People always look at me strangely when talking about Disney, because it just doesn't fit with what others think I like. Given the choice, I would rather stay in a real castle somewhere in Europe, but there is something when you walk into Magic Kingdom and look up Main St and see the castle it chokes me up and I will tell you why. It was one of the places that helped our special needs child turn into a confident traveler.
My eldest son is high functioning autistic, being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was 5 years old. As he puts it now at age 23, he did have "issues" and of course these issues meant that travelling was a challenge when he was younger. Our #1 priority is and was to get him to a level where he can as we put it "function in the real world". We have been lucky to be backed up with a wonderful medical team and a school district who have seen his potential. Of course, getting him used to travelling had it's bumps in the road, but not road blocks. He's now in college working on his accounting degree.
This is one reason I have become a Certified Autism Travel Professional, and I applaud IBCCES for establishing this program along with their program to certify resorts/hotels/theme parks.
So here are some of our strategies we have used in our travels with special needs,
#1 Prepare and repeat- This was huge in getting him used to TSA security. We practiced at home a lot and then took a road trip to our airport so he could see how it went before he actually had to do it.
Of course now, we have Global Entry with TSA pre-check, so this makes things easier. Also TSA now has TSA Cares
#2 Sleeping arrangements-How fun was a vacation going to be if we asked him to share a bed with his brother? It would have been an absolute nightmare of no one sleeping, and let's face it no kid special needs or not is in risk of a meltdown with a lack of a good night's rest. So we always looked for accommodations that were multi bedrooms or connecting staterooms on a cruise ship. And as I always tell families, would you spend a week in your master bedroom with your family? Well that's what you are doing when you put 4 people in one hotel room. Plus it gives mom & dad privacy too, wink wink if you know what I mean.
#3 Plan to include their interests- My son is a history buff, so Pearl Harbor was a must on our trip to Hawaii. Given the choice, he would rather see interesting things than sit on a beach all day. So you can imagine he was over the moon on his delayed grad cruise in Europe and one of his bucket list items is to do a Danube river cruise to see the major cities of the former Austrian-Hungarian Empire
#4 Don't rule out Disney- Yes they have accomodations for special needs, but we have never used them in our trips. By knowing how to "do the parks" we were able to avoid long lines both in Orlando and Anaheim. And the more times we went to Disneyworld, the more comfortable he got with the whole travel thing, from standing in a crowd waiting to watch the fireworks, to trying new foods and liking them. And I will say this from a consumer point of view, not just a certified Disney expert, there is a Disney Difference from the theme parks, resorts, cruise line and tour company.
#5 Cruise- I have been cruising since 1980 when my mom took us on the "Love Boat" aka Pacific Princess to Alaska and as a parent myself I find it a great way to travel with kids period. I'm pampered by not having to cook,clean or worry about did we take the wrong way. It's a super way for those on the spectrum to travel. You are in the same bed every night and come back to familiar food.
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| Tortola, British Virgin Islands |
#6 Plan downtime- Having some time when they can just watch tv, get on the computer or do whatever your special needs child does to release anxiety is good. Vacation time is structured differently than what they are used to at home and even with preparing and knowing ahead of time, you sometimes may have to cross an activity offer your list or plan that downtime into your schedule. Even if you don't have special needs children, edit your must see list. A vacation is supposed to be re-charge your batteries and connect as a family. Each family is different, but you don't need to take a vacation to recover from your vacation.
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| Taking a break for lunch |
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