From wish tripper to greeter - Ali's MAW trip report 4/19 - 4/25 FINALLY FINISHED!!!

Can't wait to read more!

Been reading Ali's CaringBridge reports....hope she's feeling better!

Thank you! She's doing okay. Sick again one week off of antibiotics, so who knows what's going on. But, she's hanging in there!

Great news!!:cool1:

I can't wait to read more and see some more pictures from your trip!

I have been wondering how your family was doing! I hope everyone is well!:goodvibes

Thank you! We are well! I can't wait to catch up with everyone here! So many people have gone and come back. It will be nice to re-live our experience through all of you!
 
I am glad that you did all the little things at GKTW. Bummer on the not so great meet and greet.
 
I am glad that you did all the little things at GKTW. Bummer on the not so great meet and greet.

It's great to hear you say that. It's odd writing this with so much hindsight, and it's easy to fall into "I only wish we had ____ " mode instead of appreciating what we did. Intellectually, I know we couldn't have done more than what we did, and emotionally, I'm glad we spent so much time at GKTW since we won't be able to visit there in the same way again. But sometimes it's hard to quiet that voice that says, "We should've gone to Sea World," or whatever.

I just initiated an account over on the Big Give board. I really want to get involved and give back. I was loading some Big Give pics onto my mother's digital frame the other day, and once again, I was overwhelmed at the kindness that everyone there showed us.:love:
 
For reasons that I cannot explain, all of a sudden, I'm in a place where I want to finish my trip report and once again, become more involved with helping out other wish families here at the DIS. Thanks to all for your words of encouragement and support - it certainly makes it easier coming back knowing that you all are here.

I'm in the process of uploading pics to photobucket, so hopefully I'll have another day up and posted before I go to bed tonight!

:love:

I am soooooooooooooo glad you are back!!!!!

:welcome: back!

Sorry for the not so good meet and greet. :( But so glad you took some time to enjoy GKTW! :goodvibes
 

I am so glad you are back and feeling like finishing your TR. Your girls are so lovely. I am so sorry for all Ali has had to go through health wise...she is such a trooper. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
 
Hi Kelly:lovestruc Great to see you back hun. I am sorry that Ali is sick. :hug: I hope the abx kick in soon so she can get to feeling better. I have enjoyed reading your tr. I was really hoping you would come back and finish someday. I understand how hard it was for you. :hug::hug:

I love the Scooby Doo picture.We must have missed them. We actually missed all of the characters at GKTW and the Horse rides too:eek: It just took us way too long to get ready and get out of there :laughing:

That is a beautiful bird picture. I never knew there was a trail back there. We were at the pier alot and looked out over the water so many times. Ty would have loved to go on a trail(of course then we probably couldn't have coaxed him off it;))

Love the pool pics. Looks like it definately a favorite! Sierra loved the pool. Ty only went in it once and I have yet to figure that one out. He loves swimming:confused:
 
It was already getting hot out, so we thought we'd hit the pool first. Maya loved the fountains near the zero entry area.

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And Ali STILL talks about the pool! In fact, it's what she's referring to when she says, "I want to go back to Disney."

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We had lunch by the pool, and then went back to the villa for naptime, something that we all desperately needed.

I will have to update more tomorrow, as I was having trouble with Photobucket, and now it's time to put the girls to bed!

We loved the pool too. Better than any hotel ever! I am so happy that we can go back and spend a day there (someday....). Isn't it too bad that it takes a few days to get your rhythm and your expectations in check? :rolleyes1
 
I am soooooooooooooo glad you are back!!!!!

:welcome: back!

Sorry for the not so good meet and greet. :( But so glad you took some time to enjoy GKTW! :goodvibes
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Thank you! Not a big deal at all. Minor in the grand scheme of things.

I am so glad you are back and feeling like finishing your TR. Your girls are so lovely. I am so sorry for all Ali has had to go through health wise...she is such a trooper. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
Thank you! She is a little trooper. You must be getting excited for Chelsea's trip!

Hi Kelly:lovestruc Great to see you back hun. I am sorry that Ali is sick. :hug: I hope the abx kick in soon so she can get to feeling better. I have enjoyed reading your tr. I was really hoping you would come back and finish someday. I understand how hard it was for you. :hug::hug:

I love the Scooby Doo picture.We must have missed them. We actually missed all of the characters at GKTW and the Horse rides too:eek: It just took us way too long to get ready and get out of there :laughing:

That is a beautiful bird picture. I never knew there was a trail back there. We were at the pier alot and looked out over the water so many times. Ty would have loved to go on a trail(of course then we probably couldn't have coaxed him off it;))

Love the pool pics. Looks like it definately a favorite! Sierra loved the pool. Ty only went in it once and I have yet to figure that one out. He loves swimming:confused:
Thank you! No abx at this point. We need to be really conservative because of her allergies. She's hanging in there so far, though! It was a really short trail, but neat. I hope that Ty is doing well!

We loved the pool too. Better than any hotel ever! I am so happy that we can go back and spend a day there (someday....). Isn't it too bad that it takes a few days to get your rhythm and your expectations in check? :rolleyes1
Right?! We'd find ourselves at the parks looking forward to return to the pool! Our senior class trip this year is to grad night at Universal, so we're talking about adding in a shift at GKTW.:goodvibes
 
After spending the morning and early afternoon in the pool, we went back to the villa for a much needed nap. Then, it was off to continue getting the most of the Village.

The girls wanted to stop off in the Castle of Miracles to make a wish and play inside of Ole Elmer, so that was our first stop.

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We also got to see Ali's star.

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Afterwards, it was off to the Amberville Train Station for some fun with the boats.

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Here's a little secret for you all: I hate putt putt. Absolutely hate it. But, it's what the girls wanted to do, so putt we did. Though I was the photographer for this one and got out of actually playing.

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The first time we played, there were no "surprises." I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say the course was designed by Universal Studios, and I did scream more than once.:rolleyes1

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Ali won. Again. She is amazingly good.

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And Maya's not bad either!

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This brought us to dinnertime. We contemplated going out. We had cancelled reservations for O'Hana's because we didn't want to drive in to Disney, but we did think about going to one of the restaurants nearby. In the end, the Gingerbread House won out in the interest of saving some money for our last day at MK.

Next Up: Pirates and Princesses Party!pirate:
 
We really wanted to take the girls to the Pirates and Princesses Party, so we had planned to spend Friday night at the Village. The Bunny Book indicated that it was to be held outside of the movie theater, so that is where we headed after dinner. Nothing was happening. We caught a volunteer who told us that it would be on the Avenue of Angels, but again, all was quiet.

We thought that maybe it was cancelled, so we started to head back towards the villa and that's when we noticed everyone hanging out by the pirate ship near the pool. Duh on us! I don't know why we hadn't thought of that.

The girls were in their glory, as they love tattoos. We could have ended the night right then and there, and they would have been thrilled.

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Then, it was off to have their faces painted.

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I love this picture of Maya. I don't think I could ever do with my legs what she is doing here!

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And the final product!

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After they were done decorating themselves, they decided that they wanted to be pirates and not princesses, so they headed over to the pirate table to get their certificates. I can't say enough about the volunteers, who chatted up the girls and made sure they were having the times of their lives.:love:

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Of course they decided that they also wanted to be princesses. Towards the end of the evening, they called all of the kids up onto the stage for a coronation ceremony. Ali was too overwhelmed to go, but Maya was eager to participate. Here she is on stage with all of the other kids.

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We were finally able to get another picture of Ali after things were quieting down for the evening.

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After the party, the kids fell into bed and were out. We didn't even stop at the playground on our way back to the villa. We wanted them to be well-rested for our second go at MK. We had our evening cocktail out on the patio, and then crawled into bed as well.

Next Up - MK redux. Will the second time be better than the first?
 
Awesome TR!! I love the pictures! :love:

I am bummed that they didn't have more directions for where to go for the Pirates and Princesses Party - I hope other kids didn't miss it? :upsidedow

I can't wait to hear about the 2nd day at MK!!! :goodvibes
 
Great pictures and an awesome time at GKTW!!! Can't wait to see how the second try at Magic Kingdom goes!!:goodvibes
 
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Right?! We'd find ourselves at the parks looking forward to return to the pool! Our senior class trip this year is to grad night at Universal, so we're talking about adding in a shift at GKTW.:goodvibes

WOOHOO!:cool1: That would be so awesome!

I thought it was funny that the girls loved the tattoos and wanted to be both pirates and princesses. pirate: It looked like a fun party!
 
I am really glad you enjoyed the village! That is something that can't always be done and I am so glad to see the kids smiling throughout the night! A pirate princess is quite cool!
 
Just finished reading through your whole trip report! You've done a great job on it, and I love all of your pictures.
 
KELLY!!! It is open!!! Did you know??? :woohoo: I know I have already read it on your blog; however, now everyone else can as well!!! :banana::dance3::yay:
 
Woot woot! Unfortunately, my semester grades are due tomorrow and I still have TONS of papers to grade, so the update will have to wait until then, but I can't wait to transfer it from blogger to here. Maybe tonight if I get my butt moving and my grades done!:banana::banana::banana:
 
Oh, and thank you, thank you, thank you to whichever of the two mods I messaged did this. I really appreciate it!:worship::worship::worship:
 
Just to give you a little background without re-hashing everything. We arrived at Give Kids the World on a Monday and foolishly planned a full day at the Magic Kingdom for Tuesday. It was a disaster. The girls were tired and overwhelmed, it was incredibly hot according to us Northerners, we were way overpacked and left to lug everything around, and on and on and on and on. We honestly were like fish out of water. Very miserable fish.

However, we persevered and after having a very successful day at Animal Kingdom, we decided to give it another go with some very important lessons learned.

1.) Pack light. As in bring nothing except for the absolute bare essentials (sunscreen, tube feeding supplies, autograph books with pens, wallet/pocketbook, and pins for trading). The first time, we packed as though we were preparing for the end of days with no food or drink in sight.

2.) Don't be afraid of that GAC! The GAC is the special card given to all wish families that enables them to skip to the head of the line. Our first day in, we were still uncomfortable with the idea and hesitant to use it (aside from the fact that we didn't really know <em>how</em> to use it. As a result, Ali got very overheated (she can't regulate her temperature) and very miserable.

3.) And finally, have a plan. We thought we had a plan (Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, Epcot on Wednesday, Animal Kingdom on Thursday), but we didn't have a plan for inside the parks. The first time, we let ourselves get swept up in the crowds and ended up in a part of the park we didn't really want to be (Tomorrowland). We ended up wasting a lot of time there and never really getting to what the kids would have enjoyed the most.

So with this all in mind, we decided to attack Magic Kingdom one more time on day six. We were up early and out of the villa with the goal of getting to MK for rope drop. We had breakfast at the ice cream parlor, and while the kids were finishing up, Garth went and got the car so we could hop right in and head over to the park. Unfortunately, we didn't make it there for rope drop, but we did get there pretty darn early.

We also hit a little glitch. The girls' grandparents had misplaced their park tickets. This created a moment of panic in us all considering how much they paid out of pocket for a three day park hopper for two. But, Disney being Disney, it wasn't a problem at all, and before we knew it, we were inside the park. We went right to the stroller rental and picked up a stroller. We did have Ali's stroller with us, but another lesson learned was that it was too hot and too much walking for Maya. She really needed a place to sit in between rides and since wish families get strollers for free, we decided to take advantage of it. Just one more thing that made a huge difference.

After that, we bolted directly towards Fantasyland. This is where the bulk of the rides the girls were interested in are locatedt. First, we walked right on to It's a Small World.

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Already, our day was 100x better than it was the first time we attempted MK. The CM asked us if we wanted to ride a second time, to which all of the adults quickly responded, "No, thank you!" As fun as the sights were, we had all had enough of the music.

After It's a Small World, we headed across the way to Peter Pan. I can't tell you how important it was for us to get there early - Fantasyland was like a ghost town. It was great! For whatever reason, we don't have any pics of the girls on this ride, but they loved it (and so did we). After we went through once, we were asked if we wanted to stay on, which we did.

After riding Peter Pan twice, Ali wanted to go see the castle, and since it was still so quiet, we decided to move in that direction. We couldn't figure out how to get in there from the back (or if it was even possible), but we did meet the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella right outside. Of course, the girls wanted her autograph.

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This is the first time that we encountered rudeness from another guest for using our GAC. We walked up to the CM, showed him the GAC, and explained our situation. He asked us to step aside and after a short wait, the girls would be able to meet the Fairy Godmother. While we were waiting, a man stepped out of line, approached Garth, and said, "Hey, the line is over there," to which my husband graciously responded, "Thank you, I know." The man returned to his spot in line, and no other words were exchanged.

After meeting with the FG, we stepped across the way for another picture in front of the Cinderella statue.

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Despite it being early and not terribly hot yet, Ali was sweating buckets (you can see her hair is wet in the picture), so we took a time out on a bench in the shade to give Ali some extra Pedialyte through her tube. I did have a couple of snacks in the medical bag, so the girls also had a granola bar. While we were sitting there, Peter Pan appeared out of nowhere, crept up behind the FG, and frightened her. It was pretty funny.

After the girls were recharged, we decided to head back to Fantasyland because the girls still wanted to ride Winnie the Pooh and Snow White. Everyone loved Winnie the Pooh (who doesn't?), but the girls were frightened on Snow White. I wasn't frightened, by any means, but wasn't particularly moved, either. Here is one of my favorite pics from the trip.

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Since we wanted to see as much as possible in as short a time as possible, we then headed back towards Mickey's Toontown Fair. Ali really wanted to ride Goofy's Barnstormer, and both girls wanted to meet Tinkerbell and the princesses. We had done the carousel, the teacups, and Dumbo on our first time there, so we figured we would hit those again later if we still had the time and the energy. Here is a rare family photo at the entrance to Toontown.

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We headed straight for the Barnstormer for Ali. We tried so hard to get Maya on it, but after her experience with Space Mountain, it just wasn't happening. So Garth took Ali, and they were lucky enough to get in the first car. Here's Garth giving me a thumbs up to let me know that Ali was liking it so far.

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I don't know who was having more fun: Ali or Daddy?

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After that, we went over to get in line to meet Tinkerbell and the princesses. Since technically the GAC isn't for bypassing the character lines, we were given numbers and escorted to a separate waiting area with seating and videos for the kids. There were a couple of families in front of us, so we waited about twenty minutes before being taken back to meet the Fairies. It was so worth the wait, because when we got back there, we had the entire room to ourselves and were not rushed in any way.

The first Fairy we met was Rosetta. She was absolutely hilarious (and all attitude). She tried her darndest to get the girls to talk. Maya talked a bit, but Ali was just too overwhelmed. You can tell by the look on her face that she was enjoying herself, though.

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The girls were being too quiet for Tink's liking.

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Ali is a delightful although serious child. Tink was great with the girls and even managed to get her to smile!

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After Tink, we were passed over to Silvermist, who sang a fabulously hilarious song about how Tink smelled bad. We were all giggling.

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Silvermist asked the girls if they wanted some "pixie dust," and of course they answered yes. I love Maya's face in this picture.

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Then, we were on our way.

Next Up: Princesses!
 












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