Which hotel on-site is best for a family with a child who has autism?

A friend of mine is planning her family's first trip to WDW this June. She is booked at CSR but she is now wondering if that is the best choice. She is on a budget but she's willing to spend a little extra for a different resort if it will make the big difference. She will be going with her three children (5, 8, and 11) and the oldest child is autistic. I have been a few times lately but this is one area that I know nothing about. I really want her and her family to have a great trip. They have had a very rough year and they need a little magic. Any advice would be great!!!!

my 6 yr old and 18 yr old have it and they love AKL as a matter of fact my youngest spent most of his days there watching animals and away from the hectic life at the parks. He could not handle that, but he did very well at the AKL.
I will never go anywhere else with him because the serene atmosphere at AKL is exactly what this little guy needs...
best of luck to your friend.

What a great friend you are :mickey:

I have one child on the spectrum who is currently 9. When he was younger, we HAD to stay at All Star Movies in the Toy Story section -- period! He was obsessed with Toy Story and that area just fascinated him to no end. Now that he is older, I tend to look for places that are a bit quieter, calmer and not so "in your face". The Values are soooooo stimulating with the colors, the crowds and the noises that it is kind of hard to escape and relax.

I would check to see if your friend's child is intrigued by anything in particular.....Animals, Wilderness, monorails, sandy beaches, water play etc....and pick a resort that will give him/her a respite from all the activities of the day. A little escape into something they dearly love can make all the difference in the world to kids on the spectrum.

Anything I can do to help, post away!!!

I, too, think each of the different themes at the various resorts from value on up give you a tremendous amount of choice. I would also try to see what their interests are and then search to find which resort is the best fit. Never know, it might be the Touchdown Building at ASS or something at AKL. Whatever they're in to, I'm sure you can find something to accommodate them. Don't forget the values (I'm only familiar with them) have different themes for each building. So if they like a particular movie check out ASM and see what buildings they have, etc. Hope this helps!

I do think it needs to be a place of comfort and quiet-- My first thought was not BWV b/c of the long endless halls. If a child is having a bad day I would not want to have to face those long halls with a child who needs rest. Other than that I think it would help ( as mentioned) to be surrounded by something the child loves...

Due to my oft-limited mobility, I have often requested that my reservations be marked with "needs room close to elevators due to medical condition." Very rarely has this request not been met.

I would also suggest that you seek a resort that does not have several bus stops, or at very least, that you be near the first bus stop. There are not too many resorts that do not have many stops, but POFQ does come to mind. If the bus does make more than one stop, it goes to POR to pick up people. However, I have been on it where it will make the one stop at POFQ and then head to its destination. This past trip, we stayed at BWV, and it tried my patience to make 4 stops at 4 different hotels before finally heading back to BWV! Maybe that will help you a little when chosing a resort.

Have a great vacation!

We will be travelling with an autistic child (4) next December. To provide peace and quiet, we are thinking of the cabins at Fort Wilderness. The fact that there will be no one in the next room is for our benefit as well as any other close guests. When Nate goes into full meltdown, he can be VERY loud.

The cabins also have a full kitchen, so we can eat in the cabin to save money.

We have been going to WDW for the past 13 years. DS who is now 14 has autism and he has always enjoyed Disney and staying on site. The only suggestion I would give you is to ask for a room on the top floor - DS got scared when he would her the footsteps and running and screaming. We have stayed at ASM, AKL, GF, POR, Pop, and all were great. I also took ear plugs for him at night so any noises did not disturb him.

:mickey:

We will be staying at the Polynesian for our autistic son's first trip to WDW next May (he will be almost 5 at the time.

We primarily chose the Poly for these reasons:

-The Monorail (DS has a train fascination and loves monorails...having one at "his hotel" would be a godsend. When he needs to chill out, we could easily hop on the monorail and just ride around until he's had enough. Free entertainment!

-The Zero Entry Pool

-The sand beach with SWINGS and HAMMOCKS on the beach (for vestibular input)

-The kid's play area with jumping fountains (he LOVES these)

-The free kids activities in the kid's clubs from 1-4pm (perfect for when his little brother needs to take a nap).

I could go on, but the Poly is the best fit for our particular needs for our son on the spectrum.

My advice is to tell your friend not to second guess herself. Once you do, then it is a perpetual worry about was the right decision. Parents with special needs kids have enough of that already.

Corondo Springs is a fine choice. It has many quiet, out of the way areas where kids and parents can enjoy a relaxing respite. CSR also has plenty of areas where the kids can burn off some excess energy.

The scenery is beautiful and especially so at sunrise and sunset. The pool area is one of the best on WDW property.

You have a good choice between the CS eatery there, which is called "The Pepper Market" and a TS restaurant called "Maya Grill".

The Maya Grill is a decent, though not great restaurant. But, Pepper Market is unique among all of the Disney counter-service places.

And, like everywhere else in Disney, there ar CMs there who are very good at what they do and can be leaned on when needed.

Go with your first instinct. Coronado should do fine.

I also have an 11yo with ASD. Two of the last three trips to WDW, we stayed in a cabin at FW. The cabins are very peaceful and very quiet. We liked being able to park at our front door -- especially good if someone's a little overstimulated and needs to quickly find a quiet place to rest. And having separate living & sleeping areas meant that JR could get away by himself if he needed.

Robyn:mickey:

My DS is now 15 and we have been going to DWD since he was 6 years old and he loves it. We have stayed at All Star Movies, All Star Sports, POP, POR, AKL, and Grand Floridian. We will be staying at the Poly in October.

After the first time I discovered that I needed to request the top floor because the noise of kids running and people stomping all hours did disturb him - so after that we always got the top floor plus I also take soft ear plugs for him to wear at night and also at the parks during some of the loud shows and attractions. When I make the hotel reservation I tell them why I want the top floor and it has never been a problem.

Other than that everything was fine. The only resort that we stayed at that he absolutely did not like was Pop Century!

:mickey:

DS4 also has autism and I can relate to the stress about where to stay - you want to avoid anything that might be a trigger for your child, but wilshade is right, we really should try not to worry so much about it.

I have BWV booked for our June vacation to try something different, but on second thought maybe not... the location is so central I thought we might do okay there, but the comments have me second-guessing, now! :blush: We wouldn't be using the the bus, so that wouldn't be an issue for us, but the noise and long hallways might.

The Ft. Wilderness Cabins have been our haven on recent trips for the same reasons already mentioned by the previous posters. I guess we should probably stick with what works.

We try to stay away from the resorts that have beaches - unfortunately including my favorite, the Polynesian. DS loves the beach and just can't comprehend the no swimming rule at the resort beaches!

My family and I have stayed at CSR and I found it to be a great palce. It is big enough so you can escape the noise and the pool area is well spread out and the theme is fantastic. I work with childern and adults that have autism and other related disabilities and I have sent some of them on a vacation to WDW in the past and they stayed at this resort and they had a great time. I defiently think that your friend made a great choice and should not second guess herself. Hope they have a great time.

Both of our sons are autistic -- and they have only NOT enjoyed the Wilderness Lodge (too dark) and Pop (too big and noisy). Their favourite stays are at POFQ (a moderate) and at the Boardwalk. We spend a LOT of time at Epcot, and walking over there rather than requiring any mode of transportation was wonderful. We always drive to the parks, so bus transportation is not an issue for us. They also both really enjoyed the few days we spent at the Poly. They loved the pool and the lush grounds and watching the monorails from our balcony. Our guys like the extra space afforded us at a deluxe resort (so that they can have their own space within it). If I could afford it every time we would always go deluxe.

As a previous poster said, find out what the child's interests are and maybe try to stay somewhere that might really excite him. Our youngest LOVES Mickey in his blue hat (aka Sorcerer Mickey), and we stayed at the All Star Movies in March, and stayed in the Fantasia building (complete with the blue hat!). That was terrific for him.

Honestly though, we have stayed all over the place, and I really feel that any on site resort is a terrific choice. They allow for you to get to the parks early (EMH), get some stuff done, then leave when they get busy and have a bit of a break at the hotel. I think staying on site is the key. :thumbsup: