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[mama2disneyfan]

I am considering this for DD for our next trip. We have been three times since March 2009 and DD, now nine has kind of a hard time at WDW. We will hopefully know sometime this month whether she has Asperger's Syndrome or if it is something else. I thought perhaps if we could sometimes wait in a separate area for rides, etc if that might help her. I am new to all of this and I am just curious if anyone has a child with similar issues and has used a GAC and if it helped at all. I am not sure what other things may help her relax and have fun. She is quickly overwhelmed by the people and does things that are sometimes considered naughty or strange {even by her well meaning but ignorant until recently parents }.

Thanks in advance for any advice or information.

[Caldercup]

It sounds like a GAC might be the perfect thing for your DD (many people here have kids who have similar needs and have to use "alternate entrances" to minimize the number of people crowding around the child.

Just go to any Guest Services on your first day in the parks. The Cast Members are used to these requests and will explain how the GAC works (that it's not a "front of the line" pass, but a way for Disney to accomodate your daughter), and will issue it for the length of your stay.

Then, show the GAC to any CM at the entrance to a ride and explain your needs. They will direct you to the best way to enter the ride in a fashion that will keep your daughter calm and happy.

Good luck!

[mama2disneyfan]

Thanks very much. I knew it wasn't a front of the line thing but just need her to be happy while we are there, at least some of the time.
Thanks again!

[kallykae]

In July we got a GAC card for our DS who is type 1 diabetic, it gave us access to all the fast pass lines or rides thru the handicap enterances, you get so many people w/ the child on the pass, we had 4, so they just counted how many were present each time we entered. Also had special seating at Lion King.

It helped us greatly getting around to do all we wanted w/ out waiting in long lines in the heat and keeping DS on his insulin and eating schedule w/ out sugar drops. Also was able to use it for character greetings.

[mama2disneyfan]

Great info - thanks very much. There are four of us as well, we have a three year old soon too.
Thanks so much for responding.

[taylan1]

The GAC is really wonderful. We use it for our DS who is Autistic and large, noisy crowds upset him greatly. It enables us to keep him relaxed and happy and makes for a much more enjoyable experience. I hope that it does the same for your DD.

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by kallykae

we got a GAC card for our DS who is type 1 diabetic

The first time I took my T1D to Disney, we had such problems with his blood sugar and asked for the GAC to be able to use an alternate entrance (so we could quickly get out of line if his blood sugar tanked and he grew faint.) Unfortunately, I really had to work the CM to get them to see why we needed it -- we weren't trying to jump lines, we just wanted a line where testing his BGs would be easier or would let him sit down while waiting for his levels to come back up after some quick sugar... They did eventually agree he needed it, but I've heard since that they're being less agreeable about T1Ds being eligible for the GAC.

Originally Posted by kallykae

Also was able to use it for character greetings.

Interesting! Last time this came up on the boards, at least one CM told us here that they can't be used for character greeting lines. (Although, with so many CMs employed there, I'm sure there's lots of "wiggle room" in how they handle Disney's guidelines.)

[mama2disneyfan]

Interesting, well I guess we will find out. The character lines don't matter as much. If she feels like waiting we will otherwise we won't

[crossfamily]

We used it for my ds7 this last time and let me tell you it was a life saver!!! We were standing in line to see the faries which said a 5 minute wait.. well 45 minutes later and in full blown meltdown (I had my dd5 with me as well alone so I had no help) A CM came up to me to see if he could be of assistance and I explained our situation and he brought us out of line to a "quieting area" and that helped big time. Then he told us in the future to just show the card to the CM at the front of the line and they will escort us to an area easier for ds to cope.. When we were done with the fairies we went to get in line for the princesses and I showed the CM at the front and he just had us wait on the benches until another CM came adn got us to take us around back. That was our experience with using the gac card with characters..

[kallykae]

We used it at Magic at the Mickey greeting, no questions asked they just took us in a different entrance (using the GAC), also used it at character greeting at Epcot (all 5 characters) again no questions asked, they just let us in before the line. They never ask why we have the card.

When we got our card the gentleman at Hollywood was really great, we explained the situation w/ the T1D and I told him we needed a pass so DS would not wait in the sun, could stay on his schedule. He also told us that we could use the fridge at the first aid for meds if we needed too.
Good luck on your trip, like in past posts we were just there in early July of this year. Make sure the card it Red, that was the one we got.

[mama2disneyfan]

Thank you very much. She has an appointment for an evaluation {FINALLY} on December 20 and we go for the report on January 18, so we should have a final dx well before our trip.

Thanks so much for all your advice and experience. I think she will have a great trip with a few modifications and therefore we will all have a great time.