sometimes be comments that are not very supportive to the help we are asking for on the DIS. Try to ignore those comments.

There definitely have been some really great tips from several of the posts on how to support your child's needs. Preperation is going to be the key to managing the parks with the DAS. Tools such as:

-using videos from you tube to show what the rides and waits might look like.
-social stories and visuals similiar to pecs.
-creating a "tool kit" of proven tools your child uses to manage stress and meltdowns. Also the preventative tools used to prevent a breakdown. The "tool kit" can be written on a laminated index card which you can pull out and use with your child in situations in the park to prevent getting to the stage of a meltdown. For example, breathing exercises to reduce stress, distraction tools etc.
-Ear phones with music to block sounds that can create sensory overload in our children.
-Knowing the layout of each park in advance for bathrooms, cooldown areas, snacks and meals,
-fidgit tools for waits in line such as video games, books, hand held movie players etc.
-Making sure not to be hungry.
-making sure you take a break in the day.
-Tools to keep cool in the parks such as frogg toggs, mini fans, ice packs etc.
-Rope drop is a must now for our kids.
-getting a full nights sleep
-Other suggestions offered on this thread

I hope you do make it to Disney and have some of those magical moments. I know that is what I love most about Disney. Those moments of pure joy on our childs faces that they experience on their favorite riide or watching the parade or meeting their favorite charachter. These moments are so rare in their daily challenged lives so to see them is just the best feeling in the world.

Good luck!
 
If he does great watching movies and playing ipad, why not use those coping mechanisms in line? Get a good protective case (ours have been thrown a gazillion times) and use them in line. There's nothing wrong with that.

What are some things that they do in school for him when he has to wait in lines? Maybe you can utilize some of those techniques.

What types of fun things does he like to do? We're lucky that my son does pretty well at Disney, even though generally speaking he has a very hard time in public. But he does really well doing outdoorsy activities, so we do a lot of hiking vacations. It's possible your son might have a better time going somewhere else.
 
I think you can also use the time stamp to your benefit.

"We make appointments for rides now! Let's go here and find out our special time! See, 10:20 is our time to go!"

then insert a favorite activity in the down time. If you practice and prepare, it should work out fairly well. Tantrums happen in traffic, etc, because of loss of control, no idea when they happen or how long they will be By getting a return time, you have much more control than anyone waiting in a stand-by line.
 
I know this has probably been answered in other places on this forum, but I chose this one to ask, because it's the shortest thread, and specific to my situation (Autism). We live in Florida and have been to Disney using the GAC many times. Over time, my DD has become more tolerant of waiting in lines, especially since she loves getting autographs, and everyone waits just the same for those. However, those waits are rarely over 20 minutes or so, as the characters normally don't stay any longer than that before they get a break or rotate. Anything past 30 mins can be difficult, and of course, this will be the first time we will be going to a ride and not necessarily riding it right at that time.

I have spent quite a while talking to my daughter about the new change, and waiting in line for rides as well as gathering information about the FP+ system, and that it can be used concurrently with the DAS.

DD wanted to go to Disney for her graduation, and we will be staying on Disney property, so I know that I can reserve the FP+'s 60 days ahead of time. What I'm wondering, is if those FP+ reservations, as well as any DAS FP tickets, will be valid for our whole family (5 people), or if each person has to get their own FP+ for each ride separately?

I'd rather have all these answers before we go, than trying to figure out what to do when we get there. I think I thrive on routine as much as she does!!
 
I know this has probably been answered in other places on this forum, but I chose this one to ask, because it's the shortest thread, and specific to my situation (Autism). We live in Florida and have been to Disney using the GAC many times. Over time, my DD has become more tolerant of waiting in lines, especially since she loves getting autographs, and everyone waits just the same for those. However, those waits are rarely over 20 minutes or so, as the characters normally don't stay any longer than that before they get a break or rotate. Anything past 30 mins can be difficult, and of course, this will be the first time we will be going to a ride and not necessarily riding it right at that time.

I have spent quite a while talking to my daughter about the new change, and waiting in line for rides as well as gathering information about the FP+ system, and that it can be used concurrently with the DAS.

DD wanted to go to Disney for her graduation, and we will be staying on Disney property, so I know that I can reserve the FP+'s 60 days ahead of time. What I'm wondering, is if those FP+ reservations, as well as any DAS FP tickets, will be valid for our whole family (5 people), or if each person has to get their own FP+ for each ride separately?

I'd rather have all these answers before we go, than trying to figure out what to do when we get there. I think I thrive on routine as much as she does!!

The FP+ reservations need to be made for each family member who wishes to experience the attraction. When you go to make the FP+ selections, you can select which family members you want to make the FP+ for. You can make them for the entire family or just for a couple members, your choice. That way if there's something your DD would like to do, but the rest of your family would rather do something else, you can split up. For example, you could make FP+ selections for your DD and you to go see Anna and Elsa, while the rest of your family goes to use FP+ to ride Space Mountain.

The DAS is a little different. You tell the CM how many people are in your party when you obtain the DAS on your first day. When you go to the ride to get the return time, the CM doesn't need to know how many people will be riding. You can have your entire family ride if they wish. The only requirement is that the person who the DAS is for must ride. It can't be used by other family members to ride something that your DD won't be riding.

Does that answer your question?
 

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