magical moments for a special needs child

kwhitt3202 · #1 01-16-2011, 10:30 AM

I have a non aparent special needs child with many medical issues among which are Severe ADHD, autism, and a brain tumor. We travel to WDW every year and this last year had some increadable cast members that went out of their way for my son.
With all of his senceory issues he has always found his stroller as a safe place and this year was using playdough to calm himself down. We had only brought a couple small containers with us and it was drying out. So naturally we went on the hunt for playdough and could not find any. When we returned to the G.F where we told the lobby concierge everything and asked if there was a way to have some playdough sent to our room from anywhere. They sent a driver to D.T.D and when we got back to our room that night there was the playdough lying on the bed. My son got so excited and said "Handy Manny sent me some playdough."
Later in the trip we were getting ready to leave for the MNSSHP and he got into his stroller was being so good that all 3 of us adults failed to see he had no shoes until we got to the park. We went to every store looking for flip flops with no luck. Every store sent us some where else. Finnaly we endded up at a store with a very special cast member who understood our situtation and showed us some crocs and gave us a lollypop and said see if these work. When I went to pay she say she had taken care of it and tell him Handy Manny sent them to him. He still loves his "Handy Manny" shoes.
Out of every time we have been this trip was so magical for my son. My advice to anyone traveling with a special needs child is to try to see ahead of the different things you may need and if you need something talk to the cast members and let them know about your child and their needs and they can help.

clausjo · #2 01-25-2011, 02:23 PM

What wonderful CMs you encountered! It sounds like they really went out of their way to make your son's vist extra special. Just another reason why I love Disney so much!

lettripp · #3 01-25-2011, 05:45 PM

How wonderful :-)

jimsgal05 · #4 01-30-2011, 07:35 AM

that was great. The shoes story ..wow what wonderful CM....So glad you had a good time and the child has amazing merories of his "special Handy many shoes"... My best advice is always ask a cast member if you are in need.
have a magical day!!

Disney_pups2 · #5 02-26-2011, 06:27 PM

Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It brought tears to my eyes as we are just embarking on our journey with our CP child. He has many needs also and I want so badly for him to have a wonderful time and not worry about it. Us SN parents and kids face so much as it is, I am sooo sooo very happy to see your son had such a special encounter! Disney comes through again! WOW! Thank you so much. You have no clue how this story helps me.