Is Disneyland a Good Place to Take a Child with Special Needs?

My husband and I are proud parents raising five children ranging in age from 18 months to 8 years old. Doing this is a pretty tricky, not to mention exhausting, task. When you add in the component of a child with special needs, the complexity level of our responsibilities as parents more than doubles. Our two girls and three boys include a seven-year-old son with high functioning Autism, though you shouldn't let the phrase "high functioning" fool you--perhaps "high energy," or "high level of attitude" or "highly spirited" would be a more fitting description of his abilities.

In any event, choosing places to take the family as a whole (all seven of us at once) is not exactly an easy task. There are places that we seem to immediately rule out based on complexity level, and Disneyland has fallen into that category for a few years now. As an often-pregnant mom I have been able to use the excuse of either expecting a baby soon or having just had a baby to dissuade my husband from booking a Disneyland vacation for our family. Since this year was the first in our marriage that I was neither pregnant nor did we have a child under 12 months, I was running out of excuses and so we found a way to purchase a six day, five night Disneyland vacation for our little family, including my autistic son.

We had heard from friends and family that Disneyland employees--or cast members, as they are called--were very good about making accomodations for the disabled. We were not sure if we would fall into that category since my son's disability is mental and social, not physical, so I had some reservations about asking for assistance. I made a call ahead of time and was assured that we could speak with a cast member at City Hall once inside Disneyland and we would receive help from there.