Animal Kingdom

(Be sure to check out the last picture of Gracie with Minnie Mouse!)
 Some online research said that Animal Kingdom was not the place to go with kids with autism. But that was not the case with Gracie. The park itself was much more relaxed than Magic Kingdom. The music was calming- it wasn't all kiddie chaos. She was able to stay in her stroller which was calming for her. We managed to get her on the safari ride because we were able to bring it right up to the ride. She sat on my lap with her Listening Program music on and watched the animals.

We were also able to get her into The Lion King show, again, wheeling her right up in the safe zone in her stroller. She was leery of this one because the theater was dark but managed to sit though the whole show. 

After that it was off to the Contemporary Hotel for dinner with Chef Mickey and his friends.  This was our first sit down dinner with Gracie. Normally we eat at restaurants when we are in the parks but we didn't do that this time. It was much less stressful to just grab things on the move. She did pretty well with eating and with having the gigantic mice and ducks and dogs come up to her. They didn't talk either, though, so it went pretty smooth.

The adults got a cocktail with an ice cube that lights up.

This is my favorite picture. I think Gracie's face says it all!

The Magic Kingdom.

Magic? Really.
Kids everywhere. Noise everywhere. Plus we had to take the monorail to get to the park. Gracie says, "whoa, this is a ride and i don't like it!!!!) Then it just got better from there. Chris says try the Carousel- it's outside. We get in line, Joy gets on a horse and Grace won't let me put her on a horse OR let me sit with her so we stood by Joy's horse. Strike 1. Chris says TEACUPS. We walk over and the noise from them and the race cars is unbearable so Gracie won't even look at them  on the ride.
Chris then tries  one more ride- the monorail type ride in Futureworld. Guess what? Half of it is IN THE DARK!!!! Finally, after that, we decide to leave Gracie in peace. We even go back to the hotel for some pool time for her! But we go back to the park in the evening. We go back to Pirates of the Caribbean land and everything goes relatively well.

The other thing we learned is that we could use Gracie's stroller like a wheelchair. They gave us a sticker that would let us take it as far as they take wheel chairs, where most people have to abandon their strollers right away. This was a HUGE help because her stroller is her safe zone.
We made it till close and went back to rest for another day.

Post Vacay Part 2

So... I found myself in Florida in February in near 80 degree weather at EPCOT in Disney World, crying in a quiet floral spot while Chris and Joy went on Soarin' and Gracie slept. So I called Aunt Peewee and yowled about how bad I felt for Gracie and all I wanted was for her to have fun. So after a Peewee Pep talk and one more ride on Soarin, we headed over to the Countries. We had made a reservation for dinner in Japan but decided to nix a sit down in deference to Gracie and ATE our way around the world (so to speak), stopping at different vendors.

She seemed to do well as long as she was in her stroller.  So we ate and I relaxed a little. I could spend days in that part of the park.

We had fun going from place to place and Gracie almost made it to the Commando Closing time but said she'd had enough right before we got to Mexico. But she did good, all in all.

Back to the hotel.

Tomorrow: THE Magic Kingdom. (oh no!!!!! :o   )

Post Vacation

First, let me say, I have never had a vacation quite like this last one. I have always wanted to take 10 or 12 days and drive to Orlando and go to Disney. That was before Gracie. Don't get me wrong, some things went well, like the drive down. We broke it up into two days. When we got to the Marriot, she was ok. I think she likes hotel rooms, as long as there is a swivel chair in it!. The problems began the following day, on the ride to EPCOT. When we went to put her in the rented Tahoe, she went ballistic! I think she thought we were going on the road again. OK so we are off to a not so great start.

One smart thing we did do was bring her stroller with us. That was one of the reasons we drove down. She is comfortable in it and that helped alot. Another thing we did, because I did a little bit of research before we went down, was to get a special access card. Disney does alot to help kids with autism and this gave us access to handicapped entrances, which were less hectic than going through the maze that most of the rides have.
     First you must understand that Chris is a Disney Parks Maniac. I call him Commando Chris. The only concession he makes for us slackers is that we don't have to get to the park at opening. Expect to be there ALL DAY.
     Then, you try to explain to Commando Chris that Gracie might not take to the parks the same way that Joy Lin did.

The first ride we tried to take her on was Spaceship Earth. We used the handicapped entrance and the wait was ok.
This picture was taken BEFORE.  There was almost no wait. THen we all went to step into our little cart or pod or whatever they put you in and .......
We found out that Gracie doesn't like the dark in the rides. or the noise. or .... the ride.
Ok, so dad says maybe it was just that ride, lets try another.
We went to take her on the NEMO ride. We thought we didn't need the special entrance. so we went through the maze. Chris carried Gracie screaming all the way. We ended up not taking her on the ride. At this point she didn't want to even look at the fish is the little aquarium. So I took her outside to wait for Joy and Dad.

This is Gracie and Mom after the NEMO experience.

to be continued....