PTR - June 2017 - It's never too early to plan!

[kaoden39]

Thanks for joining!

I love both WDW and Disneyland. So we basically alternate trips. Though we're waiting until our son is a bit older for WDW. Maybe 5ish.

I totally understand the size of WDW alone daunts me!

 

[ClaraOswald]

When we finally make it back (probably 2019) it will be so different. Especially now with FP+. They didn't have that last time we went to WDW.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Debbie Downer post ahead....

Lately I've been thinking maybe we shouldn't go on this trip at all. As I mentioned before, my son has some developmental delays. He is currently seeing a speech therapist and physical therapist. And soon he will likely be seeing an occupational therapist as well. It's very stressful. We are doing all we can but not much is really helping. He is getting more and more frustrated. And harder to calm down when he gets upset.

This weekend we were out shopping and he started screaming and crying. No clue why. My husband took him outside so I could finish up. All I could think was, "what if he does this on the airplane? We can't take him outside." And then I was thinking about how there's no way he'll wait in line without screaming.

So why am I even planning this trip?!

 

[Jaina]

Debbie Downer post ahead....

Lately I've been thinking maybe we shouldn't go on this trip at all. As I mentioned before, my son has some developmental delays. He is currently seeing a speech therapist and physical therapist. And soon he will likely be seeing an occupational therapist as well. It's very stressful. We are doing all we can but not much is really helping. He is getting more and more frustrated. And harder to calm down when he gets upset.

This weekend we were out shopping and he started screaming and crying. No clue why. My husband took him outside so I could finish up. All I could think was, "what if he does this on the airplane? We can't take him outside." And then I was thinking about how there's no way he'll wait in line without screaming.

So why am I even planning this trip?!

I'm so sorry you are feeling stressed about this. :-( February is a long time. With all the help you're getting, you may have some great strategies by then for helping him deal. And if I understand it right, there are helps you can get while there (an alternative to waiting in line?) for a disability like that. Look into it. And try not to give up hope. It may get harder, but it may also get easier. And you could still have a great trip, even if there are a few rough moments. Big hugs!

 

[ClaraOswald]

He's been in speech for a year now and while we've seen improvements with receptive and expressive language...it's been very, very slow. To an outsider, he probably seems exactly the same as he was a year ago. It's so hard. Especially when I see other kids his age (and younger.)

 

[ClaraOswald]

If we take this trip, I will want to book flights within the next few months. But I just don't know. My husband thinks we should just go. The flying will probably suck be it's only about 6 hours out of our day (each travel day.) And he thinks he'll be able to keep Henry occupied in line. But I'm not so sure. Last night my parents were visiting and he just started screaming and crying for no reason. My ears were ringing. The best thing you can do is actually ignore him because he'll stop sooner. But if you ignore your screaming kid in public, people get pissed. So we'll have to talk to him during a fit...which will make it worse. Ugh.

I just don't know what to do at this point.

 

[Jaina]

What about the DAS? You could try it and see how he does, and if it's becoming a problem, ask for this service? I think you should go. But I think everyone should go to Disneyland, if they can swing it! February can be a relatively calm time to visit, especially if you plan carefully to avoid long waits.
Disability Access Service

 

[kaoden39]

I'm sorry to hear that you're having so many doubts. Is there something that the Dr can give your some to help him relax if you fly? I know that my Dr prescribes me something to take for the stress when I fly.

Plus I agree that your son can make leaps and bounds with his therapy between now and when you take your trip.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I feel like if we could distract him with a movie or something it would really help on the plan. But when we flew in 2015, we put a video on for him. Shortly after, he started acting tired so I held him. Then...the vomited all over. I think the flying combined with the video made him air sick or something.

But I am wondering if we gave him dramamine beforehand if he would be able to watch a video without throwing up. I looked and they make dramamine for kids. And I'm not gonna lie...if it made him drowsy, that may be a plus. Ha!

That disability pass could be a backup. Though I don't know if he'd really qualify for it. He doesn't have a named disability or anything at this point. They are watching him for possible autism but so far he just has "developmental delays."

He actually had his 6 month 'evaluation' or whatever with early intervention and they are impressed with his improvement since the last meeting. I guess maybe it's harder for me to see since I see him every single day.

I really want to go. But then I think if it ends up sucking then it's not really worth the $5000 or whatever we end up paying, you know?

Our last trip had some ups and downs, but overall, I was really glad we went. So if we go again...I hope I feel the same. I mean, I know it's not going to be some 100% perfect trip because no trip would be (not in my world anyway.)

I just hope if we go, we can find decent flight times. That could make a big difference for him. And so could the ability to have him watch a movie on the plane.

 

[kaoden39]

The Dramamine sounds like a really good idea. Poor thing, that had to be hard on all of you. I understand not being sure of spending the money. I think that it's wonderful that the medical team sees such an improvement with him. It's so much harder for us to see because we are around our kids all the time.

I have a friend that travels with her austistic children to both DLR and WDW. Her name is Diznee Luver. She has a recent trip report up and in her signature is links to other trip reports where they brought their kids. I'm sure she can help if you ask her. Plus her trip reports are filled with so many photos they're fun to read.

 

[Jaina]

I don't think they're allowed to ask for any documentation for DAS. Like I said, you could try it normally, and if it's NOT working, you could go ask about it? We've had to give my oldest dramamine (they make chewable!) for any car trip over about 30 minutes since he was 4 years old. I actually give it to him before a Disney day just to make sure motion sickness doesn't mess up our day... It's never made him at all drowsy, but everyone's different. We give him a half dose most of the time.

 

[kaoden39]

Ginger candy can help with nausea too.

 

[ClaraOswald]

The Dramamine sounds like a really good idea. Poor thing, that had to be hard on all of you. I understand not being sure of spending the money. I think that it's wonderful that the medical team sees such an improvement with him. It's so much harder for us to see because we are around our kids all the time.

I have a friend that travels with her austistic children to both DLR and WDW. Her name is Diznee Luver. She has a recent trip report up and in her signature is links to other trip reports where they brought their kids. I'm sure she can help if you ask her. Plus her trip reports are filled with so many photos they're fun to read.

Thanks, I'll have to check that out.

After the flight last time I was so worried about him on the rides, especially Dumbo but he did okay. And he did okay on all other flights (we just didn't put on any videos for him.) My husband really thinks we should go. Which kind of surprises me because right after our last trip he didn't seem thrilled to go back with a young child...haha. But looking back, I think he had a great time (minus the travel days, which were super stressful.)

I just wish we lived closer so driving would be a better option.

We do hope to drive out when he is a bit older though. We actually hope to get an RV (the kind that hitches to the back of a truck) later on. Maybe when he's around 6 or so.

But right now the idea of having a total of SIX travel days in the car does not appeal to me.

 

[kaoden39]

Thanks, I'll have to check that out.

After the flight last time I was so worried about him on the rides, especially Dumbo but he did okay. And he did okay on all other flights (we just didn't put on any videos for him.) My husband really thinks we should go. Which kind of surprises me because right after our last trip he didn't seem thrilled to go back with a young child...haha. But looking back, I think he had a great time (minus the travel days, which were super stressful.)

I just wish we lived closer so driving would be a better option.

We do hope to drive out when he is a bit older though. We actually hope to get an RV (the kind that hitches to the back of a truck) later on. Maybe when he's around 6 or so.

But right now the idea of having a total of SIX travel days in the car does not appeal to me.

We always used to drive to Disneyland all the time. We would pile out stair step kids 4, 6, and 7, DH, my Mom and myself. We did that for years. Last year my daughter decided that because it was just her, her and myself going. We're all adults and it was so easy. We were there so much quicker. We only live about 415 miles from Disneyland, but the drive seems to take forever!

I hope you decide to go. Your son is at a great age to enjoy the parks and vacation is good for you.

 

[ClaraOswald]

We are 1500 miles away. When my husband and I have driven by ourselves, (well, he does all the driving), we did it in two days (each way.) We honestly wished we'd done 3 days on the way home instead. It was tiring. I suspect if we ever drive, we'll do three days each way. I think doing that with a three year old would be hellish...haha. Plus, he's still rear-facing in the car. If all goes as planned (though things rarely do), I could see us with a travel tra iler driving out to Disneyland in June 2021. He'd be almost 8 by then so it would be much better.

As of now, I think we're going to go ahead as planned. I am still so nervous though. I just wish things would improve more with his therapy. It's rough. I get pretty down about it sometimes. It's hard to have an almost 3 year old who has never even called you "mom."

 

[kaoden39]

I think our kids were easier to travel with when they were younger. They at least slept in the van. But, that being said I understand why you don't, it's so far. Driving can be so exhausting. I can understand how hard it must be to keep up. I hate to sound awful but the best trip I've ever had in Disneyland was a trip alone with my husband. Too bad you can't do that. A vacation alone together might be good for you.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Our son has never been a car-sleeper. Even after our super long travel day home....two flights and didn't get home until 1am or so....he didn't sleep in the car on the 30 minute drive home from the airport. Ha! When he was a baby he would scream on 90% of our car rides. It sucked. Needless to say, we didn't go too many places.

My husband and I have been to Disneyland just the two of us over 200 times...haha. So that just doesn't appeal to me at all at this point. For years we dreamed of being able to have a child and then take them to Disneyland so it's hard to believe we've finally been able to do it. I started doing a photo countdown on Instagram using pictures from our 2015 so that is making me a little more excited.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Hotel Room

We will be in a Parlor Suite just like last time. Before our last trip, we debated whether or not to get a regular room or not. I am so happy we went with the suite! Our son slept in the front room in a pack n play at night. We had hoped he would nap there too but it was really bright so that didn't work out. But it was great to have the extra space. Some days he napped in our bed and I sat in the front room.

This time around, he will be too big for a pack n play. We were thinking about buying one of these toddler inflatable beds (only around $30 at walmart.) We would put it in our checked baggage. His crib sheets would fit it.

I like the idea of this to prevent him from rolling off of a bed. At home, right now, he's still in his crib. We are planning to move him to a toddler bed around his birthday this Fall. Right now he rolls all over when he sleeps. So it will be interesting to see how he does in a toddler bed. That will probably help us decide what to do about the hotel room.

I don't like the idea of him being so close to the floor. I am easily grossed out, I guess. (I try not to think too deeply about hotel beds and whatnot.) So putting him on the pull out couch in the front room may be an option. If he still a wild sleeper, we can bring inflatable bed rails. They would take up less luggage space than the bed.

But I have a hard time thinking he'll want to stay in that room by himself. It wouldn't surprise me if he ended up in our bed every night. He never sleep with us at home but for vacation, we'd make an exception if we needed to. I'd still prefer he sleep on his own though. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes once we are there.

Right now, I am leaning toward trying out the pull out bed and bringing the bed rails.

Here are some photos I took of our room the day we left....

Front room with pack n play....(In the bottom right you can see the handle of our stroller. It fit nicely in the corner for 'storage.')

Front room without....(I wish we'd put the bed out to see what it was like but we never did.)

The bedroom. We used the 2nd bed as suitcase storage. This time we'll just pile it on the luggage thingy in the corner though in case I move to the 2nd bed. If our son moves into our bed, I just don't think I'd be able to sleep. I need space.

Our next Disney vacation after this will be Disney World in Florida (2019) where we can't afford a suite. It's going to be an adjustment to be in a regular room at Pop Century...haha! At least by then, we will no longer have a stroller or bed rails or anything.

 

[Jaina]

Hotel Room

We will be in a Parlor Suite just like last time. Before our last trip, we debated whether or not to get a regular room or not. I am so happy we went with the suite! Our son slept in the front room in a pack n play at night. We had hoped he would nap there too but it was really bright so that didn't work out. But it was great to have the extra space. Some days he napped in our bed and I sat in the front room.

This time around, he will be too big for a pack n play. We were thinking about buying one of these toddler inflatable beds (only around $30 at walmart.) We would put it in our checked baggage. His crib sheets would fit it.

Just a thought on the room being too bright - I've never traveled with bed rails or anything like that, but I almost always bring a dark king-sized sheet (or two) and push pins. And a sound machine or two. My kids are not great sleepers, and they're used to dark-ish rooms at home. Me, too, actually...

 

[ClaraOswald]

Good idea about the sheet. I'll have to consider that. Another issue we had with the front room was noise. Every morning, too early, the housekeeping cart (plus doors opening/closing) woke him up. We learned a few days in that if we move him to our room at that time, he sleeps a little longer.

There's a fan between the two rooms that we found was loud enough for our son. And I have a white noise sound on my ipod.