A Real Princess Goes to the Magic Kingdom!

[LeeLee2U]

Awesome Job Bill! We also had a ------------ experience with Captain Jack Sparrow as I think you already know, but everyone will have to read my TR to find our just what kind of experience we had. Of course I've got to start the thing first!!!!!!
I feel the same way about the World. You know it's hard to explain to the "reg" folks how it is their, but it really is just like you've stepped into the pages of a storybook and all your fav. stories are in there and YOU are in the middle of it. I didn't feel the magic at first, but once I did ... I can count on one hand the # of CMs that weren't "magical" and as we were there all week, I think thats pretty awesome!
Well B's starting to move @ so I've gotta go. One funny thing about this surgery is the bandage they have on his head, they call the Princess Leia bandage. We had to just call it the Star Wars Wrap. When he gets antsy and starts pulling at it, I just say hey are you on Sar Wars and he starts grinnig. He said he needed to go to Disney World 'cause now he belongs on Star Tours!!!! I'm so glad we had this trip when we did! It's still helping us!
Can't wait for the rest!!!!

 

[Bill_Lin]

Thursday morning, September 20th, we went to breakfast at the Gingerbread House. While we were stuffing ourselves on the amazing food (and more waffles) Lysi looked out the window and saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. She about went ballastic and had to HURRY to get pictures with them. Pluto and Goofy were available for photos outside, but for Mickey and Minnie, we had to wait in line at the Safari Theater. It was really special, since we had missed Toon Town Fair the day before. This was one of those times when I saw that it would save us more time to see them at the village and leave later, than trying to track the characters down at Animal Kingdom during the day. Lysi was so thrilled to see that her character friends had come all the way to the village to meet her.

Since we had a few moments, we got Lysi's star started at the Castle of Miracles and made Lysi and Kyle's special pillows on the pillow maker. The star fairy animation came down to "take Lysi's star" and told us to come back the next day to see it on the ceiling. The main ceiling in the castle is almost full of stars.

The Star:

The Magic Mirror:

Just a really cute picture:

On her Royal Throne:

The Pillow Machine:

Meeting the Characters:

All in all, it was a magical start to another wonderful Disney Day!

 

[Bill_Lin]

Thursday, at Animal Kingdom, held more special Disney Magic for us. After the cool day before, it was kind of surprising to find that it was HOT. We had our Disney neck coolers and our misting fan. We kept the fan on the handle of the stroller so anyone could use it. This also served as a great way of marking our stroller so we could find it after rides. (For some reason, Universal has a rule against hanging things from stroller handles, but we found a way to hang it on the inside there).

Park Ambassadors, Balou, King Louie, and Stanley:

The Tree of Life:

We really loved these drummers:

And got a chance to try it our for ourselves, later:

Our favorite part of the trip was the Kilimanjaro Safari Ride. Our GAC pass really saved us a lot of time on this ride line. We sure did get to love that little piece of paper, and guarded it like it was King Solomon's Mine.

Animal Kingdom was one of the two main places I had, personally, been looking forward to seeing. I love animals, African music and clothes and animatronics. This made AK, the perfect park for me. It was really hard to get good pictures on the bumpy ride, but I managed to get a few that were decent enough:

The African animal trail was worth the walk. We really enjoyed the Ciclid Pool, but only the videos turned out. We ended up skipping the Asia trail for lack of time, but I hear the Tiger exhibit there is awesome.

Lin and Kyle went on Everest while Lysi and I looked around Asia. We all enjoyed the Kali River Rapids, and were thankful that we had brought the Towel Poncho that Linda had made for Lysi. I can't believe I did not get a picture of her wearing it after the ride.

I worked for weeks trying to de-sensitize Lysi to the Dinosaur Ride so she would not be terrified. It really paid off. The ride is dark, the car is very jerky and bumpy and the dinosaurs are awesome.

Near this ride, we ate at (can you believe it) McDonalds. Here the food was better than the typical McDonalds. We met out only grumpy Disney CM here. Lin went looking for napkins. She asked him where they were. He said, "I am only one person and I can't do everything." She just pointed to her Make a Wish button, and that was all it took to make him look sheepish and apologize. This event stands out in our minds because ALL of the other CMs treated us like royalty, no better than that because there were no Paparazzi.

Here we had a melt down experience. Lysi and I wanted to go on the Triceratops Spin, but Lin was starting to feel her cold a bit by then. Lysi tried to go too fast in her Crocs and fell. The sidewalks in AK are really BAD and full of cracks. I don't know if this is part of the ambiance or what. Lysi skinned her knee and there was real blood. This was TOO much for her, with being tired and all of the excitement. All she could think about was going back to our Villa at GKTW. I finally talked her into staying for the Festival of the Lion King. First, I bribed her with a Mickey-Shaped ice cream bar. We had been planning to go to the Asia trail, but I am glad that this changed our plans. The ONLY thing she was willing to stay for was the Lion King.

At the Lion King, we had the second-most magic experience of the trip. First, our GAC got us in for the last show of the day, second, a CM took Lysi to help teach the audience the "Hand Jive" before the show. Next, a CM gave her a Tinkerbell Pin. We did not have any pins up to that point because, frankly, we could not afford to get into that. After that, a CM took Lysi and a few other kids up during the show to play maracas and dance in a "follow the leader" circle around the main stage. She was transformed. Her owie suddenly was forgotten and she was a Star. She totally loved it. Finally, another CM gave Lysi a special Gift Pin. These pins come in sets of two, one to keep and one to give to a special person she might meet on her trip. These pins also had Tinkerbell, who is on Lysi's list of favorites. The show was WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL and MAGICAL. I only got video footage of the show, so I don't have any pictures of this magical time. Here are some screenshots from our video. You can see that, even in the dark, the GKTW video cameras took some decent footage.

When the show was over, the CMs in the stores really tried to shut down IMMEDIATELY and shoo everyone out of the park. This seemed just plain weird from a marketing standpoint. We did not find this happening at any other park. The fact is, we had figured on half an hour to an hour to shop after closing and planned to spend a good amount on souvenirs.

After closing, we had the privilige of meeting up with LeeLee2you and family. The kids hit it off right away and got into a misting fan water war. We also met Donald as you can see.

Back at GKTW it was Christmas. There were decorations up, artificial snow was coming off the roof of the Caring Center (until the rain started to fall and messed that up a tad). In the Castle of Miracles, we met Santa and the kids each got a lovely stuffed bear and a Polar Express Puzzle. Then each child was allowed to pick out a Hasbro toy from a table FULL of toys. Kyle chose a HUGE transformer and Lysi picked out a Mrs. Potato Head.

We met up with Who'syourMickey and family at the Christmas Party. That was really special. I cannot find any pictures of them.... so HELP Who'syourMickey! Do you have any pictures to post that we can copy for this page? Here is one we took with her right before we left for home.

Our favorite part of the evening was meeting some Disney CM's who were parading by in costumes with a Christmas theme. These young people (on a student internship at WDW) were SO sweet to Lysi. We talked about some of the CMs at MK, like Capt. Jack, who was a good friend of these folks. We were able to deduce that the girls we met, ordinarily played some of the major costumed characters that we had met and apparently they recognized Lysi. They offered to get us into Blizzard Beach for free on Sunday, but we were TOO tired to even think about it by then.

The day ended with more Whirlpool bubbles and a GREAT sleep.

 

[wendygrace]

Yeah! Sounds so wonderful! I love the pics. Everyone looks so happy! Isn't Christmas wonderful! I think we're going to use our GKTW Christmas pic with Santa for our Christmas pics this year!

Can't wait to see more.

 

[Bill_Lin]

In true serendipitous fashion, three of the characters that we had planned to meet at Universal Studios showed up at GKTW when we were having breakfast. This saved us having to go to the Barney area later in the day.

Then, it was off to Universal Studios.

BE SURE TO HAVE YOUR UNIVERSAL FREE PARKING PASS handy when you get to the booth. It looks just like one of the park tickets. They are VERY picky about seeing this pass. Starting with the parking attendant, we found the staff at Universal Studios to be much less HAPPY and friendly than at Disney. There were a few notable exceptions, but smiles were rare. One staffer at the Men in Black ride, even chewed us out for coming through the fast line without a staff escort. We explained that we had been told to come through that way. She said, "Well, when you get off the ride, you go and tell who ever told you that that you NEED to have a staff escort you." We did that, and the man said, "I'm really sorry. Never mind her, she is ALWAYS that way." His relaxed, nice spirit more than made up for her. Besides, it is hard to feel ill used when you are getting first in line treatment at rides and character greets. US was really good about seeing that we got through the lines. The younger staffers tended to be happier than the older ones.

With Handicapped parking we ended up three moving sidewalks away from the park. This was no big deal as we just stood there and rode. On the way home, though, we found lots of people trying to hustle along these things, and it got kind of annoying.

Once inside the park, we got our stroller (GET A FREE STROLLER PASS from the House of Hearts beforehand), then headed for the Jimmy Neutron Ride. It was Super. Afterwards, we found this guy in the gift shop. Universal Rides end in gift shops just like at Disney. We actually found this to be kind of convenient.

We all really loved the Shrek 4-D ride. It is not all that scary (for those whose legs don't reach the floor... don't ask... I won't give it away).

After the ride, we met Donkey and Shrek, in that order. Donkey talks.... just like in the movie and he is GREAT. He really bantered with Lysi.

Kyle loved the swords there, as he is a collector.

After this, Kyle and I headed for the MUMMY. This was far and away the most awesome ride of our whole trip. It is intense and has REAL fire effects. You will feel the heat. Lysi was too short for the ride, which would have scared the wits out of her anyway. While we did that ride, she and Lin went to the Curious George playground where Lysi got soaking wet. It was a hot day anyway. She tried to get wet at any fountains that we found. Sea World had a neat area that Lysi and I BOTH enjoyed on that hot day. There was also a kids fountain at Epcot.

There are a lot of characters near the Curious George area.

We went on the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster to dry off. It was way NOT intense. Then we took in the E.T. ride which was extremely CUTE.

I should mention that at each character kiosk, we got a free picture with our G.A.P. pass (the flip side of the Disney G.A.C.). The lady at the E.T. kiosk made a BIG deal about forbidding us to take our own photographs for copy rite reasons. Some folks took random shots around the park and gave us tickets for pictures to purchase. We were told that we could have our choice of one of these prints for free at the end of the day, but we forgot to take advantage of it and have not found the papers for this. By the way, Disney, at their parks, gives you a photo pass card when they take your picture the first time. Have each photographer scan this as the day goes on. You can check out pictures for purchase at the end of each day, or.... just go on line and find all of your pictures there to order when you get home. That is what we did.

After E.T. we went to Men in Black Alien Attack. It was similar to Buzz Light Year Space Ranger Spin at MK but a lot more high tech and a lot more fun. On the way we hit the Coca Cola Cooling station, which sprays mist on you. Be sure to try the little booth. It was HOT that day and the mist was bliss.

For some reason, I got grumpy about that time, and even my wife's "Which one are you now," comment did not work. We skipped Jaws, Earthquake and Twister and went to lunch at the American Graffiti Cafe. By the way, other than the brunch in the castle at MK, we got all of our meals for a very reasonable rate (under $10.00 per person including drinks). We did not do any other character meals (or parades for that matter) because we wanted to maximize ride times, so we went to a lot of cafe type places. We loved the Sea Fire Inn at Sea World (Burgers-Chicken-or Mahi Mahi with live music), the Columbia Harbor House at MK (has fish and chips and closes at 5pm for some bizarre reason), American Grafitti at U.S. (burgers, 50s quisine, root beer floats), and The Lotus Blossom Cafe at China in Epcot (surprisingly good quality stir fry for a great price). Most of our meals were eaten at GKTW. I really think it is worth getting a little bit of a later start each day to eat the great breakfasts in the Gingerbread House. That really fuels you up for the day. At any rate, you can get Continental earlier, or even have a cart delivered to your Villa.

After lunch at US, I was back to my cheerful self (I will let you figure out which dwarf I was). Let me digress here to tell you that, after my DWs comment at Sea World about "Which one are you then," I told Snow White at the Castle Brunch the next day, that my wife needed to know which Dwarf I was most like. She said, "Oh.. definitely Doc because you have glasses just like his." I figure that, on such authority, this pretty much settles the debate.

We spent the rest of the day at Islands of Adventure, which is a fairly short walk away.

 

[wendygrace]

Michael just loves your pictures. he can't wait to go back! Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[KimAshton]

Beautiful family. Someone I know has a 1 year old daughter that is suffer Luekemia. Hopefully one day the family will be able to do something like this.

 

[Bill_Lin]

Islands of Adventure ROCKS! I wish we had allowed more time there and less at US.

We found the gate to be a bit challenging. Once in the gate, through bag check and ticket check, we took a restroom break. After that, we took a wrong turn and ended up back outside the gate. This is kind of funny in retrospect. I had to say, "Well that wasn't much of a park."

Back inside we rode the Spider Man ride first. It was a really cool simulator that was quite fast paced. Stuff just keeps coming at you.

While Lin and Kyle went to Dr. Doom's Fearfall and the Hulk Coaster, Lysi and I found a kids water play area and played on "Me Ship, the Olive." After that we all went on the Popeye and Bluto Bilge Rat Barges. We got soaked, which dampened Lysi's enthusiasm, especially since it became overcast at about that time. We had to pay $2.00 for a one hour locker before going on that ride. There was no convincing Lysi to try the Ripsaw Falls water flume ride, so Kyle and I tried to get on. We showed the G.A.P. to the first guy in line and passed it on to Lin. When we got up to the ride, the man there was kind of rude and said, there was NO WAY he was going to take our word for it, and sent us back. Then we got the G.A.P. back and asked for a staff member to escort us in. This took a bit of time, but finally a VERY nice Mountie came and escorted us. He was not a BIT like the real Mounties I have met in Canada... he was, in fact much more relaxed and friendly. He explained that the grumpy man was new to the ride and did not understand about Wish Trip Kids. We enjoyed the ride and hardly got wet.

After this, we all headed on to Jurassic Park. We managed to cajole Lysi into getting on the ride. It was not nearly as scary as Dinosaur nor was it as wet as the Bilge Rat Barges, so she was happy. Kyle (being a coaster fanatic) wanted to go on the Dragon Coasters. Lin was feeling a bit ill, so he went on those on his own. The lady running the ride, sent him right on the second coaster when he finished the first, even though Lysi and I took the G.A.P. with us. We tried to get into Poseidon's Fury but we had missed the last show, which ends about one hour before the park closes. We took a picture there anyway because the building looks so cool.

Lysi and I went on the Seuss Trolley and Cat in the Hat while waiting for Kyle and Lin.

Then we all went on One Fish Two Fish and the Carouseussal.

We did this in a big rush as the park was closing. A guy running a souvenir kiosk there gave us 10% when he saw our Make a Wish Buttons. Suddenly we remembered that we had bought Jason a souvenir mug and had it sent to the store at the front of US. Kyle took the receipt for pick up and ran, theoretically to the US gate. He actually got totally lost and ended up at City Walk. Lysi started crying that her brother was lost, and it was kind of an interesting experience. She got even more upset when Lin went to look for him. All ended well, however and we got the mug.

Stay tuned for Friday evening at GKTW....

 

[Bill_Lin]

This night was the Pirates and Princesses Party at GKTW with Sea World Characters, the Queen of the Castle of Miracles and a Pirate Duke.

It was a great opportunity for Lysi to wear her Princess outfit. She did not have it at MK because... we did not think we would get to go to the Castle brunch, it was raining really hard when we got there... and.. well Mom forgot and left in in the car.

Lyis had a great time dancing with Shamu, who could really cut a rug..

And with Dolly the Dolphin.

There was a ceremony to coronate the princesses.

It was kind of cute because we had one pirate and one princess ... however the princess had pirate princess ears with a matching crown.

The evening featured, crafts, dancing, cermonies... and more free ice cream at the Ice Cream Palace. My "ususal" was Chocolate Chip Cookie dough and Oreo topped with hot fudge, whipped cream and M & Ms.

Ain't she sweet:

We hit the whirlpool and went to sleep... after a walk through the Village at night. The colored lights on the whimsical buildings create a lovely, magical effect.

 

[Iluvmickeymouse!]

I am loving your report!!! I am getting so much more excited!!! My daughter is loving the pics, now she knows what to expect when we get there! Keep it comin'!!!!!

 

[Bill_Lin]

We started out fairly early this day for a change. At Epcot, we got a parking place right by the entrance. It was easy to get used to being spoiled like that. The first attraction we wanted to take in was Soarin' because we had heard such things about it. It was wonderful.

Next, we headed for the Seas with Nemo and Friends. It was really cute. I still cannot figure out how they were able to mix real fish in a tank with 3-D animation projection. It really looked like the characters were swimming in the real tanks.

At the same exhibit, we went to the Turtle Talk with Crush show.

Lysi can just be seen on the far right with a pigtail and Make a Wish hat:

Lysi got to ask Crush a question here about his diet:

This was a very personal and special part of the trip for her.

Journey into Imagination with Figment was really cute. We enjoyed the hands on activities after the ride.
No this picture is NOT upside down:

After this, we headed to the other side of Future World. Our first ride there was Mission Space. Lin and Lysi did the low impact version, while Kyle and I did the High Impact version. You know how they warn you about doing some rides if you have any heart problems. Well... I thought my heart was "all healed." On the ride, however, the G-forces from the centrifuge came VERY close to making me pass out. I had to use all the breathing excercises I had learned to keep my oxygen level high enough to stay conscious. Still... it was awesome. Kyle really got into the hands on exercises after the ride, so I took Lysi on Energy Adventure with Ellen.

This was a cool show that turned into a ride and back into a show. The dinosaurs were pretty realistic. I had remembered to give Lysi some glow in the dark bracelets and a small flashlight for this ride. It was quite dark. Just before we were done, the ride broke down because some kid jumped out during the ride. Lin and Kyle had come to meet us and were told, "The ride is broken down and everyone has already left." Of course, this was not true. It had the effect of really worrying my poor wife.

Lysi was a little tense after this and did not want to do test track. I was a little leery of it myself after my experience on Mission Space, so I took Lysi to the kids' fountain area to wait while Kyle and Lin went on the ride.

Lysi and I headed onto Mexico... after getting several sets of wrong directions from CMs. We finally found a tourist who sent us through the baby changing area and first aid station shortcut. I really liked the inside of the pyramid with its "nighttime" shopping. We did not do the ride there, but enjoyed looking at all the artwork and cool stuff for sale.

Our tour of World Showcase was pretty fast paced. We did not spend much time in the shops, but really enjoyed seeing the architecture of each region.

At China, we had a great, inexpensive meal at the Lotus Cafe. At Norway, we did the Maelstrom ride. That was definitely worth the time. At Morocco, we found Genie, who is the symbol of Make a Wish. A family from Germany was really put out that we got to cut in front of them, because the characters took a 10 minute break right after seeing us. This was the only time we saw any objection that lasted beyond a CM explanation of Make a Wish.

We also found Aladdin's home while in Morocco, but he was not in.

After this, we were in a hurry to catch the boat ride to MGM for the rest of the day so we breezed through the U.S. and France and skipped the U.K. and Canada.

 

[Bill_Lin]

At the back, "International," exit of Epcot, we turned in our stroller and boarded the boat for a 30-minute ride/ rest to MGM.

I am definitely a boat person, so I really enjoyed this break. The boat stopped at a boardwalk area and two Disney Resorts that we would not have seen otherwise. At MGM, we went through the bag and ticket check thing, but opted to skip the stroller since the area is so small.

We headed immediately to take in Kyle's number one choice for the trip: The Tower of Terror. It amazed me that a little girl who was too scared for Thunder Mt. Railroad, Space Mountain, Everest, Ripsaw Falls and Test Track would ride the Tower of Terror. I was very nervous on the ride, but only because I was nervous about her being nervous. Lin was between us, and I could not see Lysi very well. A kid was crying and I thought it was her.. but NO.. she thought the ride was cool, but did not want to repeat it.

After this, we pulled out our G.A.C. so we could catch the last Beauty and the Beast Show. We barely made it (they recommend you show up like half an hour early or more), but got to sit in the front row, next to LeeLee2you and family. We had not seen them since AK on Thursday. That made the show a lot more special to us. I did not take any still shots, but was able to video tape all but the first few moments of the show. It was wonderful. beautiful and breathtaking. Here are a few screen shots from my video:

Of course, this was the same Belle that Lysi had seen at the Castle at Mk and at GKTW. That made the moment more special to her. Lysi was able to trade her special Tinkerbell giveaway pin with LeeLee's son had a similar one. It was a really special moment.

After the show, we went on Star Tours, except for Lin who was feeling ill again. Lysi was so cute. She saw on the pre-ride video that Ewoks were getting on the ride. She has both of the post-Star Wars Ewok movies: Ewoks-Caravan of Courage and Ewoks-Battle for Endor. She kept looking around our ride vehicle to see the Ewoks. Even after the ride ended, she kept looking around corner and down below to see if she could find some Ewoks. The Magic definitely worked for her. At the gift store, she bought a Wicket Ewok.

After Star Tours, we tried to make the Playhouse Disney on Stage Show, but barely missed the last one. That worked out well, though, because we had decided to skip Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and ended up going there instead. It was way better than I had imagined, and provided Lysi with her only chance to see Ariel. I videotaped that show. The stage is dark except for black lights and the puppets are flourescent, so you don't see the puppeteers AT ALL. Here are some screenshots:

Lysi's glow in the dark bracelets came in handy here:

After this, we took in the Great Movie Ride, which turned out to be a lot of fun. Everyone really enjoyed the animatronics and live actors.

The evening, and our theme parks tour, ended on a perfect note with Fantasmic. It is an amazing fireworks, projection, laser and character show summarizing all the Disney things that we had seen during the week. It started to rain while we were on the movie ride, and Lin was feeling ill, so we bought her a Tinkerbell Sweatshirt and a BIG Mickey umbrella, plus some other souvenirs. The lady in that store was SO nice to Lysi and gave her a Mickey Pin. I forgot to mention all of the large round pins that Lysi received from CMs. She got one for being a first time WDW visitor, and a few other pretty ones, as well as her GKTW and Make a Wish Button, she was pretty well decorated. Her GKTW lanyard was really not up to the challenge of that much hardware. I would really suggest buying a larger Disney lanyard at the Wal-Mart by the Village when you get there.

When we got to the stadium for Fantasmic, we had to put our umbrella down, but the rain stopped about that time. The show was LOUD. Lysi kept her ears covered the whole time, but she loved it. After the show, we caught the Disney Transportation bus back to the Epcot parking lot. It was a bit of a walk from the gate to the Epcot bus stop, which is the last one. The busses were REALLY crowded with some folks standing. When we got off the bus at Epcot, it was just in time to see the fireworks show there, as that park stays open one hour later than MGM.

Needless to say, we were all beat, but still felt up to ordering our free GKTW pizza for delivery to the Villa. We had done this once before, and they forgot to bring it, plus having the order all confused. This time, all went well. It sure was a nice treat. I took a quick stroll around to look at the lights again, then took another whirlpool. The Ice Cream Palace was closed when we got back.

 

[LeeLee2U]

O.k. Bill now I'm getting Disney sick! Not as in sick of Disney but sick as in home sick!
I've just got to put in here that Lysi is a little doll. When she was telling me about meeting the Princesses her face was all lit up. Mom, Dad and brother aren't too bad either! I have a wonderfull pic of her and Tyler waterfighting. When we get home I'll send it to you. We are at my Moms right now while Braeton is recovering. A few extra hands help a lot and I'm only 15 min from home so that makes it easy to go grab stuff.
Braeton was looking at the pics and said Look that's the Wish girl Lees that I waterfight with. I thought that was so cute. Like they waterfight everyday!!
Now I'm going to try to at least start my TR tonight. You are making me feel guilty!!!

 

[Bill_Lin]

Leaving GKTW was like losing a close family member. It was so HARD to leave. We are still not really over it. Today, Lysi said, "Dad, let's go back to Give Kids the World Village. I miss it."

Although our original plans had allowed for using our unused day at Universal/ IOA, or going to the Ocean, we were too pooped to even consider it. There were some things we had not done at the Village yet as well. We slept a bit later the last day and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the Gingerbread House.

Our last day's activities included one last swim and frolic in the water park, miniature golfing, a train ride, sandwiches and ice cream at the Ice Cream Palace. I managed to hit a golf ball out of the course and onto the train track. We were able to snag it on the train ride later. Somehow, I still won the golf match though.

My golf ball on the tracks:

This was, apparently hilarious:

The little engineer:

We also checked out the pond and saw a HUGE soft shelled turtle. We spent a little time in the Castle of Miracles and saw Lysi's star on the ceiling. The star fairy will show you where each star is located. We also picked up a CD with all of the pictures staff had taken of us at the Village. We were required to turn the borrowed video camera in on Friday evening. When we left, we got the video disks back formatted. What a treasure they are.

After checking out, we hung around for a while, but the place was almost empty. We did have a brief prayer time in the beautiful chapel, thanking God for our trip and for healing our Little Girl to the point that she could go on the trip and live a normal life.

Our camera was FULL so we have no more pictures to share from here on.


I had gone to Wal-Mart at the light on Bass the morning before to pick up some medication for Lin's cold. There I had discovered a huge section of Disney treasures. I found stuffed animals, tee shirts, cups, caps, bags, tags, and you name it. So on the last day, we spent some time and money at Wal-Mart. From a previous trip, Lin knew about the huge indoor Flea Market just east of Bass on the highway. You go to the light by Wal-Mart and turn right, then go about a block or two. There we found a LOT more cool stuff from Disney and Universal. Kyle got a really cool pirate sword and I found a large Piglet and Shamu for Lysi. You would not believe how much stuff they have there and how cheap the prices are, especially compared to theme park prices. Lin got a really nice outfit for a price that amazed even me. We found Croc jibbets for $1 each and even bought a BIG duffle bag for all the things we bought. Our final souvenirs were purchased at the airport Sea World and Universal Stores.

We gassed up the rig, and said a sad farewell to Florida's gas prices, which are WAY less than ours. We had no trouble navigating to the airport and paying the tolls. After dropping of the rental car, we had a LOT of trouble getting to the terminal. First of all, hitting the "terminal" button on the elevator did exactly nothing. We had no idea what floor to go to. I thought maybe we were already on the terminal floor so I stepped out of the elevator. Naturally, the door closed and it finally went to the right floor. Lysi freaked out and was sure she would never see her Daddy again. I took the next elevator which had no trouble going to the right floor. From there, the directions to the Alaska check in area were really confusing. We stopped people three times to ask directions. They were all very nice. The lady at the Alaska counter was very sweet and reassuring.

Security takes a long time at Orlando, so be prepared for extra time. You really DO need 2 hours or more to drop off a rental car and get through to your gate in time for your flight. Our flight was delayed, however so we had plenty of time. Once we got to the gate, I remembered that, if we wanted to eat on the 5-hour flight, I would have to have cash. Naturally, the ATM in that terminal was broken. I had to take a tram from there to the main terminal and another one out to the other satellite to get an ATM that worked. After obtaining my cash, I rode the trams back. The neat thing about this tram tripping was that I finally saw an Alligator in the wild. This had been a goal of mine during the trip and I had looked at every pond and puddle we passed each day. This alligator looked to be about 8 feet long and was swimming down the lake at the airport right under the tram tracks.

By the time I got back to our gate, Lysi was again sure that she would never see me again. She cried the whole time I was gone. Good grief!

On our flight to Seattle, one of us, again had to be separated from the others. I volunteered. I am sure Lin wished she had either done it or sent Kyle there, because he and Lysi bickered over things until she fell asleep. She slept a good 4 hours of the 5 hour flight. Kyle and Lin mostly slept as well. That left me with the DVD player to watch a movie. I cannot even remember what movie it was, but I think it was one we were given at GKTW. We sure did receive a lot of gifts there, puzzles, stuffed toys, match box cars, a game, DVDs, snacks and other things.

It is interesting that on both of our Seattle-Orlando/ Orlando-Seattle flights, the flight attendants and gate workers did not seem to care that Lysi was on a Wish Trip. I suppose they are so used to kids taking wish trips to Orlando that it seems like no big deal to them. The contrast on our Seattle to Spokane/ Spokane to Seattle flights was dramatic.

Our flight from Seattle to Spokane was VERY delayed so we could wait for a plane full of Washington State University Soccer Ladies flying from Las Vegas. Their flight had been forced to land elsewhere for a medical emergency of some kind. Waiting in the airport taught me that people who fly a lot tend to get very territorial about who gets what seats in the waiting area. We had to guard our seats like hawks to get to stay together. Putting a bag on or in front of your seat did nothing to reserve it. I guess I have gotten too used to small-town politeness.

The flight attendants on our final flight made a big deal about seating us before anyone else on that BIG, FULL plane. The pilot came back to meet Lysi and gave her a set of wings. One of the flight attendants stayed close to Lysi and talked to her almost the whole flight. Just before take off, the captain announced on the p.a. that there was a V.I.P. on the flight, Elysia and that she was on her Make a Wish Trip. Everyone on the plane clapped.

When we reached Spokane, Grandpa helped us load everything into his van. It was the first time I had checked luggage with Alaska Airlines through Seattle to Spokane that I actually got my luggage the day I arrived. I was very grateful because so many of our trip treasures were in those bags.

We spent the next day resting up at Grandpa and Grandma's place in Davenport, WA before heading home in the late afternoon.

 

[disneyfanforlife]

I have enjoyed your TR. Lysi truely is a . She is very brave. I am sure she makes everyone proud. I am sure her older sister is looking down at her smiling at her.

 

[Momof2wCF]

REALLY good TR, Bill! to you and your lovely family!! Lysi looks awed by all of it, and so happy! The nice thing about these MaW trips is that there is so much to do, each family can customize it to fit themselves, and each Wish trip is different.
Did I see Lysi with a Pal Mickey in one of the pix? Did you buy it or did she get it at GKTW?
Also, I didn't see where you got the GAC. Did you get it at the parks at Guest Relations or did you get it at GKTW?
Hope all goes well with you guys, both Lysi and Jason too. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us!!

 

[wendygrace]

I love your report! Glad you enjoyed yourself. Michael also constantly wants to go back. I briefly considered going to Disneyland for our next trip but I think Michael would just loose his mind if we didn't get to see GKTW again. Gotta love that place.

 

[alizesmom]

Wow, I feel like I did the parks (all of them) in 20 minutes. Your thread is great. It really looks like you all had a great time. Lysi is beautiful as is the whole family. You posted my favorite thing to look forward to: Festival of the Lion King. My wish is to get a picture of Alize with Pumbaa. Karen

 

[Who'syourMickey]

Wow, such a fun trip report! I wish I could go this fast with mine.

Here is the picture we took at our unplanned meeting. What happened was Mayor Clayton was riding with our daughter on the carosel and I had just sprinted to the car and back (NEVER NEVER NEVER go to breakfast without your camera at GKTW!!!!) to find that....I missed the cutest picture ever. Mayor Clayton was sitting across from dd and they were holding hands and swinging their arms on the carosel. A while after this, I ran into Bill and Lynn as they were getting ready to leave for the airport, I believe? Someone offered to take our picture together. This pic saved because the camera had been on for a while. The cobblestones you see us standing on is just in front of the gingerbread house and the castle of Miracles on what is called the Avenue of Angels. Many of these pavers have the name of an angel who has helped make GKTW possible. The paver can be engraved with a family name or the name of someone that you wish to honor the memory of and are available from GKTW for $200. http://www.gktw.org/how/paver.asp

 

[Bill_Lin]

I really appreciate the picture. I think we took some the night of the Christmas Party on Lysi's camera, but the driver for it does not work so we cannot retrieve the pictures. I went on line and found that everyone else who bought a Vivitar Mini Digital Camera has the same problem.

I would really appreciate it if you would post a picture of your whole crew here. We really enjoyed talking to you guys after the Christmas Party.