Kelly at Pure Magic Vacations

Travel Without Limits: The questions I ask a neurodivergent family before I start planning their Walt Disney World trip

Before I build a single thing on a Walt Disney World Resort itinerary for a family with a neurodivergent child, I ask questions. A lot of them. And they are probably not the questions you are expecting.

I do not start by asking how many days you want to spend at the parks, or which resort you are interested in, or whether you want to do a character dining experience. Those conversations happen, but they come later.

I start by asking about your child.
What does a good day look like for them? Not a great day, not a perfect day, just a good one. What are the conditions that make a good day possible? What are the things that reliably derail it?

What is their relationship with noise? With crowds? With waiting? With unexpected changes to the plan?
What time of day are they at their best? Because that answer shapes everything about how I build the theme park schedule.

How do they handle transitions between activities? Between environments? Between the energy of a theme park and the quiet of a hotel room?
What has travel looked like for your family before? What worked? What did not? What do you wish had been different?

I ask these questions because a Walt Disney World Resort trip has a thousand variables, and the only way to manage those variables in a way that actually serves your child is to understand your child first. The theme parks, the resorts, the dining, the experiences, all of it gets built around the answers to these questions.

I truly believe every family deserves a vacation that actually works for their child, full of moments they will talk about for years. The planning is how we get there.
If this sounds like the kind of planning conversation you have been looking for, send me a message. I would love to start asking you the right questions.

I want to know: what is your family's absolute non-negotiable on a Walt Disney World Resort trip?

The thing that, if it did not happen, the trip would not feel complete. Maybe it is a specific ride you do every single time. Maybe it is a meal that has become a tradition. Maybe it is watching the fireworks from a particular spot, or a snack you cannot leave the theme park without.

For our family, there are a few things that have made it onto the non-negotiable list over the years, and honestly that list has evolved as the girls have gotten older and started having more opinions of their own. The items that remain on the list year after year are: a character meal, shopping at Disney Springs, pizza at our hotel on check-in day, riding the Skyliner Gondola, at least 1 visit to the Character Warehouse, and a monorail ride through EPCOT.

Drop yours in the comments. I genuinely love reading these.