Pass for Autistic Children to go Disney World!

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Kalister1
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25 Oct 2007, 12:20 pm

jjstar wrote:
ChristiansDad wrote:
I guess it would depend on the child. It was upon his request that we went to Disney. He was another child when we were there. It was a "Magical" moment when he blew out his 5 candles with Mickey Mouse by his side. I've never seen him happier.


Whenever 10,000's of men, women and children exude happiness, excitement and unabashed joy, you'd be surprised how catching and *infectious* the vibe can be. So it doesn't surprise me that this child was influenced.

But take any group, anywhere and drum up happiness, excitement, fun and any other positive emotion and multiply that by the thousands and you can be sure that the child will be influenced by that just as much.

It's not *disneyland* that's causing the shift per se, it's the *sentiments* it brings out in people. As the hype, sell and advertisements for 40 years have been drumming into the masses' brains - so it is. If that same ad campaign was put into people and Nature - loving the sights, smells, gorgeousness of all things alive and living - we'd be witnessing a whole other society - completely.


When I was a little kid I liked Disneyland , it really is magical.
I liked Six Flags more though, because of the incredible amount of stuff happening all at once. Except then I would get restless and start running around aimlessly.



jjstar
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25 Oct 2007, 12:27 pm

Gosh. I completely forgot about the adrenaline factor. :)


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ChelseaOcean
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25 Oct 2007, 2:49 pm

KingdomOfRats wrote:
think it's for adults as well,or they have another one for adults-not just children.

they used to have one in disneyland [paris] but think they stopped it.


I used to work there, so I can tell you this: As far as I know, the Special Assistance Card is only ever used for children (they used to be color-coded, btw ... the most serious color, which I think was gold, meant 'this child is terminally ill, move heaven and earth to give them everything they want'; autistic children got the least serious ones). The way it works is get the card (make sure it says everything you can think of including sensory issues) and then present it to the Cast Member (CM) at the door. They will tell you what about the attraction might be good or bad and ask what you want to do. For example, they might warn you if an attraction has flashing lights, loud or unpleasant noises, smells, etc. They would probably show you the waiting area and ask if that's okay.

For example, I worked at one attraction that loaded continuously and almost never had any line at all, so some autistic kids were fine with winding through the empty queue, while others found that too confusing and needed to be let in via the wheelchair entrance. I worked at another theater-type attraction; we would let families with autistic kids wait in the less-crowded wheelchair area and guide them to the best place to sit so they wouldn't be crowded and could leave easily afterwards, but not seat them in the wheelchair row unless it was empty.

It's probably helpful to travel with someone who isn't on the autism spectrum or at least is relatively comfortable speaking to people in order to ask about things that most CMs probably wouldn't think of (like maybe if the person with the ASD finds sitting in certain types of seats unbearable or has issues with things that touch you unexpectedly). It might help to write down a list of questions. I used to get asked dozens of times a day whether our attractions had flashing lights or tactile effects so I had ready answers to those questions, but if someone had issues with things touching their face, the movie wouldn't be good for them because of the 3-D glasses, and I probably wouldn't think to tell you that unless you asked specifically because my ready answer about "tactile effects" would only cover the things that touch you as part of the show, not the glasses.

However, while the card itself is used for children, as a CM I would probably never doubt the word of someone who told me that they had a medical condition that meant they couldn't wait for long periods of time. In general, I would say it might be helpful for an adult to ... not play up the AS, but to not try to act NT. I mean, if someone walks up to me, looks me in the eye, and tells me they have AS, I might have trouble believing it. But if they've typed up something on a card that they hand me and don't look at me while doing so, then I'd believe it (doesn't need to be that blatant, but acting like a stereotypical extrovert would not convince me). Writing down a list of questions would be good. Believe me, being handed a list by someone with an ASD will not even come close to being an odd experience for them.

BTW don't ever ask "where's the wheelchair entrance?" when you mean you need an alternate entrance because of sensory or other issues. A lot of people try to use that as shorthand for "I need to wait as little time as possible because of a medical condition," but in most places the wheelchair entrance is the same as the normal entrance and so asking that just wastes everyone's time and annoys everyone.



AV-geek
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25 Oct 2007, 9:30 pm

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I don't think that Disney *anything* is a rewarding perk for anyone let alone an autistic child that can't process his/her senses *anyway*. Geeze. Bring the child out into NATURE where he/she can relax, allow and be - making availble the opportunity to process stimuli - gentle and flowing - at their own pace and level.


When I was young, I had a hard time with amusement parks because of all the infernal lines and waiting for what amounted to a very short ride. The rides themselves were fun, but what you had to go through to do them was definitely not worth it! The other issue was the relentless noise coming from everywhere. Music and sound effects from everything around clashed together in a disastrous mess. The smells of the foods was sometimes unbearable too as it blended together from various locations. Amusement parks were too much of a sensory assault. I still feel this way about many of the older "traditional" parks and fairs around. I went to the state fair here recently, and I was mentally drained after only a few hours, even despite the light crowds.

I found Disney parks to be a nice change from the traditional amusement parks. I went about 4 years ago as an adult for the first time ever and really enjoyed it. Unlike most typical amusement parks, Disney parks were much more organized feeling. All the same theme music was playing in a particular area, instead of hundreds of different sources of music and sounds clashing together. Disney has also seemed to work good in minimizing the lines...at least they did when I was there in the middle of April. The parks were also very clean, well maintained, and well laid out.

Being an audiovisual nut, I found the Disney parks extremely fun with all the sights and sounds and stuff available to see, hear and do. Disney special effects are unparalleled by any other! I especially enjoyed the anamatronic characters in the shows. One thing I would love to do is do a behind the scenes tour to see all the impressive equipment that is used to put on such amazing performances. I can see how some of it could be overwhelming for an autistic child though, so you may want to "test the waters" with similar experiences locally and see how your child may handle things like fireworks explosions, loud music, g-forces, flashing lights, etc. I would hate to see a family spend a fortune in tickets, and then find out that their child is really uncomfortable with the trip.

One thing in particular that I think is a good word of warning for parents of autistic kids is for the many "multi-sensory" attractions and shows available to do. Much of the Disney attractions revolve around interactive theaters that have special effects like vibrating seats, spraying water, puffs of air, etc to enhance the movie or show. If your child has sensory issues, I would recommend getting the park cast to give them an "inactive" seat to enjoy the show, since they may be startled or troubled by the feelings they present. Not all seats have the special effects for this reason.