Kidani, HRH & BLT in 6 nights- Yes! We are THAT crazy!! Nov 4-10,09 OBX updates 4/13

[podsnel]

Well, here I am again, with another tale of what we did and how we did it. I'm Ellen, official Disney nutcase assigned to planning all vacations for my dear family. Of course it is my pleasure to plan these trips, and I feel very, very fortunate after having planned this one- because on THIS trip, we were ALL going to WDW for the first time in 2 years. Hopefully. There was no issue with myself, or my DH (Pods), or with our 2 younger sons, DS12 (Tyler) and DS10 (Timmy). We are all very happy to go, go, GO! wherever and whenever we can. The issue was with DS15 (Sean). Sean is a beautiful, intelligent, sweet young man who happens to be autistic, too. And his autism very often gets in the way of fun things like....going to summer camp (when he screamed for an hour and wouldn't get out of the car) or going to Florida to visit his Grandma & cousins (which he let us know when he wouldn't get out of the car at the airport). Fun, fun stuff. I guess Sean had decided he would prefer to sleep in his bed- ONLY. Makes it a little tough to go anywhere that way. But, I was DETERMINED he was going to WDW in November 2009. Because we have been going to WDW every other year for most of his life. And WDW, well, he loves it there. And the CMs are SO KIND, the characters SO WONDERFUL to him... it is a TRULY magical experience for us all, and I was NOT going to give it up!! So, I dug my heels in, and over the course of a year, we were successful in getting him de-sensitized to hotel stays (by taking him on overnights to various Embassy Suites in NJ). All that was left would be getting him on de plane! Well, how about getting him into the airport even? Off the plane? Onto the DME? Into the hotels? Into the parks? Out to dinner? Oh boy, this is a little more challenging than it sounds. A 15 year old throwing a tantrum like a two year old is NOT ever a good thing and really needs to be avoided as much as possible. Soooo....

What I did was make a book for him. It's about 40 pages in length. And it details EVERYTHING we would be doing over the course of our trip to WDW. Along with photos. Photos of EVERYTHING...Newark airport. The Continental plane. The monorail at the Orlando airport. DME. ALL the DVC villa rooms (including photos of the pull-out chairs, thanks to some very kind DIS friends! ) and the HRH room. Even the shower stalls. Every park and every ride we know he loves. Even every restaurant we had ADRs for. And we read this book together everyday, several times, for a month before D-Day- November 4th. And everyday, about 100 times a day, I asked him, "Where are we going on November 4th?" to which he would reply, "Walt Disney World". "How do we get to WDW?" "On the airplane." Until, it was finally November 4th, and we were waking him up to get into our van and go to the airport. But would Sean do it? Would he be able to conquer all of his inexplainable fears? Would we FINALLY be going on a family vacation with our whole family, or would he be escorted home from Newark Airport at the final moment by our friend Ann who was kind enough to wake up so early and ride along in our van with us just in case? Would he be spending the week with my cousins Sheree & Henry again (the saints who watch him for us when we do go away without him)? Stay tuned to find out!!

As a side note, on my last TR, I was able to finally figure out how to post links to individual posts, so I'll be doing that HERE-

And....we're OFF! http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...95&postcount=9

C'mon Sean...you can do it!! http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...6&postcount=16

Happy New Year Everyone! http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...9&postcount=29

It's time for club Cool! http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...4&postcount=31

A night in Germany- dinner at Biergarten http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...0&postcount=37

The Yankees win the World Series! http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...7&postcount=44

Some old Scrapbook pages http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...9&postcount=49

EE in the FRONT row! http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...1&postcount=51

Flying lessons at Sanaa http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...5&postcount=56

Hangin at Kidani http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...9&postcount=58

A Room with a view http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...1&postcount=68

Finally! MK then Jambo for BOMA http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...5&postcount=79

Goodbye Kidani, Hello DTD http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...8&postcount=86

A Great day with my son in DTD http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...8&postcount=90

Osprey Ridge Golf http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...7&postcount=92

We're walkin' right down the middle of Main St, USA http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=103

More MK with my Sean http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=104

Uh-Oh at HRH http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=119

Never Underestimate the power of a DVC 1 bdrm villa http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=120

The Simpsons Ride ROCKS! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=137

Give a Day, Get a Day (off topic- OOPS!) http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=157

Lunch at the beachclub- with Squirrel, but not Moose! http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=160

Twistin' by the Pool... http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=172

Visiting Aunt Irma http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=175

Rip Ride Rockit- is it worth it? http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=176

Another Blast from the past- U & IOA 2005 http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=184

Off to Mythos for lunch! http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=185

A visit with Irma, circa 2003 http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=197

SPLASHDOWN! At IOA http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=209

A Little Hoops before we go http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=211

Back to the Mothership-Checking into BLT http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=218

Chef Mickey's...for the last time http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=227

My name is Ellen, and I am fireworks challenged http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=234

TOWL, baby! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=239

Yum Yum- Kona Cafe for breakfast! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=248

Sidetrack-Skiing & Chinese New Year http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=287

Buzz Cuts & Tea Cups http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=288

More MK http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=290

Sum of All Thrills with Satan's Spawn http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=299

The Ooh La La Part http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=300

DHS http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=313

It's a SNOWICANE!! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=321

Timmy takes on Rockin Rollercoaster! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=336

50's PT http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=341

BLT pool at night with my Shawnee http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=354

TOWL & UH-OH.... http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=357

Here in OBX http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=363

The sun is shining! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=365

DVC & CR Management ROCK! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=379

Update from OBX last week http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=380

Timmy gets in one last Thrill ride http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=389

OBX Ring in the Spring! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=390

OBX http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=391

OBX http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=392

OBX http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=396