Wish Trip Planning

[AmberGreenawalt]

Are there any new families planning wish trips?

We're a "new" family planning a Wish Trip. My husband and I have been lurking for the past few weeks reading everyone's trip reports and planning tips trying to get an idea of what to anticipate. Thanks so much for all the great info!

I didn't want to post until after we had met with our son, Sebastian's, "Wish Granters." We met with them this past Tuesday night (6-17-08) and he told them he wants to go to Disney World and meet Buzz Lightyear, Mickey Mouse, Lighning Mcqueen, Emporer Zurg and Mater --no small order We took a family trip to Disney in October 2007 and it was the highlight of his little 3 1/2 year life. It made perfect sense to us that his wish would be to go back and see his heros again!

We are waiting to hear if his wish will be approved (which they assure us it will be) and find out our travel dates. We requested to go the first couple weeks of December. Our second choice was early November followed by Januray 09 around Sebastian's birthday.

We have also requested that Sebastian's grandparents be able to come along. While they don't reside in our house they do live one mile away (such a blessing) and have been involved in his treatment and helped tremendously with the care of our daughter, Siennah (22 months) while we've been in the hospital and at clinic etc. I also happen to be 7 months pregnant right now, due middle of August. So when we go to Disney we would be traveling with an infant anywhere from 3-5 months old. If Grandma and Pap Pap were there to help then there would always be someone to take Sebastian and Siennah on the rides and someone to care for baby Savannah. Does anyone have experience with such a reuest?

We will likely be staying at GKTW...Yay! Everything I have read on their site and in trip reports sounds AMAZING. My one and only concern is time. I've garnered that GKTW gives wish families 3 day park hopper tickets for the four Disney parks, 2 day park hopper tickets for the two Universal parks and 1 day at Sea World. We know better than to try and "do it all" in one trip but we would like to try and see all seven parks. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity after all We (and by "we" I mean even our 22 month old Siennah) are theme park enthusiasts. My husband and I are from Florida and often traveled to Orlando with FL resident passes to enjoy the parks. As previously mentioned, last October 2007 we took a nine day trip to Orlando to do the four Disney theme parks, two water parks and Mickey's backyard BBQ. Having that amount of "time" and exceptional pre-planning on my part (if I don't say so myself...) made for a really relaxing, albeit full, trip. We returned each day to our hotel for naps and a recharge before venturing out again.

We were told that the typical length of time that GKTW allows for a stay is 6 nights/7 days. I figure the first and last day are shot as far as theme park touring goes because of travel, orientation etc. So, we have asked MAW if we could extend our trip beyond the time at GKTW by moving over to the Hilton and using our Hilton Honors Points (everyone out there who doesn't have this...sign up!...it's the best rewards program!) We would like to do an additional 2-3 nights. Bearing in mind that we will be traveling with 2 toddlers and an infant we know we will need lots of "down" time for naps and nursing.
Does anyone have experience with this type of "extension time" request?

Let's see...more questions...Does MAW make arrangements for the wish child to meet the characters they specifically requested?

We plan on eating many meals at GKTW but would like to do a few character/specialty dining experiences. Does MAW cover any such meals?

We would also like to attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party if we go in December. Any MAW/GKTW related experience with this?

I realize that "spending money" is a sticky subject...didn't find one dollar amount posted in the threads . I understand that each MAW chapter handles and dispenses funds differently. We are just trying to get an idea of what is covered outside of the "spending money" and what we would need to apply it to. Like would we need to use it to pay for the dining in the parks, character meals, Very Merry Christmas Party tickets etc. Any information on what you had to use your actual "spending money" on would be greatly appreciated!

Also, how do I start a "pre trip/trip report" ---that sounds right up my alley
I've already been writing about Sebastian's wish experience on our family blog so I can transfer over my musings

THANKS in adavnce for the help!

Amber Greenawalt

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Hi and to both DisBoards and disABILITIES!

There is a forum on DisBoards called Trip Reports, and a subforum to that for pre-trip reports. That is a good place other than here.

And each MAW chapter handles the funding diferently; you can probably find out from the Wish Granter what the allowances of the chapter are.

 

[Bill_Lin]

I commend you on your date choices for the trip, for the reasons of crowds and weather.

I have heard of non-residential grandparents on trips before due to special circumstances. I hope this works out for you. Each chapter handles things differently.

I have recently read of some chapters allowing trip extensions, but our request was denied by policy of our chapter. I hope this works for you as well.

MAW can should be able to help with arrangements for the wish child to meet the characters they specifically requested. We found, though, that guest services and the Wish Lounge staff were able to assist us here. My Wish Trip Planning Post (link in my signature) has some links to help you find character locations. I called Guest Services once or twice before our trip and found them to be VERY helpful, but at the parks, they really rolled out the red carpet.

You should get some "spending money" to use at your discretion. Character dinner tickets are sometimes available at GKTW but check the moment you get to the Village as the supply is very limited. Check out the GKTW.org website for details, but I think they comp the Wish Child and give a discount to everyone else in the party. We found that we did not have time and energy for these things after all, although the pirate one looks really COOL.

I have seen Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party mentioned on the Wish Trippers Unite! thread (link on my signature to Home Page for Wish Trippers). You should post your questions there anyway, because you will have a lot of people interested in answering you.

Spending money really does very from chapter to chapter. The theory is that you will eat "as many meals as possible" at the village. Practically, this means breakfast and some dinners at the village. Breakfast there means getting a bit later start than you might want, but with the short hours during the season of your visit, this should not matter. With GKTW GAC you will be able to do a lot more in the time you have, with little to no waiting in line. I am partial to their strawberry waffles. In the words of Donkey, "In the morning, I'm makin' waffles." In addition, some characters are at GKTW in the mornings. You will save time seeing THOSE characters at the village instead of hunting them down in the parks.

Our spending money did not allow enough for the character meal at the MK Castle. My sister funded that. It did cover enough for us to eat a meal at MK (Columbia Harbor House was economical and is open until 5 pm), McDonalds at AK (now changing to a Disney restaurant), Sea Fire Inn at SW, Mel's Drive in at U.S. and Lotus Blossom at China in Epcot (very good deal). We ate dinner at GKTW in the evening after AK, Sea World, and US. The only lunch we had (to go) at the Village was the day we flew home.

Our spending money covered tolls, a "meal" if you can call it that, on the plane for each way, a tee shirt for each kid, a sweatshirt and umbrella for DW during a downpour at DHS (ALWAYS have your ponchos on your person), the medallion from Pirates, pirate minnie doll and pirate minnie ears for Lysi, small orca/ purse and necklace at SW, decent sized piglet (now her #1 stuffed friend who sleeps with her EVERY night) and Shamu at the flea market, a small pooh and shirts and take home gifts for family at Wal-Mart and snacks in the park. I suppose we bought other things (oh yeah, allergy meds at Wal-Mart) but I can't remember it all.

There are so many gifts given at the Village that we had trouble getting it all packed up. I wonder if it might not be cheaper to mail things home than to pay the high price for checked bags that they have now.

I hope to see you post on the Wish Trippers Unite thread soon.

Let me know what else I can do to help.

Bill

 

[hotmamac]

Hey there Amber ~
My daughter has been granted a trip to Disney December 13-19th!
We're staying at GKTW. It would be great if we were there at the same time!!!

 

[twinmum]

Hello! I do hope your trip happens in December - we've experienced December at Disneyland and I'm sure WDW is just as magical. But...if you end up going in early November, perhaps we'll meet! We're going to be staying at GKTW from Nov 1-8 for our son's Wish Trip.

C'mon over to the Wish Tripper Unite! thread and meet everyone there!

Alison (Twinmum)

 

[dclfun]

I think alot of your questions about the amount of funds, whether an extension is granted, or whether the grandparents will be able to come will have to be addressed by your MAW chapter. Another person who is a single Mom was denied, even after several pleas, the ability to bring her child's grandparents along. Others have posted that they were able to have this request met. It may have to do with each chapter's rules or other factors. At any rate..happy planning!---Kathy

 

[Ppufi]

YES! Finally a chance to dispense my knowledge.

First off, welcome. You're going to have a great time.

Spending money for my family was $50 per person per day for meals. We, however, chose to eat at GKTW and use the money for souveniers and snacks in the park. GKTW has some of the most delicious food I;ve ever had, plus, it's all free! Breakfast is quite filling, and make sure you try a waffle with whipped cream, they are to live for! (hehe)
Thursday is Christmas night, and they have a lovely turkey dinner. The ice cream shop is perfect for those days when you need something sweet, and they also have sandwiches there. You can also order free pizza till quite late. (Midnight?)

We went the first week of November, and it was beautiful. Less people, and great weather.

One suggestion is to not try and fit in both Universal days. We were able to see all we wanted to in a day.
Speaking of time, you might have a little more trouble getting everything in considering the ages of those going. However, you'll be able to skip lines, so that greatly helps increase ride time.

Have fun on your trip!

 

[Bill_Lin]

First of all.... let me stress that we LOVE the GKTW volunteers.

Some of them will be new when you are there. We found that the folks doing Pizza orders and delivery were mostly teens. It was easier for us to order the pizza then go to the pool to see how it was going and pick it up ourselves. They had forgotten our order or gotten it mixed in with someone else. It should be quicker to pick it up yourself, at any rate.

I second the necessity of trying the waffles. We had them DAILY. We ate one meal at the parks on long days. We wanted our MK day to be as long as possible, as with our Epcot/ DHS day; otherwise, it was dinner at GKTW.

 

[PatMcDuck]

Just a followup, does anyone have any info on how meals are handled for wishes to DL? I feel like I can't find any detailed info on Wish Trips to DL, just alot on trips to WDW. (my daughter's Wish trip to DL is this August).

I sort of feel like I am flying blind, with no idea what to expect, how much $$ I will need, where we will be staying, etc. Flights are booked, that is all we know.

Thanks!

 

[blondietink]

My DS had aWish Trip in 2005. However, we did not stay at GKTW. Apparently they were full, but they have an agreement of sorts with WDW and we were put up at the Beach Club for the entire time! We were able to watch Illuminations from our balcony every night we were in our room. That means we got to use the Extra Magic Hours, transportation, etc.! We did go to GKTW for dinner twice and it was very good, but it was such a hassle to leave the parks and go back there we didn't do it more often. Our local Wish foundation gave us extra money because we were on-site for meals, etc.. Good luck!

 

[Bill_Lin]

Dear Pat,

I have put out a lot of feelers for you on other threads for information about past DL Wish Trips. I will let you know when I get any bites.

Bill

 

[Mskanga]

Just a followup, does anyone have any info on how meals are handled for wishes to DL? I feel like I can't find any detailed info on Wish Trips to DL, just alot on trips to WDW. (my daughter's Wish trip to DL is this August).

I sort of feel like I am flying blind, with no idea what to expect, how much $$ I will need, where we will be staying, etc. Flights are booked, that is all we know.

Thanks!

I am in the same boat but I am sure that they will do the best they can so I am not worried , I will be perfectly happy to eat chicken nuggets and fries all week as long as we can go there ( and so will my kids , I know that much )

 

[Bill_Lin]

In case anyone else is looking for DL information, the following thread seems to be going strong now
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1864095

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

Yay! I just realized I had a bunch of wonderful responses to my first post with Wish Trip questions. Thanks for all the great info!

Sebastians's Wish Trip is going to be December 6th-14th, 2008. We will be staying at Give Kids the World for the first 5 nights and then moving to another hotel (not yet determined) to extend our trip another 3 nights on our own dime.

Unfortunetly, Make A Wish has denied our request for Grandma and Pap Pap to join us. It should be interesting having a three month old, a two year old and an almost four year old to contend with. I'll probably be the lady nursing in line as we wait to go on the rides ;-)

Make A Wish has also said that they don't do tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. So we plan to purchase these on our own since it seems like such a neat event.

Our Wish Granter also told yesterday that we have to give GKTW the tickets back that we don't use while we are staying there. We are pretty bummed about this last bit. Since they give you tickets to 7 parks and only four days to see those parks We had planned on using the GKTW tickets during our "extended" portion of the trip as well. Anyone else have any experience with this?

Looking forward to starting a Trip Report soon

 

[Mskanga]

From what I was told you will only be able to use those tickets during the MAW trip dates.

 

[maktrk96]

My Best Friend is in a wheel chair - She has MS.. She has been in a wheelchair for over 15 years. She is a single mom... Her and her daughter (14yrs) our going on a trip with us to WDW/DCL in Nov. 09'... How can I get a wish trip granted for her. Is the wish trip only for children. I know this is a dream for her before she gets worse. Do you know if there is a way I can get something special for her or what?

 

[Bill_Lin]

Many Wish Trip granting organizations grant wishes for adults as well as children. Give Kids the World has a list on their website for some of these organizations. Click on the link above to look up organizations in your state.

It may be nesessary to contact the organizations yourself to inquire about their policy. Make a Wish, one of the largest organizations is organized into regional chapters. On their main website, you can locate the chapter for your area.

Wish granting begins with a recommendation from the medical provider to the Wish granting organization. In our case, we discussed this with the Social Services staff at Children's Hospital where our oncology clinic is located. They provided an application for us. The application process included verification from the practioner that our daughter met the requirements for the program.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. You can PM me.

Bill

 

[maktrk96]

Bill Thanks for the information..I see alot is for kids, but I'm praying that God will provide and grant my friends wish. I have seen her gone down hill in the last year I just want her to enjoy WDW and DCL with her daughter..I will keep you posted..

 

[SueM in MN]

There are 2 that I know of that are wish granting organizations for adults:
http://www.fairygodmother.org
http://www.dreamfoundation.org

if you lose the links, they are listed in post #3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread near the top of the thread list for this board.

 

[amybasketgirl]

Amber- My daughter received a wish trip two years ago. We also asked o extend our trip on our own dime. We stayed the week at GKTW then we stayed three days at Nick hotel. We used the one of our universal tickets and seaworld tickets during the last days of our trip. We did not have to turn them in. GKTW gives the wish child a special button to wear while at the parks( this is your in to the front of all the lines including all charaacters)on the button are the dates of your stay. The dates did not include the extra days we were staying. I asked at GKTW if we could get a different button for the extra days- they said they could not do this but to just use the button anyway we should have no problem with it. So we used it with no problem.

DD trip was in October so we went to MNSSHP. We paid for these tickets ourself.

At first when we were told that we would be staying at GKTW I was disappointed. We had wanted to stay at aDisney hotel. But Once you get there you won't be disappointed. DD wanted to stay there more than go to any parks. There is so much to do there! There is a movie theather, game room,train,pools,mini golf,castle,merry-go-round,activities every morning and evening.They aslo have planned visist with Disney characters for each family and photo are taken during your stay. They give you a CD at the end.

As far as food we ate most all breakfasts at GKTW. we were given $35 or $45(I can't Remember exact amount)a person for lunch at the parks. Then dinner was suppled By GKTW. If You choose to eat at the park that up to you. If you get back late They have pizza that can be delivery up until 10pm
possble later. We ordered pizza almost every night. There is an ice cream shop that serves ice cream all day. We had ice cream for breakfast a couple of times. ( this was a once in a lifetime trip who needs a balanced meal all the time). Our MAW advisor scheduled a lunch with the princesses per DD request. I was not sure if they were going to do this so I scheduled a lunch myself which I cancelled after finding out they did this for us. We had to pay for this ourselves or use the money given to us for lunches.

As far as seeing characters As soon as the characters assistance or the characters themseleves see the wish child they go to the front of the line.
We were at Epcot (this was our first park and I was nervous to approach anyone)and went to the meet and greet where all the characters are. We were standing in line when Mickey saw DD and The Button, He stopped everything out all the characters (Minnie,Goofy,Pluto,Chip and Dale)to come over to him. they went up to DD, Mickey took her hand and they danced with her played with her and signed her autograph book all while the other families waited. then they all go together for a group photo with our family.
which the photographer said they only do for wish families. DD was so happy I'm crying just remember that moment. So don't be afraid to go up to the first attendant you see at the the start of a line or near a character.

one more thing that might be of help- my DD could not walk for long periods of time we had a stroller for her to use when she got tired. When we got to the first park we went to guest services and got a tag for her stroller( stroller used as wheelchair) so you can take it with you through lines right up to getting on the ride.

DD and family had a wonderful time, it was so much to see and do in such a short time. have a wonderful time, It will be so special you won't believe it!
If I can answer any question I'd be glad to help.

Amy