A Make A Wish Trip Report - Update 8/9- Universal Islands Of Adventure

Thought I would join in also. You have a beautiful family.

I laughed about your comment about being the bad Mom ignoring your child screaming, but I just saw a lady doing that last week at WDW and thought about how strong she was being. It's easy to pick them up and spoil them, harder to be the strong parent and let them know you aren't going to give in to them. So, :thumbsup2 to you.
 
yah for a new wish tripper
we went on our sons trip in Feb and we lived at your house
I saw the picture and said look there is our house :lmao:
we had both side since we were a group of 10

I also had a 2yr old that hated everything about the trip it was so hard :rolleyes1
 
Hi,
Just found your trip report. You have two great sons. They are so cute. Hope you enjoyed your trip.
 
Just found your TR. I enjoyed reading it so much that I am nearly late for church! I can't wait to read the rest of it. Your boys are darling! We leave for our wish trip in 98 days. I will be following along as you share your adventures with us!
 

I just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed reading your TR. My boys have loved your pictures. My DW loves trains and your train picture was great. He was so excited.

Can not wait to read more.
 
Hi! I say your wish trip when Maroo pointed it out. My son's wish trip was in Jan and I love love love all the memories your TR is bringing back. I hope someday to be able to finish our TR.
 
Welcome home, wishtrippers! Great start to your report! C'mon over to the wish trip thread and say hey!
 
I have written to each of my readers individually but I just wanted to say a collective THANK YOU! All of the fellow wish families that come over to say hello have made me feel so welcome and so excited to continue this report! i look forward to getting to know each of you!!


Wow! DVC! :) You probably felt the magic like I did! :goodvibes I am completely hooked on Disney and planned 3 trips this year. :)

If they will stop offering all of these deals to do Disney, then one day I may be able to afford DVC. :lmao:

I will certainly add you to the list! :)

Thank you so much! I did feel the magic :goodvibes Even before we left for the trip lol! I started one of your trip reports and I am loving it. I will comment soon I promise!

Glad I was pointed over here to your wish trip report (thanks Maroo). I can't wait to follow along and enjoy your trip with you! Your boys are darling!

Thank you so much for coming over! I hope you enjoy the rest of my report, its just getting good.. I have lots more pics to come!
Thought I would join in also. You have a beautiful family.

I laughed about your comment about being the bad Mom ignoring your child screaming, but I just saw a lady doing that last week at WDW and thought about how strong she was being. It's easy to pick them up and spoil them, harder to be the strong parent and let them know you aren't going to give in to them. So, :thumbsup2 to you.
Ahh thank you sooo much. You have no idea how much stregnth it took to just stand there while all these people were stopping to stare at us, but I knew they had no idea what was going on and would most likely understand my point of view if they did! Thank you for joining in as well!
yah for a new wish tripper
we went on our sons trip in Feb and we lived at your house
I saw the picture and said look there is our house :lmao:
we had both side since we were a group of 10

I also had a 2yr old that hated everything about the trip it was so hard :rolleyes1
That is so funny that we shared a home! I loved my little house. My DH kept saying "Are you suuure we cant stay here if we came back on vacation?" and "Do you think maybe one day they will start selling these villas" lol he was as much in love as I was... The trip is rough with a two year old huh? They are so stubborn lol
Hi,
Just found your trip report. You have two great sons. They are so cute. Hope you enjoyed your trip.
Thank you so much for the compliments! I did thoroughly enjoy every moment of the trip and am loving reliving it by writing this report! Thanks for coming by
Just found your TR. I enjoyed reading it so much that I am nearly late for church! I can't wait to read the rest of it. Your boys are darling! We leave for our wish trip in 98 days. I will be following along as you share your adventures with us!
Im so glad you are enjoying my TR! Im also sorry I almost made you late for church! :rotfl: I cant wait to hear about your trip!! 98 days! You all must be soooo excited! I remember hitting that point! Do you have a PTR? id love to read along
I just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed reading your TR. My boys have loved your pictures. My DW loves trains and your train picture was great. He was so excited.

Can not wait to read more.
Your whole family saw my report!!??!! Thats so exciting to me :banana::banana: Thank you for sharing my family with yours!!
Hi! I say your wish trip when Maroo pointed it out. My son's wish trip was in Jan and I love love love all the memories your TR is bringing back. I hope someday to be able to finish our TR.
I would love to read what you have written so far! Thank you so so much for coming over!
Welcome home, wishtrippers! Great start to your report! C'mon over to the wish trip thread and say hey!
Thank you for the warm welcome! I fully intend to come over to the wish trip thread! Thank you for inviting me!!
 
Okay, I finally got a chance to stop and read everything! I can't wait to hear about Universal. So far it sounds like the rain did you in at Sea World but hopefully kept you somewhat cool!

I just love AK but I know alot of people don't! Glad you went for part of the day atleast.
 
I saw that you made it to the WishTrippers thread, and I had to hop on over and see if you had your next installment of your TR written. Guess I'll have to wait. That's okay, it's something to look forward to!

You asked if I had started a PTR. Yep! Almost exactly a month okay I found these awesome boards and started ours. It is linked in my signature. You can also find lots of great PTRs and TRs from other wish families on the first page of the WishTrippers thread. I spent days reading through them! It was a blast.

I have subscribed to your thread and will be waiting for more!
 
Loving your trip report!! GKTW is so amazing!! They really care about each and every child that comes through the door. We were not able to stay there for my son's wish trip, but they did put us up at AKL which was amazing. Can't wait to read more of your report!!!


Melissa
 
Great trip report!

I had to laugh about the dirty camera lens. :rotfl: About a year ago I had a camera with fuzzy pictures. We could not figure out what was wrong with it. Therefore, it was time for a new camera. Then during our Wish Trip the new camera started taking fuzzy pictures. I was so frustrated! One of our friends said, "Have you tried to clean the lens?" I cleaned it and wow we had clear pictures again! Then I thought I would try to clean the old camera lens.....and wow, it started taking pictures clearly again also. I felt pretty silly, but had to just laugh about it! So you are not the only one with fuzzy pictures. Check out my TR and you will see fuzzy pictures!:rotfl:

Can't wait to read the rest of your TR!:banana::banana:
 
Loving your Trip Report so far! I have a heart baby too (thought I'm sure she was less complex that your DS) Have you ever heard of Mended Little Hearts - it's an organization for parents of kiddos born with heart defects. Sorry to hear about your picture misfortune! Were you able to borrow a video camera from GKTW?

I can't wait to hear more! I'm signing on for updates!

BTW, I love your signature - did you make that?
 
So when I left off we were heading back to GKTW from the AK. We came back to the villa to find another daily present on the kitchen table! AJ loved the daily gifts. They made him feel so special. I wish I had documented which gifts he got on which days. The only ones I am 100% positive on are the last 2 days.

We ordered food from Katies Kitchen again. I had the chicken pot pie and it was really good!

So I have ants in my pants now because I want to get to the MK!!!! I HAVE BEEN WAITING MY WHOOOLE LIFE!!! So you would think I could wait 5 more minutes right?

Noooo! We need to go now!!! :lmao:

So I drag DH out the door and we are off! :banana:

Soon we are driving under this sign

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I am literally squealing with joy! (The kids are both asleep in their carseats or they would be squealing too Im sure)

We pull up to the parking attendants. I show the CM AJ's Magic Button. She tells us to follow the blue line into the parking lot. I had no idea at the time but this was priority/handicapped parking! We didnt need to take a tram!!!! YAY!!! :cool1:

So we got the kids up and into the stroller and started walking to what we thought was the park. Oooh I am such a newbie. We were at the monorail station! :lmao: Do you see now how little I knew about WDW??

As we were on the monorail I am looking out the windows taking in the sights when suddenly...

I Can See The CASTLE!!!

I am once again squealing with delight and Im sure the other family in the monorail car with us thought I was crazy because I was trying to snap the perfect picture out the window. (these pictures were taken on my cell phone, and are currently unavailable)

Finally we are here! We are finally here! We get off the monorail and walk into the park. I am at the end of main street by the train station and i say to my husband "Lets just stop here... I just want to look at it"

I start crying, collect myself, and we move along. AJ stops to play ring toss with hula hoops (another unavailable picture) and we stop to take these pictures

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This is when I realize I have left AJ's GAC card in the car. So we decide we are not going to do any rides tonight. We will just walk around, shop and make our game plan for Saturday, because we will be spending the day in MK Saturday for the 4th of July.

I showed my DH where the Crystal Palace was because we had ADR's for Saturday mornign there. DH loved the view outside and the kids loved the ducks on the pond (river?)

1278.jpg


We continue on our way when (THANKFULLY) we see Goofy all dressed up in his cowboy gear (if you remember I had promised AJ we would see him this evening) So we stop to say hello and get some pictures. A CM comes over to AJ and I and says "Hello AJ! How is your wish trip going?" She was so nice and attentive and since Goofy was getting ready to leave she brought us ahead of a couple people (Im sorry if it was your family) so AJ could meet with Goofy. I, of course, started crying again. Goofy gave AJ a big kiss and a high five and AJ was thrilled. He kept saying "He gave me a big kiss mom! He gave me a big kiss! That was so funny!" Unfortunately these pictures are among the lost ones as well :guilty: :sad1:

We continue on our journey and Dh stops to take a picture of...
1252.jpg

We didnt ride SM this trip at all but I fully intend to in January when we go back!

Continued in next post.....




 
I dont remember what we did for a while now.. I know we walked through Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, but didnt ride anything and didnt see any characters. just took in the sights and people watched. We decided to head back to Main Street to go shopping.

As we walked over the bridge I made Dh snap this pic.
1258.jpg


just to make things clear... It was not raining. I think maybe there was a droplet or two but it never materialized into a shower. But AJ insisted on wearing his poncho! :confused3 Whatever makes him happy!

As I walked ahead with AJ DH took this picture of us with the castle
1259.jpg


We walked around Main Street. In and Out of the shops. I told DH I wanted to find myself the "perfect" souvenior. DH was so happy when he found the watch shop. He has been trying to find himself the "perfect" watch for a little over a year now with no luck. His goal was to find a Jack watch (From The Nightmare Before Christmas) the only one they had was a really cool pocket watch, but he still wasnt sure if it was EXACTLY what he was looking for. So we left and went into the shop where the sell mouse ears. While I was walkign around DH took this picture of the boys on the front steps of the store

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This is my favorite picture of the day and I am so happy that I didnt take it because it would have been lost. You can see how stubborn Reid is, because he absolutely refused to take the cup out of his mouth for the picture so DH just snapped it anyway!

As I come out of the store I hear music starting so I grab AJs hand and RUN to the curb on main street. We have a great view as the "Move It Shake It Celebrate It Party" begins. And then a mother and her children step right in front of us :headache: Ugh I get so annoyed and lift AJ up so he can see more (I'm only 5'0") but we still only get to see the characters all the way up top. DH being much taller got some good pics even though he was a lot further back than we were
1269.jpg


I wont bore you with all of them, but that is my favorite! (I am dying to meet the Mad Hatter! Does anyone know where I can find out when/where I can find him in January?)

So after a quick walk through the emporium we decide its time to leave. we get the kids in the stroller and head to the monorail. When we get on the monorail I start looking through our bag and I say to my DH "Do you still have my phone?" (I had given it to him earlier to hold because I was wearing a dress and had no pockets.) he says "No I gave it back to you" Okay I start searching frantically through the backpack, through the stroller, through the saddle bag on the stroller. NOPE! Its gone!! :sad1:
so I start having a meltdown of my own... So many pictures.. GONE! I didnt care about the phone itself... that can be replaced (and was for what its worth) but all the pictures.. the ones with Goofy, the ones from the airplane, the ones in Sea World... all gone!!

I was heartbroken. DH called and called my phone hoping somebody would answer. He texted it saying "If you find this phone please call this number and hand the phone into a cast member" We called the lost and found but they didnt have it and told us to call back tomorrow to check again. DH continued to call the phone for about an hour and then suddenly the phone was going straight to voicemail so we figured somebody found it and turned it off. But then my contact info disappeared from his Blackberry Messenger list and we knew that it was even worse than that. The phone was either disabled or crushed. (I am guessing it accidentally got dropped on the road or in the garbage hence the crushed idea)

So we headed home and DH knew how sad I was so he bathed the kids and got them in bed and gave me alone time. I sat on the couch and read a book until I couldnt keep my eyes open anymore...
 
Okay, I finally got a chance to stop and read everything! I can't wait to hear about Universal. So far it sounds like the rain did you in at Sea World but hopefully kept you somewhat cool!

I just love AK but I know alot of people don't! Glad you went for part of the day atleast.

The rain was a bit of a hassle at Sea World but we were determined not to let it get ot us, and the kids LOVED jumping in the puddles. Im still on the fence abotu AK just because I think there didnt seem to be a lot of rides but I didnt get to see the whole park. DH on the other hand LOVED it! He loved looking at all the landscaping (he took lots of pics but I didnt post them all) and wants to do a full day there when we return in January.

I saw that you made it to the WishTrippers thread, and I had to hop on over and see if you had your next installment of your TR written. Guess I'll have to wait. That's okay, it's something to look forward to!

You asked if I had started a PTR. Yep! Almost exactly a month okay I found these awesome boards and started ours. It is linked in my signature. You can also find lots of great PTRs and TRs from other wish families on the first page of the WishTrippers thread. I spent days reading through them! It was a blast.

I have subscribed to your thread and will be waiting for more!
I just added another update for you! I am going to head over to your PTR.. I cant wait to see how your planning is going!
Loving your trip report!! GKTW is so amazing!! They really care about each and every child that comes through the door. We were not able to stay there for my son's wish trip, but they did put us up at AKL which was amazing. Can't wait to read more of your report!!!


Melissa
I know what you mean about GKTW! We had so much fun getting to know the volunteers. It amazed me how young some of them were (There were a couple of church groups the week we were there) and yet they still were so attentive and loved on AJ so so much. That is so amazing that they put you in AKL! Did you have a Savannah view? Did you go back to GKTW for your meals? Do you have a TR? Sorry for all the questions lol
Great trip report!

I had to laugh about the dirty camera lens. :rotfl: About a year ago I had a camera with fuzzy pictures. We could not figure out what was wrong with it. Therefore, it was time for a new camera. Then during our Wish Trip the new camera started taking fuzzy pictures. I was so frustrated! One of our friends said, "Have you tried to clean the lens?" I cleaned it and wow we had clear pictures again! Then I thought I would try to clean the old camera lens.....and wow, it started taking pictures clearly again also. I felt pretty silly, but had to just laugh about it! So you are not the only one with fuzzy pictures. Check out my TR and you will see fuzzy pictures!:rotfl:

Can't wait to read the rest of your TR!:banana::banana:
I am sooo happy that we were not the only ones to do this! You will see in my next update that we (ok actually my DH) realized while at Universal! I felt so so silly! and DH teased me about it quite a bit because he figured it out and I couldnt
 
OH my! I am so sorry about the phone. I am actually sitting her upset and sad about this. I Know what it feels like to lose pictures but it is 100x worse on a wish trip.
 
I did not write a trip report for our trip, I wish I would have for the memories!!! We were given a Savannah room which was awesome, we watched garaffes every day!! We were given an alotment of money for food so that we did not have to go to GKTW for every meal, which was really nice. We did go back to GKTW to visit as much as we could, we had a great time!!! Can't wait to read more of your trip report, BTW your kids are beautiful.


Melissa
 
Great update :surfweb:

I completely understand the frustration when you type it all up and then lose it.. arugh..

I can't believe you weren't planning on going to AK.. we love it there... dbf NEVER wears his poncho EVER.

WOW.. I had no idea that Disney had non-stick sand.. that sooo disney.

I"m so sorry to hear about your phone.. that must have been devastating..that was really sweet of your dh to give you some alone time.
 
Great report! Loving it.

Perhaps you could type your report in a word processing program, save it, and then copy it over here, so if the internet hiccupped, you wouldn't lose it all?

Mad hatter occasionally shows up at the TeaCup ride. Ask at Town Hall, and they will call the Charactor zoo and get the schedule for you.
 












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