This is a long ass blog post. It had to be to talk about our trip. I’m sort of sorry but sort of not 🤷🏼‍♀️

Traveling is hard. Well, traveling is just a lot in general in my opinion. Add a special needs kiddo in the mix and it’s a whole new ballgame. Our oldest is turning 17 soon and will fly the nest before we know it. This is going to be the summer of travel for us….. before she abandons her Mother… 🤣🤣 And for the first time in a long time, I’m freakin super here for it.

Traveling with a special needs child is fing wild….When we started discussing trips, I knew we had to do Disney while it still seemed magical for littles… and well to be honest, my oldest and I love it so much…. As for my husband…. Well, let’s say he likes to make his kids and wife happy 🤣 He’s a good sport.

So. Disney. Elle hates crowds. She sometimes gives herself stress seizures as I mentioned in last weeks blog. We have learned that we don’t travel during any school breaks…. and we don’t do things on weekends..with all of that always in mind… We started going wild with ideas of where to go. Disney. Disney. Disney.

Once we decided yes to Disney for sure- I mainly just had to get my husband on board- he’s great at supporting my ideas yet telling me to be realistic…. I constantly say- Let’s go to Great Wolf Lodge! He always kindly talks me down… she couldn’t handle it, but I always want to do all the things… even when I know it’s not logical.. I tend to get into these modes where I think we can do all the things…. But you know- that’s me being delusional yet again.. I instantly started researching allllllllllll the things. I love Disney. I’ve been quite a bit. So I know what to expect. But traveling with Elle- I was trying not to panic or be terrified. Everything will be different and handled with way more care. This could go amazing or it could go side ways real fast. Oh well, we will buy all the tickets… and if one of has to stay back at the hotel with Elle, so be it. Together but separate. First- I picked dates to go that would be quieter- right after spring breaks and right before they kick off their 70th anniversary stuff. There were no parades or fire works but it was a time that I felt would be best. Also had to make sure our park days were in the middle of the week. Check. Second- I booked our hotel. It’s walkable, has a great pool and it is by McDonald’s, which is a place she can always eat. I cannot recommend the Marriott Park Entrance Hotel enough. Check. Then- I called and did a zoom interview, and we got her a DAS ( Disability Access Service) pass. I’ve been reading nightmares on this process taking hours and hours and getting denied. I was sooo nervous and anxious and scared. We waited about 35 minutes and were done with the interview in 10. I hung up feeling so heard and amazing- she got a DAS pass andddddd she was approved for a pass so her stroller can be tagged and treated like a wheel chair. Checccckkkkk. And with that- I spent hours on online forums and coming up with an outline of how we’d hit the parks and such. I spent days packing to make sure we will have everything for a successful and somewhat regulated Disney trip! ( I just updated my little shop and added a few things that helped us manage).

I’d like to start by just saying holy crap. We are tired and happy. Let’s dive right on in shall we?! Elle couldn’t handle the character meal we went too. She met Goofy and lost her mind. Threw her IPad and ran and hugged him and yelled,” I love you Goofy!” Then curled up on a couch and went to sleep. She had a seizure day. I was so sad for her… but I’m not going to lie, it was pretty lovely to see the big kids having a great time and my husband and I got to enjoy our drinks and meals so peacefully. We were able to use her stroller as a wheel chair and she was able to sleep beside our table. They even decided not to charge us for her… it was unexpected and amazing. Our dinner that night went the same- they accommodated us. I felt very grateful for everyone understanding our situation. It was above and beyond.

I’d like to mention super fast- if y’all are unfamiliar with Disney things, stroller parking is everywhere. You don’t really bring strollers inside to places or meals. At Goofy’s Kitchen, the wonderful lady showed me how to alter a dining reservation to accommodate a wheel chair. Since Elle had the tag, we were able to leave her in her stroller, hidden away from the world to rest and be in peace, while we ate our meals. Disney was pretty over whelming for her. Very over stimulating. Unless Elle was on a ride, she was hidden away in her stroller. Well done Disney.

I’ll tell you what… we couldn’t have survived without all of the planning and DAS and wheelchair pass…..literally the trip wouldn’t have been possible without them we quickly learned. Fun fact- you actually don’t need a diagnosis of any sort to access a DAS. They interview you about your needs. And ask questions. And then they determine if it’s something that will be beneficial or if it’s just not something necessary. Whenever Elle gets approved for stuff like this, it’s always a rush of emotions. I get excited and am like, fuck yea! Then, I instantly get sad that she actually qualifies and needs these things…. Getting the DAS caused the same emotions as getting our handicap placard for my car for her. I don’t know why….. accommodation wins are always followed by immense sadness. It’s a weird ball of emotions. Elle needs accommodations. She was approved for them. We utilized the shit out of them. And we had a successful trip. Our first day, Elle had seizures and slept a lot. Thankfully a friend loaned us a stroller with a huge sunshade- we couldn’t have done our trip without it. But boy did she loveeeeee the rides!! Freakin loved them. She did amazing. We rode alllll the rides. We started our park adventures at California Adventure. DCA was great. The staff were all fabulous. It was an exhausting but amazing day. I carried Elle’s token board and let her earn a token every time she went on a ride. Once her token board was full, we took her to Cars land ( I didn’t think she’d want to leave that area so I held out as long as possible). We survived, and not just survived, we had a great day. We did so many rides. We mainly were able to all stick together. We rope dropped- highly recommend it. The crowds were so insane by around 2/3pm. I was so thankful we did the entire park before then. We left the park around 5:30 after dinner. The big kids and Dad stayed for another couple of rides. Park Day One- we kicked its ass.

Disney- Park Day 2:

We once again did alllll the things. She was a damn rock star. My entire family was! I made everyone run ragged… Like, we did alll of the huge rides and some multiple times… zig zagged all over the park to utilize the low crowds before they got insane. Once the people rushed in the afternoon, it was slightly unbearable. My big girl and I were great, but the rest of my family weren’t fans of all of the humans. We did allllll the things. We all loved Space Mountain so much. It was fun to all do rides together as a family. I’m writing this right now totally exhausted while my entire family snores…. My heart….

We went on Rise of the Resistance …. It fits 8 riders. We went on with a family of 3… a mom and dad and little boy. He was special needs. While we were in the lines- man that ride is so long- Elle was dancing and in her own world. They were wrangling their son…. While on the ride, I looked forward, and their little boy was flapping his arms with joy and the mom was narrating everything…. And I looked at Elle and she was flapping her arms with joy.. and I’m always narrating… I read a quote once and it said- Be like Morgan Freeman, and narrated the hell out of life… I live by that quote. I was just tearing up. All of us special needs families here just trying to make our kids happy. It was such a beautiful wave of emotions that came over me. My husband was sitting by the Dad. I was thinking, look at those special dads.. everyone was smiling… it was a great fucking moment man. Being a special needs parent, I tend to tear up at the most random times and moments… there’s so much beauty out there… Miles and Dad got to have some father son time and build dope light sabers at Savi’s, that was a huge hi-light for them!

A few negatives…. The bathrooms were hard for Elle. They were loud with loud flushing automatic toilets.. she couldn’t calm down enough to go to the bathroom. It took lots of deep breathing and coaching for her to go. She often wouldn’t go when Amaya and I did. She had great success whenever I could find a bathroom not attached to the main bathrooms. It was a struggle.. She had a hard hard time waiting if she wasn’t in the safe space of her stroller. And poor girl- we had two seperate times where she got wet… she can’t handle being wet if she’s not in a swimsuit…….. we were in a pack packed area, she sat on some water on a bench, and before I could stand up, she was stripped down to her undies in front of tons of people. Like, tons of people… we were inside at the Space Mountain exit… I just casually swooped over and changed her… it happened again after Pirates. She tried to strip down for most of the ride.. but I talked to her the entire ride that we’d change soon. She did ok until we were able to get off of the ride and straight into a bathroom to change. It’s hard because she’s too old to be naked on a changing table in front of everyone in a public restroom… but changing her in a stall is so hard. She likes to lay down to be dressed. I realized I need to carry some sort of giant changing pad or something. I’ve learned to handle this much better. I can stay much more calm- but still I panic. But it’s sad to see. My big kids get sad about Elle… I just always tell them it’s ok. She’s happy and doesn’t understand yet. We just have to do our best to keep her safe and happy… and if she strips down in public, we just do our best to act fast.

We left exhausted and over heated. And pumped. Elle made it through another day without any big massive meltdowns. We learned that she’s a huge ride fanatic.. she’d yell, “Mo drops, Mo drops! Again again!” She rode Space Mountain soooo many times. We ate dinner off site. We had Mexican food. And ended the day in a beautiful margarita haze, feeling blessed and feeling exhausted down to my bones.

Disney- Park Day 3:

Final Day. We roped dropped again. It’s a must. By day 3, my family knew it was a must and stopped hating me so badly for it 🤣 We did Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and Toontown by 10:30. 10:30!!! If you are familiar with Disney, you know what a damn win that is. We did everything… but at a much slower pace. It was so enjoyable. The kids loved the rides sooooo much. All three of them. Seeing their little smiles was really really worth it all. Blake and I would switch turn sitting with Elle so we could watch her little face during the rides. Amaya and I are snack fanatics. We were able to get allllll of the snacks. Coco Puff coffee from Galaxy’s Edge, Mickey shaped pretzels, too many Churros, Cotton Candy, Beignets, Dole Whip, and of course the Monte Cristo from Cafe Orleans. We did different stuff this time. Tried new eating spots, did a few new rides, and pin traded! My kids have lanyards and love the pins. This was the first time they ran around looking for trading spots and traded pins. It was a massive hi-light for Miles. We ended our day early, went back to the hotel and spent a couple of hours at the pool area. It had water slides and a play area that was a child’s dream… and slightly my nightmare🤣.

A huge win for this trip- we all slept!! Elle handled us all being in one hotel room super well. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure that we’ve ever all shared a hotel room. I packed alllll the snacks. The room had bunk beds and two showers. The water park was amazing there. We learned that yes, she’s still not ready to have a view of the pool area yet. She was often fixated on getting to them. I had to tell her they were broken and the hotel would call me when they were fixed over and over while we were at the parks.

So- here are some hacks and things that I bought to help make this trip easier. I added everything to my little shop I have going on here- Im sorry I know I mentioned it earlier in this post already. I packed lunches for Elle everyday- that was a huge help. My kids are huge snackers. I brought a clear container with a lid, that we use to keep snacks in, like our chips and things. I loaded it with snacks every night and stuck it into the bottom of the stroller. Our snacks never got smashed- the kids could see through the container and easily select a snack. It was a game changer. We bought fuel rods ahead of time on Amazon- she had her IPad and switch the entire time except when on rides- judge away if you must, but judging is mean.. 🤣 so those rods were life saving for us. Then we’d just swap them for fully charged ones at the stations in the parks. I pre purchased bubble wands for them… the less time shopping there, the better. I packed batteries, a mini screw driver, and bubble solution into our backpack to make sure they were full and amazing during the days. I bought a great tiny pill container to house allergy meds and ibu and such. It came in handy. I used one of my tiny packing cubes with compartments to keep most of our items in and slid that into my backpack. It was so easy to find what I was looking for. Parks are stressful and fast paced, I feel like this little packing cubed help me so much when my family needed something. I had band aides and hair ties in that spot- along with ponchos and shoe covers, a leash for Elle, extra portable chargers, crap like that.

Overall- the hours and hours of planning and researching was worth it. All of the extra items I bought and packed were wellll worth it. I felt so prepared and not near as overwhelmed as I thought I’d be. I’m a walking ball of stress 90 percent of the time in life… it’s not my finest quality. I think we are good on parks for the next few years🤣🤣

This was our first family trip together, doing alllllll of the things together. It was huge.

Vvviiccttttorrrryyyyyyyyy