Our Son's Wish Trip - A Year of a Million Dreams, and One of Those Dreams is Ours. [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 12:24 PM

pooh: DH, Jim – Professional computer nerd, published even. Formerly a non-nerdy cool guy football player, (how is that for irony). Wants to open a bbq business one day or at least compete on the BBQ circuit, makes REALLY good ribs, brisket and smoked pork shoulder, but thinks you need a redneck, “hickafied” name to be successful…started calling himself Billy Joe Jim Bob sometime ago…thinks he is funny; heaven help us.
:chewy: DS 14, Connor, 14 going on 30
princess: DD 11, Hannah, not dating until she is 30
:charac4: DS 8, Adam, my “wish” kid
pirate: DS 7, Jake, probably living with me till he is 30
:ewok: DS 5, Nathan, can count to 30
And me ::MinnieMo DW, Elisa, stay at home mom who wishes I was still 30

Adam, the wish boy of the hour, was born 13 weeks early. He is a surviving twin. His identical twin brother, Luke, died at birth. To look back at all that happened 8 years ago and say it was rough, is truly an understatement. I am thankful that God’s grace is sufficient and that He is there with us in tough times and in good times. I am thankful we had wonderful doctors and wonderful NICU nurses. I am thankful that I read books on having multiples when I was pregnant. I was thankful that I read the chapters on what to do in the event of the loss of one or both twins, even though I was thinking that nothing bad ever happened to me, so I didn’t need to read those chapters. I am thankful that Adam made it through his severe pre-maturity, and I am thankful that after several hospitalizations and second opinions, someone finally accurately diagnosed his degenerative liver disease. It was not the news I wanted to hear; news that my son’s liver would eventually fail, and without a transplant he would die. I was comforted though, knowing that there was treatment; that his diagnosis was no longer a death sentence. Had it been my brother who was born with this disease, biliary atresia, he would have died as an infant. It was my son though, and medicine had come a long way. His chances were good, but the road was going to be rough. Boy, oh boy, was the road ahead going to be rough.

My marriage with my children’s dad ends after 14 years, and I am pregnant with Nathan, DS5. I was stunned to hear that over 85% of marriages where there is a special needs child, involved end in divorce. Adam’s situation was not the cause of our divorce, but the stress seemed to magnify everything else. Again, though, God’s grace is sufficient…and the kids and I move on literally and figuratively…off we go to TX from the East Coast. After four years, I ultimately remarry, and now DH Billy Joe Jim Bob (just Jimbob for short) is my kids’ dad. Their biological dad is not involved and only sees them 1-2 weekends a year. Jim has done far more to provide for and nurture them than any step dad could ever be expected to do. I was hesitant to remarry…when I finally started dating again I loved to drop the “I have 5 kids bomb” and watch them squirm…LOL….Jim was brave enough to stick around. My next big bomb was “how can I be sure if you will love my kids like they were your own.” His answer was “I’m adopted…if someone who was not my birth parent didn’t love me when I was a child, then no one would have loved me...I will love the kids like they are my own, I already love the kids like they are my own.” GOOD ANSWER! We marry and we move to AL to DH’s hometown, for his job.

So….that is who we are….and on the next post, (as I educate myself on posting photos) is what we look like (or at least what we looked like a couple of years ago). We will endeavor to get a new family picture that includes children and parents while we are in Orlando….everyone under 15 is much taller now.

pixe*dst

07-23-2007, 12:43 PM

Wow--great start & your trip is coming up. I hope you all have a magical time pixiedust: & I can't wait to hear more!

princessjv

07-23-2007, 12:52 PM

Great start! I can't wait to hear more. Is this your first family vacation? What a great DH you found. I bet you are so excited...just 5 days! :wizard:

thptrek

07-23-2007, 12:56 PM

A live report, so exciting.

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 12:56 PM

Wow--great start & your trip is coming up. I hope you all have a magical time pixiedust: & I can't wait to hear more!

Thanks! I have more written, I just need to figure out this upload photo thing....my husband is the tech guy and unfortunately he is not available right now....:surfweb:

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 12:57 PM

Great start! I can't wait to hear more. Is this your first family vacation? What a great DH you found. I bet you are so excited...just 5 days! :wizard:

Thanks...he is a great guy,and he would be the first to humbly tell you so ;) ...We have gone to visit my parents once, but this is our first family vacation together...we are all very excited!

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 01:03 PM

Bummer...my file sizes are too large...I will wait on it for now (don't worry, it will come) and get back to the TR

Iluvmickeymouse!

07-23-2007, 01:07 PM

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 01:07 PM

It was April last year, Adam was no longer attending school, he was just too ill. :sick: His spirits were good though. We waited….then one day, on a Friday, the phone rang. It was almost surreal. The transplant office had called. There was a matching organ…come right away. I say, we are 2 hours away from the hospital…she said “that is fine…come now.” He and I kissed everyone good bye, DH stayed home and watched the other 4 kids, and made calls to family and friends and Adam and I drove to the hospital…feeling nervous, happy, fearful and relieved all at the same time…that was me…Adam was sleeping. Anyway, off we went The surgeon was doing another transplant when we got to the hospital. Adam was admitted to the floor and I was told that the surgery took at least 6 hours and the surgeon wouldn’t finish with the current surgery until after midnight. They weren’t sure when Adam was scheduled and the donated organ was in route from another state. Adam’s surgery would be in the morning. Okay…that is good…let the doctor get some sleep, a well rested doctor is a good thing, and Adam settles in for the night; I sort of do too. Adam’s surgery goes well. Adam is doing well….I will skip all the bumps in the road from last year; there are always bumps in the road btw…. his liver is very healthy and I am very grateful…to everyone.

That was last year…this year Adam is having tummy troubles. We wind up in the hospital. Tests can’t figure out why he is having these tummy issues, but his liver is good…We are in the local hospital for 3 days and are ALMOST out the door when our pediatrician comes to me pasty white…she was going to discharge us and put him on immodium…the liver surgeons have other plans though. Tummy troubles like his without a known cause can be bad…very bad. His body may be rejecting, but rather than attacking the liver, it might be attacking other areas…this may be colon cancer…go to Children’s immediately, they are expecting us. I take a deep breath and quietly say…please God no….He has already been through enough…please, please…no. I get copies of all the labs and off we go; to the house first to pack for an extended stay, then to Birmingham … to Children’s. I will cut to the chase…THANK YOU GOD….THANK YOU!!!! No cancer…just run of the mill tummy troubles…magnified in a special needs child. Everyone is wonderful…the streams of doctors (man…they look young these days!) the nurses, the housekeeping people, the child life people. We are treated very well, once again. Thank you Children’s!

That is when the wish starts coming into play….It is April. I am in the middle of legal issues with my ex concerning child support. Facing Goliath as it were. I am preparing to make the drive back to VA for a court date, when I get this envelope in the mail from Magic Moments…Adam has been selected for a wish, the wish is for children who have life changing illnesses, (in other words, don’t get upset by this letter, we are not telling you he is terminal.) Not all wishes are granted…you were nominated by JF…fill out this paperwork and return it asap. WOW! Out of the blue…what an opportunity! What a blessing…Who is JF?...LOL…yes, I had no idea who the nurse was who nominated us. I called Adam’s liver transplant coordinator, Nurse B, and she told me who JF was…a pediatric liver nurse case manager person extraordinaire…I am not sure if that all fits on her business card but I am sure it says something just like that…anyway she is someone who we have not met yet, amazingly enough. Even the lady at the snack counter across the street from the clinic knows us, and our snack preferences (me, Snickers and Sobee Strawberry drink – I call it Lizard juice because of the gecko on the bottle, and for the shock value with my children…Adam, skittles and any soda he thinks he can talk me out of.) Considering we know EVERYONE, how could there be someone we haven’t met yet. Adam’s last stay in Children’s must have triggered all this. Wow….blessings coming out of struggles…again…WOW…one more time….WOW. I fill out the paperwork, send it in, and then don’t think about it again. I go to VA…prevail in court…woo hoo….then back home. Three weeks or so go by…”My name is DF and I am a volunteer with Magic Moments, I am very pleased to tell you that Adam’s wish has been granted…” Shocked silence on my end accompanied by a huge smile, then thank you very much. This means the world to all of us….DF is a lady pastor….she has just recently started doing volunteer work with Magic Moments….she loves it and she is thrilled to work with us, we are getting a package in the mail…fill out all the new paperwork asap and the ball will get rolling…Thanks DF, thanks JF….You have been awesome.

I call DH and we both do the happy dance over the phone…”We’re going to Disney World!!!!” I tell Adam when he gets home from school…his response…”COOL…can I see Woody and Jessie when we are there”? Well, we will see if we can make that happen little man!

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 01:09 PM

A live report, so exciting.

Trust me, I surely hope so! Thanks for checking it out.

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 01:11 PM

:wave2: Hello! Yay a trip report!!! :cheer2: Only five more days to go... are you ready? I can't wait to read about your trip!!!! :banana: I will anxiously be waiting each night for your report. :surfweb: We will understand though if you are a little tired and not up to reporting! 5 kids + WDW = :faint: :rotfl2:

Yes, I am not sure if we will be posting every night or not, but we are taking a break during the heat of midday...that might be a good time to do it. I just need to stop being technically challenged and figure out this photo thing....I saw where you have dates for your trip now...9/07? Is that right?

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 01:15 PM

We got our packet and heard about Give Kids the World, GKTW, for the first time. For those of you who are unfamiliar, GKTW is a resort that was founded by a former hotel owner. He heard of chronically and terminally ill children who wanted to go to Orlando but couldn’t afford to or arrange to…he wanted to change that and GKTW was born. Our accommodations, breakfast and dinner are free, as are all the other benefits. Things like horseback riding, carriage rides, train rides, carousel rides, miniature golf, fishing, arcades, movie theatre and ICE CREAM!!!!

Originally we wanted to stay on site at WDW…I wanted easy access to the room for naps and down time…I wasn’t sure if it would be easy to do that off site. I spoke with the Wish Coordinator at Magic Moments and she told me how much all the other families enjoyed staying at GKTW, she told me we received a ticket package that included 3 days at WDW, 2 at Universal and 1 at Sea World and that there were other local Orlando attractions that gave GKTW visitors free or reduced admissions. She further told me it would be easy to get back to the room for a mid day break because they are only minutes away from all the important things like WDW, Universal, SeaWorld, Wal-mart…LOL…okay, okay…I’m sold…let’s go…I give the coordinator several dates and she checks with GKTW…our second set of dates are available and we are locked in for July 29 to Aug 4. We have decided to drive. My DH doesn’t like to fly, and the whole contagious TB guy on a plane has me a little paranoid too, considering I have an immuno suppressed child. It is 10 ½ hours from door to door (with 5 kids in one enclosed car…) Sanity prevails, and we are sure it will be best to take our time and make it a 2 day journey. Time to plan the details.

madcam

07-23-2007, 01:19 PM

This is the best story and you have barely even started!! I can't wait to hear more:)

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 01:27 PM

This is the best story and you have barely even started!! I can't wait to hear more:)

Thank you! I am hoping to add visual aids soon...man I wish I had paid more attention in computer class.

MissMichelle

07-23-2007, 01:30 PM

I am looking forward to this TR! Thank God your lil man is doing much better and that his liver is healthy and the tummy troubles went away. He really deserves this vacation and so does his family.:grouphug:

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 01:31 PM

We are being given an expense check from our Wish organization for lunches, travel expenses and souvenirs for Adam. We have no idea how much that will be…what to do about ADR’s. Some require advanced payment, and some are VERY expensive. Will my 3 little boys really want to dine with Cinderella for a total breakfast cost to the family of over $300? Is the Musical Review really all that Hoop De Do? What to do, what to do….well, we decide to take it easy on the ADRs. We decide to do what Adam wants to do most, and not do the commando tour of WDW. We currently only have one ADR, and it is for breakfast at Universal with Spiderman, Cat in the Hat (or Cayut in the Hayut as my southern boys say) and Thing 1 and Thing 2. I only had about 2 months pre trip to make the reservations, and didn’t have any problems at all with the Spiderman :charac4: breakfast reservations. The biggest issue I faced was timing. Spidey only dines with guests on Thursdays – Sundays. We did our day planning based on Spidey’s availability. We reserved an ECV for DH. We went onto Amazon and ordered the combo deal of the Official Guide and the Unofficial Guide, and foolishly thought that there was nothing else we needed to do…we were done. Then the guides came…I read, and I read…. and I read some more….a little shortness of breath ensued…oh my…are we ready for this?

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 01:39 PM

LeeLee2U

07-23-2007, 01:40 PM

You Started!!!! YEAH!!!:yay: And girl it's good!!!!! You've already got me hanging on the edge of my seat waiting for more!!!!
I don't know if I told you before but Braeton was 13 weeks early too!!!!
And I have to say Your Husband couldn't have given a better reply:goodvibes .
Just remember wherever there is a Goliath, there is a David somewhere!!!!! And we know the end of that story!

jessi1375

07-23-2007, 01:47 PM

I am in, can't wait for more. I am happy that you and your family have the opportunity to experience WDW. I can't think of anyone who could deserve it more!

Bill_Lin

07-23-2007, 01:52 PM

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 01:54 PM

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments. I am not used to putting myself out there like this, so it has been a "stretching" experience for me. I am looking forward to writing while we are there so I can remember all the special things that happened and share them with everyone else.

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 02:02 PM

Touring Plans, park schedules, ADRs, parade times, waiting areas, parking locations, rope drops, child swap, fast passes, lions tigers and bears…OH MY. The more I read the more tense I became…and now it is time for VBS…Did I really volunteer this year? LOL…yes, as a matter of fact I did. What a great week! What a great group of organized leadership! This is awesome. I worked with 1st graders along with another mom with a special needs kid. She had the coolest backpack…Disney Passholder…puts Baggalini to shame. We get a 25 minute break time during recreation time, and she fills me in on all things Disney. I loan her my UOG and she gives me the web address for the disboards…she tells me of magical things like tye dye mickey tshirt instructions, lists for penny pressing machines, …so many cool things. Thanks! Let the uber planning begin.

1. Found the pressed penny list…printed out my copy for the parks. COOL! Read a post where someone used the M&M mini containers for their change. They stacked quarter quarter penny, then quarter quarter penny and so on…change was ready to go when the machine was in view. Went to the grocery store and bought 5 M&M minis in different colors…ate the minis . Washed the containers. Ready to rock and roll. The great part is that the kids will be on budget. When the container is empty the penny pressing fun is over. Mommy is not searching for change at the bottom of the back pack.

http://www.presscoins.com/Listings/WDWChecklist.pdf

2. Read more about pennies and found out pre 1982 are the best because they don’t have the new zinc in them and don’t “smear” when they are squished. Begin sorting through the voluminous penny collection at the house. That is a job for a teenage son and preteen daughter if ever I saw one…designated it to them happily.:cool1:

3. Read even more about pennies...found out that if you have "dirty" pre 82 pennies you can clean them with vinegar...haven't tried it yet...again, a great job for DS and DD!!!! I love being the boss!

bex271

07-23-2007, 02:13 PM

glad that your son is doing better. love the tr. We also go to Birmingham for my son too. Hope y'all have a great time.

becca

mas6010

07-23-2007, 02:26 PM

You are going to have a blast. Can't wait to read more. Hope Adam enjoys himself and the other kids also.
Where did you find the tye dye Mickey shirt info ?
Thanks and enjoy.:)

suttlesboys

07-23-2007, 02:45 PM

Hope you and you're family have a great trip. With everything your family has dealt with, you deserve this trip! Can't wait to hear all about it!!!!!!!!

wendygrace

07-23-2007, 03:10 PM

You're off to a great start! Yay! :banana:

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 03:19 PM

You are going to have a blast. Can't wait to read more. Hope Adam enjoys himself and the other kids also.
Where did you find the tye dye Mickey shirt info ?
Thanks and enjoy.:)

I am sure we will have a wonderful time. My three youngest are having a great time just doing the day countdown with me everymorning. Here is a link to a thread about the tie dye mickey shirts. There are several different variations and one is actually a swirled mickey shirt that is painted and not tie dyed...Have fun!

Elisa

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 03:19 PM

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 03:21 PM

I am in, can't wait for more. I am happy that you and your family have the opportunity to experience WDW. I can't think of anyone who could deserve it more!

Thanks Jessi! We are VERY excited...this week will probably drag on. I told the people at Magic Moments that the wish was just as wonderful for my other children as it is for Adam...they have gone through a lot as well. We are looking forward to some light hearted fun!

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 03:25 PM

I am getting excited for your trip :banana: . Your thread is helping me figure out how to start our own TR :surfweb: . Thanks for letting me know yours was up and running.

We are struggling with whether to do a character meal as well. I really want my DD to meet Cinderella but the meal does not seem like the best way to do that. I am hoping that guest relations and the Wish Lounge at MK :wizard: can help us with that. She now says she wants to meet Belle as well. I think the Princess list is going to grow as we get closer. My DD5 is definitely a princess princess: herself. Her "bedroom" (really a walk in closet with a bed) is decorated with Cinderella curtains and Disney Princess bedspread and pillows. She has a little princess dress that she dug out of her play clothes and has started wearing at the most unusual times as she gets ready for the trip in September :love: .

Our wish granter, Make a Wish, is going to have a send off party :dance3: a week or two before the trip where they plan to give us airline tickets, gifts and the cash for expenses on the trip. We certainly don't have access to the cash for paying for character meals in advance (I am sure you know where are money has all gone, since you are in a similar boat).

Keep up the reporting. We are all ears.

Bill

I have several little neices who are big princess fans...they fluctuate from Snow White to Cinderella to Aurora to Tink. We are sending them postcards while we are there...little girls love their princesses!

Yes, that same boat we are in...When I went to pick up one of the meds Adam was on after his surgery, the insurance hadn't gone through on it yet. The pharmacy tech at the clinic asked me if I just wanted to go ahead and pay for it then, or wait; I asked how much. $950 for 60 pills! Whew! Glad we had good coverage! Glad we still do!!!!!

I don't think we will feel like we are missing out on anything by missing a few of the ADR's. If we feel like the budget is there, we may try to get walk-in access somewhere...

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 03:27 PM

Hope you and you're family have a great trip. With everything your family has dealt with, you deserve this trip! Can't wait to hear all about it!!!!!!!!

Hey suttlesboys....KY, you are not too far away from us in NO Alabama...well, I guess that depends on where you are in KY. I was a little hesitant to do a TR, but once I jumped in feet first, I have started to have a little fun at it. Who knows...maybe it will be almost as fun as uber planning.

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 03:29 PM

You're off to a great start! Yay! :banana:

Thanks Wendy...I am very much looking forward to reading more of your TR. As far as I am concerned, you have the wish trip definitive work!

jcc0621

07-23-2007, 03:34 PM

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 03:41 PM

Hi. I follwed you over from Wendy's TR. Great start. I am tearing up already and you haven't even gotten to the trip part yet:lmao:

The link you posted for the pressed penny list doens't seem to be working. Can you repost or email the list at jcc0621@yahoo.com

Thanks. Can't wait to read more.

I can't wait to see how the LIVE updates work out, becasue I was actually thinking of doing this for our trip in August

Thanks JCC:

Here is aother link for a pressed penny list...it is actually the one I used. I went back to the original thread and reread it. This one is suppossed to be the most current "definitive" list. Be forewarned that you are knocking on $300 to get all of them done. We won't be doing that :) FYI, they sell penny pressing books at the parks. It has slots for all your "squished pennies" as we call them, and I believe it has Mickey or the castle on the front. I have read that it is between $6-10. Something to consider. When will you be there in August? We don't leave until the 4th. Have to :sad2: Kids start school later that week.

http://www.presscoins.com/Listings/WDWChecklist.pdf

Bill_Lin

07-23-2007, 03:53 PM

You and Wendy inspired me to write this.

Disney Whirled

Parking lot
Playful spot
Inspection hassle
Magic Castle
Rope Drop
Child Swap
See Winnie the Pooh
Whatever you do

Dumbo
Walk slow
Main Street
Character greet
Peter Pan
Touring Plan
Hair stylin’
Tom Sawyer Island

Breakfast
Fast Pass
Ariel
Liberty Bell
Snow White
Grab a bite
Jungle Cruise
Long-line blues

Toon Town
Princess gown
Mickey Mouse
Minnie’s house
Pirate’s curse
Empty purse
Parade Times
Count your dimes

Aladdin’s lamp
Hand stamp
Gifts shops
Potty stops
A President
Our money’s spent
Haunted Mansion
Hidden stanchion

Fireworks
Rude jerks
Small World
Flags unfurled
Splash Mountain
Thunder Mountain
Space Mountain
Costs mountin’

Tired feet
We’re all beat
Monorail
Please don’t fail
Find our car
It can’t be far
Its really late
We’re out the gate

Bill

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 03:55 PM

glad that your son is doing better. love the tr. We also go to Birmingham for my son too. Hope y'all have a great time.

becca

Hey Becca:

I see you are new at the disboards...I still am too. There is so much to be learned here. We have had great experiences at UAB and at Children's in Birmingham. Thanks for your well wishes.

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 03:57 PM

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 04:07 PM

I wanted to make sure my kids could find DH and me if we become lost parents:eek: . So, I powered up MS Publisher :surfweb: and created “business cards” with all the important info, I included the medications and doses of Adam's meds, and the names and phone numbers of all his doctors, in the event we have a medical emergency. I then powered up google and did a search for Disney clipart and found some neat images. Once I had all that together, I was able to customize the cards to the kids’ preferences (woody, cars, tink, ratatouille ...and the florist from Atlantis). I am laminating them at the local office store in a luggage tag format for the little boys. I am looping it around their belt loop and putting it in their pocket. I am laminating the teen/tween cards normally and they will put it in their waist packs or wallets. They should remember my cell number and Jim's, but since they can't seem to remember to make their beds in the morning, we are not risking it.

I read on disboards where someone else was issuing :tinker: pixie dust cards to CMs…what are they I wondered? Thought I must be still too much of a newbie to have the scoop on this. Fortunately, others asked too. Evidentally they “powered up” their MS Publisher and created a business card sized thank you card for CM’s who do an extra special job in making their visit to WDW magical. After reading Wendygrace’s TR, and being so touched at the great CMs they had who made their first day at MK so wonderful, I knew I wanted to hand out pixie dust while I was there too. I want to thank them live and in person in a permanent way...maybe even surprise them and make their day, like they have made mine. So, it is back to MS Publisher….more cool cards to make.

Once I get my files down to a smaller size so that they can post(either tonight or tomorrow), I will include copies of these...I am quite proud of them :love:

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 04:23 PM

This is a big one...I don't want to carry too much...I don't want to be weighed down. Don't want to carry to little...I REALLY don't want to pay $87 for a $2 bottle of asprin. What should I bring....big hmmm here. Well, I am taking 2 back packs into the parks...remember teen and tween...pack mules!!!!

I ordered this neat thing, actually I found a site that had them for $6.95, and ordered 2...still waiting on it though :confused: it is called a stroller holder http://www.babyproofingplus.com/categories/showcat.php?catid=36. One of the benefits we receive at GKTW is a free single stroller rental from Disney. We are planning on paying the difference and getting an upgrade to the double. Both DS8 Adam and DS5 Nathan will need the break from walking. When DS14 was a baby I had one of these stroller holders ...it was AWESOME. A drink fits in perfectly, and there are 3 hooks on it for bags. My plan is to hang the back packs some of the time...and to hang lanyards with misting fans on them some of the time. I have read where the strollers can tip without a child in them...so we will watch for that...but when they are riding, it will be helpful to have things hanging off something else besides me.:thumbsup2

My back pack has the following things in it (so far).

rain ponchos - $.97 at Wal-mart in the sporting goods section
misting fans waiting for lanyards - $5-6 at Wal-mart
Ear Plugs - Again Wal-mart - about $1.50 for 6 pair
Pal Mickey that I bought off Ebay for $45 - and he is in great shape
penny tubes
penny list for the park for that day

I am adding:
meds if we need them
sunscreen
bug spray
maybe a guide
definitely a touring plan
zip locks with a change of clothes in them, just in case (thus the need for 2 backpacks). This list of backpack essentials still isn't finalized and may change...(my pathetic excuse for a disclaimer).

jcc0621

07-23-2007, 06:16 PM

Thanks JCC:

Here is aother link for a pressed penny list...it is actually the one I used. I went back to the original thread and reread it. This one is suppossed to be the most current "definitive" list. Be forewarned that you are knocking on $300 to get all of them done. We won't be doing that :) FYI, they sell penny pressing books at the parks. It has slots for all your "squished pennies" as we call them, and I believe it has Mickey or the castle on the front. I have read that it is between $6-10. Something to consider. When will you be there in August? We don't leave until the 4th. Have to :sad2: Kids start school later that week.

http://www.presscoins.com/Listings/WDWChecklist.pdf

Thanks. DS definitely won't be getting ALL of them. I am definitely going to look into the book too:thumbsup2
We are going August 14th - 24th. DH is a teacher and starts back to school the Tuesday after labor day

5dwarves

07-23-2007, 06:47 PM

Thanks. DS definitely won't be getting ALL of them. I am definitely going to look into the book too:thumbsup2
We are going August 14th - 24th. DH is a teacher and starts back to school the Tuesday after labor day

Janet: You are more than welcome. We will enjoy squishing the pennies, but I think we may tire if we try to do them all...no need to take all the fun out of it.

Bill_Lin

07-23-2007, 11:08 PM

Wow, my friend, you are REALLY organized. I am impressed. Your thread will be my guide for what to pack on the wish trip. Thank you so much.

Bill

wendygrace

07-24-2007, 06:41 AM

Wow! That's awesome planning. You're doing great and I wish I had had those pixie cards!

BTW, GKTW gave us lanyards. I forgot to mention that. We got one for each of us. One of them has a document holder for the GAC/GAP.

Oh, and we were able to get free double strollers at all the parks (Disney, Universal and SeaWorld) instead of the single. :confused3

I would also recommend a fanny pack for your photopass, cash, CC, car keys and cardkey for the villa.

HTH! I'm so glad you are doing this. It reminds me of little things that I didn't put in my report that could help.

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 07:48 AM

Hey Wendy:

I just got finished reading your updates! Yes, I have this great LL Bean waist pack. There are probably people old enough to drive who are younger than this waist pack...LOL...I have had it a while. It is for travel though and has a hook for keys and slots for ID and the almighty $s. I am definitely bringing it. I want to keep the IDs, tickets and all that close to me so it doesn't get left behind somewhere. I have thought about getting the kids their own waist packs for their M&M change containers and just so they can feel a little grown up too.

Great to hear about the lanyards! Adam is being tested for Autism/Asbergers when we return...we are not sure if some of his behavior issues come out of the steroids he is on, from his severe prematurity...or if there is something else. The doctors and the schools and I have been going down the check list and autism has come up, so we are getting the full testing done right after Disney and right before school, my gut feeling is that it is Asbergers and has been hidden under all his other health issues all ths time....anyway, there is no way Adam is going to leave the GKTW pin alone...he will end up playing with it all day and there will be huge holes in all his shirts. I already have a lanyard for him to put the GKTW pin on. I have been debating about the whole trading pin issue. My sis got married at the chapel in Yosemite 3 years ago. Jim and I had just started dating, but weren't even close to being married yet. Come to think of it, he probably married me because of the postcard I sent him from Disneyland. LOL...the way to a man's heart is through a Mickey Mouse Ears Postcard...must be because he still has it! The kids and my parents and I drove out to the wedding from TX. On the way home we went to DL and bought one pin for each kid. I thought it was a big deal..."oooo look mommy got you A (one single) pin"...never would I have imagined then that it was like Lay's potato chips...no one can have just one. I guess I am not surprised that anything Disney has become such a huge phenomenon though! LOL...anyway, I have been debating about the pin/lanyard thing. It gets pricey when you multiply by 5 though, so we will see about the pins, but the GKTW lanyards....GREAT!

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 08:25 AM

Okay...after making my files smaller I think I can finally post a family picture. My husband is the second from the right in the front row....Kidding....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/group04.gif

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 08:38 AM

Okay...here is the real us...it is 3 years old though and DS14 has grown 24 inches taller since then, I'm sure....Adam is in front of me.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/familypic-2.jpg

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 09:11 AM

Adam got his transplant last year, about 2 weeks after Easter...this is this Easter this year....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/boys2-1.jpg

LeeLee2U

07-24-2007, 09:20 AM

You have a BEAUTIFUL Family!!! Adams smile is just too cute. I love the way the light shines on him in that picture. It's like a little sunbeam of hope and then boom 2 wks later....WOW.
Keep it coming. I'm trying to get a pre-idea of what I need and should do so I can get prepared when I get those dates. It's Tuesday so I'm giving it to the end of the day. I keep looking at my phone like RING already!!!!
I am buying Crocs. even my DH has gotten into the spirit and is ordering some! I think I'l put Braetons WISH button on a lanyard too. I was wondering WHAT I was going to do. Pretend that we bought that shirt witth those holes in it! We like it that way!!:laughing:

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 09:53 AM

Thanks LeeLee....Last year he didn't smile in the Easter pictures because he felt so bad...that smile is worth a lot to me!

Here is the last family pic i'll post till Disney...a newer one but no parents....It was Christmas 2006. Look at them shivering in the cold Alabama winter...;)

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/DSC01365-1-1.jpg

LeeLee2U

07-24-2007, 10:07 AM

Awwww! You've got some heart breakers there for sure!!!!

And ooops I misread. I thought that that pic was the easter before transplant. But that just makes this Easter pic. mean so much more!!!!

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 10:07 AM

LeeLee...sorry I didn't see part of your post...the Easter pic posted here of Adam was almost a year after his transplant...In the Christmas group pic with all the kids he is about 8 months post transplant. You can see that his little face is still swollen (they call it moon face) from the steroids and high doses of anti rejection meds he was on, and that he is still a little jaundiced. His eyes are clear though. They were solid yellow prior to transplant. When I would volunteer in his kindergarten class, some of the other children would ask me why Adam had monster eyes. I imagine if you are five years old, solid yellow eyes are scary. I explained that it was because Adam was sick. The kindergarten class was awesome! They made him cards and sent him a care package when he was in the hospital. He was discharged from the hospital before school was finished for the year. We went in and visited the teacher and principal and other staff members; avoiding the children, because of possible exposure to germs. His teacher was really sweet. She wiped every surface down with antibacterial cleaner before we got there. When we were leaving the school, all the kindergarten classes were outside for PE (he goes to a small elementary school...there are 3 kindergarten classes). They saw me in the car and then saw Adam and all ran to the fence and erupted in "Hi Adams" and started clapping and waving....I rolled down his window and he sat there and waved at them and called out hellos to all his best friends...He felt like he was the leader of the Rose Parade (what are those people called...Grand Marshalls?) It was awesome! Anyway, his medication doses have dropped considerably. Post transplant he was taking 14 pills 2 times a day....now he is at less than half of that...and his face has gone down considerably.

His little moon face didn't bother me. It does bother some transplant families though. Adam was so frail prior to transplant...his little arms and legs were scrawny. Even though I knew that some of the mass was caused by his medication, it was so good to see him finally bulking up. He has gained about 15 pounds since the surgery...and that is a very good thing.

LeeLee2U

07-24-2007, 10:19 AM

Funny! I guess we were posting at the same time!!!:goodvibes Yes I know what you mean about the moon face. When I saw the pic I thought that's the dreaded P medicine. My husband was on that steroid for over 10 yrs. It is used as a treatment for LUPUS. He's been off of it for several yrs now and has lost a lot of weight. It gave him such an appetite!popcorn:: Of course he jokes and says he loses 5lbs every TH and Sat and @ 10 lbs every Tues. He doesn't understand why he isn't skinnier than me!!! (he does dialysis T, th and Sat. so it's the fluid being pulled off.)
We are prepared though for it after Transplant!
What a great teacher!!! And Bravo for all the kids!!! It's probably just what Adam needed. Every one needs to feel special every now and then.
Well we are off to look at a house so I will check in later!!!

disneyeeyorefan

07-24-2007, 10:20 AM

Love your report so far, you have a beautiful family and you are going to have a blast at Disney:goodvibes

lisaj

07-24-2007, 10:33 AM

Loving your report, your son is so brave and surely deserves more than a little magic. Have a fantastic holiday.

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 10:49 AM

Okay...here we go...I printed my publisher files then scanned them into a jpg file so I could upload...blah blah blah....anyway...here you go....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/woodypixiedust.jpg

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 10:50 AM

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/tinkpixiedust.jpg

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 10:52 AM

Since I had to blow the size of the business card up so that you could see them, they are a little grainy...they look much better small...

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/incrediblespixiedust.jpg

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 10:52 AM

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/goofypixiedust.jpg

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 10:55 AM

I'm glad I did this....typos on this one...:guilty: ...gotta fix that...

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/cardspixiedust.jpg

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 11:13 AM

Like I posted yesterday, I have made business card sized ID cards for the kids. The little boys will have them laminated into a luggage tag and I will loop the ...loop...LOL...around their belt loop (oh my...LOL) and then tuck the card into their pocket...here is one....

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/152445id_card_woody_pg_2_001-thumb.jpg

madcam

07-24-2007, 11:13 AM

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 11:17 AM

This is Adam's...his has a little more going on in his card (for all you parents of kids with special needs) In the event there is some sort of medical emergency, I want to make sure I can do everything possible to help medical staff there in Orlando help my son...good info available to them is a must.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/152445id_card_woody-med.jpg

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/152445id_card_woody_pg_2-med.jpg

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 11:24 AM

Love your report so far, you have a beautiful family and you are going to have a blast at Disney:goodvibes

Thank you...I truly feel blessed with my great kids!! We are greatly anticipating having that blast here in our household! My youngest boys are very early risers (5:30)...when I get up at about 6:00 the first thing they do is run out of their room and tell me only ____ more days until Florida!!!

We are sooooo ready to go!

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 11:33 AM

Those cards are such a great idea! I am sure you will make some unsuspecting CM's day and who knows.....maybe help to inspire someone to choose a life and career helping special needs kids. (We can't have too many of those wonderful souls!) I have to say, I got all misty-eyed reading how sweet those teachers and kindergartener's were to your son. He has been through so much and it just makes my heart happy to know he has so much love and support in his life! Waiting anxiously for the next update....have a great day:goodvibes

Thank you....I am afraid the wording is a little corny though...I could probably have a great future in kids' valentines...."Spiderman says "I'm stuck on you."LOL...oh well....hopefully they will see past the cornball and feel the heart felt thanks.

Yes, our school is wonderful! The staff is awesome and the parents are all very involved! The high school my son is going to is nationally recognized and the middle school and the elementary school are highly ranked in our state. I truly think it is because we have such caring, and dedicated staff :teacher: and involved parents. The combination of those two things make a winning team for all our children.

mjhd

07-24-2007, 11:35 AM

If you have an officemax nearby, I believe Thursday's are free laminating days - just read it on another board somewhere - pm me if you're interested and I'll search for it again :) - great story so far - I'm excited to hear how awesome it goes!

I wanted to make sure my kids could find DH and me if we become lost parents:eek: . So, I powered up MS Publisher :surfweb: and created “business cards” with all the important info, I included the medications and doses of Adam's meds, and the names and phone numbers of all his doctors, in the event we have a medical emergency. I then powered up google and did a search for Disney clipart and found some neat images. Once I had all that together, I was able to customize the cards to the kids’ preferences (woody, cars, tink, ratatouille ...and the florist from Atlantis). I am laminating them at the local office store in a luggage tag format for the little boys. I am looping it around their belt loop and putting it in their pocket. I am laminating the teen/tween cards normally and they will put it in their waist packs or wallets. They should remember my cell number and Jim's, but since they can't seem to remember to make their beds in the morning, we are not risking it.

I read on disboards where someone else was issuing :tinker: pixie dust cards to CMs…what are they I wondered? Thought I must be still too much of a newbie to have the scoop on this. Fortunately, others asked too. Evidentally they “powered up” their MS Publisher and created a business card sized thank you card for CM’s who do an extra special job in making their visit to WDW magical. After reading Wendygrace’s TR, and being so touched at the great CMs they had who made their first day at MK so wonderful, I knew I wanted to hand out pixie dust while I was there too. I want to thank them live and in person in a permanent way...maybe even surprise them and make their day, like they have made mine. So, it is back to MS Publisher….more cool cards to make.

Once I get my files down to a smaller size so that they can post(either tonight or tomorrow), I will include copies of these...I am quite proud of them :love:

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 11:38 AM

Loving your report, your son is so brave and surely deserves more than a little magic. Have a fantastic holiday.

Thank you for your well wishes...he has been through a lot. Your smiley :laundy: is reminding me that I have laundry waiting on me while I sit here and do the dis...:guilty: time to work.....bummer....

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 11:39 AM

If you have an officemax nearby, I believe Thursday's are free laminating days - just read it on another board somewhere - pm me if you're interested and I'll search for it again :) - great story so far - I'm excited to hear how awesome it goes!

Awesome....truthfully I am not sure if we have an Office Max or not; I know we have Staples and Office Depot. I'll check though. Thanks for the tip...Free is always good.

Just got finished checking this out...unfortuantely Office Max in our city has closed. The other two office supply stores must have been too much competition...Thanks for the tip though...maybe someone else can use it!

Iluvmickeymouse!

07-24-2007, 01:45 PM

I LOVE :love: those cards. You did an awesome job on them!! I like the idea of the ID cards for the kids. Even though my DD is not on a lot of meds right now, it would be nice to have her medical diagnosis on there (this last diagnosis is really hard to say!). We are going the end of Oct. (hopefully--we haven't gotten the official yes, these are your dates phone call) Am looking forward to more of your trip report!! :goodvibes

5dwarves

07-24-2007, 02:07 PM

wendygrace

07-24-2007, 08:45 PM

Those cards are great!

MousekaMaddi

07-25-2007, 12:23 AM

super cute cards, cant wit for more report!!
Great lookin kids too!!:grouphug:

Lifelong_Dreamer

07-25-2007, 01:47 AM

Wow, what a great family you have and you have all overcome such hardships. I am so happy for you that Adam is doing well and that he and the rest of your family get to go on this magical trip!

Your cards are such a great idea and I think the CMs will love the pixie dust cards.

I can't wait to hear all about your trip!:thumbsup2

5dwarves

07-25-2007, 07:03 AM

super cute cards, cant wit for more report!!
Great lookin kids too!!:grouphug:

Thanks...I can't wait till I have GKTW and Disney stuff to report in 3+ days :)

Wow, what a great family you have and you have all overcome such hardships. I am so happy for you that Adam is doing well and that he and the rest of your family get to go on this magical trip!

Your cards are such a great idea and I think the CMs will love the pixie dust cards.

I can't wait to hear all about your trip!:thumbsup2

Hello our friends from the North! Thank you. Hopefully the next hardship we have to overcome won't be the car ride to Orlando. I am praying for peace there! Peace and functioning portable DVD players.

Those cards are great!

Thanks Wendy.

5dwarves

07-25-2007, 07:51 AM

What is that saying...something about Big Boys and their toys....well my DH's downfall is anything with a circuit board in it...the more bells and whistles it has, the better. We both need watches before the trip. I want to get us something sturdy, but cheap...there will be better things to spend money on in FL. Jim's only requirement is that it has a lot of cool gadgets on it. Doesn't matter if you can read the dial, or even if it can keep time...it needs to have lots of cool buttons on it.

He has been taking care of the electronic aspect of our trip. He decided that even though we are taking our cell phones, that we NEED walkie talkies, but he doesn't want to hear everyone else's walkie talkie conversation, so now we have walkie talkies with a 26 mile radius and about 1000 different secure channels (or something like that). He also decided that even though we have a great atlas, and mapquest at our disposal, that the good people of Florida have intentionally hidden all the exit signs to Orlando and we will not be able to find it on a map soooo we NEED a GPS. We also NEEDED another media card for the camera (okay, I'll give him that).

We already have the seatback DVD players for the kids. I agree that they may need a break from staring out the window in Georgia. However, our new GPS thing can store downloaded books on tape (yes, and it makes coffee too). Sooooo, we need headsets for the DVD players (five of them) and I will have the unmitigated pleasure of listening to my husband's selection of books on tape. I believe it is Mr. Sulu reading the latest Star Trek installment. Can you feel my pain? I think I NEED a new electronic device too....an I-pod! LOL. I will suffer through though...

disney_fan1972

07-25-2007, 07:58 AM

pixe*dst

07-25-2007, 09:13 AM

You only have 3 days left :banana: :banana: Are you super excited???

wendygrace

07-25-2007, 09:27 AM

LeeLee2U

07-25-2007, 10:26 AM

m11dolphin

07-25-2007, 10:26 AM

You have such a cute family. I hope your trip goes well for all of you. I will keep reading.:cutie:

5dwarves

07-25-2007, 02:05 PM

I just finished reading all 5 pages including your full pre trip report... I got all choked up seeing what your son has been through, but not only his medical challenges, I got choked up reading about what you have been through. My DD has a wonderful step father now, but I remember starting to date and "oh, you have a kid" (like they are a contagious illness or something), then when I met someone special, the question... "will you love her as your own?" and of course the post divorce court battle. I wish I could say something profound but I have no great words of understanding or epiphany so I just want to say...

Have a GREAT trip!!!!:banana:

You ALL deserve it! :yay:

Hey Disney Fan...thanks for the kind thoughts. I get a little choked up going through all that past history too. We have all come a long way since then. As far as the stuff in post divorce goes, my ex just doesn't know what he is missing. The best thing in the world that could have ever happened to me is these children. I am glad to hear you have found that someone special and that he loves your daughter...best wishes.

Elisa

5dwarves

07-25-2007, 02:09 PM

You only have 3 days left :banana: :banana: Are you super excited???

Hmmm...am I super excited? yes, Yes, YES!!!! Woo Hooo:cool1: WE can't wait!!!! Since we are not driving the entire way the first day, we will actually be getting to GKTW on Sunday and the parks on Monday...but we will be on the road and on our way in less than 72 hours!!!!! Yeah!

5dwarves

07-25-2007, 02:20 PM

That is too funny! Enjoy all those gadgets. With that many kids, I don't know how you keep sane! Go low tech, bring a couple of good books and some sound-proof headsets! :laughing:

I can't believe your trip is just around the corner. Our last day won't apply much to you, btw. So you should be all set with info. Check-out is easy, peasy and you can stay at GKTW as long as you want that day, just playing. Feel free to ask me any burning questions you have and I'll be more than happy to answer you.

I am soooooo excited for you!! :banana: :cheer2:

Waaaay ahead of you there. I have already gotten 3 books lined up (none of them official or unofficial guides) and some foam earplugs if needed. As I sit down to the desk, I see the next audio book that he has loaded to the GPS..."Star Wars: Legacy of the Force Volume 1: Betrayal" The "volume 1" thing has me really concerned...LOL....

We have gotten our last package from our Wish agency; a t-shirt for Adam, a disposable camera (nice touch I thought) and the all important Expense Check. Whew...glad that is here. All that is left is the waiting...actually, the waiting and school supply shopping....they go back 3 days after we return. :scared1: (that is them, this is me :banana: ).

Again, Wendy, I truly appreciate all the hard work you and Mick put into your TR. You all (Y'all where I am from ;) )have helped me and many other wish families prepare for our trips. I am sure that you have a lot on your plate right now, so I truly appreciate all that you did to answer our questions and tell us about the experience you had. I also think, that if you are like me, coming to these boards is a little cathartic. All the best to you and your beautiful family, and thanks for all you have done for the other wish families...pixie dust coming your way...pixiedust: . I'll get a pic of your villa while I am at GKTW, and keep you udpated on all our antics.

Elisa

5dwarves

07-25-2007, 02:29 PM

Ooops, I thought I'd replied yesterday about your cards, but I guess I didn't! They are great. We've also designed some to use on our trip. My Husband has really gotten into it.
Whew gadgets!! I agree w/ Wendy. Sound proof headphones and some good books are the way to go. Or maybe you need to spend some of that time Sleeeeeeping. That's where you lay down,close your eyes and go into dream land. I know you've probably forgotten how that feels!!!:rotfl2: I used to NEVah be able to sleep in a vehicle. Now give me a book and just 2 min. of quiet (No that doesn't happen very often, unless it's reallll late and by some miracle both kids fall asleep!!!) and I am out like a light!!
It's just right @ the corner! I am soooooo excited for ya'll!!!:yay: :tigger: :jumping1:

Hey LeeLee...so you and your DH make the cards too...That is GREAT! I am glad to see that I am not the only Obsessive Compulsive person out there...:thumbsup2

Yes, I am doing the book and earphone thing, and I can sleep in the car easily, although I wake up feeling a little pretzel like.

We do only have 2 days and a wakeup left....very cool. I have taken the car for an oil change, had the tires rotated and balanced and then went through the coin-op wash....we are on the final countdown. Speaking of countdowns..the Space Shuttle launches 2 days after we leave :sad2: It would have been cool to see that, but we would never have made it home in time for the first day of school or Adam's doctor's appointment. We are going to go by Kennedy Space Center and do the bus tour there, and will get to see the shuttle on the launch pad though...The Kennedy Space Center is another one of the GKTW benefits.

lori1043

07-25-2007, 02:48 PM

[quote=5dwarves;19898350]. One of the benefits we receive at GKTW is a free single stroller rental from Disney. We are planning on paying the difference and getting an upgrade to the double. quote]

We went on a MAW trip in March 2002. My DD9 is a leukemia survivor!:banana:

I don't think you will be charged for an upgrade for the double stroller. Of course, be prepared, but we got one everyday at no charge and so did the other "wish" kid we planned our trip with-and her mom had no other children-they still got a double.It was VERY handy to have and when DD9 did not want to ride with her little sister, she jumped in with her friend.
I know it has been 5 years since we went on her MAW trip- and I'm sure a lot of things are different(and the same!!), but I cannot imagine a family with 5 kids will be charged for a double. Cannot wait to hear about your trip!!! GKTW is so wonderful. They have inspired me to want to volunteer there when we retire. I have bittersweet memories from GKTW and every time we make it to WDW we visit, for old times sake.
So glad it's getting further and further in our past-the illness. You can see what we are celebrating next Feb!!

Lori

5dwarves

07-25-2007, 06:17 PM

lori1043

07-25-2007, 08:37 PM

Give Mayor Clayton and everyone at GKTW a big THANK YOU and hugs from Ashton. Her star still is on her ceiling in her room(if you don't know what I am talking about, you will know soon!!). That place is full of the most magic and love than any other place I have ever been. It makes me teary. We be there next Feb to visit. The chapel is quiet and pretty too. I spent every morning there, thanking the good Lord!
You all have been through a lot and I will too enjoy reading your play by play!! Blessings of healing to your son!

In Him, Lori

HaleyB

07-25-2007, 10:27 PM

I am hooked, I can't wait to hear about your magical trip!!!

wendygrace

07-26-2007, 08:34 AM

How's it going? Kids driving you batty yet?

5dwarves

07-26-2007, 08:54 AM

Morning Wendy:

I just sat down for my morning cup of disboards and saw your message. :)The kids are actually doing pretty well. When they wake up, they ask me questions like, "is it really just two more days?" We had to do several errands yesterday and had McD's for lunch...not my favorite place (although their fries really are the best). The boy's happy meal toy was some sort of hotwheels spinning top thing. Right now my oldest DS is in the garage with the younger ones and he is helping them spin away, and my daughter is practicing her flute. Here in AL we are a little football crazed. We have jr. high football, and thus jr. high football band. Mandatory football band practice happens while we are gone, and in order to be excused from that, I had to write a note, and she has to turn in a recording of her playing all 5 of the songs...soooo, she is fluting away right now...and no one is really melting down about Disney. The day is young though...LOL. Meanwhile, back in the real world...mommy is cleaning house like a mad woman.

We have tons to do still before we go. Things that are non trip related though, like school supply shopping for five. I shudder to think what this year's total bill will be. My oldest will be a freshman in high school this year, and we will be in FL during freshmen orientation. I spoke with the freshman school counselor and she is going to let us do our orientation (tour, paperwork) early, so we are going by there tomorrow too. I also need to refill a couple of prescriptions for my youngest. He has allergies and asthma, and doesn't need meds all the time, just when he is exposed to something that he is allergic to (certain pollens and animals.) I want to make sure he doesn't spend the trip in FL wheezing, so I am bringing the nebulizer and all the meds with me, just in case, and I had the pediatrician write him a prescription for an inhaler, so we had something portable for the parks. So, we are finishing up all those little details that have to be done....

I wanted to ask you about the photopass thing again. You said on your TR that you had seen a list of photopass locations. Was this something that you picked up at the parks or something you saw on this board or another website. I would like to incorporate it into our touring plan (which is still a work in progress..lol...) so that we know where to look for the photographers.

Hope things are well in the Wendy/Mick household! Have a great day.

Elisa

5dwarves

07-26-2007, 09:07 AM

5dwarves

07-26-2007, 09:10 AM

I am hooked, I can't wait to hear about your magical trip!!!

Thanks Haley...(love your name btw...my Hannah was almost Haley, but one of my cousin's beat me to the name...) Thanks for reading....we are excited to get started on that magical trip!

Elisa

wendygrace

07-26-2007, 09:16 AM

Sounds like a busy couple of days. Hope it all works out for you. I'd be going mad!

As for the photopass, I saw it online somewhere. I believe it was on the photopass website or the official disney site but can't find it anywhere. It looked like those Disney maps that Disney has (ya know, the free ones) but instead of the attractions, it listed the photopass locations.

I know I'm not imagining it! Grrrr! :lmao:

5dwarves

07-26-2007, 09:22 AM

LeeLee2U

07-26-2007, 09:52 AM

:wave: Just wanted to say Goood Morning! I know , I know it's getting close to noon already, but Braeton had a rough night so we were up late and slept late. Now he's up w/ full speed ahead!!!:crazy2:
Oh! I can see you now MAD woman:laundy: :surfweb: . Hee Hee Gotta fit both in Right!!
I looked up several photopass threads and sites and all I could find is that there are photagraphes at all the meet and greets and @ the characters and usually there are several @ the tree of life at AK. And that most of the character meals did not use photo pass that they wanted you to buy there package although there were some that said some of them did use their photopass so :confused3 !!! If I come across any before you go I'll let you know!!!
Until ......

MandM-Mom

07-26-2007, 10:09 AM

I am enjoying your pre-trip report!!! Hope you have the most magical journey to the mouse. :)

5dwarves

07-26-2007, 01:38 PM

5dwarves

07-26-2007, 01:40 PM

I am enjoying your pre-trip report!!! Hope you have the most magical journey to the mouse. :)

Thanks for your well wishes....and I am glad you are enjoying the report. The last minute preps have kept me from adding much here lately...more soon though (I don't have much time left.)

alizesmom

07-26-2007, 02:29 PM

5dwarves

07-26-2007, 03:29 PM

Best wishes for a fantastic trip. I am using your posts, those of Wendy and input from Bill Lin for Alize's wish trip in early December. You all are full of helpful information and suggestions. I can't wait to hear how everything comes out. Karen:banana:

Oh yeah, we got a GPS too since we're driving. The part that means a lot to me is that I can find the nearest hospital wherever we are. This really gives me peace of mind.

I am so glad that we can help you out. I had written Wendy about some other question and mentioned that I didn't think I was going to do a TR. She encouraged me to do one, because we wish families have such different questions to ask, and we need the other wish families to help. Wendy has been a valuable source of info for me, and I hope to do the same for others.

Glad to hear you like your GPS. My husband LOVES ours. I am still figuring it out, but it is nice to push a button and find medical help or push a button and find Starbucks! I don't drink coffee, but I love their Carmel Apple Cider...yum.

December should be a beautiful time to go. I would love to see all the decorations myself, one day. Looking forward to hearing all about it from you a few months from now!

Elisa

Iluvmickeymouse!

07-26-2007, 03:47 PM

Just wanted to pop in and say HAVE A MOST WONDERFUL AND MAGICAL TRIP EVER!!!! :cool1: I can't wait to read about all the magic you will have when you are at WDW and GKTW. Have a safe trip! :hug:

5dwarves

07-26-2007, 05:08 PM

Just wanted to pop in and say HAVE A MOST WONDERFUL AND MAGICAL TRIP EVER!!!! :cool1: I can't wait to read about all the magic you will have when you are at WDW and GKTW. Have a safe trip! :hug:

Thanks! Even DH and I are antsy now...it is time to get on the road!

5dwarves

07-26-2007, 05:33 PM

Whether tis nobler to TEVA or to Croc....oh well, that is all I have memorized from Hamlet, and I don't feel like going upstairs and digging out my Shakespeare. This was a question for us, or at least me...LOL...I don't think dh really cared one way or the other, at least until he found out he was getting a pair too.

I spent some time on the boards reading things that were non-essentials. :surfweb: Now admit it, I am not the ONLY one that did that...LOL. I read about things like, crocs, pal Mickey, portable DVD players...all that non theme park "do we really need it" stuff. LOL...Come to think of it, I have all of those things now. :laughing:

My experience with Crocs was limited to the hospital. Many of the nurses and techs and even some of the doctors wore them and loved them. They just didn't seem substantial enough for me. My neices have them, but they are little and cute princesses princess: and love multi-colored anythings, to include footwear. Are Crocs really comfortable? (note the skepticism):rolleyes: They must be comfortable, simply because they are really ugly but everyone still wears them. I decided to dip my toe in the croc infested waters.

My young DSs all have their favorite colors. It actually helps make things move easier around here, because almost everything (jackets, backpacks, raincoats) are color coded. Adam's favorite is red, Jake is a blue man, whereas Nathan is a little more open minded; he likes orange first, green second and yellow next... It made buying crocs easier, or so I thought. I had to find the right color in the right size...oh my! Well, after 5 stops and a mail order, we were all able to rock with crocs....My DS14 was afraid they may not be "manly" enough...LOL...14...worried about being "manly"...please! He has the flip flops. Even my DH has his pair, which was a major challenge. DH is 6'5" and has a shoe size to match. I was able to find his "Cinderella's Step Sister" size online (15's) so we are all crocin' and so far everyone is enjoying them. We are taking back up footwear with us to WDW though, just in case our feet tire in these...until then, you will be able to spot our ugly neon clad feet for miles, maybe even from space (have you seen how bright the lime green and the turquoise ones are?) If you are at WDW at the same time we are, and see us, put your shades :cool2: on before our shoes blind you, and consider yourself forewarned!

Now in search of jibbitz...LOL...or as DS5 calls them, bijitz. We will be in search of POTC! Yo ho Yo Ho! pirate:

nicolemarie

07-26-2007, 06:53 PM

Avivasmom

07-26-2007, 07:29 PM

lori1043

07-26-2007, 11:29 PM

have fun!!
and I think you are smart by bringing other shoes(hopefully comfy tennis shoes) just in case the crocs don't work out-can't wait to hear about that part too, since we have them and I am debating bringing them and getting LSU ones for my DH.
Enjoy the ride too-Lori

Who'syourMickey

07-27-2007, 12:42 AM

5dwarves

07-27-2007, 06:57 AM

I have a night to myself, and I just sat down and read your entire report.

First of all, I am so thankful that your Adam is OK!! In your first few posts, I thought maybe the transplant had not gone well. I was relieved to read he's doing so great.

Second, I never read the pre-trips. I'm not sure why, but I never have. So I was a little bummed that your trip hasn't even started...because I'm hooked and ready to know how it went!!!

Have a wonderful time and enjoy God's blessings on you and your family.

Can't wait to hear the rest!!

NM :flower3:

A night to yourself...wow...I remember those! I'm jealous! Thanks for reading. I am glad you are hooked. Sorry you were disappointed though, but I will make it up to you!

Adam did have a couple of rejection episodes, but I was told afterward that everyone does...that it is to be expected. He came through them fine and his meds were adjusted afterward. He has also had some petit mal seizures, but he is on medication for that, and his momma watches him like a hawk :) In spite of all our troubles, we have been very blessed!

Stay tuned! :happytv:

5dwarves

07-27-2007, 07:00 AM

What a great report and what a great family you have and a wonderful DH. I too have a preemie. She was almost 10 weeks early and is now 6 1/2.

We will be at WDW the same time as you. We leave Sunday too.

OOOO...how exciting! There at the same time; and I see you are staying at the BWV. Before we knew about GKTW, that was our first choice. It looks lovely!

We will say hi if we see you! Given there will be so few people there, I am sure we will run into each other...LOL... I hope you and Aviva have a safe and wonderful trip!

Elisa

5dwarves

07-27-2007, 07:08 AM

I am so glad I finally found your report! I love those cards you made, I am going to make some too. We aren't using crocs....we are using birkenstalks and keen sandals (from ebay 1/3 price). Birks have more arch support than crocs. Keens have more stretchy breathy room....as far as how they both hold up in the parks...I dunno that yet. You're almost there, huh! You have a beautiful family.

LOL...yep, I am very familiar with birks...the shoe of choice for college students back in the dark ages, when I was there. I am also taking my Mephistos...similiar to Birks. They have a little higher heel though that is cork, like Birks,and acts as a shock absorber. Got my poor feet and shins through a few pregnancies...LOL. On another thread someone was talking about their Disney shoe of choice and they recommended Montrail Molokini flip flops. Believe it or not, you bake them. You put them in the oven and bake them for a few minutes, then take them out and stand on them and they form to your feet. The reviews on zappos.com are all enthusiastic. They also come in size 15 for my Baloo sized husband, but we didn't find out about them in time to get them for the trip. Like all shoes that are good for your feet, they are not cheap. I think the flip flops were $55. Ouch.

Thanks for the compliment on the family...I noticed in your family pic you also had the black t-shirt family picture. I like black; it is always classic looking. After all, how can Aubrey Hepburn be wrong?

AlyssinWonderland

07-27-2007, 12:19 PM

Yay! You only have one day until your trip! Sounds like you are well prepaired! I hope you have a wonderful trip!

LeeLee2U

07-27-2007, 01:56 PM

It's almost TIME:hourglass to go! Won't be long and you'll be on the road!:car: Hopefully after that drive you'll be :3dglasses instead of :crazy: .
I'm so excited for ya'll:jumping1:

Princess.Rachel

07-27-2007, 02:15 PM

Tomorrow is the BIG day!!!! Have fun, I hope its everything you want it to be!!!:cool1: :cool1: :cool1:

5dwarves

07-28-2007, 05:01 AM

Well, that is a little bit of an exaggeration. We are not quite that slow. We actually are pulling out of the driveway this morning, in the next hour. :car: The Suburban is packed, the lists have been double checked, my DH’s new electronic toy, the GPS, is programmed for our first destination…we are rarin’ to go… I just feel like a turtle, and not like a cool one like Crush, or the hick one like the old Bugs cartoons (I don’t allow my southern children to say “ain’t”)…more like the uptight stressed one in Over the Hedge. Cartoon analogies - can you tell there are children in my house? Personally I think I would be up on more current events if the news was animated. Anyway, back to the slow turtle analogy, I just can’t get to WDW fast enough!!! The day is finally here!

5dwarves

07-28-2007, 05:02 AM

Day – 1 Departure and head to Savannah. We will be stopping for lunch at a drive up/ car hop place in Atlanta. DH and I love this new show on the Food Network, with Guy Fieti (sp?) titled Diners, Drive Thrus and Dives. He tours the country finding local color and tasty food in mom and pop drive ups. While none of the restaurants that have been featured on the show are on route for us, it inspired us to avoid the golden arches (not that I needed much inspiration for that). My DH went online and found a place called Zestos in Atlanta. Any drive thru with a huge ice cream cone logo on it’s sign has got to be good…right? Well, we will let you know what we think…then on to Savannah. For some historical sight seeing, and dinner…somewhere…

Lifelong_Dreamer

07-28-2007, 06:08 AM

I hope you and your family have a great trip! You will love Savannah and I can't wait to hear about your time there. My family stopped there for the night when we were driving down to Disney from Virginia Beach.

bex271

07-28-2007, 06:31 AM

hope y'all have a save trip down and hope you enjoy the atlanta drive up and savannah.

becca

wendygrace

07-28-2007, 07:15 AM

Good luck! I can't wait to hear how your trip went!

LeeLee2U

07-28-2007, 09:15 AM

OOOh Yummy! So we are going to get a travel food report too? (well maybe at least one?)YEAH!!!
:dance3: :dance3 IT'S HERE!!!!! dAY # 1 OF DRIVING ANYWAY!!!
I'm so excited for ya'll! I know you are going to have the time of your life!!Sending lots of thoughts and prayers your way!!
:grouphug: :sunny: :flower3:
And here's some Pixie dustpixiedust: for your DREAM!!!! :

lunapnp

07-28-2007, 10:29 AM

Well, I'm late coming in to this thread. I am so excited for you and your family! GKTW is awesome. My DD, 11, had her "wish" granted several years ago...when she was 5. She still wants to go back! We were talking about going back to WDW one day and I was telling her and her sister that we wouldn't go during the summer because she wouldn't be able to tolerate the heat and long lines. (We are going in Oct...still hot but usually not as unbearable!) Her response to me was the she "would just put that pin back on!" Funny...it doesn't work that way! :)

We also live in AL...just about an hour from Birmingham. We have been to Children's too many times to count. (I will actually be starting a job at Children's as a nurse practitioner in a couple of weeks! I am so excited. :banana: ) As far as the crocs...I wore mine religiously when I worked as a staff nurse. They are very comfortable and light weight...but beware! Most "first timers" (me included) with crocs all say they take a little while to get familiar with walking in them. I had trouble with tripping a lot in them. I never actually FELL but came very close! Most people say the same thing...well at least all the other nurses I worked with. It was funny...that was our daily laugh was to see how many times we would be walking across a perfectly flat surface and trip! :lmao: (Not to mention the fact that another nurse I worked with and myself have this uncontrollable fit of laughter if we see someone fall!) Sorry a little OT!

Anyway...have a great trip!!!! I can't wait to read more! Also...enjoy the ice cream palace!:coffee:

5dwarves

07-28-2007, 08:15 PM

Zestos was Yucko. LOL...well, it actually was a mixed bag. The store was kinda ugly and they were having plumbing issues. We walked into a restaurant with no bathrooms...not good. The food was okay, but we were very surprised that they received a 1st place Award in Atlanta for best "Dive." Lastly, they were doing construction in the kitchen...we were eating and the jack hammer started...awful. Adam thought it was funny because our tables were vibrating...LOL...it really was funny at that point.
We went to the gas station across the street and used the facilities, then we ventured BACK to Zestos and got some ice cream. WOW...that was good...didn't make up for the poor experience, but it was very good ice cream....on to Savannah....we checked into our hotel, and went out to dinner. The kids tried mussels...DS14 and DD11 liked them, or at least pretended they did, as did DS7. DS5 wanted to keep up, but ended up deciding against it. Adam didn't have any delusions and avoided it all together...nothing safer than chicken, huh little guy.

Tomorrow, we are going to visit the bench where most of Forrest Gump was filmed in Savannah. We don't have a box of chocolates, but intend to take advantage of the photo op. Take care all...thank you for your well wishes!

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/152445Weekend_Plus_Monday_004-thumb.jpg

Elisa

wendygrace

07-28-2007, 10:20 PM

So neat! An "as its happening" trip report! Yay! Sorry about your bad experience at the "best dive in atlanta" though. LOL Hope you get a good nights sleep.

LeeLee2U

07-28-2007, 11:35 PM

a "LIVE" report as seen by Elisa.....I LOVE IT!!!! Sorry about Zestos. Too bad. I'm assuming the car ride so far is o.k and you are retaing what sanity you have??:laughing:
Can't wait for your next report!:goodvibes

5dwarves

07-29-2007, 08:04 PM

Savannah in a word was beautiful. I'll post pics once they are loaded...later this week. It was a fairly easy drive to GKTW...4 hours. We found Chipewa Square where Forrest Gump sat on his bench and told his tale. The actual bench has been removed and is in the museum, but we still got a few pics on some of the other benches. The spanish moss on the trees was just beautiful. We read that it is the favorite dwelling place of little biting bugs called chiggars. When settlers first came to Savannah, they used the Spanish Moss as mattress stuffing because it was so fluffy, not knowing the little biting bugs were in there. Thus the phrase, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, was born. Or at least that is the story the Chamber of Commerce is telling.

We received wonderful treatment when we got to GKTW, and although we have been here for less than 10 hours we have already had ice cream two times :) After all my disboarding, I felt like I could have led the GKTW orientation myself. The meal at the Gingerbread house here was very good as well. All in all we are very happy to be here and are heading out for Epcot tomorrow. :woohoo:

wendygrace

07-29-2007, 08:30 PM

Yay! Glad to hear all is going well! Love the updates!

LeeLee2U

07-29-2007, 09:30 PM

:goodvibes YOU'RE THERE, YOU'RE THERE, YOU'RE THERE!!!:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: Thanks for posting and so glad you're having a great time.!:goodvibes

kayc86

07-29-2007, 10:23 PM

WOW what a great start!!so happy your there and loving GKTW!!have a great time and I cant wait to read more.keep it coming:cool1:

Who'syourMickey

07-29-2007, 10:55 PM

yay! an as you are there report!

Glad to hear you made it safe and sound without hearing "are we there yet" too many times. It's kind of funny how you can plan and plan to make things nice, and still end up eating at a dive with jackhammers and no bathrooms.

That is the kind of thing that would have my non planner hubby rolling watching me squirm as my plans go astray. So, I try to act like I am very flexable and adaptable in these type of situations so as not to give them too much enjoyment.pirate:

Can't wait to hear about tomorrow at Epcot. :dance3:

Lifelong_Dreamer

07-29-2007, 11:40 PM

I'm so happy to hear that you loved Savannah, it is one of my favourite cities.:goodvibes

Yay, you are finally at Disney! I can't wait to hear about all of your magical moments in the parks.

jennydep

07-30-2007, 07:04 AM

So glad you're there! Enjoy the royal treatment!!

Bill_Lin

07-30-2007, 12:57 PM

I am glad to hear that you liked Savannah:goodvibes . My son lives there at Fort Stewart when he is not in Baghdad (yuck):headache:. He loves Savannah, especially an Irish Pub there that features Celtic Bands from around the world:charac2: . I forget the name, but it is quite famous and is named after an Irish Revolutionary hero.

When our DD was very little, her brother made up a little rhyme, "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite. Tickle them in stead." I made this into a little song, "Good night, Sleep Tight, Don't let the bed's bugs Bite, Tickle them instead, And snuggle in your bed, And have a peaceful night, Good Night:cloud9:."

Black Beard Island (Argggh!pirate: ) is near Savannah. Those are his old stomping grounds.

I hope you are having a happy, safe, healthy, fun time:smickey: .

Bill

Cherlynn25

07-30-2007, 03:34 PM

Just wanted to say i have loved this report so far. What a heart wrenching, awesome story. I am sure you will have a great time. Sending Pixie dust your way. I cant wait to hear more! :tinker:

5dwarves

07-30-2007, 08:28 PM

Hey everyone...thanks for all your well wishes and kind statements. We are BEAT. Today was Epcot, and we felt like we walked all the way around the world in reality. Our Crocs held up though. Soarin' is awesome...even 5 year old Nathan loved it...said it was his favorite thing of the day. We had a gully washer of a thunderstorm today and were FORCED to sit in France and eat pastries...LOL...what punishment.

We were behind the eight ball when it came to rope drop. Bfast doesn't start here at GKTW until 8:00 and today was our family photo day, also at 8:00. We didn't get to EPCOT until 9:15. We told the parking attendent that, even though we don't have a handicapped placard, that we were medical overflow (as advised on this board) and had an ECV with us, and he sent us to the third row at EPCOT. When we left, we had to pull out the car so that we could reload the ECV (Heavy!!!), but it wasn't an imposition, and didn't bother anyone.

The chinese acrobats were awesome. They are very young (teens), but also very talented. It is in AC as well...I recommend it! Turtle Talk with Crush was also wonderful...the highlight for Adam and Jake. We were treated like Fast Pass guests everywhere, and didn't seem to ruffle the feathers of any other guests. I did ask guest services for the additional stamp for stroller as wheelchair, even though they said the pass I had that was issued to us by GKTW, should have been adequate. I told the Guest Services CM that I wanted to make sure there wasn't any question, and she helped.

Something that we were considering doing is upgrading our Disney tickets to an extra day. Since the tickets are donated by Disney to GKTW for wish families, they are not alterable. So...tomorrow we are squeezing in the "must do's" at Animal Kingdom and MGM....

We have been treated like royalty by all the staff and volunteers at GKTW. They have all been wonderful. We have also kept their hard and fast rule that you have to have ice cream at least once a day...today we doubled our quota.

FYI, as a GKTW guest, while at Epcot, you have access to all the VIP lounges (since there isn't a wish lounge at Epcot). We didn't take advantage of this..but thought you all might like to know...

Time for me to rest up for tomorrow...night everyone...more on our adventures in two parks tomorrow night...

wendygrace

07-30-2007, 11:20 PM

Yay! Glad you are having a good time. And glad you have your photo out of the way early. Enjoy AK and MGM. That's what we did as well. I hope you have better luck than we did!

LeeLee2U

07-30-2007, 11:29 PM

Awww! I'm feeling so sad that ya'll were forced to sit in France AND having to eat pastries Hmpph! I just can't believe the injustice of it all!!!!.............NOT!!!:laughing: If only I could get punished like that for real!
Sorry ya'll didn't get that extra day but... Sounds like ya;ll are having fun!
So glad ya'll are being treated just like you deserve!:goodvibes
Have fun tomorrow!

Who'syourMickey

07-30-2007, 11:43 PM

MandM-Mom

07-31-2007, 06:18 AM

Sounds like your having a magical trip! Love the day to day updates, enjoy your day at Animal Kingdom and MGM!:)

Jrabbit910

07-31-2007, 07:10 AM

Hi Elisa;

Im jumping on board to your wonderful TR... You have me laughing & crying and then Laughing again... You have a beautiful family and you are truly blessed all around. I cant wait to read more.

Jessica popcorn::

pixe*dst

07-31-2007, 07:58 AM

Oh boy! Live updates! This is great, sounds like you're having a good time.

We always stop in Savannah too--a couple of times we've gone into the historic district. Last year we stretched our legs in Forsyth Park---gorgeous!! One of these times I'm going to eat at Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons while I'm there.

lori1043

07-31-2007, 10:01 AM

when we were there in 2002- we bought another day also. You need it there. 3 days just doesn't fit it all in, even with the ROYAL treament!! We saved our tickets for Universal-we still haven't used them. We tried to give them back, but GKTW told us we could use them for another trip- they are good for 30 years! I am bringing them to our Feb trip, in case we decide to venture that way!
Enjoy, sounds like you're having fun!!!

Lori

Bill_Lin

07-31-2007, 10:30 AM

Thank you for the information about the VIP lounge:cloud9: . I will definitely try to get more information on this. Epcot sounds like so much fun. I appreciate the attraction reviews.

Bill

Scutapipig

07-31-2007, 10:53 AM

I ran across this and just had to say that you, my dear, are an absolute delight! Looking forward to reading more!

Cinderella2004

07-31-2007, 12:01 PM

I hope you're having the best time ever!! Thank you for taking the time to share your families story with us.

I can't wait until you update this with pictures!!! LOL, I bet you can....will you do it once you get home?

Hope the weather was better for you today, and you weren't forced to eat any other of those disgusting WDW treats. ;) :rotfl:

Piglets Mommy

07-31-2007, 06:27 PM

Wow! What a great, heartwarming TR:thumbsup2 I'm loving all of the live updates. Hope you are having a great day today.

cforsythe

07-31-2007, 07:09 PM

I just found your TR and I cannot express enough how inspiring you and your family are. I will add your son Adam to our prayer list at church. God is awesome!!! Best wishes for the rest of your trip...:tink:

5dwarves

08-01-2007, 06:14 AM

I could barely stand last night when we got into the villa, so...I apologize for not giving you an update last night. Two parks in one day was rough. We left both feeling like there was so much left undone, but I guess that just paves the way for a trip on our own in a couple of years.

When we arrived at stroller rentals at AK, I had decided to rent an additional stroller for Jake. He had to walk a lot at Epcot and was tuckered out. I told the CM that I wanted to do one of the GKTW strollers but purchase a rental myself. She said no, you are GKTW...they are both yours. We also found out what Medical Overflow is in the parking areas, or at least what it is at AK and at MGM. Disney "reserves" a row of spaces for GKTW people, whether or not you have a handicapped placard. It is also called Medical Overflow (for those who need ECV's and have them with them, but don't have a placard either). At AK we were a few rows from the front and at MGM we were 3 rows from the front.

Kilimanjaro safari was awesome. It was HOT, and we were there early, but still, the animals were simply majestic. Adam has a habit of lifting his shirt and telling everyone that he had a liver transplant and that Dr. E did it and that he put a mediport in, and then shows them that scar as well. As we were standing in the very hot line for Kilmanjaro, he lifts his shirt and starts show and tell with the woman in the wheel chair behind us. The two of them had a little conversation, she turned out to be English so it was interesting to hear my southern son and this English lady conversing and trying to understand each other even though they speak the same language...LOL. Anyway, this older lady (60's) proceeds to show Adam her scar at the base of her ribs...her daugther was mortified...LOL...it was comical, but the Disney magic helped us make a new friend; even though it was only for a few minutes.

Our next venture was to, Expedition Everest...yep...we ALL went on it...even Nathan, age 5. He sat with me. Everyone was all laughs and enthusiastic before the ride started, and actually about 1/2 way through as well. Nathan was laughing and all smiles. Then we started to go backwards, and I believe, but I am not sure, we did a loop in the dark. Jim and Connor and I were all laughs and smiles when the ride was over, but there were others among our party who were not so happy. No tears, but a lot of "I never want to do that again's." No more big rollercoasters for our boys, even if they make the height requirement. I bought the picture so when I get home, I will scan and share.

We went on to tamer things like Triceratop Spin (dumbo with Dinos) and Bugs Life. We ate bbq at Flame Tree BBQ. There is lots of covered seating there. If you are using a wheel chair, don't let the stairs scare you...keep wandering around. There are ramps that lead down to tables that are next to a beautiful pond full of lily pads and lotus flowers. The ocassional egret walks by as well.

The sky turned black though, and the day was slipping away. We felt like we needed to spend 1/2 day at MGM, so we reluctantly left Lion King Behind (I even had my earplugs with us) and came back to the Villa to regroup. DH's ECV is not supposed to get wet so we were hoping to take an hour break and let the storm pass.

Monday's pastry filled gully washer was nothing compared to Tuesday's rain storm. I was beginning to wonder where I could purchase some gopher wood to start building an ark. The storm finally began to subside two hours later and we were back in the car and on our way to MGM.

When we arrived at the park, got the strollers and began to consider where to start at such a late time (it was 5:00), we saw that we had two show options left...Indiana Jones at 5:15 or Lights Motors Action at 5:30. Indiana Jones was right by the gate, and we weren't sure if all the rain cancelled the lights motors action show so we headed for IJ. It was a fun show, especially if you enjoy those movies, but I was glad that I had my earplugs with us for the boys.

After AJ we were off to Star Tours. Since my DH is using an ECV, our GKTW button and GAC gets us through fast pass, but also puts us in the handicapped access. We go through all sorts of back hallways and end up entering the ride on the exit side before any of the other guests are boarded. The entry doors open and they board all the rows behind us and off we go to blow up the death star. The boys loved it.

Disney truly markets like a genius. When you exit rides, you end up in a themed gift shop for that ride....we end up in Tatooine Traders that is chock full of star wars merchandise. Immediately my little boys go into "mommy I want that" overdrive. We did the star wars "photo shop" pics. They have several pictures from the movie. They have taken out the face of the actors and they take a posed picture of your face then photo shop it onto the image. Adam is more of a "dark side" kind of kid. When I told him we were going to blwo up the death star on Star Tours he told me he was going to tell Darth Vadar on me. Adam is Annakin and is flanked by two storm troopers in his pic. Nathan is young Annakin, flying on a pod racer and Jake, wanted to be a good guy, but selected his pic background without my assistance and couldn't find a good guy so he is the worst of the bad guys as the evil emperor...bummer...but the pictures are very funny. Again, I'll scan and post when I get home.

After Star Tours we went to Sound's Dangerous...very disappointing. It was nice to be in the AC but the show left a lot to be desired.

After Sounds Dangerous we decided it was dinner time (almost 7:00 at that point) and we went to Pizza Planet. The cheese pizzas were not bad (considering we were at a theme park) and the cold drinks were cold, so life was good. I was surprised that we avoided the arcade, but we did. We stopped back by Star Wars and took pictures of everyone on the speeder from Return of the Jedi, and thought we might head home...Hannah, however, was determined to conqueor a fear and wanted to go on Tower of Terrorr....wonderful :guilty: Off we went...leaving DH and the boys waiting on us. Our CM that loaded the ride was wonderful. He looked a lot like Peter Laurie from Casablanca...big eyes and kinda creepy. As soon as the ride shot up the elevator, Hannah clutched the handles and began trembling a little...she was afraid, but she did well...she says half the fun is in the screaming. I think she endured it in order to keep up with her friends at home who had ridden it as well...Not that they put pressure on her, but she wanted to go back with that feather in her cap...at that point we were more than spent and decided to head home to the villa. I hated leaving so many things behind (rockin' roller coaster and so many shows and characters) but time is of the essence, and hopefully there will be other chances another day....all in all it was a good, and exhausting day. A perfect ending would be a little ice cream ;)

On to GKTW and the ice cream parlor...just before closing. Sleepy children eagerly wolf down frozen dairy treats..and off to the villa. I think they are asleep before their heads hit the pillows...I know I was.

Today (Wednesday) is suppossed to be rainy all day. We had planned to go to MK, but may decide to lay low and stay at GKTW, and stay an extra day on our own. It is early though and we haven't decided yet. If we stay there is horse back riding this morning...If we go, we have 45 minutes to get out the door to be there at rope drop...hmmm....what to do. I guess you will have to find out tomorrow on "As GKTW turns..."

Have a wonderful day today, and share a little magic with someone, where ever you are.

Elisa

Iluvmickeymouse!

08-01-2007, 06:46 AM

I am glad you are having a good time!!!! I love hearing about all your adventures!! :yay: We have decided to add 2 days to our trip also. There just isn't enough time for everything!! :) Can't wait to hear more!!!

LeeLee2U

08-01-2007, 08:01 AM

I'm so glad ya'll are having such a good time, despite rain and scary rollercosters!:) I love these live reports! Won't be long and we will be there! YEAH!

Mickdeb

08-01-2007, 09:37 AM

Enjoying your live report;) We are heading down Aug.21st for 8 days:cool1:
Thanks posting the pressed penny list link. We have been collecting them since our first trip.

Enjoy the rest of your stay.
Deb:wizard:

Piglets Mommy

08-01-2007, 10:01 AM

Sounds like you had a wonderful, yet busy day yesterday! I'm sure you'll have a great day today, no matter what you do today! I can't wait for the update tomorrow!

disney_fan1972

08-01-2007, 10:16 AM

LOVE the trip report, glad you are enjoying it! :woohoo:

5dwarves

08-01-2007, 07:48 PM

Today was a pieced together day. We took our time getting started. I spent the early morning ( I can't seem to sleep past 6:00 anymore...I wish I was like that when I was in college) doing laundry. Seven people can create quite a bit of dirty clothes! The boys have decided that they can no longer live without a daily whirlpool bath..and a daily dose of ice cream. Boy do they have a big dose of reality coming their way next week...

We sauntered down to the Gingerbread House (the dining hall here at GKTW) for another excellent breakfast. Afterward we went over to the stables area and the younger boys and Hannah all took a turn around the ring on Seymour the horse. They all received cowboy hats and had big smiles on their faces when they were done. We were given some bad weather reports from various GKTW workers, so we went back to the Villa and checked the Weather Channel. They confirmed the bad news..80% chance of thunderstorms. Since we only had one day on our Disney pass left, we didn't want to burn the pass and have horrible weather all day...so we decided to go to Universal for the day. Originally, our plans for the week only included one day at Universal, and then it was just going to be to Islands of Adventure, but we decided that it would be the safest decision to go to Universal Studios on the potentially bad weather day.

We didn't arrive until about 12:00. Parking was easy, and we took a digital picture of our parking location (Cat in the Hat 258) so that we would be able to find it easily on the way out. We headed towards the gates. They had us scan our fingerprint as we ran the ticket through their machine. The problem is I am holding all 9 tickets and I don't know which ticket goes with which finger print now....I guess we will have some delays in getting in tomorrow. Anyway, after the scan, we went to the far left to stroller rental. We had picked up a stroller comp ticket from Guest Services at GKTW and gave it to the CM at Universal. I told her that I wanted to get one stroller through GKTW benefit and I wanted to rent one on my own so that all 3 of my boys could ride. She said it wasn't necessary and gave us the second stroller as a GKTW benefit as well. Whew...now it is time for the parks....

We decided to start at the first thing we came to and that was Shrek 4-d. Adam was stimming a little and having a mild melt down because he wanted Candy for his movie, like we do at home...but he finally settled down. I had the kids use ear plugs and they all seemed to enjoy the show. We have seen the movie before though (Shrek 3-d) but had the added benefit of the moving seats and special effects. If you are a Shrek fan, you will probably enjoy it. I guess I should add that things do not move quite as smoothly with the GAC at Universal as they do at Disney. When you show a CM your GAC, they radio a supervisor who escorts you to the exit, then you wait for the next show. It is a bit of a logistics problem.

The next show we went to was Jimmy Neutron. It is similar in engineering to Star Tours...a screen display with moving seats and the sensation of flight. The problem is that the entire screen doesn't fill up with the picture, so the "magic" isn't quite there. It is fun for kids...but the dialogue was hard to follow. The kids still enjoyed it though.

The next on the list was ET. This was also a similar CM situation where someone escorted us to the exit and we boarded. This CM closed down the Fast Pass line and walked us around, then returned to his post. I need to add here that the Disney CMs were all enthusiastic when they saw us and were all eager to help us...kind of like they had just come across a VIP they had been waiting for but the CM's at Universal were far less enthusiastic. They were almost disgusted that we were requiring something different of them. It was a disappointment. Anyway...back to ET. The ride vehicle is very neat. The seats were a little high, but the boys didn't have a problem getting in. The first part of the ride follows the movie very well (but it is loud) the second part of the ride though was just strange. I was expecting a ride photo, but there wasn't one. My oldest DS told me there were staging areas for photos in the gift shop, but I missed them...rats! Anyway, thus far it was the best ride we had been on.

Afterward we were all pretty hot, and a little grouchy, so we migrated over to the Iceee stand and all got a little sugar and ice...yum......that helped everyone's mood pick up a little. Again, we met with a less than pleasant CM at the Iceee stand. None of them were rude to us, anywhere we went, but none of them seemed to like their job or were happy about serving guests.

Once we all gulped down our Iceees we went to the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster. They seated us fairly quickly, and the kids enjoyed this roller coaster experience much more than Everest....LOL...no horrified looking children in this picture!

We walked through the Curious George water area and it was very nice and well suited for kids, but didn't do Fievel's playground, although it looked very neat, because it was just too hot...we were in search of some place cool. Off we went to MIB Alien Attack (or something like that). Although I haven't ridden it yet, I believe that this is a lot like the Buzz ride at Disney. It is kind of a gamer ride. There are these silver sci fi blasters that you use to target the alien bugs. Adam was thrilled beyond words...he giggled the whole time. Even though I am the ONLY person in the family who doesnt' play video games, I had the best score (thank you very much!). It was fun, the CM was awesome there...and didn't seem put out because he had to help us...and the picture was great (and free for a 5x7 for GKTW families).

We headed out to find something to eat and ended up at a place called Richter's burgers. It has a San Andreas fault/California Earthquake theme and was very attractive looking and decorated very well. The burgers and my chicken sandwich, were not all that great. My advice would be to eat somewhere else...

As we were leaving Richter's, it began to rain. We pulled out the rain panchos and headed for the exit. We had a family photo taken outside the park when we entered, and stopped and picked that up (again, free to GKTW families for a 5x7...one free photo from every location in the park), returned our strollers and headed for the car.

We had good experiences at Universal, but we also were disappointed too. There were many guests who were smoking. There wasn't a dress code there, so there were MANY guests who were scantily clad, some even carring their flip flops and walking around bare footed...It just wasn't as family friendly as we had hoped. Another GKTW family had been the day before and they loved it, but their kids were teens....If you are a GKTW family, I would think long and hard before I went there. Having said that, we are going to IOA tomorrow. Adam's biggest hero is Spiderman, and we have a breakfast ADR. We may go back into Universal for photos with Shrek and Madagascar characters, because the rain nixed those plans for us...and I will let you know how that goes tomorrow. It just isn't Disney though...

Two days before we left for our trip, I ran into someone at Target who attends the same church I do. I told her we were going to Disney for Adam's wish trip and found out she volunteers with MAW. She told me her family loves Disney...it is how the rest of the world should be...in her words it is clean, everyone is happy and everyone is nice. While I think those last two may not always be the case, Disney is certainly head and shoulders above Universal in all three.

VanniGirl

08-01-2007, 09:43 PM

Wonderful report - love the live updates

wendygrace

08-01-2007, 11:45 PM

Hi elisa!

Sounds like you had the same issues with doing two parks in one as we did. That is just a rough thing to do.

Sorry to hear about Universal. I agree that the two are quite different from each other. Glad you enjoyed shrek.

I hope all goes much better tomorrow!

LeeLee2U

08-02-2007, 06:49 AM

Elisa,
I just wanted to say (AGAIN!!!!!;) ) How much we appreciate you doing these "Live" updates. I'm so glad ya'll are having a good time. Universal doesn't sound like I should be too upset about missing it. We found out our dates yesterday and that we will have the DW tickets for the whole week. Still don't know about Sea World.
YUMMMM! Ice Cream! Every Day!!! Do I sense the start of an addiction? :laughing:
Can't wait for tonights installment!:goodvibes

Lifelong_Dreamer

08-02-2007, 09:51 AM

Sounds like a wonderful trip so far! I hope that the rest of the trip goes smoothly as well.:goodvibes

Piglets Mommy

08-02-2007, 11:38 AM

Thanks for the update! Sorry to hear that Universal wasn't all that magical. I guess that will make the time you spend at WDW even more special, though! Hope the character meal goes well tomorrow.

5dwarves

08-02-2007, 03:33 PM

Well, our 50% chance of showers turned into 100%. We went to Universal IOA today. It is sooo much better for families than USO was. We had the perfect character meal with Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2 and Spiderman. The TM (I have found out that Universal people are called Team Members and not Cast Members) that was spiderman was perfect. He was very good with all the children to include the bubbly excited to see you ones and the shy, I like you better on TV ones. He spoke several languages and he was very kind and interacted with all the chidren a lot. Adam was beside himself with glee. Unfortunately the rain kept all the other characters inside the park at bay so we didn't get to meet Captain America or any of the other super heros or any of the Dr. Seuss characters.

Seuss Landing was great. The kids enjoyed it very much. The rides were a little loud, but they weren't scary. I guess it is hard to be scary when you are pastel. The TM's were good with kids, and not as indifferent as the ones we met the day before. We rode the Cat in the Hat ride, the Cat in the Hat Train and the Carouseussel. From there we proceeded to the Lost Continent with the intentions of riding Jurassic Park. I found it highly amusing that as soon as you enter the Lost Continent area of IOA there was an ATM and a restaurant...you may be lost, but you have access to your money and a hot meal...LOL. We were going to go to the Poseidon's Fury show, but Jake, my 7 year old, panicked and we had to exit. It had the feel of a National Treasure/Raiders of the Lost Ark show...but seemed to be set up like Star Tours or Jimmy Neutron, where there are special effects and seat movement. We don't know for sure, because we left in the staging que. We headed towards Jurassic Park, but found out it was one of those "drench you" water rides, and we were already soaked to the bone under our panchos, so we opted to avoid another drenching and headed to Spiderman. This ride was a little wild...there is movement and 3-d at the same time....various bad guys are after you...classic comic book stuff....I was surprised my boys were not shaken by the whole thing...I guess the guy in the red and blue mask has some magic of his own.

For those with little boys who love super heros, the shop at the exit will surely part you from some of your hard earned dollars. I know it did for me. We proceeded across the street and found some character items for the Hulk and Wolverine (Jake and Nathan's favorites) that are hard to find outside in the "real world" and they were happy. We continued to get drenched, and opted to go ahead and leave. We weren't interested in any of the major thrill rides and that was really all there was left. All in all IOA was a much better experience for us than Studios. The guests were more well behaved and fully clothed :) and we didn't run into many smokers. The food at breakfast was very good, as was the pre breakfast snack:rolleyes1 at Cinnabon.

We had planned on attempting another 2 park day and heading over to Sea World, but the outboard motor on the Suburban wasn't factory installed, so we decided it would be best to head for dry land. Tonight we have several activities at the Village. There are carriage rides and it is Christmas...LOL...yep...Christmas comes every Thursday here.

Tomorrow...on to the grandaddy of them all....The Magic Kingdom!!!!!!

5dwarves

08-02-2007, 03:37 PM

Epcot sounds fun. Eating pastry in the rain, just sounds so French, let alone being forced to eat pastry....so Marie Antoinette. We, we, madamoselle! Soaring, and everyone liked it, cool! I thought we would want to do soaring too. Acrobats! Sounds Amazing.

I hope that you are recharged overnight for AK and MGM. Tell everyone that Who'syourMickey said to drink lots of water! That's going to be my motto.....and secret anti-cranky and fatigue weapon....hydration.

Yes, it was a little decadent, eating pastries in the rain...all I needed was a pedicure to make it perfect. Absolutely positively see the Chinese Acrobats. The troop is comprised of some very talented young people...prior to the acrobats there is a woman who plays some traditional chinese music. I don't recall what the stringed instrument was called...think dulcimer though, only much longer. Very serene and elegant.

5dwarves

08-02-2007, 03:42 PM

Thank you for the information about the VIP lounge:cloud9: . I will definitely try to get more information on this. Epcot sounds like so much fun. I appreciate the attraction reviews.

Bill

Bill, there are two VIP lounges available to GKTW families. One is at Test Track and is hosted by GM and the other is at Mission Space and is hosted by Hewlett Packard. When the CM's knew we were with GKTW they were directing us towards those lounges.

Piglets Mommy

08-02-2007, 03:56 PM

Sounds like you had another great, although wet day today! I'm glad the boys got to meet their heroes. Hope you enjoy your Christmas:santa: tonight and that the Magic Kingdom is very magical tomorrow!pixiedust:

wendygrace

08-02-2007, 04:10 PM

So sorry to hear about all tha rain. Glad to hear Spiderman was so awesome though. I know that was so important! Enjoy Christmas!

Lifelong_Dreamer

08-02-2007, 04:28 PM

Sounds like you had a great day at IOA despite the rain. I can't wait to hear about your day at the Magic Kingdom!

LeeLee2U

08-03-2007, 07:36 AM

:goodvibes So glad Univ. was better for ya'll! Can't wait to hear about Christmas!!!! AND>>>>of course MK!!!!!!!!!!!:woohoo: :dance3:

BurleyGirl

08-03-2007, 10:44 AM

I am so enjoying your trip report. And, enjoying getting to know you and your family a little, as you all seem like a pretty terrific family. You have beautiful children!! Kudos to you in your outlook on life from all that you've been through (which is wonderful to see from reading between the lines). I feel none of the "poor me," but alot of the "I've been blessed" attitude--how refreshing!!! May there be lots more magic in the years ahead for you and your family:wizard:

Goofyluver

08-04-2007, 12:53 AM

Subbing on!!! :teeth:

pigletof4

08-04-2007, 06:59 AM

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip.

disney0704

08-04-2007, 07:13 AM

subbing!

debnkay

08-04-2007, 09:14 AM

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Enjoying your trip report. Looking forward to more.

5dwarves

08-05-2007, 06:36 AM

Morning everyone! We are home and since I wrote last we experienced Christmas, The Magic Kindgom and Downtown Disney...I have lots to catch up on, and photos to post. The photos will take a little bit. We downloaded our camera memory stick to our lap top every night to make sure we had plenty of picture taking space. I believe the final number of photos was in the neighborhood of 800 plus photo pass. I am going to have to transfer them all to the PC from the lap top, then reduce the size of the pics to it meets the 3kb size of this site...then post...I will get to them as soon as possible though.

Christmas at GKTW...:santa: I guess I need to give you a little more history here. When Jim and I married 2 years ago, he was divorced as well. He had never had children with his ex-wife (cats don't count...LOL), and had been single for the last 9 years. I think the experiences a new father goes through, with the pregnancy, the demands and total dependence of a newborn, and the early childhood years, all work together to make dad a little more patient than he was prior to having children. My husband has never been a new father, so he has never had this trial by fire patience instruction...LOL. Further, Jim weighed about 325 when we married and in the last 2 years ye has gained a considerable amount of weight and got up to 504. In the spring he started dieting using a website called food.com that helps you monitor calories, sodium, cholesterol, vitamins....it really is a neat site...you enter your weight, age, health info then you enter your meals. It calculates a safe amount of weight for you to lose on a weekly basis, then it calculates all your calories, sodium, cholesterol, vitamins, and goal accomplishments. For instance, it will say things like "if all your meals are similiar in content to today's meal, you will meet your weight loss goal of XXX on 2/14/08. It was a tremendous help to Jim, but then he just stopped all of the sudden. He felt he could do it on his own without entering all the data, and he just stopped, and then his weight loss stopped as well, and I think he has probably gained some of it back. I say all this to let you know that after a week of heat and rain and five children, and dealing with being very heavy while on vacation at theme parks, Thursday was the day he pegged his fun meter. Jim can be very funny, but sometimes his humor can lean towards sarcasm, and after a while it doesn't sit well and no longer feels funny. Well, that was Thursday afternoon in the car on the way back from IOA. He was maxed out, drenched, hot and miserable, and he decided to share some of that misery with the kids and me. An argument ensued. Yuk.

Jim was beyond tired and he stayed in the villa and slept. A little break from each other was just what we needed. The kids and I showered and dressed and went to dinner at the Gingerbread house. Since it was Christmas, dinner was turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce...you know...all the trimmings. We stepped out of the villa to walk to dinner and the train at GKTW (there are two...one runs on tracks and one has wheels and runs on the road and is kind of like a transportation system) was driving up. We hopped a ride and avoided the long walk. Dinner was very good, and as usual, the GKTW volunteers were wonderful. There are volunteers serving the food, then there is a whole army of volunteers who stand at the end of the line and carry your tray to your table. For me, with three young boys, this meant someone else was serving them and making sure they got their food to the table without spills, so I was free to eat HOT food, and not food that had cooled while I was taking care of everyone else. It was a spoiling experience :thumbsup2 for me.

After dinner, we walked out to the courtyards of the village, and there was activity everywhere. There was a snow machine blowing white fluff every where, there were costumed characters,(a gingerbread man, two snow men, reindeer, christmas trees and elves) the carousel was running, the trains were running, there was a large wagon that was wheel chair accessible, with two very large horses (clydesdale sized, only all white...I forget the breed name) named Ben and Jerry, pulling the wagon for carriage rides. There were tables for face painting, sand sculpture, and various other crafts. There was an army of volunteers handing out a beautiful, fairly large, teddy bear to every child, and Santa and his lovely wife were in the castle talking to wish children first, then to the entire family. After a chat and a photo with Santa, off we went to a gift table, where all the children (wish kids and siblings) got to choose a gift, and there were several different age and gender appropriate gifts to choose from. Adam was thrilled with a Star Wars collection of 3 action figures, Jake and Nathan opted for Transformers, Connor got a Sorry/Clue combination board game that was a limited edition and came in a wood storage case, and Hannah chose a stuffed snow leopard. After dinner, the carriage rides, the teddy bears, the carousel ride, meeting Santa, and the toys...whew....we wandered down to the ice cream parlor and all indulged. Some of us more than others.. I had my first banana split at the village....Yum!

When we finally arrived back at the villa, Jim was awake and in a better mood, and it was past the boys' bedtime. We got everyone tucked in, knowing that the next day would be our last at GKTW, and we would be heading to the main attraction, the Magic Kingdom. The goal was to be there at rope drop....well the first goal was to be there at rope drop. The second was to do as much as we could that day, enjoy the fireworks, then wander back to the villa and crash before packing the next morning...not all goals are met though...LOL...More later, along with photos.....

Lifelong_Dreamer

08-05-2007, 07:25 AM

That night of Christmas sound so wonderful! I can't wait to hear all about the Magic Kingdom and I also can't wait to see the pictures you took of your magical vacation!

LeeLee2U

08-05-2007, 02:55 PM

Christmas sounds wonderfull!!! WOW! Hot food!!! One trip to get food! You mean you actually got to eat w/your fam, instead of when they were through!!!! Wow!!!:upsidedow
Glad ya'll are back safe and s... Well I don't know if you're sound!!!:laughing:
Can't wait to hear more!!!!

Piglets Mommy

08-05-2007, 06:58 PM

Christmas in August sounds like it was wonderful. Sorry your DH had a meltdown....Been there, done that....:hug: I can't wait to hear all about the Magic Kingdom!:cloud9: I'm glad you all made it home safely and I'm loooking forward to your next installment!

wendygrace

08-05-2007, 08:32 PM

Yay Christmas!!

Who'syourMickey

08-06-2007, 08:47 PM

I can so relate about getting hot and cranky. We don't do overheated well in our family either. I think from reading Wendy's and your report we are going to not do 2 parks in one day.

Christmas sounds wonderful! We are going to plan on going back to GKTW every night we can for the activities and goings on.

Bill_Lin

08-07-2007, 10:28 AM

I really, really appreciate your reports:goodvibes . It gives me a much more realistic view of what to expect in Orlando (as opposed to the Disneyfied version):wizard: . I am not surprised to hear the people at IOA who cater to kids a lot have a more bubbly attitude than those at US who cater mainly to teens and adults. Kids get a lot of bad press:confused3 , but really they are on the average a lot cuter than we adults are (my wife being an obvious exception to this rule). Kids see magic everywhere and are not as jaded as adults, nor do they usually have the constant urge to display a growing cynicism like teenagers. Even when kids are acting up, we can always say, "They are just being kids." When "grown-ups" are acting up we say, "They are just being jerks:headache: ." See the difference.

My DW and I both spent a lot of years in Seattle, so I am hoping that rain will not affect us much, even a LOT of rain. We live in an area that is normally quite dry and hot in the summer, plus we are in a drought year. Yesterday is started to rain fairly hard. I went out of the office and stood in the rain for quite a while:dance3: .

I am excited about the Christmas party now. It sounds just perfect for my 5 year old DD. I have always been a Christmas person anyway:santa: ; more so every year.

You have also helped me to show my wife the value of Epcot. She had been 8 years ago before many of the fun rides were built.

Thank you for sharing about the stresses and tensions on adults during the trips. Most of us who are Dads have a tendency to try to control EVERYTHING:sad2: . When we are out of our element, have a lot of unrealistic goals of what needs to be "conquered" that day, and are worn out and overheated...... well a bear awakened from hybernation comes to mind. I am really working on preparing my attitude in advance. I want to be a facilitator instead of a dictator. I want to have things planned well so that spontaneity will be less stressful. It is easier to choose between clear options than to sit around and debate, "What should we do next?" I don't really care as much about what we do as I care about things being non-stressful and fun.

Disclaimer: Never the less, my plan is to spend the first evening (6 PM on) relaxing at the Village after a LONG flight (5-6 hours non-stop with a 5 year-old first time flyer and a DW with a touch of claustrophobia. The first full-day is slated for Sea World so we can have a short day followed by a nice evening at the Village. The second FULL day is planned for MK (9-8 are the hours of operation). This will be the main point of the trip (meeting Cinderella et al). The third full day will be at AK so we can have a shorter day and recover at the village for Christmas. My DD, DW and I are BIG animal lovers. (Well, I am big and they love animals a lot too). The fourth full day is slated at US and IOA, with an emphasis on IOA. These parks will close early enough for us to be at GKTW for the Pirates and Princesses party. The last full day is planned for morning at DSMGM, a boat ride to Epcot and afternoon evening there. This will be a Saturday, CROWDED at MGM and quiter at Epcot. The return trip day is being left open. We don't have to be at the airport until 4 pm so we have three options: Crash at the Village and kick back, dip our toes in the Atlantic or use our second day ticket to spend some more time at IOA and Universal.

What do you y'all think?

Bill

disneynewbeemom

08-07-2007, 10:41 AM

Bill Lin -- I would switch your plans for MGM and Epcot. Start with Epcot and end with MGM so you can see Fantasmic. My boys 4 and 6 loved this show. She will be able to see all of the characters!! This show cannot be missed!

Who'syourMickey

08-07-2007, 12:26 PM

Bill we are so excited about christmas now too. We don't teach Santa Claus at our house but if you look at the whole thing as Santa is like Mickey or Cinderella it can be a time for them to make believe it like the rest of Disney. Talk about planning freakyness. My children take forever to even pick out the stickers after they get an allergy shot. I looked up Hasbro "gifts of love". Hasbro is the company that donates the toys for christmas at GKTW. I let the children look at the toys online, so they would have some idea of what their choices would be ahead of time. I'm glad they had the snow leopard, because that is what Aristacat girl would have wanted. This way when we get there there will be not so many suprizes. My children and I don't do suprizes well. They would see a table of toys and completely freak, being unable to make a decision. They would stand there for 45 minutes, I kid you not. Then, they would miss out on the carriage rides and the train. I like to plan, so it will be less stressful too. If we vere off the plan fine, I'm flexable, but then if there gets a point where people feel lost or confused on what to do, we can get back to the plan or at least know what the choices are. I let them know that we really didn't know what games/toys will be there but this just gave them an idea, then they knew what kinds of things to expect. I told them about not spoiling christmas for the other little children who believe that Santa is real, and we will remind them again just before not to say anything. I googled "GKTW" Christmas or carriage rides and found a complete writeup on what they do for Christmas too. I am so excited. Every night we can, we plan on going back to GKTW early.

wendygrace

08-07-2007, 02:49 PM

Bill, it sounds good. I have heard fantasmic is scary and we chose not to do it because our kids are scardy kids. But you could go back to Epcot the same way you came. :)

We also don't "believe" in Christmas (nor any of the other characters. They "know" they aren't real) but its so easy to get into the magic. Even I found myself talking to the characters as if they were real. :rotfl:

5dwarves

08-07-2007, 05:13 PM

LOL...I was tickled to see so many say they didn't reenforce Santa. I love Christmas, for many reasons...first and foremost being the relgious one, Christ coming to earth, second, being time with family, and third being...well pecan pie :). I love Thanksgiving for the same reasons, being thankful for all we have, being with family, and eating decadently. I have never been a Santa pusher with my kids, although I do have many Santa decorations. When my kids were little I did tell them that Santa was like a fairy tale and was about a real person who lived a very long time ago. He saw poor children who were hungry and cold and didn't have anything, and he had a lot so he took them what he had and he did it over and over again, and they said this man is sooo good that we are going to call him a Saint. I then told my kids that he "evolved" into the legend of Santa Claus, but that he died a very long time ago. I went on to tell them it was still fun to pretend though, and that other children really believed in Santa and it would be mean to tease them, but that the main thrust of Christmas was the birth of Christ. Wellllll.....we were in the Doctor's office in December. At the time I was a mother of two....ages ago it seems. My little Hannah looked like Shirley Temple with all her curly hair and cherubic face. A nice senior lady bent down and asked cute little 3 year old Hannah if she was excited about Santa coming, and Hannah replied "Santa is not coming, Santa is dead." LOL....there were children gasping in the waiting room, and adults snickering....LOL...I looked like a brunette Grinch. It was hard not to burst out laughing. Traditions and legends are always fun, but when the true spirit of Christmas is celebrated, sacrificial giving to others, who may or may not appreciate your giving, then Christmas will always been the most special holiday we have....Ho Ho Ho....

We spent a long day today with Adam and doctors, and I am beat physically and emotionally. He is going to be okay, but we have a tough road ahead, still. I am anxious to finish my tale and post my pics though. I will get my kids off to their first day of school tomorrow, pray for the best with Adam's behavior, and then hit the keyboard (waiting for the call from the principal's office) I hope all you future wish trippers are getting excited, because it will be a special time for you. I have more info to dispense about GKTW, Universal Studios travel time and Disney tips....so stay tuned to this dis channel~.

Elisa

alizesmom

08-07-2007, 09:43 PM

All of these posts are truly helpful for me. We'll probably skip Universal and IOA altogether since they are obviously more for DH and me than Alize. Also going to increase the time spent at GKTW. I can't wait for Christmas and I do believe in Santa. I'm going to continue to read and pick your brains. Thanks and I can't wait.:woohoo: Karen

LeeLee2U

08-07-2007, 10:46 PM

Elisa,
We will be praying for Adam and YOU tomorrow!
I've flat out told my kids about Santa. I said he wasn't real. They daid Yes HE IS!! I told them the story of Saint Nicholas. I told them how we can all be Santa and give to others (My DS7 wanted to throw bags of gold in peoples chimneys:laughing: I said I wish we had the bags of gold to throw!!:laughing: ) ) I even bought the Odyssey CD about it and now My DS7 can tell you what all Nicholas did and how he becam Saint Nick but both still proclaim SANTA is real. They say he celebrates Jesus birthday by giving presents and that Christmas is about celebrating Jesus birthday even though we don't know his exact day. that Santa just loves Jesus and is showing it! I stopped arguing with them.

wendygrace

08-08-2007, 02:28 PM

I will have you and your family and precious Adam in my thoughts. *hugs* to you.

5dwarves

08-09-2007, 05:57 AM

This is the train on wheels at GKTW. There is a wheel chair access in the passenger car and it is pulled around the property as a transportation system.

We took it to dinner on more than one ocassion.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/christmasmagickingdomvillage002.jpg

lisaj

08-09-2007, 01:27 PM

Just had chance to catch up, what a fantastic report. You all deserve such a good time. Although your little lad needs extra attention it must have been difficult for you all, glad you have had your share of pixie dust.

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 06:45 AM

This is the pic taken at GKTW. They gave us a 5x7 and a copy of the pic on CD

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/DisneyFamilyPicture001.jpg

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 06:52 AM

I think it is funny that Adam is the only one of the kids enjoying this. Nathan would have had more fun, but the ride was loud and he was trying to cover his ears....Hannah was not happy though.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/ExpeditionEverest1-1-1.jpg

Who'syourMickey

08-10-2007, 08:04 AM

Wow, they had mickey AND minnie there for your picture! Adam's smile is so sweet in that picture in between Mickey and Minnie. I hope Adam gets better.

My oldest daughter wants to wear flip flops to the parks too. How did your son's feet do in flip flops?

I The way I make my pics big is that I use the photobucket that my son set up for me. It lets you size the pictures. It hosts the pictures.

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 08:20 AM

We all work crocs, every day, to the park; actually, I think I wore some Mephistos one day. They are like Birkenstocks...one must color coordinate their footwear with their outfit you know...LOL. We did fine. We brought our Nike's too, but didn't need them....We didn't have any foot related problems....Connor's crocs and mine were flip flops, and neither of us had issues. I hadn't worn flip flops in ages either. I bought the crocs about a month before the trip and started wearing them, but didn't have any issues. We had a very rainy day when we were at Universal, and we opted out of the Incredible Hulk roller coaster. I was looking forward to riding a top ranked steel coaster, but I was also concerned about the flip flop issue...I wondered if they would let us on with them. If you are going to Universal and are coaster people, you might want to take that into consideration when you are thinking about flip flops....

I am going to look into photo bucket, snap fish and shutterfly. My camera is a 7.2 MP and it produces huge files for the photos. I have tried resizing on Adobe, and it does make it compact, but it doesn't reduce the pixel ratio, so my photos are shrunken instead of ...diluted, I guess, for lack of a better word.... It is becoming frustrating.

Mickey and Minnie were there for the photo shoot and Goofy, Pluto and Mary Poppins were wandering the area betwee the dining hall and the movie theater where the pictures were taken. We expected to go in, get a photo with Mickey and scoot back out so that we could get to the parks...so, we didn't bring our camera...mistake! No photos with Mary Poppins :( After that, we ALWAYS had a camera with us at GKTW. You never know what will happen.

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 09:30 AM

Hey y'all!

Well it has been a week since I had the theme song to "It's a Small World" ringing in my ears. As a teen and college student I disliked this ride at DL. Slow rides didn't necessarily bother me, but there was something here that grated on me. The same ride at WDW is much better. I think the staging is better or something. Anyway, it wasn't the painful experience I expected it to be....

Back to rope drop. I truly don't know how we can wake up on a regular basis at 6:00 am and not make rope drop, but we just can't. We were close though. 9:10 am.... I am beginning to think that the rope is a mythical being at the parks, and doesn't truly exist. GKTW has a hot breakfast in a dining hall, called the Gingerbread House. It is actually very good. I am a picky eater, and didn't end up feeling like all I could eat were bananas every day. I found things that I liked, very much, and was full when we left. GKTW also has continental breakfast. At 7:30 you can call the front desk and tell them you would like continental breakfast instead of the hot breakfast. In our case, a lovely retired couple drove up in their altered golf cart/chuck wagon. One side of the cart is equipped with drinks (coffee, and an attached refrigerated section with juices) and the other side had various pastries, bagels, english muffins, cereals and fruit, along with a refrigerated compartment that had yogurt and milk. We brought the plates from our villa outside because they don't have any serving items (other than tongs to pick up your pastries and breads). We chose what we wanted and took them back into the villa and toasted the bagels and english muffins and had a quick breakfast. After Breakfast, Connor, Jim and I loaded the ECV into the back of the Suburban and then headed out to MK...woo hoo!!!!!!:woohoo:

Parking at MK was just as easy as it was at all the other WDW parks. :car: We showed Adam's GKTW button at the cashier booth and he waved us through. He told us to follow the blue line to handicapped parking. Once there we again told the CM that we did not have a handicapped placard, but did have an ECV and showed him our GKTW button and told him we needed medical overflow. He told us that they park GKTW families in the diamond parking which is right next to the handicapped parking (one is on the left, one is on the right). I believe diamond parking is for AP holders, but I am not sure. Anyway, we were in the first spot in the second row and the transition was very easy. We unloaded the ECV and headed to the gate.

I have read on the boards that it can be a long walk from handicapped parking to the gate. They day before, we had taken 7 or 8 moving sidewalks from the parking garage at Universal to the front gate, which was a substantial distance away, so this didn't seem long, but it is a good distance. None of the boys complained about the walk though, and it was already getting steamy. The weather forecaster, psychic, clueless guy, whatever you want to call them...had said that the heat index today was going to be around 105 and that the actual temp was going to reach 99. It was already getting uncomfortable at 9:00.

This is when I had a surprise. Although I had read on the boards that there was no main gate drop off at MK, I never understood why...LOL...large body of water...that is why. Walt must have expected raiding Vikings or something because he built a very large moat (or took advantage of the one mother nature had provided). The only access to MK is by ferry (not for those with wheel chairs or, ECV's) or Monorail. Prior to the monorail you go through the normal security bag check. We worked out the logisitics on this after our first day at Epcot. Jim rode his ECV, and would take the kids with him and go through the gates without any of the bags, and I took the camera bag, my waist pack and the backpack through security. It was quicker that way, and there were no whiny kids tugging on my while I was dealing with the bags. Speaking of backpack...we ditched it after the first day...it was much better to keep track of much less, we found. We put the rain panchos (the primary reason for the pack) in the basket on Jim's ECV, but could have put them in the stroller with the boys just as easily. Less is more....LOL; or, in other words, being prepared for every contingency can be cumbersome at times. We kept things in the car just in case though, and we were parked close in. Anyway, another benefit from Monorail access is that there are small surges of people arriving at the same time, rather than great throngs....a monorail would unload, there would be gate crowds that would all get through and they the crowd level would subside....not a bad thing.

ECV/Wheelchair access on the monorail is easy, but there was only room for 2 in the car that we were on. There is a specific wheel chair car on the train. The CM puts down a steel ramp and Jim drove his ECV onto the car, then the CM removed the gate, and everyone else entered. On the ride to MK we shared the car with another wheelchair family. On the ride back, Jim's was the only ECV and the other family with us was overflow from one of the other cars. Exiting happened in the same order for us. The ramp goes down first, Jim disembarked, then the ramp gets put away, and the rest of the passengers get off. It went smoothly.

We went up to the gates and ran our tickets through the machine. I remember feeling sad...knowing that the last day on my WDW pass was gone...:sad1: but one can't be sad at MK for long pixiedust: There is too much wonder ahead. Advice on entering the park (even the parking lots)...always bear to the far right. The middle gets jammed up with people, but the sides, if they are open, usually have very short lines. Many times there was no one else there and we went right in (at Disney and at Universal). There was one instance where the left was light as well, and we went that way....not sure why this is the case...I know I see the same things on toll roads too....anyway...the drawback is that stroller rental is almost ALWAYS on the left...it is for Epcot, Universal and Universal IOA. AK and MGM are on the right though, and MK has it in a "tunnel" kind of under the grass mound that is in front of the train.

Stroller rental was quick here. MK is a little more organized than the other parks, because they have a stroller rental que, rather than just a register hidden behind retail displays, with mass hoards of parents gathered around. I think that AK had a small que as well, but I can't remember now. I just know that MK was the most organized in their crowd/crowded control. Again, I showed Adam's GKTW button and told her I needed to get one GKTW double stroller and then rent the second, as I have 3 younger boys. They said no to my money, and told us we could have both strollers with the button, and off we went. I have to say here that Adam had some rough mornings. He wakes up happy and excited, but when we would go through the chaos off getting out the door into some pretty intense heat, things go south for the next few hours. The stroller really helped him. He was comfortable, he was shaded, he was not fatigued. Had he gone through a lot of walking in the heat, in his irritable state of being, then things would have gotten ugly.

Wow...8 paragraphs in this post and we are just getting started...LOL....more later today....I need to hit the 'ole grindstone for a while.

mx3man123

08-10-2007, 12:57 PM

This is one of the best reports I have read on these boards. I feel like I was right there with you. I totally agree with you about USO and IOA, they feel like two totally different parks and the Team members are much nicer in IOA for some reason. I think it might have to due with it being so much newer, USO is starting to look rundown and icky if that makes any sense. I really enjoyed your report, thank you very much.

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 01:20 PM

Okay....let's see if this is a normal sized picture....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/WeekendPlusMonday017b.jpg

WOOO HOOO!!!!!!!!

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 01:21 PM

Yes, the Mickey arm was still being disassembled while we were there...

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/WeekendPlusMonday018.jpg

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 01:23 PM

See what I mean about neon crocs...those things are bright....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/WeekendPlusMonday023.jpg

daisax

08-10-2007, 01:24 PM

Somebody upthread asked about Poseiden's Fury or whatever it's called at IOA. It's actually not like Star Wars at all.. if you did Twister at US, it's similar to that, only with action on both sides. You hear a story, then you are enlisted to go help on the adventure, and then you enter a room where once you've patiently lined up along the center aisle, all heck breaks loose around you, with water pouring here and there as various gods and demons duke it out.

Might be scary for kids afraid of loud noises, but there's no "ride" involved. On the other hand, it gets you very cool for a fairly long period in what's otherwise an extremely hot park.

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 01:25 PM

After rain and pastries in Epcot...we are all a little soggy...

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/WeekendPlusMonday054b.jpg

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 01:27 PM

A Topiary Advertisment at Epcot for the new DVC Villas at AKL

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/WeekendPlusMonday063.jpg

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 01:29 PM

When you exit the Figment "ride" there are all sorts of fun things to do for kids...here there are several photo locations where you can have your photo taken digitally, then you can enhance with cartoon bubbles (for text) or add on various things, then email it to friends at home....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/WeekendPlusMonday039.jpg

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 01:33 PM

The young teen boys in the China's pavillion who were working hard to keep their plates spinning. There were also two girls who did acrobatics, and one girl who balanced on a tall unicycle, and flipped bowls from her foot onto her head....at one point she was catching 6 at a time....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/WeekendPlusMonday089.jpg

5dwarves

08-10-2007, 01:35 PM

We were thrilled to see Mushu because I had read that he didn't appear very often....The CM's who were characters were very gracious in the heat..they seemed as if it didn't affect them at all....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/WeekendPlusMonday090.jpg

Iluvmickeymouse!

08-10-2007, 01:51 PM

I love the pictures! I'm glad to hear that you had such a good time. Makes me even more excited for DD's MAW trip!!!! :cool1: I think we have decided to skip Universal and IOA this trip. With DD4 and DD1, I just don't think it will work out. On to more trip planning.......:thumbsup2

Piglets Mommy

08-10-2007, 02:18 PM

Thanks for the update and all the pictures! I can't wait to hear more about all the fun you had in the MK!

wendygrace

08-10-2007, 04:11 PM

How exciting! Love the pictures! In that last pic, the boys are looking like they are having a blast!

iggbees

08-10-2007, 10:51 PM

sounds like you guys had a great time! looking forward to more!

my boyfriend's another adam, they sure are some special people! :flower3:

5dwarves

08-11-2007, 06:23 PM

The parking for Animal Kingdom is actually very easy. You can practically see the entrance from the Medical Overflow parking....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/Tuesday057.jpg

5dwarves

08-11-2007, 06:29 PM

The wait for the Kilamanjaro Safaris was the longest we had...probably about 20 minutes. The most confusing aspect of this is the whole stroller issue....trying to find it after you get off...the animals were spectacular. You truly are very close to everything. Picture taking is difficult because it is such a rough ride. I would put small children in the middle and parents on both sides both with cameras...or you will miss things. Most of our shots turned out blurry, but it still was wonderful.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/Tuesday029.jpg

This is NOT telephoto...you are THIS close...

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/Tuesday034.jpg

5dwarves

08-11-2007, 06:32 PM

I was very surprised that everyone was willing to go on this ride. I was NOT surprised that most were not willing to do it a second time....:laughing: I loved it...

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/ExpeditionEverest1.jpg

Jim said something about going on a second time, and Connor said he didn't think the boys wanted to go again. Jim said he thought he heard Jake say he wanted to go on the ride again, and Jake chimed in "no, I said I NEVER want to go on that ride again..." big difference...LOL.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/ExpeditionEverest2.jpg

5dwarves

08-11-2007, 06:34 PM

A photo with the mountain in the background for bragging rights..."I did it"...

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/Tuesday049.jpg

5dwarves

08-11-2007, 06:37 PM

Being the mother of 4 boys, and having been in jr. high during the first theatrical release of Star Wars, I am well versed in the knowledge of the two trilogies. These are some of my favorite souvenirs from the trip. The CM gave us Adam's photo for free because he saw the GKTW button. I am not sure if that is normal procedure though. They ran about $35 each....too cool to pass up for little boys though, Connor decided to pass on it though...I guess it is not quite cool enough for a high schooler. The CM's position your face and your hair to fit the image you have selected....

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/NathanStarWars.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/JakeStarWars.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/AdamStarWars.jpg

MandM-Mom

08-11-2007, 07:26 PM

:) Great pictures! :)

LeeLee2U

08-11-2007, 09:18 PM

ENSOCK

08-11-2007, 10:18 PM

great trip report!

luvmyboys

08-11-2007, 10:30 PM

Just caught up-- you have a beautiful family and a terrific writing style! I really appreciate hearing realistic trip reports-- the good, the bad, and the ugly! (Though at WDW, the good definitely prevails!):thumbsup2

We love being at WDW, but even the most harmonious of families has to deal w/ meltdowns, heat-induced tantrums, blisters, etc...!

Glad to hear Adam is doing better, and I hope all of the kids are enjoying being back at school. Does your house echo right now?;)

5dwarves

08-12-2007, 06:24 AM

Thanks to everyone for all their kind and enthusiastic comments. Usually I like to respond to each individual, but I am have been so focused on pressing forward and getting all this written down, that I have neglected that. My apologies. Our schedule has ramped up here considerably now that school is back in session, and no one even has homework yet. Next week could get ugly time wise....so I will try and get as much done as quickly as possible....

We left off at MGM....I really regretted spending so little time there. I would have loved to have seen more shows. We missed the muppet show, the Beauty and the Beast Show, the Lights, Motors Action show.... If you are on a GKTW pass, and are not going to purchase an additional day's pass (be advised that you can't add it on to your GKTW pass, but would have to purchase it seperately) I don't know what advice to give you as far as splitting days between parks. I do know that if you are planning the attractions you want to see with your family, and you are anything like me, take that list and cut it in half, and you will have an attainable list.

Connor and Hannah didn't do the posed Star Wars pics, but they did crawl on this speeder and pose. The first time we walked by there were throngs waiting to get their pictures taken, so we went and had dinner and when we came by the second time there was only 2 or 3 other families doing pics. They all took a turn....My brother in law is a HUGE Star Wars fan:yoda: . I am sure that he would have hopped up there too, if he were there. I am wishing now that I did, so I could make him jealous :)

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/Tuesday078.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/Tuesday077.jpg

5dwarves

08-12-2007, 06:29 AM

I think I posted earlier that we opted out of ADR's for WDW. The next time we go (hopefully sooner rather than later), I will do that differently. This time, the budget prevailed, and $55 a person for a BBQ was just out of the question. We did find very good places to eat that were counter service at all the 4 WDW parks. At AK we ate at Flame tree BBQ and had very good (a little spicy for those of you light weights ;) ) ribs. At MGM the individual sized pizzas at Pizza Planet, were not half bad. They were fairly inexpensive as well..$5.99 or $7.99 as a combo with a salad. There is only outside dining, but it was late enough in the day and cool enough that this was not a problem. My kids all love or loved Toy Story. I have fond memories of my oldest jumping around the house yelling "too infinity and beyond"! That made this even more fun as a dining experience. The fact that there was a 6 foot potato head (my new WDW purchasing obsession...cool potato head stuff at DTD) just helped the experience become an even better one. The break from walking was good too!

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/Tuesday073.jpg

5dwarves

08-12-2007, 06:32 AM

I forgot to mention Dinoland....we only did the Triceratops Spin there because we were pressed for time, but this was a neat looking place. I would have liked to have done the roller coaster and the midway games as well, but we were in a rush. If you have the time on your wish trip, you will probably want to spend more time here than we did.

The "dino dumbos" were fun. They seat more than dumbo and they tilt forwards and backwards a little as well as go up and down. Of the four "dumbo like" rides at all the WDW parks and Universal, we only missed one, Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Triceratops Spin is a fun ride, and we got on quickly through the standard line. Hardly anyone was there, so we didn't need to bother with special line consideration.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/Tuesday051.jpg

5dwarves

08-12-2007, 06:46 AM

Hannah plays the flute in the jr. high band. Last spring the 7th & 8th grade went to WDW to compete. Hannah was 6th grade, so she didn't go. I believe they do it every other year, so in 2009 when she is in the Spring of her 8th grade year, mommy will be chaperoning 13 year olds on a bus on the way to Orlando! Anyway, all her friends came back with t-shirts proclaiming their bravery in riding the ToT. She had to do it. This surprised me because she is a huge chicken. I think she heard all the hype from her friends and didn't know what she was in store for. Jim stayed outside under threatening skies, with the boys, and Hannah, Connor and I headed for the ride. We had our walkie talkies, so Jim and I were able to talk while I was in line. Bad weather was rolling in, and it was already close to 9:00 (bedtime for my younger boys is 8:00, so they were droopy). We were going to have to hit the ToT, then hit the road, and get some sleepy ones to bed. We qued up fairly quickly on this ride. The CM who loaded the "elevator" was wonderful. He had this perfect twilight zone look and was adequately creepy. I could sense that Hannah and Connor were both getting a little nervous. We got in the elevator and were buckled in, then we shot up a couple of floors. Hannah crouched down and was trembling a little...then we started our ups and downs. Connor was tense, Hannah was yelling...LOL....and mom was trying to console Hannah. I was surprised at the number of times we dropped. I have done these falling rides before and they are not my favorite, but they are not bad. Still, I think I would have preferred Rockin' Rollercoaster. When we got off, I could tell Hannah was a little shaky. I asked her what she thought and she managed to say "it was fun" but not too enthusiastically. I said "great! let's do it again." Too which she said, maybe later mom....I don't think I want to go again right now. LOL....later will have to be much later. We are in the back on the right.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/TowerofTerror.jpg

When we got to Jim and the boys the rain had started so we headed for the gate. The boys and I move much slower than Jim does in the ECV, so we sent Jim and Connor ahead to the car so they could get it loaded, and Hannah and I took the boys and turned in the strollers. When we left the park, I followed the throngs, walking out to the parking lot, and soon realized it wasn't the parking lot that I was at; it was the bus stop for the resorts:confused3 . Don't stay left as you are leaving the turnstyles if you are walking to Handicapped or Diamond parking, bear right and go that way. It will save you 10 minutes of back tracking time and complaining young children....

alizesmom

08-12-2007, 07:41 AM

This is good stuff and soooo helpful. Thanks Karen

mikep_97

08-12-2007, 09:11 AM

Thanks so much for sharing your trip! The stories and pictures have been wonderfully touching! God bless!!

5dwarves

08-12-2007, 11:28 AM

In an earlier post I think I wrote that we planned on MK today, but the 80% chance of rain scared us off from using our last day on our passes. We opted for a big breakfast at GKTW, then horseback riding, then who knows....

After my little cowpokes took a turn around the ring on Seymour, they paused for a photo op with Candy, the pony. Heavenly Hooves is an organization that provides special needs kids with horseback riding opportunities/therapy. They come to GKTW for the carriage rides and for the horseback rides. Everyone was very friendly and helpful and there were probably 3-4 volunteers for each child there. Afterward, the kids all receive a Cowboy hat with a pin from Clayton's Corral. Mayor Clayton is a gray mouse that is the mascot at GKTW.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/Wednesday010.jpg

While we were herding our crew towards the car, the bad weather report was reenforced to DH, so we opted to burn one of our "extra" Universal days today, rather than risk the WDW pass. DH was thrilled because he was bummed about doing only one day at Universal to begin with. The euphoria would fade though...as I mentioned earlier.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb145/elisa005/UniversalStudios.jpg

Universal doesn't have the same photopass system that Disney has. Each time you have your photo taken you are given a paper ticket (not a plastic card that holds up to rain.) There are no photo CD's. Each photo op is seperate. The pictures are in packets, not unlike school pictures...wallet size, 8x10, 5x7. It is expensive as well. I believe the cheapest price I heard was around $30. Universal will give a 5x7 photo at each seperate photo location to GKTW wish children, for free. Not al the TM's know this. The first time, I didn't know it and the TM told me. The second time I asked the TM about it, when I foudn out they wanted so much money for an 8x10. The photographers were all very cordial.

We went to Shrek 3-D, Jimmy Neutron, ET, then on to Woody Woodpecker's roller coaster, and then to MIB Alien Attack. After that we were ready to scoot on home. For GKTW families with small children, this park is not a total loss. There is a great playground by ET. There are actually two. One is "dry" and one is a water play area. It is also next to the Barney attraction. There are Madagascar characters close by for photos as well. If you have young children and are on a GKTW trip, you may want to skip the main area, and go to the right on the first main thoroughfare (there are maps at GKTW in the dining hall) and get straight back to the kids area. Especially if your little ones are Barney fans. You could then park hop to IOA and do Seuss Landing and have a very nice day for little ones.

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We enjoyed the MIB Alien Attack at Universal. This is one of those rides with a photo op. It spins a little and does have all the big bugs from the movie, so it may frighten younger ones.
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5dwarves

08-12-2007, 11:30 AM

All around Universal they have staged picture taking areas....My oldest loved Back to the Future when he was younger...couldn't pass up the Delorean.

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5dwarves

08-12-2007, 11:33 AM

There were a lot of attractions here that didn't suit our family, but there were some positives. I was glad later that we went to IOA, because it made the Universal experience much better in the long run.

Universal is building a Simpson's attraction, for those of you Simpson fans (I'm not one, but DH is). I think it is a roller coaster, but don't quote me...LOL.

We headed back to GKTW and had a big dinner, then prepared for an early morning at IOA the next day. The big breakfast with Spiderman is to come.

5dwarves

08-12-2007, 11:34 AM

I do have that Airport feeling at Universal...all the parking garages and endless moving sidewalks....it is nice to take it easy on your trek to the front gate though....Wheelchairs, ECV's and strollers can not use the moving sidewalks though. Jim drove along side us.

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5dwarves

08-12-2007, 11:44 AM

The ADR with Spiderman, Cat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 was great. The breakfast was reasonably priced ($15.99 for adults and $8.99 for kids) and was very good....pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs, grits, sausage, bacon, biscuits, gravy, fruit, cereal, croissant, various other breads.... The server brings your drinks, and the buffet is all you can eat. Lest you forget the all you can eat part, Spiderman will remind you.

Cat was there when we entered. We took pics with him as we were waiting to be seated.

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I need to back up a little. For GKTW families, it takes about 45 minutes to get from your villa door, to the gate at IOA. The majority of this time is not spent driving, it is spent in the Univeral parking garage and moving sidewalks. The strollers are on the left here, inside the gate, btw.

We had given ourselves plenty of time to make our ADR; so much so that we were about 40 minutes early. We stopped in Citywalk, the area in front of and connecting both parks, at Cinnabon and got some GREAT cinnamon sticks with frosting to dip them in. There was a surf shop next door that had a photo op set up....it was fun, but you can tell the kids have never been on a surf board in their life!

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It was easy to get to the Confisco Grill where the ADR was...it is not that far from the gate. The wait was easy as well, and we were seated early, even though we still had about 30 minutes before our ADR.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 came out as we were waiting on our server. I have read other TR's where they said they were mischevious. They were behaving themselves when we met them, although they wouldn't admit they were being good.

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Spiderman was wonderful. He took a lot of time with each family and really drew the kids into the fantasy. He also spoke Spanish and was very cordial with everyone there. He paid particular attention when a child seemed to be afraid, and didn't push himself on anyone, but allowed the parents to bring the little ones over to him. He was very good at what he did, and I would recommend this to everyone.

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Who'syourMickey

08-13-2007, 12:44 AM

Wow, I just love these pics and the TR is very very helpful. My favorite pic is the one where your oldest has his arms around his sibs and they just look like they've had a bonding experience together. All smiles. Maybe I will try to get two double strollers for my 11 down to 7 year olds. Great idea.

LeeLee2U

08-13-2007, 08:11 AM

As usual GREAT PICS!!! You can feel the love ya'll have for each other in our pics!. also came from a family of 5 (4 girls 1boy!) and we had our share of arguments and fights, but we were and still are very, very close! Looking through your pics always reminds me of experiences we had!!!!
I've heard other Good expereeinces w/ spiderman also!!
Can't wait for more!

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 08:26 AM

What a great update!!! Braeton saw the pic of EE and said I want to ride that!!! and then the Star Wars Pics. "I want a blaster gun. I NEED that!" Help!!!! We're not even there yet!!!
Love all the pics! I can't wait to go!!!!!!!!!!!

Morning Leah:

Braeton will be overcome with the Star Wars choices. There are lots of very cute (if Sci Fi can be cute) t-shirts, blasters, etc. My favorite T-shirt had yoda with mickey ears on:yoda: , and he was too short to ride E-ticket rides...the front said something like "judge me by my size, do you?" Anyway, it was a nice blend of Star Wars and Disney. Another funny one has Darth Vadar saying "who's your daddy"....At the toy store in DTD you have the option of creating your own lite saber. They are not the high dollar fancy ones; they are similiar to the ones in Target and Wal-mart, but you can select the options...color of lite saber, handle, buttons, and sound chips. I believe they are $20.

We were at MGM in the evening. FYI, The CM's at Tatooine Traders (the store outside Star Tours) told us that Darth Vadar and a Storm Trooper were there for character autographs in the morning, usually at rope drop. We were unable to get back to do this, but I thought I would pass it on to you for Braeton.

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 08:41 AM

We rowed the Suburban back to GKTW in the heavy rains and some opted for dry clothes. We had dinner at GKTW, and I need to say that the food is pretty decent. It is not 5 star, but we have a family of picky eaters and all were able to find something they wanted to eat every time...something besides ice cream that is.

The volunteers who staff the Gingerbread House Dining area are very kind and attentive. My impression was that different groups had different nights of the week. Sometimes we would have volunteers from the YMCA there, and other times they would be Disney volunteers or a retiree group. They all seemed to enjoy themselves very much. Some of the retirees would even wear matching outfits (red polka dotted aprons and Minnie ears). No one was impatient, everyone was kind and eager to serve us.

Inside the Gingerbread house is a desk that is staffed by a volunteer with exceptional park knowledge. There are maps to all the parks and brochures to local shopping, etc. The individual sitting there can give you specific advice on park maneuvering. They were there in the morning and evenings and we would show them our itenerary for the day and they would contribute with some additional tips.

There are also more photo ops inside and outside the dining area....Jake wanted to sample some peppermint, while Nathan was more interested in ruling the world...
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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 08:43 AM

Something I forgot to mention is that your GKTW button does not get you a complimentary stroller at Universal. You have to go to the Guest Services desk at GKTW and they give you a stroller ticket and you take that with you to Universal. When we went on Wednesday, Guest Services gave us the two stroller comp tickets that morning, so we didn't have to stop on Thursday am.

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 08:45 AM

The parking garage at Universal services both parks. When you arrive at the gate, show your GKTW button, and you will receive free parking. You will drive a little further into the parking garage. There are multiple levels and sections. We took a digital photo of the sign in the parking area that was closest to our car. That way if we forgot where we were parked, we could just scroll back on the camera. My oldest always remembered, but I didn't...

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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 08:57 AM

Seuss Landing is very pastel! It is fun though. As with WDW, Universal has these Kodak photo spots. There will be a small podium like stand somewhere and it will have a sign that says it is a Photo Spot. There will be a picture of the background they are suggesting (like the pick with my kids at the huge Cat in the Hat hat in the background). They are fun pictures. Epcot has some great ones too (Italy pic).

The carousel is nice, and since it was raining, it was especially nice that it was covered.

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The cat in the hat ride is very similiar to the Winnie the pooh ride. It spins a little, but it is not bad and it is a fairly mild ride. We enjoyed it.

The one fish two fish is a Dumbo like ride. The difference is the fish in the middle reads a poem. Pay attention because the poem has a riddle that tells you what to do to avoid being sprayed with water by all the fish on the side of the ride. These fish are at all 3 flying levels (low, middle and high) and will get you if you don't do what the poem tells you to do. It is fun, and we were pretty drenched already. There are fish that seat 3 (they are double fish). Adam was a little bent because someone else got to the red fish (his favorite color) before we did...once we were squirted once or twice, he loosened up a little.

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There is also a Seuss train ride. That was nice as well. It rides through one of the dining areas, although it was empty when we were there. It is a slow paced ride, but you get a good view of the area because the tracks are elevated.

LeeLee2U

08-13-2007, 09:01 AM

:thanks: for the WONDERFUL tip!!! I've written it in my Handy Dandy Notebook:laughing: Braeton and Tyler have both been adsking if anyone from Star Wars will be there. I've just responded w/ I don't know they might be resting the day we're there!;) I'm not going to tell them about this in case something happens that morning. But we are definatly going to try it and see!!!! Love the Gingerbread House pics! UMMM Yummy!!!!:laughing:
Hope he didn't eat too much of it and get a tummy ache!:rotfl2:

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 11:06 AM

We were hoping to meet Wolverine from X-men for Nathan, Captain America for Adam and Jake, and maybe Hulk for Jake... but the rain kept all the characters indoors on the day we were there. The graphics are very "comic book" and the area is very "slick" looking compared to other areas of the park.

I didn't take the time to stand in the rain and figure out if all the comic characters were involved in the same story line or not, but there are several very large billboard sized good guys and bad guys all over the place here.

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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 11:11 AM

Wow...this was fun. It was probably one of the best rides we went on at IOA, although we did skip several things. It is a comibination motion ride (think Dinosaur at WDW AK) and 3-D movie that "jumps" up onto your vehicle. There are lots of "spidey" like moves, like swinging from building to building, and some of them are suppossed to feel like a 400 ft plunge. It wasn't as bad as that sounds...and Adam cackled with glee the whole time. He was beside himself with joy and was "slinging web" right along with the 3-D movie. This is a fun ride, but if your little ones are not staltwart, I would avoid it...or ride it first yourself then decide if your kids would be up to it. UIOA accomodated us through their version of the GAC. We went through the handicapped entrance and got right on the ride together. Fun Stuff. Right outside the main entrance of the ride there is an intricate picture of Spiderman's face in the concrete flooring....pretty cool stuff; hard to photograph though....

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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 11:14 AM

There was a fun little corridor of Counter Service places and shops that were all themed like the Sunday comics. Some of these are a blast from the past, like Beatle Bailey, Hagar the Horrible, Betty Boop....FYI, It is sensory rich here, and there can be a little too much to see if you have ASD wish kids who have sensory issues.

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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 11:24 AM

Adam had two wishes for his wish trip...one was Star Wars Weekend, but everything was already booked up; the second was meeting Spiderman. We took the money allotted for his souvenirs from his wish agency, Magic Moments, and let him enjoy himself at the Spiderman shop. I wanted to make sure he walked out with a Tshirt, but other than that, he was able to pick out several things that caught his eye. If your wish kids are spiderman fans, there are several t-shirts that are Universal specific. One of them has abdominals that have been sewn in with stiching and padding...LOL an 8 year old with a six pack...LOL. Adam opted for a graphic looking one...He was happy. We took the other boys across the street and Jake got the fake abdominal muscles for Hulk...cute shirt too, and Nathan got a Wolverine tye dye shirt. All the little boys were happy. The two big kids wanted their tshirts to come from Disney, so we will have to figure out how to squeeze in DTD so they will have a good selection!

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 11:29 AM

It had been pouring on us for a while. Jim's ECV was not waterproof, so we kept a pancho over the handles where the electrical controls were, but we were all feeling pretty miserable. We opted out of the Jurassic Park water ride, but not before I got some pictures...LOL. You can tell that Adam's fun meter is pegged, he has started tearing away at his pancho and "smile for the camera" doesn't elicit the appropriate response...time to go.

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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 11:39 AM

On the ride back to GKTW we ran into a torrential downpour. There were several accidents on the freeway and it took us about an hour to make a 15 minute drive...all was not happy and peaceful in my car. By the time we got back to the villa, there was major meltdown going on. Jim left and filled up the Suburban with gas, and the kids and I proceeded to pick up the villa a little. While at GKTW you do not have housekeeping. No one comes in after you and makes the bed, vacuums, etc. We washed our own towels, and I had Connor, DH14, do the vacuuming. We kept up with all the "housework" because I am obessive...LOL, but also because I didn't want to come back extremely fatigued from a long day at the parks, to a messy chaotic place that was supposed to be sanctuary. The villa was in decent shape, but the laundry was in need of attention, so we got to it.

Washing clothes for 7 hot, sweaty, stinky, people and washing hotel towels can take up several loads. I didn't have any problems with the W&D, the worked perfectly (they are not laudromat style either...you don't pay to use these.) I did have to go up to guest services on two seperate ocassions to get more Tide and bounce (those are the brands they have, in case you have allergies and need to make other plans.) and when I asked for more, I never felt like I was being put through the inquisition about asking for more.

When Jim came back from the gas station, he took a hot shower and hit the rack...a nice long nap can make everything better. While he was snoozing, the rest of us dried out and got a lot accomplished. Jim opted to skip Dinner because he was not feeling up to it, and the kids and I headed out. It is Thursday now and because it is Thursday, at GKTW it is Christmas....

When we went outside we saw the train around the corner. We waited at the end of the drive, and they stopped for us and a volunteer in the back car came and made sure all the little boys got in okay...

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The GKTW staff member who was driving was a little camera shy. I saw him at the Clayton Corral, at the carousel...at several things. He and his sister were all over the place working in various venues there. GKTW paid staff members number about 125. They have white name tags, whereas the volunteer staff have blue ones...

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 11:41 AM

Big Blue, the wheeled train, dropped us off at the dining hall and we were off to eat again.

The tables at the Gingerbread house are these large plexiglass (?) bulletproof (?)...LOL...things with real peppermints encased in the hard clear stuff...

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We ate turkey, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, et. al., and headed outside to a very merry celebration.

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 12:10 PM

We exited the dining area to a snow/white fluff machine blowing the fluffy white stuff in the air. Nathan has allergies and asthma and this made him cough a little, so he and I stood back. You can see from the photo that there were other wish children dancing under the fluff...

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We waited our turn for a carriage ride, that is actually more like a wagon ride. The wagon has a wheel chair lift in the back. Ben and Jerry are our horses.

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Lots of costumed characters were at the celebration. Mayor Clayton and his wife of 2 years I believe, Miss Merry; 3 snowmen, 1 gingerbread man, several reindeer (dont think there were 8 though), a couple of dancing Christmas trees...

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Several tables were set up on the commons. One was fully of these very soft, fairly large teddy bears. They were donated by Family Bookstores and are "Barnabas Bears" They are intended as gifts for children who are orphaned. Family Bookstores, owned by Zondervan Publishing, a religious publishing company, send them to GKTW also. They are neat...and very soft.

We headed into the Castle of Miracles and talked to Santa and the Mrs. GKTW took pictures and gave them to us on a CD on the day we checked out. (I don't have them on photo bucket yet). Mrs. Claus gave each child a card that was kind of like a baseball card, only she was the photo...she said that everyone knows what Santa looks like, but not many recognize her, so she handed out cards. Santa and Mrs. Claus sent us over to the toy table afterward....

This is what the Hasbro toy table looks like...

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There were volunteers who were constantly restocking the toy items. The items ranged from baby toys to preschool to elementary to older kids....all were new and very nice.

After Santa and the toy table, we walked back towards the villa with the full intention of stopping in at the ice cream parlor.

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The kids all got cones and momma got....:banana:

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YUM!!!!!

This is our table piled high with Christmas loot, at the ice cream parlor

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On the walk back to the villa we stopped by the movie theater and it was closed. We thought they might have a flick that night, but they didn't because of the Christmas festivities. It was getting late anyway, so it was time to get children ready for bed....

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Tommorrow is our last touring day :sad1: . It has been fun and stressful...wonderful and exhausting....all things mixed together...but it has been good...very good.

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 12:18 PM

Before I was finally able to get some photos posted, I had already started writing about MK. So far I have us to stroller rental. Thank heavens for those strollers, btw. I don't know how we would have survived the heat or the grouchies without them. Thank you Disney, Universal and GKTW....thank you for thinking of even the little things!

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This truly is a magic kindgom. You can feel the excitement/anticipation in the air as you enter the park. There was a staged production in front of the castle when we came in....we came in at the last part of the show so we didn't get the full store, but Donald plays a big role.

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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 12:36 PM

It is only about 30 minutes past the mythical rope drop....and we are finally at MK and underway.

My DH likes Hall of Presidents, and it seems like a good enough place to start; although I am a little panicked about getting to Dumbo, considering everything I had read said get there within the first few minutes of park opening or skip it all together. I decide to opt for educational and not push Dumbo...and I am glad I did.

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I have always liked Mr. Lincoln at Disneyworld. This is just as good, although I don't know if I would say it is better. There are more presidents, obviously, but the Lincoln show is still very good. Anyway, we had our history attraction done, and we were on to Fantasyland....after, of course, the obligatory potty break. We were told by a CM that the closest bathroom was at the Columbia Harbor House, a restaurant. They weren't serving yet, but were open, and were more than happy to accomodate.

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Fantasyland, finally! Again, I resisted the urge to sprint to Dumbo. Stroller parking is, in a word, crazy here. There is a roped off area that is in front of what used to be a tram ride. It is large, and when we took our strollers there, it was empty.

We did Small World first and it was not as bad as I remembered DL's being when I was in college. In other words I didn't exit the ride with the song haunting me and making one eye twitch for the rest of the day. The set seemed to be much better here at WDW than at DL.

We went across the path to Peter Pan's Flight, thinking about Wendygrace's family the whole time. Jim skipped this attraction and stayed outside on the ECV. He had the camera :sad2: so I didn't get a picture of the pirate ship vehicle. I love this ride too, Wendy. I loved it at DL. Again, it seems to have better staging than the one at DL. Fantasyland at WDW seems a little more crammed together though, kind of strip mall like, and not just a casual walk through a fairtale village. I am assumming it is because the crowds at WDW are so much larger that they had to accomodate large que lines. Anyway...loved Peter Pan...always have!

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From there, we finally did the mad dash to Dumbo. Our GKTW button got us front of the line access through the handicapped entrance. They put us in the fenced area, right next to the gate that you go through when it is time to load the ride, then filled in the remaining area with the standard line guests. As a heads up, if your wish child is in a wheel chair, this process was a little nerve racking for me...mine is not, but I still felt the crush of the crowd behind my brood, and thought of those of you with mobility considerations. Anyway, we all got on Dumbo (sans DH). Adam was a little bent, once again, because our peach colored Dumbo looked pink to him...LOL. He endured it though and off we went.

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Adam didn't snap out of his "I don't want a pink Dumbo" mode for quite some time....things could get ugly.

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 12:41 PM

Well, things are beginning to slide for Adam...We tried to pose a pic of the 3 boys in the Dumbo outside the ride and he is still upset.

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We head for some shade, some bottled water and a snack...an ENORMOUS pretzel! I was able to split one pretzel between 3 kids and they were all full afterwards! Wow...the only regret is that it wasn't the Mickey Head kind.

Adam had a heart to heart with Jim and he is doing a little better, but he is still in a bit of a dark cloud. We may have to cut things short, if there is a grand mal temper tantrum on its way.

Remember the chaotic stroller parking...well Connor and I head back to get the strollers, considering we are now on the other side of Fantasyland. Some well meaning CM has tidied up, but that means we can't find anything...nothing was where we left it. Our two strollers are on opposite ends of the parking area. We find them and scoot back as everyone is fininshing up their snack...whew...good timing.

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 12:46 PM

Hopefully a pony will save the day... Adam seems to be leaving the bad mood behind while we ride, but I catch him leaning over and unbuckling his brothers while the ride is moving...not good. We saw doctors right after we returned from Disney, and he had one of his worst behavior days ever, that day. The center did extensive interviews and autism testing...45 days till the report comes back, but they want us to see a neuro psych...all the wiring in his brain may not be firing properly.... Our MK day may be slipping away but you have to take care of the needs of a special needs kid...it is his trip, after all. I am trying to salvage what I can and keep the peace after a somewhat rough afternoon the day before, but we may be headed towards the gate sooner rather than later.

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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 12:49 PM

Letting Adam yank on the sword in the stone for a little bit, seemed to buy us a little time...we are going to press on, and hope for the best.

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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 12:58 PM

After my young Arthur taught Excalibur a thing or two about being stubborn, we pressed on...

Snow White next...my favorite princess. For so long she was the ONLY princess who wasn't Blonde. Since the 90s Disney has added Ariel and then Belle and Jasmine...but for a long time they were only blondes...except Snow White...:) No offense to blondes...my sister is one, naturally even....LOL. It is just fun to have a princess that reflects your own looks, so she has been my favorite forever. Living in a house full of small people only endears me to her even more.

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From here we go to Winnie the Pooh. I am determined to see the picture of Mr. Toad handing over the deed to his property to Winnie, but I didn't see it. I am not sure if it is in the Que area. We were taken through the handicapped entrance. FYI, this ride has a wheelchair car. There is a rear brake lock. The ride went down right before we were getting on. They were removing a car and replacing it. It only took about 10 minutes. I was right next to the podium and asked some "special needs" questions, since the wheelchair car was parked right in front of us. The CM's told me that many with children in chairs prefer to transfer them to a regular ride vehicle so they get the full movement effect of the ride, but most adults prefer the wheelchair car...just an fyi thing.

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5dwarves

08-13-2007, 01:18 PM

Well, things were getting better, but that didn't last. We had headed over to Frontier Land and adventure land with the intent of riding Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, the Jungle Ride, Alladin's carpets, and pirates. We went to the FP line for Splash Mountain. By this time it was close to 100 degrees and the heat index was suppossed to be around 105 that day. On the way over we stopped at the Columbia Harbor House again for a CS meal. Think New England, when you consider this menu. Fish, and chowders. It was good, and plentyful, although the fish and chips at Epcot in England was better (go figure :) ). The CM at the cash register saw the GKTW button and brought us out free desserts. I thought it was very kind of him. When we finally got to Splash Mountain, the FP line was MUCH longer than the stand by line; ridiculously so. The CM at FP told us to go through the exit and tell them the FP was backed up and to take us through the exit. I tried to dissuade the kids, but they insisted. We went to the exit and the CM's took us in, and we got right on. After the EE debacle...LOL at AK, everyone was a little apprehensive, knowing that a drop was forthcoming, but all were willing and insistent on going. I did my usual coaching to make sure Adam was good...the rest did it to say they did it, and not so much because they enjoyed it. All except Nathan, who seemed to really enjoy himself.

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From here we went to Pirates. If you are using a GAC, and this is not a must do for you, then I would skip it. Don't get me wrong. I have always loved this ride. I kind of regret that so much of it has gone the way of the movie rather than the original attraction, but still I like it. The whole GAC process with this ride is difficult though. You wait to the left of the ride on park benches. You are not given any identifing cards or anything, you are just sitting on benches (if they are available). Someone comes out from a gate and says, you, you , you and you, come with me...LOL. You go behind the gate, and walk past storage sheds (the kind you might have in your back yard with a lawn mower in it) trash cans and all sorts of mechanical control stuff. The magic is pretty much shot at that point. There is actually a "no photos allowed" rule there. It is ugly and in stark contrast to what was just on the other side of the gate. The kids enjoyed it though and didn't seem to notice the lack of magic at the beginning. We head back to the strollers, and Adam is getting to be in major meltdown mode. He wants bags of chocolate coins, that I know will be chocolate goo in a matter of minutes in the heat, and when he hears the NO word it was just too much for him, considering the rest of his heat filled day. He was done and I had been preparing for the melt down, so I was ready to scoot too. The other kids have been around Adam his whole life and are good at reading the signs as well, and they were ready to go too. The plan was to get back to the village. Get in the pool for a few hours, then head to DTD, then back to MK for fireworks, then home. Off we go...to the monorail, then to the car. It is hot....really hot.

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 01:28 PM

There are actually two pools at GKTW, one is smaller and the other is...well, larger. The larger of the two pools has a water works area as well as a pizza parlor...:)

Jim opts for a nap in the AC and the kids and I head over to the pool. We head for the waterworks section first...

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and then the main pool next....

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We are here for about two hours, enjoying the cool water and Adam is slowly getting out of his foul mood. It is time to head back to the villa and think about dinner and the rest of the day.

Thank heavens for cool water! It was a definite day saver for us. We still missed out on a lot, but some time in the pool kept the rest of the day from being a bad memory.

5dwarves

08-13-2007, 01:41 PM

We went to the villa and then called Mama Merry's at GKTW for pizza delivery. They called us 2 times to double check our pizza and drink order, and brought it to us in about 20 minutes, giving us time to get out of wet swim suits and into dry clothes. Jim got up, we ate and we were recharged for the rest of the evening. It is getting late though, so we may not be able to get it all in....actually, I know the ending...we were not able to get it all in...but it is still all good.

Off to DTD. My boys have always been HUGE lego fans, so this was a must do for me just as much as for them....look at those rippling muscles~

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I think the Lego engineers may be as equally talented as the Disney imagineers....they do amazing things with plastic squares!

Jake is wearing his Incredible Hulk Abs shirt here....too funny....

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Okay mom...enough with the pictures already!
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We leave the lego area (soooo cool) and head towards the World of Disney and the Toy Store...I wanted to hit the Christmas store too, but alas...it was not meant to be.

We found a very neat 2007 Disney T-shirt for Connor (you'll see it in Saturday's pics) and a Tink tatoo earthy looking Tshirt for Hannah, along with a few other trinkets, and then on to the toy store. This part is for me though, more so than for them. A friend of mine is a Children's Ministry Director at my church. She loves WDW and goes at least once a year. She has a large Potato Head collection, most of which she has gotten here. I wanted to pick up a couple of things for her (potato head pirate stuff) and for me...I like this obession too :). I end up with a set of clothes for a potato head Tink, Mr. Incredible, Mary Poppins and the pirates for my friend. They give you two purchasing choices here. You can fill a box with as much as possible for $19, or fill a large plastic Potato Head Container with all you can (so long as the lid goes on) for $49. I did the $19 container and ended up with outfits for 4. Others were filling the Potato and head 15-20 outfits (no potatos though). The Tink and Mary are for my neices. The Mr. Incredible is for my boys....I think they are cool :thumbsup2

We hear the fireworks start while at DTD...knowing that the best laid plans are sometimes set aside, we try not to be discouraged and remember all the wonderful things we did get to do. FYI DTD gets very crowded after dark....the parking lot was crazy and heavily patrolled by security and police. We were there for the Disney aspect and not for the clubs. If you want to do this with small kids, especially special needs kids, I would go early in the day before the clubbing crowd gets there.