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A Day at Disneyland

Our recent trip to Disneyland gave our residents a day to enjoy the magic that is most magical place on earth! Being able to take them to Disneyland provided them with an opportunity to grow and develop.

Every child’s experience and reactions are different, but overall their happiness is the same.
Adrianna is one of our residents who is nonverbal. It is challenging to get her attention, but when at Disneyland, she is more engaged and focused. The time at Disneyland helped Adrianna follow directions better and be more vocally and physically expressive. One of the moments I remember most is her reaction to riding The Little Mermaid ride for the first time (The Little Mermaid also happens to be her favorite movie). Her excitement had her sitting up at the edge of her seat! Adrianna was waving her hands side to side, humming along to the songs. She would look back at me to make sure I was watching and enjoying the ride as much as she was!

Our Totally Kids resident, Vida, is frightens easily and tends to be guarded in new situations. When at Disneyland she is adventurous and fearless. Since Vida is normally easily frightened, we were hesitant to ride the fast spinning teacups. To our surprise Vida smiled and laughed the entire time on the ride! She loved it so much that she insisted on riding it two times!

Tiarra asks every day to go back to Disneyland. When she sees herself in Disneyland pictures she gets excited and says “let’s go to Disneyland!” Tiarra asks other residents if they want to go to Disneyland and the excitement in her voice makes them excited.

There is a lot of preparation and planning that goes into taking Totally Kids residents to Disneyland. All that preparation and planning is completely worth it to see the joy on their faces both at Disneyland and once the day is done.

Until the next day at the Magic Kingdom!