Disney with Special Needs: It’s Coming….It’s Coming….It’s Never Coming Is It?

The only thing as bad as those last few seconds driving out of Disney World and leaving the “See Ya’ Real Soon!” sign behind you is the long stretch of months (or even years) between that moment and your next Disney trip.

So far, my family has not gone longer than 15 months between trips, and that was killer. While I am never not planning a trip home, my fellow superheroes will probably agree that these waits can be tough. It’s not just a matter of being excited and wanting to get back to our favorite place. For many Aspies, the concept of reality can be difficult to really grasp. This is one of those things that is harder for me to explain because, obviously, I live in my brain and can’t really try to explain what it’s like to live in a different brain, but I will do my best. When waiting for my next trip, not being in Disney is “reality” and it can begin to feel like that will never change, that I will never make it back. This is a very difficult experience and one that can be very upsetting to me. That’s why I do what I can to keep my mind focused on the fact that that next trip is actually coming and time is actually passing, much like what we talked about in the Road Trip Edition. The best part is it makes the waiting super fun.

So here I share with you…

Making the wait seem less wait-y…

• Disney fun things. If there is one thing that Disney World has even more of than hidden Mickeys, it is trivia. I am a great lover of the shiny things that you can put in your head and bring out to admire when you feel like it, so when I can find shiny things that involve Disney — joy! I call these little bits of information “Disney fun things” and periodically send them to Bubba so that both of us can have little bits of fun and reminders that Disney is coming. I’ll give you a couple to get started on your own collection… 1. If you go to the Cinderella fountain behind the castle you will see that there is a crown in the mural behind her. Lean down to get water like you are bowing to her and glance up. The crown will now appear to be sitting on her head. 2. There is a tree on one of the islands that is visible from water taxis that is full of white shoes. It is tradition for captains of the water vessels to toss their shoes into this tree upon retirement
• Fake it ‘til you make it. Do you ever wake up and think to yourself….I wish I could have lunch at Pecos Bill today? Of course you do. Well, maybe you don’t, but I do. Probably a lot more often than I really should, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I embrace it. Anyway, on those days, Bubba and I do a little bit of make-believe. Once a week or so one of us will send the other an email outlining the day that we would be having if we were at Disney. It might go something like this…”we’re on the PeopleMover right now, but we better hurry because we have 11 AM FastPasses for Seven Dwarves Mine Train and then we’ll eat lunch at Pecos Bill before our 1 PM FastPasses on Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters. Tonight we have the Fantasmic Dining Package at Hollywood Brown Derby, so we can probably sneak in a ride on the Tower of Terror and maybe MuppetVision before that.” What’s especially fun is that because it’s all pretend, we can do things that we wouldn’t be able to actually do. Like last week we got to see Rivers of Light and then got snuck into Pandora for a preview. Totally fun and totally lies
• The Disney box. If you’re like me, you see things that would be great for your Disney trips all the time. You might be in the grocery store and see the perfect snack or the clothing store and see an amazing shirt. When this happens, it might still be months before we leave, but I scoop it up anyway. They go right into the Disney box. This is just as it sounds…a box set aside for Disney. We use a plastic tote, but it could be anything that you happen to have around. The things that we add to it might not be really impactful. They could something as simple as a box or two of Disney Band-aids, but just the act of putting something in the box is a concrete reminder that the trip is coming and that eventually we will be able to use those things in Disney World.

So that gets us through the months leading up to the trip, but it isn’t all that I do. Next time we’ll talk about the joy that is welcome bags and get a glimpse of the days leading up to the trip. See you then!

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Taryn was born and raised, and still lives in Richmond, Virginia. Neither she nor her husband ever had the opportunity to visit Walt Disney World when they were children, but when their daughter Avalon came along, they decided she was not going to follow in their footsteps. They brought Avalon for the first time when she was 3 and have been hooked ever since. Now along with Taryn’s mother and equally Disney-loving older brother, they go “home” at least once a year, and by the time she is staring longingly at Cinderella Castle from the ferry on their last night, Taryn is well on her way to planning the next trip. As a group consisting of two adults with Asperger’s, including one who is also vegan, a very accommodating husband, an only child, a senior, and a service dog, they are a pretty special family, but Taryn is excited to show that the World really is The Most Magical Place on Earth and that there is a place there for everyone. When she isn’t thinking about her next Disney adventure and trying to come up with a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party costume that will beat her Oozma Kappa nerd look, she is a professional blogger and novelist, but Taryn also likes to indulge her Disney passion on her Etsy shop It’s Better in Vinyl.

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