Make a Wish (and other organizations) ~ Wish Trippers UNITE! Volume FIVE!!

[blessedmom4]

Originally Posted by taimie

We are new to this forum. We are so excited. Make A Wish has granted our daughter Alexa a trip to Give Kids the World in April. Alexa is 10 years old and has Cri du Chat syndrome, 5p-. Alexa aspirates on all thin liquids and gets pneumonia very easy due to that. She had a g-tube to help, however, she keep pulling it out, so we decided to leave it out and watch her very closely. Not sure where to start on here, but wanted to say HI, and introduce our selfs.
Taimie

Dear Taimie,
Wish Alumni Mom here! Welcome to the boards!! A great place to start is reading others Trip reports for their Make a Wish trips.
This link will take you to our Wish Trip Report and if you go to post 3, it is chapter links to the trip so you can avoid the chatter (My TR was long).

Link to Lisa's Wish Trip

Also, go to page 1 of this thread and read post 2 for LOTS of helpful info. Feel free to ask questions and let us get to know your family.

[angel's momma]

Taimie. So glad that Alexa is getting her wish

[Jakentysmom]

Originally Posted by Kktraylor

I have a random question. I'm debating the morality of it too, so need advice. I'm sure most of you have seen that Make a Wish won't let out other children participate in the wish and we have to pay for them out of pocket. I've figured it all up and it will cost around $2000 if we get all the deals we're hoping for. That's a whole heck of a lot of money to save when you have seven kids. The lady from GKTW had mentioned doing a fundraiser. I dismissed it at the time, but am now considering it.
My first question is, is it really even appropriate for us to do a fundraiser? And secondly, what type could we do? I thought about a bake sale, but not sure how much that could actually raise.
I won't be offended if you don't agree with it...I'm really struggling with it myself.

Kristy

I think that would be a good idea. A car wash is always good. That makes lots of money

[Jakentysmom]

I just want to say AHHHHHHHH !@#@#$%@#!@#~!@$%%#$ I HATE WAITING!!! We still dont know our dates and WE are very impatient haha. We just want to know when we are going and to be able to plan!! We talk about going to WDW every...single...day!! Every time the phone rings I always think its MAW calling telling us when we get to go. Please oh please MAW call soon!!!

[angel's momma]

Hope you get your dates soon Britney. We're waiting too, but paperwork is holding things up.

[taliasmom]

So we were told we would be going in the spring ( that was in July) and been waiting for dates since. I got a bit anxious seeing all the spring dates on here and called our chapter yesterday, left a message that I was just calling for a status update. Tonight I got an email that all our paperwork has been forwarded to a supervisor who will contact us soon for a follow up appointment(?), why do I have this sinking feeling that we have been sitting in a pile by her desk untouched all this time? Trying to be positive...

[Lilfoot93]

Originally Posted by taimie

We are new to this forum. We are so excited. Make A Wish has granted our daughter Alexa a trip to Give Kids the World in April. Alexa is 10 years old and has Cri du Chat syndrome, 5p-. Alexa aspirates on all thin liquids and gets pneumonia very easy due to that. She had a g-tube to help, however, she keep pulling it out, so we decided to leave it out and watch her very closely. Not sure where to start on here, but wanted to say HI, and introduce our selfs.
Taimie

I am so glad that Alexa gets her wish!

Originally Posted by Jakentysmom

I just want to say AHHHHHHHH !@#@#$%@#!@#~!@$%%#$ I HATE WAITING!!! We still dont know our dates and WE are very impatient haha. We just want to know when we are going and to be able to plan!! We talk about going to WDW every...single...day!! Every time the phone rings I always think its MAW calling telling us when we get to go. Please oh please MAW call soon!!!

I hope you get dates soon! I know how hard it is to wait as we had to wait a long time too.

Originally Posted by taliasmom

So we were told we would be going in the spring ( that was in July) and been waiting for dates since. I got a bit anxious seeing all the spring dates on here and called our chapter yesterday, left a message that I was just calling for a status update. Tonight I got an email that all our paperwork has been forwarded to a supervisor who will contact us soon for a follow up appointment(?), why do I have this sinking feeling that we have been sitting in a pile by her desk untouched all this time? Trying to be positive...

I hope they call you soon with dates!

Jackie

[angel's momma]

Originally Posted by taliasmom

So we were told we would be going in the spring ( that was in July) and been waiting for dates since. I got a bit anxious seeing all the spring dates on here and called our chapter yesterday, left a message that I was just calling for a status update. Tonight I got an email that all our paperwork has been forwarded to a supervisor who will contact us soon for a follow up appointment(?), why do I have this sinking feeling that we have been sitting in a pile by her desk untouched all this time? Trying to be positive...

So sorry about the delay Hope you hear back very soon.

[disneymom04]

Hi,

Just wanted to post since we just arrived home on Saturday from our stay at GKTW. I'll share a few things that I wish I would have known before going.

1. The Mickey greet on Thursday morning was spectacular. It was as though we had him completely to ourselves and our own private photo shoot. The volunteers do a wonderful job of helping you pose for pics with Mickey. He stooped on the floor and played with my daughter that is unable to walk. And GKTW takes pics and gives the CD to you at the end of your stay. It is so worth it to try to make that.

2. Waffles every morning in the Gingerbread House. Best ever!

3. Sea World. WE ended up spending 10 hours there and could have used another day. It was probably our best day. Take the time to do the dolphin feeding. All 4 kids, age 13, 10, 8 and 3 loved it. (And mom and dad were pretty awestruck with those cute dolphins, too.)

4. GAC card at disney. It's kind of a shame. 12 years ago we took a wish trip with my older son. We felt like royalty. The CMs would see us coming and roll out the red carpet. This time, not so much. We almost always had to show them the card and I always felt we were being looked at suspiciously. (Apparently wish families were selling their GACs and there was lots of abuse, so I think Disney has to watch closer. Sad, but understandable.) Don't be afraid to show it, even at character meets, we were never denied.

5. Make time to spend at GKTW. All of my kids could have stayed there at least two full days. Amberville, the kiddie spa, carousel... they loved it all. As my very wise 13 year old told me, "Mom, we can always go back to disney, but we can never come back to GKTW."

6. Take the time to get to know the volunteers. They are beautiful souls.

I'd be happy to answer any questions. Having serious Disney/Wish trip planning withdrawals and love to talk about our awesome week.

[disneymom04]

Originally Posted by Kktraylor

Since it looks like my other four won't be able to participate in any way whatsoever in Ava's wish, I need suggestions for affordable places to stay. I'm a retired disabled veteran, so I can get a good military discount on the park tickets. But, paying for a hotel will be a problem. If you have any suggestions please let me know. I want it to be close to GKTW, so we can still have family time.

Kristy

Hi Kristy,

Have you thought about requesting to stay somewhere other than GKTW? Then you guys could just rent another room and request connecting rooms? I can't understand why MAW would not let you add your step kids on at your expense. Crazy.

We also dealt with the LA/TX chapter and I've gotta say, things seemed a little tighter then it did 12 years ago when my son took his wish trip. (His trip, huge party with going away gifts. This trip, nothing. Just our going away packet 2 days before we left) I am NOT complaining, we had an awesome trip and we were VERY WELL compensated for every meal, souvenir etc. But, things were just different then they were back then.

Hope all works out for Ava's wish!!!

[NEmel]

Welcome Taimie, so happy Alexa is being granted a wish!

Britney I understand how hard it is to wait, I am a huge planner as well. It took us a while for official dates as well. All worth it though!

Charlotte, I hope you hear something from MAW soon on your wish dates!

Disneymom4 so glad you had a great week! We also enjoyed Sea World, went 2x in Cali and once in Florida. Great place!!! Sounds like a wonderful wish trip!

[kalimom6]

Originally Posted by disneymom04

Hi,

Just wanted to post since we just arrived home on Saturday from our stay at GKTW. I'll share a few things that I wish I would have known before going.

1. The Mickey greet on Thursday morning was spectacular. It was as though we had him completely to ourselves and our own private photo shoot. The volunteers do a wonderful job of helping you pose for pics with Mickey. He stooped on the floor and played with my daughter that is unable to walk. And GKTW takes pics and gives the CD to you at the end of your stay. It is so worth it to try to make that.

2. Waffles every morning in the Gingerbread House. Best ever!

3. Sea World. WE ended up spending 10 hours there and could have used another day. It was probably our best day. Take the time to do the dolphin feeding. All 4 kids, age 13, 10, 8 and 3 loved it. (And mom and dad were pretty awestruck with those cute dolphins, too.)

4. GAC card at disney. It's kind of a shame. 12 years ago we took a wish trip with my older son. We felt like royalty. The CMs would see us coming and roll out the red carpet. This time, not so much. We almost always had to show them the card and I always felt we were being looked at suspiciously. (Apparently wish families were selling their GACs and there was lots of abuse, so I think Disney has to watch closer. Sad, but understandable.) Don't be afraid to show it, even at character meets, we were never denied.

5. Make time to spend at GKTW. All of my kids could have stayed there at least two full days. Amberville, the kiddie spa, carousel... they loved it all. As my very wise 13 year old told me, "Mom, we can always go back to disney, but we can never come back to GKTW."

6. Take the time to get to know the volunteers. They are beautiful souls.

I'd be happy to answer any questions. Having serious Disney/Wish trip planning withdrawals and love to talk about our awesome week.

I agree with your 13 old :-) Mickey Mouse at GKTW was awesome. We were the first in line on the Monday he was there. We too could have did Sea World another day. I read on the SW thread here on Dis that if you go to a certain place inside SW, I don't think it was guest services, you can show them your ticket and get the next day for $10. In the thread people had asked if it worked with the free tickets they got from going to Discovery Cove and they said yes. I wish I would have known that before our trip, we so would have done that!
Awesome memories of GKTW and I WANT SOME WAFFLES NOW :-)

[Jakentysmom]

So I just emailed our wish granters...and apparently our MAW person is out until Friday! So hopefully next week we will know our dates. Crossing our fingers

[angel's momma]

Glad you had a great trip disneymom04

[Oneplustwins]

Glad you had fun disneymom4, thanks for the insight. We arrive April 16th. We are getting sooooo excited!
Hello to everyone else. Love reading everyone's updates.