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

[kellyw8863]

First,

a great big welcome to all the new Wish trippers! I'm not as regular a poster as some, but I try to check in every now and then. Welcome!

And now that we're oh, three weeks away from Elke's wish trip, I thought I might BEGIN to plan....

So, first question: what are the sleeping accomodations like at GKTW for a family of five? Are there beds for three children? What do you sleep a three year old in, who is accustomed to a little toddler bed with partial bed rails? Do they have bed rails there? Do I need to request them in advance?

Thanks in advance for any/all assistance!

I think they have bed rails. At least I hope they do, because we will need them as well. And if I may piggy back off of your question, do they have roll-away beds there? I'm hoping that we can put the four of us in the bedroom with the king bed (we mostly co-sleep anyway so we'd all end up there at some point) and put the girls' gradparents in the room with the twin beds. But a roll-away bed would make things more comfortable in case one of us ends up getting the boot out of the big bed.

And my other question for all you seasoned GKTW folks has to do with the shampoo/conditioner and sunscreen that GKTW says is provided. Brands? I'm wondering if we should bring our own, plan on using what's there, or buying at WalMart there and then just tossing what we don't use. What have you all done that has worked for you?

 

[pacrosby]

Hey Kelly,

I don't recall any roll-away beds. Unless there's one stuffed in a closet or there's the opportunity to have one delivered. I think that might be cause for a phone call.

The shampoo and stuff? I can't tell you brands. I'm not at all picky about that kind of stuff. At home I just buy what's on sale If you've got a brand you really like (or sensitivities) maybe fill some smaller containers to take along with you, or purchase them in sample sizes. It's nice that Walmart is there 'just in case' but my feeling is the less you 'have' to go for the better IYKWIM


Laughing about the co-sleeping. My kids are too big to fit in our bed anymore (well, no more than one at a time anyway). Now they just bring in their sleeping bags and find a spot on the floor

 

[kellyw8863]

Hey Kelly,

I don't recall any roll-away beds. Unless there's one stuffed in a closet or there's the opportunity to have one delivered. I think that might be cause for a phone call.

The shampoo and stuff? I can't tell you brands. I'm not at all picky about that kind of stuff. At home I just buy what's on sale If you've got a brand you really like (or sensitivities) maybe fill some smaller containers to take along with you, or purchase them in sample sizes. My feeling is the less you 'have' to go to Walmart for the better. It's nice that's it's there 'just in case' but the less you 'have' to get the better IYKWIM


Laughing about the co-sleeping. My kids are too big to fit in our bed anymore (well, no more than one at a time anyway). Now they just bring in their sleeping bags and find a spot on the floor

Thanks, Pamela. I think I'll just bring our usual stuff. I have a feeling I'm making this much more complicated than it really is. As for cosleeping, we never planned on it - it sort of evolved. Maya figured out how to make it into our bed without waking us up, and Ali will not sleep by herself. So if any of us want to get any sleep, we play musical beds. I just keep reminding myself, this too shall pass.

 

[alaskanabbott]

there is a King size bedroom with a TV and a crib in the closet, and extra linens. The bathroom is in the hall and has a bathtub with shower, sink and toilet. In the "kids" bedroom is the master bath with two sinks a HUGE shower and a jacuzzi tub, plus two twin beds. In that closet is an extra roll-away bed that my daughter(5) slept on just fine. We put three beds in the kids room, the two already there plus the rollaway. There is extra sheets, blankets and pillows in that closet. There isn't enough room in the master bedroom for the roll away, but I think you could squeeze the crib in there. The living room hide-a-bed is all made up with linens and ready for sleep too. We had 8 of us, hubby, me and our 6 kids, so they gave us both sides of the villa. I'm not sure what the magic number of people is to have that happen.
The shampoo is little bottles of Pantene, the soap was Irish Spring and the toothpaste Crest. I think the sunscreen is Panama Jack. In one room was 15 SPF and the other room it was 30 SPF. The coffee is Folgers. You can replenish the sunscreen, soap, laundry detergent (Tide), coffee and shampoo as much as you need. The Ice Cream Palace has half and half for your coffee and more sugar. I have pictures of the villa if you want to PM me. I just don't want to ruin the surprise if people don't want to know how the villa looks.
I hope this helps.

 

[kellyw8863]

there is a King size bedroom with a TV and a crib in the closet, and extra linens. The bathroom is in the hall and has a bathtub with shower, sink and toilet. In the "kids" bedroom is the master bath with two sinks a HUGE shower and a jacuzzi tub, plus two twin beds. In that closet is an extra roll-away bed that my daughter(5) slept on just fine. We put three beds in the kids room, the two already there plus the rollaway. There is extra sheets, blankets and pillows in that closet. Thee isn't enough room in the master bedroom for the roll away, but I think you could squeeze the crib in there. The living room hide-a-bed is all made up with linens and ready for sleep too. We had 8 of us, hubby, me and our 6 kids, so they gave us both sides of the villa. I'm not sure what the magic number of people is to have that happen.
The shampoo is little bottles of Pantene, the soap was Irish Spring and the toothpaste Crest. I think the sunscreen is Panama Jack. In one room was 15SPF and the other room it was 30SPF. The coffee is Folgers. You can replenish the sunscreen, soap, laundry detergent (Tide), coffee and shampoo as much as you need. The Ice Cream Palace has half and half for your coffee and more sugar. I have pictures of the villa if you want me to PM me. I just don't want to ruin the surprise if people don't want to know how the villa looks.
I hope this helps.

Wow! Thank you so much! I also wanted to say that I'm thoroughly enjoying your trip report. We also are looking forward to a week of "yes."

 

[alaskanabbott]

Wow! Thank you so much! I also wanted to say that I'm thoroughly enjoying your trip report. We also are looking forward to a week of "yes."

YAY! I'm glad you like it. It's so much fun to document all the fun we had. If photo bucket will co-operate I'll have another post up today.

 

[The Lurker]

I believe Proctor and Gamble donates all the soap products used in the villas. I might have the wrong company but the important word is donates. That means the exact products depends on donations and could vary from week to week.

Katie

 

[yinyanggirls]

I'm picky about sunscreen for the kids so I'm bringing some as well as a few other things. I remember reading about the roll away beds, because I'm going to use that to sandwich between the twins. Phoebe is used to a double and she flops around (sleeps bent over pillows I put next to her). I'm sure our family of four can figure something out.

 

[tinytreasures]

here is Jason in the roll-away

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

Jason looks so cozy in the roll away! What a great pic of his tuck in.

 

[wishin' on a star]

here is Jason in the roll-away

cute pic! Thanks for the info on the beds. I think we'll be able to manage fine for our three kids. John ends up in our bed every night. But we only have a queen bed at home, so it will seem like luxury having him in a king size bed with us!

 

[tinytreasures]

the bed was in the bedroom next to the king bed as you can see there was more then enough room

 

[maroo]

I am excited for all of the new Wish families too! Maroo, could you mark Tyler's report as finished so that newcomers know it is complete! Thank you!

certainly!

 

[pouty_tink]

While we are waiting to get together with our wish grantor to finalize dates, I was wondering (and sorry if its been covered somewhere I missed) if anyone can give me an idea of the villa at GKTW. Like bedroom/bathroom wise and types of beds. We are trying to decide if my parents and us (4 adults, 3yr old & 14month old) will be crammed or comfortable all together. And I am reading right when I read that my parents could stay with us even though they are not included in the wish? Understanding that any and all park tickets and such are on their own dime. They have no problem with it, but is anything required from them then if they choose to room with us during our stay? And another question about the food at GKTW, is all of the food sponsored by Boston Market?

 

[Bill_Lin]

Hello Everyone (Hey Maroo!).

I am one of the originals from the original wish trippers' thread. I am a true believer in Give Kids the World and all things Wish Trippy.

Our Wish Trip was 2 1/2 years ago. Since that time, our little Sugar Baby has been declared officially in remission (6 years cancer free now) thank God!

To celebrate, we are going on a follow up trip to Disneyland Resort. We had hoped to tie this in with our World Passport, but this was not possible. Tonight, I booked our stay at the Disneyland Hotel with 5-day park hoppers, a character breakfast in the hotel, early magic in Fantasyland and Toon Town early madness. Did I mention that I love Disney.

We will stop by Six Flag's Discovery Kingdom so Lin can see a real elephant show.

Bless you all!

Bill

 

[kellyw8863]

While we are waiting to get together with our wish grantor to finalize dates, I was wondering (and sorry if its been covered somewhere I missed) if anyone can give me an idea of the villa at GKTW. Like bedroom/bathroom wise and types of beds. We are trying to decide if my parents and us (4 adults, 3yr old & 14month old) will be crammed or comfortable all together. And I am reading right when I read that my parents could stay with us even though they are not included in the wish? Understanding that any and all park tickets and such are on their own dime. They have no problem with it, but is anything required from them then if they choose to room with us during our stay? And another question about the food at GKTW, is all of the food sponsored by Boston Market?

We were told that while it is not MAW policy to include grandparents and other immediate family members living outside the wish trippers home, it is GKTW's policy to make these allowances. So Ali's grandparents, even though they are not included through MAW, are included through GKTW. We were told that they will need to pay for their own park tickets, etc., but that their lodging and meals at GKTW would be covered. Does that make sense?

We are also planning on 6 people in a villa - 4 adults and 2 children. We plan on putting the grandparents in the room with the king bed, and then we will push the two twin beds together to make another king and also utilize the rollaway bed (thank you, btw, for posting pics!). One or both girls usually ends up sleeping with us anyway, so that makes more sense for us rather than putting people out on the pull-out couch.

HTH!

 

[balloondoggle]

Hi all!

Just got MAW/GKTW dates of 5-11 Sept 10, so thought it was about time to get active here.

I find that following a TR is difficult in a forum-style format, so I will be documenting our plans and activities at balloondoggle.blogspot.com should you want to follow along.

I am writing the blog/TR mostly for family and they all know the cast and plot so if you are interested in following along, some intros will make things easier:
The kids are Kayla, 11; Jason, 7; Emily, 5. For alleged grown-ups, there's me (Rob) and Mom (Gina). Kayla is the Wish Tripper. She has CP/Epilepsy and is pretty much non-verbal or anything else. I'll leave out the details as other CP parents already are familiar and the rest of you have your own worries.

We first tried to get a meet & greet with a musician, but they just couldn't make it happen. The guy spends a lot of time on the road, so I can understand. When it became clear that wouldn't happen we went with WDW. Now we are planning the trip and I've read all the FAQ's, several TR/PTR threads and random selections from elsewhere on DISboards.

One question I have not seen addressed here concerns GKTW: Friends of ours are past trippers. They lost thier daughter 2 years ago. They have asked that when we get there, we try to find and photograph thier daughter's star. Does anyone know if there is a pattern, organizational structure or "map" of where a given child's star goes on that massive ceiling? I would break my neck trying to find it.

Thanks to everyone for the great info I've found here. It's relieved some of the anxiety of traveling with a medically fragile kid.

 

[Mtopher4]

Welcome Newbies Looking forward to reading your trip reports

Congrats Bill Lin.. That's awesome 6 years cancer free

 

[The Lurker]

How you find the start depends upon when the child was at the village. If the visit was within the last few years, the family should have been given a "passport". If they have this, the location of the star is on the passport and they can take it to the Castle and a volunteer will help then find it. If they don't have the passport, then they need to start at the House of Hearts. There they can look up the child's name and get the information that would have been on the passport or at least the month and year of the visit. However, if it was a long time ago - it becomes a bit trickier. At the castle is a big board - looks a bit like a tray that has a map of the ceiling and where starts were placed and when. but the star fairy in the past occasionally got "creative". Also when you look up, there are yellow stars that give the month and year of the row which can help. More recently, they have a rather tempermental camera that can be used for close ups to find the star. I have not volunteered there for several months, so I don't know the status of the camera. Once you have the month and year, go in and ask an angel volunteer to help. Believe me, they want to help. It is big thrill, not just for the family, but also the angel volunteer to locate the star. If all fails, entertainment can be called and someone will bring a big ladder...We can almost always find the star. In fact, if there is a problem, they will tell you to go enjoy the village and someone will locate the star. Sometimes if you look up, you will see a piece of paper on the ceiling. That means that someone from entertainment has found a difficult to locate star and has marked it for the family. If you have a photo - check it to see what the name looks like.

True story - when they first started putting up stars, it never occurred to anyone the family would return, so no one kept tract of the location. After the first family came searching, and it took hours, they began to be more careful and instructed the star fairy to put them in identified rows. One of the people in entertainment has been working on getting a true map. And now, the locations are kept on a computer, so sometimes it is quite easy to find the star. The earlier it was put up the harder it is - but we won't give up. By the way, there are now over 85,000 stars.

Katie

 

[twinmum]

Hello Everyone (Hey Maroo!).

I am one of the originals from the original wish trippers' thread. I am a true believer in Give Kids the World and all things Wish Trippy.

Our Wish Trip was 2 1/2 years ago. Since that time, our little Sugar Baby has been declared officially in remission (6 years cancer free now) thank God!

To celebrate, we are going on a follow up trip to Disneyland Resort. We had hoped to tie this in with our World Passport, but this was not possible. Tonight, I booked our stay at the Disneyland Hotel with 5-day park hoppers, a character breakfast in the hotel, early magic in Fantasyland and Toon Town early madness. Did I mention that I love Disney.

We will stop by Six Flag's Discovery Kingdom so Lin can see a real elephant show.

Bless you all!

Bill

Hello Bill! It's so good to see you here again. I mostly lurk, largely because the frequent posters here have more recent info. This is still such a wonderfully supportive thread. We have Maroo to thank for being our continuity. BLESS YOU MAROO!

I am so pleased to know that your daughter continues to be cancer free!!!

Prior to Mark's Wish Trip to WDW, we had a trip to Disneyland, so if we can help in any way, please let me know. We loved how compact everything was. Still our boys are HUGE Epcot fans, and there were somethings(i.e. Test Track) they really missed.

Best wishes,
Alison