I dont see advanced and nothing happens when I click on my post.
Hello!!
I linked your pre-trippie on the first page, by the way!
Check the 2nd post of this thread - back on the first page - I think there may be instructions there about how to edit your titles and such....?? If not...and you can't figure it out...PM me and I can help you with it!
Hi everyone,
I just discovered this forum, wish I'd found it before - very happy to be browsing through it!! I've only just started, so I definately have lots of reading to do. But first off, I have to say, from what I've read so far, wow, it's so nice to be in company of others who have gone through similar struggles, and thus always appreciate the little things, etc. I belong to a general mommy forum that I can hardly look at, for all the silly things that some people complain about - oy!!
I'm married with 2 beautiful girls. My oldest daughter has a complex heart defect, has had 3 open heart surgeries that are palliative in nature. She had her surgeries quite young, at 5days, 6 months and 3yrs old, but will need more at some point in the future. Likely she will also need a pacemaker, and at some point, a heart transplant. She is now 6yrs old and doing quite well, all things considered. She's now a big sister to her 2yr old healthy little sis, who we call Busypants. My oldest I call Chatterbox!!
Several years ago we applied for my daughter's wish with Children's Wish, as they encouraged us to, as there were sometimes other events that ODD might be invited to from time to time. Now that things are stable, and that our younger daughter has gotten a bit older, we're ready for ODD to have her wish, so I contacted CW to let them know and they got started on the process. I gave them several dates around Christmas (as my husband has more time off at Christmas, and for financial reasons, it's best for us to work with his schedule). They called and gave me 2 of my 3 date choices to choose from and initially I went with my first, which is right over Christmas. But then I started googling and realised that it would apparently be super duper busy that week. At that point, I had not found this forum and did not know that you could show the pin/lanyard and likely use the fastpass entrance. And so knowing that my daughter (and hubby) isn't always best around the largest crowds, I called CW back the same day to ask about the other date instead. The other date is Dec 14-21, the week before, which still fits our timeframe but hopefully will be somewhat less busy. So those are the dates for us.
Now, I've since discovered this forum, and part of me wishes I could stick with our original dates, as it would be quite magical to enjoy Christmas there. However, I'm reminding myself that the diminished crowds will make the experience more enjoyable for ODD (and hubby and YDD), and it will still be Christmas magical.
Anyway, so happy to have found this forum. And I haven't had a chance to read ALL the posts yet, so I do have a question that I'm hoping someone can answer. I discovered already from someone else's post that you can
rent a stroller from Orlando Stroller I think, and have it delivered to GKTW. ODD is about 50lbs now and does tire easily, so I'm quite sure she'll tire while we're going around Disney. So I'm thinking about renting a double stroller to have room for both girls. I'm wondering if it would be too crowded to manoever a double, and perhaps I should rent 2 singles instead? Or, another question, a friend that has been before mentioned that the trolley that takes you from the parking lots to the theme parks doesn't fit the strollers well, unless they fold. Is this the case, and so then this would be a problem with the double, even if it's folded?
thanks so much!!
to the Wish Trippers thread!!! We are so glad to have you!
I know being on the DIS is a little like trying to drink from a fire hydrant - but it is such great information!
So excited our wish grantors came over tonight! I just updated our PTR! I feel like we have been blessed to be going through this! They really think we will hear back very soon! I hope so!
Thanks for the replies about the typical wait time for approval of a wish after the granters come out. As of today, we are still waiting, but I decided that it would still be OK to get as much info as I can about GKTW and some of the possibilities that we may run into.
One think I am seeing from reading here at the DIS is that Universal may not have much there for my wish kid to do... He is wheelchair bound and cannot transfer and cannot support himself on a ride. Sooo.... I am sure we would limit that to one day for sure, and I was wondering if anyone had some experience with that park that they would like to share. What things could he actually do? Would he find enough stuff there to interest him, or would it even be worth going? DH & I and our other son would probably have a blast - but this trip is for Ryan, after all!...
We think SeaWorld would work out ok with the shows and the aquariums and such... So I guess I am wondering what to do with the extra day... It really seems as though a fourth day at Disney World would be our best option, but I am not sure that our chapter would go for that. Of course, we could always ask.... If not, what other parks would be more accomodating? Would
LegoLand have much there for him to do? We would probably avoid the waterparks because he is vent-dependent and wouldn't get to do much there. Anyone have any suggestions? I guess I just want to make the best of everything for him!
Thanks for all the help so far!
Ryan sounds a lot like Lauren in her lack of ability to transfer or even sit up on her own - so you may get some idea from reading our TR for her...
You will be ASTONISHED with how much he CAN do at Disney.
We decided not to go to Universal at all - but many, many families have loved it - Lauren just wasnt interested and we had so little time and energy for her - so we just decided to skip Universal.
There are rides where he can get on IN his wheelchair - really fun stuff!!
LOTS of shows, parades, restaurants, character meet and greets - there will be so much he "can" do that he may not notice so much what he can't do.
What are your dates?? If you are going when there is a special party - like the Halloween party or Christmas Party - the Disney party (not GKTW - they have those parties, too).... but those are an extra ticket, but don't cost as much as a whole day at the parks - and you can do Magic Kingdom starting at 4:00 PM with those special party tickets - but, that only works if you are going in Sept/Oct or Nov/Dec.
I don't yet know how to multi-quote, so thanks for the tip yeti, and for the welcomes everyone
Check out the 2nd post of this thread - after all of the links to the trip reports - there are instructions there for multi quoting that may help you!
I keep learning so much every time I visit this thread... and it all has us that much more excited for our son's trip to Disney and GKTW in October!
A few days ago we were given a special delivery from some family friends, who are also a wish family that spent time at GKTW! I have updated our PTR with a couple pictures!
Now to try to keep the excitement contained even a bit for the next 6 weeks!
I am so glad you are excited and learning stuff from this thread!!
Hello. I was wondering if someone could help me. I am trying to add pictures of Gavin but keep getting the red x's. Is there a trick I dont know?
Are you using Photobucket? If not - I highly recommend using them - upload your pictures as "Large" and they should size correctly - and then you can post them fairly easily by using the coding...PM me if you still have trouble and I can try to help you!
[quote="jjmomof4, post: 46031341"]Hi,
I am new here. I am the wife of a soldier, mom of four incredible kids, dd age 14 (some hearing impairment and learning difficulties), ds age 10, ds's age 8 and 8, yes we are blessed with twins! All three boys have mitochondrial disease, eosinophilic esophagitis and high functioning autism (along with a myriad of other medical issues, including increasing cardiac issues, but all are likely related to the mitochondrial disease, as we are realizing more and more now). We just returned from Ethan and Aidan's Wish Trip this summer, which was an amazing two weeks in California. Their wishes were to go behind the scenes at
Lego Land (Ethan), and Learn to Surf (Aidan), AND both wished to see family and cousins. We had moved away from our home and family in California seven years ago, to pursue better medical care for the boys, and because my husband joined the Army. We had no doctors in CA who had ever seen children like ours eight years ago, and have been blessed with amazing care out here, and thus have not been "home" more than once since. We had an amazing two weeks in California! LegoLand was fun, but the behind the scenes with the Master Builders made Ethan's day! As did the exclusive Darth Maul mini fig all the kids were given by the Master Builder. Aidan, and all of us, loved learning to surf! He was on his feet right away and LOVED the whole morning...he tired and was too exhuasted and cold to go on within two hours, so we didn't finish the morning out, but what an amazing morning! We also had an amazing week driving north to spend a week with family! We spent four days with my husband's family, and had cousins camp with eight other cousins besides our four! Then we drove farther north and spent three days in a cabin with my family, three sisters, two husbands, one boyfriend, ten children under ten, with a cousins camp party, day at the lake and a wonderful cabin experience! It was truly the trip of a lifetime and the boys, and we all, made memories for a lifetime! Make A Wish truly blessed us beyond belief!
Then we had enough money set aside, to use our military discount to do three days at
Disneyland as well. I grew up going to Disneyland, as has our daughter, but this was our first time back in eight years, now with three boys with special and medical needs. It was hot, tiring, confusing with no plan, and while there were bits of magic, it was frustrating, until we gave up and simply enjoyed being there and the reality of literally only doing 3-4 things per day and then leaving. By the end Colin, our third son - who's wish is to do Jedi Training and go to Give Kids the World, was hysterical and said to cancel his wish. Thus why I'm on these boards, trying to do everything we can to make sure his trip is a success for him, and all the rest of us! Our trip to Orlando is the end of this month, and this time, the daughter gets to bring a friend, so the two teen girls can head off on their own to enjoy roller coasters, while we do what the boys can handle. We learned a hard lesson regarding wheelchairs for the boys, and have asked Make A Wish to rent them ahead of time for us, or else we will, we don't want to spend an hour each day renting and returning them...We need one regular size for Ethan and then one large size one for the twins to share...since there are only two of us to push them. And thankfully after reading through all these boards, it appears that the parking is very far from the actual entrances, so we definitely need the wheelchairs ahead of time.
I've been busy reading these boards for the last four days. Thank you so much to everyone before me who's posted so many tips and answers! I've saved several pages of tips along the way! I've also spent two days with Colin, just watching all the videos on the park websites, and on
youtube, of all the parks and rides, so Colin knows what to expect and can make decisions of what he'd like to do. One of the hardest things about DL was that the boys didn't know what to expect for rides, and one boy would like one ride/show, but it would terrify the other two, and so we are working to figure out what each child wants.
I am slightly frustrated with the flights MAW chose for us, it has us arriving to GKTW at 530pm on the first day, and leaving for the airport at 715am on the seventh day. That leaves us only five days for the parks. Colin has decided on a day at Discovery Cove (we'll use this for our "rest" day, hopefully in the middle of our trip), one day or half day at Islands of Adventure to see Harry Potter world and the Marvel characters. He really wants to do Ifly, Swiming with the dolphins, the Disney Parks, and Harry Potter. His actual wish is Jedi Training, but now after a weekend of watching videos, he's actually excited about the rest as well. We have no illusions of spending the entire day in any of the parks. The teen girls we'll let go off on their own. We'll use our tickets to get them FP's for the rides they'd like to do before we leave a park, unless we can leave the GKTW GAC pass with them? We'll take the three boys to each park they want to do, and then leave when they are tired. We have a couple things per park that are must's and then whatever they are up to after that. Discovery Cove will be the day we all spend together, and evenings at GKTW. Colin's decided he wants to be sure we are back in time for the Santa night at the Big Splash Bash. Our days for the parks are Thursday, Sept 27 to Monday Oct 1.
Trip Plan:
Sept 26 Day 1 - arrive, enjoy GKTW, orientation
Sept 27 Day 2 - IOA for Harry Potter/Marvel Characters and then Aquatica in afternoon if the kids don't want to stay at IOA?
Sept 28 Day 3 - Disney MK?
Sept 29 Day 4 - Discovery Cove (for a day of downtime, possibly Ifly in pm?)
Sept 30 Day 5 - Disney HS?
Oct 1 Day 6 - Disney AK for the safari, Lion King show, and get FP's for girls then Epcot in afternoon with boys
Oct 2 Day 7 - fly home early
Somewhere in there we'd like to catch Wishes or Illuminations if possible. I'm calling Make A Wish on Tuesday, to see if we can possibly get the itinerary sooner, as our volunteers can't give it to us until three days before we leave due to their schedule, and I know I'll need to book Discovery Cove and make a couple reservations before then. I know that MAW is setting up Jedi Training, and something special (hopefully meeting Darth Vader) for Colin one day, and they are possibly also treating us to
MNSSHP one night as well, which would move some of my days around. Oh and to add to all of this, this will be our last week together as a family for quite awhile, as my husband will deploy not long after we return. So we want to relax and enjoy this week together. If we don't get to do everything we have planned, oh well, we just want Colin to have a blast and spend time together!
I'm sorry if I've combined my intro and PTR in the same post, but I'm realizing we have not much time left till this trip and we have a lot to accomplish before we leave, not only for this trip but also in preparation for my husband leaving. Any advice, especially about which days for which parks, would be incredibly appreciated! OH and our boys are not able to eat food by mouth at all! They have only two safe foods, a certain brand of potato chips and apples...I know we can find apples at Disney, what about IOA? Or Discovery Cove? Any thoughts or help would be appreciated!
Thank you,
Jennifer :)[/QUOTE]
:welcome: to the DIS!!!
I sent you a PM! :thumbsup2
[quote="hanori, post: 46031743"]We are going on a make a wish trip, my son Orion has a complex congeital heart defect. DD -Hannah. i am so excited. I can't wait to see there faces.
:woohoo:[/QUOTE]
That is awesome!! Glad you are here!!
[quote="hanori, post: 46031900"]Hi everyone new here,
Let me introduce me and my family. Me and my husband Lonnie , My wonderful daughter Hannah 6 and my couragous son Orion 4 almost 5. We have been on quite a journey. My son has a complex congenital heart defect. He has a rare syndrome also heterotaxy syndrome, he has had 5 cardiac caths, 2 heart surgeries adn 2 open heart surgeries. He wished to see Mickey's animals so we are going to WDW. We are planning on Oct, 2012 but haven't gotten any confirmation as of yet. I am such a planner and this is driving me nuts. I have been compiling WDW Make a Wish stuff, GKTW info, info and lurking here for months. I am getting so anxious and have so many questions and so much info to process it's crazy. I just want us to have the greatest time, I know that we will. I am just so excited. I will post his story later but wanted to introduce my self and my family.
Hope I posted in the right spot but if not sorry just a newbie[/QUOTE]
:thumbsup2 You posted in a great spot! :)
We are glad you are here to hang out with us! You guys are going to have a blast!!! :)
