Several weeks ago I promised a post with the therapy strategies I used to prepare Tony for our last Disneyland trip. By delivering this at the onset of the academic summer in the US, I want to be clear that I think a summertime trip to Disneyland should be avoided for kiddos with either Autism or a Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) unless they are incredibly good at waiting, have amazing crowd tolerance, and experience minimal sensory differences. In assembling this post, I am also going to quote myself at a couple of points from e-mails to Disney and to Stephanie.
“In general, I am actually not a parent that screams for accommodations for my kiddo. I don’t prefer that attention actually…and I try to do everything I can not to need much in the way of specialized arrangements from anyone. However, there are some unavoidable realities when one tries to go to certain places…and a place as high profile as Disneyland, one would hope, would be at the forefront in leading the way in providing family friendly experiences within reason to all children.” (Ariana to team Disney after being given a survey about our 2017 trip)
My view is that Disney certainly has some things they can improve to be at the forefront, but that the current process they use as it exists requires a certain level of functioning in their visitors, and I would go so far as to opine this is a deliberate way of managing the types of visitors they receive and problems they experience while catering to their target customers.
“Getting accommodations is not necessarily a simple matter…they [Disney] will not make arrangements in advance. [A] kiddo has to make it through the downtown Disney security check-in being able to tolerate the same process as a neurotypical individual would (the only accommodation they will even consider making anyways that will help with the security check lines is designating a stroller as a wheelchair, but they will not do this until after you’ve seen somebody within the park itself).
The family and the individual will also need to make it through the lines at the entrance…Once the family is inside, they will need to go to the town hall area, where the wait can be….well, let’s just say we waited around an hour [we went during a slower time of year also], and the kiddo has to be present for this interview. We never would have been able to make it through that line with him if he hadn’t fallen asleep from being so overwhelmed.
A staff member will then decide if they want to give any accommodations for the child based on what they feel is appropriate for the child’s medical condition. That can look like anything from a limited number of passes a day to use the fast pass entrance (we were given I believe two or three a day for our entire visit) to [permitting] access to wheelchair loading areas for ride admittance. I have heard of situations where individuals on the spectrum were given very minimal accommodations. They will explain to you where the designated quiet rooms are in the park in case your child gets overstimulated.” (from an e-mail to Stephanie, upon requesting my input for another family) Please note, this is the current process still in 2019, familiarize yourself with whatever the current process is before your family goes because we discovered that most resort staff weren’t familiar with it.
You may be able to deduce that many young children on the spectrum or with an SPD would find waiting through an hour worth of line or more (especially after already waiting through long security check points and entrance queues) to be incredibly difficult if not highly improbable. I see this process, therefore, as a weeding tool. A family deciding if this is something they want to attempt should carefully consider the wants and abilities of each member of your family, including your loved one with sensory needs.
For our family, we knew Tony wasn’t going to choose to go on any of those rides, it would have been in nobody’s best interest to try and insist he do so, and therefore our only aim was to have either Andy or I walk with Tony in a quieter area of the park while the one of us waited through the line and rode with Hannah. I knew we would be able to help Tony successfully do that. The fast pass was so that the other parent could ride if desired without requiring everyone to re-wait, as this duplication of time would not have been required if we had all been able to go together. Our initial plan had been to use rider switch passes and skip Disney’s accommodation process altogether, but after the cast members at a couple of rides refused to issue them, that was when we ended up feeling we needed to attempt a visit to town hall for their disabilities services.
All that being said, I am now going to review the types of things we did to prepare. This trip had been long scheduled and long planned for, and was intended to be the culmination if many months worth of therapy modules and prep. Feel free to incorporate or adapt them into your own circumstances as you see fit.
-Use the Disneyland Crowd Forecast Calendar on isitpacked.com. I picked a time of year labeled as “ghost town,” which is their designation for the lowest visitor census days. Please note, doing so usually requires you to pull kiddos out of school to take one of these trips based on timing in the US. Now, the number of “ghost town” days is going down, team Disney has been manipulating their ticket prices for a couple of years now to force a more even distribution of visitors and maximize park attendance, which is their right. However, it does mean that finding times less stressful for individuals with sensory differences is going to continue to get harder.
-Because Tony struggles with crowds, we took him through months of progressions of mall and zoo visits that went from less crowded times to more crowded to help gradually acclimate him to larger groups of people.
-We showed Tony YouTube videos of Disney park visits, a Disneyland promo video, and we looked at pictures and short videos of the rides from Disneyland’s website to help prepare him for what he would see. Not as many of the rides have video imaging available.
-We scheduled our hotel stay to include two days of work in the Downtown Disney district getting him used to the crowd and the environment before we ever went into the park.
-On the first day we went into the park, we took Tony in two hours before park opening to avoid long lines at the security check-in. We spent that time walking back and forth through Downtown Disney helping him acclimate. Once it was closer to opening we got him in his stroller (because he was more comfortable being in that when people pressed close to him) and set up a movie on Andy’s phone. We also made sure a magic morning day (included with a resort visit) was our first day in so that the lines would include just those from the resorts, not the additional crowds that would result from the general public arriving to wait, and positioned ourselves near the front of the queue so he wouldn’t become overwhelmed by seeing a fuller picture of how many individuals were waiting.
-One of our accommodations requested was to have Tony’s stroller designated as a wheelchair so that he didn’t have to get out of it for future trips through the security check point, since the stroller helped him stay calmer in those types of lines.
-We took the stroller even though Tony’s gait had improved significantly because it helped calm him. Most of the time in the park he was willing to tolerate the environment as long as he could stay in his stroller (from which he would only disembark to use the restroom).
-We were sensitive to when things became too much for Tony. On the third day, crowds were higher and Tony was starting to become overwhelmed. Hannah and I stayed in the park while Andy went back with our little man to the hotel room, where he was happy to take baths and watch movies for the rest of the day.
-We brought in all of Tony’s food to make sure he had everything he was most comfortable with. I made sure to pack any items that help him to regulate or manage discomforts from his sensory differences.
Planning a trip of this nature can be stressful for any family, but for families such as ours, the required preparation for a successful visit can be intense. The stress level within the park orchestrating our activities was also pretty high- we had to be ever vigilant for any issue that would cross a comfort line for Tony or the other guests around us. Going forward, we may choose to handle things very differently because as Tony grows older, he’s got some crystallizing opinions about these sorts of venues. We will judge what we do based on respect for his feelings, capabilities, and the needs of each individual in our family should we choose to go again in the next year or two.
