Mark's Starlight Wish Trip - Nov 2008

[mom2lilnick]

HAPPY Birthday! I hope it is a great one!

 

[twinmum]

Hello! It's been so long since I last update! I hope some of you subscribed, so you can find us again! I have been able to check in on a few of the opther trip reports, but it's been so crazy here, and not too much going on Wish Trip wise...well...I just didn't update.


It's been very, very busy. Our reno has started in earnest. The footings are in and the exterior walls are starting to go up. Very early stages at this point, but it is starting to look very real now. It's exciting! The not so exciting part is getting ready to move out of the house. I am spending hours on this and it stills doesn't look like I am making any progress!

I thought some of you might be interested in some of our plans for our trip! I need to ponder these a bit today as a pick me up, so here goes:

Saturday Nov 1 Travel; explore Give Kids the World

Sunday Nov 2 SeaWorld. I have also booked the special dolphin encounter as a surprise. Originally, Mark had hoped to swim with dolphins, but that['s just not in the budget!

Monday Nov 3 Epcot - Mostly Future World; lunch at Coral Reef. We're really looking forward to Test Track, Mission Space, Soarin', and exploring a lot of places we didn't have time for on our last trip.

Tuesday Nov 4 Universal - they simply cannot wait to ride the Simpsons Ride!!! They don't know as much about Universal, but I've been studying up - they're going to enjoy it! Gotta wear those Bart shirts from the Big Give...but then Mark will want to change during the day to his Scooby's Ultimate Fan shirt!

Wednesday Nov 5 Magic Kingdom; lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We're going to enjoy some of our favourites at MK, but take a nice break, take the boal to WL and have a fun lunch. Friends have told us there is lots of silliness at the WCC so should be fun! Mark will want to arrive at the MK and head directly to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Douglas will be voting for Space Mountain. We have another day at MK later in the trip, so we'll do what we can today but not push it. Defnitely wearing those family Wish shirts today...although Douglas might want to bring along the Stitch shirt...

Thursday Nov 6 Disney Hollywood Studios THere is one major objective for today: Jedi Training Academy. Both boys are very eager. We have our wonderful Jedi Mickey tshirts from the Big Give! Must make it back to GKTW for Christmas!

Friday Nov 7 This is looking like Universal Day #2, for a reason I'll explain below.

Saturday Nov 8 Lots of time to say goodbey to GKTW. I haven't said much about it, but we do plan on leaving lots of time to relax in the village, so some of our parks days will be shorter so we can return "home" for a swim, join the activities and so on. This is our checkout day, but we're so luck...our trip is not over...we are moving over to the Grand Floridian! As we make the move, we're hoping to stop and spend some time at Downtown Disney. We're haivng dinner at Narcoossee's, at the hotel. They have a deck right on the marina - you can step out and watch the fireworks, and they have the music piped in. It's wonderful.

Sunday November 9 Back to Epcot - after enjoying some time around the hotel. This time we'll spend more time at World Showcase (shopping for the boys in Japan, beers around the world for Peter and I am determined that this time, we're going to see the new O Canada movie!!!). dinner at the Rose and Crown and stay for Illuminations.

Monday November 10 - Back to Magic Kingdom, and try to do everything we missed on the first day. If Mark has his way (and I bet he will!!!), we'll do a repeat of our first trip and ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad multipled times...last time t was 10 times!!!...thankfully, not in a row! Dinner at the California Grill, watch the fireworks on the observation deck. We all loved this the last time.

Tuesday, November 11 - Back home...with lots of memories!!!

So, what do you think? do you think we'll manage to remember to pace ourselves, given that we have a good long trip?!?

I'll be back...

Alison

So, does anybody have any thoughts on our plans? Anything to add? Are we planing too much?

Alison

 

[Khalana]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK AND DOUGLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lydia says happy birthday too (actually she is singing the song )!

 

[maroo]

So, does anybody have any thoughts on our plans? Anything to add? Are we planing too much?

Alison

Having just been... I guess I can pipe in here...

You guys are going to have a great time! You have extra days...and the Grand Floridian...after GKTW! WOW! Perfect.

The plans look great. You have already been to Disney before, so that will help. And rest day(s) will be very helpful...

I can't wait to hear about all of your adventures!! Take lots of pics!

Woo Hoo!!!

 

[maroo]

oh yeah...

and....


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!

 

[twinmum]

Wow!!! In all the hustle and bustle of packing up for our renovation move, it was this afternoon before I realized...this time next week, we'll be at Give Kids the World!!!

We had a great talk at the dinner table tonight about all the things we are looking forward to...and forced ourselves to idenify a single "#1" for us at each park, although there are so many we are looking forward to...at MK: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; at DHS: Jedi Training Academy (fingers crossed!); at Epcot: Test Track; at Universal:Simpsons Ride; at SeaWorld:getting up close and personal with a dolphin; and at GKTW, well, narrowing it to a single #1 was just too hard!!!

And, my dear Big Give Friends, Mark was all ready to identify which shirt he's going to wear at which park..."well, I HAVE to wear my Bart shirt to ride the Simpsons ride...but I'll have to bring along my Scooby's Ultimate fan" shirt in case we see Scooby...then I need Jedi Mickey for the Jedi Training Academy...and those Wish shirts, well they'll work great for every day...!!!"

We are SO ready for this trip!!! (Well, I just need to finish packing, but I am more ready than I have ever been, only because next I have to pack up the rest of the house!!!

And now to make sure that my hubby's new camera works and we can upload pictures...

Talk soon,
Alison

 

[mom2lilnick]

Wow.. one week? You will have to update on what to wear to get picked for the Jedi Training.. That is in Nick's wish but I don't know that they can actually make it happen.

 

[Tracie]

I think your plans look great! I hope all the boy's wishes come true for this trip!

Tracie

 

[maroo]

I am so excited for you guys! You sound so organized...but with expectations not too high (as far as how much you can do each day)...you will have a wonderful time!!

Take a deep breath...enjoy it...take time to "smell the roses"...have a blast!

 

[jillalvarez2003]

Sounds like you're all set. Can't wait for you all to go, come back, and give us ALL the fun trip details!

 

[oklamomof4boys]

We do the same thing as you do-" In one week we will be....."! But we are at 3 weeks!

Your plans look great. I am so jealous at the length of your trip. How fun!

Somehow I missed the boys' birthday ( probably because our computer has been having some trouble and I am lucky just to get on the internet some times!). I hope they had a great one!

Carol

 

[jessica52877]

We just got back from DL. So first off, Happy Birthday to the boys! I am so glad 10 years later that they are more or less thriving! I hope they had a wonderful birthday!

Now, for your plans! They looked great to me! I think the boys will really love universal. We do! It is not disney but still a ton of fun! We love all the different rides they have and the atmosphere!

I also think it is great you plan on taking it easy! There is nothing better then a vacation where as Maroo put it, you "stop to smell the roses". Makes for wonderful memories!

Dallas wore his Jedi Mickey shirt to jedi training and he was picked about 4th or 5th, the first kid had a sign and the next couple of costumes, then he was picked, "the boy with the jedi mouse shirt on". So just make sure the kids are up front and they can see what they are wearing. At DL it helps for them to jump up and down! We did the first show so we could go back in case he wasn't picked, although I noticed throughout the afternoon the shows were less and less crowded.

I hope you have a wonderful trip! We did a couple of "costume" changes which I had never done before but I just took another shirt for Dallas and had him change when appropiate. It actually worked out well.

Can't wait to hear about the details when you return! I think GKTW will be a great highlight from what I have seen before!

 

[scottsod]

hiya again

i read all the pre trippy with great excitment as we also
will be there same time we spoke once about stratagy for getting
picked for jedi were not on a wish but i will be there with my 3 special kids
and dylan whos almost 10 is just like your son even almost the same w/c and afo's lol

so we will keep an eye out for you we will be at epcot our 1st day the
3rd when you guys are there and we will be at HS same day as you
so lets make shure not to go to jedi at the same time
i doubt they would try 2 w/c at one shot

he will be in his family guy star wars shirt and have a light saber with him

if you see us say hi

scott and jessie with dylan jake and brody

 

[twinmum]

Egads!!! I have been so busy getting us ready for our renovation move, I haven't even checked my own pre-trip! It's getting exciting around here...OK, it's been that way for a while, but with the suitcases out, the boys' clothes in laundry baskets ready to go inside, and the boys reminding me "don't forget XXX, Mummy", it's getting very real!

I am utterly exhausted with all the organizing and packing to get us moved over to the house we'll be renting during our reno. I simply cannot wait to sit down in that plane, close my eyes and realize that Mark's Wish Trip is finally here. I wish it hadn't turned out to be such a crazy time. For me, so much of the fun is the anticipation, and I've missed some of that this time. Mind you, we also had so much planned for us, there wasn't as much to do!

I've got another big day of packing and errands, then Halloween, and the inevitable last minute trip packing. I also need to see my mother. It is sad to see the rapid decline that she has had in the last few months. She's having an MRI while we are away and I don't know whether to hope that we'll find some explanation for all this. What if the explanation is something not very nice? In any case, I do feel badly because I wanted her to see the boys again before we go and I am not sure I can get them calmed down in all the excitement for a good visit. I hope I can still manage it.

This time tomorrow night it'll be time for that last sleep before the trip!

Alison

 

[twinmum]

Well, here it is...one more sleep, and then we're off for Mark's Wish Trip!!! With Halloween and all, it's already an exciting day, but WOW we cannot wait for tomorrow morning!

Believe it or not, we still haven't decided how we are going to get to the airport - whether to book a minivan taxi or a limo sedan, with Peter's parents coming over in the a.m. to help clear us out, they can take some overflow. Because we have both a wheelchair and a walker, we don't all fit in, plus luggage, in a typical airport limo.

I've been running hard today, and while everything for the trip is set out, I still haven't put it into suitcases...but that's pretty typcial for us.

So here we go...I'm going to get the boys' dinner before Trick or Treating, either head out with them or man the door, have a wee bit of candy with the boys, get them off to bed, stuff everything into the suitcases, paint my toes (how I wish I'd managed to get a pedicure before we go...!), shower, try to sleep, then wake up tomorrow, knowing that by early afternoon...

WE'LL BE AT GIVE KIDS THE WORLD!!!

Thanks to everyone here:
- to Wish Families who have travelled for sharing your experiences and knowledge - your trip reports have made me laugh and cry, made me feel like I'm prepared, and helped to build the excitement
- to Wish Families who are planning your trips, for sharing your anticipation with us
- to the wonderful Big Give gang, who so generously gave their talents - we shall wear your shirts with pride!

I don't know if I'll be back on before we leave, but I'll update when we get back!

See you soon!
Alison, Peter, Douglas and our Wish Kid, Mark!

 

[Donald is #1]

Have an awesome trip!

 

[oklamomof4boys]

How exciting! Have a wonderful time. I can't wait to hear all about it. Plus you reminded me to make an appointment for a pedicure!

 

[GoofyDoo]

Alison, have a WONDERFUL time!! I'd love it if you run into Fred!!! If so, tell him we said hello! I wish you and your family the best wish trip ever!!! xoxoxoxoxo

 

[mom2lilnick]

Have a great time! I can't wait to hear all about it when you return!

 

[zeppy68]

HOpe you have wonderful trip



http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1958228