Adri's MAW/GKTW trip to meet Cinderella (July 17-23, 2010)

[Adrismommy]

My family is so excited about our (hopefully) July trip to Disney so I'm ready to get started planning and ask you all lots of questions. Let me share our story.

My daughter, Adri, is a spunky little toe-head that is quite the princess and never stops talking. In early January she had a weird spell of staring into space... we found it strange but she did it 3 times the next day so I called the doctor. They said to bring her in and she actually did it while we were there. The doctor felt pretty sure she was having absence seizures and scheduled an EEG. I have some cousins that had childhood epilepsy so we were prepared for that diagnosis. Six days later we were keeping her up late for her scheduled EEG and the seizures got longer and progressively worse. We called 911, were rushed to the ER via ambulance, had a CT scan that revealed a lesion, had an MRI that revealed a brain tumor, were admitted to PICU and had surgery 4 days after that. Her surgery was 2 days shy of 2 weeks from the first time anything abnormal had happened at all. It was truly a whirlwind! We were in the hospital for 2 weeks then once week after we left, we closed on our old house, bought a new one, and moved all of our stuff! In the midst of that my husband was juggling his dissertation proposal and we had a then 4 month old. Our life was C-R-A-Z-Y. We're just over 2 months removed from that time and I wonder how my head is on straight.

The good news is that the tumor was grade 2, not very aggressive, and the immediate follow-up scan showed that it was all removed from the resection. There was one tiny spot that was somewhat questionable that will be watched closely. Her first follow-up MRI is in a month. If you saw her today you'd think I was telling you a lie because she looks and acts like any other 3 year old. It's really remarkable how resilient kids can be. If the tumor comes back or if any is still there she will have another surgery or chemo. Hopefully neither!

Some friends of ours had a similar story with their 14 year old a few years ago. She did Make-A-Wish and that was the first time I realized that it wasn't just for terminal patients. She referred us, they got the information to our doctor, and then we got a letter in the mail few weeks ago telling us that Adri was eligible. We were so so so excited!

I knew without a doubt that she would pick Disney. She is quite the princess and was Cinderella for Halloween. We actually took a quickly planned 4 day Disney trip last spring. I was 16 weeks pregnant and it was one of those, "well we may as well go while she's still free" trips. We had fun - but being pregnant and taking a just-turned-2-year-old was exhausting. We didn't do any character meals or anything like that. It was fun and we were so glad we did it, but we definitely didn't get to do it "all the way."

When our wish granters came out, they talked with us a little about the trip and told us that we'd be staying at GKTW. I think I may have heard of it but didn't know much about it. The more I read and find out, I am just giddy with excitement. I know that this trip is going to be an amazing opportunity for our family. And after the month from hell and having to watch your 2 year old go through brain surgery, it's nice to have something to get excited about!

My husband is a school administrator and is finishing up his PhD. Yesterday we realized that the dates we initially put down as our 1st and 2nd choice were going to be the weeks leading up to his defense of his thesis, which is bad timing. I called my wish granters and changed our preferences so that's where we stand now. I'm so anxious to find out for sure when we'll be traveling and get started with planning. I'm learning so much just by reading through all of your TRs and just this entire thread in general.

When we take the trip Adri will be about 3 1/2 and Cooper will be 9 months. We wouldn't do it without the whole family, but I hope that having a nursing baby in tow doesn't hinder Adri from doing everything she wants to do. I'd love any and all tips about traveling with a baby. Luckily, Cooper is a very very easy baby. Hopefully he'll adapt well and take naps in the stroller.

I guess I'll update this thread with our for sure dates and keep questions going. Thanks for following us on this exciting journey!

[Mtopher4]

Welcome .....

Glad you started your PTR.. I'm subscribing :-)

[yinyanggirls]

I'm here to follow along!

[pouty_tink]

Subscribing!!

As a mom of a newly granted wish kid as well I look forward to reading about your planning as we plan our wish trip too.

Your children are absolutely adorable!!!! (saw them on the other thread) I look forward to reading more about your family.

[Adrismommy]

We have dates! July 17-23

[wishin' on a star]

Yay for dates! I'm subscribing and following along! Can't wait to hear more plans.

[pouty_tink]

How exciting!! Now let the fun begin!!!

[wish_upon_a_star35]

This is going to be so exciting for your little princess!! My son is 3 1/2 also and we are going to GKTW also. We don't have our dates yet but should very soon!

I'm subscribing, can't wait to read more!

[tinytreasures]

you will have a wonderful trip
GKTW is so much fun

[Adrismommy]

I asked our volunteer about her meeting Cinderella, since that was her wish. She called the office for me and said that they are working on something but that it will be a surprise in our itinerary. So tonight I went ahead and make reservations myself. She'll go to BBB first and then we'll go have lunch at CRT. Since I know I'll be refunded my money as long as I cancel two days out, I wanted to go ahead and get those things on the calendar since that's the main reason we're going.

I'm so excited! I can't wait to start planning.

One question: all I was told today was my dates. Should I assume that we'll have the 3 day Disney parkhopper, 2 day Universal, and 1 day SeaWorld passes? I want to start thinking about which parks to hit on which days. I booked CRT for Tuesday (day 3 of the trip).

[wishin' on a star]

Originally Posted by Adrismommy

I asked our volunteer about her meeting Cinderella, since that was her wish. She called the office for me and said that they are working on something but that it will be a surprise in our itinerary. So tonight I went ahead and make reservations myself. She'll go to BBB first and then we'll go have lunch at CRT. Since I know I'll be refunded my money as long as I cancel two days out, I wanted to go ahead and get those things on the calendar since that's the main reason we're going.

I'm so excited! I can't wait to start planning.

One question: all I was told today was my dates. Should I assume that we'll have the 3 day Disney parkhopper, 2 day Universal, and 1 day SeaWorld passes? I want to start thinking about which parks to hit on which days. I booked CRT for Tuesday (day 3 of the trip).

That's just like us! Catherine wished to meet Sleeping Beauty, but I have no idea if MAW has something up their sleeve for that. We just went ahead and booked BBB and CRT just like you did. I don't want to miss out on reservations that were really important to us, so we just made all the plans we wanted. Everything can be changed.

[Adrismommy]

Is it silly that I'm already stressed about how to fit everything in? I want to experience all that GKTW has to offer, I want to make the most of Disney, I guess I want to do SeaWorld but I'm not sure if that's the best fit for a toddler and a baby, and I don't know enough about Universal. Ahhh, help me! I KNOW that so many people say that you can't do it all and I realized from experience last year that when you try to squeeze too much in it = no fun for mommy and daddy. But, can you guys help me prioritize?

Cooper won't care about anything, he'll just be going with the flow. I have a morning appt booked at BBB with lunch following at CRT. Should we take a day to go to GKTW? Is there enough to do there to spend one day just hanging out around the village? What would you consider a "can't miss" thing at GKTW? I definitely want to be there when Santa comes. I haven't read enough of the spoilers yet (not because I want to be surprised but because there is so much to read that I'm a bit overwhelmed, LOL), so I don't know a lot of what to expect.

[yinyanggirls]

From all the TRs I've read, the village sounds like it has plenty to do for a full day. I'm planning to have 2 or 3 parts of days where we hang out for a few hours, but not all in one.
I've heard great things about the Cmas party, the bday or Princess/Pirate party sound pretty fun. The game night sounds great for school ages kids. Candyland game also. Most kids love the carousel. Mini golf, movie theatre, boats, train, dress up, character meets, etc, etc, etc

[wishin' on a star]

I think so many of us are stressed about fitting it all in, and the more I read other's trip reports here, the more I decide it's not worth stressing about! We have lots of "plans", but I think we really need to live in the magic of the moment for this trip. We can go to any of the parks again, but we will only stay at GKTW once as a wish family.

[Adrismommy]

Well said, Laura. I was actually talking to my husband about the same thing. I want to sit down and just really weed through what the "can't miss" things are and just allow this trip to be laid back and fun for everybody. If I'm worried about cramming it all in it won't be as enjoyable.