Q&A with Trey Duling VP of Orlando Vacation

What advantages can vacation home rentals offer to families with autism? The benefits of staying in a holiday home are the extra space for each family member to stretch out and the fully equipped kitchens. The kitchens are complete with microwave, oven, stove, full-size refrigerator, and all the pots and pans you will need to cook a Thanksgiving feast. All of our homes have multiple TV’s and multiple full baths which are both very helpful if you have a large family. We feel that staying in a vacation home should be a lot more desirable to a family with an autistic child than staying in a hotel. For one, the homes have full kitchens, so if a child is on a gluten-free diet, the kitchens make it very easy to stick to the diet and the parents do not have to hunt for restaurants which serve gluten free food. Also, the noise level in the houses is drastically reduced since these are single family homes with double pane windows. Parents do not have to worry about traffic or other noises which may irritate their child.

What type of vacation home rentals does your company offer?

All of our homes are located within 15 minutes to Disney World, and they are all less than ten years old. All of our homes come with private pools, and they are all in gated vacation home communities. Many of these communities offer walking trails, multiple playgrounds.Our vacation homes range in price from $99 for a three bedroom during the low season up to $215 a night for a five bedroom home during the high season. So our rates are very comparable to what a family will find if they booked an average 3-star hotel near Disney.

What other special features does your company offer to help families with autism?

We are working with a few owners right now to make some of our vacation homes autism friendly. We are concentrating on two critical areas to make these homes autistic friendly places to stay: safety and sensory. Safety  To make our homes safer for autistic children we are going to be adding chimes on all the doors which alert a parent if a door is opened, and the pools will have an additional floating alarm which will also alert the parents if there is a large splash or wave created in the pools. We will also be sending the parents multiple pictures of the home before them coming on vacation so they may show the child exactly where they are going to be staying. Sensory In the homes, we will make sure the homes do not have fluorescent lights in them, and we are trying to have one room in the house be a sensory room. This room will have dimmer lighting, a yoga bounce ball, and a writing board for the children to doodle on.  Special Request We are in the process of working with a local laundry mat which provides chemical free cleaning for the sheets and bedspreads which we can offer to the families for a small upcharge. Additional features We are in the process of putting a PDF file together that will contain useful information for parents to know before arrival and during their stay. This PDF can be used as a guide to let the parents know what is located near the vacation homes and will include a compiled list of important places. The list includes restaurants that have gluten-free items on their menu,  grocery stores and drug stores open 24 hours a day for easy access, directions to the local theme parks, and even the phone number of a local vet in case a service dog happens to get sick or hurt. Orlandovacation.com has been assisting families with their travel plans to Disney World and Orlando since 1993 and is a proud member of the Orlando BBB.The company is currently offering a $50 off coupon on any of their vacation rentals for families staying five nights or longer - Make sure you mention #AUTISM when booking. [mappress mapid="69"] Disclaimer: This is a guest post by OrlandoVacation.com]]>