Wish Trippers...Unite!! Volume One

[alizesmom]

Pez Pez. I sure hope to see you sometime this week. We drove 9 hours yesterday and another 9 today. We have probably 3 tomorrow. Alize has proved to be a good traveler. The van, as I figured, is full. So far I realized we forgot: a powerstrip for all of his equipment and his nebulizer . Luckily DH knows how to rig the oxygen tank to deliver the nebs. The hotel last night was great and went out of their way for us. Tonight, what can I say? No adjoining rooms so the nurse can get us quickly if there is a problem (so Alize is in our room), no crib (we get to sleep with him and all of his equipment). Why is it they want people to make reservations ahead of time? Oh well, we'll be at GKTW tomorrow night and we can't wait! Karen

 

[Eeyore's Mom]

Sounds like it is mostly all good news and so excited to hear from you while you are on the road! Hope the night is better than it started and tomorrow the real magic will begin!!

 

[Pez Pez]

Hope to meet you soon too. Limo will be here in a little over 5 hours. We can't wait

 

[palpluto]

Someone had mentioned a wish lounge on main street in the MK and VIP lounges. Where are the VIP lounges?
Thanks!

 

[patticake3]

PezPez, have a wonderful and magical trip!!!

 

[Holly Sox]

Someone had mentioned a wish lounge on main street in the MK and VIP lounges. Where are the VIP lounges?
Thanks!

The VIP lounges are in Epcot, at TestTrack and Mission Space. We did not go to the one at TestTrack, but the one at Mission Space is just amazing. When you go through the fastpass entrance, with your GAC, tell the cm you're with GKTW and you'd like to go to the VIP lounge. You go up some stairs and ring the bell. Tell whoever answers you're from GKTW and they'll buzz you in. The directions to both of them are in your bunny book.

Holly

 

[LindaBabe]

Pezpez, you're probably gone by now, but in case you can get to this - there's a business center in the Contemporary resort with internet access, and the coffee shop in the lake buena vista shops on Vineland has internet access. Neither one of them are particularly close, but not too difficult to find.

Karen, hope you had no emergencys in the night and the rest of the trip goes smoothly.

 

[scrappin]

Hope to meet you soon too. Limo will be here in a little over 5 hours. We can't wait

Very excited for you - wishing you and everyone who will be there during the next few days and safe and absolutely magical time!

Tomorrow, we will be at 14 days and counting!

Cannot wait to hear how it all went!

 

[wendygrace]

Oh how exciting! Two of you off on your trip, and another soon. How wonderful!

Michael is out of the hospital. I'm a bit nervous as he is still quite guarded when he walks so I'm keeping a close eye on him. We're on some nasty strong antibiotics too. wheeeee! see the doc on Friday. We'll be here in St.Louis until Christmas! Then we may come back afterwards. He's in pretty good spirits though.

Hey Linda, Michael has been wearing his hat and telling everyone that Peter Pan mailed it to him at the hospital. He may end up in promotional pictures for the hospital with it on. LOL! He even got a Peter Pan haircut today at the hospital from some volunteers from Great Clips. I got my hair cut too! He looks soooo cute!

 

[palpluto]

Thanks Holly.

 

[LindaBabe]

Oh how exciting! Two of you off on your trip, and another soon. How wonderful!

Michael is out of the hospital. I'm a bit nervous as he is still quite guarded when he walks so I'm keeping a close eye on him. We're on some nasty strong antibiotics too. wheeeee! see the doc on Friday. We'll be here in St.Louis until Christmas! Then we may come back afterwards. He's in pretty good spirits though.

Hey Linda, Michael has been wearing his hat and telling everyone that Peter Pan mailed it to him at the hospital. He may end up in promotional pictures for the hospital with it on. LOL! He even got a Peter Pan haircut today at the hospital from some volunteers from Great Clips. I got my hair cut too! He looks soooo cute!

Glad he's getting better, Wendy. Tickled that he loves the hat so much!
Hugs,
Linda

 

[LeeLee2U]

Wendy~~So glad he's getting better! How cool that he might be in the promo!
Wow 2 of you gone!! I know ya'll are having fun Pez Pez and Alizesmom. Even when things get hectic and frustrating, it's something about these WISH trips, you'll have more fun moments than bad.
Praying that all of ya'll are well and everything stays magical on your trips. Can't wait to hear all about it when ya'll get back!!!

Haven't been on in a while, so I need to catch up. Linda-that was so sweet mailing that hat for Michael. I tear up everytime I read about it. You are so sweet!!
Everythings o.k. @here. We just keep passing a virus around the family. Breaton now has strep throat. THis is his 9th time I believe, SINCE he had his tonsils taken out due to strep! They have officialy started o our house. THey poured slabs today!! We had a Habitat picnic Sat and were interviewed and filmed for a documentary. They said " You don't need to do anything different just be natural. Be yourselves." Then I got an e-mail while ago saying how natural I came across on camara. YEAH , I'm scared to death, they got a shot of me bending over picking up Braetons hot dog pieces!! Hhe kept dropping stuff as usual and it's so normal, I kept forgetting there was a camara on site, so I'm sure they got a ton of footage of me bending down picking up various things, including Braeton who insisted He could walk w/out the walker!!! And B was so overwhelmed with the different people he was acting out quite a bit pulling on my clothes and hair. So there is no telling what they caught!!! Oh Well what can I say?? They said act natural!!

Hope everyones o.k.!!

 

[LindaBabe]

Wow _ PRetty exciting you're fixing to have a house! Lots of work, I know, but oh won't it be NICE!

 

[alizesmom]

Hi guys, checking in. I'm sitting here on my villa's porch with my bare feet up waiting for the Pirates and Princess Party. Later Miss Merry is scheduled to tuck Alize into bed. Envy us mortal creatures! Of course we leave in the morning but the memories and pixie dust will remain for a long time. I hope to give you a detailed story later on but here's some items for those of you in the planning stage:
1. The people working at Sea World will make your visit there as special as at Disney.
2. You only need the GAC provided at GKTW and your GKTW button.
3. Your bunny book is your friend.
4. If you can afford it, get a good GPS. We have navigated around here like we lived here.
5. If you need handicapped parking, bring your placard from home.
6. Try to participate in at least some activities at GKTW, they are geared for children with all level of abilities.
7. Save at least one day to relax and do nothing.

Well, time to get ready for the party. I'll try to give you more when we get home. Pray for a safe trip home and the arrival of our new daughter-to-be on Wednesday.

Thanks to all of you who have gone before and made our trip even better. Karen

 

[patticake3]

Wendy, so glad to hear Michael is getting better! I bet that hat is bringing him extra good luck! Must be hard to be away from home this long; hang in there.

LeeLee, good luck with the house! What a wonderful thing, and I bet you were great on film!

Karen, thanks for the tips - very helpful! I hope you are having a wonderful and memorable trip. Sounds like you are returning to something wonderful too - the excitement continues for your family for sure! Thinking of you all.

 

[Eeyore's Mom]

Karen- Great tips thank you!! Prayers for a safe journey home. I am so excited about your new daughter. What a magical holiday season this is!

 

[alizesmom]

There's no way I can outdo Wendy, Bill or the rest of you with pictures or stories. You have done such a fantastic job. I thought maybe I could fill in a few more parts that I don't recall seeing.
Sunday morning we woke up ready for our last short leg of our trip. Remember I said that the hotel had nothing I requested? During checkout I explained why this caused us such difficulties. I was pleasantly surprized when they cancelled our bill. I didn't even have to raise my voice. Within 3 hours we arrived at GKTW. At our villa, Alize received several surprizes. The thing that struck me the most about the village was how Alize was just one of the gang. No stares or glares. People actually spoke first with Alize often touching him gently. All activities were geared for kids of all levels. It didn't matter that he doesn't communicate, doesn't see or can't do much physically. They found some way of including him.
Monday was Magic Kingdom. We arrived after park opening (had to since every day we had to feed Alize and give him multiple meds and a breathing treatment at 9a). We used the handicapped parking without problem then took the ferry to the Kingdom. We spent all day and used both the Wish Lounge and the First Aid Station for diaper changes, down time and feedings. The people there were very kind. We saw both parades once using the wheelchair area and once not. Both times we had a great view because we got a place when we noticed the crowds starting to gather. We were able to do Pirates (held Alize and the cast member took his wheelchair to the exit), Small World (wheelchair accessible), Haunted Mansion (went in the back way, parked the chair, held Alize in the stretching room and then got to do the ride). Cast members were very helpful getting us on and off the attractions. The week we went was a fairly quiet one so lines were extremely manageable. Charlie and Nurse Michelle rode Splash Mountain and I finally got to ride in the teacups for the first time ever thanks again to Nurse Michelle. It did rain briefly. We had ponchos we bought at Wal-Mart which didn't work well with Alize's chair. A cast member noticed this and gave us a coupon to get a free Disney poncho which worked much better. We stayed till after the Spectromagic Parade and left before the fireworks. Since it was cool we took the monorail to the parking lot. This nicely beat the mass exodus and made it back to our villa where Alize again was greeted with surprizes.

 

[scrappin]

Karen - Thank you for sharing some of your wonderful moments with us. I am so glad the hotel finally did the right thing when you checked out. GKTW sounds so magical - from what you and others have shared - I don't think any additional vacation will ever measure up.

So glad to hear you and Alize were able to ride and experience the magic of Disney. I hope you add even more special memories as the holidays approach!

Again, thanks for sharing!

 

[Eeyore's Mom]

Karen- I am hanging on your every word! Don't worry about comparing to the other great writers, your story is still unique and I am enjoying it just as much!! Thanks!

 

[LeeLee2U]

Karen, so glad you shared your trip with us! I think you did great and if you would have had the time and would have wanted to do the whole big trip report thing you would do an Excellant job.
I got a big lump in my throat when you mentioned getting to ride the different rides and getting to go on the teacups thanks to the nurse. Others may never understand why that means so much it. But we do!!
Sounds like ya'll had a wonderfull time and I'm so glad for ya'll!!!
By the way, How did the nurse work out for ya'll? If you mentioned it I missed it. I know she was doing good at the beginning of the trip. I was just wondering about the long haul.
Thank you so much for filling us it.
Leah