how much $$$ needed for MAW trips

[mcmom]

I have to say first I love this board! We will be going to Disney in Feb for my son's MAW (also his 5th birthday)

My question is for all of you htat have went on a MAW trip how much money did you have to spend out of pocket? They won't tell us how much we will get until 2 weeks before our trip. I need to have an idea of how much money we need to come up with out of pocket. We do plan on doing at least one character meal while we are there.

We are so excited this will be our first family trip since Hunter was born! I want to make sure I save enough for this trip so I won't be stressing at the last minutes.

We are also extending his trip on our own to go to the Datyona 500! Hunter is a NASCAR freak second only to his Disney love. So we will be doing that out of pocket and I have already figured that budget out.

Thanks for any all help!
Lori

 

[roseprincess]

Hi Lori,
My dh, dd,ds, and I went to WDW via MAW this past June.
Are you staying at Give Kids the World Village? If you are, MAW budgets about $ 18 per person for meals per day. I know, it doesn't sound like much money. MAW takes into consideration that any families staying at GKTW will eat breakfast and possibly dinner there each day. The meals at GKTW are free( as what I've heard). The budgeted money they give you for the meals is for when you eat lunch or dinner in the parks for that day.
We had opted to stay at an on-site resort instead of GKTW(the Contemporary resort). MAW budgeted about $50 per person per day b/c they knew we would end up eating dinner at the parks and breakfast at the resort or in the parks.

As of things that MAW does not pay for are phone calls from the room, any tips you give at the park restaurants. Any medical emergencies during you trip ( hospital or 24hr clinic).

MAW does pay for your limo to and from the airport, rental car, park Hopper passes, budgetd for meals. they also budget for one character meal and souvenir money. The budgeted souvenir money is $50 per child.

You may want to contact your Wish Granter on all this to verify
the budgeted amts. for meals, souvenirs, etc. If your Wish Granter cannot answer those questions, then I would contact your MAW office that is granting your son's wish and ask to speak with the Wish Coordinator that is coordinating his wish.
You don't know how many times I have called, emailed our Wish Granter on tons of questions for my dd's Wish trip. I have also called the Wish coordinator at our MAW office a handful of times for questions. It may also depend how much money ( the contributions) that your MAW office allows for the trip. if there has been enough contributions that year, etc. Tho, I have heard that if you stay at GKTW, GKTW pays for the Hopper passes to the Disney parks.

I hope this all helps. Our MAW trip was my kids'first trip toWDW as well.We had a wonderful time!
Have a great trip! Keep us posted on how things are going with planning, etc.

Rosemarie

 

[mcmom]

Rosemarie

How many days at the park did you get since you stayed on site? If you stay at GKTW you only get 3 days at the park we were told. There is no way we could get through the parks with my kids in 3 days so we will have to buy at least one or two more days out of pocket.

Thank you for your answers. I think I now have more questions for MAW then answers from them. Our wish granter is very nice but very unorganized which is killing me slowly! I have to have things organized and done ahead of time otherwise I will STRESS out completely.

Thank you!
Lori

 

[gardendame]

Originally posted by mcmom
Rosemarie

If you stay at GKTW you only get 3 days at the park we were told. There is no way we could get through the parks with my kids in 3 days so we will have to buy at least one or two more days out of pocket.

Three free days in the parks, along with free lodging and some free meals a day is quite a blessing. I hope you can relax enough to enjoy such a wonderful gift. This trip for your family is supposed to be relaxing, so try not to stress out too much. Remember, if Mom is stressed, then everyone is stressed. It will all work out.

 

[pumpkinboy]

For budgeting, I like to use The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, as that has some great examples you can use. The Disney edition of the Passporter Guide is also handy.

Good luck and have a great MAW trip!

 

[JinniLynn33]

We are going on our MAW trip in Dec. I too have the same concern about the 3 day pass. On a couple of sites for purchaseing passes it did state that some tickets you can add extra days on the passes. As soon as I confirm a couple of things with the wish coordinator I am going to call WDW and ask if and where we can upgrade these passes when we arrive. I also plan to relax but my son( the wish child) Only wants to go to the 4 WDW parks. I will make this happen. His wish was not to go to Orlando or to Sea World or to Universal. It was Disney World. And I also dont think it is unreasonable to request what would be given in regard to spending money besides, oh it will be plenty. Ok, well you dont know what my son wants to do. Of course I appreciate everything being done, but I need to know where they leave off so I can budget now for that. I will pm you when I get an aswer form WDW

virginia

 

[mcmom]

I so appreciate MAW and what they are doing for us. I am not trying to put that down in any way.
With my little guy he gets tired out easily so we won't be able to stay all day at the parks so it will take us more days to go through it. I don't expect them to pay for our extra's I just want an idea of what to budget for. Military pay doesn't allow for a lot of extra cash floating around so I have to plan this out as much as possible. With deployments and Hunter's seizures we won't get an opportunity to go to DW again for years or unless they station down there (sounds good to me). I so want this to be special for my kids and husband. (ok me too!)

I have the Unoffical Guide Book-my mom bought it for my birthday for me. So I am reading it and everythign on this and other boards to plan as much as possible so while we are there we can relax!

Thanks for the info!
Lori

 

[mcmom]

Thanks Virginia!

It sounds like you all want to do the same thing we want to do. We have been to Sea World in CA and I know it is not the same as the one in FL (big size difference) but my kids want the Disney/Epcot adventure.

Lori

 

[roseprincess]

Lori and Virginia,

My family and I stayed a total of 6 days/5 nights at WDW (this is including traveling days on the plane). If you stay at GKTW, MAW gives you 7 days/6 nights total. That was their policy.
We got into WDW on a Sun late afternoon/early eve. And then we had to leave WDW Friday late afternoon. So we only really had 4 and a half days to be at WDW to enjoy.
As of the Hopper Passes, I found out right before we left for our Wish trip that we only get the 3 day passes. My dh and i did ask for specific requests on his first visit with us for 4 Day Hopper passes. He(wish granter) told us a couple of months later that we were going to get the 4 Day hopper. Well, it never panned out that way. I guess MAW at the office only was allowed to give 3 day hopper passes only, regardless where you are staying. MAW did give us extra money to cover for the 4th day Hopper passes because I requested it.
My dh and I did request several alternative requests for the MAW trip. Besides the WDW passes, we requested instead of Universal Studios and Sea World, we requested Islands of Adventure passes and Typhoon Lagoon( a Disney water park) instead.

I was very assertive with the Wish Granter the whole time with requests and questions as of what my dd wanted. When our Wish granter did his first visit with us, he did say to us that they can personalize the WDW trip for us. So when he said that, that's when we came up with some of these requests. MY dh and I also requested to stay at the Contemporary resort instead of GKTW.
We asked our Wish Granter if this was ok b/c we weren't sure if they would approve this. It was a couple of months later when we found out, yes, they were going to approve for us to stay on-site and also approve the Islands of Adventure request and Typhoon Lagoon request. We were so happy about that!

So, bottom line, be assertive in requesting your needs and ask questions to your wish granter and the MAW office. I really had to follow- up with our Wish Granter and the wish coordinator at MAW. See what they are willing to give you as of your requests.
As I found out, our local Wish office had enough funds, contributions to pay for our trip. I also found out a couple of weeks before our MAW trip that our local MAW office was sending 2 or 3 Wish kids to the summer Olympics. I thought, well, if MAW is paying for Wish kids to go to the Olympics, then they have enough money to pay for our requests, too.

Rosemarie

 

[JinniLynn33]

Hey Lori

Did you see this discount offers for active military personnel? I saw something about it.....maybe that would be a help too. I am also ordering a few of the meal vouchers. Thats the whole big plan at this point.

 

[mcmom]

Rosemarie

Thank you for the info! I don't want to seem ungreatful but I want this to be as special as we can make it for the kids.

Since you stayed on site did you still get the rental car?

THANK YOU I love these boards.

Lori

 

[roseprincess]

Hi,
Rental car: yes, we were still able to qualify for the rental car, even staying on-site. MAW did pay for the rental car.

I did feel a little guilty about asking for so much for our MAW trip, but our Wish granter kept telling my dh and I that the trip was whatever my dd wanted, that it is her wish. I also wanted to make this WDW trip special because my dd and ds has never been to WDW before and it may be another few yrs. until we go again. That's why we requested to stay on-site b/c we knew we would never be able to afford to stay at a deluxe resort ourselves. Also, my kids wanted to experience the monorails, which they loved!

Rosemarie

 

[debbiemomto4]

Hi ! My ds was granted is MAW trip 2 years ago. and it was great. He was almost 3 yrs old and still remembers it. We went back this year and even visited GKTW village and had a ball all over again.
When we went we were granted ours very quickly and sent off the first week in June. GKTW village was overbooked so we knew we were headed for the Boardwalk. We were booked for 7 days 8 nights. We had two adjoining rooms. They were beautiful. We did have to check into GKTW village later that day and pick up our passes. We also received 3 days at Disney , Seaworld admission and Universal One day/ two park tickets. They had given us a check in NY for our meals, tips, souvenirs and incidentals of about $2200. I think . We have 4 kids and they had budgeted $10 for breakfast, $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner for each of us (YIKES) That was a lot of money. We kept telling the kids it's not always going to be like this. We did end up buying 2 day passes for us at the hotel So if you do it ahead of time you'll definitely save money.Military does get a discount. We had a rental minivan and someone met us at the airport to help us get our bags and our car. Thought this was so nice! We ended up not going to Seaworld. It was just too much and not going to Universal. The Universal passes we had expired in 2025 So when we back this time we did use them. Unfortunetly we didn't go back to GKTW on our wish trip except that seond day to pick up our passes. They gave us two hugh bags of toys that first day to make up for not leaving toys on their beds every night. My kids love MAW to this day and always put money in when they see people collecting money for them. When we went back we did spend about 5 hours there to make up for the fact of not spending time the first time.
Have a great trip!

 

[JinniLynn33]

Ok, I got some answers from my wish coodinator today. First of all she told me the budget for Teddy and family was about $1400.......OMG that is insanity. We have a nurse going with us too and I dont know if that is for him to eat also. I just sent another email. She also said that the 3 day pass can't be added onto, I think I am going to em Disney Customer Care and ask them anyway More to follow................. Oh yeah she wants to know which character meal we wan t her to book........any ideas? recocomendations?

Virginia

 

[mcmom]

Virgina

I haven't been yet we are scheduled to go in Feb 05 but I just got off the phone with our wish granter and she was telling me some of the scheduled events that happen each week at the villiage. (I hope she is right)

Monday and Thrusday breakfast with the characters from Disney at the GKTW.

Monday night's Sea World Pool Party at the Villiage

Thursday nights is Christmas at the Village

Friday nights is Barney and Friends visit the Village

I was also told that food allowence is $25 per adult per day and $15 per child per day as well as $50 film allowence for the trip, 75 souv. allowence per child and 45 souv allowence per adult. She said there is suppose to be an odds and ends amount for gas, tips, and whatever little things that always come up.

I am still waiting on answers as far as park tickets. She said there is an itenerary we are to follow. Day one arrive and do check in at GKTW and get all tickets and information for our trip. Day 2-5 is spent at the Disney parks (MK, Epcot, AK, MGM) and day 6 is at either Sea World or Universal (your choice) day 7 is check out of GKTW and fly home.

So far this is all I have been told.

Lori

 

[roseprincess]

Virginia,
As of which character breakfast your son wants to go to, you could see what characters he likes, ie Mickey Mouse,etc.
My dd (the wish child) wanted to meet Minnie real bad. So we picked Chef Mickey's, it is at the Contemporary resort.
At Chef Mickey's,we had a ball! Once they know you are from MAW, the characters give the Wish child and family extra special attention. Make sure you wear your MAW buttons there, so the waitress and characters know who you are. Chip and Dale gave my dd and ds extra attention by cutting their food, feeding them, really cute! We have all of the breakfast on video. Then Minnie and eventually Mickey come out. We were able to get a family picture with Mickey, another family took our picture. Make sure also to bring autograph books with you. All the characters sign the books when they make their way to each table.

Unfortuately, I'm not familiar with any other character meals,ie Cinderella's castle, etc. This is the only character meal we have been to. Not sure if your ds would be interested in any female characters,ie. Cinderella's castle and the one at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian.
IMO, if you have a son and daughter, like I do, Chef Mickey's is nice because you have the female characters, Minnie Mouse and Dale. then you have the male characters, Mickey Mouse and Chip.
I hope this helps.

 

[JinniLynn33]

Ok I got the official word from my son today.........he just wants whichever has the best food, lol. He said he would have liked the Villians meal but the rest dont matter. Oh when did my chidren become so grown?

Does anyone know if we have to pay to park if you staying at GKTW? If so isnt there somewhere where I can get a parking pass? like AAA or somethig?

Virginia

 

[cuddlebugz]

If you find out about paying for parking well you let me know to please.

Also does anyone have any ideas for comfy shoes for my 8yr.old DD. She is newly diabitic and her feet are pretty senisitive.. I know there is alot of walking involed but am wondering if I should get her a good pair of walking shoes and which kind would be good?? If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Thanks.... Tammi

 

[SueM in MN]

I am quite certain that parking passes are included for MAW trips. You could ask your MAW contact person.

For the shoes; the best thing I have found is to go and try on a whole bunch of shoes. If they are not comfy in the store, they will not be comfy later on. One of the most important things is to make sure the heels fit. If they move up and down while she walks, they will make blisters on her heels. Which shoes are best depends a lot on her feet and what shape they are. Some shoe brands are made with more narrow heels, some with wider ones. Same for the toe area.
Then, break them in before you go. Bring moleskin to pad any parts of the shoes that rub. Moleskin is like thin, soft felt fabric with adhesive on one side. You can find it in drug stores by the foot care items.

For character meals, some are buffets and some have you order from the menu. One buffet that I know is very good is the Crystal Palace in MK. The food is excellent and is all you can eat. There is a lot of variety, a counter of kid friendly food like Mac and Cheese and Chicken Nuggets and they have a dessert bar. The characters are Pooh and his friends. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Cinderella's Castle includes the Disney Princesses. You order off a menu.

 

[barrysprot36]

I thought, well, if MAW is paying for Wish kids to go to the Olympics, then they have enough money to pay for our requests, too.

I can't believe how greedy and ungrateful this person sounds

Our DS2 was very fortunate to beoffered a wish trip to DLP by the UK branch of MAW and we were really grateful for anything they provided for us.

The circumstances of these children going to the Olympics is an unknown factor. MAW try to provide Wishes for as many children as possible.

I know I may get my head bitten off here however, from reading this and other threads about MAW most (not all) seem to think it's their given right to receive as much as they possibly can from MAW. IMO these people sound really greedy and ungrateful

Everyone wants the best for their own kids but wanting more because others have got more is a disgrace.