Make A Wish: Rain, Wishes and Magic April 27-May 4 Trip

[JWCJ]

I grew up a Disney kid. My first trip to Disneyland was at 7 months old; I believe I’ve been to Disneyland 8 or so times, and Disney World 5. Jacey, our younger daughter, has slept under a painted Cinderella’s castle since she came home in a princess sleeper from the hospital at 3 days old (our older daughter, Camryn, had a Winnie the Pooh nursery). My husband and I had started discussing a couple of years ago when (not if – when!) the best time to take the girls on their (and his) first trip to the Happiest Place on Earth would be. We had already decided that 2012/13 would be ideal, since the girls would be 4 or 5ish years old.
April 2012, Jacey was diagnosed with Leukemia. As much as possible, she has been an amazing kid through it. Strong, brave, adaptable; she has an inner strength that I envy. When she qualified for Make A Wish (children with cancer qualify, no matter what the prognosis, because of their exposure to chemotherapy), we decided that our family needed the vacation now, rather than when Jace was done treatment in October 2014.
I second, third, hundredth guessed our decision. The day before we were to leave, Jacey’s blood work showed she was fighting off a bug of some kind; I spent the night taking her temperature obsessively rather than doing the last minute packing. She had a low-grade fever until the morning, but woke up bouncing. We weren’t sure we were going until about 6 hours before the flight took off. Faith, trust, and pixie dust would have to see us through.

 

[wiigirl]

 

[Mom2M07]

So excited to read about your trip! We kept looking for you guys all over GKTW but I didn't see anyone that seemed to resemble your pictures. We probably crossed paths a bunch over the week and didn't even realize it! We had an amazing time, despite all the rain, and I'm sure you guys did as well.

 

[dmbcanada]

I grew up a Disney kid. My first trip to Disneyland was at 7 months old; I believe I’ve been to Disneyland 8 or so times, and Disney World 5. Jacey, our younger daughter, has slept under a painted Cinderella’s castle since she came home in a princess sleeper from the hospital at 3 days old (our older daughter, Camryn, had a Winnie the Pooh nursery). My husband and I had started discussing a couple of years ago when (not if – when!) the best time to take the girls on their (and his) first trip to the Happiest Place on Earth would be. We had already decided that 2012/13 would be ideal, since the girls would be 4 or 5ish years old.
April 2012, Jacey was diagnosed with Leukemia. As much as possible, she has been an amazing kid through it. Strong, brave, adaptable; she has an inner strength that I envy. When she qualified for Make A Wish (children with cancer qualify, no matter what the prognosis, because of their exposure to chemotherapy), we decided that our family needed the vacation now, rather than when Jace was done treatment in October 2014.
I second, third, hundredth guessed our decision. The day before we were to leave, Jacey’s blood work showed she was fighting off a bug of some kind; I spent the night taking her temperature obsessively rather than doing the last minute packing. She had a low-grade fever until the morning, but woke up bouncing. We weren’t sure we were going until about 6 hours before the flight took off. Faith, trust, and pixie dust would have to see us through.

Was there with my 5 year old daughter the same week, want to see your trip report to see what you thought of the non-stop rain!

 

[JWCJ]

Now that we're actually back from the trip, I feel like I can fully introduce the family.

I'm Jordi. I'm a stay at home mom, former teacher, avid bookworm. 10 years ago I met Warren, who I'm mildly fond of I must have loved him because I agreed to marry him when he worked as a radio dj - he now works with audio-visual equipment, and we also own a mobile disc jockey company.


We have two daughters - Cami (5 1/2 - the 1/2 is VERY important to her) and Jacey (4). Cam is our quiet, introverted girl. She loves reading, animals and nature. She's currently on a dragon kick and is reading How To Train Your Dragon.

Jacey is our Jacey Badger. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in April 2012, and it hasn't stopped her for a second. She is instantly friends with everyone and happily chatters the ears off of anyone close by. She loves to sing and dance; she teaches me a new lesson every day about seizing life with both hands.

Our family is completed by 2 cats (MissCalculation and MissIndependant), a lizard named Liz, and more fish than I care to count (Mollies are live bearing. I tell you this in case you ever consider purchasing them. We started with 3 and ended up with 14 within a few days).

 

[pwdebbie]

There is a sticky on the Trip Report board for April TRs. May I add your TR to the first post?

 

[JWCJ]

There is a sticky on the Trip Report board for April TRs. May I add your TR to the first post?

Yes, thank you!

 

[JWCJ]

So excited to read about your trip! We kept looking for you guys all over GKTW but I didn't see anyone that seemed to resemble your pictures. We probably crossed paths a bunch over the week and didn't even realize it! We had an amazing time, despite all the rain, and I'm sure you guys did as well.

Did Maddie have a jungle print type outfit? And colourful hair extensions?
With the rain we were either slogging through the parks or in our villa most of the time. I'm glad to hear you guys had a great trip!

Was there with my 5 year old daughter the same week, want to see your trip report to see what you thought of the non-stop rain!

I don't think I'm allowed to post the words of what I thought of the rain The girls were troopers, though, and we just kept going!

 

[Mom2M07]

Did Maddie have a jungle print type outfit? And colourful hair extensions?
With the rain we were either slogging through the parks or in our villa most of the time. I'm glad to hear you guys had a great trip!



I don't think I'm allowed to post the words of what I thought of the rain The girls were troopers, though, and we just kept going!

She did have a jungle print type outfit on Tuesday, but no colorful hair extensions. On that day, her hair would have still been in the BBB bun from the day before. Were you at Village Idol? She was the one that fell at the end of her performance and had to be carried off the stage crying!

 

[JWCJ]

Friday was a loooooong day. I was going back and forth about whether we should risk taking Jacey on the trip; I was sad that the excitement seemed to have been lost, since I didn’t want to build the girls up in case we had to cancel.

Husband and I finally decided to trust in Jacey’s ability to get better quickly. The hospital told us they couldn’t see a reason to not go, since Jacey’s blood work was solid and the fever was gone.

So here we gooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Cami had flown a few times, but it was Jacey’s first flight. They were both awesome on the plane! Right after take-off Cami informed me that I “better not wake a sleeping dragon” and promptly fell asleep. Jacey stayed awake long enough to charm the flight attendants and get a snack and then cuddled in and fell asleep no problem.

We landed at 7am Orlando time, got our luggage, and met our very sweet Give Kids the World greeter. At the car rental stand, Jacey told me she wanted the “red car with a horse on it.” Her dad was very proud that at age 4 she wants a red Mustang convertible. He picked the black Charger, complete with bright pink booster seats to make it more manly ;-) We managed to shove all the luggage into the trunk and I even successfully navigated to the village. All in all, it was a promising beginning to our wish week.

Give Kids the World is a magical place – Even the idea of a special place for wish kids to stay, and one that does so much for the families, makes me want to cry when I think about it. We arrived just in time for morning orientation; I attended that and sent Warren and the girls off for breakfast. By the time I was done, they had already eaten their first ice cream cones (and there is no picture of it – BAD HUSBAND! Can’t trust him at all!). We were too early for a villa to be ready, so I pulled mom rank on everyone and insisted that we head to the Gingerbread House to get some real breakfast. This executive decision was made totally for the health benefit of the children, and had nothing to do with the fact that I was starving. Really.

After breakfast we headed over to the horseback riding, and then wandered the village. The girls rode the carousel 4 or 5 times in a row, with only minor squabbling about who got to ride the unicorn. Jacey thought Ol’ Elmer (a snoring tree) was hilarious. We checked out the pool and the playground, got more ice cream, and generally just enjoyed the sun.

At 12:30 we finally made it to our villa and I bustled everyone into their respective beds for a nap. The villa was very nice; twin beds for the girls, with their own bathroom complete with Jacuzzi tub; king size bed for Warren and I, which I still ended up almost falling out of, thanks to a certain sideway-sleeping 4 year old; washer/dryer/kitchen; and a porch with a nightly armadillo visitor.

I let everyone sleep for a couple of hours (I sound like such a dictator!), and then we headed to the pool. My kids are part fish, apparently, and spent 4 hours splashing, “swimming”, and playing in the sand. After a supper of hot dogs and hamburgers beside the pool, we forced them back to the villa to change and visited the Castle of Miracles. The girls each got a “magic pillow” and Jacey gave her star to the Star Fairy (Each Wish Child who stays at GKTW gets a star that is placed on the ceiling of the castle. There are over 120,000 stars and the impact of seeing the evidence of all of those children....). Of course we needed a final carousel ride to end the night, and just then Mayor Clayton and Ms Merry (the bunny mascots of GKTW) showed up. Our first night ended with just the right touch of magic, as Jacey rode the carousel with Ms Merry.

It was time to get to bed, though, and I encountered little resistance to the idea from kids or husband. We had to be up early the next morning for our first official Disney day!

 

[danceintherain]

Your kids are adorable. I love that Disney has a whole Make-a-Wish village!

 

[hey_jude]

I was hoping you would do a trip report. I can't wait to hear all about the trip!

Judy

 

[JWCJ]

Thanks to those joining in! And Hi Judy!

Sorry it's taking so long; the girls started soccer right after we got back! New post should be up in a day or two!

 

[PurpleEars]

Welcome back! I am so glad to hear that you were able to go on the trip after Ja has to fight off a bug! I was checking your PTR daily to see if you have posted any updates. I figured since you didn't, that meant you were able to go as planned!

Also happy to see the bags were being put to good use on day 1

I am actually going to be in your neck of the woods on Friday, though it will be a quick in-and-out day trip for a meeting.

 

[angel's momma]

Will be back to read your thread, but wanted to tell you that even though I haven't been on the DIS for so long, you've still been in our thoughts & prayers.

 

[angel's momma]

Hope all is well. Miss you