I’ve put off writing this post because I am NOT an expert on
autism. I am the parent of two children
who have been diagnosed with autism, but I have no formal training regarding
the disorder. However, I do know a lot
about Disneyland, and I would like to share our family’s experiences at this
delightful place.
I should mention at the very start that I never thought that
I would one day need to say to my four year old “It’s alright Honey; you don’t
have to go to Disneyland today you can stay in the hotel.” But on our last trip, I had to do exactly
that. Disneyland is an overwhelming
place, and if they just need a break, let them have it. As parents of autistic children we have to
walk a fine line between giving them a little push because we know they’ll
enjoy a certain new experience, and letting them have the order and peace that
they crave. Our son, Ian, was four on
our last trip and had been to Disneyland Resort twice before, once at 7 months
(he rode everything and loved it) and again at 2 years (certain rides became
stressful), this last trip was very stressful for him, and he got to the point
where he couldn’t enter buildings or even open air areas that had a patio
covering. It’s very easy to look back
and wish to have changed things. But
every trip is so different (age difference alone) that it’s impossible to know
ahead of time where all the trouble spots will be. My goal is to talk about things that have
helped our family and others and that might make your autistic child’s visit to
Disneyland Resort less stressful and more fun.
Many of the basic things that will be helpful are covered in
the body of this blog, but I’m going to mention here some things that are very
specific to my autistic children. Please
keep in mind that all autistic children are as different from each other as any
non-autistic child is different from another, and you may be surprised at what
your autistic child is stressed or comforted by in the unfamiliar world of
Disneyland Resort.
To illustrate this point, I’d like to use an example. Our oldest son, Ian, is fairly independent
and likes to walk beside the grocery cart at the store. He’s not much of a stroller person
either. In a conversation with another
parent of autistic children, she mentioned that her autistic children were very
comforted by staying in their strollers.
The stroller became a “safe place” for them and they were able to feel
comforted in that space. I did not think
that bit of advice would be very helpful to us. It turns out I was wrong. After the second day in the parks, Ian would
only leave the stroller reluctantly. The
fourth day he toured the park from the stroller while his Dad pushed him
around, and would not leave its security.
Because I had spoken to this other mother previously, I recognized
the signs of stroller dependency early and first thing on the second day we
stopped by “City Hall” and got a guest assistance pass that specified that Ian
and his party (see “City Hall”) could wait in line in a less crowded area
(which translated to waiting in the handicapped entrances), and that he could
stay in the stroller like it was a wheel chair.
Those are two different stamps that can be placed on the guest
assistance pass; handicapped entrance and stroller as a wheel chair. One thing I haven’t covered in the “City Hall
section of the blog is that the cast member at the guest services desk will
need to see the person receiving the guest assistance pass. My husband waited with the kids outside by
the handicapped ramp while I waited in line, so that I could just stick my head
out the exit door and they were able to enter without having to wait in the
crowed main line. The cast member visited with Ian a little, asking his name
and age, which she only received partial answers to, but it was enough for
them. You also need to make sure that
you tell the cast member the number of people in your party (up to six) and the
length of your stay, so that you only need to get the one pass, and you don’t
have to return the next morning. If you receive
your pass in Disneyland Park, it can be used in California Adventure Park as
well and vice versa.
In the “hind-sight-is-20/20” category, I wouldn’t have taken
Ian on any of the indoor/dark rides. I
would’ve stuck to all the outdoor stuff, which he was doing quite well with at
first. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride followed by
Alice in Wonderland (both dark rides) did us in though. Up until then Ian was doing well riding the
rides. He happily rode on the Astro
Orbiter, Dumbo, the Teacups and King Arthur’s Carousel. I was even able to take him and little
brother by myself on a couple of rides, something I wouldn’t have tried later
in the week.
We also learned that his noise dampening headphones were a
comfort item that, as time went on, he wore more and more often. By the last couple of days he was wearing
them almost constantly. There is a lot
of background noise in the resort that most of us can just tune out, but autistic
people with a hearing sensitivity can be very overwhelmed by all of it. I worked hard to introduce many of the sounds
of the park to Ian ahead of time. I used
“The Audio History of Disneyland”, a Disneyland sing along DVD, and the
Vacation Planning DVD to introduce him to the sights and sounds we would
encounter. I’m not sure if it helped or
not, but I believe in helping things look and sound familiar to him as much as
I can.
As the week progressed, Ian became more and more distressed
when entering the park through the front gates especially at the rush of
opening. I think next time we may try
using the Monorail stop that is in Downtown Disney to enter the park. You use your park pass to enter the Monorail
depot just as you would going through the front gates, but it is much less
dramatic with fewer people. The Monorail
will then drop you off in Tomorrowland.
I don’t believe that the Monorail is running for a Magic Morning entry,
but those are quieter times and if your autistic child hasn’t learned to
distrust the front entrance it may be an easier process.
Ian loves Mickey, but entering Mickey’s house was just too
stressful. The Grandparents went through
the house and stood in line to wait our turn, then when they got up to the head
of the line they explained the situation to the cast member who assigned groups
to the various photograph booths. We
were assigned our own session with Mickey and they allowed Ian to enter through
the exit which, while still stressful, made it possible for him to meet and
interact with Mickey, which was a highlight of the trip for him.
One thing we did do right was be flexible. At one point we were going to leave the park
to go have a meal with family, but as we were standing in the town square area
Ian looked around at the relatively sparse number of people and said “Let’s go
back to Disneyland!” All of us astonished
adults looked at each other and said “Okay!” and back in we went.
For our next trip we are planning our days a little
differently. The plan is to attend
Disneyland for a couple of days, and then take a day off. We’ll probably go to the beach or hang out at
the pool. There is also the possibility that
Ian and Dad will go have a day off and Mom and Little Brother will go back to
the park on their own. That has the
benefit of giving the brothers a break from each other, which as they get older
is becoming more of a need.
This next little bit falls into the category of secondhand
stories. I have heard of both of these
situations in Disneyland Park. The first
is about a young man who was very uncomfortable with the disproportionate head
to body ratio of cast members in full costume.
Because this was a known issue the adults with this teen were able to
have him turn away when they spotted full-bodied costumes coming in their
direction. As long as he didn’t have to
see the character he was able to keep his mental balance. The second situation
was not handled as successfully as the first.
This occurred on the Jungle Cruise with a large group of people in a
confined situation. A woman with a
severe mental disability became overwhelmed, likely with the physical closeness
of unknown people and the unfamiliar noises, and had to be physically
restrained by the other people on the boat.
These were just other visitors to the park and were not trained in
handling this sort of situation, but really they had no choice because she had
become a danger to others on the boat by hitting and kicking, even at small
children. This was reported on an online
discussion board. The comments on the
discussion board lamented the fact that the people with this poor woman did not
know that they could request (probably through City Hall) the ability to ride
the attraction alone. If your autistic
person has violent reactions to sitting too close to strangers, you will want
to discuss this with the cast members at City Hall. We don’t have this issue so I don’t know what
kind of stamp would be on the guest assistance pass, but I’m pretty sure they
won’t just tell you that you shouldn’t have come. They will try hard to work something out to
suit whatever your situation is; you just need to fully explain.
Like I mentioned earlier, I am no expert on autism. I am just a Mom learning by experience, but
hopefully my experiences will help you just as the experiences of other Mom’s
have helped me. I’ve saved my best
advice for last. Look at your child and
pay attention to them. As soon as you
start to see the signs of distress, find a way to help them feel safe. Have the strength of will to stop what you
are in the middle of and see things through their eyes. You will do more than help your autistic
child have a fun trip, they will learn to trust you more, and that is
priceless.
