Keira's Make a Wish Trip! February 27-March 4, 2012!

[nesser1981]

Our Scrapbook of the Trip

For more background information on our family, please read the first page of Keira's PTR. A quick run down. We are a family of 4, we live in South Eastern Michigan. DH & I have been married almost 8 years. Keira was diagnosed at age 4 with a Wilms Tumor on her left kidney, she turned 5 a month after they found her tumor. The tumor & her kidney were removed. She did 18 weeks of chemo, we had 9 cancer free months and they found a new tumor last May, 4 days before she turned 6. This time in her liver. She did 24 weeks of chemo, 16 days of radiation and had the tumor removed. She is fine now and we're praying she'll stay cancer free.

We had a fantastic time during her Make a Wish Trip! Thank you to all the people that participated in the big give! Keira & Cooper loved their outfits and I'm happy to report that everything was worn except for 1 shirt, well, 2 because. One of Cooper's Tigger shirts didn't make the rotation because Cooper had several meltdowns during our trip, and changing clothes was one of them! And one of the shirts that went with one of Keira's princess skirts because the first thing she did was spill chocolate milk on her! I had to run to walmart to find a plain, white shirt she could wear w/ the skirt.

Anyhow, I'll start this today or tomorrow!
Edit today: March 6th-
A couple things,
1. No lines or waiting really, this was the magic of the GKTW button! At Disney we either went to the fast pass entrance or they took us to the exit of the rides and put us on. Never waited more than 5 minutes for a ride. At IOA they took us to the exit.

2. Characters, we had an even shorter wait for Characters if you can believe that, Rapunzel, we waited maybe 10 or 15 minutes because they were finishing up with a group, but they put us on a bench in the shade off to the side of where Rapunzel was meeting. In total Keira met 44 Disney Characters, if I counted right! Cooper did loved the characters that he wanted to meet, if he didn't want to meet them, he wasn't going to. And just down right refused, he'd sit down and not walk any further! LOL!

 

[nesser1981]

This is how the week went.



Day 1: Arrive @ the Village-Halloween Party Night @ GKTW
Day 2: Magic Kingdom Day-Pool Side BBQ @ GKTW
Day 3: Hollywood Studios & Downtown Disney Day
Day 4: Sea World-Christmas @ GKTW
Day 5: Islands of Adventure-Princess & Pirate Party @ GKTW
Day 6: Animal Kingdom & Epcot-Mayor Clayton's Birthday Party @ GKTW
Day 7: Leaving the village, visiting with my BF from home & her family

 

[Moodyzblu]

Marking my spot !!

Looking forward to your report !

 

[Delaney21]

I can't wait to hear all of the details!!!

 

[WDWRids]

Joining in!! Can't wait to hear about your trip! The weather was fantastic last week. Looked for you each day but looks like we were in different parks on different days. Came home to low 40s - BURR!!

Hope you all had a magical time and your throat/cough didn't interfere too bad - I came back with the same - the change in temps didn't help much.

Loved Keira's pic on GKTW!!

 

[nesser1981]

Day 1: Arriving in Orlando and finding our way around GKTW

Our limo arrived at the house right around 8:30 am, it took about an hour to get to Detroit from our house. We got there and got to our gate about 2 full hours before our flight left.

They told us over the loud speaker it was a very full flight and said there were business class spots opened if anyone wanted to purchase an upgrade, so we decided to spend the extra to upgrade to business class for the flight down. We thought it would be much quieter! LOL! Wrong, there was a woman w/ a 1 year old behind us and the baby cried for about half the flight. I've been there you know, but I have a problem when the mom puts her ear buds in so she doesn't have to listen to the baby. Eventually she fell asleep I guess.

Cooper loved the flight down and he thought the limo was awesome, he kept saying we need to build one of these cars Daddy! So cute. Keira was all smiles.

Our greeter met us, took us to the wrong baggage claim, LOL! We made it to ours, got the bags, got our rental car-very nice mini van, they said just pick from these, keys are in them, they were all vans.

When I saw the greeter, I almost lost it. I mean I was fighting the tears back, it was so emotional seeing that sign.

We got to the village, checked in and it started raining. Not too hard, its Florida of course so if you wait a few minutes the weather will change (usually, )

Time for clothing change #1 and we ordered food from Katie's Kitchen since we were in the air at lunch time.
But first we had to open our Mickey Mail from Kendra (effervescent), it was amazing! I couldn't get Cooper to try his shirt on (remember, he was in meltdown mode), but Keira put hers on.

Waterworks again appeared for me! This is just a stunning Rapunzel dress and it made Keira's day!
The kids picked their Winnie the Pooh outfits, Keira really wanted to wear her sunhat, even though I tried to explain those were for breakfast.

After lunch/dinner the kids really wanted to go swimming, Monday and Sunday were the coolest days of our trip, but we'd just left 30 degree weather, so it was fine.
And off Keira went.

We all enjoyed the pool and splash pad area, and headed back to the room to unpack, organize and get ready for the Halloween Party, check out the village and go to orientation.

We went to the Castle of Miracles and the kids got airbrush tattoos and Keira got her nails painted & make-up.

It did rain during the Halloween Party, so most things were moved inside, the kids still had a great time. I went to orientation, and then we went to Walmart to get a few supplies, snacks, sodas (which we never touched), a case of water we left in the cart, so Sean went back the next day for that. Lanyards, sunscreen, swimmies, just odds and ends.

Then it was bedtime.

 

[nesser1981]

Day 2, The Magic Kingdom and our busiest day by far!

This was the longest we were at the parks. In part because we had a lot of schedule driven things to do at the MK.

We started our day @ The Crystal Palace w/ Pooh & the Gang. It was actually really dead in there, we got there probably 20 minutes before our reservation and we got right in.

We also had to celebrate my special little man's birthday!

It was so nice there was a Birthday Balloon & Button on the porch of the villa when we got up on Tuesday morning.
(FYI, they are wearing t-shirts that I'd bought before we found out about the big give, so I worked those in too, DH & I also had t-shirts)

Off to Tomorrowland next, remember my handy planning sheets? I loved these suckers! We did Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, big hit for the kids, the Laugh Floor they liked, but Coop was resistant to go, this day was not his finest hour. ;P And we also did the Space Orbiter, I didn't have it on my list, but the kids really wanted to do it. We usually went through the fast pass entrance for the rides, a few we were taken through the exit, but a five minute wait is nothing!

DH & Coop waiting for the space orbiter ride.
We also had to see Buzz Lightyear and the Chipmunks while we were here.

We actually hung around waiting for Buzz & the Laugh Floor, neither were up and going before 10 am.

Buzz Lightyear was a highlight of our trip for both kids.

We headed to Fantasyland next, first it was time for the first clothing change of the day.

Coop wore his Mike shirt and played with sticks, which made him extremely happy while waiting for Rapunzel.
I will say that we waited the longest for Rapunzel, they were just finishing up with a group before she went for break. But the ushered us to the a bench to the side of the area where she was meeting, the shade and we waited there.

It was so great, she came down to us, Cooper wouldn't have any part of it, LOL! But you couldn't wipe that smile off Keira's face.

After Rapunzel we did the Tea Cups, Peter Pan's Flight, & The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We skipped the Merry Go Round since there was one at the village, Dumbo was still closed. Cooper didn't like Peter Pan, he said it was scary. Too dark I think.

After the rides we decided to go to the Make a Wish Lounge for a break, it was noon, we still had an 1 and a half until lunch, so we didn't want to start another area of the park yet, and it was getting hot!

On our way up there we ran into Cinderella's Stepmother & her stepsisters, they were getting ready to go on break, but hung around for Keira. OMG, they were seriously my favorite of the 44 Disney Characters we met during our week there.

They were so funny, great in character, gushed over Keira's dress and her hat, which totally made my day. There was something on my camera lens though, made the pic a little foggy.

The wish lounge was great, we were the only family in there when we arrived.

The kids got a chance to play, they had waters & apple juice in the fridge for us. The big bottles of water, that was really nice & Wish buttons w/ the Genie on them. We even had a cast member comment on them saying she'd never seen those before.

About 12:30 another family came in, so I had to stop lounging on the couch, LOL! we left about 1pm to go to Cinderella's Royal Table.

Part 2 of Day 2

 

[nesser1981]

Now its Lunch time and time for our 3rd clothing change of the day. I'm getting pretty good at this.

One saving grace for us this trip was borrowing a stroller from GKTW, we could have gotten the free rental, but it was nice having it in the parking lot. Although I wish I'd have take our double stroller, because a couple of the kids white shirts got yellow stains on them later in the week from the stroller and the heat.

Anyhow, now its time for CRT.

Snow White I thought was one of the most engaged princesses at the lunch, she was just chatting on and on w/ Keira about Rapunzel and I thought that was sweet. She told Keira that Rapunzel taught her that frying pan trick and it works like a charm, LOL!

Belle was really nice, I told Keira to tell her how much she enjoyed reading and they talked about books and the Care Bears and the Care Bear stare. Now Cooper didn't want to have any part of any of the princesses, the entire week, wouldn't look at them. Snow White snuck a kiss in, but Belle some how convinced him into getting a picture with her.

He's also wearing his Birthday Boy Shirt Kendra made and it was so awesome! He loved it!

My favorite princess was next, Ariel, of course she's my favorite because we both have red hair & I was I guess about 8 when the Little Mermaid came out.

They're talk was cute too because Keira told her I've met you before, and she was oooh, I remember, then she asked me, she's gotten taller, yes I said and Keira said & I had hair. LOL! And last time Ariel was in the grotto, today she had to use to walking feet to see Keira. Very cute. They made a wish together.
CRT was totally worth if you have girls! I highly recommend it.

Another celebration for our birthday boy!

And you can see his birthday shirt better in this photo.

Next, we went to Liberty Square with really one thing in mind, Princess Tiana.
She wasn't there when we got there, but a line was formed already, the had us wait by the exit, and Tiana came up that way & took Keira by the hand and led her right in and started chatting, asking if she'd ever kissed a frog, etc. Super sweet.

Next we went to Adventureland for the Pirate Make-Overs and to meet some characters, mainly Jasmine.

We met Jasmine & Aladdin right away.

By this time, it was hot, hotter than we're use to of course, we were getting tired and the kids pirate make-overs weren't until 3:40, it was about 3. So we did the Jungle Cruise and talked to the kids to see if they wanted to do anything else after their make-overs. They both said they wanted to go back to the room to swim after, so that's just what we did. I did feel bad we didn't make it to Frontierland to meet Jessie, because Keira really likes her, but we'll go to Disney again I'm sure.

Let me tell you about these pirate make-overs, they're awesome! Cooper was having a major meltdown, but we finally got him convinced to do it. Keira has been to the BBB before, and i thought this was far cooler, and so much cheaper!

Keira's Pirate Master/Make-Over person was so nice, she gave Keira a little stuffed dog and dressed her like a pirate princess like Keira. Cooper was very patient with him.

After the make-overs, they said their pirate oath, they got pirate names before we whole process started, I forget what Cooper's name was, but Keira's was Rose Sharkbite.
The learn the rules about their swords, and then go into Captain Jack's Treasure Vault for a little photoshoot. You can buy those pics, I did, and whatever I did, it also added them to our photopass. So I spent like $92 there total for both kids. It was really fun.

We left and got back to Walmart about 6 for Sean's second run to buy those waters we forgot. LOL!

We were home by 6:30, this was our latest night out. We went back to the room, changed clothes and went to the pool, it was also the BBQ night @ GKTW, so it was hopping the in Park of Dreams.

Keira ran up on the surfing wall thing they have there, slipped and banged her head up pretty good, she was fine, but bruised for the week.
They wanted to do the Merry Go Round, so we did that & went back to the villa. Monday night was our latest night getting the kids to bed, 9:30. Most nights they were in bed and asleep by 8:30. Which was important, because they were so grouchy, mainly Coop in the mornings, we even thought about splitting them up so they'd get more sleep. But they got better and slept until about 7 each morning.

you can see the nice bruise on Keira's head in the picture of her on the unicorn.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Loving your report ! It just all looks so wonderful.

I'm glad your planner worked well for you ! It helps when you can visualize your day.

Where is the Wish lounge ? I know we'll end up stopping in there at some point. Jayden tires very easily and a break will be good.

I can't wait to your next update !!

 

[nesser1981]

It is inside the First Aid Station and that's on the otherside of the the Crystal Palace.

Totally worth it. They had some puzzles, potato heads, and things like that the kids can play with. There is a TV, but we didn't turn it on. But there is a DVD player too if you want to throw a DVD in your bag.

Loving your report ! It just all looks so wonderful.

I'm glad your planner worked well for you ! It helps when you can visualize your day.

Where is the Wish lounge ? I know we'll end up stopping in there at some point. Jayden tires very easily and a break will be good.

I can't wait to your next update !!

 

[nesser1981]

Day 3: Hollywood Studios and Dowtown Disney

This was the earliest we got up on the trip, probably about 7am, since we had an 8:10 breakfast reservation @ Hollywood & Vine w/ the Disney Junior Gang.

This was also the 1 more day of Disney thing that was going on for leap year. It was pretty busy at the gate and they weren't letting anyone into the park until 8am exactly, we still made our reservation on time, but I was very surprised by the crowds that early. So were the Cast Members, I heard them talking and saying they weren't expecting that many people so early.

This was mine & the kids very trip to DHS. I enjoyed the park, but I'm not sure we'd go back unless they make some changes w/ rides and such. But it was fun.

Our breakfast started w/ my grumpy son again. He really needs to eat first thing in the morning. This was the meal I thought he'd most enjoy.

As soon as we got there the characters started doing a song and dancing, Keira loved it, she danced every song I think. This meal had the most character interaction. They came back to our table more than once, which was good because Cooper got out of his mood, and all the songs and dancing was fantastic.

When Special Agent Oso took Keira's mouse ears and put them on his nose, Keira thought it was so funny!

Our waitress had a wish kid, so that was really nice, she said he was 15 now and talked about how great GKTW was. Very cool.

After breakfast we decided to head to the Star Wars area, we were going to skip the Jedi Training Academy because I didn't think the kids would really want to do it. Cooper wouldn't listen to them enough and I didn't know if Keira cared enough, but we asked her and she really wanted to do it. We went to see about signing up and the guy was super nice, signed Keira up for the very next show. And told us to be back by 9:40 to start getting ready. I'll tell you when we got back at 9:40, I heard him telling people coming in that all the spots for the day were gone, they were taking alternates, but that was it. So if you want to do it, I still think you need to get there early, even if you have a wish kid.

We got all signed up and the man told us to wait by the stage afterward for something special. MY DH is a huge Star Wars fan, so I think this might have been one of the coolest things we did on the trip.

After Keira's battle w/ Darth Vader, the Storm Troopers came at her, she was the only kid this happened to. And she did the force push on them, that was pretty cool.

And our special surprise, they took us backstage and Darth Vader & the Storm troopers came to meet the kids and take pictures. They don't sign autographs, but he did bring both the kids red light sabers w/ his autograph on them. They said he doesn't do meet & greets and autographs, I'm assuming its something special they do for wish kids. So awesome!

Day 3 Part 2

 

[nesser1981]

So after the Jedi Training, we went to do the Muppets 3D and then backtracked to do the Star Tours ride.

We saw lots of characters.

We got our first set of dirty looks for being taken to the front of the line to see Mike & Sully.

The cast member told the family that we were a MAW family, and she was going to take us, and I could see the woman arguing with her. LOL! I just smiled and tried to hurry Keira out of there. Cooper didn't want to see them.

He was very excited about meeting Mickey Mouse!

Then he wanted to play with computer screens in the Art of Animation building while Keira met Mr. & Mrs. Incredible.

We had lunch at Backlot Express, that was ok, not great, but we weren't expecting it to be great. We went to the Disney Junior Live on Stage show, the kids both liked that. At times though I think Keira thought she might be a little old for it.

We had to have Mickey Mouse Ice Cream.

We skipped the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground thing, way too hot that day and I didn't think we'd be able to get Cooper out of there. We also skipped the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, the shows hadn't be any of our favorites so far.

We went to Pixar Place to do the last couple things we wanted to do, meet Woody (Jessie wasn't here, ) and ride Toy Story Mania. Toy Story Mania was by far my favorite ride of the trip!

After we did Toy Story Mania we left and went to DTD. We got there abut 3pm. Our dinner reservation @ Raglan Road wasn't until 5:45, but they got us in early, thank the lord. I wasn't impressed w/ their food, could have been what I ordered, and it was super hot out.

We also had a clothing change.

We did a little shopping, let the kids spend some of their Gift Card Money.

And we were back at the Village by 5:30! Score! All we did this night was go for a swim and went back to the villa early, I did some laundry and the kids had a bath.

Up next, Sea World.

 

[billwendy]

Looks like a fun time!!

 

[nesser1981]

Day 4: Sea World & Christmas @ Give Kids the World

We had our first breakfast at the Gingerbread House, actually our first meal there, the other night we at @ GKTW was the BBQ by the pool.

I'm not including tons of pictures of things everyone has seen already, you know. I thought I'd be getting different pictures from other people, but they really weren't.

The Gingerbread House is very nice, the people there are lovely, the food, not the best. But it is buffet style, so you can't expect it to be the best thing you've ever eaten in your life. The kids loved breakfast though.

After breakfast, we went down to meet Mickey & Minnie, well, Minnie is not feeling well today, so no Minnie Mouse. Cooper wouldn't go up to meet Mickey, and honestly, I didn't like the whole feel of it there. It was way too structured, they took my camera, they didn't want you to have anything in your hands, which I understand, but there were like 10 people in there watching and we were the only family. I think that's why Cooper hid in between the chairs, later he told us there were too many people watching. So, I'm not even going to post a picture, because I didn't like them. LOL!

But Goofy & Pluto were there, as well as Belle & Tigger, we'd already met those too. Coop was so excited to see Goofy & Pluto.

She was so excited about going to Sea World.

Next we went to the Blue Horizon's Show, that's the Dolphin show. The kids both loved it.

Then we decided to feed the Stingrays, FYI, I didn't not like this. Freaked me out a little. DH & Keira liked it, Cooper wouldn't do it.

We decided to do the Sea Lion show next.

Remember those meltdowns my darling son had been having, well, he had one here and spent most of the show sitting on the floor.

But after he said this was his favorite part of the day. I really enjoyed the show, it was funny and Keira laughed the whole time.

We had lunch @ the Island Pizza I think was the name of it. Not bad, they had a nice family of 4 deal. Like $28 and we had 4 pizza's, 4 drinks and a big bowl of grapes. That was the cheapest lunch we had all week.

DH & the kids became obsessed with finding lizards during our trip. I grew up in Florida, so this isn't something that is cool & exciting to me, because I've seen them. But they were constantly on the lookout for them.

We skipped Shamu show, because of the timing of all the shows, the first 2 had been at 10 & 11, Shamu was at noon, and not again until 6:30.

We fed the Sea Lions & Seals, that was fun, I really liked it. We had one little guy that didn't want to share the food.

We played a game at the midway game area, the kids both won a stuffed animal. Took a couple pictures and went to the wild arctic and headed for home.

We were back at the Village by 3 pm! SCORE!
We went swimming again, and then got dressed to do some village stuff. Keira had to do her star & get their pillows from the pillow tree.

She got so many complements on that Tinkerbell dress.
We enjoyed the Christmas Party, and did a carriage ride.

And to end our night we had Mayor Clayton come tuck the kids in. He was coming until 9. About 8:50 Coop went and climbed into bed. LOL! I had to have a light saber fight with him to convince him to get out of bed until Mayor Clayton arrived. 9 pm is late for my kids, I should have called the first day we were there to set this up, but I was kind of hoping Keira would forget about it. LOL!

Tomorrow, Islands of Adventures

 

[nesser1981]

Looks like a fun time!!

We had a fantastic trip Wendy!

 

[vdub322]

I stumbled onto your trip report today and I am enjoying it very much! We are new DVC members planning an upcoming trip, and my nephew was just approved by MAW and my sister in law is waiting on dates right now, hopefully in May. So I've found it very interesting to read about the experiences of others! And your pics are so nice!

Also, my DH was in the Air Force before I met him and was stationed in Japan for four years. He was at Misawa. He tells me lots of stories about his time there...

 

[nesser1981]

Oh really? I was stationed in Misawa from 2000-2003. I loved our time there. I'd love to go back.

Awww, thank you! I'm actually a photographer, these aren't my best work. LOL! Just shot in auto. www.vanessaarmstrongphotography.com is my photo website or http://www.facebook.com/vanessaarmstrongphotography I really enjoy it and thanks to the Air Force I can go to school for it.

May would be a wonderful time! GKTW is amazing, your nephew will have a great time. We really loved our time there. The kids were so sad when we had to leave.

I stumbled onto your trip report today and I am enjoying it very much! We are new DVC members planning an upcoming trip, and my nephew was just approved by MAW and my sister in law is waiting on dates right now, hopefully in May. So I've found it very interesting to read about the experiences of others! And your pics are so nice!

Also, my DH was in the Air Force before I met him and was stationed in Japan for four years. He was at Misawa. He tells me lots of stories about his time there...

 

[Delaney21]

I am totally loving your trip report and the endless smile on Kiera's face!!

 

[vdub322]

Oh really? I was stationed in Misawa from 2000-2003. I loved our time there. I'd love to go back.

Awww, thank you! I'm actually a photographer, these aren't my best work. LOL! Just shot in auto. www.vanessaarmstrongphotography.com is my photo website or http://www.facebook.com/vanessaarmstrongphotography I really enjoy it and thanks to the Air Force I can go to school for it.

May would be a wonderful time! GKTW is amazing, your nephew will have a great time. We really loved our time there. The kids were so sad when we had to leave.

You were at Misawa at the same time! He was there from 1999-2003!

I checked out your website and you are so talented. I have a DSLR and I have no idea how to make the most of it! I'm trying to learn before our next trip.

It's wonderful that you are able to go to school for what you love. With the help of the Air Force, my husband was able to get his degree in IT from Penn State and now he works full time there as an IT manager.

And in another similarity, my name is Vanessa too!

I look forward to reading the rest of your TR! I know my nephew will have a blast. It's their first time to WDW and I told them about Pirates League too because my SIL has three boys and they would all love it!

 

[nesser1981]

I am totally loving your trip report and the endless smile on Kiera's face!!

Thanks! I hope it helps build the excitement for you guys!