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

[FaithsWish]

Next question is incredibly basic, but we have never been to WDW....

We will have our Magic Bands, and have them linked to the right person in MDE before we arrive at GKTW.

When we get our tickets at GKTW orientation, we then link the tickets to the Magic Bands in MDE, right?

Ok, so once we do that....do we need to do anything else prior to entering the park? Can we just walk right to the entrance, bump the bands and enter? Or do we need to go somewhere to activate the tickets?

I mean, can we after linking everything up in MDE....person to band to ticket the night before at GKTW....can we then ride the monorail the next morning from our ADR at the Poly right to MK and enter?

 

[wimom02]

Now that we have our days and most of our itinerary nailed down, I have a few questions about SeaWorld.

Do we need to enroll Faith in the Ride Accessibility Program when we get there or is there a "Genie" type thing with being a wish child?

If there is a special thing that will reduce the time spent in lines, is it for the wish child only? I know that the older kids and I will want to ride Manta and Kracken, but that Faith will not. Will we be allowed to get on quickly to lessen the amount of time our party is separated?

Can we feed the Sting Rays? Because sting rays are awesome!

We just returned from our trip. My daughter (7 year old wish kid) had such a magical time. Her 2 adult siblings (21 and 28) traveled with us.

At Sea World we used the GKTW button for free parking and front of the line type access. It also gives you special seating at the shows and feeding the dolphins. Dolphin cove was closed for renovations while we were there so we fed sea lions and the sting rays. I think the dolphin cove is closed through Feb 27th. I think you can also feed the sharks, but I was done touching the food by then. No one in our group would touch the slimey fish except me. The best part of feeding the animals, is that they came close to us, so our low-vision kiddo could see them.

My older son/daughte rode the Manta. I showed the button at the front of the line entrance and they were walked in to the front of the line. They were done by the time I took my daughter into the bathroom to change her. If you are going to split up, having the button was good. My daughter wouldn't wear it so I had it in the lanyard they give you at orientation at GKTW.

At Universal, my son and I did a couple of rides that Elizabeth did not go on. They have a pass you get at GKTW and lead you to the ride exit or before their front of the line access. My husband and Elizabeth waited in the Child Swap area at the Harry Potter ride but they could have waited out in the Diagon Alley area. She actually liked the break.

 

[wimom02]

I know that GKTW does a 9am and 7:45pm orientation, but the guide also mentions "most afternoons". Does anyone have an idea of the approximate time the afternoon orientations are held?

I think the afternoon time may vary depending on check in and arrival times of the families that day.

We arrived at the village before 2 pm. They told us at check in there was a 4:15 pm orientation that day. I attended that while everyone else swam.

 

[wimom02]

Next question is incredibly basic, but we have never been to WDW....

We will have our Magic Bands, and have them linked to the right person in MDE before we arrive at GKTW.

When we get our tickets at GKTW orientation, we then link the tickets to the Magic Bands in MDE, right?

Ok, so once we do that....do we need to do anything else prior to entering the park? Can we just walk right to the entrance, bump the bands and enter? Or do we need to go somewhere to activate the tickets?

I mean, can we after linking everything up in MDE....person to band to ticket the night before at GKTW....can we then ride the monorail the next morning from our ADR at the Poly right to MK and enter?

We did not use Magic Bands, but the tickets you get at orientation are active and ready to enter the park. You do not need to activate them, so I think after you add them to your Magic Bands you would be ready to enter the parks. We purchased our oldest daughter's tickets, and it worked the same as the GKTW tickets.

 

[wimom02]

Question for prior Wish Trip families!

I am considering getting a bag to attach to the back of Faith's wheelchair. It would hold her extra clothes and some of her equipment.

My concern is when we are actually on rides, how safe will the bag be? I've heard of backpacks being taken out of strollers and such that are left in stroller parking. Does this happen to bags on wheelchairs also? Did many of you leave the bag attached to the chair?

Related....what kind of bag do you have?

The regular ride exits and walks by where they park the wheelchairs on most rides. At GKTW orientation they tell you to not leave bags on wheelchairs or strollers. They do get taken.

I clipped on Elizabeth's school backpack (child's medium backpack from Land's End) to the back of her Convaid EZ Rider wheelchair using a carabiner clip. My husband kept our tickets and photopass in his cargo shorts. I rolled up Elizabeth's change of clothes and put them in a gallon zip lock bag. I put pull ups / wipes in another zip lock bag. Her gtube supplies were in another zip lock. I could use the zip lock bags to hold messes if needed. Had plenty of room for her pediasure, rain ponchos, her glass case, Cochlear Implant case, remote and extra batteries, slinky fidget toys, my glasses, phone, wallet. My older children would also put there wallets/phones in sometimes. When we got ready to get on a ride, my son or husband would help get Elizabeth out of the chair and I would un-clip the backpack and take it on the ride with me. After the ride I would clip on the bag while someone helped Elizabeth get buckled in.

We used her backpack as her carry on for the plane with similar items. We made a list and packed / checked her backpack before we left for the parks each day.

 

[FaithsWish]

Thank you so much Wimom02 and Topdogie01 for the help!

 

[Topdogie01]

not a problem. i will repeat that you should take a photo of the back of your genie photo pass (one, it has your redemption code for your disney photopass CD! but.. have to call customer support to add it to your cart for you, as it is NOT available on the website, orientation will explain this) so you have a picture of it incase you misplace it. you will also use the same code to tie that photopass to your MDE account so it will be linked to all of your magic bands and you wont need to carry the card with you (unless you want to... i liked having the genie card, some characters commented on it.. Aladin and Jasmin did! then i was carrying a darth vader after child attempted the jedi accademy (if your child wants to do it and you are not in the parks on time for the early morning registration, go to the check in desk for it and ask nicely. they called in a supervisor to ask if my child could be placed in it. he was allowed in, but decided he didnt want to stand alone on a circle for the actual event, he wanted to hold my hand and couldnt.)

 

[ButterflyEffect]

We got wonderful news in the mail, my dd was approved for her wish!! We are going through Sunshine Foundation for her wish. We will most likely go about a year from now. Lots of planning to start, we are soooooo excited for her!!!!

 

[WendyLou]

We got wonderful news in the mail, my dd was approved for her wish!! We are going through Sunshine Foundation for her wish. We will most likely go about a year from now. Lots of planning to start, we are soooooo excited for her!!!!

Great news! Welcome, and happy planning!

 

[chcmama]

A few hiccups in our MAW trip. DS has been sick, but getting better, he had an appt on Tuesday and his dr. decided to admit him for IV antibiotics. We are still hopeful we will be able to go on his trip on the 29th, but he will most likely have to go with IV antibiotics. Not the worst thing, but does make things a little more complicated, not what we were hoping for his MAW trip. Rescheduling is a possibility but we have already put money out to extend the trip and we can't get that back, plus our schedule is such that this really was the best time to go and it will be really hard to find another time for us to go. Still hoping to be in Florida this time next week.

 

[FaithsWish]

A few hiccups in our MAW trip. DS has been sick, but getting better, he had an appt on Tuesday and his dr. decided to admit him for IV antibiotics. We are still hopeful we will be able to go on his trip on the 29th, but he will most likely have to go with IV antibiotics. Not the worst thing, but does make things a little more complicated, not what we were hoping for his MAW trip. Rescheduling is a possibility but we have already put money out to extend the trip and we can't get that back, plus our schedule is such that this really was the best time to go and it will be really hard to find another time for us to go. Still hoping to be in Florida this time next week.

I am so sorry to hear that.

Can they give you the "pressure ball" IV antibiotics? Does he have a PICC or central line? We had to move once with Faith on the IV antibiotics and being able to use the balls instead of having to hang a line was such a blessing.

Faith has been sick as well, but we have avoided being admitted this go around.

 

[chcmama]

Thanks. He has a picc line and he will have the balls, we have always used those when we have done home iv's.

 

[nesser1981]

Hope all goes well with the IV! You guys will have an amazing time either way.

 

[nesser1981]

When we went they took us to the back entrance of the ride, instead of being sent to the front of the line. So it was nice not getting the weird stares from people.

Also, most rides didn't do front of the line, they just sent us down the fast pass entrance. So we waited maybe 5 minutes per ride. We did get taken to the front of almost every meet and greet we went to.

I have a question as I am trying to plan our trip. From what I understand reading peoples trip reports, we get front of the line at WDW. Is it the same at Universal and Sea World? I have only been here one other time and I did a lot of planning on which days we went to which parks and followed the touring plans and we had a great time and not a lot of lines. Seems like with the perk of the front of the line i don't need to do quite so much planning. I really just want to make a few ADR's at a handful of places so I am just trying to figure out what days we plan to be at what parks for that. Thanks for any tips you can give, I love planning our family trips but usually have a lot more time than I am this time. We leave 1-29! So excited but feel like I'm cramming for a test

 

[luvlabor]

Hi!
I'm Jessica, mom to my wish child Cassidy, who is 14. Cassidy has epilepsy and neurodegenerative disease. She functions at about a 4 year old level. Cassidy's wish was granted to go to Disney and dance with a prince! We finally got our dates 4/25-5/2. It will be me, my husband, Cassidy and 4 of her siblings (ages 3, 7, 10 and 17). We are soooooooooooo excited (but I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the planning involved!!).
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on renting a van while we are there. I know that GKTW offers a shuttle, but from what I understand you can only use it for one trip to a park and one trip home each day. With kids whose age range is so big we would really love to rent a car (and our MAW chapter does not cover that). The cheapest I'm finding a van is for $600/week (using our Costco membership). And there are 7 of us, plus Cassidy has a wheelchair, so we really need a van. Anyone know of any discounts that any of the agencies offer for MAW families?
Thanks for any advice you can offer. I'm so glad I found this board!!!
Jessica

 

[SirDuff]

Hi!
I'm Jessica, mom to my wish child Cassidy, who is 14. Cassidy has epilepsy and neurodegenerative disease. She functions at about a 4 year old level. Cassidy's wish was granted to go to Disney and dance with a prince! We finally got our dates 4/25-5/2. It will be me, my husband, Cassidy and 4 of her siblings (ages 3, 7, 10 and 17). We are soooooooooooo excited (but I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the planning involved!!).
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on renting a van while we are there. I know that GKTW offers a shuttle, but from what I understand you can only use it for one trip to a park and one trip home each day. With kids whose age range is so big we would really love to rent a car (and our MAW chapter does not cover that). The cheapest I'm finding a van is for $600/week (using our Costco membership). And there are 7 of us, plus Cassidy has a wheelchair, so we really need a van. Anyone know of any discounts that any of the agencies offer for MAW families?
Thanks for any advice you can offer. I'm so glad I found this board!!!
Jessica

I'm afraid I'm no help, but I'd suggest also posting on the Transportation board. They may not know MAW specific discounts, but they are good at finding good prices for rentals!

 

[luvlabor]

I'm afraid I'm no help, but I'd suggest also posting on the Transportation board. They may not know MAW specific discounts, but they are good at finding good prices for rentals!

Thanks! I did post there yesterday.....no luck yet but I'm not giving up

 

[chcmama]

When we went they took us to the back entrance of the ride, instead of being sent to the front of the line. So it was nice not getting the weird stares from people.

Also, most rides didn't do front of the line, they just sent us down the fast pass entrance. So we waited maybe 5 minutes per ride. We did get taken to the front of almost every meet and greet we went to.

thanks

Hi!
I'm Jessica, mom to my wish child Cassidy, who is 14. Cassidy has epilepsy and neurodegenerative disease. She functions at about a 4 year old level. Cassidy's wish was granted to go to Disney and dance with a prince! We finally got our dates 4/25-5/2. It will be me, my husband, Cassidy and 4 of her siblings (ages 3, 7, 10 and 17). We are soooooooooooo excited (but I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the planning involved!!).
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on renting a van while we are there. I know that GKTW offers a shuttle, but from what I understand you can only use it for one trip to a park and one trip home each day. With kids whose age range is so big we would really love to rent a car (and our MAW chapter does not cover that). The cheapest I'm finding a van is for $600/week (using our Costco membership). And there are 7 of us, plus Cassidy has a wheelchair, so we really need a van. Anyone know of any discounts that any of the agencies offer for MAW families?
Thanks for any advice you can offer. I'm so glad I found this board!!!
Jessica

Welcome, I love that part of her wish is to dance with a prince, how sweet I don't have any advice about the van, hope you can get some help. Our MAW chapter covers our rental car. Good luck

 

[nesser1981]

We were given a van from our chapter too.
So I'm no help on that, but I will say, you'll really want to get a rental. GKTW is about a 30 minute drive from the parks, without traffic.

Maybe your chapter can tell you how much they are allotting you for your eating budget, that way you can maybe set some of that aside for the rental.

I'll say, we had more than enough money while we were there. They told me the amount because I wanted to plan/budget for character meals, etc. They didn't give us money for Breakfast, but it was a good amount for lunch and dinner and I'd doubt you'd spend all that for meals.

Hi!
I'm Jessica, mom to my wish child Cassidy, who is 14. Cassidy has epilepsy and neurodegenerative disease. She functions at about a 4 year old level. Cassidy's wish was granted to go to Disney and dance with a prince! We finally got our dates 4/25-5/2. It will be me, my husband, Cassidy and 4 of her siblings (ages 3, 7, 10 and 17). We are soooooooooooo excited (but I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the planning involved!!).
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on renting a van while we are there. I know that GKTW offers a shuttle, but from what I understand you can only use it for one trip to a park and one trip home each day. With kids whose age range is so big we would really love to rent a car (and our MAW chapter does not cover that). The cheapest I'm finding a van is for $600/week (using our Costco membership). And there are 7 of us, plus Cassidy has a wheelchair, so we really need a van. Anyone know of any discounts that any of the agencies offer for MAW families?
Thanks for any advice you can offer. I'm so glad I found this board!!!
Jessica

 

[luvlabor]

We were given a van from our chapter too.
So I'm no help on that, but I will say, you'll really want to get a rental. GKTW is about a 30 minute drive from the parks, without traffic.

Maybe your chapter can tell you how much they are allotting you for your eating budget, that way you can maybe set some of that aside for the rental.

I'll say, we had more than enough money while we were there. They told me the amount because I wanted to plan/budget for character meals, etc. They didn't give us money for Breakfast, but it was a good amount for lunch and dinner and I'd doubt you'd spend all that for meals.

Thanks for your reply. Our chapter is giving us money for lunch. We are supposed to eat breakfast and dinner at GKTW. I will ask them how much they are allotting us for lunch and see if we can use some of that towards a van.
I think because we are in Canada our chapter doesn't have as much money.....I'm just guessing. Either way we are extremely grateful to have this opportunity!
Thanks!
Jessica