For the vast majority of guests at Walt Disney World, they
don’t have to worry about the obstacles that come when traveling with somebody
who have physical, mental, and/or developmental limitations. Up until we had our son Carter that was
us. Before we had Carter, my husband and
I would go to the parks and stay until closing and never really planned ahead
except for maybe a few meals. Now when
we go, even if it’s just for a quick day trip, we plan everything out meticulously. I think people traveling with kids,
regardless of any special needs, should plan ahead for Fast Passes (a system
that lets you pre-determine what time you want to ride a certain ride, and your
line is less than a ten minute way, rather than an hour-plus), meals, and
attractions they want to see/do. Every time I go to the park, I am shocked at
how many people I overhear say they didn’t know about Fast Passes or they
didn’t make any dining reservations (most of the busy restaurants don’t even
accommodate walk-in diners). Going to a
theme park is a ton of fun, but it can also be incredibly stressful. No matter which park you decide to go to,
parking will take a little while and require you to walk 50 miles to the front
gate (perhaps a slight exaggeration). If
the temperature in Orlando is 80 degrees, those parking lots will be about
105. Once you arrive at the front gate,
you have to wait for bag inspection and to scan/show your ticket to actually
get into the park. All of these things
take a while and require waiting in lines.
Finally you are in the park and can take your child on a ride they’ve
been so looking forward to, only to discover there is a 90-minute wait. After a minor miracle, you’re able to
entertain your little one for this length, it is your turn on a 3-minute ride and
your child is suddenly scared of it and cries the whole time. Let’s just say, even on a good day, things
can get really stressful!
 |
| Happy Carter at WDW! |
All of these stressors are compounded and multiplied when
you have a small child who has special needs.
Our Carter doesn’t have an official diagnosis (he won’t until he’s 6),
but as of right now he has general/global development delays and sensory
processing disorder. As of right now, he
is still non-verbal (well that’s not fair, he does plenty of vocalizing, just
none of it is “real” words) and has the developmental age of about a 18-month
old. When something is bothering him or
he wants something, he has no verbal way to communicate this. We have to take a guess when he’s hot,
hungry, thirsty, tired, etc. much like you would with a baby before they
started talking. Carter also has an
incredibly hard time waiting, sitting still, and doing what he is told (much
like many toddlers). Pair that with sensory issues and not being able to
communicate, is a disaster waiting to happen at a theme park. While there is no way around it entirely,
there is one tool at Disney that has made our lives so much easier- the DAS
card. The Disability Access Card (DAS)
can be given to anyone with a family member with any type of disability. It allows a family to skip the waiting in
line for attractions. For example, let’s
say we want to ride the Little Mermaid ride with Carter but there’s a 30 minute
wait. We go up to the front of the line
and tell one of the cast members we are using our DAS card. They will scan our magic bands, and tell us
to come back after a certain time (30 minutes later). Once that time has come, we can go back on
that ride and not have to wait in line.
It doesn’t mean you get to go on any ride and never wait in a line, you
can only use it for one ride at a time, and you still have to wait the 30
minutes, but you don’t have to stand in the line for 30 minutes (usually we’ll
take that time to use the restroom, get a snack, etc.).
 |
| Our sweet boy! Top- at Magic Kingdom, Bottom- at Animal Kingdom |
It has been a life saver for us, and makes
Carter’s experience at Disney much like it would be for any other 3-year
old. That is probably the number 1
reason why we go back to Disney time and time again. Having a place where your special needs child
can be like anyone else and have the time of their life, is priceless!
 |
| At Disney, Carter gets to be like anyone else- happy and making memories! |
No comments:
Post a Comment