Bob_KY

I wanted to use this forum to publicly praise Disney and their staff for helping us to have a wonderful trip to WDW with our autistic 10 year old daughter and her non-autistic 4 year old sister. To be honest, I was not looking forward to the trip, because my daughter's behavior has ruined many other outings. However, Disney has this one down to a science. Upon our arrival, we presented a letter from our doctor to Guest Services and received a special disability pass. We also rented a wheelchair to help her (she is able to walk, but tires easily). We were able to present this pass at rides and were able to take our daughter in a side or back route and avoid waiting in crowds. (We did have to wait some, but it was in a quiet, uncrowded space). My daughter would not have been able to tolerate waiting in a crowd. All of the Disney personnel immediately honored the pass, knew exactly what to do, and were very nice to us. They must have great management to train their workers to be friendly and calm with the melee and crowds they work in every day.

Anyway, the trip went much better than I expected, and my daughters loved the rides. Kudos to Disney for letting our daughter have a few special days out of an otherwise frustrating life.

egret

I am very glad that you and your family had such a great time at Disney.
Kudos to Disney!

seetheworld

That's wonderful, Bob. I'm so glad Disney was able to make your family vacation less stressful and more enjoyable for all of you (especially your daughter).

LoveItaly

Beautiful Bob, thank you for sharing the experiences that your daughter and your family had at WDW.

In that usually companies get complained about (and often with good reason) it is nice that you took the time to post about a very satisfactory experience. And hopefully other families with children that need special help will be encouraged to go to WDW. Blessings to all you.

Bob_KY

She doesn't usually talk too much, but as we walked into Tomorrow Land, she looked up at the Astro Orbiter ride, and said "Wanna ride that". My wife and I were thrilled. She also loved the Mad Tea Party, and It's a Small World. I can't imagine what she thought when we took her on the Everest Expedition Roller Coaster, and she probably was thinking it was another Winnie the Pooh Ride until we hit 50 MPH!

NeoPatrick

I know a lot of people just love to put down anything with the name Disney attached, but over and over again, I get the feeling Disney World is one of the best run places anywhere -- at least it's always seemed that way to me. More than once I've seen injuries, like someone falling and badly spraining or even breaking a let -- and there is always immediate attention and someone knows just what to do.

P_M

What a very nice story, thank you for posting

LLindaC

Thank you for sharing this! Some people claim that Disney is anti-Christian, but I humbly disagree. Christian means accepting everyone and accomodating all, IMO. I've had heated arguments over this with people who went ballistic over the "gay pride weekend".
Don't want to start a war, but I agree they have the knack of doing the best they can to make everyone happy. If Disney is behind it, it will be done right! I am so glad your time was wonderful and bless your family!

wtm003

Thanks for taking the time to do a report. I'm glad your family had such a nice trip!

Margo_Chester

Thanks for sharing your experience, it's great that Disney was so accommodating, always nice to hear when someone "does it right". So glad that your family had such a good time and that your daughter could join in the fun.

No_name

What a wonderful story. Customer service at its best!

angethereader

Such a nice story.
I can it's difficult to travel.

Kudo's to you for trying and kudos' to Disney for making your vacation such a wonderful memory.

travelgirl2

I'm glad you had a nice trip. I think it's great that you keep trying to travel and expose both your daughters to new things. While it may sometimes seem easier to stay home, it sounds like this trip was a success.

Fodorite018

What a great story! Thanks for sharing. Can I make a suggestion? Write Disney and let them know how much you appreciated all their extra efforts.

starrsville

Sounds like a great trip. My sister almost cancelled a trip with her family when she had back problems. The doctor advised her to go forward and use a wheelchair in the park. The family had a great time and my sister was amazed at how quickly they were moved through the lines via the handicapped access. She wanted to decline the "special" service, but Disney was insistent that she take advantage of their resources.

LLindaC, very curious comments. Without getting political, it is amazing how some people connect the dots. Disney does not promote gay pride weekend. For some to call Disney "anti-Christian" because they don't prevent the event is truly amazing to me. The two are not mutually exclusive. Reminds me of the lyrics to an encore song by Amy Ray at the conclusion of an Indigo Girls concert. I had never heard it before, but searched for it. If anyone is interested, google "Let it Ring" from Amy Ray's solo album, "Prom".

LLindaC

Starsville, you can do a google search for "gay day" and draw your own conclusions.
http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Disney/GayDay.html
I disagree with groups that call for a boycott just because of this. Please don't think I am anti Disney in any way because I commented on the actions of others.

escargot

Wonderful and thanks for sharing - I hope you write Disney a great letter - companies usually only get complaint letters and it is so nice for them to receive the raves !

I can relate as we have a young autistic child in our extended family -and will tell my cousin as they are getting near "Disney age" and she also becomes easily over stimulated by long waits, certain crowds, etc.

I shouldn't be surprised, although my situation did not compare to yours, when my children were little and we were at Disney it was the first time I ruptured a disc - I leaned over to pick up one of the toddlers and boom! - Disney was amazing - there was a Dr. at our hotel in record time, on to the hospital with an immediate referral for assistance, and when we returned to the park - they moved us to a ground level/patio for easier access for me to the pool, etc and the wheelchair and all access made available so I could at least partake in some of the activities, when not laying flat on my back, with my children - they were so accomodating every day checking in and even sent someone to the room to help us pack up when our vacation was over !!

So,, I am a big Disney fan but this story made me a bigger one !

Bob_KY

The only negative times we had were our own fault - where we stayed to watch late night fireworks shows and got caught in a huge mass of people, my daughter did not handle that well. But, when you are spending $300 a day for tickets, you feel pushed to do everything. There were times I felt slightly guilty for bypassing the lines, but of course I would have traded places with anyone in line to have a healthy child.

ilovetulips

bob, I am glad that your family had an enjoayable time. I have worked with autistic children myself and I know that they all experience varying degrees of sensory overload. Did you find that your daughter got overloaded by sights or sounds? I must say you are very brave because I would be afraid of meltdowns if I took an autistic child to a theme park.

Bob_KY

The only meltdowns she had were 2 nights when the crowds were all packed in after the fireworks shows. She got extremely panicky on the monorail, I had never seen her like that. Overall though, I feel like we lucked out. As you know, all autistic kids have different things they like or react to, so it is hard to generalize. Our daughter loves motion and interesting visual stimulation, so the rides were right up her alley.