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

[nesser1981]

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

I hope it works out!

 

[FaithsWish]

I have found some pretty good rates in the past by using Hotwire. The bad part is that they were pre-paid rates.

Our MAW chapter also covers a rental van, but I'm not sure about the amount of spending money. They mentioned a debit card for incidentals, but I don't have a clue as to how much it will be.

 

[missesdisney]

Has anyone had luck with Disney park tickets for an adult wish? I've gone through the organizations on the sticky not getting very far yet.

Here's the situation if anyone has ideas.....

I am seeking information for a friend who had made it 3 years free of breast cancer however right before Christmas received the terrible news that the cancer returned, into 6 locations in her bones, as stage 4.

She has 6 children: two in college (24,22), two in high school (17,14), one in middle school (11), and one in grade school (9). The family discussed Disney for years but were never able to make it happen.

My family has donated to them personally, one week at our DVC timeshare in May to fulfill this dream of a family vacation to Disney (they have only vacationed at the Jersey Shore nearby staying at friends' homes).

We are trying to find assistance available for Disney Park Tickets, or Airfare or anything that could be provided, even if at a discount.

She said she wants to go to Epcot and Harry Potter and I didn't tell her those are two different places

I believe we have Universal covered through Give Kids the World (which is where Universal does adult passes, but am hitting the wall on Disney which is very frustrating!

Any ideas, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

We are going to do some fundraising for the trip but want to try to cover tickets first if we can.

 

[lanejudy]

Has anyone had luck with Disney park tickets for an adult wish? I've gone through the organizations on the sticky not getting very far yet. ...

It sounds like you may have found this already, but this is what the disABILITIES FAQ sticky has regarding wish trips and adults:

Make a Wish and other Wish trips

• You can find more information on post 25 on page 2 of this thread.
• Give Kids the World Website (many families on Wish trips stay there)
• Make A Wish Website (this is the best known Wish granting organization)
  
• Cancer.net list of resources - has some resources for adults and some strictly for children. Some are very specific about the population they serve.
  
• Wish Trippers UNITE! Volume SIX! - - A thread here on the disABILITIES BOARD for information/support/planning/tips for people going on WISH trips. There are links to many, many WISH trip reports in post #1 - these are updated as new trip reports are received. There are links to resources in post #2 - so be sure to visit the first page before jumping into the discussion.

• Organizations for WISH type trips for adults
  Dream Foundation - this is the best known of the adult wish granting organizations
  Dream Lives On
  One Gift - Happiness Unlimited - this organization is only for cancer patients
  Fairy Godmother.org is still listed on a lot of resource lists, but their website is no longer operating and the organization closed October 31, 2008)

I believe Disney is quite selective in which organizations they work with for "wish" type trips. I honestly don't know if they'll offer any type of discounted tickets or accommodations without the guest going through an official organization. I think the demand would be just too high for Disney to control; partnering with an organization takes that "qualification" business out of their hands. There may be some local organizations willing/able to help with fundraising for the family, even if they don't officially plan wish trips.

Good luck!

 

[WendyLou]

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.

hope everything goes well with the Iv's and you have a wonderful trip.

 

[WendyLou]

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 am of no help with a cheap van rental. They're all super expensive. Wonder if any previous wish families know which company at the airport is used the most frequently and maybe you could call and explain the situation and see if they would be willing to offer any kind of discount. So glad Cassidy will get to dance with her prince! Best of luck.

 

[missesdisney]

It sounds like you may have found this already, but this is what the disABILITIES FAQ sticky has regarding wish trips and adults:


I believe Disney is quite selective in which organizations they work with for "wish" type trips. I honestly don't know if they'll offer any type of discounted tickets or accommodations without the guest going through an official organization. I think the demand would be just too high for Disney to control; partnering with an organization takes that "qualification" business out of their hands. There may be some local organizations willing/able to help with fundraising for the family, even if they don't officially plan wish trips.

Good luck!

Thanks - I'm striking out with the organizations but for a good reason - she does not have a year or less end of life prognosis. So better she lives longer and pays for park tickets. Just very frustrating that they really do so little - and Universal (who I had lost respect for recently) is so easily generous.

 

[chcmama]

We are home from the hospital and have our send off dinner with the wish granters tonight. Looking forward to getting all our details. It is so close, now we are trying to start packing

 

[chcmama]

Having a great time here at GKTW! We have been to Disney Hollywood Studio and Epcot, tomorrow we are going to Magic Kingdom. Just checking in

 

[Joshua B]

New to these forums. We just the letter Friday that my son is accepted into make a wish. We are wanting to do Disney World. How are wishes handled with young children. He is 3 and doesn't understand what a wish is. Do we just pick the wish for him? He does not know what Disneyworld is, though he loves Woody and Cars.

 

[WendyLou]

Can't wait to hear all about it!!!

Having a great time here at GKTW! We have been to Disney Hollywood Studio and Epcot, tomorrow we are going to Magic Kingdom. Just checking in

 

[FaithsWish]

Having a great time here at GKTW! We have been to Disney Hollywood Studio and Epcot, tomorrow we are going to Magic Kingdom. Just checking in

So excited for you all! Can't wait to hear all about it!!

 

[hey_jude]

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

Hi Jessica.

Where in Canada are you? I'm wondering if one of your local service clubs (e.g. Rotary, Kiwanis, Optimist, etc.) might be willing to help out.

Judy

 

[luvlabor]

We are in Nova Scotia.....very close to Halifax.
Thanks,
Jessica

 

[FaithsWish]

Crazy question.....do they have pool towels at GKTW or should we bring our own?

Starting to pack!

 

[WendyLou]

Yay on packing!!!!! No clue about Towels.

<a href="http://s50.photobucket.com/user/wen...a-4d82-86ef-7287968331f4_zpsvqklp8iy.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f...7-b00a-4d82-86ef-7287968331f4_zpsvqklp8iy.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 07c17067-b00a-4d82-86ef-7287968331f4_zpsvqklp8iy.jpg"/></a>

 

[chcmama]

Crazy question.....do they have pool towels at GKTW or should we bring our own?

Starting to pack!

Yay for packing! Wish I could answer, we never used the pool since Caleb had a PICC line while we were there. I just looked in the booklet we got too and didn't see anything

 

[chcmama]

We just got home last night, we had a great time! Alaska Airlines was amazing for us and GKTW is an a amazing place. I hope to get started on my trip report before too long. Sad it is over

 

[ButterflyEffect]

So glad to hear you had a great time! It seems like it went so fast, I will keep an eye out for your trip report.

 

[WendyLou]

Working on our itinerary and it looks like we need to do MK on Sat. so we don't miss the other nightly parties at GKTW that I think the kids will love. Saturday is the Big splash bash and I think we'll be ok to miss this one, but this is also the busiest day of the week for MK and they have EMH that night as well. Question for any of those Wish families that have experienced busy days at Mk, how bad were the waits on a busy day? I know we have the card to get in the fastpass lines but with the new fastpass scheduling I'm wondering how long the waits will be? I have read about heavy waits in the fastpass lines.Should I try to rearrange the schedule? We are planning on spending the entire day in the park and they are open until 12am? This is really the day that will work best for us but this day is Red or Not recommended on all the crowd tracker sites. only other option is to go on Monday 5/4 but that is our last day and it makes me nervous waiting to do our fave park last, rain, just plain worn out by then , etc. any ideas? Thanks in advance!
Our plan....
4/29 Wed- Arrive, check out the village and orientation
4/30 Thursday - Seaworld, Winter wonderland at GKTW
5/1 Friday- HS, lunch hollywood and Vine, Epcot if time, Pirates and Princess party at GKTW
5/2 Saturday- MK hrs 9-12am
5/3 Sunday- OFF DAY, enjoy the village, Candyland Party at GKTW
5/4 Monday- US/IOA all day