About Us

Hello and welcome to our site! We are Ray and Rachel Pilgrim from Texas, parents of Joshua (our son with Autism Spectrum Disorder) and Becca (our neuro-typical daughter). We are big fans of Walt Disney World in Orlando, as well as of Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim. All told, we have taken seven family trips to the various parks over the past six years.
 
Our son Joshua has Autism. We began to notice the signs when he was about 20 months old. It was about that time that we took our first trip as a family to Disneyland in California. We found that he loved the Disney parks and that he recognized many things he had seen while watching Disney movies. He really perked up and became very interested in the park once he saw the characters - primarily the Flamingos in the afternoon parade that he recognized from the movie "Fantasia 2000". After that parade, we noticed he made better eye contact, he waved at people, he hugged the characters, and really "got into" the Disney spirit. It was like magic!
 
Each trip to the park has helped him in some way. He hugs characters, makes more of an effort to speak verbally, and has even kissed several of the Princesses (and gotten kissed in return). Our trips even helped with his potty training - he has never had an accident at Disney parks, and even has taken the initiative to drag us towards the restrooms when needed! The progress is worth the expense of every trip we have taken out to Florida and California.
 
Our daughter has also blossomed during our trips to Walt Disney World and the Disneyland resort. She calls the characters by names, rides all the rides she can get on (she's still too short for many of the thrill rides), and loves the fountains and other splash areas. She is really at home at the parks and at the resorts, and radiates happiness. She is speech delayed, but chatters up a storm when we are on a trip, which is so exciting for us as parents. These trips really help us bond as a family, and we also use them as learning opportunities for the kids.
 
One thing we found while preparing for our trips was there was no central place to go to get planning advice for families with autism. Sure, we could find single pages or individual forum postings spread across many sites, and actually found a couple of books that included autism in their descriptions. But we wanted to provide a single portal for families, so they could save time and frustration, and get the planning advice they needed to make their trip to Walt Disney World and the other Disney parks more magical and special for their families.
 
This site is intended to provide first hand information, links, recommendations, and planning helps to make it easier for families to have a great experience on their trips. We welcome your feedback on how to improve the site. We hope you enjoy it and find it helpful for your trip to the "most magical place on earth!"