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

[maroo]

We thought Universal was fantastic too and more aware of wish kids than Disney!! We were amazed at how they would pick us out of the crowd and drag us to a ride or to a private character meet! One ride we didn't see someone to show the button to, so we just got in the regular line. It was a short line, and not a big deal at all, but we got in trouble at the end and were told "under NO circumstances, were we EVER to wait in any lines!!". They felt SO bad that we'd went through a line, it was actually quite humorous!!

Aw...I am so sad we didn't do Universal. It was not even in our plans because there was so much that Lauren could not do or was not interested in.

I still have not seen it?

But that is awesome!

And this is the 4th time I have seen a Wish Family say that they got "in trouble" for waiting in line.

 

[macntosh]

Thanks so much for the info! We might can squeeze it in one day....we will have to play it by ear!

I think the package of tickets at the end of your trip cover's Sea World Texas. After staying at GKTW, you get a free years of tickets to many parks across the US.

 

[Andreaswish]

Those of you that have done Universal what were you and your kids favorites? Did you do both parks? How long did you spend at the park??

I was trying to decide if we would try going to Universal or not?? I have seen lots of posts that said they were treated better than at Disney.

Any advice on Universal would be wonderful

Diane

 

[Momto2redheads]

Maroo: Your wish is my command

Regarding the rides at US/IOA...we actually didn't get to Islands of Adventure. The IOA rides are, for the most part, the bigger "thrill" rides and we just aren't into mega-roller coaster type rides. Another family that was staying at GKTW split up that day and the older-braver teens went to IOA and the rest of the family went to US. I think Universal was open from 9:00 to 7:00 yesterday. We arrived around 10 and left around 5-ish. This included a leisurely lunch at one of the restaurants there. We loved the rides at Universal. Some of our favorites were Shrek 4-D, The Simpsons Ride and Jaws. Also Disaster was a favorite; so was Twister, ET, and Terminator 2D and Men in Black. We really enjoyed them all. I'm trying to think of a bad one and one just isn't coming to mind. Many of the rides are simulator type rides or 3-D/4-D movies. My Sami absolutely loves those types of rides and activities. Her favorite would be The Simpsons Ride. I liked it a lot, but I sure do wish I had taken my Dramamine. We were front row and vertigo set in for me, but both my daughters and my husband adored it. My husband's favorite was Terminator. My older daughter loved Men in Black and ET.

True story: You know you are in 4-D movie overload when you go to Wal-mart; pick up a four-pack of Pepsi for the Villa and when the clerk accidently catches her nail on the pull tab and Pepsi shoots up like a geyser out of the bag- your first thought is "wow, cool effect"....

Tammy B

 

[Momto2redheads]

Sea World...Does anyone have access to your book that we all got when we left? Doesn't it have Sea World as a free park to go to once next year? I can't find Laurens...and it is CRAZY here right now (can you say sitcom?!?!?!?!)[/QUOTE]


Well...I looked in our book and Sea World wasn't listed. The places in Florida include Shipwreck Island, Lion Country Safari, Silver Springs, Wonder Works, Celebration Station, Ripley's Believe it or not, Boomers Boca Raton, Boomers Dania and Kennedy Space Center. I'm not seeing Sea World anywhere else either. (Isn't there a Sea World in Ohio?) There's a Georgia Aquarium in Georgia, a few waterparks, but no Sea World. Texas has Six Flags, Schlitterbahn, Splashtown, Natural Bridge Caverns and Zuma Fun Centers.

That was a very exciting deal that I wasn't aware of...it made the trip seem a little "extended". I have to admit though, when I first read this, I thought we had to pick just one. I'm excited all over again now knowing that it can be used multiple times for one year. I'm going to have to start planning summer trips. With the vacation-over blues kicking in, I am going to try and kick it by planning some fun mini trips for the summer. Yay!

Tammy B

 

[ndloewen]

Those of you that have done Universal what were you and your kids favorites? Did you do both parks? How long did you spend at the park??

I was trying to decide if we would try going to Universal or not?? I have seen lots of posts that said they were treated better than at Disney.

Any advice on Universal would be wonderful

Diane

I would definately recommend trying to get to Universal for a day. We really enjoyed it. We spent the bulk of our day at Islands of Adventure. Seussland was the favorite with our kids (Noah was able to do most of the rides there - definately for the younger kids). They also do a show with the Suess characters, and after the show, we had a great meet/greet with them. There are a few big thrill rides that all my kids were too small for, but Spiderman they could do and it was amazing!! Definately a favorite! We went to meet Spiderman after the ride, and when they saw Noah's button, they set up a private meet/greet with all the Superheros (sounds like they do this quite regularly). We got some GREAT pictures!!

Jurassic Park is an excellent ride too. The Toon Lagoon section has a couple of water rides, and let me tell you...you get DRENCHED!!! I recommend wearing ponchos unless you want to spend the rest of the day feeling very squishy!! We really enjoyed our time there.

We then hopped over to UStudios for the end of the day. We didn't have much time to spend there, but we did the Simpsons ride and Men in Black which we all loved. Wish we could have spent more time there.

 

[queengonzo]

...and we are sooo sad... It has been a fabulous week. I couldn't have asked for things to go better; Sami stayed well; everyone had a blast...we were all this close (-) to bursting into tears as we pulled away from GKTW.
I have missed a lot of posts in the past week or so, but I just wanted to check back in. I plan on sticking around a while to answer any questions that I can, since you 'all have been so great to me. While it is fresh on my mind, here are a few things that I wish I had known before I left:......

...................

Tammy B

THANK YOU!!! i got sooo excited reading all about your exciting trip!! we are really getting PUMPED!!! i can't even IMAGINE by reading all of everyones trips how the MAW kids and families get treated...i think i will end up CRYING most of the time if they put us in the front and such....i REALLY!!! wow...

i get really sentimental now since we started this journey and matthew got his wish. i know that at first, i felt like MAYBE people where thinking, "why are THEY getting a wish?" nobody ever said it but i just FELT like that...but i had to get over that because i LOOK at my little boy and see what he has gone thru and KNOW that this WISH is just such a BLESSING not only for him but for all of us....i don't know how i am going to handle the whole thing because i am sooooo emotional right now....we just got our WELCOME package from GKTW from MAYOR CLAYTON and there i went again getting all teary eyed....seeeing that YES, it is going to happen in almost 2 weeks...well, i hope when it finally get's here i have my emotions under control!!! i might be a MESS by the time it arrives!!

anyway, i am so happy that you had such a WONDERFUL time....i will probably be just like you kicking and screaming NOT to leave that place!!! i am probably be a watering pot again when that time comes!!

thanks for all hte WONDERFUL advice/ideas....

 

[llurgy]

We did US and IOA and loved it!
Becca adored the Simpsons ride, it was her absolute favorite ride of the whole trip and we went on it 3 times throughout the day.
If it hadn't been for the long trek into US/IOA from the car park we would have probably have gone back again on one of our Disney short days but unfortunately it takes a real long time to get from the car park to the Park entrance and that's taking into account we parked disabled.
At US/IOA we were treat like royalty, we never stood in line, got to stay on rides if we wished and were just made a total fuss of.
We went to US/IOA for our first park and whilst the MAW treatment at Disney was good and everything flowed well it just wasnt as "special" as US/IOA.

Mandy

 

[Andreaswish]

Thanks for the advice on the Universal parks. I think I am going to call our Wish granter and travel agent to see if we can leave on an earlier flight Monday, June 8 and extend our trip one night so we can go to Universal parks for a whole day. Otherwise we will have only a half a day at Universal.

I talked to my parents and they said they would pay for the hotel room for the extra night if we can arrange it. They want to make this trip a special trip for all of to remember. If only my husband had that attitude it would be great. He is not as excited about the trip as the rest of us are.

Keep the advice coming.

Thanks again,

Diane

 

[Soon2B4]

The SeaWorld in Ohio closed.....

 

[Andreaswish]

DO you have to give back the tickets when you leave? We are leaving Saturday afternoon or Sunday (if we can extend it). We were hoping to use the Disney ticket or universal on Saturday. Can we use them?

I have a message into our MAW manager to see if we can change our flights.
If she doesn't call back soon I will call the travel agent in charge of Andrea's wish travels. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Please help if you can.

Diane

 

[maroo]

DO you have to give back the tickets when you leave? We are leaving Saturday afternoon or Sunday (if we can extend it). We were hoping to use the Disney ticket or universal on Saturday. Can we use them?

I have a message into our MAW manager to see if we can change our flights.
If she doesn't call back soon I will call the travel agent in charge of Andrea's wish travels. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Please help if you can.

Diane

Yes! Any tickets that you have you get to keep. As long as they are not expired, you can use them!

Gosh, I hope you get to extend it!! I highly recommend it!

 

[5dwarves]

DO you have to give back the tickets when you leave? We are leaving Saturday afternoon or Sunday (if we can extend it). We were hoping to use the Disney ticket or universal on Saturday. Can we use them?

I have a message into our MAW manager to see if we can change our flights.
If she doesn't call back soon I will call the travel agent in charge of Andrea's wish travels. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Please help if you can.

Diane

Ditto to what Maroo said. The tickets are yours. They do expire 14 days after the first use and since they are comp tickets you can't "enhance" them. We wanted to add a day to them, but couldn't. We would have had to buy a new ticket package (and that was more expensive.) We were there in July/August and our SeaWorld tickets expired 12/31 of the same year.

 

[5dwarves]

Thanks for the advice on the Universal parks. I think I am going to call our Wish granter and travel agent to see if we can leave on an earlier flight Monday, June 8 and extend our trip one night so we can go to Universal parks for a whole day. Otherwise we will have only a half a day at Universal.

I talked to my parents and they said they would pay for the hotel room for the extra night if we can arrange it. They want to make this trip a special trip for all of to remember. If only my husband had that attitude it would be great. He is not as excited about the trip as the rest of us are.

Keep the advice coming.

Thanks again,

Diane

Wait until he gets there...he'll perk up! When he sees how much the rest of the family is enjoying themselves and how well that GKTW and Disney magic work, he will come around.

 

[5dwarves]

Those of you that have done Universal what were you and your kids favorites? Did you do both parks? How long did you spend at the park??

I was trying to decide if we would try going to Universal or not?? I have seen lots of posts that said they were treated better than at Disney.

Any advice on Universal would be wonderful

Diane

I would recommend going to Universal if you can. It is worth the time. We did not get treated well at US, but did get better service at IOA. It was really HOT, so that might have played into it. The accomodations and enthusiasm for us as a wish family at WDW were head and shoulders above Universal when we were there. I stood in front of an ICEE stand to get something to cool everyone off. I was the only person there and stood there for some time before the young man acknowledged me. When he finally did his response was "yeah...what?" Not, "can I take your order." I am glad to see that others have said they got good service there. We did not. That was also 2 years ago though, so Universal Team Members may have worked on their manners. Truthfully, I had to be talked into going back to IOA after US, but since we had an ADR with Spiderman, I went, and I am glad that I did...it was much better than US was. The only disappointment there was that it was a soggy day, and none of the characters come out in bad weather. My boys were hoping to see Captain America, Hulk and Wolverine, and were disappointed that the rain kept them from appearances. One of the best experiences we had on our whole trip was the ADR at Universal though. Spiderman was awesome, as were Cat in the Hat and the Thing twins.

It is a long hike to the park from the parking garage area though (think 5K). Most of it is on motorized sidewalks, but if you have mobility devices (scooters or wheel chairs) they cannot go on the sidewalks.

 

[WishMom09]

Crystal palace question....I hear it is good food...and it is inside MK...love both of these things....but I can't stand Winnie The Pooh (don't know why...just never have been a fan...sorry) So in turn my kids have not seen much of Pooh and friends.
I have been trying to get reservations at Chef Mickey's..no such luck!
So I was considering trying for Crystal Palace.....should I or keep trying for CM's?
What would you do?

 

[5dwarves]

Crystal palace question....I hear it is good food...and it is inside MK...love both of these things....but I can't stand Winnie The Pooh (don't know why...just never have been a fan...sorry) So in turn my kids have not seen much of Pooh and friends.
I have been trying to get reservations at Chef Mickey's..no such luck!
So I was considering trying for Crystal Palace.....should I or keep trying for CM's?
What would you do?

When Wendygrace went on their wish trip, they walked up to CRT without any expectations other than to "try" (making sure all wish buttons were visible) and were accomodated. It won't hurt to try...We did our ADRs at Universal with Spiderman, they take advanced reservations but also accomodated walk ups.

 

[maroo]

Crystal palace question....I hear it is good food...and it is inside MK...love both of these things....but I can't stand Winnie The Pooh (don't know why...just never have been a fan...sorry) So in turn my kids have not seen much of Pooh and friends.
I have been trying to get reservations at Chef Mickey's..no such luck!
So I was considering trying for Crystal Palace.....should I or keep trying for CM's?
What would you do?

I would try for both! And then just see which one you get. CP definitely has Pooh! So, if you really don't care to even see him, I would defintely vote against that one. But...you can tell the CM when you enter that you don't want to see Pooh, but that your kids do...or just take pictures when he arrives...or you could run to the rest room!

I would try for both until you get Chef Mickeys and then you can always cancel the CP!

We also had good luck walking up to the podium at Chef Mickey's too...and calling the day we wanted to go. It probably won't hurt to ride over on the monorail and show up with that button, either. You could even just go over there to "see the indoor monorail" and "shop" and then you could casually take the button over and talk to the podium CM to see if they can squeeze you guys in...that way the kids won't get their hopes up. Or it might help to bring the kids...

We enjoyed Chef Mickeys! But I have never done CP.

 

[maroo]

Guess what, guys!!

We have another Wish Trip pre-trip report!!!


BeckySob (Piper) Wish Trip April 9 - April 15, 2009!!

Becky,

I added your link to the Wish Trippers Unite thread!

Congrats on figuring out this computer stuff!

 

[WishMom09]

Guess what, guys!!

We have another Wish Trip pre-trip report!!!


BeckySob (Piper) Wish Trip April 9 - April 15, 2009!!

Becky,

I added your link to the Wish Trippers Unite thread!

Congrats on figuring out this computer stuff!

Great news!!! Off to read!!!