Disneyland With Diabetes



Goofy Kid!



We are just home from a wonderful spring break trip to California. We spent some time with family then four days at the Happiest Place on Earth- Disneyland! We are Disneyland veterans, this was our fifth trip as a family of four, and I have lost count of how many total times I have been there. I love it- it truly is my happy place.

Getting there is the hardest part of the trip- we carry on all of our diabetes supplies on the plane. My biggest fear is that we have the supplies in our checked luggage and the luggage gets lost! I pack enough site changes to change the site every day when we are gone, plus a couple extra. I have NEVER needed that many, but better safe than sorry! We have good luck with airport security, I just tell them when we get to the front of the line that our bag has diabeticc supplies and that Tyler is wearing an insulin pump, and usually they wave us through. Once in San Francisco they pulled Tyler aside and wiped his pump down with a special wipe then tested it for bomb residue. I was irritated, but Tyler thought it was pretty cool!



Testing on the plane



A trip to Disney can be tricky with a Type 1 kid, but we have learned enough along the way that it has become a piece of cake for us. Our #1 rule- Tyler wears a hip pack with Juice, Glucose Tabs, a tester and a card with our contact info in it at all times. If for any reason he is lost or separated from us, he will at least have his low supplies until we are reunited. We tend to pack lightly for a day at the park- I keep glucose tabs and insulin and syringes with me just in case- we figure that if a pump site goes bad, we can always run back to the hotel and change it there. The few times I brought site changes and overloaded on low supplies, I learned that it was overkill- I was carrying around tons of stuff we did not end up needing. I am comfortable with the basics now, since we stay at a hotel 10 minutes away from the park.

Testing in line

We have found that even with all the extra junk food we are eating ( churros, candy, ice cream, popcorn ) his blood sugars tend to be on the lower side because of all the activity, so we tend to test BGs often, and err on the low side when trying to calculate the carbs of all the junk. It is better to correct a bit later than have a huge low crash in the middle of a crowded and hot amusement park. For meals, we use our iphones and http://www.calorieking.com/ to find carb counts of almost anything we eat while at the park. 

Just like everything else, things are a little trickier with Type 1 along for the trip but the important thing to know is that like everything else, it can be done and does not have to put a damper on the fun things in life. Be prepared and roll with it!