Make a wish foundation...have questions and need help

[julemm]

My girlfriend just found out that Make A Wish Foundation is taking her family to DisneyWorld in mid November. They are a family of 5 and so excited because they have never taken a trip since Hannah has been sick 4 years ago. They have never been to Disney and don't know where to start planning and what to do. We went last year (along with hurricane Jeanne and I read these boards about everyday to get more info for our next trip in Oct 06. I am trying to help her plan and get her all of the things to do and must see things but I have a few questions. I know that they will not pay for anything, meals, transporation, even expense money for the extras. I am just wondering if they get anything above and beyond to make this special for them...open the park, ride in the parade, etc. If you have been on a trip with Make A Wish or know someone who has I would love to be able to let them know things to pass them along to them. They are so excited and will have the best vacation regardless of what all they do, I just wanted to help them plan where to go, eat, etc. Also, how will the weather be in mid November? Will they be able to go to the water parks, or is it too cold then? Any input would be most helpful to us. Thanks in advance for all of your help and thoughts!

 

[can'twait]

That is so nice!

The weather will still be shorts and tees weather. Tell them to check the local forecast online before they leave. I think one of the water parks may be closed for refurbishing, but you can check that at DisneyWorld.com.

The crowds should be low as long as it's not too close to Thanksgiving.

I can't help you with the Make A Wish information. Do they have a website that might help them? Maybe their community could have a fundraiser for the "extras"?

 

[SB in KY]

Check out the DISabilities board...there are a lot of Make-a-Wish families over there that know a lot more.

The trips can vary widely in what is covered and how it is handled. Disney does not get directly involved...so they would not be anymore likely to be parade families, etc than any other family (and at any given time there are 50+ MAW families there).

The specifics for your friends trip will have to come from her sponsoring foundation. I know sometimes the sponsor provides a big send off celebration and a lot of fancy extra perks...but not always and some people get really disapointed if they hear about one family getting something and they do not get the same....so just help your friend understand that just because one family had a big send off party and a limo ride to the airport or whatever...not everyone does.

The more trip/park planning she is able to do in advance will probably make their trip SOOO much better for them....if you want to do something really nice you might want to get her a good guide book...maybe the WDW with Kids or something similar....it would probably be a real asset to her in the long run.

Since they will not be staying on site she will have to adjust plans accordingly. But the site they house them in is such a cool place it is almost a destination in itself. They have characters that come there on a schedule for a very delightful interaction time and lots of other lovely perks.

November weather is generally delightful, but they may need a sweatshirt or light jacket for mornings and evenings. Blizzard Beach will be closed in Nov, but TL will be open.

 

[DisOrBust]

Having helped plan a Wish trip I can tell you a few details. There is no way for planned extras, ie park opening etc..believe me I tried. They will get a button that will be recognized by the CMs and they will get extas that way from characters, front of the line, etc..

The park tickets "use to be" a 3 day hopper to WDW, SW and 2 days at Universal for a 7 day stay at GKTW. If they want to go to WDW more they will need to upgrade their tickets.

We had fundraisers at work, church for the extras. We also sent them to the Poly for 3 nights and the staff( as well as Tikiman) went COMPLETELY out of their way for them. The girls still talk about being "rockstars'". The Poly wiill always have a special place for me that they did that.
A fellow Diser took the Family on an Illumination cruise that was also a highlight!
Gogd Luck!!

 

[eeyore45]

I'm at work, so I cant add the links, but I believe they may be in a sticky on the DISability board here at the dis... GKTW = Give Kids The World, do read that website, gktw.org, and do a search on the dis for that - mouseforless.com has a blogger that has a trip report on their experience with GKTW, and MAW!!

Lots of love, and information is given - more than time allows!!

 

[SB in KY]

Oh yeah...I forgot to add that as of this summer, families recieved 3 days at WDW, 2 days at Universal/IOA and 1 day at Seaworld.

When we were at Seaworld this summer a MAW family was with us in line to get the second day free thing and the mom got really upset because they would have had to pay $10/ticket to have the second day added to their tickets at Seaworld (personally I thought 1 day was more than enough there...and I just gave her our tickets to have the second day added on for free since we weren't going to be back anyways)....but just in case they were real fish fans or anything...it is only 1 free day at Seaworld.