Joshua's Wish Trip dates TBA to WWHP and WDW Pre-Trip Report

[Mama2Josh]

Hi all! I just found the DisBoards a couple days ago, and am really excited I did. We just found out last month that my son, Joshua, will be having his wish to go to WWHP and WDW granted by MAW.

Joshua was born with a congenital heart defect called Critical Aortic Valve Stenosis. This meant his aortic valve was incredibly narrow (stenosed) and he was only given a 40% chance of survival - even with surgery. He had emergency surgery when he was born, and then open heart surgery to replace his aortic and pulmonary valves when he was 3 mos old. His most recent surgery was April 10th, another open heart to replace his donor valve on the pulmonary side. To our amazement (as well as his cardiologist's) Josh got to go home on Friday, April 13th. I called home to let my fiance, Eric (who had gone home to grab a nap), know we were coming home and he told me there was a MAW letter waiting for us. Being impatient as I am, I had him open it, and it was the great news that MAW would be granting Joshua's wish. What a fantastic day that was!!

Our family is made up of me (Tara), my fiance, Eric, Joshua who is now 8 and Eric's daughter Lexi, who is also 8. Lexi only lives with us part-time, but she and Josh have been best friends since they were 5 and will soon be siblings, so we're hoping MAW will include her in the trip. We are currently waiting to hear back from MAW as to when we will be going, but we are hoping for October (to avoid heat and some of the crowds).

We all live in Portland, Oregon with 2 cats (Koda and Cheshire) and 4 chickens (Lucille, Lucretia, Luann and Louise).

Joshua (Jan 2012):

Lexi (Jan 2012):

 

[blessedmom4]

Hi Tara, I am Judy, Another Heart Mom!
Joshua and Lexi are both precious! We had my daughter, Lisa's, MAW this past October and 8 was a WONDERFUL age to go on a Wish Trip!
You WILL have the most amazing time!

CONGRATULATIONS and

​

to the DIS!!!!​

 

[Lilfoot93]

Hi Tara. I am another heart mom. I too just found these boards as we found out recently our son will be granted a wish. I assure he will have a great time!

Jackie

 

[Mama2Josh]

So... we haven't heard anything since Josh's MAW team was here to meet him. I tried emailing them to ask what we should expect now, but no word. Guess we just keep waiting. Josh really wants to know when we're going and if Lexi gets to come along though.

 

[Lilfoot93]

Sorry you haven't heard anything back yet. Hopefully you find out something soon and Lexi gets to join you on Josh's MAW trip.

Jackie

 

[Moodyzblu]

Hi .... another heart mom here too !!

My son, Jayden has Tetralogy of Fallot and had his wish trip in April. It was an amazing experience. Looking forward to hearing about your journey.

 

[Mama2Josh]

We're STILL waiting on hearing back from MAW. They had to send us the paperwork again for more signatures, but now I think everything on our end is done. Now just waiting to hear from them where/when we're going. We were hoping for October, and that's coming up soon, so hopefully we'll be hearing from them shortly!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Hang in there ! Hope you hear soon.

 

[Mama2Josh]

Yay! MAW was here Tuesday to let Josh know that he will get to go to WWHP AND WDW AND Seaworld!!! AND Lexi gets to go too! We are so super excited. As I'm writing this, Josh is playing Disneyland Adventures on the Xbox, telling me how he just can't wait to go. We should have our dates any day now. We will be going either the week of Halloween or the week before. I'll post more soon - just wanted to give a quick update!

 

[maroo]

Hi!!

I linked you on the Wish Trippers thread! So hopefully you will get some more people following you guys over here! We have a lot of heart mom's on here - so hopefully you will connect with some new friends who "get it!" I am so glad Lexi is going to be able to go!

 

[Lilfoot93]

I am so glad that Lexi gets to come too! Hopefully you will get your dates soon. It is coming up fast!

Jackie

 

[Mama2Josh]

Maroo - Thanks for linking this! And I want to just say how thankful I am for this forum and all the great people here - You all have been more helpful than you can imagine, even if I lurk more than I post!

So, no dates yet (but we know it'll be October), but I did talk to MAW Oregon this morning. They are still waiting on the paperwork from Josh's cardiologist to get clearance to travel. I know she'll clear him, because she told us at our last appointment. I find it rather amusing because his doctor is on the Board for MAW. Anyway, MAW is going to call her today and re-fax the paperwork if necessary, so we should have dates very shortly.
They also told me that we would more than likely be staying at GKTW!!! But nothing has been finalized yet, pending that darn paperwork. lol But still - YAY!!!!!
We had Lexi this weekend, and she and Josh and I watched some videos online and a special on the travel channel about WDW - every attraction that came on they were both "We HAVE to go on that one!!!" It was so much fun to see them getting excited about it. I also learned that the kids had no idea who Shamu is, so now I need to dig up some vids on SeaWorld.
I've read some place that MAW gives you an itinerary for your trip - what should I be expecting from that? Is it very structured, or is it more "You get 2 days at Universal, 3 at WDW and 1 at SeaWorld" and the rest is up to us? I'm just trying to see how much planning I can do (I'm a bit of a control freak), and the kids want to make lists of what they want to see at each park.
For those of you who have done WWHP, do you have any tips for us? That's the biggest draw for the kids - they are both huge HP fans! I'm trying to comb through the boards for all the tips I can find, but any additional tips on WWHP, WDW or SeaWorld are greatly appreciated!
Oooooh, it's getting so close!

 

[Moodyzblu]

We didn't get an itinerary. It was just pretty much 3 days Disney, 2 days Universal and 1 day Sea World. The rest was up to me to plan. The only thing I had no control over was the flights and times .. they took care of that !

Jaydens wish was WWoHP so we had a special day to go to there since they had arranged for a VIP visit for us, so that was the only day they had planned for us and i didn't know that until we got to GKTW ! But thats ok, we had no firm plans anyway.
WWoHP was really the highlight of our trip .. we loved it SO much ! We ended up doing it twice. Make sure to take advantage of your GAC card from them because it is very packed there and not having to wait in line help with time.
We didn't use a stroller the first day there and were regretting it later .. there is a LOT walking !
The 3 broomsticks was a great place to eat (our favorite of the trip) and you can get Butterbeer in there (a MUST try for Harry Potter fans )

Good luck with your planning !!

 

[Mama2Josh]

Oh good, so I can give the kids relatively free rein on what they want to see and when.
What's a GAC card?

 

[Moodyzblu]

The GAC is a card that you'll get at orientation at GKTW that will pretty much get you front of the line access to everything .. Even character greets. It really is a blessing and saves lots of time. They give you one to both universal and Disney. But I have to say, Universal really went all out to make us feel special. Like we didn't even go through lines ... They took us through the back or straight to the front. It was awesome!
I usually let the kids determine what we do .. This is what the trip is all about after all !

 

[Lilfoot93]

I asked our MAW chapter if they set the itinerary or if we planned what would be happening. They said since Trev's wish is Star Wars Weekend they will plan that and the rest is up to us. We will be going sometime in May. Harry Potter sounds fun! I think my husband and I will have to talk the kids into going and checking it out!

Jackie

 

[lakinbum93]

Hello to you from yet another heart mama! Seems like we are along the exact same lines of our son's trip! I messaged our MAW grantor and she said that they were still waiting for approval from the doctor. We picked either Nov or Dec, so I don't know if they'll have enough time to get it all scheduled or not. Seems like "fly by the seat of your pants" is the norm! Which drives me crazy because I'm a planner, as I have noticed most on here are!

Looking forward to sharing this journey together and learning from each other's experiences!

Jamie

 

[Mama2Josh]

We've got our dates! Oct 29 - Nov 4! And we're staying at GKTW!! So super excited!!!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hello there! Stopping by and happy to see another Oregonian with a trip going

Wonderful to hear Joshua's wish was granted and that you have confirmation for GKTW! I am a volunteer wish granter for MaW here in southern Oregon and am always happy to hear about the Disney wish trips!

As far as the itineraries I know you and the other wish trip peeps on this thread are in good hands. Whenever there is a travel wish it is actually the destination's wish team that brings it all together once the approval process is finished. And the Orlando wish team is the biggest in the nation!

I know they'll make it a great mix of low impact and high excitement

 

[Lilfoot93]

Yay for dates!! It is coming up fast! I can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Jackie