We Came, We Saw, We Conquered

Here we are right outside of Diagon Alley

As most of you know, we spent Spring Break in Florida. We've been planning this vacation for at least a year. We had wanted to go last year but decided to make some much-needed improvements to our house instead so we saved diligently in order to make it happen this year. The impetus for this trip was Ben & Caroline's love for Harry Potter: we wanted to capitalize on this unique time in their lives when they are both interested in the same thing at the same time. We went to Disney World over 5 years ago (I was 30+ weeks pregnant with Elias!) when Caroline was in full-tilt Disney Princess mode and we were so glad that we were able to do that with her at that time -- and really they were both into the Disney movies and Mickey Mouse at those ages.

Fast forward to now: our plan was to go to Florida and mainly do Universal Studios, no Disney this time. Elias has not shown any interest in Disney, Mickey Mouse or any of the Disney movies to this point so we weren't going to spend the hundreds of dollars to do Disney in addition to hundreds of dollars for Universal. So really, this particular vacation in large part was for my oldest two as well as me and Chris since we both are HP fans. Because of this fact, I was very anxious about it, mostly because I didn't know how Elias would react to any of it. The opportunities for things to go badly were endless in my mind especially because my brain automatically defaults to WORST CASE SCENARIO:

• He would have a meltdown in the TSA Security line and/or try to run to the front of the line
• Wouldn't want to get on the airplane
• Once on the airplane he'd scream the whole flight
• After the layover in Atlanta he wouldn't get on the second flight
• He wouldn't get in the car that we were renting for the week (he has shown a reluctance to get into other people's cars from time to time)
• He wouldn't go in the bathrooms at any of the places we were going to be
• He wouldn't sleep well in a new environment
• He'd hate Universal Studios: crowds, heat, lines, rides, you name it

Silly mama, why were you so worried?

Do you want to know how many of these WORST CASE SCENARIOS happened? None. Zero. I credit Elias and also his therapists who have been helping him. We did some prep work with him and took advantage of the built-in accommodations available to us. Here's what I think helped:

1. About a month before vacation, Caroline & I went to Denver to visit some very dear friends. Because of that trip, I realized what a sensory nightmare air travel is: lots of people, unfamiliar building, waiting in line, new smells, lots of noise. So I talked to his speech and OT who did some flight-related things with him during school and we watched several YouTube videos about the airport and flying. I found this one helpful, as well as this one. Then one of my friends clued me into the Daniel Tiger episode where they show a video of a girl going through airport security! Score. (Can I just give a shout out to YouTube too? I love that I can find a video of just about anything) 
2. We also adapted a social story from this site and customized it for our trip. He didn't seem too interested in it but we read it a few times to him.
3. TSA Cares: So, this seems like a bit of an oxymoron, right? I mean, they don't seem to care one whit when you've been standing in line for 45 minutes and about to miss your flight and they pull you over to wand you. But, they do have a special program for people with disabilities. I called them the day before we left and they assigned us a Passenger Support Specialist who met us at the Delta check-in counter and escorted us past the crazy long security at Midway airport (at 5:00 AM on Saturday morning!!!) and right to the front of the line!! 
4. We got an Attraction Assistance Pass at Universal Studios which basically functioned as their Express Pass where if the posted wait time is more than 30 minutes they wrote on our pass and we could come back at the time they listed so we didn't have to wait in line. We could use this even if Elias didn't want to ride on the ride. We also took advantage of their child swap program so that Chris could go on with the older two kids, I waited in the Child Swap room and when they got off I could get right on. The combination of both of these things eliminated a ton of waiting around and made things significantly easier for all of us.
5. We rented a stroller at Universal. Chris at first thought that Elias could just walk or that he could carry him. This unfortunately wasn't the case. It became apparent pretty quickly that Elias was going to want me to carry him through the park for much of the time. He's almost 50 pounds and that was not going to be an option. So we got him a mini kiddie car each day we were at the park and we were all much happier as a result. He had his own little space that kept him isolated from all of the crowds and I was significantly happier not having to carry him or hear him crying in Chris's arms.

So we did three days of Universal, but we also had many opportunities to do the activity he loves most in the world: swimming. We visited my dear aunt and uncle who live on the gulf side one day and have a pool in their backyard, and they live right on the beach! We were also at a resort that had 7 separate pools, so there is no need to feel sorry for this child getting dragged around Universal Studios, he had fun on vacation too :)

No suffering going on here