When my husband asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate the release of my first book, The Gift of the Unexpected- Discovering Who You Were Meant to Be When Life Goes Off Plan, I knew it had to be something with the kids. I wrote the book when two of my three kids were still in diapers. I was a full time stay at home mom while trying to make this dream come to life. I would sometimes write while they crawled on top of me! They had to be a part of it!

The only thing is- traveling with our son with Down syndrome has been pretty tough in the past. Anderson, who is now 8 years old, thrives on routine. Especially at nighttime. He has a very hard time sleeping in unfamiliar places.

We kicked around some ideas and eventually landed on a Disney Cruise. We live 30 minutes from Port Canaveral, so this was a bit of a no-brainer. But also- we have been super impressed with how accommodating Disney is with Anderson at their parks with their disability pass (DAS). We decided to go on a three-night cruise aboard the Disney Wish to Nassau (we didn’t get off the boat there) and Castaway Cay.

So, how did it go with Anderson? That’s what this blog post will be about. There are many travel bloggers out there who can give you the ins and outs of what to do on a Disney Cruise- this is not that kind of post! I will give you some of our favorite moments! But I really wanted to create a blog post for parents of kids who have disabilities comparable to Anderson’s disability.

So, really quick- how does Anderson’s disability affect him when it comes to something like traveling? Anderson has Down syndrome and ADHD. Our biggest struggles are elopement and impulsive behaviors. He needs constant supervision when out in public. Unless we are at a place like a park, he pretty much needs to be within arm’s length of an adult.  

Here’s our general review:

We once again found Disney to be very accommodating. His disability was never talked about. When we called Disney ahead of time to let them know about Anderson we kind of felt blown off. Not in a rude way- but in a- “this is going to be fine” kind of way.

There was nothing for us to do beforehand.

And that’s kind of how it went aboard the ship. They treated Anderson like a kid first and made accommodations when needed. They never made a big deal about those accommodations.

Basically, we are super impressed with Disney’s added supports.

Pools:

Anderson had some struggles in the pool area. We have a pool and he is used to pool toys and jumping in and making a splash (he’s a great swimmer!). The deepest pool aboard the Disney wish is 4 feet (Donald and Goofy). But there’s no jumping. Here’s a deep dive on all the pools and slides aboard the Disney Wish.

That being said, he did adapt and our last day was his best when it came to the pool area. We pretty much set up chairs by the Donald pool every day and it worked out well.

Slides:

The Slide-a-saurus Rex, was a bit of a challenge. The slide is slow and was a little too tempting for Anderson to turn around and walk up it. And you can’t go two people at a time. How did this play out? Andy or I broke the rules and slid down before the green light alerted us to go so we could closely follow Anderson. Did the staff say something? Once. But never again. I think they understood we were doing what was best for him.

The Aqua Mouse slide had a bit of a line. And although Anderson couldn’t skip the line like he does at the Walt Disney theme parks with the disability pass, they allowed him to ride the slide two times in a row! And then the last day when everyone was off the boat to go to Castaway Cay- they let him ride it three times in a row! My husband was with Anderson and said the staff was really cute and cheering him on.

Splash Zone:

There is a Toy Story Splash Zone that Anderson is technically too old for. One staffer did ask me his age but Anderson just went in anyways. She didn’t say anything, so I just followed him really closely. He loved it! Again- accommodating.

Kid’s Club:

First off- the kids are required to wear bracelets with trackers on them. They have locks to keep them on, but those locks were no match for Anderson! He struggled to wear the bracelet during the day, but he kept it on while in the club! So, I wasn’t too nervous about him eloping because they can locate him on a screen and tell you where your child is at all times.

Still, this was the biggest question mark of the trip. How would Anderson do without us in a very busy environment without one-on-one supervision? I can’t tell you an exact answer because I wasn’t there- but I can tell you that he loved it!

We laughed dropping him off for the second time because all of the staff knew his name before scanning his bracelet. They didn’t know our other kid’s names! (Insert laughing emoji!) We think that Anderson was probably brought up in a meeting or something- which we were a-okay with. Basically, we felt like there were likely several extra eyes on him but they never let us know that. We never felt like he was treated like a problem to be solved. Ever.

Anderson left kid’s club each time telling us about all the things he did. He was so excited! This was really rewarding for us!

By the way- this was our basic schedule every day:

Morning-

Pool with the kids

Then Lunch with the kids

Afternoon-

1-2 hours at kid’s club while Andy and I lounged outside

Evening-

Dinner with the kids

Show with the kids (Anderson’s favorite part!)

Dropped the kids off at Kid’s Club and had a cocktail in one of the lounges

One more thing about Kid’s Club- on Castaway Cay days- Kid’s Club is on the island and not available on the boat until late in the afternoon.

That is really all there is when it comes to how a Disney cruise went for our kid with a disability. I think behaviors for all kids can be a bit intensified while traveling, it was no different for Anderson. But once we got through the first day and a half, he started to get the hang of it and some of those impulsive behaviors calmed down. Also, this was the best he ever slept while traveling ever!

Okay, onto some general stuff-

Dining:

The Arendelle restaurant was truly impressive. It really felt like you were in the castle from Frozen. The kids absolutely loved the live show. This was my overall favorite dining experience! Get the scallops in puff pastry for an appetizer- absolutely delicious!

Here’s a snapshot of one of my favorite moments on the cruise, my youngest son Preston, nearly fainted meeting Elsa. Let’s just say he’s into blondes!

1923 has the best food. The filets were good (a little too peppery for me) but the lamb (which our head server insisted we try) was outstanding!

Marvel- This was the only thing I was disappointed in on the whole cruise. I thought there would be super heroes walking around because it shows super heroes on the promotional video. But it was just Spiderman in a costume that looked like it was purchased from Amazon. The actual restaurant atmosphere was amazing! But I was disappointed in the show part- especially for the boys because they were looking forward to meeting the heroes. We put this feedback on the comment card.

Room Service: putting this out there in case you have never cruised before. You can order room service to your room without an additional charge. We scheduled coffee and donuts to arrive each morning at 7 so we didn’t feel rushed getting to breakfast.

Marceline:

This was one part of the trip we found stressful with Anderson. This is a big area with a lot of different food stations and the dining room is tight. One of us would get a table with the kids and the other would go get food for the kids. But you have to make several trips with a family our size. Next time, we will probably go to one of the main restaurants for breakfast to cut down the stress!

Poolside food-

This is the best poolside food I’ve ever had on a cruise. The BBQ was really good and so was the Mexican! The kids loved the chicken and French fries. Also, get the pineapple soft serve!

Shows

Aladdin was fantastic! I really would not miss this show.

Little Mermaid was great too!

Disney Seas The Adventure-

This show is cute! But if you are looking to book a dinner at one of the paid locations without the kids- this would be the show I’d be willing to miss. The only exception- is if your kids are really into the traditional Disney characters.

Pirate Night

2/3 kids enjoyed dressing up for pirate night! There is 1 pirate night aboard the ship and many people dress up for it. I loved how they did 2 shows- one earlier in the evening for little kids with the traditional Disney characters and then one at 1015 that ended in fireworks. Our boys were both tired on this night, so I just took my daughter to the late show. Definitely a highlight for me for sure. She says it was one of her favorite parts! I think the extra ice cream I told her to get didn’t hurt! And the fireworks were incredible!

Other Comments:

We will absolutely do this with the kids again! We feel like our kids are at really good ages for this cruise (9, 8, 5). That being said, this isn’t a cruise I would choose to do with just Andy and I. We noticed the lounges were super quiet at night and not quite as fun as other cruises we have been on. I know adults do Disney Cruises without kids all the time, but if it’s just us, we would pick another cruise line.

That being said The Rose Bar was absolutely beautiful! And we really enjoyed live music at the Bayou bar. We never made it to the activities at Luna but I heard those were really fun!

One more thing, we got a porthole room for peace of mind. I was really impressed with the room! I think next time, we will feel comfortable enough with Anderson to get a balcony room.

Would I choose a Disney Cruise over staying at a hotel and doing the parks? Hard to say! They are really different trips. I personally love doing theme parks with the kids! I think the pools at the Disney hotels are more enjoyable for the kids, but the benefit with the cruise is the kid’s club. The kids loved it and so did we! Most of the time when traveling with kids, we say it’s a trip not a vacation. The cruise definitely felt more like a vacation!

It was so fun celebrating the book release The Gift of the Unexpected has been out for almost a whole month. Thank you for your support over the past month. This book is really a book about identity and how the ! unexpected things that happen to us can help us become who we are meant to be. You can buy it for 30% off ($12.59) plus free shipping here.

Addressing questions I received from Instagram and Facebook about Disney Cruises:

-Gluten Free Options: Yes, there are gluten free options on the menus! This is not a need for our family, but here is an article.

-Accessible beds and baths? Yes, here’s an article about the accessibility of Disney Wish.

-Finding joy in spite of challenges? My husband said to me at one point that he was using the word “and” a lot. Read my article on the word “and” here. We definitely had some challenging moments with Anderson- mostly darting away. The highs are higher with Anderson and the lows are lower. This was true on the cruise too. There were hard moments and when he experienced joys- they were over the top joyful. It was hard at times AND it was good. So good.