Micah's Wish Trip--MAY 15-21, 2009

[daddyto8]

Well here I go, my name is Tom and my wife & I are the parents of 8 kids.

One of these, our son Micah, had his 1st visit by his wish volunteers on Friday so I figured I’d start a pre-trip report here and see how things go. Our dates are not set yet, but probably Apr/May as Micah can’t tolerate the heat of summer.

I’ve read several and enjoyed them and found tons of useful information. Which is great as I work in project management professionally and as my wife put it she expects me to ‘type A’ our trip. My goal is to be a relaxed as possible but I doubt I’ll succeed :)

Quick Intros:

Tom—me, husband, dad, manager for large Japanese company near Atlanta. Never been to Disney anything (grew up in Midwest), as have none of our kids.

Jo—wife, greatest thing that has ever happened to me, stays home full-time and home schools all the kids, has been to WDW when she was a teen

A, 12 yr old son (sorry only use initials online for kids privacy), loves soccer & anything athletic
E, 10 yr old daughter, rapidly approaching 25 and the bubbly, outgoing type
C, 8yr old son, budding scientist, habit of trying to figure out how anything works, including studying pics of the the rides at WDW
Ch, 7 yr old son with Severe Hemophilia, one of our 2 medical special needs adoptions we have done.
Micah, our wish kid, I’ll put details below
R, 6yr old daughter, can’t figure out how to describe, I’ll try later
E, 2.5yr old daughter, daddy’s little girl and always will be, Micah’s best friend in the world
J, 8wks old little boy, came early just to be here for Christmas, coming along for the ride; will send the week in a sling sound asleep most likely.

Now for Micah’s story. Micah will be 7 in March. Micah was born with Cystic Fibrosis and spent his first 3 months of life in the hospital, with multiple bowel & liver/gallbladder surgeries during that time. After coming home, he was TPN dependent and struggling with the various complications that ultimately led to becoming a foster child. About 2 years ago now my wife & I started discussing another adoption (he is our 3rd) and considering the possible medical needs we were able/willing to consider. During this process Micah’s story presented itself and after praying, it was clear that he was supposed to be our son. It took almost a year of paperwork, bureaucracy and headaches but last year Micah joined our family. The last 11 months have been a blur of specialists, tests, 2 hospitalizations and more doctor visits than my other 7 combined have in a year. The goal being to make up for years of foster-care level medical coverage and get him to the best overall condition he can be in.

Micah is stabilizing at this point, however, his CF is taking a toll on his overall health and we are looking at needing a liver transplant in a few years if he is physically able. It was with his stabilizing some and not knowing what the future holds that we decided to help him get his wish while he can really enjoy it and make memories we will all keep. We contacted MAW a few weeks ago, and on Friday they came to our house to do paperwork and meet Micah. When asked his wish, his answer was simple “I want to meet Mickey”. They tried for some time to get more details/ideas, but all he wanted to discuss was Mickey mouse & his friends.

Needless to say, the volunteers were great, brought stuff for all the kids and left with the plan that we should hear a confirmation in about a week on his wish being approved so we can pick dates and start planning. Did I mention we are thinking of taking 8 kids to WDW—YIKEES!!!!!!

I’ll post more as soon as we hear back from them and start planning.

Tom

[3princesses+aprince]

Sounds great. Wow, 8 kids in WDW, and I though I had my hands full with 4:goodvibes I'm sure you guys will have the best time ever!

I bet you can't wait to have your dates set. We are going for the first time in May!

[maroo]

Great start!!!!

:)

I think it is an awesome thing that you guys have done. I really can't speak words, honestly, of how in awe I am of parents that not only adopt children, but special needs children. What a blessing you are to Micah and what a blessing he is to your family, I am sure!

8 kids to Disney. Wow.

My guess is that they are very well behaved kids. :thumbsup2 I don't know why I think that. I just do. :)

Will your MAW chapter allow you guys to take a 3rd adult to help? That would probably be helpful. :eek:

I can't wait to hear more details. And I will post a link to your TR in the Wish Trippers page as soon as I get back from Disney next week!

Welcome to the Wish Trippers club. I hope that we are able to help you guys plan and get to know you guys as well! :)

[iu97alum]

Welcome!!!! What an awesome family!!! Can't wait to hear more!

[WishMom09]

I am new too but wanted to say welcome!
And I was worried about having 3 kids at Disney :confused3 You will be fine I am sure! Sounds like you have a wonderful family!
I can't wait to hear more about them!

[mom2lilnick]

Whoo hoo! you will have a blast! there was a huge family at gktw when were were there, something like 13?? Mandy will have to tell all about it when she is able.

[kdzbear]

Great start to your report. I understand where you are coming from with one child needing so many doctors. I am glad he has caring parents! :wizard:

[tinytreasures]

great start
we are also a foster to adopt family
Jason our wish child came to us at age 3m
MAW is allowing us to bring 2 PCA's because of the kids special needs :love:

[daddyto8]

YIPEE!!!!!

We finally got an update from MAW.

After almost 2 months of nothing but waiting (several form letters talking about how tight money was)......

We got an email this morning (EASTER) from our wish coordinator telling his trip as gotten approval and asking for updated dates so they can start making arrangements immediately!! :thumbsup2

It seems like it has been so long with no activity I hadn't been here in weeks.

But now I have to start planning to do WDW with 8 kids......and a rookie trip at that.

HELP :confused3 :confused3

[3princesses+aprince]

All right for getting the trip approved!!! I bet you can't wait to get dates.. Now you can start searching all over this website for descriptions of the rides and attractions. And just by reading others posts you end up getting so much information. I have never been and know so much about Disney. I can't wait for our first trip in May!

[tinytreasures]

you can do it :dance3:

pm me if you need any help
Having great strollers was our biggest help along with Grandma and Grandpa to push ;)

[daddyto8]

WE GOT OUR DATES:

MAY 15-21!!!!!!


Four weeks from Friday we leave for ORLANDO!!!!!


PS: now I'm freaking out about getting ready & planning.....

[daddyto8]

x

[daddyto8]

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[daddyto8]

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[maroo]

Oh my gosh!! I had forgotten you had a pre-trippie! I knew I read your info somewhere!! I could not find it!

Sweet!!

I am going to link this on page 1 of the Wish Trippers thread! I am so sorry that I have no already linked it!! :eek:

going to do that right now!

[daddyto8]

Oh my gosh!! I had forgotten you had a pre-trippie! I knew I read your info somewhere!! I could not find it!

Sweet!!

I am going to link this on page 1 of the Wish Trippers thread! I am so sorry that I have no already linked it!! :eek:

going to do that right now!

And here I thought you were perfect from everything I had seen :worship:

But since you are such a wonderful help, I'll forgive you this one time ;)

[maroo]

And here I thought you were perfect from everything I had seen :worship:

But since you are such a wonderful help, I'll forgive you this one time ;)

Perfect?!?!?! :scared1: :rotfl: :lmao: :rotfl2:

Oh, my friend...very far from it!!! ::yes::


I have been working on your planner last night! So hopefully I will have it to you this weekend!

I am notorious for seeing a TR...commenting on it...putting a note in my head to link it to the Wish Trippers thread...and then forgetting to SUBSCRIBE to it...and then it leaving my brain. And life just keeps on happening and I miss it! This happens to trip reports I really like, too!

So...no...far from perfect, I assure you!!!

But your kinds words made my day!!! :) Thank you!!!! :grouphug:

[daddyto8]

I just have to post how much I love the CM's at WDW.

I called to try and get ressies for 2 character meals during our trip.

The first lady was not extemely helpful, but we did get Breakfast at Ohana's which my kids, especially the little ones will love w/Lilo & Stitch. However, we wanted badly to do dinner at Chef Mickeys and she said 'sorry' can't help you. :sad1:

I waited a bit and called back (I'm stubborn), got a wonderful CM that looked, saw it was booked both days we will be at MK and said 'hold on'.

She came back a couple of times with questions, and after about 10 minutes she, with help from guest services, got us Chef Mickeys on 5/18 for dinner!!!! :banana::banana::banana:

Now, this opening didn't exist for a party of 10 when the call started, but as she put it sometimes some 'magic' is called for and wished us a great wish trip.

I'm sure I'm not the first to get some 'magic' applied to their trip, but I'm geeked that she was able to help make this happen!!! :woohoo:

[kdzbear]

I am so happy that you were able to get both of your reservations! I know that you and your family with love Chef Mickey's. The character interaction there is amazing! :banana:

[maroo]

Oh I am SOOOOO excited that you got RESSIEs! :)

You find those CM's occasionally that understand that Wish Trippers can't usually plan so far in advance. Since we get our dates so close to our trips, it is hard! I am so glad that they worked it out! And for a party of 10!!!! That is fantastic!!

You guys will love the Contemporary, too. The monorail going through the hotel is pretty amazing.

Wonderful!

[keetmommy]

Hope you have a great trip! I am glad they got you into Chef Mikey's and good luck with 8 kids at Disney :goodvibes

[tinytreasures]

yah that sounds great
we were also a party of 10 and decided not to do any sit down meals
we just went with the flow and loved every min of it

[Corrine 1973]

So here I am getting hooked on PreTrips right now. Seeing how others are preparing for their wish trips (yea you got me hooked Marroo:rotfl2:) and I found yours. I am so sorry that your little boy has been threw so much and hopes everything stays well for your trip. 8 kids at Disney World! I think you and your wife deserve an award.:worship:

I am going to watching this thread and the trip report that I am sure is going to follow to get any pointers that you might have. My son will be 7 at the end of this month (my goodness time flies) and has just been diagnosed with CF.

Can't wait to hear more.

[daddyto8]

We got our going away party last night and all our stuff for the trip. :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1:

This is so cool, we decided to drive down (Atlanta -> Orlando) so our wish volunteers (ok the wife) went shopping for the kids.

All 8 kids got backpacks full of travel stuff like My Little Ponies, an MP3 player for my 13yr old, coloring books, baby dolls for the little ones, elec. travel games, you name it.

I can't believe how much stuff they got them, this trip is going to be so much fun; and they even found a way to make the 8hr drive fun.

I can't believe we are going to Disney!!!!!

My wife intends to take 40million pictures......so you all will get to see what Disney looks like inside a tornado of kids :)

[maroo]

We got our going away party last night and all our stuff for the trip. :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1:

This is so cool, we decided to drive down (Atlanta -> Orlando) so our wish volunteers (ok the wife) went shopping for the kids.

All 8 kids got backpacks full of travel stuff like My Little Ponies, an MP3 player for my 13yr old, coloring books, baby dolls for the little ones, elec. travel games, you name it.

I can't believe how much stuff they got them, this trip is going to be so much fun; and they even found a way to make the 8hr drive fun.

I can't believe we are going to Disney!!!!!

My wife intends to take 40million pictures......so you all will get to see what Disney looks like inside a tornado of kids :)

Oh how much fun!!!!! How sweet of those volunteers!! :) How cool is that?!?!

I can't wait to see the tornado of pictures! :)

You guys have a BLAST!!!

[3princesses+aprince]

It's almost time for our trips. We'll be in Disney at the same time having a blast!!!
Your send off party sounds like it was great!!!! The kids must have been so excited.

[Corrine 1973]

So tomarrow's the big day.:thumbsup2

Get some sleep tonight (if you can) and have a blast in Florida.

I can't wait to read your TR, with 8 kids it's sure to be thrilling.:yay:

[daddyto8]

We are home !

I'll post a trip report this weekend, but for know I can't stay awake so I'm calling it a night.

Tom

[Corrine 1973]

It's been a week already. Goodness how time flies.

Can't wait to hear all about your trip.

[kimberleeJohnston]

I cant wait to hear all the details...hope your trip was Magical!!

[daddyto8]

Ok, here we go (FYI, pictures will probably be removed in about a week or so for privacy purposes—sorry).

FRIDAY
We had intended to leave about 4AM for our 8ish hour drive to Orlando. The plan obviously was for the 8 kids to continue to sleep for several hours before we had to ‘deal’ with them. We got out of the house about 4:30AM, little did we know, NOBODY other than the baby went back to sleep. In fact, there was not a nap to be had until well after arriving at GKTW. Overall the trip went well, and we made good time. The funniest part was when they were told they couldn’t open their backpacks of toys from MAW until they saw the actual sun. We had about a 20min period around daybreak where they were straining to try and see the sun over the trees as it being light did not count, they had to see an actual SUN. The 6yr old finally saw it and was so proud she was the first :)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/017.jpg

When arrived at GKTW about 1ish, our villas (we got 2 adjoining units, THANK YOU GKTW) were not quite ready so we headed to Katie’s Kitchen for lunch followed by Ice Cream. At this point, I must pause and say how amazing the food was. Honestly the Gingerbread house was not my personal favorite, but Katie’s Kitchen was awesome, the portions were large and it worked great for our family; especially on raining days which we had several of. The staff everywhere was great and made eating so simple.

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While I went to orientation, Jo & the kids all did the Pirates and Princesses party at GKTW, which was really cool. The kids had a great time, got TONS of jewelry and toys, and we even had someone pickup on Micah’s issues and single him out and spend a ton of time dancing with him and giving him personal attention.

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After the party, it was bedtime snacks, hugs/kisses and off to bed for a long day at MK on Saturday.

SATURDAY

We got up early on Sat, and had the cart come by our villa with some snacks as we had brunch ressies at Ohana for 10:10.

We then headed out, parked at MK and took the monorail over to the Poly. We did kill about 30 minutes at the Poly just hanging out and buying a couple of small things, including a hand-sized Minnie mouse the 2yr old fell in love with (we slept with it last night).

Brunch was great, the food was great, my wife has allergies and the chef was very helpful and we had no issues. The CM knew Micah’s wish was to meet Mickey, and this was our 1st stop of the trip so she made sure all the characters spent tons of time at our table. Mickey, however, took forever showing up; and when he finally came around the corner Micah was done waiting and took off running across the room to him. Mickey hugged him, took his hand and brought him back to the table. He then hung out for several minutes, joined by Minnie & Pluto as well as we had a party at our table. I can truly say Micah’s first meeting of Mickey was Magical!!!!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/099.jpg http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/100.jpg
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Following eating, it was time to head to MK. Having never been before, this was quite over-the-top. But we had a great time. We spent most of the afternoon and early evening walking the park, riding rides and having a blast. The kids had a great time, as did Dad :) We were able to cover just about everything on our list except Fantasyland (intentionally left for 2nd day at MK) and Tomorrowland (just plain wore out). They kids rode Splash Mountain twice, and my 13yr old son informed us that “if that is what rollercoasters are like, I don’t want to ride one”. So much for being big & brave LOL.

One thing I do want to share was an amazing gift from the CM’s at the Princesses and Fairies.

When we entered the building, there was a posted 30min wait for Princesses and 60min for Fairies. I approached, w/o much hope, the CM at the entrance and asked if there was ANY way my two oldest daughters could meet the princesses w/o the long wait. She corrected me in that the whole family had to go, and walked us around to the exit. About 10 minutes passed, and she came back out and walked us into the Princesses. We entered the room to discover they had stopped the line and emptied the room so our family could have 1-on-1 time with all three princesses!!!!!! My girls were in heaven, and my son’s were close behind.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/126.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/140.jpg


They had several minutes where they talked, hugged, chatted with the princesses; and Micah left with Cinderella’s lipstick on his cheek.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/146.jpg

As we were wrapping up one of the CM’s asked me “have you seen Tinkerbell?”, I told him that the kids would love to but we didn’t think we could. He very nicely instructed me to go sit back down and wait. About 5 minutes later, we were ushered into the other room, and again found the 3 fairies standing alone waiting from us. They were great, and Tinkerbell fell in love with the baby.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/149.jpg
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After that, we did a few last things in Toontown and then headed back to GKTW for dinner, carousel X 3-4times and bed.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/176.jpg
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SUNDAY

Sunday we got up early and headed for the coast. We got free passes from GKTW for Kennedy Space Center and decided to spend the day there. We arrived late morning, and were able to see most of the exhibits and the IMAX by early afternoon. We then road out to the Saturn V building so the kids could see a real moon rocket. By chance, while we were there I was able to get some pictures of Endeavor on the pad as it was staged in case there was an issue with the one in orbit.

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After Kennedy, we stopped by Teen Missions (teenmissions.org) which is a non-profit that sends teens all over the world every summer on short-term missions. My wife & I met there in ’97 so a friend who is on staff gave us & our kids a tour. If anyone reading this has kids, check out Teen Missions, it is a life changing opportunity for kids, and makes a big difference both in the people they meet and in their own outlook on the world.

TRIP CONTINUED IN NEXT POST>>>>>

[daddyto8]

CONTINUED>>>>>

MONDAY

Awoke to forecast of rain, tired/winy kids and just overall worn out. Decided to take a down-day and just rest. Did the character meet at GKTW in the morning, then watched movies, ate at GKTW all day, rode the carousel again several times and took it easy.

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Around 5PM we loaded up and headed to the Contemporary for our dinner ressies at Chef Mickey’s. Needless to say, I’ll let the pictures do the talking but the kids had a blast. The food was excellent and the character interaction was wonderful. We got at least 2 visits by everyone but Donald who seemed to disappear right after we saw him and I didn’t see the rest of the night.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/056.jpg
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TUESDAY

Breakfast and then back to MK in the pouring down rain. Had a blast doing Fantasyland in the rain. FYI, Dumbo while a fun ride, is NOT necessarily a great idea in the blinding rain where you can’t see the elephant in front of you!!!!!! But the kids had fun, and that is ultimately what matters.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/092.jpg

We then proceeded to eat $60 in soggy hotdogs in the pouring down rain, just what I was hoping for in a vacation. On this note however, I did discover something that I’m sure everyone else already knows; snacking at Disney is a waste of money. I spent $61 on hotdogs at MK, and only $63 on an entire meal w/ drinks & sides at AK the next day (for a family of 9). Take your own snacks, eat meals at the parks if you want; but avoid drinks/snacks if you want to have any cash left in your wallet.

After lunch, we walked around and rode a bit more, and decided we were wet enough. As we headed out, we saw they were setting up for a parade and decided to stick around. As it turned out, it was raining too hard for the parade, but they did do a quick go-around mostly in cars but it worked and you can see how hard it was raining in the pictures. We then headed back to GKTW, and tried to dry out.

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WEDNESDAY

We awoke to a partly cloudy and overall nice morning, compared to days of pouring rain. Deciding to chance it we headed to AK early and arrived about 9:30ish. We headed back to the Safari and had a great time. The animals were out everywhere, and we got to see a ton. The kids were amazed and wanted to ride again….but their mean old parents told them no. We walked around a bit, went to Bug’s Life which was great, and then had lunch at Pizzafari. After a big lunch, it was starting to get pretty cloudy so we decided to head back to GKTW rather than get wet again! For some reason didn’t get many pics there…..

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/TestifyToLove/Disney/115.jpg

Wed. evening, we split up and my wife, the baby & Micah stayed and rested in the villa, and I took the older 5 + the 2yr old and headed to Universal as the kids really wanted to do the Shrek ride, even if it was raining.

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We did get the Shrek ride in, though not much else as I didn’t realize the park closed at 6PM until we got there, so we were short on time.

However, we stopped and had dinner at the Hard Rock so the kids still ruled the evening a success.

One note for families; I was quite shocked at the amount of smoking at Universal. Had we taken Micah, we would have had to leave as with CF he can’t be around smoke and it was everywhere. Compared to Disney, it was a shock to see people standing everywhere with a cigarette. Not sure if this is the norm, but a warning to anyone else with kiddos with breathing issues.


THURSDAY/FRIDAY

Thursday was leaving day, we took our time, got out about 10ish; stopped at DTD for some last-minute shopping and then headed towards home. We had decided to do the return trip in 2 days, so we drove about 3.5hrs and stopped near some friends’ house. We had a wonderful dinner (THANK YOU JADA IF YOU READ THIS) and stay up until after midnight talking and the kids playing. Got back up early on Friday and finished the trip home.

[jessica52877]

Sounds like a wonderful trip. A bit wet but that you made the best out of it. I love the first picture of meeting Mickey! I bet that was wonderful!

I cannot imagine taking 8 kids to disney! And driving on top of it (although I don't think flying would be fun either).

[AQW]

Yay! Thanks for the wonderful trip report... I'm so glad you all had a magical time! Those joyful, smiling faces... :lovestruc

(BTW, I'm sure we'll meet someday... I'm an acquaintance of Jo's from GCM and I've already told her I've got my eye on A as a match for my daughter. Hee-hee!) ;)

[Corrine 1973]

What a great trip. Thanks so much for sharing the pics.

Thanks for the tip about Universal.

[merneric]

Great pictures and TR! I can't imagine traveling with that many kids and trying to keep them all happy. I only have 4 and that is a hard enough job! It looks like you have a great bunch of kiddos there. Thanks for sharing!
Mary Anne

[kdzbear]

Great trip report! I could not imagine how you managed with 8 kids and the rain. It looks like everyone had a lot of fun. Thank you for sharing your trip and pictures!

[mlbarbian]

We were there about the same time as you (got there one day after you) and we had the rain too. We made the most of it as well, but it was a real bummer. After the first rainy day we learned a lot about how to stay more dry and keep everything else dry, but it was still hard to get around with young children.
It looks like you guys had fun, the pictures are great!

Michelle