TinkerBella's WISH comes true! A Make a Wish now TRIP Report!! May10-May 20, 2008 :-) [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

Queenie122

04-04-2008, 09:25 PM

Hi Everyone! So I'm new to this whole report thing but I figured after all the amazing WISH trip reports I have read from those who have gone before, I owe one to all those who will come after us. We're going to *attempt* to do some live reports while we're down in Florida but no guarantees! I hear there is only dial up in the Villas :scared: :upsidedow

This trip is my DD's Make a Wish trip - her wish is to "Dance with the Princesses" and "See Cinderella Castle." I'm hoping we can make that come true!

So, let's start this off with our cast of characters.

Me, 34 princess: I'm a stay at home Mom who loves her job :goodvibes I have some of my own medical issues to deal with so between DD and myself we are always at one doctor or another. HUGE Disney fan! I have family that lives in Orlando so over the years have been lucky to visit many times and most of them got into the parks for free or at a discount!

DH, 33 :chewy: Does computer type stuff for work. Loves to play games and works for some gaming companies on the side in exchange for their products (works out for all of us!). Works very hard here at home to take care of his girls :worship:

DD, 3 1/2 :tinker: Our miracle girl, Arabella, and this is her WISH trip. She's come a long way baby! See her story below.

DM, 57 :maleficen (heh, I'm so bad!) No, seriously, my Mom has been a saving grace through all of this and I really think this ordeal has brought us closer together.

DB, 26 pirate: Lives here in the house with us. Is very much looking forward to enjoying this trip and adores his niece, so just seeing her happy will make it all worthwhile!

DD was born at 25 weeks gestation in Massachusetts (we live in New York) while we were away on vacation. She was 660 grams (1 pound, 10 ounces) and 13 inches long. Born with VACTRYL Syndrome, which is a collection of abnormalities, the most serious being a pinch in her airway to one of her lungs. This led to her needing a trach and needing long term vent support so also needed a feeding tube which she still has. She also had problems with her heart (healed on their own), her eyes (needed laser eye surgery), had an extra digit (had surgery to remove an extra thumb, still working on her hand issues). She also has a partial extra rib so we need to keep a close eye on her developing scoliosis. All in all, we were fairly lucky with the things wrong with her, most have been corrected or are under control. Because of all of this she spent the first 53 weeks of life in the hospital, 14 days in NICU in Mass, transfered her to a hospital closer to us where she stayed for 4 1/2 months, then to a Children's Hospital about 65 miles away for the last 7 months. We are still working on her physical issues from being in the hospital so long - when she came home at a year old she couldn't even sit up or eat anything by mouth and even today her muscles are weak. Thank God her trach is long gone, she got it out when she was 2 1/2. Still working on her feeding issues, that looks to be pretty long term.

Otherwise she is a very intelligent, happy and laid back little girl!

Our trip is planned for May 10th - May 20th, 2008 and we are all SO super excited. I can not tell you how much we all desperately NEED this trip. I have lots of planning done already and have been keeping decent track of the process and what has happened already. I'll share it all here over the next bunch of days. I hope someone reads and / or enjoys this!!!

Here's some pictures to get us started.

DD at Halloween - it's TinkerBella!!
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/69/D8/A7/i69D8A788-CB84-40A9-9B8A-60ABEEB60E80.jpg

Here's me, DH and DD all Disneyified!
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/2F/10/C3/i2F10C3E3-FF12-4D7A-B1C8-244340AA9E3A.jpg

Finally... DD with her special MAW bear.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/93/B2/85/i93B28553-1BC0-477C-AA21-3B0D21AC3CD0.jpg

Artist

04-04-2008, 09:29 PM

Your daughter is a cutie! Can't wait to read more.

Queenie122

04-04-2008, 09:37 PM

Your daughter is a cutie! Can't wait to read more.

Thank you! We like to think so but of course, we're biased :love:

5dwarves

04-04-2008, 09:40 PM

jmskinner

04-04-2008, 10:07 PM

Arabella is beautiful. Keep us updated.

Iluvmickeymouse!

04-05-2008, 10:29 AM

Great job so far!!!! You are doing great! Bella is a cutie! princess: :cutie: It's nice to put faces to names now! :rotfl: I can't wait to read more!

Queenie122

04-05-2008, 10:53 AM

Great job Queenie! I know it is a little intimidating to commit to doing a TR, but once you get started, you will really find it is a lot of fun and cathartic. Looking forward to seeing your NICU baby's wish fulfilled. 53 weeks in the NICU...you are a trooper! We only did 11 and it felt like forever. So glad to hear that things are resolving for little Bella (love the name!). I'll be here for the TR...looking forward to it!

~Elisa It is intimidating! But I still feel so lucky that one of hubby's coworkers (HUGE Disney fanatic) recommended the site for me, I have learned so much! Not just about Disney and all the things that have changed since I've been there but also all the special Wish stuff. It seems that a lot of us with special needs children learn to do a lot of planning (okay, I admit, I was like this before too!! :rotfl2: ) and let's just say I'd be freaking out right now without having read the other trip reports and knowing what to expect! So I sort of didn't feel like I had a choice - but it's all good. You're right, I am enjoying it!

Those 53 weeks in the hospital were not the high point of my life, I'll tell you that. But I am blessed to have my DD and every day I feel SO SO SO lucky that she decided to stick around (on top of the disadvantages she was born with she was very ill three times during her course in the hospital stay when we didn't know if she would). And that she is a loving, sweet, kind, silly, intelligent, huggy, kissy, singy little girl is my payback :lovestruc

Arabella is beautiful. Keep us updated. Thank you and I'll try my best!!

Great job so far!!!! You are doing great! Bella is a cutie! princess: :cutie: It's nice to put faces to names now! :rotfl: I can't wait to read more! Thank you!

I know, it's much better putting faces to names! I always have a thing about photos that makes someone go from an acquaintance to a friend once you've seen what they look like :woohoo:

Would you mind if I steal your link in your sig for the Wish Trippers Unite page? I think it would be good to have it :)

Queenie122

04-05-2008, 10:59 AM

One note - Some of this I am stealing off a blog I've set up for my family to read this whole process so in places it may be written for someone who knows nothing about having a Wish fulfilled or *gasp* Disney :scared1: I know, there are actually some people like that out there!!! Hopefully this will give a n00bie to Disney or having a Wish fulfilled enough info to get them excited. I'm no expert on either but I'll try my best! :goodvibes

On to our Wish story:

For quite some time people have been telling me, “You should contact Make a Wish for Bella.” I kept saying, “But she’s not terminally ill (thank God).” I kept putting it off, no good reason really. Finally, when the 50th person said this to me I kinda said, “Fine! Once we get turned down then I can tell people to stop bugging me about it!” lol. Sorta like that. People weren’t really bugging me, it was just who wants to get their hopes up with dreams of something amazing that won’t happen - over and over? Considering we were referred by a ton of medical professionals (and my mom) I decided to proceed.

So, I did some research online and filled out the form. This was early December 2007. A couple of weeks went by and I didn’t think on it. Then we got a phone call from Cynthia from the Suffolk County Make a Wish Foundation. I voiced my concerns from the beginning and she said, “No, not necessarily terminally ill children but children who have been through or are going through a life threatening experience.” Now, Bella not only had a life threatening experience, the entire start to her life, but it was fairly prolonged. So I went “Huh… yeah, that’s her.”

She went over the process with me. The first step is that you need a doctor to fill out the qualifying paperwork. This *should* be the first step really, why meet with a team and get your child’s hopes up? I gave two doctors names and phone numbers for them to send the paperwork to. Then I again put it out of my head, after all, who knows how long the doctors would take or if we didn’t qualify would we even know?

January 24th, 2008 the phone rings and the Make a Wish name comes up on caller ID. Suddenly my heart leaps into my chest. I am assuming I’m going to find out one way or the other what’s going on. It’s Cynthia. She wanted to let us know that Bella qualified for a wish!! I was trying so hard not to cry into the phone, I just got very overwhelmed. Through this whole thing ordeal we’ve had to be very strong and hold our feelings in but now this was something so positive, so good, a lot of feelings just started coming out. She said that within the next couple of weeks we would hear from our team, they would come and ask Bella what she wanted for her one special Wish!

DH and I started thinking about it back in December, we didn’t want to get hopes up but we also wondered what Bella’s wish might be. Of course the very first thing that comes to mind is Princesses. Disney Princesses to be exact. She loves everything about them - their movies, the dolls, the clothes, the MUSIC. Everything. She also loves the Fairies - Tinkerbell and her friends from the upcoming movie. So, where can we make all these things happen? :-)

I asked Bella, “If you could have one, very special wish honey, what would it be?” “A SURPRISE!!!!” she yelled at me. :rotfl2: Okay, let’s try again. On the second try we got “PRINCESSES!!!!!!!!” Well, Mommy and Daddy know best, right? lol

So, we had our start. Bella was going to be wishing for a trip to the most magical place on earth - Disney World. Now we just had to make her wish official!

5dwarves

04-05-2008, 11:03 AM

Those 53 weeks in the hospital were not the high point of my life, I'll tell you that. But I am blessed to have my DD and every day I feel SO SO SO lucky that she decided to stick around (on top of the disadvantages she was born with she was very ill three times during her course in the hospital stay when we didn't know if she would). And that she is a loving, sweet, kind, silly, intelligent, huggy, kissy, singy little girl is my payback :lovestruc

Would you mind if I steal your link in your sig for the Wish Trippers Unite page? I think it would be good to have it :)

Queenie....

I LOVE the description of your daughter...especially the "singy" part...LOL. I have boys so we don't get serenaded often. Over Easter we met my sister and her family (4 girls) in Gatlinburg and we got to hear alot of the "singy" stuff....Hannah Montana songs take on a whole new meaning when they are being belted out by a 2 year old...LOL. I am so glad that you have the attitude and realization that every day is a gift and a blessing.

Feel free to steal the link....I had to go to the tech boards to do a refresher course myself. I think the Disboards are the best place for wish families with uber planning mommas! It was recommended to me by an aquaintance with a son who had Aspbergers. It was the best advice I received!

~Elisa

Artist

04-05-2008, 12:06 PM

Ok, so now I'm snuffling and crying with happiness for you and Bella. And your PTR is just starting!
Sniff!
:goodvibes

Queenie122

04-06-2008, 01:04 PM

Queenie....

I LOVE the description of your daughter...especially the "singy" part...LOL. I have boys so we don't get serenaded often. Over Easter we met my sister and her family (4 girls) in Gatlinburg and we got to hear alot of the "singy" stuff....Hannah Montana songs take on a whole new meaning when they are being belted out by a 2 year old...LOL. I am so glad that you have the attitude and realization that every day is a gift and a blessing.

Feel free to steal the link....I had to go to the tech boards to do a refresher course myself. I think the Disboards are the best place for wish families with uber planning mommas! It was recommended to me by an aquaintance with a son who had Aspbergers. It was the best advice I received!

~Elisa We haven't graduated to Hannah Montana yet... and I know, yet... lol. She has 4 Disney Sing Along Song and 3 Princess Sing Along Song DVDS so we have a wealth of fun and sometimes weird (like the Camp singalong :rolleyes: ) to be entertained with.

And thank you, I do try to keep a good attitude, it's what helped get me through and continues to help get me through each day! This board has really opened my horizons with my Disney info and I'm so excited to go on this trip with my wealth of new information. It'll be like experiencing everything brand new again.

Ok, so now I'm snuffling and crying with happiness for you and Bella. And your PTR is just starting!
Sniff!
:goodvibes :hug: Thank you!

Queenie122

04-06-2008, 01:19 PM

So, onto our next installment... What Comes Next...

So, we wait and wait to hear from our Wish team. Of course, the two weeks seem to take two years! We finally get the call from Michele, she’s going to be coming to the house to meet Bella with “her friend Diane” as Bella calls them. Michele gets some basic info from us and says she will contact the Wish team and get back to us with a date. Not even an hour later we have our meeting set up for a Tuesday night. We’re so excited!

Of course, the way life works, we actually get snow that day (in one of only two lame snowfalls this year!) and we have to cancel. We were disappointed, Bella cried when she heard her friends weren’t coming over. I think it was for the best though, she seemed pretty cranky that day and for some reason suddenly kept saying she wanted books as her wish. :scared1: Of course if we really thought that was her wish it would have been fine, but the 500 books currently in her room might have been jealous :-/

LOL. Anyway the meeting was rescheduled to Saturday. Saturday morning comes and Bella decides she wants to wear her Princess jumper. Appropriate! We had her Halloween pictures and some drawings and art work she had made gathered up as gifts. She drew Cinderella and also a picture of herself. She loves stickers so she decorated her art work with lots of stickers.

Michele and Diane came and as we said our hellos I noticed that Bella had suddenly become… shy! She’s never shy! Oh boy. But they came in bearing gifts for Miss Bella, including a very beautiful and special teddy bear with a Make A Wish sweater, a baby doll almost as huge as her and two princess crowns. She proceeded to retrieve her Tinkerbell crown from her Halloween costume and Mommy, Daddy and Bella all wore crowns for the rest of the meeting. Rob and I had a ton of paperwork to fill out, release forms for Make A Wish and also the Village where we would be staying in Florida.

Then came the questions for Bella to answer. She said her favorite color is orange (today it’s brown, yesterday it was red) and that she is three years old. Then they asked her, “Is there someplace special you’d like to go?” and she said, “DISNEY WORLD!!!! I want to dance with the Princesses and see Cinderella Castle!!!”

Her official wish is to “Dance with the Princesses.” How cute. I hope we can get a couple of them to comply :-)

When our meeting was over Michele said they would submit the paperwork and we would be hearing from them soon. DH and I started mulling over dates - when could he take off of work and for how long? What times did we want to avoid because it was too crowded / hot? Could my Mom, Dad or DB (who lives with me) come along? So many questions but all exciting things. We said April would be nice, especially since Easter is early this year, hopefully avoid some crowds. We could barely contain our excitement! We stayed up late a couple of nights chatting about Disney and what things we’d want to do while we were there. Every day Bella wanted to know if we were going on our trip!

Queenie122

04-07-2008, 10:27 AM

It was only a couple of days until we heard from Joanne. She wanted to go over dates with me right there on the phone. We had already figured DH’s vacation - his boss is on vacation the beginning of May so that was out but otherwise we were good to go.

Joanne informed me that Give Kids the World Village was totally booked up in April and that it is a very busy time for them. How was May? Now, we figured that May would be too hot for us. We don’t do well in the heat, especially when it’s over 90F degrees. But we had some personal reasons for not wanting to wait until October / November. It would be a really nice time of year (although May and October’s weather is the same) but the waiting wasn’t really working for us. So we took a chance and said yes to May.

Joanne went over the dates available and kindly answered some burning questions including: Can we extend our vacation on our dime? Yes. Can my Mom and brother come along on their own dime? Yes… but Mom is being paid for because they normally plan for a family of 4 and we only have three. Yay! And brother doesn’t have to pay to stay at the Village or for the car (already paid for by MAW). So tickets, airfare and food when not at the Village. Not too shabby! (And for the record, MAW asked how we wanted to arrange his ticket. We had the option of getting his ticket ourselves or they would get it and take it out of our expense money. We opted for that with the clear understanding from my DB that would have to be paid before the trip. It's paid already!!). We contacted DAunt who has given us an open invitation to come and stay with her (she lives in Orlando) and she said it would be great to stay with her. Mom and DB checked their calendars for vacation. DH double checked his. Everything was in place!

I called Joanne the next day and we booked our trip - Saturday May 10th to Tuesday May 20th. DM and DB would be leaving on Sunday the 18th. Holy cow, it’s happening!!

Then began the crazy process of figuring out who wanted to do what and when, we had a family meeting to discuss this (as well as “rules” that I need to make sure everyone knows. Rule #1 is “No complaining!”). I worked up a complicated chart of which days were best and what parks based on crowd history and park hours available. I hemmed and hawed over which meals we wanted to eat out and which meals we would make it back to the Village for. Then I called Disney Dining about 10 times to see what reservations we could sneak in at three months out. I had trouble with some, had to adjust some dining times but we got everything we wanted except for Chef Mickey’s and of course, Cinderella’s Royal Table (the hottest ressie in all of Disney, you have to book this at 7am est exactly 180 out from the date you want to visit. It sells out in MINUTES). Cindy's Table was replaced with 1900 Park Fare, another Cinderella meal. I don’t think Bella will even know she’s not eating in Cinderella’s Castle (although the competitive part of me thinks I can convince them to squeeze in our Wish child on site the day we are there) and will be in heaven over all we have planned for her. All her little (and BIG) dreams are going to come true!!

(I’ve been having some thoughts about this - she has been given so many special opportunities that she’s growing up in a world where dreams really do come true. I hope one day she realizes how lucky she’s been - And not too spoiled!!!)

Up next: What we will be getting!!

5dwarves

04-07-2008, 01:24 PM

Then I called Disney Dining about 10 times to see what reservations we could sneak in at three months out. I had trouble with some, had to adjust some dining times but we got everything we wanted except for Chef Mickey’s and of course, Cinderella’s Royal Table (the hottest ressie in all of Disney, you have to book this at 7am est exactly 180 out from the date you want to visit. It sells out in MINUTES). Cindy's Table was replaced with 1900 Park Fare, another Cinderella meal. I don’t think Bella will even know she’s not eating in Cinderella’s Castle (although the competitive part of me thinks I can convince them to squeeze in our Wish child on site the day we are there) and will be in heaven over all we have planned for her. All her little (and BIG) dreams are going to come true!!

Wendygrace went up to the podium when they first got to MK, complete with MAW buttons, GKTW buttons and the GAC hanging around her neck and asked if there was anyway they could get it...explaining that their wish was recently granted and they didn't have the opportunity to hit the 6 month 7:00am call in for ressies. The CM stepped away from the podium and then came back and said that they would be able to accomodate them. If you really want CRT, it might be possible. Never hurts to try.

Queenie122

04-09-2008, 03:24 PM

Wendygrace went up to the podium when they first got to MK, complete with MAW buttons, GKTW buttons and the GAC hanging around her neck and asked if there was anyway they could get it...explaining that their wish was recently granted and they didn't have the opportunity to hit the 6 month 7:00am call in for ressies. The CM stepped away from the podium and then came back and said that they would be able to accomodate them. If you really want CRT, it might be possible. Never hurts to try.

I do remember that! I'm very happy with going to Park Fare but everyone wants to eat in the castle, right? I may try for lunch that day :yay:

And you're very right, it never hurts to ask. :goodvibes

Queenie122

04-09-2008, 03:25 PM

This is the super exciting and fun part - The Details. It’s really unbelievable what they do for these Wish children.

We are staying at Give Kids the World Village. It’s a whole community just for children being granted a Wish. It’s supported by many different corporations including but not limited to Disney, Universal, Seaworld, Hasbro, Perkin’s, Friendly’s and Coca Cola. They have put together a beautiful place full of love and life for these special children, a retreat from the harsh daily realties they live with. Check it out here: http://www.gktw.org It’s about 15 minutes from Disney World / Seaworld.

We’ll have a two bedroom, two bathroom villa with a kitchen and living room, jacuzzi tub and even a washer and dryer! Food is no cost there and the restaurant is called the Gingerbread House. Guess what it looks like? Buffet style and full of volunteers who don’t even let you carry your tray to your table! Perkin’s runs the restaurant and we’re all looking forward to breakfast every day. They also have ice cream from 7am until 10pm and that is run by Friendly’s - which also provides lunch each day. Yum!! Pizza delivery to your villa is also available free of charge. If you don’t want to get to breakfast at the restaurant or the Ice Cream Shoppe (lol) then they have a cart that comes around to all the houses with continental breakfast.

They also have a carousel, horse and pony rides, a huge train to ride on, mini golf, a castle full of games, toys and costumes for the kids, two pools and a water works. They have a movie theater that shows movies every night with a full concession stand. The movie theater is also a stage for meeting characters - Disney and Universal ship them right to the Village! Here is what the daily schedule looks like there:

Sunday
Movie 5:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.
CANDY LAND Party 7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Monday
Disney Character Photos 8:00 a.m. & 9:00 a.m.
Discovery Cove Animal Exploration 6:45 p.m.–7:30 p.m
Kids Night Out/Grown-ups Night Off 5:45 p.m.–9:00 p.m.

Tuesday
Horse Back Riding 8:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m.
Movie 5:00 p.m.
Nickelodeon Night 7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Wednesday
Horse Back Riding 8:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m.
Kids Night Out/Grown-ups Night Off 5:45 p.m.–9:00 p.m.
Village Idol 7:45 p.m.–9:00 p.m.

Thursday
Disney Character Photos 8:00 a.m. & 9:00 a.m.
Carriage Rides 6:30 p.m.–8:45 p.m.
Winter Wonderland 7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
Winter Wonderland Parade 7:45 p.m.

Friday
Barney & Friends Character Photos 8:30 a.m.
Movie 5:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.
Pirates & Princesses Party with Shamu 7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Saturday
Movie 5:00 p.m.
Mayor Clayton’s Birthday Party 7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

Obviously there is a ton to do just here at the Village!

We will be getting 3 day Park Hoppers to Disney World, 2 days to Universal, 1 day at Seaworld. Also there are a ton of businesses in the area that offer discounts: for example, Wish kid get into Medieval Times for free with the rest of the party getting in at 50% cost. Not shabby at all!

Our Make a Wish office is also paying for our airfare and our car rental, a minivan. They also give spending money - $1000 - holy cow! Of course that seems like a lot of money but we *are* talking Disney here, lol. We have decided to spend a bunch of this money on meals in the Disney parks – mostly character meals. We will have breakfast one morning in Norway in Epcot, the Princess breakfast so Bella can hobnob with her special princess friends without having to wait on line. We are also having dinner with Winnie the Pooh one night and trying out the Hoop De Due Review. Also on our trip we will be attending the special “Pirates and Princesses Party” where even Mommy and Daddy will be wearing a costume while exploring the Magic Kingdom! Meeting Captain Jack Sparrow, becoming a part of Jasmine’s Royal Guard and attending Flounder’s Dance Party are all on the agenda for this night.

Oh, did I mention lines? I forgot – Wish kids get to go to the front of the lines everywhere they go!! :D We’ll have tshirts, hats and pins for her to identify her as a Wish kid so everyone will know who the special little girl is.

Because we needed to figure out reservations for our meals we had to come up with a plan for visiting the parks. 10 days seems like a lot but believe me, we can’t fit everything in that we want to do! Our preliminary schedule looks like this:

Saturday - Travel into Orlando and explore the GKTW Village

Sunday (Mother’s Day and also Rob’s and my 5 year anniversary!)- We are going to Epcot – having breakfast with the Princesses and dinner in Morocco. Whoo hoo! I picked this one for Mother’s Day.

Monday – Very long day at Magic Kingdom that will include us trying to make the rope drop, trying to wake up Tinkerbell, Bella getting her very first haircut on Main Street USA, dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremain and the evil step sisters and ending the night with WISHES, the fireworks show.

Tuesday – Relax at the Village! Rob and I have dinner scheduled alone at Victoria and Albert’s to celebrate our anniversary.

Wednesday – Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM). Going in late and staying until they close to see Fantasmic. Dinner is at the 50’s Prime Time Café. Bella is very much looking forward to seeing Ariel’s show and Belle’s show and the Muppets 3-D!

Thursday – Animal Kingdom – breakfast with Donald and his friends and exploring the wilds of the Kingdom. I think Bella will love seeing the animals and we'll love trying the new coaster - Expedition Everest. All I can say is, "Yeti, Yeti, Yeti!!" (Yes, a little Backyardigans reference :lol:)

Friday – Sleeping in late and checking out of the Village – transferring to Aunt's house. Attending “Mickey’s Pirates and Princesses Party” at the Magic Kingdom.

Saturday – Sleeping in! Possibly Disney Quest for the boys while the girls do some shopping. Have to spend some of that spending money on souvenirs! Hoop De Due Review for dinner, should be a grand ol time! Maybe taking my brother and going out to Pleasure Island for a night of drinking and dancing.

Sunday – Hang out with the family! My Mom and brother are leaving today.

Monday – Undecided yet – we’ll probably do Seaworld but maybe Universal Studios.

Tuesday – Hang out with the family and be sad that we are leaving that evening. :(

Busy trip planned! Hopefully those gaps will be filled with relaxing at the pool and taking it easy. I know it seems very structured but now that we’re organized we plan to take things as they come. If we miss a reservation here or there, oh well. If we’re too tired to do something we won’t do it.

So those are the dirty details. I’m super excited just reading it! :D

lotferg

04-15-2008, 08:52 AM

AmandaSparks730

04-15-2008, 09:16 AM

Oh my goodness!

I'm a Wish Kid myself, and I took my WDW trip when I was 6 (so only a bit older than your DD). That was 1999 (December). Now it's 2008. Time flies! It was me, my parents, my grandparents (mom's side), and my great aunt and uncle (I'm an only child). We all had a great time!

I got to go to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party/Parade! It was an amazing experiance. Minnie had hot cocoa and cookies, she "read" a story, and, oh goodness, we met so many characters in their winter finest!

She'll get a button at GKTW that allows your family to go to the front of any ride/attraction line! :thumbsup2

GKTW is an absoultely amazing place. I have pictures of it, but I'd have to scan them into mom/dad's computer. You'll love it there; it's so utterly amazing. Most of the workers are volunteers, and they give up their free time to make the most out of your child's trip.

Your DD is adorable, and I can't wait to see how her trip goes! You'll definately feel that "Disney magic"!

Make-A-Wish is a GREAT organization, and I volunteer regularly there (at the Rhode Island chapter).

My genetic disorder is Fanconi's Anemia (too hard to explain right now!) but it's not "terminally ill" status (although CAN be life-threatening; hasn't caused me too much trouble. Except hearing loss. And I tend to react badly to shots. But otherwise, it's been better!) Still, I got my wish!

ariel2007

04-15-2008, 03:43 PM

OMG your pre-trippie and trip plans sound amazing.

First off Arabella is absolutely gorgeous. I love how you have written her story, what a special, beautiful little girl you have. I also love her name, so pretty and unique :lovestruc

I have heard of Make A Wish before but never really knew much about it. Being from the UK its not as common over here, although the company I work for used to sponsor it so I did look it up one day and thought what an amazing concept it is. Personally one of my ambitions is to one day start a charity that is as worthwhile and magical as Make A Wish.

The Village you are staying in is amazing. I can't believe there is such a cool place for all those special children to go :cutie:, I'm sure Arabelle will absolutely love it there, I would :cloud9:. The whole trip package sounds so good, its so great to see there is such things out there.

Cant wait to hear more about your trip, I think were there some of the same time so may see you around. I will keep an eye out for Bella's MAW t-shirt and pins :thumbsup2

dizneeat

04-18-2008, 01:33 PM

Your little Bella is such a cutie! I cannot wait to read more!

5dwarves

04-19-2008, 07:10 AM

5dwarves

04-19-2008, 07:38 AM

We’ll have a two bedroom, two bathroom villa with a kitchen and living room, jacuzzi tub and even a washer and dryer! Food is no cost there and the restaurant is called the Gingerbread House. Guess what it looks like? Buffet style and full of volunteers who don’t even let you carry your tray to your table! Perkin’s runs the restaurant and we’re all looking forward to breakfast every day. They also have ice cream from 7am until 10pm and that is run by Friendly’s - which also provides lunch each day. Yum!! Pizza delivery to your villa is also available free of charge. If you don’t want to get to breakfast at the restaurant or the Ice Cream Shoppe (lol) then they have a cart that comes around to all the houses with continental breakfast.

Oh, did I mention lines? I forgot – Wish kids get to go to the front of the lines everywhere they go!! :D We’ll have tshirts, hats and pins for her to identify her as a Wish kid so everyone will know who the special little girl is.

Just a couple of things I wanted to make sure you knew...first of all there are two days for Disney Character photos, but the set up is the same for both of them (stage and Minnie and Mickey). You will get a voucher for one family picture. There are other characters that wander around the terrace at GKTW and they change and you can obviously greet them there in a quieter setting that WDW, but the "formal" photo op is a one time deal. It goes sooooo smoothly and quickly and it is in AC. Our voucher was for Thursday, but we had an ADR with Spiderman at Universal that morning so GKTW said it was no big deal to just "show up" on the Tuesday photo op. Something that we didn't do until the last minute that I wish we would have done first is the star. GKTW will give you a mirrored star. There is a star fairy box in the playroom that you put it in and the box vibrates and shakes and the fairy tells you she will put it in the "sky" (the playroom ceiling) overnight so that you can look up and make a wish on your own star. Bella's name will be written on the star. If you are still at GKTW, they will deliver a star certificate to your villa the next day and it will have directions on how to find your star among the thousands of stars on the ceiling. We did this the last day and couldn't go back and see Adam's star in the sky. If you are hanging out at GKTW the first day and have already done your orientation, you will have your star for the box and you can get it done early.

GKTW doesn't furnish lunch on a regular basis. The ice cream palace does have some sandwiches. This is primarily for families on they day they arrived at GKTW and have come straight to property and haven't had lunch yet. I am sure they won't turn you away if you come in and ask for a sandwich, but this isn't something formal where everyone staying on property has lunch there. There is also Mama Merries for pizza, but I think they don't start delivering until 4:00 pm. The other thing you may not know about is the Continental breakfast. I forget whey they start delivering in the morning. If you are going to try and make rope drop it becomes difficult to do that and eat a full (excellent) breakfast at the Gingerbread house. On the day we were endeavoring to get to the parks early we ate the continental breakfast. You will need to call the front desk and tell them you want the cart to come by. For us there was a retired couple who drove the golf cart like lunch wagon. It has a coule of refrigerated sections on it. They have fruit, yogurt, cereal, milk, various pastries and breads. Your villa has plates, glasses, utensils, a coffee maker and a table and chairs. You can eat quickly in your villa then jet on over to the parks.

The last thing is that wish kids don't exactly have a front of the line pass...almost, just not quite. The GKTW button works a lot of magic for you. First it gets you a free stroller. I know Bella is a big girl, but it gets tiresome hiking all over the place and she will probably want to rest some. The stroller is VERY helpful. Even when she is walking, it will help carry all your gear and lighten your load. The button gets you free parking. If you ask it also gets you medical overflow parking which is next to the handicap parking if you don't have a blue handicap tag. This gets you closer to the gates and makes it a little easier to get in and out of the parks. The other thing it will do is get you access to the wish lounge and VIP lounge, so you have a place to go and rest on that long day at MK. Some wish kids have actually napped there. The other VIP lounge is at Epcot above the Test Track ride. GKTW will give you a GAC (Guest Assistance Card) and a plastic pouch to put it in, along with lanyards for everyone in the family. I wore the GAC because my son would have destroyed or lost it if he was wearing it. When you go on an attraction show it to the first CM at the entrance. They will direct you to the special needs access. Sometimes this is through the exit of the ride, other times you go through a whole different entrance. At times they radio for another CM to come and meet you and take you the back way. The GAC is not a front of the line pass, it is an extra assistance pass. You will still have to wait on some rides, but you won't be with the mobs. It will make everything much easier on you, but I wanted to make sure you know it won't get on you on first every time. Finally, the GKTW will get you moved up in the line at the character places. You have to show the entry CM the button though and they will work you into the front. Just make sure you always see a CM first. They have your backs ;)

~Elisa

5dwarves

04-19-2008, 07:38 AM

Oops...somehow I got bumped out had to reenter my password then this double posted...sorry.....

5dwarves

04-19-2008, 07:44 AM

OMG your pre-trippie and trip plans sound amazing.

I have heard of Make A Wish before but never really knew much about it. Being from the UK its not as common over here, although the company I work for used to sponsor it so I did look it up one day and thought what an amazing concept it is. Personally one of my ambitions is to one day start a charity that is as worthwhile and magical as Make A Wish.

There is some sort of wish granting agency in the UK, although I don't know the name of it. There are often families from all over the world at GKTW when you are there. There are several flag poles and they fly the flags of the countries of the families who are currently on property. There was a UK family there when we were there. I think GKTW has a link to various charities that they support with their services. I bet that there is something about UK charities, if you wanted to hook up with them and volunteer. It is so worthwhile!

~Elisa

P.S. There are several in the UK:

Dial A Dream
Christian Lewis Children's Cancer Care
MAW International (In Surrey and Camberly)
Rays of Sunshine
Dream Flight

The GKTW website has contact info for all of these! Very cool!

Queenie122

04-22-2008, 11:28 AM

I am looking forward to reading your TR. I'm thinking of writing my own for our little Wisher! I'm so glad you posted the GKTW schedule! That helps me out, a lot!

I'll be thinking of you and your little Bella while we skip around the park, too! After going through so much, you deserve all the happiness this trip will bring you and your family. Thank you, that's very sweet of you!

You should definitely write one up! I find them SO interesting to read and learn so much while reading them. It is fun and I also think a great way to keep track of everything that happens as it happens!

By the way, the GKTW website has a lot more info than the schedule - I've gotten lots of info that way, you should check it out. You do have to dig around, the site isn't exactly straightforward but you can have fun searching.

Oh my goodness!

I'm a Wish Kid myself, and I took my WDW trip when I was 6 (so only a bit older than your DD). That was 1999 (December). Now it's 2008. Time flies! It was me, my parents, my grandparents (mom's side), and my great aunt and uncle (I'm an only child). We all had a great time!

I got to go to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party/Parade! It was an amazing experiance. Minnie had hot cocoa and cookies, she "read" a story, and, oh goodness, we met so many characters in their winter finest!

She'll get a button at GKTW that allows your family to go to the front of any ride/attraction line! :thumbsup2

GKTW is an absoultely amazing place. I have pictures of it, but I'd have to scan them into mom/dad's computer. You'll love it there; it's so utterly amazing. Most of the workers are volunteers, and they give up their free time to make the most out of your child's trip.

Your DD is adorable, and I can't wait to see how her trip goes! You'll definately feel that "Disney magic"!

Make-A-Wish is a GREAT organization, and I volunteer regularly there (at the Rhode Island chapter).

My genetic disorder is Fanconi's Anemia (too hard to explain right now!) but it's not "terminally ill" status (although CAN be life-threatening; hasn't caused me too much trouble. Except hearing loss. And I tend to react badly to shots. But otherwise, it's been better!) Still, I got my wish! Wow, that is a great story, thank you so much for sharing! Good to hear that your disorder hasn't caused too many issues for you, I'll cross my fingers it stays that way! I wonder how much the Village has changed in the last ten years!

OMG your pre-trippie and trip plans sound amazing.

First off Arabella is absolutely gorgeous. I love how you have written her story, what a special, beautiful little girl you have. I also love her name, so pretty and unique :lovestruc

I have heard of Make A Wish before but never really knew much about it. Being from the UK its not as common over here, although the company I work for used to sponsor it so I did look it up one day and thought what an amazing concept it is. Personally one of my ambitions is to one day start a charity that is as worthwhile and magical as Make A Wish.

The Village you are staying in is amazing. I can't believe there is such a cool place for all those special children to go :cutie:, I'm sure Arabelle will absolutely love it there, I would :cloud9:. The whole trip package sounds so good, its so great to see there is such things out there.

Cant wait to hear more about your trip, I think were there some of the same time so may see you around. I will keep an eye out for Bella's MAW t-shirt and pins :thumbsup2

Thank you so much! Arabella means "answered prayer" and that's really why we chose that name. I liked Bella but hubby thought it was too Italian sounding with our Irish last name :rotfl: We do feel so lucky to have her in our lives.:goodvibes

That is SUCH a noble ambition to want to create a charity! I don't know how you could be involved with something like Make a Wish and not feel good every day. I'm thinking of volunteering eventually, when Bella is a little older.

Definitely keep an eye out for us, we'd love to get to say hi to you! When will you be there? Have a great trip!

Your little Bella is such a cutie! I cannot wait to read more! Thank you! :cool2:

Queenie122

04-22-2008, 12:41 PM

Just a couple of things I wanted to make sure you knew...first of all there are two days for Disney Character photos, but the set up is the same for both of them (stage and Minnie and Mickey). You will get a voucher for one family picture. There are other characters that wander around the terrace at GKTW and they change and you can obviously greet them there in a quieter setting that WDW, but the "formal" photo op is a one time deal. It goes sooooo smoothly and quickly and it is in AC. Our voucher was for Thursday, but we had an ADR with Spiderman at Universal that morning so GKTW said it was no big deal to just "show up" on the Tuesday photo op. Something that we didn't do until the last minute that I wish we would have done first is the star. GKTW will give you a mirrored star. There is a star fairy box in the playroom that you put it in and the box vibrates and shakes and the fairy tells you she will put it in the "sky" (the playroom ceiling) overnight so that you can look up and make a wish on your own star. Bella's name will be written on the star. If you are still at GKTW, they will deliver a star certificate to your villa the next day and it will have directions on how to find your star among the thousands of stars on the ceiling. We did this the last day and couldn't go back and see Adam's star in the sky. If you are hanging out at GKTW the first day and have already done your orientation, you will have your star for the box and you can get it done early.

GKTW doesn't furnish lunch on a regular basis. The ice cream palace does have some sandwiches. This is primarily for families on they day they arrived at GKTW and have come straight to property and haven't had lunch yet. I am sure they won't turn you away if you come in and ask for a sandwich, but this isn't something formal where everyone staying on property has lunch there. There is also Mama Merries for pizza, but I think they don't start delivering until 4:00 pm. The other thing you may not know about is the Continental breakfast. I forget whey they start delivering in the morning. If you are going to try and make rope drop it becomes difficult to do that and eat a full (excellent) breakfast at the Gingerbread house. On the day we were endeavoring to get to the parks early we ate the continental breakfast. You will need to call the front desk and tell them you want the cart to come by. For us there was a retired couple who drove the golf cart like lunch wagon. It has a coule of refrigerated sections on it. They have fruit, yogurt, cereal, milk, various pastries and breads. Your villa has plates, glasses, utensils, a coffee maker and a table and chairs. You can eat quickly in your villa then jet on over to the parks.

The last thing is that wish kids don't exactly have a front of the line pass...almost, just not quite. The GKTW button works a lot of magic for you. First it gets you a free stroller. I know Bella is a big girl, but it gets tiresome hiking all over the place and she will probably want to rest some. The stroller is VERY helpful. Even when she is walking, it will help carry all your gear and lighten your load. The button gets you free parking. If you ask it also gets you medical overflow parking which is next to the handicap parking if you don't have a blue handicap tag. This gets you closer to the gates and makes it a little easier to get in and out of the parks. The other thing it will do is get you access to the wish lounge and VIP lounge, so you have a place to go and rest on that long day at MK. Some wish kids have actually napped there. The other VIP lounge is at Epcot above the Test Track ride. GKTW will give you a GAC (Guest Assistance Card) and a plastic pouch to put it in, along with lanyards for everyone in the family. I wore the GAC because my son would have destroyed or lost it if he was wearing it. When you go on an attraction show it to the first CM at the entrance. They will direct you to the special needs access. Sometimes this is through the exit of the ride, other times you go through a whole different entrance. At times they radio for another CM to come and meet you and take you the back way. The GAC is not a front of the line pass, it is an extra assistance pass. You will still have to wait on some rides, but you won't be with the mobs. It will make everything much easier on you, but I wanted to make sure you know it won't get on you on first every time. Finally, the GKTW will get you moved up in the line at the character places. You have to show the entry CM the button though and they will work you into the front. Just make sure you always see a CM first. They have your backs ;)

~Elisa

Elisa, om goodness, thank you so much for all this info! I didn't know a lot of it and it's really good to know. We were planning on doing the pics both days at GKTW, actually, it's a bit of a relief that we only need to go one day!

We'll make sure to do the star right away, at the latest Tuesday since we have nothing planned that day. Hopefully they give it to us Saturday and we do it then and check it on tuesday. I'm not sure when our orientation will be - might it be Saturday night or are they always in the morning? I hope not, we have a busy and early Sunday planned. Saturday night would be perfect for them to give us our tickets.

Really good to know about lunch, there are a couple of days I did plan on eating lunch there. I guess we'll have to do a late breakfast those days instead! And also good to know about the breakfast cart, I was wondering how we would eat the couple of mornings we are going early for rope drop.

We're definitely bringing a stroller for Bella. She looks big in her pics but she really is a small peanut and definitely could not walk all day - we'd be carrying her. We're bringing our own stroller so we don't have to carry her in the parking lots and airports, DTD, etc. I know we get a free stroller rental. But we have medical equipment to haul with us and I think I'd prefer her smaller stroller that we can use as a wheelchair and leave backstage at the rides. Safer that way - less chance of someone "accidentally" walking off with our rented stroller. Not 100% on this yet but leaning this way.

She still naps during the day, usually two hours. I'm planning to use the WISH / VIP lounges for Bella to rest with my Mom and DH and DB and I will run out and do some big people rides at that point. I'm hoping I'll be able to time the Fastpasses correctly to do this.

The only thing I was worried about was waiting hours in line to see the characters. Good to hear the CM's will have our backs and we might not have to wait all that time! That is my daughter's wish after all!

5dwarves

04-22-2008, 12:54 PM

Elisa, om goodness, thank you so much for all this info! I didn't know a lot of it and it's really good to know. We were planning on doing the pics both days at GKTW, actually, it's a bit of a relief that we only need to go one day!

We'll make sure to do the star right away, at the latest Tuesday since we have nothing planned that day. Hopefully they give it to us Saturday and we do it then and check it on tuesday. I'm not sure when our orientation will be - might it be Saturday night or are they always in the morning? I hope not, we have a busy and early Sunday planned. Saturday night would be perfect for them to give us our tickets.

Really good to know about lunch, there are a couple of days I did plan on eating lunch there. I guess we'll have to do a late breakfast those days instead! And also good to know about the breakfast cart, I was wondering how we would eat the couple of mornings we are going early for rope drop.

We're definitely bringing a stroller for Bella. She looks big in her pics but she really is a small peanut and definitely could not walk all day - we'd be carrying her. We're bringing our own stroller so we don't have to carry her in the parking lots and airports, DTD, etc. I know we get a free stroller rental. But we have medical equipment to haul with us and I think I'd prefer her smaller stroller that we can use as a wheelchair and leave backstage at the rides. Safer that way - less chance of someone "accidentally" walking off with our rented stroller. Not 100% on this yet but leaning this way.

She still naps during the day, usually two hours. I'm planning to use the WISH / VIP lounges for Bella to rest with my Mom and DH and DB and I will run out and do some big people rides at that point. I'm hoping I'll be able to time the Fastpasses correctly to do this.

The only thing I was worried about was waiting hours in line to see the characters. Good to hear the CM's will have our backs and we might not have to wait all that time! That is my daughter's wish after all!

I am so excited for you and your trip. You are going to have some wonderful times and memories! Don't get me wrong about the lunch thing...you CAN eat lunch, but it is basically some teenage girls behind a counter who usually dish out ice cream, but who also have a couple of loaves of bread and some lunch meat. If a turkey sandwich will suffice, then you have lunch and dessert all in the same place. It just isn't a big spread. I don't know if Bella is into the Nickelodeon characters or not, but they will be there for photo ops as well (although I don't think they are formal pics). I think that Blue from Blue's Clues is one of them, and Barney...maybe Dora. Just remember to always haul a camera around with you.

Something else is that GKTW received a donation of digital cameras and camcorders from Sony. Sony gave them to GKTW and maintains them. GKTW loans them out to wish families. You record or take photos during the week, then turn the camera in a few days before you leave and they transfer everything onto disc for you.

Orientation is, I think, two or three times a day...ours was at about 3:00 and several parents showed up with ice cream sundaes from the ice cream palace. The next one was at 7:00 pm. You will find that being on the Dis and surfing the GKTW site will provide you with more info than most who are there. You will also have a check out conference. They will give you your disney picture then as well as your photo discs, and a disc of professional photos of the GKTW site, as well as photos that their photographers have taken of your family while you were there (Santa, Horse Back Rides, etc.). There is also another WONDERFUL thing in that exit interview. You will receive a world pass from an association of amusement parks that will get you free admission to parks all over the world. There is a list of participating parks and attractions and a contact person. You let the contact person know a few days ahead of time that you are coming and they will have free tickets for your family. Not every amusement park is a member, but there is a large contingency (Six Flags, Sea Worlds, Ripley's...there are even places in Russia of all things!) You will also get a list of all the corporate sponsors that contributed to your stay with contact names and addresses for thank you cards....

Lots of cool stuff to look forward to !

Iluvmickeymouse!

04-23-2008, 01:05 PM

I'm not sure when our orientation will be - might it be Saturday night or are they always in the morning? I hope not, we have a busy and early Sunday planned. Saturday night would be perfect for them to give us our tickets.

Really good to know about lunch, there are a couple of days I did plan on eating lunch there. I guess we'll have to do a late breakfast those days instead! And also good to know about the breakfast cart, I was wondering how we would eat the couple of mornings we are going early for rope drop.

She still naps during the day, usually two hours. I'm planning to use the WISH / VIP lounges for Bella to rest with my Mom and DH and DB and I will run out and do some big people rides at that point. I'm hoping I'll be able to time the Fastpasses correctly to do this.

The only thing I was worried about was waiting hours in line to see the characters. Good to hear the CM's will have our backs and we might not have to wait all that time! That is my daughter's wish after all!

Our orientation was at night. I'm thinking like 7:30 or so. Elisa is right...you will know SOOOOOOO much more than others there because you are on the Disboards and that you have found all of us fellow wish trippers! :goodvibes

We ate lunch a couple times at the ice cream palace. They had premade sandwiches, chips and side salads (pasta I think). If I remember right, we grabbed lunch one day and took it back to our villa and ate it. So, no worries about planning on eating lunch threre...go ahead and plan for it!

DD4 naps in the afternoon also. Did she nap at WDW...nope!! :lmao: DD1 slept in the stroller, which was nice because then we didn't have to worry about going back to the villa for nap time!

Character interactions were great. We never waited in line for any one. Just make sure the CM notices you. We literally had to walk up and stand right next to some of them before they even noticed us. BUT, once they knew we were there, they were very gracious. I think the hardest spot was the Mickey and Minnie Campground area at AK. There is no CM at the entrance to the character meet and greet line, so we walked up the exit area (with many stares from people in line) and got the cm's attention that way. I wore the lanyard with our MAW button and GAC pass. DD had her GKTW button and MAW button on. I was a little leary at first about getting the cm's attention, BUT I finally decided that this was a ONE time opportunity for DD to see this many characters and have this great interaction. (once she finally warmed up to them!) I will have to count to see how many autographs she did get. I know we got duplicates. I am working on her autograph book now so I will count later! ;)

Elisa mentioned the video camera.....we did it...so worth it. We did not have to haul ours from home and they have the discs ready for you to take home with you, so you can watch everything right away! They were very easy to use. I would highly suggest using them!

Happy planning!!!

5dwarves

04-23-2008, 01:12 PM

Queenie:

If you haven't done it yet, you definintely need to look at Iluvmickeymouse!'s TR. She probably did 200 character meetings! Amazing!!!!! And her little princess was afraid of them beforehand...not any more, I'm sure! She is the go to person for characters....definintely!

~Elisa

Princesskeyblade

04-24-2008, 01:50 PM

Queenie, I had to subscribe. popcorn::

Bella is a complete cutie. And I can not wait to hear about all the fun that you guys are going to have there!

:goodvibes

Queenie122

04-26-2008, 10:15 PM

I am so excited for you and your trip. You are going to have some wonderful times and memories! Don't get me wrong about the lunch thing...you CAN eat lunch, but it is basically some teenage girls behind a counter who usually dish out ice cream, but who also have a couple of loaves of bread and some lunch meat. If a turkey sandwich will suffice, then you have lunch and dessert all in the same place. It just isn't a big spread. I don't know if Bella is into the Nickelodeon characters or not, but they will be there for photo ops as well (although I don't think they are formal pics). I think that Blue from Blue's Clues is one of them, and Barney...maybe Dora. Just remember to always haul a camera around with you. Oh yeah, she adores Dora and Diego and she likes Blue too. Hopefully some of them will show up! I'll try to attach that camera to my hip, lol.

I'm sure there is lots of cheap eats nearby if we need to get some lunch. :-)

Something else is that GKTW received a donation of digital cameras and camcorders from Sony. Sony gave them to GKTW and maintains them. GKTW loans them out to wish families. You record or take photos during the week, then turn the camera in a few days before you leave and they transfer everything onto disc for you. Now that is AWESOME. We have a cheap camcorder but never figured out how to get it into disc of some sort. Of course, we'll still have some stuff that happens after we leave GKTW but at least the bulk will be covered on dvd. Thanks for the tip! Keep em coming! :goodvibes

Orientation is, I think, two or three times a day...ours was at about 3:00 and several parents showed up with ice cream sundaes from the ice cream palace. The next one was at 7:00 pm. You will find that being on the Dis and surfing the GKTW site will provide you with more info than most who are there. You will also have a check out conference. They will give you your disney picture then as well as your photo discs, and a disc of professional photos of the GKTW site, as well as photos that their photographers have taken of your family while you were there (Santa, Horse Back Rides, etc.). This is great! We'd be available for 3pm or 7pm that day. I am thinking of sending my hubby as I already know this stuff from the DIS boards! I just want to make sure we get all our tickets in order. And it's awesome about the pictures too, more than anything I want these memories on film so she can always look back at her trip, especially because she is so young.

There is also another WONDERFUL thing in that exit interview. You will receive a world pass from an association of amusement parks that will get you free admission to parks all over the world. There is a list of participating parks and attractions and a contact person. You let the contact person know a few days ahead of time that you are coming and they will have free tickets for your family. Not every amusement park is a member, but there is a large contingency (Six Flags, Sea Worlds, Ripley's...there are even places in Russia of all things!) You will also get a list of all the corporate sponsors that contributed to your stay with contact names and addresses for thank you cards....

Lots of cool stuff to look forward to ! Whoa!! We have lots of Six Flags around here and also Sesame Place (Busch Gardens) so that would be awesome if some of those were included!! Of course, with the price of gas we may not be going too many places this summer :headache: Is it one free ticket, or tickets for the whole family?

Our orientation was at night. I'm thinking like 7:30 or so. Elisa is right...you will know SOOOOOOO much more than others there because you are on the Disboards and that you have found all of us fellow wish trippers! :goodvibes And because wonderful people like you and Elisa take the time to do a trip report and also answer questions!!! So thank you! :hug:

We ate lunch a couple times at the ice cream palace. They had premade sandwiches, chips and side salads (pasta I think). If I remember right, we grabbed lunch one day and took it back to our villa and ate it. So, no worries about planning on eating lunch threre...go ahead and plan for it! Thanks! We don't need anything too fancy for lunch, we have lots of fancy dinners planned and we also plan on taking advantage of yummy breakfast every morning!

How is the food at the Gingerbread House? I'm wondering more about dinner...

DD4 naps in the afternoon also. Did she nap at WDW...nope!! :lmao: DD1 slept in the stroller, which was nice because then we didn't have to worry about going back to the villa for nap time! Which is awesome! I am leaving some time in the schedule for returning to the villa if necessary but really that is just MK day. AK and HS I am not planning a 10 hour day so hopefully we can all make it 8ish hours.

Character interactions were great. We never waited in line for any one. Just make sure the CM notices you. We literally had to walk up and stand right next to some of them before they even noticed us. BUT, once they knew we were there, they were very gracious. I think the hardest spot was the Mickey and Minnie Campground area at AK. There is no CM at the entrance to the character meet and greet line, so we walked up the exit area (with many stares from people in line) and got the cm's attention that way. I wore the lanyard with our MAW button and GAC pass. DD had her GKTW button and MAW button on. I was a little leary at first about getting the cm's attention, BUT I finally decided that this was a ONE time opportunity for DD to see this many characters and have this great interaction. (once she finally warmed up to them!) I will have to count to see how many autographs she did get. I know we got duplicates. I am working on her autograph book now so I will count later! ;) I do feel leery about bugging the CM's for special treatment and I have to get over that. DD's wish is to meet the Princesses but I don't want to spend all day on lines to meet them. This is probably the only "thing" I am concerned about.

I know your daughter was a little leary at first, thank goodness she opened up! My daughter is normally not shy at all so hopefully that won't change down there, lol. She wants to dance, I can see her asking! :dance3:

Elisa mentioned the video camera.....we did it...so worth it. We did not have to haul ours from home and they have the discs ready for you to take home with you, so you can watch everything right away! They were very easy to use. I would highly suggest using them!

Happy planning!!! Can everyone get one if they want? It sounds amazing!

Queenie:

If you haven't done it yet, you definintely need to look at Iluvmickeymouse!'s TR. She probably did 200 character meetings! Amazing!!!!! And her little princess was afraid of them beforehand...not any more, I'm sure! She is the go to person for characters....definintely!

~Elisa I did, thanks! I read all the reports that are linked on the first page of the Wish Trippers thread and all that thread too! So amazing, I am addicted to them!! It may even be time to reread them to get the excitement up even higher (like that needs to happen, lol).

I feel like I know you ladies from getting to read all the details of your trips :yay:

Queenie122

04-26-2008, 10:16 PM

Queenie, I had to subscribe. popcorn::

Bella is a complete cutie. And I can not wait to hear about all the fun that you guys are going to have there!

:goodvibes

Tracey!!!!! Great to see you here!!!!!!!!! :hug:

And with a pretrippie in tow too, awesome! I'm so glad you'll be writing about your trip, I love to hear all the juicy details!

Queenie122

04-26-2008, 10:22 PM

Iluvmickeymouse!

04-27-2008, 06:50 AM

A quick update.

DD is ill. She's been off school all week for spring break and she's been sick all week. Cough (which she normally has all winter) but sore throat and high fever (102-104) too. Now she has sores in her mouth and her little gums are all swollen - so swollen that some of her teeth are hard to see! :scared1:

The doctor says it is a virus that kids can get and that it is common. But the poor thing won't eat or drink anything because her mouth hurts so much, In this case we are "lucky" to have her feeding tube, we are able to keep her hydrated and fed that way or she'd be in the hospital right now. :sad2:

He says 3-4 days but online says 1-2 weeks until this is all healed up. I'm praying it doesn't last long :scared:

I'm so worried about her right now!

:hug: Hope your DD is feeling better soon! That doesn't sound like any fun at all. Hopefully it will clear up soon. DD got a whopper of a black eye right before we left too. Dr. said it would take 2-3 weeks to clear up. Thanks to a couple families on here they directed me toward arnica cream, got it, used it an it cleared up in time. If you didn't start at the beginning of the wish trippers thread, her black eye pic is at the beginning of the thread. :sad2:
pixiedust: Here's some pixie dust to help her get better!!! pixiedust:

5dwarves

04-27-2008, 08:19 AM

Whoa!! We have lots of Six Flags around here and also Sesame Place (Busch Gardens) so that would be awesome if some of those were included!! Of course, with the price of gas we may not be going too many places this summer :headache: Is it one free ticket, or tickets for the whole family?

I feel like I know you ladies from getting to read all the details of your trips :yay:

The passport is for all the people who were on the original wish trip. I believe you have to show ID to get in. None of the places were close to us in Alabama, so we haven't taken advantage of it. If we visit family in TX we just might go to Astroworld or Seaworld...we will see. I was shocked when they gave it to us at checkout. Never expected it.

I know what you mean when you say you start to feel like you know each other. Our situation with children who have a chronic illness definintely unites us. We have a unique perspective on everything as a result, and we definitely support each other!

5dwarves

04-27-2008, 08:21 AM

dizneeat

04-27-2008, 11:53 AM

Here's a lot of Austrian pixiedust: healing pixie dust pixiedust: for little Bella! I hope she gets better real soon!
She just needs to be well for her wish trip, so she can enjoy every minute of it! :goodvibes

jmskinner

04-27-2008, 12:28 PM

pixiedust: Here's some Pixie Dust from West Texas. Hope she gets well soon!

Queenie122

04-29-2008, 07:58 PM

:hug: Hope your DD is feeling better soon! That doesn't sound like any fun at all. Hopefully it will clear up soon. DD got a whopper of a black eye right before we left too. Dr. said it would take 2-3 weeks to clear up. Thanks to a couple families on here they directed me toward arnica cream, got it, used it an it cleared up in time. If you didn't start at the beginning of the wish trippers thread, her black eye pic is at the beginning of the thread. :sad2:
pixiedust: Here's some pixie dust to help her get better!!! pixiedust: I remember seeing the black eye and thinking that it looked cute. Of course if it was me I would have been a MESS thinking about her black eye in all the pics!

The passport is for all the people who were on the original wish trip. I believe you have to show ID to get in. None of the places were close to us in Alabama, so we haven't taken advantage of it. If we visit family in TX we just might go to Astroworld or Seaworld...we will see. I was shocked when they gave it to us at checkout. Never expected it. That's really amazing! We have a few Six Flags around here, hopefully we can make it happen this summer :-)

I know what you mean when you say you start to feel like you know each other. Our situation with children who have a chronic illness definintely unites us. We have a unique perspective on everything as a result, and we definitely support each other! You are so absolutely right. :hug:

Goodness...I am sorry to hear she is under the weather. I am rooting for the doctor's recovery time. Let us know how she is doing.

~Elisa

Here's a lot of Austrian pixiedust: healing pixie dust pixiedust: for little Bella! I hope she gets better real soon!
She just needs to be well for her wish trip, so she can enjoy every minute of it! :goodvibes

pixiedust: Here's some Pixie Dust from West Texas. Hope she gets well soon!

Thanks everyone. I'm praying so hard right now that she gets better!

Queenie122

04-29-2008, 08:42 PM

So, I had planned to be making posts each day about our trip countdown. Needless to say I've been distracted and a bit stressed out. Still, I'm hoping (expecting really) my daughter to get better in time and therefore I can't just sit around and wait and not get my packing and organizing done! I had expected her to be in school so it will be way more difficult to get these things done with her home but I have to try. Luckily I had a bunch of things gathered together and most if not all my shopping done already.

In the past 4 months I bought: PAL Mickey, a new Baggalini backpack for the parks, Crocs for me, hubby and DD (although mine aren't the most comfortable they both love theirs), new luggage off of Ebay - red Mickey luggage! My daughter needed all new clothes (hello growth spurt!) that my Mom bought for her in the spring, a lanyard and some cheapy pins for trading for the first time, of course all the toiletries like blister and moleskin stuff, antibiotic cream, sunblock, etc. Also a water mister, ponchos and a monkey backpack for DD so she can walk around and we can hold onto the 5 foot tail and we don't lose her. I think we're pretty set :-)

I've also been busy with some other organizing. I made a "countdown" for my daughter. She enjoys looking at my Tinkerbell sig and understands the days counting down so I wanted to give her own way of doing it. We went to Home Depot and picked up all kinds of Mickey Ears paint chips. I printed out two pages on my computer (Admittedly I am not the best with the computer art stuff). One says, "Countdown to Bella's Wish Trip, Days Until We Leave For Disney World..." The other says, "Today We Leave For Disney World, Mickey Here We Come!" I tied a ribbon between the two pages and hung it on the wall. Then I took 12 Mickey chips and numbered them, put ribbon on and tied THAT onto the ribbon between the pages. Each day she gets to cut one off as we get closer to the date. It's not fancy and I'm not entirely thrilled with it - I am an art major and it's not perfect - but she *loves* it and doesn't know it could be better. Given the circumstances I'm happy enough with it :goodvibes I have some pictures, tomorrow when I'm not exhausted I'll post them.

I started making my address labels. We have quite a few postcards to mail so instead of handwriting that part I'm just making labels so I don't have to carry the addresses with me. Then we can handwrite the postcards (about 25) and just slap the addresses on. The rest of the labels have either our name and cell phone number for objects or say "My name is Bella" - mine and DH cell numbers and "I am staying at GKTW Village" spelled out." I plan on putting these on Bella's back each day, lol. I don't think she'll be separated, there are 5 of us and given her fragile medical situation I am very careful, but you NEVER know, so I think this will be good. I also plan on practicing with her and a CM or two when we get down there - What to to do if silly Mommy and Daddy get lost! :rolleyes1

We are also doing Pixie Dust Thank You cards for Bella to hand out. We had a friend who is good at photoshop make the images for us and it came out awesome. One side is Tinkerbell and her wand saying "Thank You" and the other is our personal thank you written out with a picture of her dressed as Tink from Halloween. We included our website info, in case someone wants to check out her story and see the pictures from her trip. I haven't seen them in person yet, I'm very excited to see them, hopefully tomorrow! I have to figure out how to get those pics uploaded here, or I'll just wait until I have the card and take a pic of it.

So, these are a lot of my thoughts. Sorry for dumping them all at once, I meant to do it over the last week :-)

5dwarves

04-30-2008, 07:20 AM

Queenie:

I am not sure if you have ever wandered over to the DisSign section of the forums. There are several graphic artists over there who have portfolios of neat things that can be printed on a transfer then ironed onto a T-shirt. Some of the artists do customizing with names. There is one who takes a picture with disney characters in it, then places block lettering over it, cutting off the excess (all with their handy dandy computer programs). You could get someone to customize "Bella" with Tinkerbell in the background. Here is a thread link....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1684697

Their threads have instructions on how to request items, and they even talk about what to do if your time is short before you leave. The stuff they do is amazing!

~Elisa

Queenie122

05-01-2008, 01:56 PM

Queenie122

05-01-2008, 02:01 PM

Quick update... Bella's doing a little better... gums aren't as red so I'm hoping they will start to get better now! And we're down to single digits, I'd better get packing! :scared1:

5dwarves

05-01-2008, 02:21 PM

I am so glad to hear she is on the mend. Keep us updated....:tinker:best wishes

dizneeat

05-01-2008, 03:26 PM

So glad that Bella is on the road to recovery! I'll keep my fingers crossed for your little sweetie and here's lots more pixie dust pixiedust: so she will be able to fully enjoy her trip! :earsgirl:

Queenie122

05-06-2008, 07:36 PM

So... GREAT news!! Bella is feeling better and her mouth is recovering nicely from weirdo virus. She's been eating since Sunday and we sent her to school yesterday. Yay! None of the rest of us got sick (thankyouthankyouthankyou).

Even better news - took her to the ENT yesterday for our final trip approval. For those who don't know, she was having some fluid issues in her ear, the possibility of needing surgery to have tubes put in was mentioned. I've been scared to death that she would need another surgery and also she would have discomfort flying. We told out Wish team that we might need to drive at the last minute and they said that could be arranged. But really, who wants to spend three miserable days of their vacation driving?

Anyway, back to the doctor yesterday. We've been giving her nasal spray every day to help try to clear up the ears. Keeping the head of her bed upright too. She has never passed an ear test... UNTIL YESTERDAY!!! Her ears are better than they have ever been!!!! Totally clear!!! And now she can actually hear you when you speak to her! No tubes needed and she's clear to fly!!!! :faint:

Yeah, just a little excited.

Last night our Wish team came by. We got our boarding passes. We found out a freaking LIMO is picking up up Saturday to drive us to the airport. We got Make a Wish hats and Tshirts (which don't fit) which we are instructed to wear and a cool Make a Wish bag. Special Wish stickers and a hat from Disney too, a Disney book and DVD. They also gave us a disposable camera which we'll let Bella take pictures with. Should be interesting to see what a three year old takes a picture of.

They also gave us our expense check. AND IT WAS $500 MORE THAN WE THOUGHT WE WERE GETTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our check was for a little over $1200. My brother's plane ticket came out of there (which he already paid us for) so it was $1500 to start. Crazy!!

We're so excited now, I can't even put into words how excited we are. Haven't had a real vacation as a family in forever, maybe never. It's going to be hot, 90 degrees but we don't care. Heat, rain, locust infestation, we don't care. We are going to have so much fun :banana: :banana: :banana:

kellig

05-06-2008, 08:39 PM

I've been lurking for a while...reading all of your great updates! I just have to say how excited I am that everyone is well. I have been praying for all of you to stay well and have a wonderful trip! :cheer2: I can't wait to hear how the trip goes! Have a magical time! pixiedust:

jmskinner

05-06-2008, 08:52 PM

:banana: I am so happy Bella is doing well and you got cleared for flying.

You'll have to post the pics she takes!

Have a wonderful trip!
Melissa

kaity230

05-09-2008, 05:42 PM

Have a great time!! :woohoo: Can't wait to hear all about it when you guys get back!

Princesskeyblade

05-09-2008, 06:04 PM

Have lots of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to hear all the stories from your trip!!

dizneeat

05-10-2008, 12:52 AM

Have a wonderful trip filled with lots of magical moments! pixiedust: I am sooooo glad Bella is feeling well again and allowed to fly!
Enjoy the magic!!! :goodvibes

lotferg

05-11-2008, 06:34 AM

Hope you're having a blast! Maybe we'll see you there!

5dwarves

05-11-2008, 07:53 AM

Looking forward to hearing about your trip and seeing all the pics. Hope you are having a wonderful time!

Iluvmickeymouse!

05-24-2008, 02:55 PM

:surfweb: popcorn:: just hanging out, waiting, :rolleyes1 :rotfl: i know, i know, patience is a virture :lmao:

lotferg

05-25-2008, 01:39 PM

:surfweb: popcorn:: just hanging out, waiting, :rolleyes1 :rotfl: i know, i know, patience is a virture :lmao:

Patience is not one of my virtues! If Bella had as much fun as Evan, I know this will be a treat! Can't wait to hear about it!

Queenie122

05-26-2008, 07:51 AM

So, the weeks leading up to the trip were *very* crazy and threw a lot of my planning off. With Bella being sick and needy, I didn’t have time to casually get my packing done as planned. Nor did I have time to get my final thoughts in order as to organizing. Or catch up on my sleep. The hardest part of the trip for me was that I started off tired so that only got worse as the trip went on. Sure, we soldiered through but there was grumpiness here and there and really some days all I wanted to do was go home and sleep. :faint:

But hey, that’s crazy vacation for you  ::yes::

Considering I was so behind on the packing the day before the trip really wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Had the attitude that mostly anything we forgot we could buy down there. And I had started the packing like 4 weeks early so really most of it was together already! I had some lingering doubts about the car coming early enough but didn’t want to be at the airport too early and have to sit around forever waiting for it. Islip is a tiny airport with nothing to do while you wait. I wasn’t even sure they had an internet connection there (still don’t know).

My daughter was really excited but went to bed at her normal time, which was awesome. Hubby got his packing done and all the bags were left out in the living room – I couldn’t believe we were ready and about to leave on our trip!

Still had some worries – would my mother and brother be on time or make us late? Would my daughter be crabby from waking up so early the next day? Would the car show up on time and would we make it to the airport on time? Would all our bags fit in the car? :scared1:

We would soon find out…

jmskinner

05-26-2008, 07:59 AM

Can't wait to read the trip report!

dizneeat

05-26-2008, 12:53 PM

yeah!!!!!!! .......... the trip (report) has finally started! :cool1: I cannot wait to hear about ALL your adventures and see lots of pix of sweet little Bella conquering Mickey's world.

Well now the suspence is killing me ....... will everything fit into the car??????;)

Can't wait to read more!!!!

Princesskeyblade

05-26-2008, 12:57 PM

YAY!!!!!

In honor of the beginning of your TR I will make the bananas dance for you!! :banana: :banana: :banana:

lotferg

05-26-2008, 11:54 PM

Alright! So glad you started! I can't wait to see pictures! :banana:

Queenie122

05-28-2008, 02:31 PM

Thanks everyone!!! :)

Here are a few pictures that I didn't have a chance to post before the trip - pictures of the countdown thingie I made for Bella:

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/1D/87/86/i1D87867D-98F2-436E-9A89-CCA1D276915D.jpg

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/DB/B0/05/iDBB005C8-F3EC-4E3F-A330-C76D1DC5D6E1.jpg

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/E7/4D/AF/iE74DAFD7-011B-476E-BBC7-17E554541CCB.jpg

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/0B/F7/7B/i0BF77BFF-2ABA-4049-970E-0E5C58D34C0B.jpg

On to the next update!

Saturday morning, May 10th, I woke up to the bustling noises of people talking – very early. It was about 5:30am when I woke up – we needed to be ready to get out the door at 7am. Rob (hubby) was already up with my daughter getting her into her Make a Wish t-shirt and capris. I was super tired but ready to go!

Now, in our old pre baby lives we were ALWAYS the early people, always on time. Now, however, we are usually some degree of late for everything. Not *terribly* late, but late nonetheless. I admit, when you go through almost losing someone like we did, time management becomes a different thing. I know it’s mostly my fault - I’m way more laid back and “whatever” than I used to be (for those of you that know me – bite your tongues!!). So I was worried we would be late for the car, making us late for the airport and our flight.

I was wrong, luckily, and 7:00am on the dot our car pulled up and we were ready to go. I was jamming a few last things into my final bag when I heard an excited, “The car is here!!” followed by my brother, “Holy crap, it’s a limo!” We wanted it to be a surprise so we were sneaky about the travel arrangements. Not only was it a limo but it was a huge, white stretch limo. Bella was making her way out to the car with excitement. This was going to be a great trip!

The boys (my brother lives with us and was probably ready before anyone else, lol) started bringing our luggage out to the car and my final bag was packed. It was fun getting into the limo – it’s so rare to be in one! I think I was in one for my proms, my wedding, and my brothers wedding. I know most people never get to be in one! So this was very special. It was cold out – 48F. Brrrr. The highs were only in the 50’s so we were excited for the warm Florida weather.

I was concerned about the bags. I know my brother had one and my mother had two. We had… a lot. I had my suitcase and bathroom bag. My suitcase was half filled with Bella’s stuff. Rob had one suit case plus his carry on. Bella had one small suitcase and a garment bag filled with her costumes and dresses. Yah, you read that right! Those costumes just took up too much space inside the suitcases, which were already full. Plus we had: her stroller, her car seat, her special red bag filled with medical equipment (Heavy! And also a big red flag for security) and her diaper bag which was filled with her and my carry on stuff and our laptop. Luckily the medical stuff didn’t count and they also weren’t counting the car seat, which we checked, and her stroller, which we checked at the entrance to the plane. So, how was all of this stuff going to fit in a car?? Well, we’d find out.

By the time I got outside Bella was climbing around inside the huge car, amazed (especially at the stars on the ceiling) while her daddy put her car seat in the back. The bags all fit in the trunk with a couple of things in the front seat and a few things in the car with us (and that was TRULY amazing :lol:) and we were off to get my Mom. It was VERY awesome to have someone else driving – no worrying about directions, or what the best way to go was, or even traffic. Just sit back and relax.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/76/12/68/i7612682D-AB2D-42F2-92A9-117421115A1D.jpg

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/C2/A9/A9/iC2A9A9EA-882A-45DE-9C93-783F032FFE5B.jpg

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/F7/28/77/iF72877BA-321F-4D6B-8687-43F257732C10.jpg

Bella loving the limo…
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/4F/FE/C9/i4FFEC9CD-214E-48B5-A193-151D11556095.jpg

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/F1/28/5B/iF1285B9B-D71A-410B-83F8-8ACB76F48C04.jpg

We got to my Mom’s house and she was outside waiting – yay on time! Her mouth dropped open when she saw the limo, how awesome is that! Her stuff fit in the back too – mostly (a couple more things went in the front seat) and off we went! We had the limo stop at the bagel shop, that was fun - hehehe. We put our feet up and off we went, eating our bagels and talking excitedly about what we had planned.

My Mom commented about the time and us being late. Normally they tell you to be at the airport 2 hours early but this airport was just small enough that I thought we would be fine without the extra time. Still, it was a tiny bit nerve wracking and I couldn’t stop looking at the clock. I kept reminding myself that soon we would be in Florida and all the worries I normally deal with (staying on schedule, phone calls, bills, medical appointments and test results, etc…) would be in the distance past. Our flight was at 8:50am and the airport is only about 30 minutes away.

Before we knew it we were at the airport with plenty of time to spare! Our driver parked right in front of the skycab (the outside check in area) and helped us unload the bags. After a careful check of which bags were getting checked and which was coming with us we got on line. There was only a couple people ahead of us and bam, we were done. It was so fast! Next was security – that was a breeze too. They carefully checked over the medical bag but didn’t give us any problems with it.

Side note: Last year I flew with Bella and we did have major troubles getting her medical bag through security. We have to carry some sterile water in case her feeding tube pops out (oh, and it has), some hand sanitizer plus we like to bring some cans of her Pediasure in case we have trouble finding it at our destination. It’s too heavy to bring two cases of it so we always buy it there but we like to have 4 or 5 cans in case it takes a couple of days to find the right flavor, she can only have vanilla and it’s the hardest to find! They come in 8 ounce cans, nothing we can do about that, so it’s way over the 3 oz. limit. After being held up so long last year my Mom actually picked up my daughter and lifted her shirt to show the feeding tube. They let us right through after that. Luckily this year wasn’t like that.

Back to the airport. We made it to our gate with some time to spare. By the time we used the bathrooms and got settled it was time to board!

I hate the way Southwest does their new boarding. They used to preboard disabilities and families. It makes sense, because it takes these people way more time to get out of the aisle and settled. And I’ve always preboaded Bella as a disability because of all the extra medical equipment we have to carry on with us. Now they want you to check in online (uh, what is the point of that??) early, up to 24 hours. The sooner you check in, the better your “group” and “number” is. There are a certain number of A’s to be had – about 30 –and again, the sooner you check in the better. The A’s board first. All 30 of them. If you pay for business class you automatically get an A and the rest go to early check ins. THEN they board families – kids and parents only. (And you can only board disability if you have the blue handicapped thingie. Which we don’t.) Then the B’s, if there are any left (right!). On our flight to Orlando, the only B’s were my Mom and brother.

So by the time we got on the plane we were ALL the way in the back. Yuck. We saved seats for Mom and brother. There were 3 seats not sold on this flight so it was FULL and lots of families were broken up. Again, this is not good for the other passengers for obvious reasons.

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/DB/26/12/iDB26128F-643D-49FF-B0B7-F6F26117A8A3.jpg

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/60/92/F7/i6092F75F-2297-4218-9E02-E31F112DBEAC.jpg

I was nervous about the flight – after all, Bella had just had big problems with her ears and I kept imagining her poor little ears hurting so terribly she would be screaming the whole way.

Would Bella be okay for the flight? I was about to find out.

dizneeat

05-28-2008, 02:51 PM

Well, you have me at the edge of my seat now, LOL!!!!!!!!!! ;)

I cannot wait to see your little angel around the characters!! Boy, is she sweet!!

I cannot wait to hear more - MUCH MORE!! :wizard:

Queenie122

05-28-2008, 06:39 PM

Well, you have me at the edge of my seat now, LOL!!!!!!!!!! ;)

I cannot wait to see your little angel around the characters!! Boy, is she sweet!!

I cannot wait to hear more - MUCH MORE!! :wizard:

Hehehe! I'll try to get the next part up tomorrow. There is so much more to tell!! :yay:

And thank you, it feels good to know someone wants to hear our story :goodvibes

lotferg

05-28-2008, 10:08 PM

This is so much fun already. I love the pictures! My favorite is the one of Bella in the car seat with the "I Love You" sign

Princesskeyblade

05-29-2008, 07:52 AM

Bella is such a cutie... I can't wait to hear more!!

Iluvmickeymouse!

05-29-2008, 07:52 PM

Hehehe! I'll try to get the next part up tomorrow. There is so much more to tell!! :yay:

And thank you, it feels good to know someone wants to hear our story :goodvibes

Of course we want to hear it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait for more!!! popcorn:: This was one reason I was having internet withdrawal (see wish tripper's thread for reason) I can't wait to read these TR's!!! :rotfl:

twinmum

06-01-2008, 09:25 AM

Hooray! You're onto your Wish Trip Report! Can't wait to read more! Bella is SO cute...I'm looking forward to seeing more pix of here enjoying WDW!

DisDancerina

06-01-2008, 06:13 PM

Being with Make A Wish Foundation, I'm not suprised you got the limo ;) I'm guessing you got some other nice suprises as well! Bella is adorable :) Her smile is so charming and cute! I'm sorry you had trouble with security last year, though it's good that there were no problems this time. Southwest is so dumb :P Deffenitely NOT my favorite airlines. Did you guys get to go to Bibiddi Bobiddi Boutique?? Well, just letting you know, I'm on for the ride.

5dwarves

06-03-2008, 07:31 AM

Love the countdown calendar! Those Home Depot Paint Chips with Mickey's Head come in handy, don't they. The special ed teacher at the elementary school uses them in her classroom calendar. It looks like your little Bella was enjoying the limo princess treatment! Awesome!

jmskinner

06-03-2008, 10:12 AM

I never received the email showing you had updated this last time. Too bad you weren't able to get pictures of everyone's surprise about the limo. Can't wait to read more.

Queenie122

06-07-2008, 12:17 PM

So, Bella was excited about the plane taking off and I was nervous – but turns out for no good reason! Her ears were just fine. I had even forgotten a lollipop for her to suck on or a drink for her to sip at and she never complained about her ears at all. Yay!

Soon into the flight she curled up with her head on my lap and fell asleep. Ahhhhh. Hubby and I were so tired and dozed too. :faint: Before we knew it, we were in Florida!! We exited the plane and waited outside the gate, leaving hubby to wait by the plane for the stroller. It did seem to take longer than usual. By the time hubby came back with the stroller he was laughing. “I can’t believe how stressed out people were, there was practically fistfights over the strollers.” Get a grip people, you’re on vacation!!! We had long ago decided to take things easy and leave our stress at home. So we hoped.

Now we had to meet our greeter. We took the tram to the main part of the airport and as soon as we got off we saw her – holding Bella’s sign. Bella jumped out of her stroller and ran up to her to hug her, it was so cute. She made our life SO easy! She got us two smartcarts for all our luggage, helped us with our bags, knew just where to go to get our car rental (a huge mini van, not much different from ours at home but Bella named "the fancy car") which took like 2 seconds and waited until we were all loaded up to give us directions to the Village (which are also on the back of Bella’s welcome sign). It could not have been easier. She was so nice!! :hug:

(Had a little shoe snafu – new shoes was not a good idea!!)
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/1E/01/8A/i1E018A59-6EAA-4E52-8138-EF5E8837596D.jpg

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/81/B7/6A/i81B76A65-32D9-40B9-854E-00D8A272FA91.jpg

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/1F/E1/36/i1FE136E2-5D89-47E6-BF32-6262BF9B6597.jpg

We said goodbye to her and were on our way! As we drove up the busy road leading to the Village we spotted lots of eateries and decided to stop and eat. We hadn’t eaten since about 7am and it was now around 1pm. Plus we saw a Johnny Rocket’s, which is a favorite around here, so we decided to stop. When we got out of the car – wow. We had been in the shade at the airport and didn’t realize it was a VERY HOT 96 degrees! Ouch. We helped ourselves cool off by ordering milk shakes and root beer floats with lunch! After enjoying our burgers, onion rings and cheese fries we got back on the road. (I wish I had some of that right now!!)

It was only a few more minutes until we were there! We saw this driving up:

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Now, we decided not to spend too much time in the Village taking pictures, as when you leave they give you a photo CD with professional pictures of the Village and those would be far superior to ours. However, it was just fun to take a few on the way in. We were so excited!!

After getting through the gate we stopped directly at the House of Hearts where we were instructed to all get out and come in. They knew who we were when we walked in the door! Bella was given a t-shirt, a huge Mickey Mouse plush and a gingerbread cookie (duh!!). While Bella, Mom and Mike investigated the House of Hearts (there are tvs, couches, books, games, etc…) we were given all the check in info we needed and also discussed when we needed to attend orientation (our choice of 3:30pm or 7pm that night, 9 am the next day).

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One of the volunteers offered to take us to our Villa so we hopped back in the car and followed him in his golf cart. We were close enough to the main part of the village to walk to everything, but far enough away to be quiet and in the shade. And we were two houses from the pool! He took us through the Villa and showed us around: the two bedrooms and bathrooms, the fully stocked kitchen (including soda, water, milk and snacks!), the washer and dryer with free detergent, the living room with VCR and DVD player (you can check out movies at the House of Hearts). It was too awesome – so much nicer than we could have imagined. :cloud9:

Of course, we were so excited we forgot to take pictures. So, we remembered when we were leaving and the place was trashed. So, here ya go, lived in pictures! In the second bedroom, we pushed the two twin sized beds together for my Mom while my brother took the pull out – it was longer than the twin and his feet were hanging off the end so the pull out worked better.

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There was a welcome bag on the table for Bella – she dug into it so fast we didn’t have time to take a picture! Inside was all kinds of fun stuff for her including some stuffed animals, pens from Universal (which Mommy stole!), pads of paper, a calculator, a calendar, a race car and more treats – candy, cookies and chips. We also got a copy of the book of Henri Lanwirth’s life. It’s actually a very exciting read, finding out just how the village came to be. http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Life-Henri-Landwirth-Hendricks/dp/B000O808FK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212857444&sr=1-1

We spent the next hour unpacking and getting settled in. Hubby and I attended the orientation at 3:30pm, although we didn’t really find out anything we didn’t already know from the DIS boards. We did get our theme park tickets and find out about borrowing the video camera and the Pirates dinner which we were interested in and also signed up for a Mayor Clayton tuck in the night before we left. Actually, we did find out the tickets are only good for two weeks even though they are marked two years. This would have been good to know ahead of time, we had planned on keeping the Universal tickets to try to return within the next two years so didn’t plan any time at Universal. Oh well!

We only had three tickets for each park and thought we were supposed to have four (one more for my mother) so we had to have a discussion about that. It annoyed me a bit, this was just the kind of stuff I wanted to NOT have to deal with on this trip. I had to make multiple calls over the course of the night and worry about it a bit. But what can you do, it’s life. :worried:

We returned to the Villa and picked up the rest of the family, then headed out to the huge Super WalMart down the block. We picked up the diapers, wipes and swim diapers we didn’t want to carry down with us plus some snacks and other essentials like bottled water. Plus some alcohol… you know, just in case! :banana:

Back to the Villa, more unpacking and now it was time for dinner! It was very hot and we were pretty tired so we actually drove over to the Gingerbread House. We checked in and got right into line. Bella decided to try some of Every. Single. Thing. But it was all good – we’re on vacation! We didn’t harass her to eat like we normally do at home, we decided to let her (and us) have the week off from one hour meals. I don’t remember exactly what we had to eat but it was pretty good. I mean, not gourmet but heck, free and we didn’t have to cook it! Not only that but we didn’t even have to carry our trays to our table or pour our own drinks! It was just awesome. No cleaning up either. *ahhhhhh*

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After dinner we took our first spin(s) on the carousel. It’s just great to be a kid.

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We headed back to our Villa and quickly changed into our bathing suits. We had one more mission before our first day was through. We went to the pool and – just heaven. Warm enough to get right in, cool enough to feel nice in the cooler evening air (which was still way warmer than the weather when we left our house that morning!). We stayed in the pool for an hour, played, rested and relaxed; we couldn’t believe we were finally here.
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After that we all quickly got in our jammies and went to bed. Tomorrow would be an early day and our first day at a park – Epcot! Also it was Mother’s Day AND our 6 year anniversary! Would we make it on time?? Would it still be so hot? Would we get everything we wanted to do in?

dizneeat

06-07-2008, 12:34 PM

An update!!!!!!!! Yippie!!!!!!!!!!! :woohoo:

Good to know that the flight went okay, you liked your villa at GKTW and your food :cake: (very important, LOL)

Now you leave me with another cliffhanger!!

I just need to add that your little girl is just so cute holding up her poster barefoot!!!!

Can't wait for another update! :wizard:

jmskinner

06-07-2008, 03:51 PM

Loved the pics. Bella is so beautiful!

I didn't know anything about GKTW until I read your post. What a wonderful place!

Looking forward to more!

DisDancerina

06-07-2008, 04:09 PM

Yay, an update!
The place looks wonderful and cozy, you must've had a great experience!

twinmum

06-07-2008, 08:29 PM

Thanks for the update! We just found out that our son's WDW wish trip is going ahead, and that he is eligible for GKTW, so they're checking dates etc. I had already learned about GKTW from DIS, but it was new to my hubby. I've showed him the site, but now I'm going to show him your TR so he can see the pictures.

Can't wait for another update - it makes it all so very real and wonderful. We are all so excited!

Iluvmickeymouse!

06-08-2008, 08:13 AM

Ahhhhh...memories...:goodvibes I just showed DD4 your pics, she got all excited and then asked...where am I? :rotfl2: I showed her Bella and explained that it a report all about her wish trip. Great update!! I can't wait for more!!!! popcorn::

twinmum

06-09-2008, 05:19 PM

Oh Queenie! I was reading the latest on your thread, and realized that I had never actually read it all the way from the beginning...for some reason. Anyway, I learned more about sweet Bella and what you have all been through. I noticed that you referred to a website/blog and searched for it, found it, and have just finished reading it.

Let me just reach for another kleenex.

I realize that Bella has issues different than either of my twins, but they also have quite a bit in common. My big boys (they are now 9 1/2!) were born at 26 weeks, each weighing a hair (literally) over 2 lbs. We did manage to get home after 16 weeks in hospital, but we too dealt with one of the boys being breech (we refer to it as him "trying to walk out". I was at our local hospital, but there was little room at one of the high-level NICU's and there was talk of a helicopter to a nearby city...and that's when my dear sweet Twin A decided to "walk out." We were able to spend our time in the local children's hospital.

You've done a beautiful job of capturing the highs and lows of the NICU - we remember all too well the oscillating ventilator, head ultrasounds, eye exams, and so on...but I also remember the wonderful nurse who pulled together a team of 6 busy people so that I could actually hold one of my babies for the first time...after 10 stressful days. That was Twin B, our Wish child. I held Twin B 5 days later. I remember calling for the chaplain so that the boys could be baptized - we think technically that sounded like a Catholic baptism and we're not Catholic, but we certainly felt the hand of God, giving our boys strength and our medical team wisdom. I also spoke to my boys and talked about our precious time together, knowing that it may be short, willing them to live but wanting to spare them more pain.

I haven't really thought about those intense months for a while. Since discharge it was BUSY, then our son's issues became more clear. He has cerebral palsy, had reflux (eventually had the "anti-reflux" surgery, a fundoplication), had a g-tube placed at age 3 1/2 and still has it. He still has therapy 2-3 times /week and we work with him as well. Finding childcare is a challenge - gtubes seem to frighten people!

We've come so far. Thank you for reminding me of that. Our son's mobility is the biggest issue - he uses a walker to get around, and he can "run" in it. He is cognitively, verbally and socially age-appropriate. Truth be told, he's gifted and he has a unique perspective on life.

Our boys are such a gift. I've been feeling a little guilty about accepting our son's Wish trip because (trying to put this politely) we can save and finance a vacation. We spend a lot of time minimizing what we've all been through because we have to keep moving head. But it has been a lot, for me, for my husband, for our little fighter Twin A, who puts up with extra attention being required by his twin, and for our Wish child.

Maybe I'll just try and relax and enjoy the ride.

Sorry this is so long!