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

[kellyw8863]

Thanks, Maroo! I guess I was just confused. I do follow Brigitte's CP and on there, Shannon did say that they are staying at AKL because GKTW is full, but here I did get the impression that AKL was their choice. At any rate, I'm glad that it may not be the case afterall and that even if it is full, we may still have the option of going and staying somewhere else. Didn't you do that on Lauren's trip? Did she initially want to stay at GKTW, and how did she feel about not being able to, if (she) don't mind me asking? We speak with Ali's wish granter again on the 5th, so I'll be sure to mention then that we are extremely limited in terms of when we can go and see what he has to say.

Hey Kelly,

I'm sorry if I confused you. We did request to stay on site at Disney...and after our local chapter made the arrangements, they told us that GKTW was full for that week anyways....but, who knows whether that is actually true or not..I LOVE our wish granters, but we have had some issues with people in the main branch and ALOT of confusing information. Its kind of been a mess. Don't forget though, our school vacation is a week later than yours too. So they may have plenty of room the week before if the info I was given was accurate to begin with!!! How is Ali feeling??

Thanks for clarifying! I don't know why I got all freaked out over it. Like I said earlier, we don't even have confirmed plans! Ali's feeling okay. The culture came back negative, but her cough is definitely picking up. I hope that 2010 is a better year for you all!

 

[dmbfan]

Even though I would be hugely disappointed if we couldn't stay at GKTW, would there still be an option for us to go that week if we were willing to stay somewhere else? And, if we ended up having to stay somewhere else, how do they work meals? I do find it odd that I'm getting so stressed about a trip we don't even have booked yet

I know ever chapter is different, and you already know what MAW of MA gave us for an expense check and we still paid about about $1,000 extra out of pocket ( we also had my sister and my older stepson with us, so we did help with their meals) We did find it made a huge help eating at GKTW, for example, Ice cream is free...at the parks, you pay $6.00 for a disney bar and they take too bites and melts or they are full...and soda is free...at the parks, your looking at $5.00 for small soda....so yes if your staying there it comes in good. Staying off site, would require at least 20 mins one way to any given Disney park or resorts. So I would think staying off property would cost a family more than if they stayed at GKTW.

I would not worry about...I think everything will be fine in getting into GKTW during April. Keep in mind, in 2009 they opened up a WHOLE new section of Villas....so I think you will be good...

 

[Joanna71985]

Of course!! Awesome that you are going to be volunteering at GKTW and College Program sounds so awesome!

Thank you!

The College Program is a great experience. I've had a blast down here in FL.

 

[dmbfan]

Hey everyone. I hope it's ok if I pop in here from time to time. I am currently on the College Program in FL, and I am planning on volunteering at GKTW. I think it would be a good experience.

Awesome. We are a returning wish family, and we are volunteering during our Disney Trip next month for 2 nights, and we are just so super excitied. If we lived in FL, I would be a regular for sure...

Do you know when your going to volunteer?

 

[Joanna71985]

Awesome. We are a returning wish family, and we are volunteering during our Disney Trip next month for 2 nights, and we are just so super excitied. If we lived in FL, I would be a regular for sure...

Do you know when your going to volunteer?

There is a van for CPs that goes over on Sun and Wed evenings. So it would be either one of those 2 evenings.

 

[dmbfan]

Thank you!

The College Program is a great experience. I've had a blast down here in FL.

Was seeing in your siggy that you will be working at Toy Story and The Great Movie Ride at HS... I can not tell you HOW MANY people we saw at the parks that worked as CM, and than also volunteered at GKTW...My son thought it was SOOO cool that one of the guys that walked you to your elevator at the Tower of Terror as volunteered at the ice cream place at GKTW, so everytime Jake saw him, he had a hunderd and one questions for him about the TOT...

Maybe you will see us when we are there next month. We all LOVE the Toy Story Ride and the Great Movie ride as well......and Toy Story I knew we will do more than once since that is my husbands favorite ride..

 

[dmbfan]

There is a van for CPs that goes over on Sun and Wed evenings. So it would be either one of those 2 evenings.

We will be there on the Sunday, the 21st of Feb, from 5-9pm in the castle of miracles, this is my son's favorite place...if your there, please stop in there. He loves this board...so he will be so happy to see someone from the Dis boards... We are so lucky that our family, ( the four of us) will be able to volunteer...we just can not wait...now I just have to make sure I do not get teary eyed when we get there...which I am sure I will...

 

[Joanna71985]

Was seeing in your siggy that you will be working at Toy Story and The Great Movie Ride at HS... I can not tell you HOW MANY people we saw at the parks that worked as CM, and than also volunteered at GKTW...My son thought it was SOOO cool that one of the guys that walked you to your elevator at the Tower of Terror as volunteered at the ice cream place at GKTW, so everytime Jake saw him, he had a hunderd and one questions for him about the TOT...

Maybe you will see us when we are there next month. We all LOVE the Toy Story Ride and the Great Movie ride as well......and Toy Story I knew we will do more than once since that is my husbands favorite ride..

I will be at the Great Movie Ride in Feb. So I will keep my eyes open for you.

We will be there on the Sunday, the 21st of Feb, from 5-9pm in the castle of miracles, this is my son's favorite place...if your there, please stop in there. He loves this board...so he will be so happy to see someone from the Dis boards... We are so lucky that our family, ( the four of us) will be able to volunteer...we just can not wait...now I just have to make sure I do not get teary eyed when we get there...which I am sure I will...

Awsome! If I happen to be off that day, I will definitely stop by.

 

[pnutallergymom]

Hi everyone! Happy New Year!!

I just wanted to toss this out there to any of the families who are extending their wish trips or for those who are looking for an extra day in the parks.

Disney's promotion this year is Give a Day, Get a Day. You can sign up for a volunteer organization and for each person in your familiy that participates, you get a free day at any Disney Park. Children are able to participate, but have to be at least 6.

I just signed my family up for one in our area that can actually be done at home. It is making a donation box for Lil MDG's. All you have to do is decorate a shoe box, take pictures of your family completeing the project, and make a small donation to Jayme's Fund (there is no minimum). It is super easy, and for a good cause. I know my kids will love doing this!!

Just wanted to let you know. I forgot to copy the link, but it is on the main Disney site and all you have to do is put your zip code in and the opportunities in your area will pop up!!

Good Luck!!

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Hi Joanna! I didn't know that you were being transferred. Congrats!

A lot of CMs volunteer at GKTW. As Joanna mentioned, the CPs take a van two days a week. That is how I first got involved, and then I started doing it on my own since I had a car. It's a great place to volunteer.

For those who are thinking of volunteering on trips: They do give you a free meal per shift. You can either eat at the Gingerbread House or the Ice Cream Palace. So you may want to consider that in your plans.

 

[dmbfan]

Hi Joanna! I didn't know that you were being transferred. Congrats!

A lot of CMs volunteer at GKTW. As Joanna mentioned, the CPs take a van two days a week. That is how I first got involved, and then I started doing it on my own since I had a car. It's a great place to volunteer.

For those who are thinking of volunteering on trips: They do give you a free meal per shift. You can either eat at the Gingerbread House or the Ice Cream Palace. So you may want to consider that in your plans.

Thank you, I had no idea....

 

[yinyanggirls]

I just wanted to toss this out there to any of the families who are extending their wish trips or for those who are looking for an extra day in the parks.

Disney's promotion this year is Give a Day, Get a Day. You can sign up for a volunteer organization and for each person in your familiy that participates, you get a free day at any Disney Park. Children are able to participate, but have to be at least 6.

Good idea to share that here. I have been waiting for them to release the list of opportunities and then got busy yesterday and forgot to check. When I went on tonight the very few places listed in my area were already "taken". They showed 0 volunteers needed. I was pretty disappointed.

There was one available to work in the Girl Scout cookie warehouse for 8 hrs. I wouldn't mind doing that, but it would cost me more to pay the babysitter (volunteers have to be 14+ and my girls wouldn't make it through 8 hrs anyway). I looked in CA where my parents live and saw TONS of opportunities. There was one to give blood. How easy! Definitely worth checking out.

 

[yinyanggirls]

Regarding GKTW being "full". Phoebe was approved for her wish August 1st 2009. We didn't meet her Wish granter until the end of Sept. We took a week to try to decide between the cruise and GKTW/WDW. When we called her to say GKTW, it took weeks to hear back from her again. We requested to go in Feb, during Phoebe's school break. Weeks later she called to say they had too many families and were "full" through March and we needed to request dates after that. In the meantime, I had joined the DISboards and read about families who were just barely getting wishes approved and dates for Dec, Jan, Feb and March. It was just our chapter that had a waiting list of families to go there. So while I was told Feb was out, other families were getting dates in Feb and even earlier. So don't try to guess your dates off of anyone else, unless they are in the same chapter, but even then...
I'm not complaining about our dates. I don't mind taking Phoebe out of school and DH is able to go anytime. I was just surprised by how far out our trip needed to be reserved when others seemed to happen so quickly!

 

[SueM in MN]

Besides the differences in local MAW, there are other reasons that might make a difference in dates being assigned. A few things I can think of include someone may have needed to cancel just as a new wish came in - the new wish may get that earlier date, even though it was not available when someone made a wish earlier. Trips may also be scheduled around medical treatments or condition - someone who is able to wait may get a later date.

 

[Sandy321]

another lurker - just wanted to add about the Give a Day opportunity -

Project Linus - making blankets that go to hospitals. (this is something dd and I do once a month at our church) but the link was for a different chapter - (and a child of 6 can volunteer!) I signed up and contacted thru email and we are all set! They are only requiring 1 fleece blanket per volunteer (which seems very small - at our church each person can complete 4 or 5 in a few hours! Some do knit, some crochet the ends of the blankets - that takes a bit more time)

 

[momma_mouse]

We leave in 20 short days. I've started planning a little. That's where you come in. We have no (zero, zilch, notta) money of our own to spend on Sloan's trip. It will be funded entirely by Dream Factory. I have no idea how much our expense check will be so I'm going to plan like it's not much.

This shouldn't be a problem for us as our last trip we only spent around $200 out of pocket. (We were on the DDP!) That was for tips and a couple of things the dining plan did not cover as well as like $75 in souvenirs.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out what we are going to do about meals. Obviously, no DDP this time. I plan on going to Wal-Mart to buy water, juice boxes, snacks, etc when we get there. I know that will save us a ton as we did that last time. We will eat breakfast at GKTW everyday. We won't eat lunch there except for days 1 and 7. Isn't there somewhere you can grab a lunch at to take with you? Or did I make that up in my own little mind? LOL! If so, we will totally do that as we plan on taking a cooler in anyway. We will eat dinner at GKTW if we are there. I'm sure we will have a couple of late nights and need to eat out.

What I'm wondering is about grabbing things at GKTW and taking with us. Also, good cheap places to eat in the parks? Cheap or not, we will be eating at Flame Tree BBQ in AK for lunch one day. Other than that, I have nothing figured out. What's a cheap place at US/IOA? I do plan to pack PB&J one day.

Any other tips for saving money?

 

[momma_mouse]

I have another question regarding rides and height requirements. Do they make their stick a little taller to compensate for shoes, or is it just 40 inches? Sloan is 38 1/2 inches without shoes and is really wanting to ride test track. I have no doubt he's 40 with shoes, but didn't know if that would work out or not.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

It will be exactly 40 and shoes will have been taken into account when they made the height requirement.

I don't know about Disney, but when I worked at Worlds of Fun we were not allowed to measure kids if they were wearing shoes that were taller than an inch. We had to make them take them off. They could switch shoes with another member of their party. Typically the kinds of shoes we are talking about are heelies (even without the wheels), anything with a heel, or the very thick soled flip flops. Normal tennis shoes we never had a problem with.

If he wants to ride it, go first thing in the morning. As you walk around the parks all day, kids can lose half an inch or more in height as the fluid in their spine compresses. This is why my theme park gives out wrist bands. That way at the end of the day if the kid is close (within a quarter of an inch) we can give it to them. Without it we have to say no. Disney does not do this, so you will want to go as early as possible if you are not certain that he will make up.

You will want to prepare him for the possibility that he is too short. Believe me, we do not like turning people away, but it is a safety issue. There is nothing I hated more than when the parents, kids, or other guests yelled at us over the height check. We will do everything we can if your kid is close, but in the end, if they don't meet the height we cannot let them on.

Some additional tips for height checks:
-As I said, go early if he's going to be close
-Have your child stand straight and tall and make sure they are not tilting their head
-Have them take a deep breath in, I can't count the number of kids I have height checked who made it by a deep breath
-Wear normal tennis shoes. Flip flops are thinner soled and are not good for kids who are close to the line. Don't try to get shoes that are extra thick as they may ask him to take them off and it will just defeat the purpose.

Sorry it's so long, can you tell this is something I am passionate about after being a lead at a rollercoaster?

 

[maroo]

Hi Joanna! I didn't know that you were being transferred. Congrats!

A lot of CMs volunteer at GKTW. As Joanna mentioned, the CPs take a van two days a week. That is how I first got involved, and then I started doing it on my own since I had a car. It's a great place to volunteer.

For those who are thinking of volunteering on trips: They do give you a free meal per shift. You can either eat at the Gingerbread House or the Ice Cream Palace. So you may want to consider that in your plans.

This is so awesome and makes me want to MOVE to Orlando!

Wish families that have been guests of Give Kids the World (basically if you went through GKTW orientation) are welcome back at anytime after they have gone either to volunteer OR just to go and hang out and they are also given a free meal while they are there!

Regarding GKTW being "full". Phoebe was approved for her wish August 1st 2009. We didn't meet her Wish granter until the end of Sept. We took a week to try to decide between the cruise and GKTW/WDW. When we called her to say GKTW, it took weeks to hear back from her again. We requested to go in Feb, during Phoebe's school break. Weeks later she called to say they had too many families and were "full" through March and we needed to request dates after that. In the meantime, I had joined the DISboards and read about families who were just barely getting wishes approved and dates for Dec, Jan, Feb and March. It was just our chapter that had a waiting list of families to go there. So while I was told Feb was out, other families were getting dates in Feb and even earlier. So don't try to guess your dates off of anyone else, unless they are in the same chapter, but even then...
I'm not complaining about our dates. I don't mind taking Phoebe out of school and DH is able to go anytime. I was just surprised by how far out our trip needed to be reserved when others seemed to happen so quickly!

This is a good point...things vary chapter to chapter and wish to wish, so I would just wait and see what the chapter folks say.

another lurker - just wanted to add about the Give a Day opportunity -

Project Linus - making blankets that go to hospitals. (this is something dd and I do once a month at our church) but the link was for a different chapter - (and a child of 6 can volunteer!) I signed up and contacted thru email and we are all set! They are only requiring 1 fleece blanket per volunteer (which seems very small - at our church each person can complete 4 or 5 in a few hours! Some do knit, some crochet the ends of the blankets - that takes a bit more time)

Woo Hoo Sandy! Look at you posting on the Wish Trippers thread!

Do you have a link for this? We need to do this for this coming year with Lisa so she can get some off of her ticket.

We leave in 20 short days. I've started planning a little. That's where you come in. We have no (zero, zilch, notta) money of our own to spend on Sloan's trip. It will be funded entirely by Dream Factory. I have no idea how much our expense check will be so I'm going to plan like it's not much.

This shouldn't be a problem for us as our last trip we only spent around $200 out of pocket. (We were on the DDP!) That was for tips and a couple of things the dining plan did not cover as well as like $75 in souvenirs.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out what we are going to do about meals. Obviously, no DDP this time. I plan on going to Wal-Mart to buy water, juice boxes, snacks, etc when we get there. I know that will save us a ton as we did that last time. We will eat breakfast at GKTW everyday. We won't eat lunch there except for days 1 and 7. Isn't there somewhere you can grab a lunch at to take with you? Or did I make that up in my own little mind? LOL! If so, we will totally do that as we plan on taking a cooler in anyway. We will eat dinner at GKTW if we are there. I'm sure we will have a couple of late nights and need to eat out.

What I'm wondering is about grabbing things at GKTW and taking with us. Also, good cheap places to eat in the parks? Cheap or not, we will be eating at Flame Tree BBQ in AK for lunch one day. Other than that, I have nothing figured out. What's a cheap place at US/IOA? I do plan to pack PB&J one day.

Any other tips for saving money?

Flame Tree is not too bad price-wise and the portions are HUGE...so you may want to take a look at the portions before you buy the food for your family. I am a big eater and I could easily share some ribs!

Otherwise I think you have GREAT ideas about saving some money for your trip!!

Not sure on taking things from GKTW to eat? You may want to ask when you get there to see what they can do to help you guys. I am sure GKTW will do anything they can to help and I think you will get some spending money from Dream Factory, hopefully!

I have another question regarding rides and height requirements. Do they make their stick a little taller to compensate for shoes, or is it just 40 inches? Sloan is 38 1/2 inches without shoes and is really wanting to ride test track. I have no doubt he's 40 with shoes, but didn't know if that would work out or not.

EB has some GREAT ideas about this...and toilet paper never hurts. I really hate it when an older child that is just a bit short gets turned away from a ride...especially if their height is partially due to their disease process.

But I totally agree with EB...go early, hold your breath and take some tall shoes that are not too obvious.

It will be exactly 40 and shoes will have been taken into account when they made the height requirement.

I don't know about Disney, but when I worked at Worlds of Fun we were not allowed to measure kids if they were wearing shoes that were taller than an inch. We had to make them take them off. They could switch shoes with another member of their party. Typically the kinds of shoes we are talking about are heelies (even without the wheels), anything with a heel, or the very thick soled flip flops. Normal tennis shoes we never had a problem with.

If he wants to ride it, go first thing in the morning. As you walk around the parks all day, kids can lose half an inch or more in height as the fluid in their spine compresses. This is why my theme park gives out wrist bands. That way at the end of the day if the kid is close (within a quarter of an inch) we can give it to them. Without it we have to say no. Disney does not do this, so you will want to go as early as possible if you are not certain that he will make up.

You will want to prepare him for the possibility that he is too short. Believe me, we do not like turning people away, but it is a safety issue. There is nothing I hated more than when the parents, kids, or other guests yelled at us over the height check. We will do everything we can if your kid is close, but in the end, if they don't meet the height we cannot let them on.

Some additional tips for height checks:
-As I said, go early if he's going to be close
-Have your child stand straight and tall and make sure they are not tilting their head
-Have them take a deep breath in, I can't count the number of kids I have height checked who made it by a deep breath
-Wear normal tennis shoes. Flip flops are thinner soled and are not good for kids who are close to the line. Don't try to get shoes that are extra thick as they may ask him to take them off and it will just defeat the purpose.

Sorry it's so long, can you tell this is something I am passionate about after being a lead at a rollercoaster?

All of these are great tips!!

 

[thatkid]

We leave in 20 short days. I've started planning a little. That's where you come in. We have no (zero, zilch, notta) money of our own to spend on Sloan's trip. It will be funded entirely by Dream Factory. I have no idea how much our expense check will be so I'm going to plan like it's not much.

This shouldn't be a problem for us as our last trip we only spent around $200 out of pocket. (We were on the DDP!) That was for tips and a couple of things the dining plan did not cover as well as like $75 in souvenirs.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out what we are going to do about meals. Obviously, no DDP this time. I plan on going to Wal-Mart to buy water, juice boxes, snacks, etc when we get there. I know that will save us a ton as we did that last time. We will eat breakfast at GKTW everyday. We won't eat lunch there except for days 1 and 7. Isn't there somewhere you can grab a lunch at to take with you? Or did I make that up in my own little mind? LOL! If so, we will totally do that as we plan on taking a cooler in anyway. We will eat dinner at GKTW if we are there. I'm sure we will have a couple of late nights and need to eat out.

What I'm wondering is about grabbing things at GKTW and taking with us. Also, good cheap places to eat in the parks? Cheap or not, we will be eating at Flame Tree BBQ in AK for lunch one day. Other than that, I have nothing figured out. What's a cheap place at US/IOA? I do plan to pack PB&J one day.

Any other tips for saving money?

We ate at Circus McGurkus in IOA. I'm not sure how cheap it was? Its a fast food type thing, so it shouldn't be too much. I picked that one because the inside is awesome. We just sat there and watched the train go around the inside, haha.
We would go to the parks early morning (rope drop) and then go back to GKTW for dinner. We never ate lunch, we had big breakfasts at the gingerbread house, then ate there again when we came back. We did 2 full days (from morning until night) and just ate at the counter service places. We got 45.00 each for food per day, and I think my mom and I spent 20 per day. (i'm tube fed, but still eat some) I don't know how much this is helping or if im just rambling