Make a Wish (and other organizations!) - Wish Trippers...UNITE!! Volume 2!

[StefaniLyn]

Thank you everyone who made my family an i feel welcome here on Disboards!! We love how much info we got from everyone! A Pre-TR will go up as soon as I can upload pics of the Fam!

Annastesia

Do you have dates for your Wish Trip yet? We will be at GKTW Dec 3-9th. Your family sounds amazing and I'm so glad everyone on here was able to answer your questions (much better and faster than I could, lol ) I'm looking forward to reading your PTR. Make sure you post on here when you get it started!

 

[SueM in MN]

a few things I don't think I covered (but they are in the disABILITIES FAQs in the air travel part):
Wheelchairs can be gate checked. Ask about this as soon as you check in. They may give you a gate check tag right away or tell you to check in with the gate agent for gate checking. When you get to the gate, tell the agent there that you want to preboard and ask about gate checking before they start loading. They used to automatically preboard anyone with a wheelchair, but don't always preboard any more unless you ask (some people with disabilities did not want to preboard and felt it discriminated against them to make them preboard).
You will be able to keep your wheelchair until the door of the plane, but wheelchairs are too wide to fit down the aisle. They do have smaller aisle wheelchairs available if you need one (picture in the disABILITIES FAQs thread.)

After getting out of the wheelchair, if there are things that stick out (like cupholders, etc that may be attached) or things that are not screwed or bolted on, it is best to remove and carry them on if you can. My DD's wheelchair seat and back have gel in them, to avoid any problems with them getting too cold or getting pierced during the flight, I remove them and carry them on. Her armrests just lift off, so I lift those off and carry them on too. I actually carry a large nylon laundry bag to put the wheelchair pieces in after I remove them. The bag folds up very small into a pocket on one of our suitcases and putting things in it helps ensure I have not left anything at the gate. Some people take a picture of the wheelchair with their cell phone or digital camera to prove what condition it was when they left is at the gate. Contrary to popular belief, wheelchairs are not loaded in a separate baggage area; they are packed with other baggage, so damage is possible, although in at least once a year travel for over 20 years, the only damage DD's wheelchair has had was a bent antitip bar.

Wheelchairs are put in the plane last and unloaded first, but you may still have to wait until the plane is almost empty before your wheelchair is delivered to the gate. Ask the Flight Attendant to let you know when the wheelchair arrives.
At that point, I usually get off so I can put the wheelchair back together before DH brings DD off the plane.
If you need an aisle chair, they will usually make you wait to get off until all the other passengers have gotten off.

One more possibility to mention - IF the plane has a closet, IF your wheelchair can be folded to fit into the closet and IF there is room in the closet, each flight is supposed to have room to store one wheelchair on board.
Those are all big IFs. Many flights don't have a closet and if the Gate Agent boards First Class passengers before those with special needs and they fill up the closet, you won't have that option.

Anyway, good luck with your travel.

 

[MomTo4+more]

I just love how quickly answers are given on here. Thanks!

 

[Matt1026]

We are 3 weeks from today away from leaving. So I have been trying to get everything in order. I do have a question. We know with all of the extra purchases and all that we will be making is there a place that we can ship things back home. We were trying to figure the best way to do this. My DH suggested that we fold a duffle bag in one of our suitcases but I did not know if it would be cheaper to ship something than to check an extra bag. I just wanted to see what anyone else may of done. I kow one of my sons is hoping to purchase a train set from either Disney or the Lego store and I was thinking how hard was that to get back home.

 

[SueM in MN]

I kow one of my sons is hoping to purchase a train set from either Disney or the Lego store and I was thinking how hard was that to get back home.

You can arrange to have things shipped home at the time that you purchase them.
This is pretty common since so many people buy things that are too big to fit in their suitcases.

 

[StefaniLyn]

We are 3 weeks from today away from leaving. So I have been trying to get everything in order. I do have a question. We know with all of the extra purchases and all that we will be making is there a place that we can ship things back home. We were trying to figure the best way to do this. My DH suggested that we fold a duffle bag in one of our suitcases but I did not know if it would be cheaper to ship something than to check an extra bag. I just wanted to see what anyone else may of done. I kow one of my sons is hoping to purchase a train set from either Disney or the Lego store and I was thinking how hard was that to get back home.

Bring an extra duffle and decide once you see all the extra stuff you have. If it will fit in your bag and you can carry it on, just bring it with you. I think bags run $15-40 depending on your airline. Shipping can get pretty pricey and you might even have to pay extra for a box and packing materials depending on where you go. If you can bring it with you on the plane in a duffle you brought along, you'll save some $$ and the risk of damage is much less.

 

[cleostar09]

Do you have dates for your Wish Trip yet? We will be at GKTW Dec 3-9th. Your family sounds amazing and I'm so glad everyone on here was able to answer your questions (much better and faster than I could, lol ) I'm looking forward to reading your PTR. Make sure you post on here when you get it started!

Yes we have our dates. We'll be at GKTW Nov. 30th-Dec. 6th. So we might run into each other!!! I will keep everyone here up to date as we get closer to our trip day and I will definitely post my PTR on here sometime in the near future. I really can't wait to post my TR though! It's so exciting to read how everyone's MAW trips went for them!

 

[Matt1026]

MAW called today. I was surprised being Sunday and all but they were calling to see where we wanted to fly out of. This has all seemed like a dream and I was sharing with my DH it is really happening we are really going!!!!! One good thing about them calling was I was able to ask to see if we could get our flight information any sooner. We were suppose to find out 8 days before we left at our celebration party but I was hoping that we could find out sooner. We are so excited!!!!!

 

[wkualum]

MAW called today. I was surprised being Sunday and all but they were calling to see where we wanted to fly out of. This has all seemed like a dream and I was sharing with my DH it is really happening we are really going!!!!! One good thing about them calling was I was able to ask to see if we could get our flight information any sooner. We were suppose to find out 8 days before we left at our celebration party but I was hoping that we could find out sooner. We are so excited!!!!!

Of course it's really happening!! Can't wait to hear about your flights.

 

[LindaBabe]

If your purchases are from off property or other than Disney, there's a postoffice on Palm Parkway near Disney World, and one in Celebration. Unfortunately, the Post office in Kissimmee is not convenient to GKTW, being about 4 miles in the opposite direction from theme parks and many traffic lights.

There is also a UPS 24 hour shipping center next door to the Sheraton on the corner of Palm Parkway and 535 ~2 blocks from the Crossroads shopping center.

 

[Andreaswish]

HI everyone,

We are heading for Ann Arbor, MI tomorrow for our pre-op tests. Andrea is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. surgery to replace her Rastelli conduit. The surgery should take around 5 hours. Andrea is almost 9 years old, she will turn 9 next Sunday.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

We will keep udates on her carepage and on my facebook page. I will try to post on her when I can.

www.carepages.com become a member and visit andreaavinklovespugs

Diane Timmer Avink (Facebook)

Thank you to everyone who helped us plan our trip in June 2009. We had a wonderful trip.

God Bless you all and your families,

Diane

 

[Somer]

Have I sent you a planner yet?

I havn't gotten a planner, I'd love one!

 

[Somer]

is universal studios seperate from disney world? we wanted to go to islands of adventure, so how does that work? can we go there with regular park hopper tickets, or is it seperate tickets?

 

[alizesmom]

HI everyone,

We are heading for Ann Arbor, MI tomorrow for our pre-op tests. Andrea is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. surgery to replace her Rastelli conduit. The surgery should take around 5 hours. Andrea is almost 9 years old, she will turn 9 next Sunday.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

We will keep udates on her carepage and on my facebook page. I will try to post on her when I can.

www.carepages.com become a member and visit andreaavinklovespugs

Diane Timmer Avink (Facebook)


Thank you to everyone who helped us plan our trip in June 2009. We had a wonderful trip.

God Bless you all and your families,

Diane

Sending prayers for a successful surgery and easy, fast recovery. Karen

 

[Matt1026]

HI everyone,

We are heading for Ann Arbor, MI tomorrow for our pre-op tests. Andrea is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. surgery to replace her Rastelli conduit. The surgery should take around 5 hours. Andrea is almost 9 years old, she will turn 9 next Sunday.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

We will keep udates on her carepage and on my facebook page. I will try to post on her when I can.

www.carepages.com become a member and visit andreaavinklovespugs

Diane Timmer Avink (Facebook)

Thank you to everyone who helped us plan our trip in June 2009. We had a wonderful trip.

God Bless you all and your families,

Diane

We will be praying for Andrea and your family!!!

 

[MomTo4+more]

is universal studios seperate from disney world? we wanted to go to islands of adventure, so how does that work? can we go there with regular park hopper tickets, or is it seperate tickets?

Islands of Adventure is one of the parks at Universal. It is seperate from Disney. If you are staying at GKTW, you get two tickets to Universal in addition to your tickets for Disney.

 

[StefaniLyn]

HI everyone,

We are heading for Ann Arbor, MI tomorrow for our pre-op tests. Andrea is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. surgery to replace her Rastelli conduit. The surgery should take around 5 hours. Andrea is almost 9 years old, she will turn 9 next Sunday.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

We will keep udates on her carepage and on my facebook page. I will try to post on her when I can.

www.carepages.com become a member and visit andreaavinklovespugs

Diane Timmer Avink (Facebook)

Thank you to everyone who helped us plan our trip in June 2009. We had a wonderful trip.

God Bless you all and your families,

Diane

Andrea is in our prayers! Thanks for keeping us updated!

 

[Somer]

Islands of Adventure is one of the parks at Universal. It is seperate from Disney. If you are staying at GKTW, you get two tickets to Universal in addition to your tickets for Disney.

oh thanks

 

[wkualum]

HI everyone,

We are heading for Ann Arbor, MI tomorrow for our pre-op tests. Andrea is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. surgery to replace her Rastelli conduit. The surgery should take around 5 hours. Andrea is almost 9 years old, she will turn 9 next Sunday.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

We will keep udates on her carepage and on my facebook page. I will try to post on her when I can.

www.carepages.com become a member and visit andreaavinklovespugs

Diane Timmer Avink (Facebook)

Thank you to everyone who helped us plan our trip in June 2009. We had a wonderful trip.

God Bless you all and your families,

Diane

Prayers were lifted for Andrea and your entire family.

 

[Bill_Lin]

I just popped in to see what is up with the thread. I am THRILLED to see that it is still going strong. Thanks to Wendy Grace for created the original thread way back when.

A lot of us live on Facebook now. There are several sites for GKTW, fans, volunteers, news, etc. there. You can find many of us from the thread on those posts. If you want my Facebook id... just PM me.

Lysi is still cancer free and going strong. She is a true miracle. My brother-in-laws daughter is a CM now, so we may go there on our way to visit my SIS in Costa Rica next summer.

Blessings to all... PLEASE... ask me any questions you have about planning your Wish Trip.

HUGS TO ALL.

Bill