My brother is almost 50, non-verbal, sometimes chooses to use facilitated communication, knows a little American Sign Language. He also has grand mal epilepsy and episodes of agression (although he's mellowing out with age), mostly because he's non-verbal. He is a huge Disneyland fan and went once about 15 years ago.

I'd like to take him again. What's different this time is our parents are no longer living so I can't ask them how they planned the trip.

My brother lives near Chico, CA so we would mostly likely drive down.

I am interested in any advice or experience you have to share.

Thanks,
-Helen/3894

Stay onsite, preferably at Grand Californian, and let them know you have a special needs family member and need close proximity to elevators and facilities. If he is easily overstimmed, ask for a standard view room on the inside with a monorail view - this is the most serene setting, least noise.

If there is some object or activity that calms him, make it be there.

Go midweek during offseason.

Plan to use taxi service if you stay offsite - the buses can get pushy.

Of course, you want the SAC for your brother, to use when necessary if the queues are touchy or close. And do not be afraid, if something is going awry, to look right into the eyes of the nearest CM and say, "I need help here, please." That goes for meltdowns, people giving you a hard time, accidents, whatever.

The full-service restaurants will do special diet meals if you give them advance notice.

I have a section on my site (link below) about taking hypersensitive folks to Disney parks - it may be helpful.

The First Aid is a wonderful place, and the nurses there are very, very helpful when you need them. You can go there for quiet space, companion restrooms with a bed for changing area if necessary. They helped us out many, many times.

I couldn't agree with Teri's advice more Helen. As you know my youngest son has autism. He's 12 now and loves nothing more than anything Disney. Another thing-take breaks throughout the day-especially mid-day when even during off-season the parks can get crowded.

And I never even considered asking the CM's for help in the event of an "moment". Thought that would be off-limits. It's great to know that it's not.

And with all the craziness going on at City Hall re the SAC, I would bring a doctor's note just in case. It might not hurt to call ahead and discuss the SAC with someone at Disney. Get their name and date of course. So if something happens and you're denied, you may have that to fall back on. I'm not sure this would work, it's something that just popped into my head but I'm reading horror stories about families being denied when their need is obvious and I'm trying to find a way around a vacation being ruined because of a CM's mistake.

And the monorail view rooms at the GCH are lovely and quiet-but smaller than the rooms at the DLH. So if your girls are going with you and hubby it will be quite a tight fit. Just a thought.

Good, caring CMs who love their jobs will most definitely come to your rescue in several ways. They can call security for you. They can arrange quick backstage exit. They can call the nurses at First Aid to bring help. They can tell obnoxious jerks to back off and mind their own business. We have asked for help one time during a bad moment when people were *Not Helping* by their comments and behavior, and had CMs come and surround us and get things under control so we could focus on calming our son.

Of course, there are the CMs who will roll their eyes or just ignore you, or say there is nothing they can do and they are under no obligation to help you.

Do not hesitate to ask for help. And if they are not helpful anymore like they used to be... :::sigh:::

And this is the point, we make accomodations just to visit the park. Why cannot an able bodied person understand this. Even after accomodations after accomodations are utilized by a disabled person, some want to deny further accomodations?

This is sad indeed.

I truly hope that you have a wonderful trip with your brother. For the most part, the CMS are helpful and exceedingly gracious, some are just, not. If you don't get what you need, please take it up with a supervisor since they are the ones that can make changes, not the front line CM....

You know how I appreciate your input but it bears saying so ...
thank you, thank you, thank you all.