My family and I just returned from a week at GKTW. We wont do a trip report or anything like that, but I got so much valuable information from this board that I thought I would pass on a few things in case its helpful to anyone else:
-GKTW is an amazing place. We had to reschedule our trip at one point because of an illness, and we nearly decided to stay at a Disney resort so we could make the trip sooner. Im so glad we waited for availability at GKTW. Beforehand, we were thinking of the vacation as a Disney trip during which we would stay at GKTW. I would say we now consider it a GKTW trip during which we visited Disney parks.
GKTW is amazing, isn't it. I still have not figured out how to describe it to other people trying to decide between staying on Disney property and staying at GKTW...but it helps when other families report back! 
A few notes about GKTW:
-We didnt plan to participate in the kids night out, but we decided to at the last minute. It was a great decision. There is a minimum of one volunteer per kid, and the kids get tons of attention. Our three boys had six or seven college students to themselves for two or three hours, culminating with the boys participating in Village Idol (something else I didnt think we would do but am really glad we did).
This is great feedback! We could not participate because of some of the rules regarding the level of disabilities they can handle...but I sure wish we would have considered Village Idol. Sounds fun!!
- Some advice on Christmas at GKTW. Based on poor planning on our part, we didnt get the most out of the Christmas evening. We got back to GKTW late and grabbed dinner before going to meet Santa. There was a long line for Santa, and we spent about an hour waiting for and meeting Santa. The experience was priceless (including Santa having everyone in the theater sing happy birthday to my boys), but we could have planned it all out better. Waiting for Santa caused us to miss the parade, carriage rides, and character meets. If I had to do it over, I would do one of two things: (1) skip dinner at the Gingerbread House to just participate in Christmas stuff and order pizza in the villa later or (2) wait until after the parade to get in line to meet Santa.
This is a good point about Santa... I generally recommend they do it first and do it early...but you are right...doing it late could really help, too! I have heard awesome things about Santa at GKTW!!
-Just FYI on the fishing: It was fun to drop a line in the water, but Im relatively certain no fish were caught when we were at the village.
Aww...I wish the kids could all catch fish!
Maybe one of the lurkers at GKTW could work on this...I know we fish all the time in Lauren's grandparents lake and we throw back the little fish so that they can keep catching them...and they feed the fish a lot and really help them grow so that the kids can catch them...they usually catch dozens. Maybe GKTW needs some fish person from MS to go stock their lake. 
On the theme parks:
-The treatment at the theme parks, both Disney and Universal, was amazing. As soon as people saw the Give Kids the World button, special treatment started. Just being in the vicinity of a character meet, for example, would often lead to a cast member approaching us to ask if we wanted to come meet the character. We never once called attention to being on a wish trip. We just made sure our son was wearing his GKTW button and the magic happened. I worried about feeling uncomfortable about all of this, but it was never an issue.
[COLOR="Magenta)"]This was our experience as well...as soon as we got over the "uncomfortable" part - it was awesome![/COLOR]
There was one exception, which was Magic Kingdom. Our experience there, while terrific, was notably different than any other park. We spent two days there (one for a hard ticket event) at the beginning of our trip. My wife and I agreed after our days at the Magic Kingdom that we had great days but also that our experiences as a wish family were exactly identical to what they would have been had we gone on any other trip there with our child who uses a wheelchair. Having a wish button or GAK card didnt make a difference. So, we sometimes used different wheelchair lines, but that didnt necessarily mean a shorter wait.
Wow! That really stinks. I don't see this as whining at all - it is good information. I do think it is a training issue, though...because we never had any issues there? They usually take kids through the line pretty fast? Bummer on all of the issues there! And what is up at the Crystal Palace?!?
A few examples: At Haunted Mansion, we were put in a wheelchair line. Every once in a while a cast member would take one fast pass group and one person from the wheelchair line. It ended up being a relatively long wait, and we saw people who entered the regular line behind us exiting the ride well before we got on. Combining this with the fact that going in with a wheelchair requires missing part of the ride, I ended up wishing I had carried my child and gone through the regular line. At Goofys Barnstormer, I went up to the ride with my three boys. My wish kid wasnt sure he wanted to do it. I talked with him for a minute while the cast member waited. He ultimately said no, and she pointed the other two boys to the regular line. I dont mean to complain about this; it was just a different experience than at other parks. We gave up after waiting a while to get on Dumbo and no evidence that the line was going to move. One more example: We had a character lunch at the Crystal Palace on the birthday of my wish kid and his twin brother. I had read that Disney did cupcakes on birthdays, and I put in our reservation that it was a birthday. I said something about it to our server and she said Oh, yea, I can do that if you want me to. She came back a few minutes later, put two cupcakes on the table, and said Let me know when you want to do it.
There are a few other examples, but I know I sound like a whiner now. The point is just that Magic Kingdom was notably different from a wish trip standpoint than other parks. I thought it might be an issue of training of cast members, but it was so across the board at one park compared to another that Im not sure. I did hear a woman at GKTW complaining specifically about Magic Kingdom. It was the only time all week I heard anyone complain about anything. She was upset and said she had formally complained (Im not sure to whom). I didnt say anything, but I found it interesting that our experiences with the parks paralleled each other.
A couple other notes:
-I planned out our trip in detail before we left. Other than what parks we did on which days, the plan went out the window almost immediately, and we were happy it did. For one thing, our kids slept much later each morning than they do at home. Theyre exhausting days for kids, and ours caught up by sleeping in. For another, its easy to hang around GKTW. For example, we might have planned to be at a park at opening at 9 AM. We would get up, head to Gingerbread House for breakfast, decide to do a carrousel ride, find out that a Disney character is at the Village meeting kids, go see said character, grab some ice cream, and suddenly we're waiting the last few minutes before Katies Kitchen opens at 11 so we can order sandwiches to take to the park with us. I will say that the one day we got it together to get to a park near opening time made a huge difference in what we were able to do at the park.
[COLOR="Magenta)"]This is a consistent thing I hear from Wish Families when they give feedback or do a TR - that the plans go out the window once you get there. Which is awesome...Each trip is so different for each family and things sorta end up turning out different than you planned - but almost always in a good way.
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-You really do need an extra bag for things you get. We didnt bring one, and it made packing the final morning a bit stressful.
YES! Bring an extra bag. Or two. Really.
-When we checked in, GKTW offered us TSA help at the Orlando Airport for our return flight. If you get this option, take it! We didnt know what it was, but we said sure. We ended up nearly cancelling it, but thank god we didnt, because it was a lifesaver.
. I am assuming because she has one, although she has slightly outgrown hers (her feet touch the ground)
. She has an appt. with him next Thursday for her fractured thumb (brace finally comes off...Merry Christmas to her), so I am going to talk to him about it then
. The coordinator told me to talk to him and see if I can persuade him to sign for the wheelchair. She cannot do a whole lot of walking due to all the fractures she has had in her feet, legs and mainly her back. Poor girl would be in so much pain that we would be in the villa more than the parks. Please pray that the doctor agrees to the chair.
to the DIS!! I will link this on the first page here! 
Who knows. 
I can understand your frustration in MK. I think we found a few CMs in MK who could care less about the button or the GAC card. 
