Need some advice

[Christine43]

Hi everyone, I'm basically a lurker but I've enjoyed this site very much and appreciate the inelligent advice. So, I have a question. My family and I will be in WDW from 12/17 - 12/27 this year and we will be celebrating the birthday of my twins and of course, Christmas. I was wondering if anyone knew of special things that could be done for the boys' birthday? They are turning twelve. This is also why I'm doing Christmas in Disney this year because when my autistic son is older (and bigger) sitting on Santa's lap will be more of an issue. Any ideas for either birthday or Christmas? Thanks very much in advance. Christine

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Well, the first thing is to let the CM's at your resort know the situation. They are wonderful in springing little suprises. I also utilized the Disney Florist web site, and arranged for some suprises to be delivered!

http://www.disneyflorist.com/?website_i ... 4856546565

I simply opened an account, then had different things delivered, (not just flowers)

Plus I believe that if you are there over Christmas, they can even deliver a small tree.

OR

you could get a small folding tree and put it in a suitcase/box and either ship it to yourself there, or take it with you. And get special Disney decorations there at DTD (or bring a few non-breakable from home!)

[Christine43]

Thank you Grumpy. The Disney florist stuff was a little out of my price range but it did give me some ideas for things I can put together myself. If I mailed a premade basket or two to the hotel do you think they might put it in the room for me on the first day while we are out? I told Disney reservations it was the boys' birthday and anything they do will thrill them.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Thank you Grumpy. The Disney florist stuff was a little out of my price range but it did give me some ideas for things I can put together myself. If I mailed a premade basket or two to the hotel do you think they might put it in the room for me on the first day while we are out? I told Disney reservations it was the boys' birthday and anything they do will thrill them.

I'm sure they would. Just get the address of whatever resort you are staying at, and I would put your res. number and stuff on it. plus I would get the desk number of the resort so that you could "coordinate" with the CM's.

I FEDEX'd a trunk with all our resort clothing and extra sun screen, etc. a few days before we left, and timed it so that it would be delivered to the resort when we got there, that way we didn't have to schlep a lot of luggage to and from the airport, just a small one that had a few days clothing!

If you do, make sure you give the CM's a good tip!

Most of the CM's I have dealt with over the years love doing that sort of stuff. We did a happy birthday suprise for one of our grandkids at the DLR on a birthday trip. He was just amazed that all these adults knew it was his birthday! (he didn't realize the birthday badge on his pin lanyard MIGHT have had something to do with it!!)

[EeyoresButterfly]

Have them wear a birthday pin, it will definitely put us on alert. Also tell them when you make dining reservations as most restaurants do special stuff. For your son who has autism, talk to Guest Relations and ask for an alternate entrance pass. Many children with autism have a hard time waiting in line, especially when there are people all around them. Typically the alternate entrance pass will cut down on wait time, but more importantly there will be fewer people around so your son will not become overwhelmed. I have also seen children wearing shirts that say something along the lines of, "I am not try to be bad, I have autism". As a friend of characters, I always appreciate that. This alerts us to the fact that we may have to watch their hands and body language as many times they become overwhelmed and hit us. I personally don't have any issues with that as I work with special education children, many of whom have autism so I have an easy time spotting with it and responding accordingly. However, many people don't have a lot of experience with it and if your son hits a character or has a meltdown because he is overwhelmed, we will know it is because he has a difficulty that you are able to address. If we don't know that, the attendant or somebody else may try to step in and may inadvertently make the situation worse. This is just an idea, you can take it or leave it. Some children with autism do really well, but many have a hard time adjusting to the crowds and change in routines, and you'd be surprised how much more patient people become when they find out your child has autism as opposed to a child who is just being a brat. You could even make a little button or something to the same effect so that it is not so obvious. If you choose not to do this and your little boy has a tendency to hit, you may just want to warn the characters or attednants as a courtesy so we can watch his hands.

Watch the parades and make sure the buttons are on, the characters may come up and say hi. The best thing to do when seeing a character is not mention the birthday at all, let us see the buttons and we will try to do something special. When people make a big deal about it we tend to ignore it because that's normally a sign somebody is faking it to get stuff. It's really irritating. We love the families who wear the buttons and leave it at that and don't expect anything because then if we write Happy Birthday it's more fun than if we are forced to write it by an overbearing parent. I know there's more you can do but I'm drawing a blank. I'll post them as I think of them.

[Christine43]

EB, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for working with disabled children. I do a good job but I was enlisted without permission and naturally I love my kids. But for someone to want to work with these kids, you truly are a gift. Thanks for the advice. I did a little more research and they're going to have dinner at the Coral Reef where a diver will come down with a Happy Birthday sign and we're having a cake at Chef Mickey's. I can't believe they are going to be twelve. They're growing up....I hate it.