give kids the world/make a wish help

[PrncsAtta]

Hi all,

We will be taking our daughter & 9 yr old neice to disney from 11/4 to 11/9 dd will turn 5 on 11/6. DD has a brain tumor & has been thru 1 yr of chemo & is really looking forward to this trip. I have given dd & dn the Disney for Kids book & told them to pick out 3-4 things from each park that they absolutly want to make sure they see or do. Is this too much? I have heard that we will get passes to the parks & special passes to use inside the parks so we do not have to wait in line so long. Nov should not be an extreemly busy time anyway. But it looks like the girls have picked few of the same things. So we may have a list of 6-8 things that the kids absolutly want to do. I am bringing a stroller for dd & 9 yr old should be ok to walk. We will need breaks during the day & so on. Any input on trips thru make a wish & give kids the world would be helpful.

Also dd & dn both want to do cindy's breakfast I am going to start calling on 9/5 because not sure what the flights will be & so on. So everyone cross you fingers that I can get ressies for cindy's breakfast .

Thanks
PrncsAtta

 

[teri]

Others on this board who have gone through GKTW will probably answer... my understanding is that they will be guiding you, supporting you through the entire process. They have lots of experience with kids with serious medical needs, and everything will be set up for you to go at your best pace. I understand that they also give you some respite time, and perhaps the 9 yo niece can do some things at her pace as well.

Look at the section on the GAC in the FAQ - just click on the link in my signature. Look at the section about pacing as well.

I would recommend that you read the trip planning book out loud - you may want to get the adult/family version of Birnbaum's book and read the descriptions from there, talk about all the things that you may see even if you don't have time to do it all. It is great mental preparation. Trip planning can be very therapeutic, for the child and for you, too! The thing about the kids book is that it assumes that the kids will be going at average pace and will be able to do lots of things that may not be possible on this trip... I would focus on picking out a few key things that are of interest, and then go from there.

Stick around. feel free to ask questions.

 

[SueM in MN]

We have several frequent posters who have done GKTW/ Make a Wish trips. THey will be able to answer a lot of your specific questions about accomidations, etc. From what I have read, your family will be pampered in ways you can't even imagine to help get the best possible experience.
You may find that rest stops in the parks work well for you. Our familiy's experience is that the trip back to the hotel was long and tiring and DD was less interested in resting when we got back to the resort than she was before we left the park. We take small coloring book or game breaks in the afternoon. You can also go to First Aid for a rest if your DD wants to lie down and actually sleep. There is a first Aid in each park. THe staff are nice and the areas are dim and quiet.
We haven't been to WDW in November, but have been in September, which is probably similar. There were few things that we waited more than a few minutes for in September. Even when DH and I went alone in July, the waits weren't as long as we expected and we actually walked in to many things. You will be given a pass that lets you bypass long lines. It is assumed that the WISH kids don't have a lot of energy for waiting in long lines, so I wouldn't worry about that part.
Here's some pixie dust for the PS for Cinderella's castle. If you are not able to get them, the GKTW and MAW volunteers are sometimes able to do magic (don't count on it for sure, but they try their hardest to make things work out).
Click here for a link to Give Kids the World website. My understanding is that most families stay at GKTW village. Sometimes there are too many people coming at the same time and accomidations are somplace else.