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[princessmya]

Hi
I'm new to this forum and i am trying to get as many hints and tips before going to dlp in November, i will be traveling with a 3 year old who has autism a 5 year old who is being assessed for aspergers and a 14.
I would like to take them for a meal out at least once while we are visiting although not sure which restaurant would suit us better also are there any helpful hints as to where would be best to watch the parades and shows neither of my young children have any patients and this could result in some major meltdowns
any advice would be greatly appreciated
thanks

[samuelvictor]

Hi there

As far as the parades, in all honesty it is best to get your place at least half an hour before it starts, often people start 40 mins to an hour early on particularly busy days. Monday to Thursday will be less busy than Friday to Sunday. Almost anywhere on the parade route gives you a good view, so if your children have problems with patience perhaps the best bet would be to find somewhere on the parade route with something to occupy them - perhaps by one of the outside restaurants/cafes etc on mainstreet? Also of course you could perhaps buy them a little something special to play with or keep them occupied before waiting, like a drawing or colouring book, or some kind of game you can all play together whilst waiting. Exactly the same advice would apply to Disney Dreams.

I know that Walt's restaurant can have a good view of the parade from certain windows if you wanted to combine dining and watching the parade - this might help offset the waiting somewhat, but of course there is the risk that the children will want to run out the restaurant closer to the action when they see the floats coming.

If your children aren't keen on waiting, or are fussy about what they eat, there are lots of comparatively cheap restaurants that do a buffet where you can help yourself, of course this cuts down on waiting times and the children can choose exactly what they want. Billy Bobs diner in the village does quite a good buffet - (the set menu is also pretty cheap and quite good) - I mention this restaurant particularly because they often have live music or entertainment of an evening and there is a nice big family friendly dancefloor so the kids can run around and let off steam without you worrying that they are disturbing anyone's dining. I will warn however that it can be pretty busy and very noisy so it depends whether your kids cope well with crowds or noise.

Another thing to mention if they aren't good with ques is that assuming you are staying in a Disney Hotel, you really should make the effort to get up early and be there first for breakfast (get there just before 7 and you'll walk right in. by half 7 you'll be queuing) and make the most out of your "extra magic hours" in the park. You can get on Peter Pans Flight, Buzz Lightyear's Laserblast and Dumbo rides with minimal queuing, whereas once EMH are over those rides can have waiting times of over an hour.

If you go into the Studios Park, bare in mind that the 3 Toy Story Rides, Crush's Coaster (scarier than it looks and may not be suitable for very little ones) and Ratatouille will all have long waiting times. You can offset this slightly by going straight to one of them as soon as the park opens.

In the Studios Park there are regular shows of Cinemagique, Animagique, Disney Jr, Stitch Live and Moteurs Action, all of which happen at specific times, so little to no actual queuing or waiting is necessary if you time things right.

Also in the Studios park the Animation Building of Art of Animation is always open and you can go in here anytime with no queuing. There are plenty of hands on things that kids can do, run around and touch and play with things.

Of course some rides have Fast Pass systems in place which can reduce queing times. Also you can take advantage of when everyone else is flocking to the parades and Dreams (they are exactly the same every day) for reduced queuing.

The Star Tours ride in Discoveryland has quite a cool queuing area that is like an aircraft hangar from Star Wars, with lots to see etc. Though you are queuing, this may keep the youngsters more interested than some of the ques. Phantom Manor also has quite interesting queuing areas.

Lots of areas in the Disneyland Park have no ques and are fun for kids to run around, near the pirateship & caves, the treehouse, Alice's maze etc.

Probably the most difficult moments you may have trying the kids patience is if you decide to que up specifically to meet certain characters. Not much advice to give you here other than Monday-Thursday are going to be a shorter wait than on Friday-Sunday.

Hope that helps a little.

[polar vixen]

Something very important you need to bear in mind, if you go to city hall, you can get an access pass, whih will be valid for the disabled guest, plus their family to use the exit to board the rides, so you don't have to stand in queues etc.  There are loads of benefirts to this, including separate areas to watch the parades which aren't as crowded, HOWEVER, each guest  who has a pass must have a person over 18 accompanying them each.  ie, if you got each of your 2 children a pass, but then tried to board peter pan, they would only let one child ride at a time, obviously you can't leave the other 2 by themselves, so you wouldn't be able to go on this ride at all.  the best thing to do is to just get the pass for the child who is already diagnosed as it will cover your whole family anyway. 
Book restaurants in advance, and get lots of Disney brochuures/print pics off the internet of rides, the rooms, where you will eat, how you'll be travelling, and look at them with your kids LOTS, even laminate them and take them with you.  This will help to prepare your kids and make things a lot more relaxed once you're there.  Also use your pass at charcter meet and greets rather than standing in queues, we've always found the cast members are great, and especially when they're informed will help to make sure no-one pushes or shoves your kids.

[princessmya]

thanks  for your reply and the useful information, do you have any idea on what would i need to obtain a pass from city hall,x

[polar vixen]

You need either a disgnosis letter, (or if assessments have been done recently and detail their difficulties that will do, or a dla award letter.  BUT the letter needs to be dated within the 3 months prior to your visit,  if you don't have one, you can ask your doctor or someone involved in your childs care. 
We found the buffets very good  as specially if you have pre-booked the wait time to be seated is minimal, and you don't have to wait for your food to be served.  If you're going for a table service restaurant as this mean you won't need to be getting up and down for food, still pre book and try to eat outside of busy times - go for lunch between 12-12:30 and have tea around 5-6.  Using your exit pass will mean you don't need to worry too much about early morning hours if your kids have difficulty settling on a morning, and like I said even with informal meet and greets, most (but not all!) cast members are really helpful.  Show your pass to the cast member accompanying a character, in most cases they'll direct you to wait a couple of minutes, and then they'll bring the character to your kids.  much better and safer than standing in character queues.  our boys were so unsettled last time we were there, anything that required a queue wasn't even attempted.  Sometimes things were awkward, but the less stressed they were meant the more we could acutally enjoy our time together rather than having to prevent self harm or catatonic episodes.