Wendy Gets Her Wish! Make A Wish Trip

[mommy2mrb]

sounds like a wonderful day had by all! so great that all of Wendy's favorites were covered!

 

[fulseasmama]

Full day of fun! You all got so much done and what a beautiful way to end the night with fireworks!

 

[kaileighbug]

What a great trip so far. Wendy looks like she is have a wonderful time.

 

[Manymosi]

Wow! - I can't believe I never finished our trip report. The time has just flown by, and we have been very busy with life, medical issues etc. If anybody still cares, I will do my best to finish within the next few days.

In reading back through previous posts, I see I had promised to include Wendy's trip report. So now I will give her insights for the first 5 days of the trip.

 

[Manymosi]

THE DISNEY TRIP
January 22 through 28, 2011
By Wendy Rose Moses

Well, we are on our way! Melissa and Heather were very surprised about the limo. It seemed to take only a half hour to get here in the limo because it was so fun. During security, the alarm went off because of my brace. After we got an the plane, I got to see the captain! He showed me all the controls in the cockpit, then let me speak on the “radio”! I said “I am Wendy and I’m going to Orlando.” (That’s what they told me to say.) After that, everybody clapped for me! I let the captain sign my shirt.-his name is Jeremy. [I found out later that it is actually Jerry.] Now we are just waiting to taxi to the runway.

Well, here we are-in the air! One of the flight attendants is treating me like royalty! She calls me by name and gives me as much as I want of the food and drink! Her “special drink” is cran-apple juice mixed with sprite-that’s what Melissa, Heather, and I are drinking. It’s delicious! Many people have wished me a happy trip to Disney. I know we’ll have one. Melissa and Heather seem to like being in an airplane, but they are bored. Everything seems so surreal-it’s hard to believe we’re on our way to Disney World! Mom says that when we can see the ocean, we’re almost there. It’s shortly after 1:00 now, so we have less than an hour to go. I’m very pumped! [Later] We see the ocean! ALMOST THERE! Some people say that they see Cinderella Castle, but I know that they are wrong-they’re looking in the wrong direction! I am getting very jittery.

Well, here we I am-in bed at Wilderness Lodge. After we landed, one of the first things that Melissa and Heather said was, “I just want to touch a palm tree!” When we got into the airport, we saw a couple in the main lobby area holding a sign with my name on it (Give Kids the World volunteers). They had a cart for our luggage. They told Stephen to push it. They showed us where to find our luggage, then showed us where the rental vehicle pick-up was. We had a smooth, comfortable vehicle. It was a 15-passenger white van. When we got to GKTW all the kids got something. I got a whole bag of stuff, including a stuffed Mickey, GKTW Candy Land, an ornament, and more; and the others got a Shamu [the shark at Sea World]. We learned about all we can do at GKTW and Disney. (During this time, Uncle Larry and Aunt Alice came.) While we were exploring, we found a brick that said “Wendy Moses.” We wondered if they put down a brick for every wish kid, or if the people had to pay for them. We asked Uncle Larry and he said that if somebody wanted a brick they would have to pay $250. We just assumed Uncle Larry did that and he was covering it up. After a while of asking him questions, we realized that he hadn’t paid for the brick. Then we decided to ask at the desk about it. Sure enough, there had been a volunteer named Wendy Moses. We were all surprised, and it was fun figuring out the story behind the brick. Next we ate dinner at a Boston Market sponsored restaurant, then explored the area while Dad went shopping and went to the orientation meeting. We liked the carousel and train ride the best. Oh, another thing-for every day that I wear my brace, I’m allowed a three servings of a sugary sweet. Yummy! They even have sugar-free and lactose-free ice cream in the ice cream shop! Well, after we left GKTW, we were on our way to Disney! When we went under the Disney sign, we all cheered. Dad let me be the first one to go into Wilderness Lodge-it is VERY AWESOME! (Those words don’t do the building justice.) We kids watched short Disney movies while Dad checked in, then we started toward our villa room. WOW! Disney thinks of the smallest details-even the towels are cute!

 

[Manymosi]

We finally got to sleep after a lot of chattering last night. Today we got to Epcot! Right now, Sarah is watching “Must Do’s at Disney” on TV. We got a wake up call from Donald! How cool is that?

Well, here we are taking our afternoon break. What a morning! On the way to Epcot, Dad saw two deer and I saw a wild turkey. My first ride was Soarin’-absolutely amazing! On our way to Test Track, we saw the JAMMitors; then hurried to the Jumping fountains. I got one in my face! We finally got to Test Track. Heather didn’t ride because her stomach was feeling funny. We also rode Ellen’s Energy Adventure, Living with the Land, and Spaceship Earth. While we were on Living with the Land for the second time, Heather realized she had left her backpack on Soarin’. Sarah and Stephen went with her to retrieve it. We ate lunch at Sunshine Seasons, then came here.

Wow! What a great way to end the day! We walked around World Showcase, riding the Maelstrom-I love that ride! (You go down backwards!) We watched IllumiNations near Canada, eating fish and chips from Great Britain. (I had a Mickey Bar, too. YUMMY!) IllumiNations is awesome-all everybody said and more! To avoid the crowds after the show, we rode the monorail around one loop. That was very cool! What a great way to end the day!

 

[Manymosi]

Here it is-Monday afternoon. Magic Kingdom is very, well, magical! When we got there, some people dressed in old fashioned clothes were dancing. Dad, Mom, Melissa, Heather, and I were a group, and the rest of the kids were the other group. One of the first things we enjoyed was Mickey’s PhilharMagic-very cool! We also went to it’s a small world, Peter Pan’s Flight (the ride broke down, but that was part of the fun), Prince Charming’s Regal Carrousel, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and more. We visited Adventure land and rode Thunder Mountain Railroad and explored Tom Sawyer Island, where we kids got separated from Mom and Dad for a little bit. It was fun trying to find them again.

Before lunch at the Crystal Palace, we relaxed at the Wish Lounge. This room was built specifically for wish kids and their families. It was very fancy, relaxing, and refreshing. They even had a small refrigerator with juice and water. The Crystal Palace-absolutely amazing! The food was very good. Some of my favorites were the rotisserie chicken, macaroni and cheese, and another pasta dish. During the meal, Melissa, Heather, and I participated in a “parade” around the room. Heather always posed for pictures next to the character because they were fuzzy. We met a man who used to be a volunteer at GKTW. After lunch, we watched the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade. Cinderella looked right at me! There was every character you could think of…and some you couldn’t! After the parade, we came back to the room, very tired.

Another magical day at Disney World. By the time we got back to Magic Kingdom, the Electric Light Parade was finishing, so we headed toward Cinderella castle to look for a place to watch Wishes. Before Wishes, there was a slideshow with pictures the Cast Members had taken during the day. That was cool! During Wishes, Disney somehow projected images onto the Castle to make it look like the castle was drawn from chalk, markers, watercolor paints, etc.; and it also looked like the castle had a vine growing up the side, was burning, etc. There were extra magic hours tonight, but Mom and Sarah were tired, to they debated going back to our room. We decided to relax and not do anything strenuous, so they stayed with us in the park…I was happy! We ate Dole Whips (my favorite was pineapple), then enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Transit Authority (a.k.a. Wedway People Mover if you’re old), and the Indy Speedway. WHEW!

 

[HeatherSue]

Thank you so much for including Wendy's trip report! I love hearing about her trip straight from her! She is a really good writer!

 

[scouthawkk]

Woo Hoo! More report. I hope all is well, and I love reading Wendy's report as well. Thanks for the update!

-Jen-

 

[Manymosi]

Yay! A day to rest…I think we were all ready for that! For breakfast, we wanted Mickey waffles, so we rode various modes of transportation to look for them. First we took the boat to the Contemporary resort. It was nice, but I wouldn’t want to stay there. We didn’t find Mickey Waffles there, so we took the monorail to the Polynesian. We found Mickey waffles at Captain Cooks (a restaurant), and ate outside. They even had sugar-free syrup! What a treat! After we were done eating, we walked around some. The Polynesian was very relaxing. After exploring the Polynesian, we rode the monorail to the Grand Floridian, which was very fancy, then around the loop back to the Contemporary before riding the boat back to Wilderness Lodge.

When we got into the lobby, Dad realized that it was almost time for our lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe. Dad checked to see if we could get a seat early. They had room, and so began the highlight of my entire wish trip. Our waiter, Rusty Rafael, came out to take our orders. When he asked Melissa what drink she wanted, Melissa didn’t know because she couldn’t find where the drinks were on the menu. I showed her where they were, but apparently Rusty didn’t like that because he made me take the rest of the orders and hand out the drinks, then take the menus back to the front desk. Right before we began eating, Chef Eddie came out and said that there was a problem. “The Moses family from Waterford, Michigan is supposed to have a dessert but our kitchen is understaffed.” I was very giggly, and he kept asking if I could be serious. “Probably not” was usually my answer. Then Krissa and Alyssa arrived, bringing a cake, frosting, sprinkles, and sugar decorations. Krissa showed me how to do certain decorations, then I let my imagination fly. You all may know that working with frosting is one of my favorite things to do. Well, everybody was a witness to that. I spent a whole hour decorating the cake! While I was decorating the cake, I looked up and saw Heather with a bunch of straws in her hair. I thought, “Heather what did you do?” Apparently, our waiter had said to tell him if we needed more of anything. Sarah told Heather to tell him that we needed more straws. Well, we got them…in Heather’s hair! Stephen was told to hand out our desserts, but first he had to be wearing a special had made of a napkin with straws tucked into the folds. The waiter noticed that Sarah had finished her drink very quickly. So he came out with a half-gallon jar (our drinks were served in Mason jars) of coke! After that, we came back to our room for quiet time, and that’s where I am now.

What a nice and relaxing day! After quiet time, we all went outside to swim, but a thunderstorm quickly appeared so the pools were closed. We went back to our room then Mom and Heather relaxed in the jacuzzi while Dad, Melissa, and I went downstairs to the “Mercantile Shop.” After we were done shopping, we went upstairs to watch “A Bug’s Life” while Dad and Mom had a “date” downstairs in the lobby. The cake that I got to decorate was the wonderful snack this evening. Nity-Nite!

 

[Manymosi]

So far, today has been wonderful. We went to Magic Kingdom in the morning. Sarah, Stephen, Melissa, and Heather went together, then the rest of us were in another group. My group enjoyed the Swiss Family Treehouse, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dad and Susanna went on Thunder Mountain Railroad while Mom and I watched some Frontierland Dancers, Hall of Presidents, it’s a small world, Peter Pan’s flight, PhilharMagic, Toontown, Barnstormer, the train, Mickey’s and Minnie’s houses, pictures with Mickey and Minnie, and the Carousel of Progress. We re-united in front of the castle four a family picture, then took a boat back to Wilderness lodge, where I am in bed.

Another wonderful day at the most magical place on earth. We took the bus to Epcot, where we split up once again. This time, I was with Dad, Mom, Melissa, and Heather. First we rode Spaceship Earth, then Soarin’, Test Track, ate supper at Mexico, walked around World Showcase where we stopped to buy glass items and German Pastries, then headed to the Maelstrom before gathering in Germany to watch IllumiNations. Before IllumiNations, we ate fish and chips, and Dad enjoyed a funnel cake. Here we are now, snuggled all cozy in bed.

 

[Manymosi]

Thursday, January 27, 2011
This morning the kids went to Animal Kingdom on the bus and rode the Kilimanjaro Safari. Stephen and Susanna went on Expedition Everest while Sarah, Wendy Rose, Melissa, and Heather ate chips with chicken nuggets or corn dogs. Then they all went on Triceratop Spin. Meanwhile, Garry and I took the boat to Magic Kingdom and the monorail to the TTC. There we checked the Lost & Found for Melissa’s autograph book which she’d left at the parade route Monday and for Garry’s gray sweatshirt which had apparently fallen out of the wheelchair at Magic Kingdom. Neither had been turned in, but we gave them our contact information in case they might be. We also shopped for souvenirs for Philip and Rebecca. Then we took a bus to Animal Kingdom and rode the Kilimanjaro Safari.

Sarah had a headache, so we let her go back to Wilderness Lodge to rest while we took the kids to see It’s Tough to be a Bug. Wendy Rose was done with all she wanted to do at Animal Kingdom, so we took the bus back to the Lodge. Garry and I walked the path behind the Villas to see our rooms from below before going in for lunch and quiet time.
People familiar with Disney know to look for Hidden Mickeys, silhouettes of Mickey Mouse’s head that look like a large circle for the face with two smaller circles for ears. Wendy Rose is one who was looking for them, and we found several. But one of the fun things we did was also to leave Hidden Mickeys for others to find. The Hidden Mickeys we left were made with a large coin and two smaller ones. The finders therefore got seven cents, or twenty-seven cents, or thirty-five cents, or some other amount depending on what coins we had on hand. We never got to see someone find one of our Mickeys, but we saw that some were found.

Our last park was Hollywood Studios, to which we took a bus. A parade stopped us shortly inside the entrance, but we were still able to get to the 50’s Cafe in time for our reservation. "Mom" was our waitress.

She gave us the homework assignment of listing parts of the body that have only three letters. The people at a nearby table helped us, and we helped them with a math and a geography assignment. I didn’t order anything to eat, but got plenty by finishing off others’ meals. We went from there to the Great Movie Ride and the Muppets 3-D movie.

Love this store:

Although it was early, we started toward Fantasmic. Crowds were already filling the viewing area. Once again, Wendy Rose’s wheelchair and GAC got us a better seat than we’d otherwise have had. As we waited for the show to begin, I talked to a couple of widows. Afterward, Wendy Rose and Garry wanted to visit One Man’s Dream, Stephen wanted to ride the Tower of Terror, and I wanted to finish shopping; so we split up three ways with Susanna and the youngest two’s staying with Garry and Wendy Rose, and Sarah’s shopping with me. At the Tower of Terror Stephen saw one of the Chilean miners with his family. The miners were also getting VIP treatment at Disney World. Our family was reunited and ready to go, and Wendy Rose was satisfied with her Disney parks experience, shortly before the second showing of Fantasmic ended. We beat the crowds to the exit and caught the bus to Wilderness Lodge.

Here is a couple of pictures from Wilderness Lodge:

That evening Garry went swimming with Susanna, Wendy Rose, Melissa, and Heather in the Villa pool. It was too chilly for me to swim, so I stayed in our rooms and began cleaning up and packing. Sarah and Stephen relaxed with the TV. We were able to see some of the Electric Water Pageant through the trees. The swimmers caught a bit of it too.

Wendy's account:
I can’t believe that tomorrow morning we are leaving! This morning we kids took the bus to Animal Kingdom because Mom and Dad wanted to go by themselves. We rode the Kilimanjaro Safari (we took a lot of pictures), Stephen and Susanna rode Expedition Everest while the rest of us got a snack, then went to Triceritop Spin before meeting Dad and Mom in front of “It’s Tough to be a Bug.” Then we went back to our room and had quiet time before taking the bus to Hollywood Studios where the end of a parade stopped us. We all headed toward the 50’s Prime Time Cafe, then enjoyed The Great Movie Ride, Muppet Vision 3-D, then Fantasmic. Some of us went to One man’s Dream; Stephen went to Tower of Terror, where he saw one of the Chilean Miners and his family; and some of us went to shop. We came back to our room to enjoy our last night at Walt Disney World.

 

[Manymosi]

Friday, January 28, 2011
It was time to pack up and check out. We got final looks around the Lodge and did a bit more shopping before loading up the van. From Disney World we went to Give Kids the World because Wendy Rose wanted to and we’d get a good lunch for free.

(We found a stone that had Wendy's name on it! We were suspicious that Kim's brother Larry had donated it, but he insisted that he hadn't. We finally asked at the desk and found out that there had been a volunteer at GKTW with the same name. Regardless, it was just another dose of Pixie Dust for Wendy.)

We hadn’t realized the stop would be important. A staffer there gave us a packet that included many freebies, including a list of amusement parks we can visit for free this year! (We used this later in the year to get free tickets for Cedar Point.) After a delicious and filling Boston Market meal, we went to the castle. Wendy Rose prepared her star to go onto the ceiling, and the kids got travel pillows from the owl in the tree. We played a quick game of miniature golf, rode the train, hurried to enjoy a last ice cream treat, and had to leave for the airport.
In good time we were able to return the van and check our luggage. The security officer expressed to Garry his pleasure at seeing our large family, saying that he has two children but wishes he’d had more. He’s convinced that large families are a benefit.
The sun set as we were flying from Orlando to Detroit. At Metro Airport James was waiting to help us with our luggage and take us home in a stretched-out Dodge Challenger, a very classy-looking limousine.

We were subdued during this final leg of our vacation; it had been a good, long week.
The temperature was around thirty degrees, twenty-three degrees warmer than when we left. Rebecca had cleaned the house and prepared a healthy snack for our arrival. Such a homecoming isn’t a bad thing, even after the incredible vacation with which God answered Wendy Rose’s many prayers.

Wendy's account:
Well, here we are-back home. We woke up this morning, picked up our room and packed, ate breakfast, checked-out and did our last-minute shopping. We stopped at Give Kids the World where my star was put on the ceiling, we kids got travel pillows, and we also got a huge packet of stuff. We also rode on the train, did putt-putt, ate ice cream and Boston Market, and rode on the carousel. Next we headed to the airport before our plane ride home. We rode in another amazing limo, with the same driver as before. Rebecca had grapes ready for a snack and the house was clean when we got home.

 

[Manymosi]

Wow - I am having such a hard time trying to wrap up our trip report! I think it is because I really don't want to close this chapter of our lives.
Reading back over my previous posts brings such a bittersweet mixture of emotions and memories. I'm really not sure how I should do this, so I guess I will just list some random thoughts:

-We are so incredibly grateful to the Make-A-Wish organization, and especially our local chapter and Wish Coordinator Alyssa Shipman! I don't mean to compare our trip to others, but when you think of the fact that there was 8 of us, that we stayed at Wilderness Lodge, and we were given a fourth day in the Disney parks, and the very generous expense check, it is just mind boggling to me how generous they were and how willing to grant every aspect of Wendy's Wish!

- It is kind of sad to know that we will never be able to experience Walt Disney World in the same way again. We have never been able to afford to go ourselves, but have only gone through the generosity of others. Our finances have improved a great deal recently so we will have to see what the future holds.

- I am so glad we were able to stay at Wilderness Lodge! The lobby is simply breathtaking. There is such a warm and relaxing ambiance throughout the hotel that is was just nice to walk around and soak it in.

-We made some wonderful memories to hold on to. Our experience at Whispering Canyon Cafe was probably the biggest one, but there is also just walking around the parks experiencing the different music and entertainment Disney provides, seeing the younger ones experience attractions such as Soarin and Test Track, and seeing them awestruck at Fantasmic and Illuminations.

- Those of you who participate in the Big Give - I don't know if you realize just what a special thing it is that you do. The kids were so excited to open each package and see what wonderful handmade items they would be able to wear! Even now - over a year later, it is not uncommon at all for one of us to be wearing something one of you has made. You are so kind and generous, and we hope you will be repaid many times over for your efforts.

-one thing some of us have enjoyed doing in the months since our trip is to enjoy the music we can find on several websites that were actually recorded in the parks. If we listen to the music from Soarin' it just takes us back to the ride and we are able to relive it again. We also enjoy listening to the background music found in the parks as well as some of the resorts.

Well I guess that's it! I may add more later, but I just can't put into words what the entire experience has meant to us. Thank you to those of you who have followed along.

 

[kaileighbug]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. So glad Wendy had such a good time. It was great to see her point of view as well.

 

[jkread]

thanks for sharing! what an experience!