First time visit with child with Asperger's syndrome

[lynnek]

We visited for the first time in November. As others have mentioned, planning the routines for the days helped. I really would encourage the EMH--especially the morning ones. We found that with my son, if he was already in the park as it got more congested, he was fine(he doesn't care for contact and will dart in and out of groups of people) This helped us expand his comfort zone during the trip. Also, give your son the map of the park!!! (my trip report, First Timers Trip to WDW, shows how well that worked) We talk a lot about the benefits of how his brain works--the ability to focus totally on something--and he demonstrated this over and over, taking the map away from my DH
And of course, things won't always go as planned. I am thankful I had researched so much here on Intercot so I always could relax and go with the flow--this made it easier on my son.
A thought about the special pass--this may be different for your son, Asperger's shows differently in everyone--my son can't stand feeling like everyone is looking at him. He was on stage with a huge chorus, not alone but had a meltdown-- ran down the stairs into my arms in the middle of a song--he was sweating profusely, heart rate very high and crying. Nothing like a eye opener to Asperger's. My point is the passes will allow you to pass by the lines of people waiting--all eyes will be on you. Yes, you absolutely have a necessity here, but look at how that type of reaction will impact. My son had a few issues with the fastpasses. That's why we made a point of giving them away to people if we weren't going to use them. And of course, he will feel your anxiety!! Relax and have fun!!!

[lynnek]

Just re-read your post and noticed you said you would be offsite. So no EMH. Oops! O.K. then I would wait until 1/2 hour AFTER the parks open to go. That way the congestion at the park opening would be less. Also, get into Epcot thru World Showcase--much easier for them to handle.

Another thought--as far as food--we couldn't do the counter service--too much uncertainty to handle. I would recommend ADR's. My son had so much fun reviewing all the menus ahead of time and knowing he had a nice cool place to go sit and eat at each meal.

[Disney_pups2]

Another thing that might be helpful is children's rescue remedy or calm drops. I give them to our son when he gets really upset. It might come in handy if it is a really bad melt down. They use rescue remedy in our ambulances out here to calm down freaking out passengers. Just a thought.

[LadyBear]

I have 2 girls w/ Aspergers and Disney is absolutely heaven to them! The CM are so attentive and helpful also. We've gone probably 6-8 times!

You will need a letter from your childs doctor or something documenting the disability. Most doctors will have no problem furnishing something for you. You take this to guest services at the first park you go to and they will issue you a special pass we call our "family fast pass" for up to 6 people. You get to go through all fast pass lines or disabled lines so you don't wait as long. You can also use it for the parades and such so they are not so overwhelmed and "crowded" by others. You can also show it to characters so they will be a little more cautious approaching your child or stay away all together and also can get you to the front a little sooner in some of the meet and great areas. (mine love seeing the characters)

We also plan in advance our trip as much as possible. We make a weekly schedule and designate which day we will go to where and where we will eat our meals and what time. I usually put together a little folder w/ a printed up copy of this schedule. (it also comes in handy for keeping up w/ reservation numbers and such) My eldest (10) gets online and looks at a lot of the attraction and she also watches the vacation planning dvd. She makes herself a list of all the things that she wants to do. I also have reviewed many of the attraction myself or know first hand what they are and know which things should be avoided. (too dark, loud, scary, strobe light, etc...) anything that might trigger a meltdown and we avoid those things. I also try at the beginning of each day to see if anything they wanted to go on is closed so I can prepare them for that. We also talk ahead of time about souveniers. We aren't going to buy everything we see that we like. We have x amount of money that can be spent on something you like. We will make a list of things you like that we see and at the end of the day (or week) we will pick from those things.

There are rest areas w/ quiet rooms at each park, if you need a few moments of down time. As for dining almost all Disney restaurants (except quick service) take reservations in advance so make sure you do that and they also have the menues available to look at online for most of them. We have some food allergies and when we make the reservation we note that on there. This saved us bigtime once when there was powdered almonds in the cheesecake! Also if there isn't anything on the menue that your child will eat, if you contact them withing either 24-48hr of your meal they will provide something that your child will eat. They are so awesome and accomodating. The chef at Boma actually walked us through the buffett and showed us what to stay clear of w/ our food allergies.
When we go we don't like the water parks so we go for a week and we go to 2 of the main parks and then take a day of to relax around the pool or shop and then 2 days at the other 2 parks.

We also make little buisness size cards that list the girls name and our cell numbers and has what medicines they take and what their diagnoses and allergies are, just in case we were ever seperated! We also give them to the waiter at the table service meals and they place it with our order to ensure nothing on our allergy list comes in contact w/ her food.

Overall it should be an awesome trip! There is no better place for children like our than Disneyworld!

Would be happy to answer any question you might have. As I said, we've been there tons!

[LadyBear]

oh and as for the pass... it's very inconspicuous and really does not draw attention to you. We have used it for many years now and never ever had a problem! My girls don't even know what it is, they think it's a "family fast pass" because for most of the rides that utilize fast pass that's where you go in and the ones that don't and the shows you go in the diabled line, but it really isn't that much different and no-one has ever questioned or gawked at us. It's very very helpful for the parades for us. My daughter can't stand feeling smothered by people! If anyone does stare or wonder, you would never know because there are so so many people there!
I would say to get it because it's a perk available to you. Once you have it you can decide when and if you need to use it, but you at least have it if you do need it.
It would also help explain a meltdown and get you assistance to a quiet area or anything as well if needed.

[dntccc]

You will need a letter from your childs doctor or something documenting the disability. Most doctors will have no problem furnishing something for you. You take this to guest services at the first park you go to and they will issue you a special pass we call our "family fast pass" for up to 6 people. You get to go through all fast pass lines or disabled lines so you don't wait as long. You can also use it for the parades and such so they are not so overwhelmed and "crowded" by others.

The last two times we went to WDW we had a GAC due to our son having ASD, and we did not know that you could use the GAC for a parade. How do you do this?

[TexansInNY]

Example: Parade coming up at Magic Kingdom. Find the wheelchair area - when we were there it was (looking down at the circle in front of castle) at 3 o'clock...roped off. This is where we were able to go. Very convenient - everyone in there understands and was nice plus plenty of room to walk around - not crowded at all and room for son to plop right on the road.