Planning for 2018

[mdsouth]

Sorry to hear about the change in your job. Sending you pixie dust. I agree though you have had this trip planned for a long time and your family needs it to give you some fun and relaxation as a family.

 

[tiredsportsmom]

She will be 8 a week before we leave. I love her to death but she is afraid of so many things, not just rides, that it is unreal! We have told her she has to try rides we ride at least once except for the ones you listed above! Also told her she will need to try new and different foods. We will see how it goes!

 

[AcrossthePondNic]

Sorry to hear about the change in your job. Sending you pixie dust. I agree though you have had this trip planned for a long time and your family needs it to give you some fun and relaxation as a family.

Thanks. Things have settled and I’m focusing on the holiday. It’ll be great. Planning has stepped up. They released the MNSSHP dates and we bought tickets for the third night. It’s a Tuesday so we’re hoping it’s quieter than the first one, or the second which falls on a Friday. It will leave us with one full day after the party before we check out and head to Universal.

The kids have been saving. DS who doesn’t realise the trip is happening so soon hasn’t saved as much as is sister. However, due to a little mum ‘accounting’ he’s saved more than he thinks he has so he’ll be delighted when he finds out. He doesn’t seem to have noticed that when he asks me how much he has in his savings the figure isn’t going up as much as it should. If I told him the real amount he’d be drawing it out to spend on Xbox games. His sister has big plans for the mall and Disney Springs so she’s been saving as much as she can. But she’s always been very strict with her money.

Our first full park day will be MK with an early breakfast at Crystal Palace like last time. The difference being they will have had a full rest day first after travel day. The plan for the rest day is breakfast at Cape May Cafe then pretty much whatever we want. A trip sometime to Disney Springs, where we’ll probably get QS at Wolfgang Puck because they both like it there and swimming at the resort. Hopefully after that rest day we can hit MK early and avoid too much trauma for them. I’m still quite worried about how our daughter will do on the flight. She was so ill last time. The airline have recommended that they get a chair to meet us this time to help through the airport. She was so wobbly last time that we nearly asked for one then but felt awkward about it. It took me over an hour to get her through the airport towards customs and we kept having to stop because she felt faint. Because she’s normally mobile we feel odd about asking for help like that but they said it’s the best way to ensure she gets whatever help she needs as they have no other way of informing the destination airport that we need assistance. Maybe there should be something done about that for the sake of all travellers with hidden disabilities.

We have found out about TSA Cares and will ring them before we head home as they can help us through security. It was really bad for the kids last time and again we never asked anyone to help us. I’ve also emailed MCO and they have told us we can approach an airport ambassador when we land who can help us. Until we get there we just don’t know how much physical support she’s going to need. There’s obviously help out there but you have to know how and who to ask. Which when you’re tired and struggling isn’t the best time to have to go on the hunt for help.

The fantastic US based ‘Autism at the Parks’ made us aware of TSA Cares and about getting our plane tickets marked ‘special assistance’ which is what we did. That’s when we found out that in the UK special assistance means a wheelchair or nothing. I think that could be so easily improved by the airlines. But anyway, we’ve followed advice. If she’s ok when we land and the airport ambassadors can help then maybe won’t need a chair but it’s a backup. She does behave very unpredictability when she’s sleep deprived.

She will be 8 a week before we leave. I love her to death but she is afraid of so many things, not just rides, that it is unreal! We have told her she has to try rides we ride at least once except for the ones you listed above! Also told her she will need to try new and different foods. We will see how it goes!

.

Similar age to our son the first time. We just gave lots of reassurance didn’t build up the anticipation about any rides too much. His confidence grew after the first few days. For us, as they both have autism, food is always a big thing but all of the restaurants have something that will suit them. As long as there is pizza or chicken somewhere on the menu as a back up we’re ok. We’ve managed to book a lot of TS this time because we have the dining plan included and we are trying lots of places we couldn’t do otherwise. I think they will end up eating a lot of the same stuff but I’ll be able to try different things. We’ve also been watching a lot of YouTube vlogs about the places we want to eat so that they can see the food in advance. That might help.

 

[AcrossthePondNic]

So, it’s been a while. Apologies. My father in law has been unwell and the end of the school year. Everything’s overtaken me.

Since I last posted, I’ve paid the balance- the painful bit - and booked the fastpasses. We’ve started putting stuff in suitcases under the bed but it will all have to come out and be properly packed.

I still have the Estas to do, which I plan to do later today.

The first morning will be character dining at BC, then put our feet up for a bit before heading out. We’ve decided that we want to visit Vineland Outlets. DD is desperate to spend some of her hard saved money. DH has been looking at it and thinks we can get a bus to Disney Springs then walk from there. I hope he’s right. But then we plan to Uber back to the Springs, eat at Wolfgang Puck Express then head back to the resort to relax and maybe catch the fireworks from the Boardwalk before we get ready for MK the next morning. DD is experiencing a lot of anxiety and is very worried that she will be ill on the flight because she was last time. So we’ve been trying to find a good solution to that. We’re still working on that. We are, however, watching Frozen right now and she plans to watch Tangled and Princess and the Frog next.

It’s been hot here for a few weeks, between 25 - 31 Celsius, so I’ve been trying to encourage everyone to spend some time outside, hoping it will prepare them for the heat a bit more but getting them outside isn’t easy. They have done a bit of swimming in the sea so though so I think they’re looking forward to the pool. It’s very hard to tell because of their condition, they don’t give a lot away.

We told our DS just before school finished. He was surprised we’d known for a long time and showed a little more excitement than his sister but not a lot. Instead he said it was ages away. He doesn’t say much to us but he told his teaching assistance all about it and that her plans to eat at Voodoo Donuts. So that’s good to know

Things will have to pick up the pace now, I feel like I have so much to do. DD and I are off to Liverpool tomorrow for a big shopping trip. Better start my list

 

[AcrossthePondNic]

OH has checked again and realised no we can’t walk so we’ll be using Uber both ways. Estas are done, most of the holiday shopping is done. I need to sort the dollars next week and we’re almost there. Exciting