My daughter’s birthday is coming up. This year she wanted to do something different so I mentioned Disney and of course she was totally excited about it! I immediately went online to try and find what weekend would have less crowds. My daughter’s birthday is Presidents Day weekend and I knew that would be a nightmare for MJ ( heck, for all of us)! After researching I found that February 8th-11th is a non peak weekend and therefore would work well for us. When we do visit Orlando, we only focus on one theme park. There is no park hopping over here. MJ would never be able to tolerate that. My daughter decided on Animal Kingdom this time. I was pleased because MJ loves animals and I knew he’d enjoy it too. We always pack the essentials: gold fish, Caprisun, apples, headphones, portable DVD player and his tablet. Im so relieved that he does well on road trips. He is relaxed and mostly looks out of the window while occasionally asking, “are we there yet?” When we first get to the hotel we settle in and then walk around and check out the resort. Then it’s time to eat! They always have his favorite (nuggets and fries). Next up is always the arcade. It’s so nice to see the kids playing together and not getting on each other’s nerves (yes Jesus)! The next day is our theme park day. I prepared MJ by showing him videos of Animal Kingdom with the attractions and rides. We also reviewed a map of the park and the hotel we’d be staying in. When we first got there we immediately went to guest services for their “disability access service” which allows MJ to go on attractions a little faster, in order to avoid meltdowns. After that it was time to explore the park! MJ was a bit hesitant when we got there. He walked slowly, with his head down, and looked aggravated. Hubby had to hang back with him for a few minutes while I went ahead with Morgan. She was thrilled with all there was to see and I could tell that it bothered her that MJ was less enthused (insert prayer here). It took about 30 minutes for him to ” warm up.” We had fun on Kilimanjaro’s Safari, and on rides in the Dinosaur area. The Festival of the Lion King show was great! Unfortunately MJ slept through the entire show which was really a bummer because I knew he’d enjoy that (One of his favorite TV shows right now is The Lion Guard). Six hours flew by and I could tell by the look on his face that it was time to go. We are always sure not to over do it with him. After Animal Kingdom we had dinner then the kids enjoyed the resort pool for the rest of the evening and the next day. We had a wonderful time and though this trip was really all about Morgan, we can never really go anywhere without planning for MJ.

#familytrip

The only picture of All of us together that we took: