Disney World!

We just got in from Disney and we had an absolute BLAST! Alden was great the entire time. When we got to the resort he actually thought it was Disney World because there were 30 foot statues of all his favorite characters, two pools, an arcade, a food court, and a shop. He was SO sad when we left but once we got into the park he was excited again.

His favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear Star Command ride in Magic Kingdom. The only ride he didn't like was Dinosaurs in Animal Kingdom, and to be honest none of us liked it. All for different reasons. It hurt Tim's back, it was too loud for Alden, Josh didn't like that the guy was screaming over the already loud dinosaurs, and Lynnda & I didn't like that we were being jerked around (quite forcefully) in complete darkness.

I think my favorite ride was probably Aerosmith's Rockin Rollercoaster. Josh and I rode it on one of the nights we got to stay late in the park (for staying in a Disney Resort) and I was SO scared. I ended up loving it. I absolutely HATED Soarin' apparently I am NOT a hang-glider.

Alden only needed his headphones a handful of times. We forgot them during Fantasmic but he just covered his hands with his ears and really enjoyed the show.

He used them during the Nemo Musical which he absolutely loved. So he sat through his first musical and his first movie in a theater. He used his headphones during it too, the Muppets had crickets chirping in their movie and for some reason he is VERY sensitive to that sound lately.

I had a headache the first day from all the 3D stuff but I really enjoyed it regardless.

Josh didn't like Expedition Everest because when you go up to the top and then you go backward it jerks you really hard and it hurt his back. The photo of us from that ride was hilarious, I'm screaming with my hands in the air & he's grimacing in pain. A perfect analogy for our relationship.

Noteable things Alden enjoyed: Kali River Rapids, Star Tours, Fantasmic, Teacups. Those were the ones you could tell he was having the best time on (Besides the Toy Story rides of course).

The night of his dinner he absolutely insisted we go ride Buzz Lightyear again. So we ran to the other side of the park, rode the ride, within 5 minutes...ran back out, then had to pee and then we RAN back to the other side of the park and made it JUST in time.

He LOVED his character dinner, he jumped up and joined the Friendship Day Parade with Pooh and his friends, marching & clapping while going in a circle all over the restaurant. The dinner was seriously overpriced, but you CANNOT put a price on seeing your child participate in something like that, especially when they are not one to join in group activities! It was so adorable.

I think the longest we waited in line was maybe 5 minutes. That was for Alladin because they didn't have FastPass or disability pass. It was absolutely AMAZING. Sadly we didn't get to ride Pirates of the Carribean or Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Pirates was broken and Ariel was being updated.

That's all I can think of right now, I'm pretty brain dead from doing an 8 hour trip home today. I'm going to unwind with a glass of wine and catch up on some TV. I'll update more later if I think of anything that was particularly awesome (which it all was)!

Here's a breakdown of what we did in the parks. (more for me than for you)
Day One
Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours
Muppet Vision 3D
Met Handy Manny, Leo & Annie

Day Two
Magic Kingdom
Buzz Lightyear Star Command
Met Chip & Dale
Peter Pan's Flight
It's A Small World
The Magic Carpets of Alladin
Mad Teaparty
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Splash Mountain
The Many Adventures of Winne the Pooh

went swimming in the Fantasia pool


Hollywood Studios
Fantasmic
Aerosmith's Rockin RollerCoaster*

Day Three
Epcot
Soarin
Inoventions

Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Mania
Star Tours

Magic Kingdom
Character Dinner with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore
Buzz Lightyear Star Command
Wishes Fireworks

Day Four
Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail
Kali River Rapids
Finding Nemo the Musical
Dinosaur
Triceratops Spin
Met Baloo
Everest Expedition*

Epcot
Illuminations

wish upon a star

Alden has swim lessons this week, of course it's the hottest, most humid week so far this year. Monday I was literally sitting at the little table sweating like crazy. They really should spring for some fans over in the area with the tables. He loves him swimming lessons and has so much fun. His coaches always end up loving him. It's also good for him to be around his peers even if he isn't exactly interacting with them (they each have an individual coach and go at their own pace).

Alden's Toy Story toys have been leaving him little notes and prizes around the house for doing his chores. He gets a "Disney Dollar" every week to put in his Mickey Mouse Bank to take to Disney and use on whatever toys he wants. Of course we'll be buying most of them but we're currently working on showing him how money works and making him "pay" for his own things. He always runs off with his fun new stuff & forgets his change though.

I can't wait to see his face when he meets Buzz Lightyear at Disney. It's going to be the best thing ever.

Disney is booked!

We made our Disney reservations! We're going in August...I really didn't expect to be going so soon but I am SO EXCITED! Josh didn't want Alden to miss any school so we just decided since we have the money in the bank to go ahead and go next month before school starts back!

I have been researching extensively for 4 days now (no really people are impressed by my 20+ pages of notes) and it's just making me that more excited to go.

I got REALLY lucky, you are supposed to make your dining reservations for things like Character Dining 180 days out, but I called tonight at @ 7PM and got THE LAST dinner reservation for the week we're going to be there. We'll be dining with Winnie the Pooh which is great because Alden loves him!

His noise canceling headphones came in the mail today and tonight I'm planning to order him a Who's Shoes ID kit in case he gets lost or wanders off. I'm also going to order each of us a Bobble because Florida water tastes like crap and the bottled water in the park is pricey. There's a ton more stuff to get but for right now those are the biggies.

I CAN'T WAIT!

update

I've been a bad blogger. I've just been so busy lately. Alden ALMOST got all As on his report card. He got one B which was one point away from being an A. I'm so proud of him & the progress he's made. He didn't even get asked to go to any sort of summer schooling program this year and I'm so pleased about that. They said he's pretty well on target with his IEP goals. His speech is rapidly increasing and his sentence structure is getting much better. He is still struggling with a few things like different pronoun usages but that's pretty typical for autists.

He's been spending time away from the house with my inlaws while I'm at school and suckering my father-in-law to take him to WalMart and buy him toys. The other day they had like a carload of stuff, it was ridiculous. He's recently taken on an obsession with posters which is awesome because they are cheaper than toys and they don't clutter up his room. He's covering the walls pretty quickly and the other day wanted to hang one in the kitchen. haha

He's also recently become obsessed with the tooth fairy & keeps trying to wiggle all his teeth.

We're starting to plan our Disney trip for this winter. He has no idea that we are going and it's going to be a surprise. I'm really excited, especially about going to Universal to the Harry Potter themepark. We will be able to get a special pass at Disney so that we don't have to wait in the long lines due to his autism which is absolutely wonderful. If you've ever been anywhere with a child who has autism you will know most of them are not very patient at all. We will also be able to have Breakfast With Mickey because they take precautions with food allergies and will make him a special Gluten & Casein free meal! I'm so happy that Disney is so caring about catering to special needs and allergies, we wont' have to miss out on anything!!! The only thing I'm concerned about is him being afraid of some of the rides. I remember when I was 5 Mr Toad's Wild Ride scared me so badly I started crying & I wanted to get off the ride. I'm assuming there is some sort of special protocol for this now too so hopefully it will be smooth sailing! For more info about going to Disney with a child who has autism check out this page.