Does the GAC apply to dining??

[crazyMMmom]

We are planning a trip with our kids for May 2012. Our 4 yr DS just had left temporal lobectomy and resection of the occipital and parietal lobes in his brain, as well this past June. We are celebrating his 5th birthday at WDW with our 18 yr DS and 15 yr DD. As I am reading this section I see we could use the GAC for rides, but would they do the same for dining. My husband and I went this past Dec for our 20 yr anniversary and made reservations MONTHS ahead of time, yet still waited quite a while at a lot of places. Ian has been diagnosised with ADHD, bi polar, ODD, anxiety disorder as well as intractable epilepsy. He is a wonderful mess. But has NO patience!! On top of this, his verbal communication is that of about a 12 month old. He does comprehend everything, but gets extremely frustrated trying to get us to understand what he wants. So, my concern is waiting for food could certainly trigger a day ending episode for us. We purchased the Deluxe dining so we can all experience the character dining, but I am very worried about the wait time the 5 of us might have. Anyone have any suggestions???

[Disney4us2]

Hi and

I don't think the GAC is for dining. I would make your ADR's (advanced dining reservation) for where you want to dine. When you go to check in, let the CM know of your situation. Hopefully they will help you out.

[peemagg]

You can't use the GAC for dining, but what I would suggest that you do is to make your reservations for places as early as possible. Say if the restaurant starts serving dinner at 4:30pm, I would try and get one of the earliest ones I could get as close to opening time. If you wait until 5:30-6:00, you will most likely be waiting.

Something that may help is to have things for him to snack on while waiting, or only one of you wait in the restaurant for the table to be called and the other one keep your son busy outside, but close by.

[BelleBeauty]

I would suggest calling Disney and asking to speak to someone about accommodating your DS' special needs. Disney is amazingly responsive and even if they can't help with each and every meal, they may be able to help accommodate you for a few special meals throughout the visit. My aunt and uncle solely vacation with my cousin at WDW because they are so wonderful with her!

[BrerGnat]

No, the GAC will not help with dining.

When you say your son has NO patience, what do you mean? I have to say, with the Deluxe dining plan, you are going to spend a LOT of time sitting and waiting, whether you are waiting to be seated for a meal, waiting for a server to take your order, waiting for food, waiting for the characters to come around, waiting for the check, etc. It's a lot of waiting.

We have two special needs kids, both on the Autism spectrum. We honestly keep the table service meals to a minimum when we travel. They do much better with eating when they are hungry, wherever we happen to be (we do a combo of Counter service meals, snacks, and we stay club level for the availability of the food in the lounge). On our last week long trip, we only did three TS meals, and that was pushing it. They have very short attention spans and about the longest we can expect them to sit at a table is 45min-1 hour, and doing that even once a day is hard for them.

My advice to you would be the following (i.e. this is what I would do if I were you)

Drop the Deluxe Dining Plan. Make ADR for ONE character meal, preferably breakfast, and as EARLY as possible.

Make a few more ADRs at "must eat" restaurants, and as a previous poster mentioned, make the reservation for the first available mealtime seating (usually 11am for lunch, and 4pm for dinners). Eat a combination of counter service and snacks the rest of the time.

Use the money you save to upgrade your resort. If you are already staying deluxe, upgrade to club level. If not, upgrade as much as you can using the money you had earmarked for the dining plan. The resort will likely be much more important overall than the food.

The GAC will help you with waiting for RIDES only, and it won't work for character meet and greets or parades, FYI. Definitely get a GAC, but be prepared to have to wait for some things if you really want to do them, otherwise just skip the things that might send your DS into a tailspin (parades, character meets, etc.)

[Strmchsr]

First off, to Intercot!!

Second, to everything Natalie said. The Deluxe Plan really wouldn't be a good thing in your situation. Keep things as "unplanned" as possible and that will help make the trip much less stressful for you.

Have your tried teaching your son sign-language? My DW works with children with various disabilities and has had great success with sign language with children who, like your son, comprehend but have limited verbal ability.