Son's Birthday Trip April 11 & 12

[Von-Drake]

Trip Report April 11th -16th
The Travelers
Me
Wife
Son (turns 5 this coming week, also diagnosed with mild autism)
My Mother
My Father

April 11th
We left the house at 6:00am for the 320 mile ride down to the Happiest Place on Earth. We had planned to arrive in the early afternoon at Pop Century, which was our hotel for the first night only. After the first night we stayed at the Shades of Green (SOG) resort, since my dad is retired military.
The trip down went by just fine and we arrived at Pop around 12:45. We decided that the guys (my dad, my son, and myself) would hit the pool, since we knew my son really needed to burn off some stored up energy from the trip and the ladies would go get some lunch and look around the store and resort. After about an hour at the pools we decided to convince my son it was lunch time and we needed to return to the room. After we cleaned up and got lunch we decided to go visit Downtown Disney for a little while.
It was fun, my son loved to ride the small train at Downtown Disney and compared it to Thomas the Train. We had planned to have POP transfer our luggage to SOG the next day. When we made reservations they told us they could not do this since SOG was military and technically not a Disney resort. We called the luggage assistance at POP that night and they assured us it would not be a problem whatsoever.

April 12th
That morning we decided to move our own luggage, so we called and canceled the service and loaded up and drove to SOG about 8:30 or so. Our rooms were not ready yet so we dropped off all our luggage and, parked and headed over to the MK. As soon as we got there we stopped by Guest Relations to get a GAC card to help with our son. He has come a very long way since being diagnosed. [SideNote: Out son gets over 32 hours a week of great therapy and has made great progress, this trip was an early birthday present for him. He can handle waiting pretty good, but the biggest problem is that when he is in line and so many different people are having different conversations around him, he tends to lose focus on talking to us and it causes him to become over-stimulated and he gets very upset and demands to get out of line. We figured after all his hard work, he needed a vacation where he would not get so upset so often and the GAC card really helped cut the line time for us (or in some cases provided us an alternate location to wait with less people and noise).] Our son wanted us to head straight to the Peter Pan ride. On our way to Peter Pan, after we rounded the castle there was the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella. Our son was so excited (see below), he kept telling her “Bippity Boppity Boo”. So after Peter Pan and a few other Fantasyland rides we headed out to see Cinderella. Before our trip we had a lot of family movie nights and watched different Disney movies together, and he really liked Cinderella movie and it was cute we asked him you his girlfriend is and he would say “Cinderella” and smile so big. So we promised him he would get to meet her on this trip. When we go to the room with the princesses, it was right before their break and so we were the last ones on the room. While waiting for the other guests in front of us, my wife was talking to the CM in the room and I was entertaining our son. She told him about his autism and right before he go to talk to Cinderella, the CM whispered to Cinderella about him and she was so wonderful, taking time to talk to him and being patient while he fidgeted so much as we were trying to get pictures, it was a wonderful moment. I know my son really enjoyed it. When he walked to the next princess Belle, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and Cinderella saw this and exclaimed “But, I thought I was your girlfriend!” So she rushed over to give him a kiss on the cheek by this time Princess Aurora was waiting on him and got in on the act too and came over to Belle’s area and made a fuss over him. I tell you I think my son smiled for the next hour or so after we left and every time we mentioned the princesses over the rest of the trip he would break out in a big grin. The rest of the day was spent at MK, where we rode the following (some more than once): Peter Pan, Goofy’s Barnstormer, It’s a Small World, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo, Jungle Cruise, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We did take a break mid-day and headed back to SOG where our rooms were ready, but the staff misplaced my dad’s bathroom bag, with his shaving kit, toothbrush and medicines. They never found it the entire time we were there. But that is the only downside to the whole trip.

[poeticeclipse]

I'm SO glad that your son had a great time with the princesses! They always do such a great job with children and really make each and every one feel special.

[cal5755]

That is so awesome! I am glad you son had fun with the Princesses... I think they are the BEST as far as interaction... they took so much time with My 2 dd's when we were there last time... they even sang princess songs with them it was sooo cute!!

So glad you had a great time and sorry they lost dad's bag.. hope it wasn't to inconvenient!

[faline]

Other than the lost bag, you've had a wonderful start to your trip! Sounds like your son has a royal fan club!

[dolphinmickey9170]

It sure sounds like you had a great start to your trip. Sorry about the missing bag.

Thanks for sharing.

[KylesMom]

What a heartwarming story about DS and the princesses - it sounds like the magic is surely with you this trip!

[wdwgrl377]

WOW! I had tears in my eyes *of joy* reading your report! That is just so awesome and I am so happy for your son! What a great day you all had! Thanks for sharing!!

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the report!

[Jeff G]

It sure sounds like your DS had a wonderful day at the MK. Thanks for sharing.

[jillluvsdisney]

Cute story about your son and the princess'.

[Kairi_7378]

So glad that the princesses were able to make your son feel so special. They went over the top for him, that's for sure! Do you have lots of pictures of his fan club? Congrats to your sons for making such great strides in his illness!

[Young@Heart]

I LOVED reading about your son and the Princesses! Thanks for sharing that with us.

[HndrdPrcnt]

Wow!! That was a great time for your son! That is something he can boast about for the rest of his life (I know that I would)!!

[ChipnDaleGal]

That is such a great story about your son and all his princess girlfriends! What a special experience for him. I can just imagine how all you adults must have been beaming while watching it all unfold. Thanks for sharing.

[Bethis26fan]

Sounds like a great day. Sounds like the princess made his day.

[laward32]

Sounds like a great start to your trip. Gotta love the extra Disney magic. I love to see it when the kids get sooo excited over one of the characters. Glad he got to meet Cinderella.