Last Fall we took the kids to Disneyland for the first time since Jordan and Nathan were REALLY little. It was a real leap of faith taking a child with autism to such a busy, crowded place. In preparation for our trip I had written "Disneyland" on our calendar. Nathan was quite upset by this and kept getting mad and erasing it. He didn't WANT to go to Disneyland (in fact our second morning there he was screaming at the top of his lungs in our hotel lobby, "No Disneyland, No Disneyland!!!. Talk about a stressful situation!
I must praise Disneyland for their Disability pass. It truly saved our vacation! They gave us this passport with Nathan's photo in it and then they had us go to these stations around the park where we would tell them we wanted to "It's a Small World" and they would look at the wait time and see it was 30 minutes and then they would shave off 10 min (because we had to walk to these stations) and tell us that we needed to show up at the fast-pass lane or walk in the exit in 20 minutes. That enabled us to do our waiting in a less crowded environment (which was a million times better for our little boy and everyone that would have waited in line with us). A tantruming 16-year-old is quite a sight to behold.
It was still stressful, but we made it much longer each day (Nathan was ready to leave after about an hour and a half) because Disneyland was so helpful! They also gave us these 3 passes each day that enabled us to go on a ride without going to the stations. Anyone who works with these kiddos with autism knows that there are things that they like that they want to ride over and over and over and over. For Nathan it was "Its a Small World" and the "Cars" ride. My other kids were so sick of "It's a Small World" by our 2nd day there, but Nathan could have ridden it all day long!
On the other hand, Nathan didn't like "Pirates of the Caribbean." I was sad about this because I LOVE that ride, so even though we had it listed on our passport a second time, Nathan refused to go, and the rest of us couldn't use the passport without him.
We also brought Nathan's Ipad...and couldn't have made it through those long days without it! I was so thankful for the Disability Pass and the Ipad! They made it possible for us (along with many hear-felt prayers) to stay together as a family--so that one of us us parents didn't have to go back to the hotel with Nathan while the rest stayed and played.
All in all, we were thankful to be able to go on a family vacation! The kids all loved it! But I don't think I will be writing "Disneyland" on my calendar again anytime soon:).
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