My son got a Make-A-Wish....Now what?

[Nicks Wish]

Hello!
This is my first post here. My little boy had a bone marrow transplant.....with too many complications to even go into.
He spent the first two years of his lilfe....sick....the next two in the hospital....this last year in and out of the hospital.....and is now....we pray....on the mend! He is 5 years old. He will celebebrate his 6th Birthday a few days before we leave!
He is delayed because of the above......but his wish....is to "Go to Mickey's home".....his exact words.
So.....we are going to Mickey's home in the middle of July!
He does not like "fast moving" rides......he isnt even sure of the Dumbo!
I need to make a Itinerary for us.....that starts out slow....and then gets a little more exciting as the week progresses. We are a family of 5....Me (his mommy), his big brother who is 17, his father and his step father.
We are staying at Give Kids the World. If anyone can guide me into some type of schedule???? It is going to be hot....I know he will like the water parks....but not the water rides.
I have no idea what to expect on this trip.....being a Make-A-Wish and Give Kids the World....and given his delays....we should qualify for the Handicap tickets.
Can anyone give me some ideas?
I did sign up with TourGuideMike.....but am not sure where to even start!
We are flying there.....and are given a rental van......other than that....that is all I know of this trip! Oh....we have 6 days!
Thank you !
Hugs,
Mary Ann.....Nicholas's Mommy

 

[Linda Bell]

Hello!
This is my first post here. Thank you !
Hugs,
Mary Ann.....Nicholas's Mommy

Hi Mary Ann,

I'm going to recommend a book. It is Walt Disney World for Kids by Kids and the kids rate the rides based on things like heights, dark, and scary. Then sit down with him an let him pick the ones he wants to go on. He will know what other kids think. More fun for him too.

Glad he is improving! He will have a blast. There is tons of tame things to do for the faint of heart.

Do be prepared for the unexpected though. I adopted my daughter at 8, she was still mobile, and we took her to Disneyland as an adoption present. We had never been. After trying to plan all the cutsy little girl rides in advance, this very small fragile child picked the Matterhorn (sp?) as her first ride. They put us in the front car! As soon as it was over we went right back in line. We have gone every year to Disneyland, Disneyworld, or the cruise. It is such a great place to forget the limitations the world places on you.

Might start with Toon Town and Mickeys house. It is all very mild there and the characters abound.

This is too big a topic for one little post. Might tell us what he is aprehensive about specifically and we can probably tell you what to avoid.

BTW, you get big points for taking both dads!

Linda

 

[Michigan]

Because you are going with Make A Wish you will have front of the line access to all the rides. Make A Wish will give you a button to wear so the CM's will know that you go to the front.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

YEAH for on the mend!! My little one loved spending time in the living seas portion of EPCOT. It was nice and cool and she loved the Nemo and Talking with Crush. She also enjoyed looking at the fish, dolphins and the manatees. It was nice because they also had a little area to make a craft and she stopped and took some time there. We enjoyed it because it was nice and cool and slow paced. We had dinner at the Living Seas restaurant (If you are planning on doing this restaurant call the restaurant ahead...a few weeks and tell them about your son, they can have a sign made for one of the divers to take down in the tank!! It is great!!!) We had a great table (in front) and the diver had the sign and the menu had the fish in the tank listed so the kids could look for them. We had a great time here. Some of her other favorites were the railroad (we got off at Toontown and played in Donalds waterpark and toured Toontown and then hopped back on), She also loved the Dinosaur dig in Animal Kingdom. There is so much to do for kids who don't love the rides. Have a great time!!!!! I am so happy to hear your little one is doing better!!! YEAH

 

[Nicks Wish]

Hi Mary Ann,

I'm going to recommend a book. It is Walt Disney World for Kids by Kids and the kids rate the rides based on things like heights, dark, and scary. Then sit down with him an let him pick the ones he wants to go on. He will know what other kids think. More fun for him too.

Glad he is improving! He will have a blast. There is tons of tame things to do for the faint of heart.

Do be prepared for the unexpected though. I adopted my daughter at 8, she was still mobile, and we took her to Disneyland as an adoption present. We had never been. After trying to plan all the cutsy little girl rides in advance, this very small fragile child picked the Matterhorn (sp?) as her first ride. They put us in the front car! As soon as it was over we went right back in line. We have gone every year to Disneyland, Disneyworld, or the cruise. It is such a great place to forget the limitations the world places on you.

Might start with Toon Town and Mickeys house. It is all very mild there and the characters abound.

This is too big a topic for one little post. Might tell us what he is aprehensive about specifically and we can probably tell you what to avoid.

BTW, you get big points for taking both dads!

Linda

The "both dad's" thing is a whole nuther post!
It is for Nicholas.....my husband is reminded of that daily! He would be the step dad!
Anyway.....Loud noises arent great....he isnt a fan of dinosaures AT ALL!
Things that may "come at him"....fast moving things arent really great.
His main goal is to "Kiss Mickey" and he wants to go to "Mickey's home". He LOVES the characters! LOVES THEM! He is going to be more into seeing things than riding them I think. If I make one error....and get him near something that scares him.....I am done! He is not very forgetful!
Little stinker!
He can hardly wait! He keeps asking "How many wunches" until we go!
We go in mid July!
As far as the two dad thing.....I told Make a Wish I was taking video of this whole "vacation"....and when I win the million on funniest videos.....I will donate it all back to Make a Wish!
Yep.....Me, my little one, my bigger one....my EX one....and my new one!
What a trip this will be!
Thank you again!
Mary Ann

 

[Nicks Wish]

Because you are going with Make A Wish you will have front of the line access to all the rides. Make A Wish will give you a button to wear so the CM's will know that you go to the front.

This is all new to me and I have no idea what to expect!
Thank you again!

 

[Nicks Wish]

YEAH for on the mend!! My little one loved spending time in the living seas portion of EPCOT. It was nice and cool and she loved the Nemo and Talking with Crush. She also enjoyed looking at the fish, dolphins and the manatees. It was nice because they also had a little area to make a craft and she stopped and took some time there. We enjoyed it because it was nice and cool and slow paced. We had dinner at the Living Seas restaurant (If you are planning on doing this restaurant call the restaurant ahead...a few weeks and tell them about your son, they can have a sign made for one of the divers to take down in the tank!! It is great!!!) We had a great table (in front) and the diver had the sign and the menu had the fish in the tank listed so the kids could look for them. We had a great time here. Some of her other favorites were the railroad (we got off at Toontown and played in Donalds waterpark and toured Toontown and then hopped back on), She also loved the Dinosaur dig in Animal Kingdom. There is so much to do for kids who don't love the rides. Have a great time!!!!! I am so happy to hear your little one is doing better!!! YEAH

Thank you for your reply! We just have no idea how any of this is gonna go! He hopefully will just be a ball of fire and want to do it all! But....if not....that is ok too! That diver thing sounds great! I will do that! For sure! Thank you so much....I will add that to my list of "researching and pulling off"!
Hugs,
Mary Ann

 

[D L and K's Mom]

If you go to the tent where the characters are make sure you talk to a CM before you get in line. We waited in line and when we got to the front the CM pulled us out and told me next time to just talk to someone before we got into line and they coudl bring us in the back way ...you still have to wait but not in a slow moving line. We waited about 15-20 minutes (which was what the wait time was anyway) but we were in one spot and it really helped. The characters also spent a little more time with us which was nice as DD was a little frightened at first and then warmed up to the characters. They also told us to do this in Animal Kingdom when we were waiting at Camp Minnie Mickey. They took us over to the side where we waited out of the sun. I do think we met the characters here sooner than others that waited in line. I am not telling you this to get anyone angry, I am just wondering if the heat will be something that may matter in July for your son. The CMs are great! Have a great time.

 

[kayc86]

Hi there,my sons first wish trip was 4 1/2 years ago and because of other health issues he was granted another wish that he will be going on at th e end of this year.we stayed at give kids the world.there is so much to do there as well as the disney parks.You should check out givekidstheworld.org of gktw.org.click on up coming trips and it will give you a TON of info about everything at the villas.My son cant handle loud nosies and on days that the park was just too much for him we hung out at GKTW and it was great!

 

[Nicks Wish]

Hi there,my sons first wish trip was 4 1/2 years ago and because of other health issues he was granted another wish that he will be going on at th e end of this year.we stayed at give kids the world.there is so much to do there as well as the disney parks.You should check out givekidstheworld.org of gktw.org.click on up coming trips and it will give you a TON of info about everything at the villas.My son cant handle loud nosies and on days that the park was just too much for him we hung out at GKTW and it was great!

Best wishes to you and your son. I will head over to Give kids the world now....I see that it is pretty spectacular in itself. I have no idea what to expect during any of this. We are quite excited tho! I want him to have the best trip ever.....after all he has been through....he really needs it.
Hugs,
Mary Ann

 

[kmjmom]

I'm so glad that your son is doing well! It sounds like you all deserve a dream vacation! I had the gift of meeting a family at Mickey's Philharmagic who was staying at Give the Kids the World two weeks ago and they couldn't say enough wonderful things about it. It was their first trip with their two beautiful children and they were having a ball! I hope your trip is magical.

 

[kayc86]

Mary ann-
Im sure you also need this trip as much as your son does!!as mommies to special needs children we tend to forget to take care of ourselfs.So while you are there make sure to take a minute or two for yourself.When my family went down it was the first time in a long time that we got to relax and not think of doctors or hospitals,and it did alot of good for my husband and I.you are going to have a blast!!!
Alison

 

[wendygrace]

Welcome! Glad to hear your ds is on the mend. We'll be taking our Make-A-Wish trip at the end of June (if we can get it all arranged) for our ds' fifth bday. He is also a touch delayed and I also thought that he wouldn't want to go on any rides like what you described. However, we ordered and viewed the Dsney planning video (you can find it on Disney's website in their planning section) and we also got the book recommended above (WDW for kids by kids) and ds picked the roller coasters as his rides of choice (next to the Peter Pan ride as his wish is to "fly with Peter"). Definetly read all over the GKTW website and I hear you must plan some time there as they do some really neat stuff for the kids (tuck them into bed, character photos, horseback riding, fishing, etc).

My recommendation is that you start off with Animal Kingdom as he can meet Mickey there at Camp Minnie-Mickey and save the Magic Kingdom for his birthday. At AK there aren't too many fast moving rides and he doesn't have to ride any to enjoy himself there. And since he's a Disney fan, I'd probably recommend requesting a character meal at Chef Mickey's or another of the meals where he can "eat with Mickey". Oh, and for you I'd recommend getting the Unofficial Guide to WDW as well as the Passporter for Special Needs.

Also, I discovered that most MAW groups assume you'll be eating a majority of your meals at GKTW so plan around that. GKTW have their meal times on the website. We are planning on being at GKTW for lunch time as the kids will need afternoon naps (ds still takes one). Not sure how well that will work but we're gonna give it a try. We are also crazy and planning on doing two parks on one day for two days. (MK in morning and Epcot in evening on one day, AK in morn and Studios in afternoon on another day with a final day of MK only). Also, you will probably get three Disney hopper passes, two US/IOA passes and a Seaworld pass but yours may vary some.

I am so excited for you (and us!). Best of luck to you and read up all you can here. This board is wonderful!

 

[mandapanda]

Welcome! Glad to hear your ds is on the mend. We'll be taking our Make-A-Wish trip at the end of June (if we can get it all arranged) for our ds' fifth bday. He is also a touch delayed and I also thought that he wouldn't want to go on any rides like what you described. However, we ordered and viewed the Dsney planning video (you can find it on Disney's website in their planning section) and we also got the book recommended above (WDW for kids by kids) and ds picked the roller coasters as his rides of choice (next to the Peter Pan ride as his wish is to "fly with Peter"). Definetly read all over the GKTW website and I hear you must plan some time there as they do some really neat stuff for the kids (tuck them into bed, character photos, horseback riding, fishing, etc).

My recommendation is that you start off with Animal Kingdom as he can meet Mickey there at Camp Minnie-Mickey and save the Magic Kingdom for his birthday. At AK there aren't too many fast moving rides and he doesn't have to ride any to enjoy himself there. And since he's a Disney fan, I'd probably recommend requesting a character meal at Chef Mickey's or another of the meals where he can "eat with Mickey". Oh, and for you I'd recommend getting the Unofficial Guide to WDW as well as the Passporter for Special Needs.

Also, I discovered that most MAW groups assume you'll be eating a majority of your meals at GKTW so plan around that. GKTW have their meal times on the website. We are planning on being at GKTW for lunch time as the kids will need afternoon naps (ds still takes one). Not sure how well that will work but we're gonna give it a try. We are also crazy and planning on doing two parks on one day for two days. (MK in morning and Epcot in evening on one day, AK in morn and Studios in afternoon on another day with a final day of MK only). Also, you will probably get three Disney hopper passes, two US/IOA passes and a Seaworld pass but yours may vary some.

I am so excited for you (and us!). Best of luck to you and read up all you can here. This board is wonderful!

My son got granted a wish also, we will be going to Disney the 1st of June! too bad we won't be there at the same time!

 

[mandapanda]

Goodmorning , Just reading some of the post on here.. so excited I found this board!! My son got granted a wish and we are going to Disney the 1st of June till 7th... We also will be staying at Give Kids the World... I would like to find someone that has been that can give us helpful hints and I would like to find some friends that will be going at the same time we are!?!?! feel free to send me private messages.. as I am not all that good with finding posts and moving around these boards.. I can't quite get it all figured out..lol Look forward to getting to know you all!

 

[wendygrace]

mandapanda, welcome! Please be sure to post a trip report when you get back. I'd love to hear your experiences while there!

 

[Nick's Grandma]

My grandson was given a trip to give kids the world in November and since my daughter just had a baby, they left us go along. It was wonderful. Nick has cerebral palsy. We had to spend the first part of the morning riding the tram, he loved that. Gktw will give you a daily schedule. We made sure we were there for special events. Nick surprised us because he too is afraid of most things, but he loved the fast rides and all the characters. We loved to have breakfast at gktw and then took sandwiches to the park in Nick's back pack and then ate dinner at gktw. When you get to gktw everything is taken care of. We were so impressed with them. Disney also goes the extra mile for make a wish. We are going back to Disney in November, but this time we are paying for the trip. Disney is Nick's favorite place to be. I truly hope you enjoy this. Plan on being exhausted, but there is no feeling like Disney exhaustion. Relax and just enjoy

 

[MarieS]

Glad to hear your DS is doing better! My boys received their MAW trip in 2005 and it was fabulous!! Plan to spend some time at GKTW because they have all kinds of fun stuff going on ( parties on certain nights) plus pools, carousel, ice cream parlor, etc. We ate breakfast and dinner at GKTW and made ADRs ( similar to reservations ) for character lunches or ( or dinner for Chef Mickeys) at the parks. My boys loved the characters!

I don't know if GKTW has the same schedule now, but when we went they gave us a time when Mickey, Minnie and friends would be at GKTW for pictures. There was also a separate day when we could meet Barney and Friends and Jimmy Neutron. I don't know if your son likes spiderman, but there is a character meal with spidey and friends at Isalnds of Adventure that my boys really enjoyed.

You might want to take a look at the book Birnbaums WDW for kids by kids. It has lots of pictures and rates the rides in terms of noise, scariness, etc. I got lots of info from reading these boards. I am a planner by nature so I planned our itinerary and made ADRs for character meals.

Just as an FYI, all the parks have first aid stations where your son can lay down and rest if needed. My boys are both in wheelchairs and we were able to get them out of their chairs and take do some of their care at the first aid station. They have cots with a curtain.

You might also want to do a search on the boards for trip reports for GKTW. Have a great trip!

 

[spiceycat]

okay here a few links to help you

http://www.wdwinfo.com/Just_for_kids/index.htm

theme park information
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/themeparks.htm

park hours & fireworks
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours.htm

have a wonderful time!

 

[Purple Princess]

Hi!
My daughter had her Wish granted and we went to Disney in Novemeber and had a wonderful time! Give Kids The World is a remarkable place in itself. Sooo much to do - your son (and you) will love it!!! Be warned though that the beds are very hard. I wish someone would have told me before we went lol. OUCH!
My daughter has Cerebral Palsy and many other medical problems and is confined to a wheelchair. This was the firest time she has ever been able to actually go on a ride in her wheelchair! It was a dream come true for her and she is 21! She has always been limited to just the Train that all parks have. She loved Buzz Lightyear ride and we rode it several times. There is a little spinning but not too bad so your son may enjoy the ride. She also loved Mickey's Philharmagic and we had to see that about 4 times hehe. She's such a joy to watch when she's happy. You will be given a badge for your son to wear that states he is on his wish trip and staying at GKTW. It asks that all can be done to help expedite the wait if possible. I don't know if it was because my girl is in a wheelchair or what but she didn't receive front of the line. We were always put into the wheelchair line which is where we would have been anyway. But everyone was so kind at Disney and we still had a wonderful time. Universal did give her special treatment and was always put in front of all lines plus they will give you a free 5x7 photo at each of their photo stops. So I think you can get 5 or 6 free pics of your family! Barney does a show there that is wonderful and yes, Mom and Dad enjoyed it too (and so did my 12 yr. old but don't tell anyone )
He should like the ET ride it was so cool! Heck there is fun at every stop regardless of which park you are in!
You will be given 3 day park hopper passes for each person for Disney parks, 2 day Universal tix and one day at Sea World. There was sooo much to do that we never made it to Sea World. We opted to go to Cocoa Beach the last day since my kids have never seen the Ocean before. This was our first ever vacation so it was a very special time. Daughters health issuse have never allowed us to go anywhere. I know that's where you are at as well. GKTW has a water works at one of the pools that he should like especially at the hot time of year you are going. There aren't any water rides just water fountains that he can run through etc.... very cool! The pool is heated too and it is awesome way to unwind after a long day at the parks.
Every day at GKTW he will receive a small present such as cars, games etc. GKTW has it's own special Candy Land game that you will see as you enter your Villa. Oh and the Villa's are nice!
There is so much to do and more than likely you wont be able to do it all. We coudn't! We had to take a day off and just rest at GKTW halfway through the week. But again GKTW has a ton of things to see and do, you don't feel like you are wasting a day.
If I can help anyone with whatever questions they may have please feel free to send me a private message or email. I want to go again this year and hubby wants to wait until next year. I am working on him though At least he is willing to go back which is saying a lot for a guy that doesn't like amusement parks !

Hugs and Prayers for you and your son