Hi everyone. Welcome back to ask an autism mom live with Jen Eggert of Lakikid.com. You can join her every Monday, live on Facebook to learn tips, meet other parents and share your insights. She will tackle any topic from the dreaded meltdown to the basics of how autism can affect a family.

Jenn : Hi everyone and welcome pack to ask an autism mom. I'm Jenn Eggert from Lakikid.com and you can join me every Monday at 1:00 PM eastern to share your insights, meet other parents and learn tips and tricks. On today's show. I am talking with Nicole from magical storybook travel and we will be sharing travel tips and other things travel related for special needs families. First I want to say thank you Nicole for joining us.

Nicole: Thanks for having me.

Jenn: And I want you all to know Nicole is and I'll get into her bio. She is not just a travel agent, she is a mom of a autistic child, so she understands exactly where we are coming from. If we've been through a, chances are she's probably been through it too.

Nicole: That is true.

Jenn: So I want to welcome all of you, those of you watching on Facebook or listening to the podcast on iTunes or youtube. If you want to get alerts to ask questions live and watch a live, you can visit Lakikid.com/live or type the number "5" in the comment section. Now again, to subscribe to live updates, type the number "5" in the comments section. Now want to welcome you all for being here. So far we have Jason and Maria. Welcome. If you're just joining us, you're listening to ask an autism mom live and I am sitting down today with Nicole from magical storybook travel, talking all things special needs travel related. What can't wait to dig into today's topic with you, but first huge shout out to our sponsors. Everyone knows that LakiKid is our sponsor. Of course, my shirt, everything else, and y'all know we make amazing quality products. Look at our wiggle seat. Two different textures, soft bumps on one side, pot, porcupine type bumps on the other.

Jenn: And guess what For a very limited time as in only the first 100 people can get this wiggle seat for only the cost of shipping. How much is shipping Shipping is $9.99 so our product is on four $9.99 so go ahead and at the end of the show I will put the link for the wiggle seat and how to get it. So let's carry on with our show. So first of all we have Nicole Thibault who's a mom of three boys, one with autism, one neurotypical and one with childhood Apraxia of speech and sensory processing disorder. She lives with her boys and her husband and three cats in western New York. She's also a certified autism traveled per special and advocate for autism travel. Folks, this is the big part. She is certified to know how to help an autism family travel safely and enjoyably.

Jenn: She blogs about her experiences traveling with her boys and shares her knowledge with other Moms and Dads, clients and other travel agents, travel agents and the travel industry as a whole. She is an international public speaker but autism travel and speaks regularly at travel industry. Related shows about the challenges facing families with autism while vacationing her travel agency magic story book travels has helped hundreds of families with autism travel with less stress and more ease. She assists with all of the planning and booking but also does something called pre-travel counseling. Folks, this is important. I want you to listen about this when we get into it in the show, which the family including the child or person with autism to make sure they are aware of the details of the trip at ahead of time. How many of us struggle with, I know Riley went away with my parents last week. Exactly! I struggle. You struggle. We struggle with this. Travel as a whole. Riley came home Saturday from four days with my parents and it was like we tended to go to bed 11 PM, I think. Your bedtimes. Nine. How many meltdowns did you have grandma, I had none, right No, you had five.

Jenn: So if folks, this pre-travel counseling is important. She also owns spectrum travel, social story videos, a production company that produces destination specific autism, social story videos for kids on the spectrum. And it could also, I'm assuming, be used for adults, correct. Nicole.

Nicole: Yep.

Jenn: They're very user friendly.

Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. And they're made both for kids and parents, so everybody can watch.

Jenn: They also produce informational videos for parents so that they can understand how to obtain and use disability passes and such. Nicole's always planning her next trip with her sons. This summer they will heading be heading to a mountain at away and the Adirondack mountains of New York
for hiking and boating. And then before school starts they're going to Orlando to universal. Oh, I'm jealous. So Nicole, let's get started. What do you do and why do you do it?

Nicole: Well, like you said, I'm an autism traveled professional, certified by IBCs who is the organization that is certifying both agents and destinations. And I do it because of my son mainly. I always wanted to be that kind of mom who just like had like five kids until, and just went everywhere in the world. And I was like Angelina Jolie and all these airports. And when my husband and I got together, we wanted to make sure that family travel was a big priority for us. And so when my son was born, we went on our first cruise when he was six months old. We went to Disney every six months. And he just, we thought he become this little traveler just accustomed to everything and everything was fine up until about two and a half years old and went to with me. I'm like, we hadn't been doing many times before and it was meltdown city. It was horrible. He melted down in lines. He melted down when we are at a restaurant and there were like specific smells like garlic or fish or something. He hated the smells. He hated the characters. He hated everything about the trip. And we, we didn't have a diagnosis at that point. This was kind of almost like our, our moment, this vacation that we took. Like something's not right here. Something's going on and we need to figure out what it is. And we had just had our second son. So we were like, well, is it because we were adjusting to having a brother and a sister whatever, a sibling. But we came home and we called for an evaluation and it was maybe a month or two later that they said, yes, he have autism. So they kind of crushed our travel dreams for awhile and we thought, well, we're never going anywhere again. And I got involved in a lot of like mommy and me groups with our autism community here in western New York. And I asked the other parents, I said, well, how do you do it How do you travel What do you do And I, so many of them said, well, we don't travel. We don't go anywhere. I can't even go to the grocery store, let alone think about taking a vacation with my kid. And I thought this horrible, like, I've got to figure out how to make this work for us. You know we took two years off from any vacations right after a diagnosis trying to figure out how this is gonna work and we were just going through the 40 hours a week of therapy and I'm going to doctor's and all that stuff. But we started out small. We did a little weekend trip and we did an overnight in a hotel and slowly sort of built up from there and started traveling again and really learning how to find out the accommodations at each destination and how to use them properly and the best way for our family and our needs because obviously it's going to be different for every family and autism. But when he went to kindergarten, I was looking for something that I can do from home part time. I didn't want to work full time. I didn't want to work in an office. I wanted to be home when you get on the bus, off the bus for the therapist and all that stuff. And my mother in law said you'd be great as a travel agent. You know Disney like the back of your hand, you know and you've really figured out ways to do it with your son. What if, what if you did that and helped other families. So that's where it got started about seven years ago and ever since then I've been really focusing on autism families and helping them. Of course, I help everybody. I help other people with different disabilities, but I really focus on that autism piece because it's so prevalent and because there are so many parents out there struggling to figure out how to make it work.

Jenn: I agree. Now we discussed briefly in your biography about the pre-travel counseling session. Can you kind of get more into that for us and explain why it's helpful and how they can use it to their benefit?

Nicole: Sure. I've had a client once it was a family of three kids and a mom going on a cruise and now she's like, my son is really struggling about this crew is, he's never been on a ship before. He doesn't know what it's like. He's got such anxiety about going someplace new that I'm afraid that he's not going to enjoy any of it because he's just concentrating on all the questions that he has in his mind. And I said, well, let's sit down and talk about it. So not just with mom, but with the whole family. I sat down with the kids and I said, what questions do you have let me show you what you're going to encounter while you're on your trip. And his biggest concern was, what is the toilet look like on the cruise ship and my state room Okay, well, if that's the big, the big hurdle here, and this is giving you anxiety, let me show you. So I pulled up a video that showed the inside of the state room, and then I kind of paused on the screen where it showed the bathroom. And I said, here it is. Does that make you feel better And he's like, yeah, yeah, that doesn't make me feel better now. I know. And now I can just sort of take that anxiety out of my mind. And I see this with my own son. You know, he's kind of nervous about going someplace new. He does, he's a nervous about a lot of the rides because he doesn't like anything with motion.So we do a lot of, um, watching youtube videos of rides before we go. So, okay. He was really afraid of haunted mansion at Disney. He's like, it's scary in there. I'm like, listen, buddy, Disney doesn't do scary. Okay. It's funny. Scary. It's, you're going to love it. It's no big deal. But the whole outside facade of the building was just freaking out.

Jenn: I said, this weekend with Carolyn's Boob blasters it's ghosts everywhere in a scary, no, it's fun.

Nicole: Right Yeah, But do you watch the video like 500 times before we went on our next trip and then by the time we got there, he's like, oh, I know what, where I'm going to see in there, so I'm fine. So it's just a lot of it for, I find most people, most kids is that anxiety piece is just holding them back and, and not letting them enjoy the vacation, enjoy the experience.

Nicole: So we do a lot of watching of youtube videos, looking at websites that have a pictures of the insides of the rooms at the resorts. And I go through all the activities that they might be doing on the trip. You know, what's on your itinerary, let's talk about it, let's watch a video about it. And I find that that, that pre-travel counseling session really sets the family up for success on their trips.

Jenn:Now for your pre counseling sessions, just to let everyone know, are they only in person or do you offer online Because a lot of our families are spread across the United States.

Nicole: Totally. I do a lot of stuff online. Basically. Almost like what we're doing right now, you know, whether it's Facebook video chat or via iPhone, you know, I chat or whatever. We find a way to talk and I can, with the kids, I can meet with the parents. I can meet with the whole family if that's necessary.

Jenn: Wonderful. Now our next question is I know you do a lot on youtube. Can you talk to me about your youtube, what you do on Youtube for us?

Nicole: Sure. So I talked a little bit about how my son likes to watch the videos to come himself about what's coming up on a vacation. And a lot of the stuff he was seeing was filmed by like random people, you know you're panning through a hotel room and then you see the person in the mirror and you know, maybe their dressing and bathing suit or pants or you don't know. It's not like a kid approved video they might stumble upon. And I thought well, what if there was videos that are specific to a destination and are specifically made for kids with autism. So, you know, they're safe and they're located centrally so that you can find them. And my kid is all into youtube, I think every, every kid is. And so I said, okay, well let's make some destination specific videos than I had this idea a tuning of years ago. And I sell funded for the first year and we took some trips and we petitioned different destinations to let us come and film on their property. And the first one we went to was Tradewinds island resort in Florida, which is along the coast. It has a very great a kids program that's very autism friendly. And we went to Lego land because I know they have a great blue hero pass available for kids on the spectrum. And we filmed there the first time with my son Emerson, he's the actor. And we went to the quiet rooms and we showed people how to use the blue hero pass and how to find a quiet space. And we made a video for kids about what to do if you get lost. So we went back again and we filmed at universal studios and sea world. And we have those all up on www.stssv.com or the spectrum travel social story videos channel on Youtube. They're in both places. We also have filmed at sesame place in Pennsylvania. Langhorne, Pennsylvania. They are a certified autism center. So they have been certified by Ibcs and their staff has all been trained in autism awareness, sensory awareness. They have purchased their videos, so they're not housed with me, but they are housed on the sesame place channel. So if you're looking for our videos on sesame place, that's, we can find them. They're free to anybody. Anybody can watch them. They're just made for families with autism who need a little extra help before they leave to understand what things are coming at their destination.

Jenn: And everyone knows people who know me and they always ask, where's the first place I should bring my child to test And I always say, if you can get to my goal, my end or sesame place, those are the most controlled environments,

Nicole: Right

Jenn: So they're the best of test. Now, do you limit your work too Just autism?

Nicole: No, I help all families. So I help families that are just completely typical. I've helped families with mobility issues kids in wheelchairs, grandma's recovering from chemo but wants to go with the kids on a trip. How can we best help Graham I get through the trip. I helped some a child with a short bowel syndrome, which was an interesting one for me. But I listened to the parents, we talked about what the needs are and help direct them to the right resort for them.

Jenn: So now we kind of already talked about pre diagnosis travel. How is it, now that you have a diagnosis, how is traveled for your son?

Nicole: My concern now my oldest is 14. He's the one with autism. He's almost 15. The middle one is almost 13. He's typical. And then our little guys 11 and a half, and he has sensory processing disorder and we are slowly starting to expand our comfort bubble. So I often say that kids with autism, you know, they had this little comfort bubble. They're very comfortable on there. Don't mess with it. But for me, I firmly believe that you need to

Jenn: you need to put them outside of their boundaries.

Nicole.So hush, but just push them just slightly so that they expand their bubble and make their world a little bit bigger. I don't, I don't like to use the word push, but, so we try to do something new for my son on every trip. So it might, it might challenge his comfort zone a little bit, but then he grows and we can do a little bit more each time. So for example, we did, discovery cove in, in Orlando last February, and it had just become a certified autism center like the day before. And we're like, okay, we're going. And my son has this anxiety about swimming with creatures in the water. I'm with him. So he, again, with a youtube, he watched a youtube video about a whale pooping. He, and it was giant, this massive who they came out of the wheel and it just, it freaked them out for life about swimming with creatures which is hard, you know, to go into the ocean, you know, you want to get in the water, but they're and I like, listen, this, there's the whales are way out there and he's like, oh no, this is all water. It's all touching the poop. So, okay. Yeah, I'm with him. So we're going to go to discovery cove and we're going to do, I'm a whale encounter, a dolphin encounter where you get to Pet, pet the dolphin, take some pictures, and then you get to hold onto, it's been, well it swims along and he was Kinda like, Nah, I don't think I'm going to do this.

Nicole: I'm not. I think I'm good. And I'm like, no, we are. We're going to do this. We're going to try, we're going to do this. And I can't tell you how great the dolphin trainers were with him because they can see him sort of backing away, you know, like, and they're like, it's okay. Come on just with one hand, just Kinda, and they could see what was happening, And you know, he did great. It's, it's, it was like one of those tearful moments where you're like, oh my God, I can't believe he did this. You know And I was so proud of him for trying and getting through it and put the, wouldn't on the last pet, the dolphins going by and doesn't it poop right in front of him.

Jenn: As parent that is just our luck as an autism parent. I'm successful. And then boom, there's a brick wall.

Nicole: But it was, it was the last moment and then we could go do something different. So he made it through. But I really hope that each time we plan a vacation, we try something different. We try something new. So when we go to universal studios, he's never been before. He doesn't like up and down rides, which was most of what universal studios. This, it's big rights. So we're trying to again, you to video a lot of these rides ahead of time so he can see like this is not like a roller coaster. This is like emotions seat that moves you along with a video that's in front of you. It's completely different. Again, it's a lot of preparation. We talk a lot about our vacations beforehand and some people say I shouldn't do that because then he thinks about it too much gets excited and it takes too long. I mean, we're already preparing for a vacation that's not til the end of August, but for me I feel like that doing that really gets it into his bones that this is an okay experience. We are going to be just fine. I know what everything looks like and it, I think for us it comes out much better if we do a lot of pre planning in advance.

Jenn: I agree. And I just want to add, if you know you're going on a ride that has the 3D glasses, please explain it to your child before hand. I forgot this weekend and I put Riley on the motion ride and we were killing, it was monsters vs zombies. That or plant is vs zombies, the video game and I forgot to tell her it was 3D and she goes, oh no mama, they're going to get me. And I'm like, I can't reach you. I'm like, no, it's just the way it looks. So those little things. Don't forget folks, we need to remember those silly little things now. I do see people's questions piling up. I will get to them in one more minute. I have one more question for Nicole and that is what do you still struggle with when traveling?

Nicole: It's that anxiety piece every time it gets us. Every time. For my son with autism, it's the anxiety and for my little guy was sensory processing disorder. It's the sounds, the loudest sounds we went to I had a conference at Turks and Kinko's and we brought the whole family with us and I didn't think to bring his noise canceling headphones because I'm like, what's there That's going to be loud. We're near the ocean. It's not like there's rides or music or what not. And they have nightly plays and shows that they do for the kids in the family. And they had it so loud. I have a little picture of my guy and he's just sitting there like this. He's like, no, I can't take it. And we had to leave. We had to find alternate activities for him in the evening because he just, he couldn't do it. Fireworks all the time. We have to find an alternate location for him to see them. He's getting better with age. You know, he's 11 and a half now, but he's still like hates any loud noises. So those are two big challenges. But other than that, they're really up for any adventure. Well let's see. Okay. Not Zip lining, but parachuting. Maybe not so much. My little guy was sensory processing. Yes. He loves anything fast, furious. He's always sensory seeking. But my old one,

Jenn: Wonderful park, it's three different parks in one and one is all natural and it's gone. Zip Lines and music that you can make with little, you know. And the other one is all inclusive. They have wheelchairs, swings, the ramps are all wheelchair accessible. So I get it. It's great when you have a seeker because you can find, we're able to go to one large park and find something for our seeker and for our neurotypical kids. And our nephew who has spinal bifida and he walks, he does everything but he gets tired. So finding the best thing works best. Now I'm going to go to the question section now Alicia, we understand like Nicole and I just discussed every single detail of this trip having to be explained is normal.

Jenn: And especially yours. Yeah, you got a school age child so you're going to have a lot of questions and a lot of what's next.

Nicole: I wouldn't even suggest making a social story paper copy of the trip that's coming up so that if you don't want to talk about it another time, you can just give them the story and say, here's our itinerary, here's pictures of what we're going to be doing and descriptions of each. And that way they can read it as many times as they want themselves or with therapists.

Jenn: Now Jason has a question and I think it's an amazing question and it's one that a lot of us deal with. What do you do while you are waiting in line I think that was the most difficult part when they go to an amusement park.

Nicole: Well two things. One I always make that we're using the disability pass at that destination. Most have them have some kind. So like a Disney has what's called the DAS, DAS disability access service pass universal calls at the wrap pass a ride accessibility pair program so that you're accessing a shorter line or you're accessing the ride through the exit, right so that you're not waiting in 45 minutes to an hour and a half because that's not going to work for anybody. And then I also carry what I call my sensory travel tool kit. It's a little backpack with fidget toys and electronics and recharging, charging devices and all sorts of little things that we can do along the way to kind of help with that waiting process.

Jenn: I just want you to say Monica Campos, please ask your question and we will deal with it. If you don't want to ask live, you can pm me the question personally to Jen Eggert my personal Facebook account and I will add Nicole into the conversation and we can help you that way. If it's something you don't feel comfortable commenting on here. I, Nicole, I don't think you'd have a problem with that would you

Nicole: No, not at all.

Jenn: Now Jason wants to ask Nicole, this is probably something that Jason and I will have to introduce you to in the future. Have you ever worked at with culture city in their sensory inclusive locations?

Nicole: I have not, but I've heard a little bit about a culture city, but not too much.

Jenn:Jason and I, Jason, let's take note of this. We will get you in contact with them. They're an amazing program that actually builds sensory inclusive areas with this, the toolkit, you're flat pad, your fidgets, your noise canceling headphones. We just did a live Kickstarter and folks Jason and I want to thank you all so much. We have been successful with our Kickstarter, so we should be getting product in the next while. I'm not quite sure of the timeframe, but we are working with culture city on that as well. So Nicole, you and I'll talk after.

Nicole: Okay

Jenn: And we will talk about cultural city and how to videos for them would be awesome. Now Melissa, every kid is different also. So just because one person believes it's too much for their child doesn't mean it's not good for your child. I agree.

Nicole: Yeah, absolutely. Everybody's different. That's why when I'm, I have a client come to me, we sort of go over a checklist what are your issues What are your sensitivity to sound Light smells, food. I mean, my son has severe food aversions, he's five foods. So we have a completely different set of planning processes than somebody else who doesn't have food versions, needs everything. So it really is an individualized plan that, that I work with my clients with to make sure that they're going to be okay.

Jenn: And I just want to add to that. I mean, what works this week might not work in two weeks. I'm sorry folks. But we all know it's true. Yeah, I really do love, I can't remember what it was and this week and we offered a tour and she goes, oh, Salami this weekend after someone, she goes, what is that too I'm like, oh, okay.

Nicole: We are fit now.

Jenn:We're done. So Jessica, I'm so happy you made it. I know. Life has been stressful. It's been a little crazy here. And I'm so happy that traveling is getting better for you guys, but you never know what can happen. And folks, that is something that I bet Nicole will push prepare for the unexpected.

Nicole: Oh, absolutely. And manage your expectations. I feel like so many parents are like, this is going to be wonderful. And as it, and I'm like, oh no, wait, you're still gonna have some issue somewhere along the way, somebody is going to have a meltdown. Something's going to happen. So just make sure that you're, you have realistic expectations when you go on on vacation. It's not going to be all, you know, Disney, roses and rainbows.

Jenn: Now Jason has another question and this is important. How do you get the special passes that place like Disney.

Nicole: Most places have the passes at guest services. And I do some of the videos on stssv, stssv.com. So we actually show up mom and a son going into universal studios, guest services, and it shows the interaction between the parent and the guest services person. And it also lists the instruction in text below it so you can kind of see what that interaction looks like. Go into guest services. Say, look, I'm traveling with a child with autism. These are issues a lot of times they don't need any kind of written confirmation of a diagnosis.

Jenn: That was my next question.

Nicole:They can't look at it. It's against Hipaa laws. So they don't want to see any documentation, but they want to hear from you why it's difficult for your child to wait in line. I have autism and we have problems with noises and crowds and being in confined close spaces.

Jenn: And just to make an example of someone that is watching that has asked this question. Jason, you and I have talked extensively of course. And so I know your son's issues. You would approach almost on the fact that he has ADHD and autism can't hold still, he can't handle waiting. He has problems with the loud noises. You would really make a personal folks, I know it's hard, but give them your story. Tell them why is hard. And sometimes I think it's hard too because before my son, if you were to look at him, you might not know that there's an issue. So I have to explain to them why. I mean some kids walk in, you can look at him in one second and be like, okay, I understand what's going on here with autism it's not always the case. It's can be an invisible disability. So you really have to share your story and get kind of personal and tell them why it's, it's necessary. And then also the video do show then how to use the disability pass after you've gotten it.

Jenn:So, and I will be putting all of these links to her videos and her websites in group later today. It might take me a little bit, it's somebody 37th birthday and apparently my birth, so I will get there today folks. But for those of you who have already seen in group, yeah, I'm a little busy now. Pray Question Melissa. Thank you Miguel. Are the passes at these theme parks, do they cost money or are they free.

Nicole: No. Cost. They're completely free to the person with a disability. And usually what the rule is is there is the person with the disability with a path and then there is usually five to six people that can go with them on their, on their pass. So if you have a family that's a little larger, you may have to split up or you may have to petition guest services to add a few extra people on, which they may or may not do. So if you're traveling with grandma, Grandpa it gets a little tricky.

Jenn: But yes, but you can keep your family of four or five together.

Nicole:Absolutely

Jenn: Special Pass.

Nicole: Yeah.

Jenn: I know that's important to many of us. Why put out the money when we don't actually get to benefit.

Nicole: Right. So for example, it Disney, you get what's called the, the DAS pass the DAS. And what it does is it gives you a chance to get what's called a return time. So you would walk up to ARIDE say buzz Lightyear spin and the wait time in the regular line is gonna be like an hour. Obviously you can't wait that long. What they do is they take 10 minutes off of the hour and they give you a 50 minute return time. So they want you to come back in 50 minutes. You don't have to have the person with autism with you to get the return time, which is really important because for my son walking up to a ride and then walking away again does not work, he's like, I don't understand why we can't go on this ride right now.

Jenn:Walk away from them and get their, their return time.

Nicole: I leave my son with my husband, I go get the return time, then I come back and then we'd do something else. We'd go on a shorter line ride, we get lunch or a snack, we'd go to the bathroom, whatever. And then when we come back in 50 minutes, we just show our paths will now, it's actually in your phone. It's not a physical pass anymore, but you show them your phone and then they let you into the fastpass line. So it's really only like a 10 to 15 minutes wait as sopposed to an hour wait. That's how it works.

Jenn: Now, Chrissy know by law they cannot ask for documentation due to Hipaa privacy issues. You need to provide your story and explain your child's specific needs and struggles. Melissa, do you know if everyone has these passes?

Nicole: As far as I know, every theme park that I know of, yes does have them within the United States. I'm not sure. Like in Mexico, the Ash, I dunno if they have one something like that. But I do know when the United States pretty much everybody has one six flags. I'll have them a second.

Jenn: You're like in South Carolina and North Carolina and go to Carowinds. They say they have them but I learned the hard way.

Nicole: No. Okay.

Jenn: So I want to thank all of you for joining us. Unfortunately our show ran a little bit late today but that's okay because we really needed to get this topic out of the way summer's coming. People are traveling and things are happening. I want to remind you that you can get our wiggle seat with the boat, different sides for sensory input. You can inflate it as much or as little as you want for sensory input and those are on sale for the first 100 people for just the cost of shipping, which is $9.99 the link for that is on the screen right now and in the comment section so you can check it out. Also, I want to go back to Nicole for a quick minute. Nicole has a very special project coming up next August. If you want to give us a quick two minute rundown of that before we end.

Nicole: Sure, So we are doing, I'm partnering with another travel agency called vacation kids mmm.com and the woman who runs that is a pediatric nurse. So we're perfect team and we're doing an autism family group trip to Walt Disney world and aquatic gut next August. We tried to get something together for this August, but it was just too short of a time to pull something together for people because it costs money to go. And I think having a short time span to kind of put that savings away was difficult. So we put it off for a year, so it'll be August 15th through the 22nd, 2020 and each family that goes gets a villa key rental home, which is also again, a certified autism center. Run by Alice Key, which I think was a previous guest.

Jenn: Yes, Alice Horn.

Nicole:Yes, AliceSorry. Uh, sorry, Alice. I love you.

Jenn: Most of times you know her.

Nicole: She's amazing. She's a great lady. Each family gets their own home. They get a car so that they can come and go as they please, because we know that meltdowns happen whenever. And if you need to leave when you need to leave, go right ahead. There's going to be a welcome dinner for all families that come. There's going to be a parent night out. So we're getting a therapist from card center for Autism and related disorders. They're going to come in and babysit the kids while parents get a night out. How crazy is that then There's five days of Disney and one day at Aquatica and Alice, or I'm talking too fast, Sally black and I will be in the theme parks assisting families. So this is not one on one assistance, but this is for families who maybe have been hesitant to try to go to Disney because they need a little bit of extra support.

Nicole: So I'm Sally and I will be in the parks with our cell phones and we will doing a lot of pre-travel counseling before the trip via a private Facebook. And then while we're on the trip, we will be there to help you along the way. If you have meltdowns or questions, we will be meeting families at guest services every morning to help them get the past. So if you're unsure of how to do it, hey, we'll be there. We'll walk you through the process. No problem in personal.

Jenn:Do you have to regreet the past every day.
Nicole:Nope, just on that first day.But this trip is also kind of a, it's structured slightly, but if you are having a bad day meltdowns everywhere and you're like, I think we're just going to hang out at the pool for the day, that's completely fine too. But we're there to assist in any way we can.

Jenn: Jessica and Nicole is in our private Facebook group and I know you are as well or yeah, 95% sure you are almost 99% so hook up with Nicole in the Facebook group because you do want more information and folks remember every like share, comment, tag is appreciated by us and by our visitors. And also don't forget in this week special tag your friends. If you know that they've been thinking about the wiggle seat or if they've been looking at alternative flexible seating, $9.99 for a wiggle seat is a very, very good price. So I want to thank everyone for coming today, Nicole, especially. Thank you. I really appreciate you sharing your tips and your insight with us. Again, I will get Nicole into Facebook group later and we will post all of her links so that everyone has more information that they can use to be helpful.

Nicole: Cool. Okay

Jenn: So I want to thank everyone. For joining us today. Again, my name is Jenn Eggert and I'm from Lakikid.com ask an autism parent and you can join me live every Monday at 1:00 PM eastern to ask your questions, share your insights, and meet other parents and learn tips and tricks. Thank you all for coming and remember, and every child brings good luck.