Make a Wish (and other organizations) ~ Wish Trippers UNITE! Volume FIVE!!

[yeti5353]

I think it all looks really great.
Is her wish to go to Discovery Cove?

Yes and officially no.
If she did discovery cove as her wish we could only have a 5 day 4 night trip. so she chose disney for the 7/6 trip. When we sold our camper this summer I put away enough for us to go to discovery cove and paid for once we had dates. Trying to do it all.....

I wish we could have separated the sea world/discovery cove days and the epcot magic kingdom days but trying to get the parties in she wants (we wont be there for Christmas ) and trying to avoid epcot on the weekend due to the wine festival made it really tough.

 

[sgodderz]

Hi there. My daughter was diagnosed with a Pilocystic Astrocytoma (A brain tumor) and we found out that we were approved for a wish from Make-A-Wish. We did our first meeting and everything is moving along, but I am not sure how to really post anything on here like all the posts I was reading. Abby chose Disney World or the Beach so I guess we will see what happens.

 

[carebearkidney]

Hi there. My daughter was diagnosed with a Pilocystic Astrocytoma (A brain tumor) and we found out that we were approved for a wish from Make-A-Wish. We did our first meeting and everything is moving along, but I am not sure how to really post anything on here like all the posts I was reading. Abby chose Disney World or the Beach so I guess we will see what happens.

Welcome to the Wish forum! It's not the ocean, but Disney does have a "beach", so hopefully both of her wishes can come true on her trip! You can head out of this forum and go to the Trip Report forum to begin your PTR for the wish trip. Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[nesser1981]

Discovery Cove sounds awesome! I bet you'll have an awesome time.

Yeah, its hard to fit everything in. Just an FYI, we did most of the parties, and for someone her age, I'd say, don't give up time at the parks to make the parties. They're fun, but if my kids would have been older, we'd probably have stayed out later. None were anything worth planning my day around.

Yes and officially no.
If she did discovery cove as her wish we could only have a 5 day 4 night trip. so she chose disney for the 7/6 trip. When we sold our camper this summer I put away enough for us to go to discovery cove and paid for once we had dates. Trying to do it all.....

I wish we could have separated the sea world/discovery cove days and the epcot magic kingdom days but trying to get the parties in she wants (we wont be there for Christmas ) and trying to avoid epcot on the weekend due to the wine festival made it really tough.

 

[nesser1981]

You can get to the ocean really easy from Orlando, the Gulf Coast is about an hour & a half away and the Atlantic is probably only an hour away, depending on where you go.

Hi there. My daughter was diagnosed with a Pilocystic Astrocytoma (A brain tumor) and we found out that we were approved for a wish from Make-A-Wish. We did our first meeting and everything is moving along, but I am not sure how to really post anything on here like all the posts I was reading. Abby chose Disney World or the Beach so I guess we will see what happens.

 

[yeti5353]

Discovery Cove sounds awesome! I bet you'll have an awesome time.

Yeah, its hard to fit everything in. Just an FYI, we did most of the parties, and for someone her age, I'd say, don't give up time at the parks to make the parties. They're fun, but if my kids would have been older, we'd probably have stayed out later. None were anything worth planning my day around.

she is a tiny bit delayed, but still i agree on the parties. i called GKTW and asked their opinion, other than Christmas- which we will miss anyway, she said some of them are really short depending on how many kids are there, more for the younger crowd, and to round out the day for those too weak or young to do full park days. but we want to spend some time at GKTW so that gives us time to do stuff there if the party does not pan out etc. Still I am sure since we are there in Octoberer the halloween party will be a fun thing for her and Pirates and princesses probably too. She really wanted to do village idol but I could not fit in in and let her choose two.

 

[nesser1981]

Our favorite was the Pirates & Princess Party. we did all I think except the Wednesday night activity, village idol maybe. And we didn't do Candyland because the playground was closed the week we were there, and we left on a Sunday afternoon.

The BBQ on Tuesday by the pool was really nice too. She'll have an amazing time. We tried to be back early most days, I didn't want the kids overly tired and they wanted to swim. LOL! I think our MK day we got back to the village around 6:30 and then our Hollywood Studios day it was like 5:30, because we did DTD too, that day was hot, so we went to our villa that night.

Another thing I didn't love about the parties, they didn't start until late, you know? I don't remember exact times, but my kiddos were usually in bed between 7 & 7:30, I think the earliest I managed to get them in bed on the trip was 8 one night. My son was grumpy in the mornings.

she is a tiny bit delayed, but still i agree on the parties. i called GKTW and asked their opinion, other than Christmas- which we will miss anyway, she said some of them are really short depending on how many kids are there, more for the younger crowd, and to round out the day for those too weak or young to do full park days. but we want to spend some time at GKTW so that gives us time to do stuff there if the party does not pan out etc. Still I am sure since we are there in Octoberer the halloween party will be a fun thing for her and Pirates and princesses probably too. She really wanted to do village idol but I could not fit in in and let her choose two.

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

I had Savannah (our hopefully wish kid) at her Pediatrician's office on Friday and her doctor said she had not yet recieved any forms via fax (or otherwise) from Make A Wish. What gives?!

It was over THREE weeks ago that I had called (and followed up with an email --that got no response) to give them Savannah's Pediatrcian's office number and fax number.

We are going on three months now since our initial contact with Make A Wish and the eligibilty forms have yet to make it into the hands of her doctor --who is more than willing to sign them!

Should I call again??? It would be the third time. I know they are behind and I hate to be a pain in the you know what but man, this is discouraging.

Meanwhile, Tuesday is 180 days from when we plan to go to Disney. (The week our children have off of school)

We have booked what we hope will be the extension to the Make A Wish trip from March 1st - March 4th in a one bedroom at Bay Lake Tower. I am renting DVC points from a friend of a friend. The gal that we purchased them from used to volunteer every Thursday at Give Kids the World while she was in the Disney College Program. (This really warmed my heart!!)

Our plan if we never hear back from Make A Wish is to use Hilton Honors points to stay at one of the Down Town Disney Hilton brand hotels (Double Tree or Hilton). Don't know how long we should wait before making that reservation.

Praying, praying, praying...

 

[yeti5353]

Should I call again??? It would be the third time. I know they are behind and I hate to be a pain in the you know what but man, this is discouraging.

Meanwhile, Tuesday is 180 days from when we plan to go to Disney. (The week our children have off of school)

Frustrating for sure. can you email someone?

 

[nesser1981]

I don't think it would hurt to call again, but we didn't find out our dates until 46 days before we were suppose to leave. However, I think our entire process took exactly 6 months from submitting the paperwork to actually going on DD's trip.

I called trying to find out about our dates about 2 months before we were hoping to leave and then they had all of our stuff ready to go within 2 weeks. They understand you & your kiddo are excited.

I had Savannah (our hopefully wish kid) at her Pediatrician's office on Friday and her doctor said she had not yet recieved any forms via fax (or otherwise) from Make A Wish. What gives?!

It was over THREE weeks ago that I had called (and followed up with an email --that got no response) to give them Savannah's Pediatrcian's office number and fax number.

We are going on three months now since our initial contact with Make A Wish and the eligibilty forms have yet to make it into the hands of her doctor --who is more than willing to sign them!

Should I call again??? It would be the third time. I know they are behind and I hate to be a pain in the you know what but man, this is discouraging.

Meanwhile, Tuesday is 180 days from when we plan to go to Disney. (The week our children have off of school)

We have booked what we hope will be the extension to the Make A Wish trip from March 1st - March 4th in a one bedroom at Bay Lake Tower. I am renting DVC points from a friend of a friend. The gal that we purchased them from used to volunteer every Thursday at Give Kids the World while she was in the Disney College Program. (This really warmed my heart!!)

Our plan if we never hear back from Make A Wish is to use Hilton Honors points to stay at one of the Down Town Disney Hilton brand hotels (Double Tree or Hilton). Don't know how long we should wait before making that reservation.

Praying, praying, praying...

 

[sgodderz]

Hey... I am not sure where the place is to do the report for Abby... Can someone paste the link or something?

 

[maroo]

I'm hoping for the sooner the better but I'm not sure how soon to ask for? We have our wish grantors coming over on Friday night and hopefully they don't think I'm crazy for wanting to go in 2012! Also how do I get my PTR on this board? New to all of this!

I found your pre-trip report!

I put a link on the first page of this thread! And if you want to make a link on your signature, there are instructions on the 2nd post of this thread - which may help you if you want to attract some more traffic.

Yes and officially no.
If she did discovery cove as her wish we could only have a 5 day 4 night trip. so she chose disney for the 7/6 trip. When we sold our camper this summer I put away enough for us to go to discovery cove and paid for once we had dates. Trying to do it all.....

I wish we could have separated the sea world/discovery cove days and the epcot magic kingdom days but trying to get the parties in she wants (we wont be there for Christmas ) and trying to avoid epcot on the weekend due to the wine festival made it really tough.

This is such a good idea!! We wanted to do this, too - with Lauren - do Discovery Cove and Disney - but we just didn't have enough time to do it all...and not enough money - but this is great that you guys get to do it!! I have seen several wish families do this and it is a special day for sure!

Hi there. My daughter was diagnosed with a Pilocystic Astrocytoma (A brain tumor) and we found out that we were approved for a wish from Make-A-Wish. We did our first meeting and everything is moving along, but I am not sure how to really post anything on here like all the posts I was reading. Abby chose Disney World or the Beach so I guess we will see what happens.

Welcome!!

We are so glad you are here!

The first place to start is probably on the first page of this thread - on the 2nd post - it has a lot of FAQ that will help you navigate the DIS and give some info about wish trips!

It would be totally cool to do BOTH - take a day and go to a "real" beach and do Disney - several families have done this on their trips and the locals can tell you exactly how that all works.

Welcome to the Wish forum! It's not the ocean, but Disney does have a "beach", so hopefully both of her wishes can come true on her trip! You can head out of this forum and go to the Trip Report forum to begin your PTR for the wish trip. Can't wait to read all about it!

she is a tiny bit delayed, but still i agree on the parties. i called GKTW and asked their opinion, other than Christmas- which we will miss anyway, she said some of them are really short depending on how many kids are there, more for the younger crowd, and to round out the day for those too weak or young to do full park days. but we want to spend some time at GKTW so that gives us time to do stuff there if the party does not pan out etc. Still I am sure since we are there in Octoberer the halloween party will be a fun thing for her and Pirates and princesses probably too. She really wanted to do village idol but I could not fit in in and let her choose two.

I didn't think Lauren would be excited about the parties - but she really enjoyed the Birthday party - she liked being treated like a kid when she was at GKTW - for some reason.

I had Savannah (our hopefully wish kid) at her Pediatrician's office on Friday and her doctor said she had not yet recieved any forms via fax (or otherwise) from Make A Wish. What gives?!

It was over THREE weeks ago that I had called (and followed up with an email --that got no response) to give them Savannah's Pediatrcian's office number and fax number.

We are going on three months now since our initial contact with Make A Wish and the eligibilty forms have yet to make it into the hands of her doctor --who is more than willing to sign them!

Should I call again??? It would be the third time. I know they are behind and I hate to be a pain in the you know what but man, this is discouraging.

Meanwhile, Tuesday is 180 days from when we plan to go to Disney. (The week our children have off of school)

We have booked what we hope will be the extension to the Make A Wish trip from March 1st - March 4th in a one bedroom at Bay Lake Tower. I am renting DVC points from a friend of a friend. The gal that we purchased them from used to volunteer every Thursday at Give Kids the World while she was in the Disney College Program. (This really warmed my heart!!)

Our plan if we never hear back from Make A Wish is to use Hilton Honors points to stay at one of the Down Town Disney Hilton brand hotels (Double Tree or Hilton). Don't know how long we should wait before making that reservation.

Praying, praying, praying...

I would definitely call them again and just politely check the status. I know they are so busy - but if it has been that long, then hopefully they will understand you wanting to check the progress...or just make sure they don't need anything else from you to get the ball rolling?

I am sure they are way behind on stuff and just going these as they can get to them...But I know you, so I know you will be polite...and I think that is the key!

Hey... I am not sure where the place is to do the report for Abby... Can someone paste the link or something?

You can do it on the pre-trip report board - that is the best place for people to find it!

You will need 10 posts, I think - to be able to post a thread like that...??

And to be able to post pictures.

Check the 2nd post of this thread and it will have a lot of info!

Welcome to the DIS!

 

[maroo]

Monday and Tuesday are busy days for me - so it may be Wednesday before I can get back on the DIS -

And it looks like we may have ISAAC to deal with.

So...it may be a little crazy for me in the next few days. I am hoping Isaac will go away!

But I will try to drop by here at least a little bit before the storm comes...if it decides not to take my suggestion and just evaporate in the ocean.

 

[blessedmom4]

I had Savannah (our hopefully wish kid) at her Pediatrician's office on Friday and her doctor said she had not yet recieved any forms via fax (or otherwise) from Make A Wish. What gives?!

It was over THREE weeks ago that I had called (and followed up with an email --that got no response) to give them Savannah's Pediatrcian's office number and fax number.

We are going on three months now since our initial contact with Make A Wish and the eligibilty forms have yet to make it into the hands of her doctor --who is more than willing to sign them!

Should I call again??? It would be the third time. I know they are behind and I hate to be a pain in the you know what but man, this is discouraging.

Meanwhile, Tuesday is 180 days from when we plan to go to Disney. (The week our children have off of school)

We have booked what we hope will be the extension to the Make A Wish trip from March 1st - March 4th in a one bedroom at Bay Lake Tower. I am renting DVC points from a friend of a friend. The gal that we purchased them from used to volunteer every Thursday at Give Kids the World while she was in the Disney College Program. (This really warmed my heart!!)

Our plan if we never hear back from Make A Wish is to use Hilton Honors points to stay at one of the Down Town Disney Hilton brand hotels (Double Tree or Hilton). Don't know how long we should wait before making that reservation.

Praying, praying, praying...

Amber, I may be able to shed some light on the delay for the Central and Western North Carolina Chapter. You may remember that we live in the same city as your family. My youngest son is also eligible for a MAW trip and his doctor spoke to him about it again August 15 during his appointment, wanting to (finally) put his name in for a Wish. He has always declined in the past when they asked him if he was ready for his wish, stating he wasn't "that sick". He turns 18 in two months and will not be eligible after that. At our August 20 appointment, his doctor told us when she put in for his wish, she found out there are currently children in our area who are terminal and they don't have the funding to meet the MAW needs of those children. She told us there might be a slight delay hearing back from MAW. My son once again told her he didn't need a MAW, since our daughter had one. Our doctor WANTS him to have his wish; however, there isn't a lot of money coming in to support our chapter d/t to the economy. I am not saying that is the hold-up for you; however, that MIGHT explain why they aren't rushing things through. I know our experience with Lisa was different than the experience I read about for Sebastian and I believe it was due in part to funds. I just wanted to tell you what I learned this past week, I know waiting is not easy. All children who are eligible DESERVE their wish! I just don't believe for my son it will happen now. I hesitated to post this; however, thought it might explain why it is taking a while to hear anything. Plus, if I remember correctly, you were originally trying to get the docs at UNC (I think) to do the paperwork and that might have slowed things up a bit. Sounds like you have a great back up plan if the timing doesn't work out on this trip. I would LOVE to stay at BLT, I have always dreamed of staying at a monorail hotel for ease of getting Lisa back and forth in her wheelchair. I have no doubt Savannah will get her wish!

MAROO and anyone else in the storms path, stay safe and let us know you are okay when you have the time and means!

 

[krisalee]

Hey everyone!

I know I haven't posted much at all, but I've been reading like crazy and gotten such great info/advice!

Our trip is now only 2 months away- its coming up so soon! I was wondering if anyone knew of a good/cheap place to get personalized/custom autograph books? Bonus points if the pages have spots for photos. I've looked on Etsy, and most of what I have seen are a bit out of my price range (I would need at least 5 of them), and even then, most don't have places for photos. I don't mind making them myself if someone can point me in the right direction of cheap supplies. Thanks!!!

 

[Indykjt]

We are keeping everyone in Isaac's path in our thoughts... stay safe!!!

We received some fantastic news last week about Braden's wish trip! We received our dates, and they were the number one dates we were hoping for! I just updates our PTR.

Now it seems like we have so much to do before we leave... is 6 weeks out too early to start packing???

 

[nesser1981]

I don't know about custom ones, but the walmart that's right down the street from GKTW has cheap autograph books, I think like $2 each.

Hey everyone!

I know I haven't posted much at all, but I've been reading like crazy and gotten such great info/advice!

Our trip is now only 2 months away- its coming up so soon! I was wondering if anyone knew of a good/cheap place to get personalized/custom autograph books? Bonus points if the pages have spots for photos. I've looked on Etsy, and most of what I have seen are a bit out of my price range (I would need at least 5 of them), and even then, most don't have places for photos. I don't mind making them myself if someone can point me in the right direction of cheap supplies. Thanks!!!

 

[krisalee]

I don't know about custom ones, but the walmart that's right down the street from GKTW has cheap autograph books, I think like $2 each.

LOL- even better- thank you for the tip!! For that price, i will stick a sticker on them with their name and call it good!!

 

[nesser1981]

LOL- even better- thank you for the tip!! For that price, i will stick a sticker on them with their name and call it good!!

They have a lot of things at that walmart, there is a huge Disney section. We bought our lanyards there too for like $4 or $5. At Disney they were like $8-12.

 

[LindaBabe]

So glad you mentioned walmart - RIght at the corner of the road to GKTW! It's a treasure trove of inexpensive souvenirs, costumes, beach towels, you name it, they got it - and I think MORE of it than any other Walmart in the area.