Make A Wish trip

[Twice_as_Nice]

Hi everyone, we found out yesterday that our son was approved for a wish from MAW. It's a huge surprise for us and we are very excited. His whole life is Minnie and Mickey.

We haven't met our wish granters yet, obviously, but they said they are sending out the parent package to us so they can get to know our little guy better. I am trying to think of what exactly his wish might be. He is 3.5 but cognitively 18-24mn and is mostly nonverbal so it's not like we can just out right ask him. I am guessing they are used to that and have ways. If I had to guess I would guess Marry Minnie, he is in LOVE with Minnie. Or a sleepover with Mickey in WDW.

My one question is I noticed many MAW families go to sea world. We really have no interest in going to Sea World, one main reason is ethical objections to SW, but also because our kids are really not into it. Do you HAVE to go to SW?

 

[Shea&Van]

Hi there!

I'm sorry I can't answer your question about Sea World, but I wanted to pop in and wish you the happiest of trips.

My gut would say "heck no" it's his wish, but I have no first-hand knowlege of that. I had a dear friend take a MAW trip and it was AMAZING!!! The wish was to see a taping of "Lost." They flew the whole family to Hawaii, they got to meet the entire cast...even a small walk on part. Her wish-granters were totally fantastic. I'm sure yours will be as well!

We took my son at that age and he loved all the attention from the Princesses at Cinderella's Royal Table and getting his hair spiked at the Harmony Barber Shop. It's a great age to take little ones.

I hope you have a fabulous time planning and then enjoying this special time.

Blessings to you and your family!

 

[luvlabor]

Hi-
You don't have to go to Sea World. You can choose to get tickets to other attractions once you get to Give Kids the World, or you can just skip Sea World and spend a day at GKTW. It's up to you.
Jessica

 

[SueM in MN]

Hi-
You don't have to go to Sea World. You can choose to get tickets to other attractions once you get to Give Kids the World, or you can just skip Sea World and spend a day at GKTW. It's up to you.
Jessica

yes - you will have the opportunity to go yo Sea World and Universal, as well as the Disney parks. But, it is up to you what you do.
There are so many things to do at Give Kids the World that many people choose to skip some parks to stay there.
You may find that because of his age and cognitive level, you chose to skip Universal too. Whether you go or not is for you to decide.

 

[redberyl]

All kids who go to disney world through maw get 3 day tickets to disney, 2 days to universal, 1 day seaworld. You can also get tickets to legoland and other attractions. We only did 1 day universal and skipped sea world. My daughter was so worn out by it all we needed some low key days. I was annoyed at first because i would rather have had more days in disney, but with the genie pass you get to do so much 3 days was plenty

 

[redberyl]

Also, a word of caution. My daughters wish was to see the floating lights from tangled and dance with rapunzel. MAW told us we could do that at gktw. I kept adking when in the itinerary it would happen, they kept saying it was a surprise. In the end there were no floating lights or dance with rapunzel. a sleepover with mickey and marrying minnie are wonderful idesd; just make sure you know in advance that it for sure is going to happen

 

[Twice_as_Nice]

That's great new thank you so much for the help everyone. I have checked out the GKTW website a bit and it looks fabulous. Has anyone gone to visit the Space Center while they were there, how was the drive? We were contemplating going as our 8 year old son is VERY into space and wants to be an aerospace engineer when he grows up.

Also do all wish families get a car?

 

[redberyl]

We got a car, with carseats. I think gktw might have free tickets for the space center, you can call and ask. The staff is very helpful

 

[AmazingGrace]

When my Benji had his wish trip, we were given 3 day wdw passes, 2 day universal passes and 1 day sea world passes. We used the Disney passes on the actual wish trip and used the universal and sea world passes later. We spent lots of time just swimming, relaxing and enjoying gktw. We loved it there and my kids enjoyed it as much as the parks, if not more. Your son is in for a real treat. From the moment he gets on the plane, till the trip ends, he's going to be treated like a little hero. I know y'all will have fun!

 

[redberyl]

When i was there last year the universal tickets had to be used thatweek, but you could save the ses world tickets. Thinking about the car rental, and there is no transportstion from gktw to the parks, so i imagine everyone gets a car

 

[AmazingGrace]

Ahh okay. We went on Benji's trip eleven years ago. Sounds like the rules changed.

 

[Twice_as_Nice]

The car sounds great, I was wondering how you would get around. Do we have to bring our car seats from home or can we rent them I wonder.

We completed the parent paperwork on the weekend with his Wishes and dates and sent them off this morning. The kids were so excited they helped by deciding what he would wish for and even made a collage of Disney pictures to do one page for his wish. It was super cute.

 

[redberyl]

Maw provided car seats for us, they came with the car

 

[Twice_as_Nice]

Fantastic. I think our oldest won't need one but the younger two will, we have the CARES harness for the plane so it will be nice not to have to bring the carseat.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

based on our MAW trip make sure you fill up the rental before bedtime on your last night as our money card ended that night so we had no way to fill up car even though we had saved money on the card for that expense but car would not let us use. even call provider and she could not help so we just returned car almost empty

 

[Twice_as_Nice]

So my next question is how do you go about booking FP+ before leaving, is it possible with a MAW trip? I know there are rides and meets that the kids will definitely want to do and I know how hard it can be to get the fast passes for some of them.

Also is it possible to buy wrist bands for everyone and have our tickets linked to them?

 

[luvlabor]

There is transportation from GKTW to the parks.....our MAW chapter doesn't provide rental cars, we have to use the transportation provided by GKTW or get a car on our own.....just fyi.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

one different thing is the special pass that MAW trips get, which is like a fast pass for all lines that have fast pass. this also works for m&gs even the ones without fast pass. you will learn more about this pass at the parent meeting at GKTW. do not worry about this plus look at the activities at GKTW and plan the ones that your kids will want to do. remember that Halloween and Christmas happen each week last I knew. add to that horse rides and character meets. there are "angels" at GKTW that will use your camera for you so everyone is in the pics there. if they still do plan on having Mayor Clayton tuck the kids in one night great fun and pics. bring an extra suitcase to bring back everything your family will receive you will need the room. plan on having ice cream for breakfast once. have a great trip

 

[Twice_as_Nice]

There is transportation from GKTW to the parks.....our MAW chapter doesn't provide rental cars, we have to use the transportation provided by GKTW or get a car on our own.....just fyi.

Really? That would be VERY handy because I don't actually have my full license yet, I just never got it since we lived in the city for so long. SO it would be nice to have another way to get to the parks should the kids want to do different things.

Wow okay so I won't worry so much about the fast pass issue then. That all sounds so exciting.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . cognitively 18-24mn and is mostly nonverbal so it's not like we can just out right ask him. I am guessing they are used to that and have ways . . . My one question is I noticed many MAW families go to sea world. We really have no interest in going to Sea World, one main reason is ethical objections to SW, but also because our kids are really not into it. Do you HAVE to go to SW?

1) You will be given a package of tickets.
2) If you elect no to go, then simply stay at the resort - you do not HAVE to do any activity. *
3) If you are staying at Give-Kids-The-World, there are lots of things to do --- all day long.
. . . ice cream for breakfast
. . . daily gifts for the kids
. . . Christmas and Santa Claus every Thursday
. . . pools
. . . trains
. . . mini amusement park areas
. . . everything, except some souvenirs, is free inside GKTW confines!!!
4) At GKTW, we take REALLY good care of you and the kiddies.

NOTE: Sorry to hear about your "ethical" objections. Many of those claims have already been disproven by government investigators.