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

[MrsMeow]

Ok, guys. Trip is 22 days away, and I am SUPER overwhelmed at the Universal part of the trip. As of right now, we've planned 2 days for Universal, mainly because we've heard from multiple people that our boys will like it more than MK. (That's obviously flexible - if we go there 1 day and feel like we've seen it all, we'll go back to MK for a second time)

That being said, I have no idea where to even start for planning a day a Universal. How wish-friendly are they? My boys are too little for Harry Potter. Well, scratch that - I honestly think some of it they'd love (the wands, etc), but they have no idea now who HP is. Mr Meow and I REALLY want to see as much of that as we can.

Where should we head first? Is Universal where they Jedi training is? You guys have no idea how much I loathe planning this trip.

 

[Kristi77]

We may have our dates. We should hear back about flights, but it seems to be December 7th through the 13th. (Sunday to Saturday)

DH and I were talking and since this will be a once in a lifetime trip for her---we have putting away birthday money, etc and really don't plan on saying no to many souvenirs, etc.

I definitely want to do the fill the potato head box for her---she LOVES Mr. Potato Head.

Any other different/unique souvenirs?

Congrats on your dates!!!!! How exciting. We are Nov 17-23rd. I love the potato head idea. A friend of ours said buy the potato at home and just fill the box with all the accessories. Just an idea. She said they have the best accessories.

 

[Kristi77]

Ok, guys. Trip is 22 days away, and I am SUPER overwhelmed at the Universal part of the trip. As of right now, we've planned 2 days for Universal, mainly because we've heard from multiple people that our boys will like it more than MK. (That's obviously flexible - if we go there 1 day and feel like we've seen it all, we'll go back to MK for a second time)

That being said, I have no idea where to even start for planning a day a Universal. How wish-friendly are they? My boys are too little for Harry Potter. Well, scratch that - I honestly think some of it they'd love (the wands, etc), but they have no idea now who HP is. Mr Meow and I REALLY want to see as much of that as we can.

Where should we head first? Is Universal where they Jedi training is? You guys have no idea how much I loathe planning this trip.

Our son will be 4 at the time of the trip. We heard Universal is amazing for the boys but that's about it. I hope someone has more information or ideas.

 

[Kristi77]

I did find this link for Universal and Make a Wish families........

http://tipsforfamilytrips.com/florida/make-a-wish-trip-universal/

 

[lanejudy]

Ok, guys. Trip is 22 days away, and I am SUPER overwhelmed at the Universal part of the trip. As of right now, we've planned 2 days for Universal, mainly because we've heard from multiple people that our boys will like it more than MK. (That's obviously flexible - if we go there 1 day and feel like we've seen it all, we'll go back to MK for a second time)

That being said, I have no idea where to even start for planning a day a Universal. How wish-friendly are they? My boys are too little for Harry Potter. Well, scratch that - I honestly think some of it they'd love (the wands, etc), but they have no idea now who HP is. Mr Meow and I REALLY want to see as much of that as we can.

Where should we head first? Is Universal where they Jedi training is? You guys have no idea how much I loathe planning this trip.

It sounds like you might have your parks a little mixed up, so I wanted to clarify some before you arrive and end up somewhere you didn't expect, and possibly not able to do what you want.

The "flexibility" of your Universal/MK plans may depend on the tickets your WISH organization provides. Universal is a separate park (actually 2 theme parks) -- completely separate tickets -- from the 4 major Walt Disney World theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom). While you can be somewhat flexible in deciding among the 4 WDW parks on a day-to-day basis, a 2nd day Universal ticket will not get you into MK if you decide you don't want to return to Universal. You might want to check what tickets you are getting.

The Jedi Training Academy is at Disney's Hollywood Studios park.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[2lovebugs]

I have been waiting to give an update about CG's Wish Trip but unfortunately I don't have much to update. We met with her volunteers and they were wonderful, but that was in July. She did ask to go to Disney and meet all of the princess. We asked to go sometime in Oct. but if that month was too close we could go in February. I was trying to avoid the hottest months and holiday months. I have called one of them to get an update for dates. My husband kinda needs to know what to tell his work, but still no new updates on their end either. I even checked in last week to let them know CG has a sedition with spinal tap the fist full week in Oct. so that week wouldn't be best. We did receive a letter in the mail from MAW letting us know that they are moving forward with the wish process and that we have a Wish Coordinator. Did anyone else receive this letter? If so how long did it take to get the dates? Any info or advice would be wonderful. At this point I'm leaning more toward a Feb. trip. I do love reading everyone's planning on here though. I cant wait until we get to that point!

 

[sarahtar]

MrsMeow: If you're going through MAW or any other organization that uses Give Kids the World, you'll get 3 Disney park days and 2 Universal park days. There is some flexibility in tickets for other parks, but my understanding (which could be wrong) is that there's not a lot of flexibility in getting more Disney days.

You might want to check out the touringplans.com website - I've really enjoyed their books and we've used their plans at Disneyland with a lot of success. They also have good descriptions of each of the rides at each park, though that might be available only to subscribers, I can't remember. I personally think Universal isn't going to be as awesome for our family (ages 2, 5, 10) as Disney - the 10 year old will like it, I think/hope, but I think there's less there for the rest of us. Part of it is probably my emotional attachment to Disney and dislike of Harry Potter, too.

2lovebugs: we were quite frustrated with the slow process with our local MAW. The doctor submitted paperwork at the beginning of this year, I called to follow up a few months later and they said they'd be in touch when they were ready to proceed. In June, they called to schedule an appointment with our coordinators, then we heard nothing until I called to follow up a few times in August, since DH really needed to know what to tell his work. I think it was the end of August before we got dates. It wasn't even really the slow process, it was the poor communication - phone calls weren't returned, emails not answered, etc. But it did all work out eventually.

 

[2lovebugs]

Sarahtar: I agree with the communication being the hardest part. I did email the Wish Coordinator today, so I am hoping we hear from them sometime this week. I don't mind waiting and I know that there are a lot of children who have Wishes. I just wish that would let us know if we are going in Oct. or Feb. Thank you for your help. Maybe I will have more of an update later this week!

 

[2lovebugs]

I just received an email from CG Wish Coordinator. Very excited and blessed that she contacted us so quickly. She said that CG is in the approval stage and she is waiting for the green light to get dates. She also let us know that we will be hearing from our volunteers within the next week! Not a whole lot to go on so far, but I will take it!

 

[moe10378]

I just received an email from CG Wish Coordinator. Very excited and blessed that she contacted us so quickly. She said that CG is in the approval stage and she is waiting for the green light to get dates. She also let us know that we will be hearing from our volunteers within the next week! Not a whole lot to go on so far, but I will take it!

Yay!! At least you know they are working on it, and that you will know something soon!!!!

 

[moe10378]

We met w/ Special Wish yesterday and got our expense check, shirts, itinerary, wish packet, and Bradley's teddy bear!!!! Can't believe we are sooo close!!!!! We are all sooo excited!!!!!

 

[Diegosmom]

We may have our dates. We should hear back about flights, but it seems to be December 7th through the 13th. (Sunday to Saturday)

DH and I were talking and since this will be a once in a lifetime trip for her---we have putting away birthday money, etc and really don't plan on saying no to many souvenirs, etc.

I definitely want to do the fill the potato head box for her---she LOVES Mr. Potato Head.

Any other different/unique souvenirs?

We will be there the exact same dates. I really need to start our pre-trip report.

 

[jaynec89]

My daughter's MAW trip to Disney is in 36 days. Boy that time just flies by. We do have our flight information and that is about it. When should MAW be contacting us again or typically will we not know much until its time to depart?

 

[moe10378]

My daughter's MAW trip to Disney is in 36 days. Boy that time just flies by. We do have our flight information and that is about it. When should MAW be contacting us again or typically will we not know much until its time to depart?

Yay!!!! It'll be here b4 u know it!!! We leave Sunday!! I'm not sure how make a wish works, from what I've read each chapter is different. A Special Wish is fulfilling my sons wish. We had our info in June. We met with them about 10 days b4 to get our wish packet and expense check.

 

[FaithsWish]

Hi I'm new here. I just posted in the main disABILITIES forum an introduction. We met with my daughters Wish Granters on Sunday. We have not heard anything back yet but my daughters wish is to go to Florida and get Superheroes autographs.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you and finally getting to 10 posts so I can post pictures!

 

[Kristi77]

My daughter's MAW trip to Disney is in 36 days. Boy that time just flies by. We do have our flight information and that is about it. When should MAW be contacting us again or typically will we not know much until its time to depart?

I was told we won't hear from MAW till 7 days prior to our trip for the packet. I don't know if that is standard or not.

 

[Kristi77]

Yay!!!! It'll be here b4 u know it!!! We leave Sunday!! I'm not sure how make a wish works, from what I've read each chapter is different. A Special Wish is fulfilling my sons wish. We had our info in June. We met with them about 10 days b4 to get our wish packet and expense check.

I can't wait to hear all about your trip! You are down to the count!

 

[Kristi77]

Hi I'm new here. I just posted in the main disABILITIES forum an introduction. We met with my daughters Wish Granters on Sunday. We have not heard anything back yet but my daughters wish is to go to Florida and get Superheroes autographs.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you and finally getting to 10 posts so I can post pictures!

Welcome to the Group. I am new also! We are going to Disney from Nov 17-23rd. If I remember correctly it took a few months after we meet with the Wish Granters for them to get all the paperwork (doctor's ok and stuff) and then we got our dates!

 

[FaithsWish]

If I remember correctly it took a few months after we meet with the Wish Granters for them to get all the paperwork (doctor's ok and stuff) and then we got our dates!

I was wondering how we would go about making some reservations when sometimes people don't know dates very far in advance? I would love to be able to take Faith to Cinderella's Royal Table and do the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage.....but wow...they book up fast!

This is hard for me! I'm a planner!

 

[FaithsWish]

I hit ten posts! Yay!

Here is a link to the post where I tell a bit about Faith and have some pictures of her.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3333494