Adapting for Disney- Park Prep

Oh my gosh, so besides trying to figure out what rides we will be able to take Isaiah on, when we take our first family vacation to Disney World, we have to think of Isaiah's needs.

First, there's the normal kid stuff...sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, extra clothes, etc.

Then we have to think about Isaiah's needs in reference to his OI.  We plan to bring our travel "break bag" and Isaiah's emergency folder from my car (has a list of Isaiah's current meds, surgery dates, emergency contacts, etc).  Doses of his pain meds are always with us but in an ever-changing and undisclosed location. ;-)

Let's hope we don't have to use anything in this bag.

We are also using Isaiah's stroller and labeling it as a wheelchair.  That will allow us to bring it into restaurants and shows as needed.

Then we have to think of the challenges we think we will face in the parks....two of those challenges that we have been focused on have been 1) the heat and 2) meal time.

1) The Heat

For the last year, we've been googling and searching like crazy for ideas on how to help Isaiah beat the Florida heat...I have been watching the weather forecast and the temps are predicted to be in the upper 90s while we are meeting Mickey.  We do plan to walk through stores to cool down as needed, and are grateful that many of the rides and character meet and greets are now air conditioned, but still, Isaiah is no fan of hot summer days.

We purchased some Frog Toggs that we plan to pack, but in all honestly we don't think they will give Isaiah enough relief.  We also started putting Isaiah in his stroller without his Snuggin Go pillow, although it offers him perfect support for his spine, it also shoots his body temperature up and makes him sweat like no tomorrow (so he'll be getting a vacation-length break from it).  We found a stroller cooling pad that seems promising, but we were still nervous.

Isaiah's OI BFF has a very creative daddy who came up with a DIY cooling system which runs off of batteries that offered us the most promise.  After he shared how he made it, Dave went to town creating his own (that he researched to be approved to go on the airplane with us), making some modifications and using the cooling pad that he purchased.  If this works well, I plan to bug Dave and Gavin's daddy about getting this sucker patented. ;-)

It hasn't been hot enough to for us to truly try it out at home, but I hope to give you a full report of its success/failure after our trip...unless I really can convince the guys about that patent. ;-) lol

2) Meal Time

Isaiah's head/torso control has improved so much recently that we thought we may be able to use the standard high chairs in restaurants for our vacation...but then we thought about it, and realized we'd still have to bring padding and we were concerned that if Isaiah was hot/tired, that he wouldn't be able to support himself.  Also, we didn't like the idea of Isaiah being out in the aisle.  We did briefly come up with an idea to put a small boogey board behind him in the standard high chair, but some places have rules against that.  

We know that since we're using his stroller as a wheelchair, that we can bring it into any restaurant and he can sit in there...but I know he can be a sweat pot in his stroller and I wanted to give him a break from it.  It is an option for us if we need it though, which is a relief to have a back up.

We also have our laps, but I know us when it comes to Disney...we will be hot, tired, and wanting to eat...it can be an option at meals but every meal time cannot take place on our laps.

We did some searching at local baby stores and on diapers.com and found a fantastically amazing portable high chair.

Below is the Peg Perego Rigalto.  We ordered this chair just to check it out (since we couldn't see it in stores( and we fully expected to return it (diapers.com has free shipping/returns) but we fell in love immediately.

 It is a travel chair that folds up very small and goes into a travel bag (in the bottom set of pictures).  It is six pounds.  It has foam padding on the back and bottom. It has a tall back which is what Isaiah needs for support when he's tired. Its tray is removable and the seat can raise or lower to sit at the table.  It has sturdy arms that Isaiah likes to grab on to to pull himself up on.  It is amazing.

We love it. We've already started using it when visiting family and during our recent Pam trip at DuPont.  Even if we decide not to bring it into the parks with us, we're thrilled to have it because we can use it in our resort room for meals there.

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Alrighty, that wraps up our basic prep for our future fun in Disney Parks...next up is prepping for our resort stay!