"Wake up Princess"~A Wish Trip Report

[Haybuggsmom]

Is that a 7 foot rabbit in my bedroom?!? (Pool party/Tuck in)

Haylee took a little nap then we remembered it was pool party night and since Katie’s Kitchen was closed they were having a BBQ. So we put on our suits and caught the bus to the pool. Haylee loves to swim so we thought this would make her mood better. NOPE!! She was fine while we ate and in the splash park but when we hit the pool the tears returned. We took her out buried her in towels and decided to call it a night.

The big kids stayed for the party and had a blast. While walking back mom and I got the brilliant idea to give Haylee a shower, since it take 3 people to bathe her and we only have 2 right now. BAD IDEA!!! I stayed in my suit and held her from the back of the bath chair while mom washed her. She got really slippery at points and the water pressure was really low so it seemed to take forever. (oh and I was sliding everywhere so I had to make a carpet of towels from the chair to her wheelchair.) I’m glad my family laughs so hard because this was definately an amusing moment.

The big kids returned from the pool party so excited. They had met up with the family from the Mickey pictures. They spent a long time bonding with them and found out their daughter has a lot of the same problems as Haylee. I am glad to have such great kids.

We got her ready for bed because tonight is her “Tuck In Night”** MUST DO FOR FUTURE WISH TRIP FAMILIES***
At 8:30 she was falling asleep so Jonathan started running her through the playground. Then we see this cool yellow car coming and who’s in it?!? MAYOR CLAYTON in his PJs!!

We go to the bedroom and put Haylee into bed. Mayor Clayton proceeds to fluff her pillows and hug them. He tosses Lotso onto the extra bed and replaces him with the Mayor Clayton doll. He then gives her an autographed pic of him and Ms Merry. Then he plays a little game of peek-a-boo with the covers and kisses her goodnight. It was so special.

We then all headed into bed. We were all really tied!

Next up..
The sleeping continues

 

[Haybuggsmom]

The sleeping continues (Day 5/Tusker House/AK/Epcot)

We were up again super early, excited for Tusker House breakfast! Amber again was ready in record time. We were even at the parking lot before they opened. We followed the now famous blue line and got a great spot. Then headed into the park and followed the crowd to the Tusker House.

Now let me say this will perminently be on or trips for breakfast. The outside looks plain. The inside is so fun to look to look at and the food YUMMY!!!! I could have eaten all day. Of course the POG juice flowed. They called is jungle juice, we called it “home”. The characters came around and we headed off to the park. Haylee stayed awake this time because we held off her meds unti lduring breakfast today.

I wanted to add a comment on the characters. Fist off I am not a line waiter, I would not normally wait for autographs but being Haylee’s trip I said I would. Then was surprised by her being taken to the front of the line. I don’t know if she would have gotten this with her normal wheel chair pass or not BUT the attention and pure love she received from EVERY character was beyond belief for us. Disney really out did itself with the people they hire to be the characters. There was definitely more than a few tears shed due to the love being shown. We felt we got better character time in the park than at the breakfasts.

We headed for the safari. Haylee liked it last time. She fell asleep the minute we started moving. And of course she woke up as we pulled back in.

We then went to the Conservation Station. The train ride there was fun. You can see the animals sleeping barns. Then when we got there there was so much to look at. We had never seen this before and were sorry we missed it. They even have a surgery center where you can watch them work on the animals. We were scheduled to watch a mouse who was lethargic. Luckily he was feeling much better and didn’t need the surgery. The cast member did tell us they have done everything from root canals on lions to sewing a mouse’s tail back on. It’s a really neat place.

We started the rounds. Amber wanted eggrolls so we kept our eyes out for those. We headed for the Nemo show, which Haylee started to cry so we had to take her out of. She and I walked through Dino Land while we waited. That was a neat place. I will defiantely take the kids back there next time. We then headed to Expidition Everest. The kids were on and off quickly. Then we found Amber’s eggrolls. They were really good or maybe we were really hungry!

Just after we eat we find Flick. Once again Haylee is asleep. He was so cute. He stated putting his finger over his mouth and shushing everyone.

We went to Bug’s Life not sure if Haylee would go for it with her recent history!! (she has always loved shows!!!) She started to cry but then stopped. I guess our seats were good enough for her to see something. We decided to skip the Lion King show this trip with her crankiness. She did love it last time but we will try again with Neal.

Then we headed off for Camp Minnie & Mickey to hunt for Chip and Dale for Amber. You know after all these years she cleared it up for me. Want to seem smart?!? How to tell Chip and Dale apart. Chip has a black nose (like chocolate chips) and Dale has a red nose. Haylee of course is asleep again sorry for all the top of her head pics.

After we met everyone we decided to head to grandpas hotel to wait for him to get off so we could head to Epcot.

Going to Shades of Green was a FANTASTIC idea. Haylee layed out on the bed and refused to move. They kids and I went on the hunt for food and finally found some by the pool. Just then Grandpa got done. We got some sandwiches rested our feet a bit then headed down stairs to meet some people and off to Epcot.

As we drove in I realized the rides were only open for another 1 ½ hours but the countries were open for a while. So we started the race!!! Off to Sorin. Haylee started to cry but quickly stopped. Then we literally ran to Test Track. Grandma skipped this one. We all LOVED it!! Even Haylee!!! Then we ran off to Spaceship Earth. It was fun. By then it was time to hit up the countries. We had missed doing the Kim Possible thing. Guess we will save that for next time!

Jonathan has been having a great time making videos. We will be watching these for a long time. Here he is changing out for the millionth time.

So a little background for the next pics. I spent my High School years in England. Being older I spent a lot of time off with my friends. Here was one of the things we got good at:
Stuffing the phone booth. We really needed about 4-5 more people but no strangers would get in with us!!!

Off course including Haylee.

Then we got Fish & Chips. We agreed along with an English family near us that is wasn’t real authentic. It tasted more baked than fried! Oh well!

We had fun walking around and found this fountain.

We finished walking around and noticed people getting ready for the fireworks so we went and found the handicap area and sat down. Grandpa and Jonathan took off and brought us back some yummy smoothies. The fireworks were really cool.

Then we faught the traffic to get Haylee to the First Aid Statinfor a quick change before we drop off grandpa and head home. Did I mention before how greatful I am for First Aid Stations. We used to try to find hidden places to change her so fast and it was almost impossible. Now it’s a good experience. Oh and always ask for the high bed!

Tonight I was extra excited to hear the “Welcome Home!” greeting. I was extra tired!! We made it back in time to order pizza again. This had become a fav for Jonathan.
Then off to bed!

Tomorrow..
Get your ride on!!!

 

[Haybuggsmom]

Get your ride on!! (Day 6/US/IOA)

We woke up early and tired AGAIN!! Oh well today we get to see Grandpa again. It would be a short park day because today is Christmas at the village. We have really been looking forward to this!

Off to Gingerbread House for breakfast house then to the van for Universal Studios. I’m excited about this one because it looks like Haylee can ride a lot of things.

On the way out we met up with our friends from Canada again. They were headed to Sea World. We gave them the tips we had gotten that worked well the day before then headed off.

We start off just walking and run into Jimmy Neutron’s ride. She seemed to like it then straight to Shreck. We all liked that one. Then we sent the kids on Twister and the Mummy. They kept saying Haylee could do Twister so we took her. We decided to just try her on anything non roller coaster. GREAT DECISION!!! She rode everything except the Mummy ride and loved them all!!!

On a side note.. I know there are a lot of pics this week of Haylee holding hands with people. She has a pretty serious tactile issue. She DOES NOT let people touch her hands. So we were AMAZED at how much her was grabbing people!

We were on the lookout for “Monkey George” as my nephew calls him and actually found him by mistake. We had decided to eat at ----Diner. I was reading the map and my mom came running back to the table to tell me to look out the window. There he was. We ran out and got pics of him, Scooby and Woody. When Woody saw us he collected everyone for a group shot. GREAT TIMING!!

We decided to hit up the last couple of rides then head over to IOA to wait for my dad. I loved MIB. I like the shooting games they are a big contest for us. Jonathan of course gets a curve because he has Haylee with him. Amber won this time (hint: listen to the talking at the end of the ride for bonus points) I’m not a huge Simpson’s fan but I thought the ride was neat. ET was also cool and the kids liked the baby ETs.

We were hoping to have more time with grandpa but it ended up only being about 1 ½ hours so we made it count.

We ran to Harry Potter. Rode the ride there. I rode this time and mom stayed with Haylee. LOVED IT!! What a great ride!Then dad and Jonathan bought more wands. THEN BUTTER BEER AGAIN!!! I am in love with frozen butter beer. Then we headed for the and the Cat and the Hat for Haylee. She rode with grandpa and Jonathan. She seemed more tired today. Then it was time for good byes. We weren’t sure if we would see grandpa again before we left so we said our tearful goodbyes and headed off.

Next…
Where’s the snow?!?

 

[Haybuggsmom]

Where’s the snow?!?! (Day 6 cont/GKTW/Christmas)

We arrived back to the village just in time for the Santa line. It was getting a little long. The kids chose their gifts and we got into line. We chatted and before we knew it it was our turn. Haylee wasn’t too sure about all this but at least she was awake!

After seeing Santa and family pictures we headed to dinner. It was a nice Christmas dinner. Then we look outside and the parade is passing us by. My mom says she will pack up our dinner and I run Haylee out. They lit the tree and started the snow…where is it??? The wind was blowing it into the wrong direction. Oh well. We visit with the characters in the parade for a while.

Then I remembered the carriage rides. So we ran and the kids got on the last ride of the night.

We decided for another trip for ice cream. I decided to take Haylee to the van and as I walked out it was pouring rain. So we waited under the cover of the building. Then I looked over and saw our friends again. They were soaking!! We made space for them and I sent the younger sister in with “Miss Amber” to get her ice cream while we chatted with them. It’s been nice having a “friend” here.

We visited for a while then headed back to pack. Yes it’s already time to pack.
I spent the next 2 hours arranging things only to realize we were definitely going home with more than what we came with. This was even using the space bags we had brought. So we decided we would check and extra bag for the trip back.

You may have noticed Amber's bows. She is addicted to them. Since she was using her bag for the last day I gave her a ring to put the bows on until we got to the airport. Bows ANYONE!?!

I finally went to bed sadly knowing our trip was coming to an end.

Tomorrow we ask Grandpa:
Is it too late to extend?!?

 

[Haybuggsmom]

Is it too late to extend?!? (Day 7/MK/Flight Home)

We had a hard time getting up and moving since we had been up late AGAIN!! And we just weren’t ready to leave!! A little teary we loaded the luggage into the van and headed for breakfast, our last at GKTW.

We enjoyed our last meal there and SLOWLY headed for the House of Hearts to start as we finished.

On the way out we went to see Haylee's star. There was a very special lady who ran and grabbed a ladder and scalled it to get up close pics of her star. We were thankful for her.

Then the girls then got tatoos (Jonathan has a real one-the teen cancer ribbon with the date he was diagnosed in it)

We hit the gift shop one last time for licence plate covers to show our pride and told them we were checking out. Again we sat at the table filling out forms. We then were surprised with more generous offerings with our passport. With tears now we loaded into the van for the trip to Shades of Green to drop off grandmas bags and to end where we started our Magic at the Magic Kingdom. On the way we called my dad. We wish we would have extended!! “Is it too late?!?!” He told us it was!!!

We decided to park at Ticket and Transportation for a smoother exit (little did we know) As we entered we took more pictures and headed to try for again with Princess Tiana.

She was kind of awake. Prince Naveen was so great but decided his magic is only good in New Orleans since he kissed Haylee’s hand three times and could not turn her into a frog.

We then took Haylee to ride some more rides and when we were hungry we headed for tacos (loved them last trip) to find them closed. We decided to head to the airport and eat there.

Thesenwere special shirts Haylee gave her "incredible" brother and sister for this special trip.

We kissed grandma goodbye and left her on Main Street and headed for the car.

Once to the car we were repositioning the luggage when we realized we still had two of grandmas bags. Of course I missed my turn and ended up driving in circles but finally made it to her hotel. It turned out to be a blessing that she had forgotten them. My dad told his boss and he sent him out to say one last good bye. We won’t see him again for at least a year so I’m glad we got that last good bye!

Then we were off again. The car return was nothing exciting we made it to the check in with no problems. Then when using the kiosk I couldn’t find my or Haylee’s reservation. We had to get help which ended up nice “Pixie Dust” NO BAGAGE FEES which was even better since we were checking an extra bag this time. So back we went. Through security and to the gate. We got some sandwiches and enjoyed our last few minutes in Florida. Then they came and got us to board.

The flight was pretty uneventful and before we knew it we were in the limo and driving home. A couple of Jonathan’s skate boarding friends saw the limo and smiled. The driver brought everything in and thanked us for the opportunity. And that was it. It is over.

I am sad but so blessed to have been given this opportunity for my girl! I know she had the best week EVER!!!
We are already planning out next trip and how to use our passporter.

 

[kissesbykim]

Your TR was AMAZING! The meeting with mickey..oh my, I cried! I'm so glad your family had such a great time! And, a HUGE thank you to your husband! I hope to read your future TP's!

We leave for our son's wish trip in 2 days and I can't wait! Thanks for all the pics of the village!

 

[fulseasmama]

What an amazing TR and I can't believe how fast you finished it. I so enjoyed reading about your trip and I appreciate the tips you gave to future wish trip families like my family. I loved all the pictures of your family but especially the ones of your kids. They looked like they were having a great time and really enjoy being with each other. I got very teary watching your son help make your daughters star. Pretty special moment for you to share with all of us. Thank you so much.

I also had to mention that I loved seeing all the different bows you all had made in your girls hair during the trip. You guys did a great job making them and they looked so cute on them. Awesome!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Joining in. I have to go back and start reading now.

 

[Haybuggsmom]

Your TR was AMAZING! The meeting with mickey..oh my, I cried! I'm so glad your family had such a great time! And, a HUGE thank you to your husband! I hope to read your future TP's!

We leave for our son's wish trip in 2 days and I can't wait! Thanks for all the pics of the village!

You will have an amazing trip! Take lots of pics and I can't wait to hear about it!!!

What an amazing TR and I can't believe how fast you finished it. I so enjoyed reading about your trip and I appreciate the tips you gave to future wish trip families like my family. I loved all the pictures of your family but especially the ones of your kids. They looked like they were having a great time and really enjoy being with each other. I got very teary watching your son help make your daughters star. Pretty special moment for you to share with all of us. Thank you so much.

I also had to mention that I loved seeing all the different bows you all had made in your girls hair during the trip. You guys did a great job making them and they looked so cute on them. Awesome!

I had written a journal each night then using Maroo's tip I typed up a journal for each day. I've actually decided to put it into book form for exeryone on our trip. It's really neat to be able to relive it whenever I want, Or whenever I need a Disney fix!!

Amber is definately my bow girl. She encourages Haylee to wear them too!!

Joining in. I have to go back and start reading now.

Glad you're along. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it!!!

 

[rcq925]

What a wonderful TR! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful family!!!

 

[Haybuggsmom]

What a wonderful TR! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful family!!!

Thanks Becky!
Your trip will be here soon!! I know you are getting excited!!

 

[scouthawkk]

Wow! Sounds like a truely amazing trip! So glad you were all able to enjoy it!

 

[kiwigirl]

Wow! I have so enjoyed reading about your magical wish trip from start to finish. What a fantastic time for you all and that is what it is all about - making memories! You have a beautiful family and they all look so caring towards each other, very special. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us.

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

I loved reading your TR The pictures are worth a thousand words.Looks like everyone had a great time. I just love how your older kids interact with Haley.What a great memory you have with your parents. A Great Big Thank you to your husband for serving our Country.

 

[MickeyReeds]

Enjoyed sharing your trip with you in your report! Loved all the great pics and the character interations!

 

[Mom2mitokids]

What an amazing TR. Thank you for sharing it with us. I loved all the pictures. We also took Kylee's Mickey mouse with us when we meet them at GKTW and Mickey and Minnie Mouse sign them. I was just by chance too. She just happened to have it and Mickey grab it and signed it and then Minnie. This is such a keepsake. It's now up on her self in her room.

 

[kylovebug]

Thank you so very much for sharing your tr. You are an amazing woman and I was blessed to get a small glimpse at your lovely family. God Bless You!

 

[TiggerFan3590]

Great TR....You have a beautiful family. Thank you for sharing!!!

 

[yinyanggirls]

Oh my gosh! I am SO glad you got the links working because, girl, I am using them now!!! I'm about half way caught up and loving every minute! Hailey's smile those first few days is amazing. I love the new pillow tree. (We had the old machine make ours. Still fun but no quite so fairytale looking) We used ours alot also! It looks like all the characters went above and beyond for you. I'm so happy! And to h*** with that cranky family. Someday, they'll have a situation that requires a smidge of compassion and they'll look back and feel really guilty for their bratty behavior. I'm glad you didn't let it ruin your day. I can't wait to read the rest!!!

 

[snubie]

What an amazing trip you had! Thank you for sharing. And thank you for the photo card - it was greatly appreciated.