Hey Rebecca,
Welcome back to planDisney! As a mama to a perfect human with ADHD, I can understand your concerns regarding your upcoming visit to Walt Disney World. I hope that I can ease some of your anxiety around your visit.
The
Disney World ticket calendar is a great place to understand what crowds might look like during your visit. Typically, Value Season indicates lower crowds while Peak Season indicates higher crowds. Regular Season is somewhere in between. As of today it does look like your visit coincides with Peak Season so crowds might be a bit high. This doesn’t mean that you won’t enjoy your time at the Most Magical Place on Earth, but it does mean that you might need to invest a little more planning time to ensure that you’re not overwhelmed. I have a few suggestions!
Consider applying for Disney’s
DAS service. DAS accommodates guests who are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time due to a developmental disability. Registration will be available to you once you’re in the U.S. and is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. No specific diagnosis is guaranteed approval. If you don’t qualify for DAS, consider purchasing
Lightning Lane passes which also provide you with the ability to skip the traditional standby queue in a different way.
In addition to these methods for navigating the standby queues, Disney has resources for guests with sensory challenges that have been super helpful for my family. Review the
Accessibility Guide, the
Sensory Experience Details, the
Accessibility Planning Guide & Recommendations and
Theme Park Guide Maps for Guests with Disabilities. These resources are not only amazing planning tools, but they help guests understand what to expect throughout their visit. Knowing exactly what to expect has helped my son so much during our visits and it also helps him assess when to suggest that we opt out of any experience that might be too overwhelming for him.
I hope this information is helpful. I recently took my sons to Disney World during spring break and while it was crowded, knowing exactly what to expect helped. He never felt too overwhelmed thanks to us knowing when to take
sensory breaks and where to do it! I hope these tools are helpful, but do
let me know if I can help with planning in any other way. We’ll see ya real soon!
Sakinah