Messing up the show

[Shorty82]

Hi BW, I wanted to comment on this because the safari ride is one of our favorites, particularly for my son who wants to become an animal handler and myself because I love animals. This situation would have irritated the hell out of me and probably, my son too. We actually listen to everything the driver says and we really enjoy it and would definitely not enjoy hearing precious screaming every two minutes. Parents who believe everyone should find their kid utterly adorable, because they do, when they're being obnoxious are a pet peeve of mine. One of my sons is autistic and there is no way in hell I would let him behave like this and ruin other peoples' experience.
On a side note, we were there in October and had a wonderful safari ride particularly because of the driver. This driver's name was Greg, I don't know if it's you but you seem a lot like him, and he went above and beyond. He knew what he was talking about, lots of interesting info. on the animals and it was obvious he really loved his job. It was also clear he had a great respect for the animals, like us. Whoever Greg is, I wrote a letter to WDW CM feedback about what a great job he did (wrote about some other CMs positively too) and I also spoke briefly to Greg after getting off the truck and told him how impressed we were. Whoever it was, we seriously appreciated it just as we appreciate the awesome interactions we've had with so many cms. Keep up the good work and thanks.

Couldn't have been BW as he just recently started at Safari and was driving buses in October.

[BRWombat]

Couldn't have been BW as he just recently started at Safari and was driving buses in October.

Though he is an awesome KSR driver also, as I can attest personally! Plus, his name isn't Greg, it's... something else. :D:

[Ms. Matterhorn]

I find it funny that no one has commented on a five year old (although Tammy is probably Trailer Trash) being allowed to say, OH MY GOD! I brought up my children to say "oh my gosh" and never to take the Lord's name in vain!

Having said that, I would have told Mom to shut the kid up for Chrissake!

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I find it funny that no one has commented on a five year old (although Tammy is probably Trailer Trash) being allowed to say, OH MY GOD! I brought up my children to say "oh my gosh" and never to take the Lord's name in vain!

Having said that, I would have told Mom to shut the kid up for Chrissake!

In this day and age, that is pretty tame! One (ex) friend of the oldest grandson said The bad word at a ball game. His mom didn't make a big deal of it. My DIL didn't think it was "cute", grandson is not allowed to associate with the kid!

[Big Wallaby]

Christine, I know exactly who you're talking about, and I'll pass it on to Greg. I have been behind him when he had a truck with a particularly loud audio system, so I know exactly what you are talking about. He is very good.

As far as Tammy doing that every two minutes, it was more often than that... I find your comment about your autistic child and what you allow from him fascinating. I ask this out of true inquisitiveness, I don't want to start a flame war with anyone, but I ask because from everything I've ever heard from a parent with an autistic child (and maybe it's a certain brand of autism) it can be impossible to control their outbursts or actions sometimes. Yet you sound like you have it all in hand. Again, I ask because I truly don't understand and I would like to. Maybe that's a whole different thread.

[DisneyMom]

Well, the good and bad news is that every child with autism is different from the other....Luckily, in my case, my child eventually learned to not do certain things like run into the street, pour all my shampoo into the sink, not to shoplift because I was ALL OVER HIM virtually every minute, and put things out of his reach as much as possible- extra locks on the doors, knobs were taken off the stove, etc. until he learned certain things. Never had a bit of trouble from him at Disneyland, he KNEW how to act there, but I certainly would not have tolerated him acting the wrong way there or anywhere, I would have dragged him off first.
He is doing very well now, just gets a little EMO sometimes, and when he does, we try to set him straight(aren't ALL 20 year olds a little dramatic?)

[Christine43]

Hi BW & DisneyMom, I actually have three boys on the spectrum, two with Aspergers and one with high functioning autism, whatever that means. I definitely agree that every kid is different, my three certainly are. I have one very negative 19 yr. old (AS), a charming but easily upset 11 yr. old & very uncompromising at times (AS) and his twin who has HFA. I have been extremely involved in their treatments and the school education plans for them. As far as behavior, disabled or otherwise, I expect them and their sister to behave appropriately always. I also expect them to be kind. I, however, am well aware that learning this is a slower process for atleast one of them. You're right, this is a huge task to teach them at times but, like Disneymom, I'm on them at all times and I miss nothing. I never make excuses for them but in the case of Perry, (HFA) I do explain to people why he may be behaving a certain way. This happened on one of the buses in October. He was whining because there were no seats available on the bus so I told the people near us, who looked horrified (we're used to this), he was autistic and then I started dealing with him. Autistic or not, there's nothing wrong with his legs and I told him he needed to stop complaining, try to be patient and remember where we're going and that that kind of whining was unacceptable, period. He did stop. However, one woman on the bus kept rolling her eyes and shaking her head and when I told her he was autistic she shrugged like whatever. Everyone else was very nice about it. The bus driver was nice about it. Unfortunately, we get this everywhere. With an autistic child you just have to dedicate yourself to work with your child as much as you humanly can. That's what I do and I'm a student as well so it can be done. We'll be at WDW again this Christmas and I will expect them all to behave as well as I know they are capable of. Perry can be very difficult so there are times when we've had to leave or have a time out but we work it out. They absolutely love Disney, by the way. We leave it behind, more or less, when we're there. It's an extremely emotional experience for us and we appreciate it and I suppose that's why I get irritated with SGs who don't appreciate it as much as they do and ruin it for others (if they let them). We'll try and figure out if any of our drivers are you while we're there. Incidentally, I make a point of each of the children thanking our drivers each and every time and we've had a great time on many of the bus drives. We love the spiels so thanks!

[Christine43]

I need to add something. I'm sorry to be so long winded about this but this subject engulfs my life. What my children are capable of is a blessing and I am totally aware of all the autistic children who are not as high functioning as my kids. What they can and can't deal with is entirely different and they may not be able to handle situations at Disney and elsewhere as well as my kids can. Too many people interpret their behavior as being bratty but it most definitely isn't. There are too many reasons to mention why any autistic child would be behaving in a way someone might interpret as "bratty" like they may be way too hyper stimulated in one way or another etc...When Perry gets like this we do what I mentioned before but it drives me nuts when people look at my family and assume Perry is just misbehaving. I wish. What bothers me is if I can teach my children to behave as well as they can, why oh why can't parents of kids without issues??? They have no idea how lucky they are and they don't care, it's criminal. Thanks for letting me vent. Christine

[DisneyMom]

Well Said, Christine, and Hugs to you and your Family. I totally agree with you on how some other parents do not know how lucky they are to have neurotypical children, and like you, have run into plenty of people who do not have the ability to understand what Autism involves (I was trying to explain it to one woman one time, I asked her if she had seen Rain Man, and she said no, how do you spell that? I gave up explaining to most people after that.:rolleyes :) .
Unfortunately, now that the frequency of autism has risen so dramatically,most people should have at least heard of it. :(

[hobie16]

The mothers deserve a...