wish_upon_a_star35
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2010
- Messages
- 414
I've finally got a chance to catch my breath! So I figured I'd start our TR! Before I get started I'd like to thank all of the wonderful people here on Disboards. You guys really helped make our trip so much more special. After our trip to Disney last year I had a lot of time to think about some of the things I would do differently if we got a chance to go back and with the help of so many knowledgeable people we got the chance to do just that! All of the advice and tips helped us tremendously! And another big thank you to the wonderful people from the BIG Give group! You all really made our trip EVEN more special! EVERYTHING came in so handy. The gum, the goodies for the plane ride and of course the lovely customs all added to magic of this trip!
So, I'll just give a quick background on my family! My name is Leah, I am a 35 year old single mother to three lovely children. My oldest daughter Courtney is 14 and very creative, talented and of course a bit of a drama queen at times!
Next my youngest two children that I adopted from the fostercare system. Selah age 5, she is my firecracker! Very fiesty, active, sweet and loving. And Chase age 3, extremely cute and loveable, very ACTIVE and extremely FUNNY! Then there's Nana! Our comedienne who loves to give hugs and kisses!!
Last year my daughter Selah got a wish trip. She LOVES the Disney Princesses anything that has to do with Castles AND LOVES rides so naturally her wish was to go to Disney World. Selah was born 3 months premature. She was 1 pound 8 ounces at birth and almost did not make it. Her lungs were not fully developed and have caused her many, many problems since her birth. I found out about Make A Wish through a friend of the family and when Selah got approved for her wish we were so happy for her. We set off for her wish 2-09. The weather was beautiful and her wish was great! Now we didn't know much about Disney then. So I made no plans at all. We just played each day as it came and that was fine. However there were several things that we did not get a chance to do.
Which brings me to my little guy Chase. He was also born prematurely by 6 weeks. He wasn't as tiny as Selah but had a ton of medical problems ranging from a problem with his pyloric valve that caused him to have extremely horrible episodes of vomitting and choking, a heart murmer, muscle tone issues, balance issues, vision problems and his lungs were not fully developed either. Chase was also born addicted to street drugs so a lot of his behavior problems reflect that. I got a call (I believe it was February of this year) from Make a Wish saying that his doctor's office thought it would be awesome if Chase could get a wish. I was humbled to say the least (the first of many times throughout this whole process) I would have never guessed that he was eligible because Selah got her own wish. So we had to figure out what it was that Chase would like!
Now Chase is a HUGE Thomas the Train fan so I thought he would want something around that. He also LOVES anything that has to do with transportation. He LOVES planes and helicopters, motorcycles and boats. But when the wish granters came to the house he did not hesitate to tell them that he wanted to go back to Disney World!!! I was very shocked and happy at the same time. Because I knew that we could work together to make his wish special to him.
So the process began. I was directed to this board by a nice lady (tinytreasures) who posts on another board that I frequent. I am so greatful that she directed me here!
While I was finding out new things and obsessively reading many PTR's and TR's I thought it would be a cool idea if I kept the wish a secret from my oldest daughter! Now in the begining she knew that Chase got a wish but had no idea where it was going to be or when.
I got contacted by heathersue from the disboutique board about being a Big
Give family so I knew I was going to eventually tell Courtney but still decided to keep the date to myself!
I am sooo glad I did too! She asked me a few times but I never told. I packed all of our suitcases and planned the whole trip behind her back! It was one of the hardest things I've ever done as we are sooo close and many times I just wanted to share some of the details with her. It wasn't until our first Big Give package arrived that I told her that we were going to Disney! She was so happy, but still clueless on the date.
Fast forward to the night before we left!
We stayed the night over my mom's house. I told Courtney to pack an overnight bag and off we go! We grab a bite to eat and take it back to my mom's. Me and my mom are smiling at each other behind the kids backs and doing little happy dances when they were not looking!! The morning of our trip we wake up and get dressed. We head out to one last stop at the bank and grabbed some delicious McDonald's (I'm being extremely sarcastic here) breakfast. Once we get back to my mom's we had about 30 minutes before our ride was due to pick us up. All of our lugguage was under my mom's bed and her's was in the spare bedroom closet. I told her to take the kids around the back to play and I had to drag all of it down stairs to the living room. Once I finished of course we couldn't let the kids back in the house so I prayed that no one had to use the bathroom!
We were sitting on the porch when what do I see coming up the street? A big black shiny luxury van. As the van passed my mom's house and started to back up I turned to Courtney and said: "Well, well, well...what do we have here? It looks like our ride is here because the Walker's are going to DISNEY WORLD!!!!!" Courtney could not believe it!! The kids were so excited and jumping for joy! I rushed them in the house and switched their shirts into the Make a wish shirts that we got and the fun was just starting!!!
Here is a picture of our ride!
Last year we got picked up in a limo...but I have to be honest, I actually enjoyed this much better. The ride was smoothe and we had so much room and the seats were sooo comfy!!! Everyone agreed this was a great way to travel!
Once we arrived at the Pittsburgh International airport we were greeted by the BEST greeter EVER!! I did not take a picture of him but he was awesome. He took us inside to check our bags came through the security check point with us. I thanked him a million times for this because that whole ordeal gave me much stress and nightmares. Selah and Chase both have sensory issues (Chase's are EXTREMELY hard to deal with) and I knew that this could potentially be a big problem. I nonchalantly mentioned it to our wish granters and we must have gotten our first dose of pixie dust sprinkled on us! After we made it through the security part with only a tiny meltodown. He took us to pick up our travel money. Make A Wish is extremely generous with the travel funds which really helped to ensure that Chase could have whatever he wanted on HIS trip! We got traveler's checks...which I will admitt I have never used. But I REALLY LOVED them! After that he came up to our boarding area and actually waited with us. Another Godsend! I was able to grab the kids a quick snack and relax for a few minutes. Chase and Selah made an instant friend with a little boy named Stephan. He was the cutest one year old I've ever seen! His mother was really awesome and was really great with the kids joking with them and telling them how much fun we were all going to have.
When I was heading back to give the kids their snack a lady stopped me who actually works for Make a Wish and hugged me and told me to have a wonderful trip with our family. I was really excited by this time and so happy that Chase was happy.
Our greeter was able to get us on the plane and show Chase the cockpit and he left us! We got situated and were ready for take off! I sat with Selah and My mom, Courtney and Chase sat together. Chase was content with the portable DVD player and his new Thomas movies. And Selah was overly happy with all of her BIG Give goodies!!
Here is a picture of the kids at the airport with a statue of Franko Harris!
I sat back on the flight and thought about our upcoming trip and all of the plans that I made for us and really hoped that we would have a great time!!!
Here is a picture of Selah enjoying herself on the ride!
So, I'll just give a quick background on my family! My name is Leah, I am a 35 year old single mother to three lovely children. My oldest daughter Courtney is 14 and very creative, talented and of course a bit of a drama queen at times!
Next my youngest two children that I adopted from the fostercare system. Selah age 5, she is my firecracker! Very fiesty, active, sweet and loving. And Chase age 3, extremely cute and loveable, very ACTIVE and extremely FUNNY! Then there's Nana! Our comedienne who loves to give hugs and kisses!!Last year my daughter Selah got a wish trip. She LOVES the Disney Princesses anything that has to do with Castles AND LOVES rides so naturally her wish was to go to Disney World. Selah was born 3 months premature. She was 1 pound 8 ounces at birth and almost did not make it. Her lungs were not fully developed and have caused her many, many problems since her birth. I found out about Make A Wish through a friend of the family and when Selah got approved for her wish we were so happy for her. We set off for her wish 2-09. The weather was beautiful and her wish was great! Now we didn't know much about Disney then. So I made no plans at all. We just played each day as it came and that was fine. However there were several things that we did not get a chance to do.
Which brings me to my little guy Chase. He was also born prematurely by 6 weeks. He wasn't as tiny as Selah but had a ton of medical problems ranging from a problem with his pyloric valve that caused him to have extremely horrible episodes of vomitting and choking, a heart murmer, muscle tone issues, balance issues, vision problems and his lungs were not fully developed either. Chase was also born addicted to street drugs so a lot of his behavior problems reflect that. I got a call (I believe it was February of this year) from Make a Wish saying that his doctor's office thought it would be awesome if Chase could get a wish. I was humbled to say the least (the first of many times throughout this whole process) I would have never guessed that he was eligible because Selah got her own wish. So we had to figure out what it was that Chase would like!
Now Chase is a HUGE Thomas the Train fan so I thought he would want something around that. He also LOVES anything that has to do with transportation. He LOVES planes and helicopters, motorcycles and boats. But when the wish granters came to the house he did not hesitate to tell them that he wanted to go back to Disney World!!! I was very shocked and happy at the same time. Because I knew that we could work together to make his wish special to him.
So the process began. I was directed to this board by a nice lady (tinytreasures) who posts on another board that I frequent. I am so greatful that she directed me here!
While I was finding out new things and obsessively reading many PTR's and TR's I thought it would be a cool idea if I kept the wish a secret from my oldest daughter! Now in the begining she knew that Chase got a wish but had no idea where it was going to be or when.
I got contacted by heathersue from the disboutique board about being a Big
Give family so I knew I was going to eventually tell Courtney but still decided to keep the date to myself!
I am sooo glad I did too! She asked me a few times but I never told. I packed all of our suitcases and planned the whole trip behind her back! It was one of the hardest things I've ever done as we are sooo close and many times I just wanted to share some of the details with her. It wasn't until our first Big Give package arrived that I told her that we were going to Disney! She was so happy, but still clueless on the date.
Fast forward to the night before we left!
We stayed the night over my mom's house. I told Courtney to pack an overnight bag and off we go! We grab a bite to eat and take it back to my mom's. Me and my mom are smiling at each other behind the kids backs and doing little happy dances when they were not looking!! The morning of our trip we wake up and get dressed. We head out to one last stop at the bank and grabbed some delicious McDonald's (I'm being extremely sarcastic here) breakfast. Once we get back to my mom's we had about 30 minutes before our ride was due to pick us up. All of our lugguage was under my mom's bed and her's was in the spare bedroom closet. I told her to take the kids around the back to play and I had to drag all of it down stairs to the living room. Once I finished of course we couldn't let the kids back in the house so I prayed that no one had to use the bathroom!
We were sitting on the porch when what do I see coming up the street? A big black shiny luxury van. As the van passed my mom's house and started to back up I turned to Courtney and said: "Well, well, well...what do we have here? It looks like our ride is here because the Walker's are going to DISNEY WORLD!!!!!" Courtney could not believe it!! The kids were so excited and jumping for joy! I rushed them in the house and switched their shirts into the Make a wish shirts that we got and the fun was just starting!!!Here is a picture of our ride!
Last year we got picked up in a limo...but I have to be honest, I actually enjoyed this much better. The ride was smoothe and we had so much room and the seats were sooo comfy!!! Everyone agreed this was a great way to travel!
Once we arrived at the Pittsburgh International airport we were greeted by the BEST greeter EVER!! I did not take a picture of him but he was awesome. He took us inside to check our bags came through the security check point with us. I thanked him a million times for this because that whole ordeal gave me much stress and nightmares. Selah and Chase both have sensory issues (Chase's are EXTREMELY hard to deal with) and I knew that this could potentially be a big problem. I nonchalantly mentioned it to our wish granters and we must have gotten our first dose of pixie dust sprinkled on us! After we made it through the security part with only a tiny meltodown. He took us to pick up our travel money. Make A Wish is extremely generous with the travel funds which really helped to ensure that Chase could have whatever he wanted on HIS trip! We got traveler's checks...which I will admitt I have never used. But I REALLY LOVED them! After that he came up to our boarding area and actually waited with us. Another Godsend! I was able to grab the kids a quick snack and relax for a few minutes. Chase and Selah made an instant friend with a little boy named Stephan. He was the cutest one year old I've ever seen! His mother was really awesome and was really great with the kids joking with them and telling them how much fun we were all going to have.
When I was heading back to give the kids their snack a lady stopped me who actually works for Make a Wish and hugged me and told me to have a wonderful trip with our family. I was really excited by this time and so happy that Chase was happy.
Our greeter was able to get us on the plane and show Chase the cockpit and he left us! We got situated and were ready for take off! I sat with Selah and My mom, Courtney and Chase sat together. Chase was content with the portable DVD player and his new Thomas movies. And Selah was overly happy with all of her BIG Give goodies!!
Here is a picture of the kids at the airport with a statue of Franko Harris!
I sat back on the flight and thought about our upcoming trip and all of the plans that I made for us and really hoped that we would have a great time!!!
Here is a picture of Selah enjoying herself on the ride!
He LOVES killer whales!
who was wonderful. She was very upbeat and bubbly and told us that we were to change our Sign on our table from Run Forest Run to Stop Forest Stop if we needed ANYTHING at all. And someone would come right over to take care of us. She also told us that she would be back after she placed our orders to play some Forest Gump Trivia! Once she came back she asked us many questions pertaining to the movie! I got them all right (I am a HUGE Tom Hanks fan) and she told me what I had won! Unlimited hi fives and drink re-fills 
