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

[Liz]

I just came upon your trip report and am enjoying it very much! We, too, are a WISH family from quite a few years ago. My daughter is a heart baby too (hypoplastic left heart syndrome). Her wish trip was when she was 8 years old and she's 20 now! GKTW has really grown up since we were there but back then they still did the daily surprise gifts in the villa which were so much fun. Also back then they served breakfast and dinner but not lunch because most people were in the parks. It was Perkins restaurant that provided the meals. I'm really enjoying hearing all about your trip! Thanks for taking the time to write and best of luck with your son's next surgery.

 

[SunnieRN]

Awww your boys are so cute!!!!! So sorry about your phone/pictures being lost. Thank goodness you will get a chance to start re-living (and taking pictures) in January!

I can't wait to read more!!

 

[TinkLovinMomma]

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?

I didnt get to borrow a video camera. I actually chose not to because we were carrying around SO much stuff all day and I have no idea where we would have put it. Plus it would have just been something else for me to lose Seriously... if my head wasnt screwed on...

I did make my siggie. I love making them. I can make animated ones too. Let me know if you are ever in need of one and what you would like!

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.

Thank you. My husband actually got a little mad at me when we were on the monorail and I was having my meltdown because he didnt think it was really gone. but I knew it was and I was so so sad. Even now looking back I cant imagine what happened to it.

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

That sounds like so much fun! I cant wait to have our savannah view in January! We looove animals around here. Thats why my DH loved AK so much. Animals are just so beautiful and fascinating.

Thank you for the compliment on my kids. When they are acting up I often tell them they are lucky they are cute lol

Great update

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.

I cant believe we were going to either! Its still not my FAVORITE park but it ranks about DHS. That might change when the kids get a bit older and have more that they can do at DHS, but who knows
It was really nice to get some alone time. I needed to escape for a little while and only reading would do that.

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.

I probably should write veerything out elsewhere and then just come over here and add the pictures/smileys in.

Thank you for the info on the mad hatter. I can imagine he is so funny to talk to in person!

I just came upon your trip report and am enjoying it very much! We, too, are a WISH family from quite a few years ago. My daughter is a heart baby too (hypoplastic left heart syndrome). Her wish trip was when she was 8 years old and she's 20 now! GKTW has really grown up since we were there but back then they still did the daily surprise gifts in the villa which were so much fun. Also back then they served breakfast and dinner but not lunch because most people were in the parks. It was Perkins restaurant that provided the meals. I'm really enjoying hearing all about your trip! Thanks for taking the time to write and best of luck with your son's next surgery.

You made me cry! I love hearing about heart babies that are "grown up" It reminds me of how strong they are. Perkins restaurant still provides the food at the gingerbread house. It is so yummy.
Thank you for the luck.. He has a cardiologist appointment on Tuesday. I would like to see him get another year and a half out of this valve. I will of course update on what happens when we go.

Awww your boys are so cute!!!!! So sorry about your phone/pictures being lost. Thank goodness you will get a chance to start re-living (and taking pictures) in January!

I can't wait to read more!!

Thats the only reason I am still sane over the loss of my phone. Even though I will never get those pictures back I know we will have many more memories to make in WDW and I will much more careful to get pictures of everything and NOT losemy camera!

 

[TinkLovinMomma]

I woke up Thursday feeling a little bit better. Originally this was going to be the day we just hung around at GKTW. We had heard that there would be special guests in the morning and it was going to be "Christmas" that night!!! But we had these Universal tickets and nothing to do with them so DH said "Lets just go over there for a couple hours in the afternoon and let AJ see Spiderman since he loves him"

So we got up around 8 got dressed and head over to meet our special guests and have breakfast. We walked over to the safari theatre and saw two volunteers. They informed us that the special guest were taking a break and would be back at 9:15. So we went over to have breakfast first.

Finaly it was time... we went into the theatre and stood on line. The volunteer who had been at the airport saw me and said "HELLO JESSICA! HELLO AUSTIN AND REID!" She brought us down and told us we would be next. FInally we were on stage...

AJ's wish was about to come true... The whole reason for this trip...

It does NOT get any better than that. Mickey and Minnie were great with AJ and Mickey gave me a biiiig kiss!

I want to cry just posting this...


Amazing...


Just an amazing moment...


And my little boy...


He deserved every second of it

 

[mamaboogie]

I'm loving your trip report!

What a gorgeous family you have!

I always tear up when I see the castle for the first time - it's just so magical!

BTW - your husband has competition for the Lego building job! My DH has his eye on that job everytime we go there!

Looking forward to reading more!

Shari xx

 

[Matt1026]

I just love your family pics with Mickey and Minnie. They are soooo good!!! I am enjoying reading your TR. Anxious to read about Universal. We leave in about 5 weeks and I am concerned if my boys will enjoy it. They are 5 & 7 and I did not know if there was much for them to do there.

 

[maroo]

I am loving this!!!!!

What an awesome moment!

I am so glad you guys captured it on film and will keep it forever!!!

 

[heaven2dc]

Great update! You have every reason to tear up when you see the Castle

So sorry to hear you lost your phone (I lost mine in the BWV room right before we checked out - I even ran back up looking everywhere & put in a Lost & Found report but they never found it. I wasn't as sad as you since the pics I had on my phone were of my and my then DBFF but I had pics of my GS and never forwarded to my email or anything.)

Cute pics of A.J. and Reid!

 

[My2Qtz0205]

Hi there. I followed you over from CafeMom. Just wanted you to know I'm reading along.

I teared up when I read your post about AJ meeting Mickey.

 

[jenn&nelsonrego]

Just wanted to let you know that I am following along. I was in WDW the same week you were!

Welcome to the DVC family! It is the best thing I have ever purchased!!!

I too got teary eyed reading about the Mickey meet! Gosh, I am such an emotional pile of moush...

 

[Raecheal]

I love all the photo's from AJ's wish.. what an amazing moment. Thank you for sharing that.

 

[noogagirl]

I'm in! Thanks for following me over from CafeMom!

 

[TinkLovinMomma]

I just got home from work and am exhausted. I am going to reply to everyone and put up another update in the morning! PINKY SWEAR!!! Thanks for hanging in there guys!

 

[StefaniLyn]

awwww. . . . your pictures and description of AJ's Wish coming true just gave me goosebumps. How amazing and incredible and simply perfect after all you have been through!

Can't wait to read your next installment!

 

[TinkLovinMomma]

I'm loving your trip report!

What a gorgeous family you have!

I always tear up when I see the castle for the first time - it's just so magical!

BTW - your husband has competition for the Lego building job! My DH has his eye on that job everytime we go there!

Looking forward to reading more!

Shari xx

LOL dont you wonder how they go about actually getting the job? I wonder if theres like an audition where you bring a portfolio of lego creations??

I just love your family pics with Mickey and Minnie. They are soooo good!!! I am enjoying reading your TR. Anxious to read about Universal. We leave in about 5 weeks and I am concerned if my boys will enjoy it. They are 5 & 7 and I did not know if there was much for them to do there.

Im about to write my Universal installment. I have to say that I wasnt overly thrilled and neither were my kids. I LOVE rollercoasters but the kids are too small so we didnt get on any. Its definetely a thrill seekers park. I would go back without the kids for sure

I am loving this!!!!!

What an awesome moment!

I am so glad you guys captured it on film and will keep it forever!!!

Thanks!! GKTW was so good about taking such great candid pictures. I loved looking at the pictures while we waited to board our plane

Great update! You have every reason to tear up when you see the Castle

So sorry to hear you lost your phone (I lost mine in the BWV room right before we checked out - I even ran back up looking everywhere & put in a Lost & Found report but they never found it. I wasn't as sad as you since the pics I had on my phone were of my and my then DBFF but I had pics of my GS and never forwarded to my email or anything.)

Cute pics of A.J. and Reid!

I was so mad at myself too because I kept saying "I have to email these" but never actually did. Ugh. I will be much much more careful next time

Hi there. I followed you over from CafeMom. Just wanted you to know I'm reading along.

I teared up when I read your post about AJ meeting Mickey.

Hello! Im so happy you found me!

Just wanted to let you know that I am following along. I was in WDW the same week you were!

Welcome to the DVC family! It is the best thing I have ever purchased!!!

I too got teary eyed reading about the Mickey meet! Gosh, I am such an emotional pile of moush...

Whenever I hear of people being there when we were I wonder if our paths ever crossed! The parks were soo crowded though the chances are probably slim. LOL I am an emotional wreck most of the time too. I can cry over almost anything. DH laughs at me all the time

I love all the photo's from AJ's wish.. what an amazing moment. Thank you for sharing that.

Thank you for reading along still! Ive been over at your TR but havent posted yet. I promise to do so today!

I'm in! Thanks for following me over from CafeMom!

Thank you for coming over! Do you have any new updates on your TR? Im gunna head over there again soon

awwww. . . . your pictures and description of AJ's Wish coming true just gave me goosebumps. How amazing and incredible and simply perfect after all you have been through!

Can't wait to read your next installment!

I get goosebumps too when I re-read it. He still talks about it daily. Im so happy that he got to have such an amazing moment

 

[TinkLovinMomma]

After we met our new best friends we went back to the villa. We thought about waiting around for lunh but then I mentioned to my DH that there MUST be a Sonic nearby. See I grew up in NC and DH and I briefly lived in TX so we are huge fans of sonic. But the closest one to where we live is hours away! So I mapquested it and found out it that there was one right down the block from Universal!

(I dont have any pictures of this part of the day but dont worry there are plenty coming up.)

So I made another phone call to WDW Lost and Found to see if my phone had turned up at any point during the night (It hadnt) and we were off.

We found Sonic easily. We both ordered Cherry Limeades and BLTs. I got tots and DH got onion rings. The kids were sleeping so we got them a meal to share once we got to the park.

We decided that we would go to Islands Of Adventure because they have that Marvel Comics Island and the whole point of going was so that AJ could meet Spiderman.

We waited forever for an empty elevator (darn double stroller) and when we got in I realized that the family that had been sitting in front of us on the safari at AK the day before was in the elevator with us! It's A Small World After All!!! (sorry for my loserness)

So we made the long walk to IOA. By the time we got in I was yelling at DH about the stroller. The front wheels kept bending onto their sides as we turned and I was fed up. We decided that we would not use the stroller again and would rent strollers on the following two days.

Anyways... We immediately turned left when we entered the park. There was a guy standing on the side of the "road" holding a sign that said "Spiderman inside" So I talked to the guy and he told us where to go. There was nobody else waiting! Imagine our luck! So we went inside and got this picture......

Darn "broken" camera

So after looking at the map we realized that there was nothing on this island that we could all do so we heading to umm Comic Island?? (Maybe I should google the map of the Islands so I can tell this story better) It was REALLY hot out and AJ and DH spotted one of those little play areas where the water shoots out of the ground. They ran around and played in it for a while and then DH held Reid under one for a second. As we walked away I made DH stop the stroller and I got out some juice boxes for the kids. DH started fiddling with the camera trying to get some pictures and suddenly...



"I fixed it!!" DH said "The lense was just dirty!"

This is the picture he took when he realized the problem

Hooray!!! We have a camera again!!!

Reid was really hot and sucking down his juice

We then headed over to Popeyes boat to let the kids play some

To be honest after this we really didnt do much. We walked through the rest of the islands. The Seuss Land was really cute but AJ didnt want to go on any rides and Reid was really hot and just wanted to be carried, which was making DH really hot. I wasnt thrilled really but maybe this is because I was in a Disney state of mine and Lets face it... Universal is NOT Disney.

So after being there for about 2 hours we grabbed some frozen lemonades and headed back to the villa.

Tonight was "Christmas" and we were all excited to meet Santa and have some GKTW fun!!

 

[Matt1026]

Thank you for the update on Universal. After reading your report it only confirmed what we were thinking. We have two young boys also and my DH does not like rollercoasters so I have a feeling Universal will be a quick trip for us. So thank you for confirm what we were thinking.

Looking forward to reading more.