For the first time in forever...Or Not?-Intro

[maznorm]

Introductions

The Cast:-

Me - 41 years old. Disney mad and holiday mad. I am the planner of the group and no one else seems to really be all that bothered except me. I had to massively lower my expectations for this trip. All I really wanted to do was eat an Earl of Sandwich and take in the atmosphere at the parks. Anything else was a bonus.

Norm - 38 years old. Still wasn’t sure if this trip was a good idea or not. The family wallet.

Phoenix - 12 years old. Also, wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. Doesn’t really like to be out of his comfort zone. Looking forward to the Halloween decorations and maybe meeting Dr Facilier as that is who he was going to be for Halloween. Probably high functioning autistic, still going through diagnosis.

Seren - 11 years old. She is autistic. She is verbal but has a very hard time with a lot of things. Has been having a lot of problems regarding school to the point where she has been without a school since May. She may or may not be able to cope with this trip and is the reason for others thinking it might not be a good idea. Last time we flew back from Florida she kicked off so badly that they asked if they needed to land the plane. That was pre diagnosis at aged 3. She was diagnosed about a month after we got back.

Cyrus - 5 years old. My little monkey. The baby of the family. Can be difficult at times as the whole family spoil him rotten. Is just being discussed at school as being possibly ADHD but without wanting to sound awful, we always thought he was the "normal" one. Whatever normal means. Has never experienced Disney before.

This trip has been a looooong time coming. The last time we went abroad was 8 years ago to a Holiday Village in Greece. The last time we had done any Disney was 9 years ago. We had booked to go back to Florida this Christmas but we decided against it as Seren really wasn’t coping well and it just seemed like to big of a risk and too much of a cost if we didn’t manage the flight etc. So, we booked Paris as a compromise and “practise run” for Florida. This is why we chose to fly and from Manchester which is where we would be flying from if we went to Florida, as they have “Autism Awareness” lanyards. I had been showing Seren videos of the things we would be doing, including the airport and the flight.

Manchester airport have some fantastic autism guides on youtube.



Seren enjoyed watching these and I think they helped her understand what was happening. I found them really helpful as well to get my bearings and to be able to explain to Seren and the boys what was happening when.

So we were all set to go.

Up Next...Pre-Travel Day