Wish Trip Question

[jmrothermel]

Okay, I know this is the Disney board, and a lot of wish trippers on here have done wish trips to Disney, BUT.....

My son is receiving a wish to Hawaii in July. Of course, Make-A-Wish told us we would receive a food allowance for while we are there. After looking at the cost of everything in Hawaii (Oh my gosh!!!!) I see everything is terribly expensive! My question is this - has anyone on the board either taken a wish trip to Hawaii or known anyone who has? Was the food allowance reasonable for the expensive costs in Hawaii? I have seven of us in our family and am so extremely nervous about this. If not I just would like to be prepared to save up some money to take with us. You can also PM me if you're more comfortable discussing privately.

Thank you!!

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't know anyone who has taken a Wish trip to Hawaii.
Hopefully,someone who has will post.
I would suggest contacting your Wish granter because different Wish granting organizations have different budgets and can give different amounts for expenses.
I guess I would say you have looked at prices of things in Hawaii and wonder how the food allowance works.

 

[WheeledTraveler]

I agree with Sue about talking to your Wish granter. Also, if you haven't asked this in the MAW thread on the main disAbilities board, it's worth asking there. It just probably gets more eyes than this section of the boards.

The other thing to do is think about strategies for food costs. The reason food is so expensive in Hawaii is the amount they need to import. If you do some searching online you may be able to get a sense of where locals eat. I would expect those places to often be cheaper than where tourists normally eat. Also, if your family can eat them, look for places that have more food items that are going to be non-imported. Those are likely to be cheaper than foods that need to be imported (and may be cheaper than they are where you live). You don't say where in Hawaii the trip is going, but there may be non-Wish families here who've been to Hawaii and can share what tips they used to make food more affordable if they have a general idea of where in Hawaii you'll be.

 

[Gorechick]

Listening in... We will be going on a wish trip to Hawaii in summer 2015.

 

[MrsMeow]

I know a teenager leaving NEXT WEEK (!!! so exciting !!!) for his wish trip to Hawaii. I'll try to get as many details as possible for you and report back.

 

[SoonerSarah]

I know a young man that had a MAW trip to Hawaii. I will see if his Mom can give any advice.

 

[Sheltoci]

I know a young man that had a MAW trip to Hawaii. I will see if his Mom can give any advice.

Hi my son had a MAW trip August 2013. Do you know what island you are staying on? If you are staying on Oahu they will likely put you in the Sheraton Waikiki. There were 8 or 9 other wish families the week of our sons wish in our hotel. If you are staying there the hotel gave us their VIP package (and all the other wish families there) where you could eat for free at this small Buffett style restaurant with an amazing view of Diamond head crater. They served breakfast and lunch. MAW gave us (family of 3) about 1800 spending money for the trip, that was for any expense from traveling to food to keepsakes. The hotel restaurant saved us a lot if money. We also go to attended a luau so that was another free meal.

 

[Gorechick]

Bumping for any more info. We have not heard from MAW about any details of our WISH trip. My DS asked to stay at Aulani. I'm going to call this week to see if I can get more info as we are about a year out.

 

[blondietink]

My son had a wish trip years ago but not to Hawaii. But we did go to Hawaii last September and stayed at Aulani and then went to Maui also. So, each place we had a kitchen to fix meals in. We ate out very little due to the expense. We relied on groceries mostly from Target, Wal-Mart and Safeway (signed up for their local saver card and it helped a lot). There is also a Costco near Aulani if you have a membership. I knew the groceries would be expensive, but some things were more so than others. For example, anything made of milk products, such as yogurt, cheese, etc., was very expensive, like twice the price we pay at home. Over all, I think we paid roughly 1/4 more on groceries than we would have at home. We got a lot of local foods, and we also took some things with us in our suitcases, like cereal. If you are going the grocery route, then I think if you budget 1.5 times what you usually spend on groceries, then you should be fine. There is also a pretty good pizza place across from Aulani for take-out. I think we paid $22.00 for a large pizza. Some things that we thought would be cheap were expensive ..... bananas were $1.00 each.

 

[kellyt0316]

Okay, I know this is the Disney board, and a lot of wish trippers on here have done wish trips to Disney, BUT.....

My son is receiving a wish to Hawaii in July. Of course, Make-A-Wish told us we would receive a food allowance for while we are there. After looking at the cost of everything in Hawaii (Oh my gosh!!!!) I see everything is terribly expensive! My question is this - has anyone on the board either taken a wish trip to Hawaii or known anyone who has? Was the food allowance reasonable for the expensive costs in Hawaii? I have seven of us in our family and am so extremely nervous about this. If not I just would like to be prepared to save up some money to take with us. You can also PM me if you're more comfortable discussing privately.

Thank you!!

We are taking a MAW trip to Hawaii in May of 2014 for my daughter. I have the same concerns. I was wondering if you had received any information.