Anyone Tried Disney With a Special Needs Child?

Posted by Vulnadia on May 06, 2011 at 12:08 AM One of my trio has sensory integration disorder to the nth degree where he really doesn't do small confined areas with large amounts of people in them well at all (it causes a HUGE meltdown where he screams & cries uncontrollably like someone is hurting him literally.) I read somewhere about the possibility of obtaining a GAC (guest assistance card) but I also read where people catch a lot of flack for actually USING them, too. Has anyone ever obtaind a GAC at a Disney park for your special needs child or did you forgo one to try it the usual way? How was your experience? How did you prepare your child for the visit? I've read about making books for them with pics of the rides & shows inside so you can show them what you plan to do or have them choose what they would like to try so that they would know what to expect. I also found an interactive YOUTUBE video of the parks in Florida that show small snippets of what the rides are like as well as some of the shows (sadly this has pretty much gotten one of my 5yr olds hooked on the Yeti in Expedition Everest which he WON'T be able to ride due to size but he really likes the idea of the ride.) What was your experience like? Have you tried other theme parks with similar situations/circumstances? Did it work out? I need tips & tricks!!! Vulnadia on May 06, 2011 at 08:29 AM i stumbled upon the gac on a message board the other day-there is not guideline for obtaining one, but there are a lot of accounts of families catching flack for having/using one from the lines i think its great that disney allocates for disabilities that cannot actually be seen/noticed immediately (you notice it if you watch mine long enough-the inclusion teachers at school giggled over him playing only in the water & sand areas at school for the first 2 weeks because of his sensory problem-they thought it was cute of him-it was a good way for him to combat being in the small room with lots of people-it was how he calmed himself & kept himself in check until he got used to everything) but its hard when people dont understand that there IS a problem-some moms have made business cards basically that say the nature of the problem should the family get stares or people try & "help" which can actually make things worse in many cases with autistic & sensory problem kiddos-they just give onlookers the card & leave it at that & ignore them after that while they try & take care of their kids...others make them shirts that have witty sayings on them that nicely try & say hey i'm autistic or have sensory problems...but am not sure if that works or not! i'm trying to get a game plan so we can do this as a family successfully!