There is so much to talk about when talking about a vacation with a child like Keelan. It requires a littlle more thought like if you had a child with a food allergy, it requires more action depending on the location, so I’ll share a little bit about our 2024 Summer Vacation to the Walt Disney World Resort
Now Disney is one of our favorite destinations for many reasons, but mainly because I’ve seen my kids grow leaps and bounds from a week away to the most magical place on earth. Keelan is no exception, however the thought process and preparation can be a little wearing at times.
The first thing with any vacation, is mental preparation. We talk frequently about the trip, how many days til we leave, how we are traveling, where we are going, and so on. This helps him not feel like there are any surprises come his way. It also means research. Even with places with visited before, I do research on what they offer for kids with autism, what type of food does certain places serve, what items should I pack to help him, and so on. With Disney, they offer the DAS (Disability Access Service) to guests with neurodiversities. This requires a registration process, plus a zoom interview with Keelan in which they “verify” his diagnosis without violating HIPPA laws, and taking his photo to attach to the account. The DAS gives us the opportunity to reserve times for (1) ride at a time via their app so he’s not standing for long periods of time in lines surrounded by people, noises, and smells. It cuts down on the sensory overload and meltdowns. You still wait the same time period, just not in line. When the time arrives, we proceed through their Lightning Lane que to have a minimal to no wait at that time. Now, I’ll be honest – there are times I feel extremely guilty for utilzing the DAS, BUT it makes Keelan’s trip more enjoyable as well as all of ours because we aren’t spending extra time trying to desensititize a meltdown.
Now the DAS limits the number of guests who can go on the ride with Keelan, so Day 1 was a little tricky with so many of us, but we make it work and take turns. Throughout the whole week, Keelan insisted on riding with me (mom) on almost everything. He very rarely rode with anyone else. And there is a reason, I am his comfort zone, his constant, his big security blanket. However On the couple rides I didn’t go on, he chose Auntie as his zone.
Step 1 of our trip was the Airport. The airport can be tricky but we try to give Keelan some indpendence with his own bag but sometimes he grows tired quickly and gets overwhelmed. We also have him carry his own bag of toys to help with some sensory weight AND we also carry a fleece blanket. Now mind you in PA and FL it was 90+ degrees but for Keelan it doesn’t matter, he sometimes needs to cover up to cut down the senses and feel the sensation of being wrapped, so we carry it. Now the Pittsburgh Airport has a sensory room for guests with neurodiversity. I knew they had one, but didn’t know how close it was to our gate when we departed, or we totally would have checked it out. I noticed it when we arrived home, but it is good to have in the pocket next time.
Step 2 was locating the chocolate ice cream when we arrived. I know it sounds silly but with routines as we’ve mentioned before – chocolate ice cream is an important part of some meal times AND bedtime. Luckily the food court at our hotel had a dessert station with ice cream BUT a couple evenings it was broken so we had to walk to the next door resort to get some ice cream there. No big deal, we learned though to have a back-up plan for ice cream. Meal times beyond ice cream were more difficult this trip. As usual, I ordered a Walmart delivery to the room for some of Keelan’s favorites to carry to the parks but the main course was a trying time. Keelan has recently become difficult with types of macaroni and cheese, so he ruled it out the entire trip. Chicken Strips were his only selection at Disney – so each day it was looking at menus in advance to plan the day to be nearby or find chicken for him to eat. Not all restaurants at the parks serve them, so we sometimes were backtracking for them.
Step 3 – So I packed Keelan hats, packed him stuffed animals, and fidget toy for the trip. But you know, no matter how much you plan, you forget, and I’ll be honest sometimes I forget that he is even autistic. He’s Keelan and somedays are easy with no extras and somedays we need all the extras. Day 1 we headed to Magic Kingdom and I packed drinks and snacks but I forgot a hat and the only drink bottles we had were hard spouts. Didn’t take long before we were in the store along mainstreet and we picked out a hat. Auntie got the same hat and that hat became the new favorite hat very quickly. And of course it had to be a stitch hat. A hat helps keep the chaos a little more narrowed for his vision. We’ve learned that he feels a little more secure with a hat with all the people, lights, and movements around him.
Now we’ve been fortunate enough to go to Disney a few times, so my kids have basically outgrew the character visit stage and with it be 90+ degress, we weren’t taking time in lines for characters, except for Stitch. Keelan asked to see Stitch and I immediately responded, maybe later because I didn’t want to wait in the sun and have a group wait around for us. After a few moments though, I decided that I should take Keelan to see Stitch, so we did. As I stood there with him, and he patiently waited for him to return (it was so hot so Stitch needed a break) I realized that Keelan loves Stitch because the chaos that Stitch eludes is how Keelan feels inside. It’s super chaotic for him inside and looking out, that I believe he things “Stitch gets me” – It was quite a revelation at the time for me.
As the week progressed, we noticed Keelan exhibiting more mouth and hand sensory needs. Again, not thinking, I had packed all hard drink spouts. Sometimes he needs to chew on something and sometimes that is a drink cup. We searched all over Disney for a soft spout cup and finally found one mid-week. That helped and I learned. Keelan would also take off his magic band frequently to fidget with it so we decided we needed to find a Disney toy to take to parks, that we won’t lose, and won’t break, something flexible lol. We ended up in the Marvel store at Disney Springs and Keelan LOVES Groot. (See the pattern here?? Another character that gets him) We found a baby groot stuffy to snuggle with at the parks, buses, night, etc. AND we found flexible 4 Groot figurines. They were PERFECT!! So guess what got packed every day to the park and baby Groot rode in the front basket of Pap Pap’s scooter in case Keelan would need and sometimes he did.
This trip we also did something that we’ve always talked about but never really did. We took break days every other day of the trip. So park-break-park-break-park-break-park. The whole family enjoyed the trip better this way BUT especially Keelan. It was a day he could play freely, lay around in the lazy river or jump waves, and just be him. No structure, no time schedule, just a break. It also meant he could sleep in or go to bed early and get the rest needed to take on the next day.
Now the let down of leaving vacation is always the worst for all of us, right?!?! We all feel it, that disappointment that it is over. Keelan shows that outwardly. Departure day was a quiet refuse to eat breakfast, in the next to last picture, you may see a kiddo that is just tired from a fun week and yes that it is true. It’s also a kid who is processing the week, his next steps and for the most part we kept those emotions at bay. Chip and Dale were in the Lobby to say goodbye to us, another one of Keelan’s favorites (told you there was a pattern..lol) and that helped. Once we got home though, the gloves were off. He just doesn’t know what to do with the emotions and sometimes Brooke & Zach don’t understand fully the patience we have to show to help them through because they were feeling the disappointment as well. But we make it through with some snacks, ice cream, and cuddles.
Traveling with someone Neurodiverse requires more energy and thought, but it is doable and rewarding. It was a blessed trip of memories.
