Wish Trippers...Unite!! Volume One

They will let you all in. Just tell the people at the little security booth why you are there. You might want to have your party ask in advance or give a heads up so they know to expect you.
 
Thanks for the info Eeyores Butterfly and lotferg. We will be sure to have our daughter let them know before we go to visit. Since there won't be any other children besides their family we shouldn't have a problem.

Denise
 
I believe you can even eat with the family if you like. The Bunny Book mentioned it being one "Bunny Buck" as a cost. Check with the main desk, I'm sure they will have no issue with it.
 
First off...not having the internet stinks!! :headache: We still have dial-up and two days ago i could not get connected. So I waited until yesterday...still no connection, so I called earthlink...we are having an outage in our area and they cannot tell me when it will be fixed. We only have one # to call in our town. They kept trying to tell me to keep trying it's just busy because there is only one number to call....no!!!!!!!! AAGGGHHH!! I finally convinced one of them to check it on their end...yup their problem...not mine. So as I type I am sitting in my car in town "borrowing" someone's wireless. :headache: :laughing: Ok onward....

Hi all, thanks so much for the invite. My name is Heather and our family will be going to Disney for my daughter's wish trip Aug 2-8.I am married to a great guy named Paul. Hannah is our wish kid. She is nine. She has Down syndrome and had open heart surgery for AV canal(4 major holes), VSD, and mitral valve repair. She is pretty medically stable right now but does have some residual leakage from the mitral valve and sleep apnea requiring a CPAP machine. She also has some dietary issues and severe acid reflux.We also have a five year old son named Logan. I never thought to apply to Make wish for Hannah but after like the 100th person asked me why not I emailed them on a whim. I was super suprised to get a call back in early April saying she would probably qualify.I still didn't let myself get excited but when I saw that thick enevlope in the mail from Make a wish my heart did skip a few beats! So we met our wish team already and they are full speed ahead planning our her wish. Hannah is obsessed with anything disney and Cinderella is her favorite.Her favorite thing to do is to watch disney movies and she loves to act out scenes from them.She is a complete girly- girl and is all about being a princess.None of us has ever been to disney before and I think I am being the biggest kid through all of this.I have been trying to read all the wish trip reports and admit I have been bawling through all of them.I ahve a feeling this is going to be an amazing and magical trip for all of us.Looking forward to getting to know all of you!

:welcome: Glad you found us Heather! It is very exciting to get that first mailing from MAW....you get that "it's actually happening" feeling! :lovestruc

Hi all!!! Thanks for the link. My SS is undergoing treatment for Ewing's Sarcoma and will be done in a couple weeks. We are going to WDW through MAW on Sept. 10th. We're staying on the property at CBR. I guess I would know what to do if we were planning a regular vacation, but I'm not sure how this is going to be different so I'll be reading up on that. SS will be 15 and DS is 6. DH has never been so this should be a real vacation for everyone...and boy do we need it.

:welcome: Glad you found us too!!!! Planning a MAW vacation is different, but a good different. Feel free to ask questions as you go along. We will try and help as much as we can!

That reminds me- after initially being rejected as a wish granter, I sent an e-mail to the local chapter asking if my application would remain active. I got an e-mail back today, and they are sending me a Wish Granter application in the mail! I guess they wanted to see how persistent I am.

:banana: Woohoo....see persistance does pay off!


Here is a question for all you MAW folks...did anyone extend their trips and pay for it themselves?? I have met 3 different families who have done this but none are from my MAW area. My people will not budge when it comes to any type of extension at all. It will be really difficult to do it all in 6 days with 2 totally taken up with travel. Any advice on this would be much appreciated!!

Today was my son's last radiation treatment. He is DONE with cancer treatment!!!! :cool1: :rotfl2: :hyper:
Much love,
Alyson

We extended our trip by a couple days and paid for it out of our own pocket. Our chapter was fine with it. I just asked that our return flight be on a different day, and it actually saved MAW money because it was a cheaper day to fly home on than the day we would have originally with them. Make sense?? :confused:

oh and :jumping1: party: :yay: :dance3: :banana: :cool1: for the last treatment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do have one question: At GKTW , I have read that the ice cream is run by Friendly's.Does anyone know if they ever have any lactose free ice cream for kids with food issues? Hannah is lactose intolerant.Also is the food itself run by Friendly's??? For some reason the food there makes her quite sick. I think it's the grease that they fry in.I am just starting to wonder if we are going to have issues. I suppose we can cook in the villa though but didn't want to spend all week cooking!

Call GKTW, they are very accomodating when it comes to dietary needs and will answer any questions that you may have. I also know that Who'syourmickey's pre-tr should have the name and number of the person you can call at disney to arrange for special dietary meals at WDW also. It may be at the beginning of this thread somewhere too.

Thanks to Iluvmickeymouse! for encouraging me to join the Wish Trippers. My friend Aurora73 had mentioned me in a post on lotferg's trippie and Iluvmickeymouse! PM'd her with the invitation.

We are so excited because we (cast to follow) will be experiencing a MAW trip for our granddaughter Sept 10-16. Her family will stay at GKTW and Grandpa, Grandma, Disney Uncle and Disney Aunt will stay at POR.

She was born with Pulmonary Atresia, no vessels to take blood from the heart to the lungs and has had 2 major open heart surgeries, 8 minor heart surgeries and one other abdominal surgery. She also had a stroke during her first open heart surgery when she was 4 months old that has left her with some rt side weakness and difficulty speaking. Recently we were told that she is losing lung function due to her Pulmonary Atresia and there is nothing currently that can be done to fix this. Her cardiologist suggested that MAW would be good for their family especially now while she is still quite healthy and can enjoy the trip the most.

I will start a pre-trip report as soon as I get that part figured out but for now we are:

Wish trip girl (8)
Sister-- (7)
Brother--(10)
Mom--(31)
Dad--(32)
Grandma--(old)
Grandpa--(really old :rotfl2: )
Aunt--29
Uncle--26

I know we will have lots of questions for all you experts and we are looking forward to being part of this great "family"

thanks for being here

Denise/bigdisgrandma

Thank so much for your response. It made me cry but recently, almost anything makes me cry. (My family says we all cry because of the altitude in Utah) :banana: We are so blessed to be able to have this wonderful experience.

I do have one question for you all--
Because we won't be staying at GKTW and our wish family will, can we visit them there so we can see what they are getting to experience? We would love to watch the kids ride the train or go fishing or ride the carousel:)

:welcome: Yay you joined!!! No more lurkdome for you!!!!! :rotfl2: I would think it would be just fine for you to visit. Have the wish family talk to the front desk and explain, I'm sure they have done it with other families.


Ok...back home I go to no internet :headache: ...(after I catch up on the TR's) :goodvibes
 

Great TR start!

5Dwarves- I noticed you said you have Sea World on your passport. I specifically looked for that one and it is not on my list. Do you have the contact person for Sea World?
 
Hello! Our Wish Granter came for her first visit on Friday and we had a lovely visit! My boys (twins, age 9) had jaws dropping when they saw her coming up the path with wrapped boxes piled high. They had NO idea that she might arrive bearing gifts - and I was so pleased with the thanks and pleasure they
showed. Must be doing something right after all! There were books for each of them, a huge box of magic tricks for Wish child, Harry Potter Scene It for his twin who is on Book #5, and a microscope for them to share - a nice touch which shows she knows how connected their lives truly are. Everything was so absolutley bang on! They Wish organization had encourage me to be really detailed about their interests, and it looks like they read it all!

I'm glad I had been reading here, because after reading your stories I suspected there was a chance that a "nice to meet you" gift might be possible (although the reality was huge...couldn't believe it!). This gave me an opportunity to plan a little something for the Wish Granter too. For a school fundraiser this year, the Grade 4 kids created drawings that were then printed into lovely notecards. I made a mixed set for the Wish Granter.

Anyway, it was mostly just a chance to get together, so that she could get to know us and hear about our son's Wish. We didn't get into a lot of details. She did explain that in this organization, the Wish Granters are mostly the liaison with the families and, especially with a WDW trip, so much is always all set up once you decide on a time of year that there's not so much they need to do. She didn't know much about GKTW and thought we'd probably stay somewhere else, but someone from the organization has already told me that we could probably "qualify" for GKTW. Either way, I am sure we'll have a wonderful trip. She did say that many families add on some days and that's just fine (staying wherever tou choose and we've got some ideas on that already).

I now have oodles of forms to fill out - now there's a good project for hte morning!

We'll keep you posted!
 
Hello. I'm Misty. Wish trip was supposed to be in July, will be moved to sometime in September I think :confused3. Tomorrow we will get acall from the wish lady :cool1: and know for sure. Do I need to mak DR's for WDW? SW? US? Or will they be in charge of that? dh 41 ds8 ds4 ds2 ds5mths and me 29. Ds4 me and dh41 are the only ones attending wish trip CUZ it's all about the dilly man this round. :dance3: So anyway, I wouldn't mind making a phone friend or 2 about the what you are doing to get ready. Or someone who has already been from TN and knows how they roll :worship:
I've read alot of the diser's trip reports so I'm ready for fun fun fun! :bitelip:
popcorn:: I'll just sit here and wait for a reply! :surfweb:
 
Hello. I'm Misty. Wish trip was supposed to be in July, will be moved to sometime in September I think :confused3. Tomorrow we will get acall from the wish lady :cool1: and know for sure. Do I need to mak DR's for WDW? SW? US? Or will they be in charge of that? dh 41 ds8 ds4 ds2 ds5mths and me 29. Ds4 me and dh41 are the only ones attending wish trip CUZ it's all about the dilly man this round. :dance3: So anyway, I wouldn't mind making a phone friend or 2 about the what you are doing to get ready. Or someone who has already been from TN and knows how they roll :worship:
I've read alot of the diser's trip reports so I'm ready for fun fun fun! :bitelip:
popcorn:: I'll just sit here and wait for a reply! :surfweb:

Welcome! :goodvibes As far as dining reservations, I would definitely make them. I think the majority of us on here have made our own. I wanted to do my own to make sure that we ate where we wanted and did the character meals that we wanted. MAW made one ressie for us that we found out about right before we left. DD's fav princess is Cinderella and they made ressies for us at the castle to eat for supper. We also did 1900 Park Fare. We were able to walk in to Hollywood Play-n-Dine (I think that is the name) at DHS with the playhouse disney characters. It was later in the afternoon so I think that is why we were able to get in (besides the fact that we were a MAW family). So in other words....make your own...if they make some for you , you can always cancel the ones you made. As far as SW and US, we did not do US and did not make any ressies for SW.

Good luck planning and feel free to ask any questions that you may have!!!!!!!!! :hug: :goodvibes :)
 
Welcome! :goodvibes As far as dining reservations, I would definitely make them. I think the majority of us on here have made our own. I wanted to do my own to make sure that we ate where we wanted and did the character meals that we wanted. MAW made one ressie for us that we found out about right before we left. DD's fav princess is Cinderella and they made ressies for us at the castle to eat for supper. We also did 1900 Park Fare. We were able to walk in to Hollywood Play-n-Dine (I think that is the name) at DHS with the playhouse disney characters. It was later in the afternoon so I think that is why we were able to get in (besides the fact that we were a MAW family). So in other words....make your own...if they make some for you , you can always cancel the ones you made. As far as SW and US, we did not do US and did not make any ressies for SW.

Good luck planning and feel free to ask any questions that you may have!!!!!!!!! :hug: :goodvibes :)

Neato - I bet that was a hoot!
 
:hug: Ok.. Questions : 1. Did you mail your luggage or take it with you?
2. Was there plenty of towels,and toiletries?
3. Charmin or the rough stuff?
4. Was the food really good?
5. Did it still cost a ton of money to do everything wish tripper wanted to do and buy?
6. How long did it take to get everything finished?
7. Did you forget anything that was reall important?
Does Dilly have to have a picture id for the plane?

I have tons more:duck:
 
Are you staying at GKTW? I don't know the exact toilet paper that we use, but I do know you get a whole crate of food and we stock the refrigerator (I have done that shift before).

The food is very good. Not only do you get ice cream 24/7 but the Ginger bread house food is always good and I'm a picky eater. As an Angel I got a free meal or ice cream per shift, and I was never disappointed.
 
oh wow ididnt know they gave you food, i have been reading the boards, the airport sound dreadful. i dont wan to pay for my luggage! so i :idea: was thinking to just mail it to GKTW. Will they allow that?
 
I'm pretty sure they would. You might also try talking to your wish granting organization to find out if that is included in the cost.
 
Right, all the same I wouldn't feel right about them spending that much on luggage when I can mail it ALL for twenty bucks:cutie: They already go above and beyond anything you could expect:)
 
Great TR start!

5Dwarves- I noticed you said you have Sea World on your passport. I specifically looked for that one and it is not on my list. Do you have the contact person for Sea World?

Hey...sorry I haven't responded yet. My DH had an irregular heart beat and ended up in the hospital. I"ll find my passport today and post the info later if that is okay. Things have been hectic around here.

~Elisa
 
:hug: Ok.. Questions : 1. Did you mail your luggage or take it with you?
2. Was there plenty of towels,and toiletries?
3. Charmin or the rough stuff?
4. Was the food really good?
5. Did it still cost a ton of money to do everything wish tripper wanted to do and buy?
6. How long did it take to get everything finished?
7. Did you forget anything that was reall important?
Does Dilly have to have a picture id for the plane?

I have tons more:duck:


Hey Misty....

I think you can get around the airline charge for luggage if you just carry on a duffle. I would call your specific airline. The only one I have heard of that is charging for the first piece of luggage right now is American.

The TP isn't Charmin. I am sure they get those huge cases of institutional TP...There is a Walmart very close to GKTW, so you can buy the specific brand you prefer.

The food is good and plentiful. Since you are also from the South, think Picadilly - cafeteria style with a couple of different choices. There were 7 of us; all picky and all were able to find something they liked at every meal.

Since your meals, transportation and admission tickets are covered; the cost is not prohibitive. We spent our wish $ on lunch and souvenirs (pictures on the rides, t-shirts, mouse ears). Yes, all those things come with an amusement park price on them, but we never had to dealve into our own cash; our wish expense money covered it all.

Not sure what you are asking about in regard to how long it took to get everything finished. Pre trip planning? Wish paperwork? Amusement park touring?

We didn't forget anything important...made a list checked it twice. ;) The one thing we did forget was to 'deactivate' the mouse trap under the sink. We live in the woods and can't have pets for health reasons (asthma & allergies for one DS and immuno supressed system for another). We get some little uninvited creatures every so often and I forgot there were traps. We came back to a "lovely" odor.

I believe the airline needs to see his birth certificate. Those rules are changing daily, so you will want to call them and find out what they need.

~Elisa
 
Hey Misty....

I think you can get around the airline charge for luggage if you just carry on a duffle. I would call your specific airline. The only one I have heard of that is charging for the first piece of luggage right now is American.

The TP isn't Charmin. I am sure they get those huge cases of institutional TP...There is a Walmart very close to GKTW, so you can buy the specific brand you prefer.

The food is good and plentiful. Since you are also from the South, think Picadilly - cafeteria style with a couple of different choices. There were 7 of us; all picky and all were able to find something they liked at every meal.

Since your meals, transportation and admission tickets are covered; the cost is not prohibitive. We spent our wish $ on lunch and souvenirs (pictures on the rides, t-shirts, mouse ears). Yes, all those things come with an amusement park price on them, but we never had to dealve into our own cash; our wish expense money covered it all.

Not sure what you are asking about in regard to how long it took to get everything finished. Pre trip planning? Wish paperwork? Amusement park touring?

We didn't forget anything important...made a list checked it twice. ;) The one thing we did forget was to 'deactivate' the mouse trap under the sink. We live in the woods and can't have pets for health reasons (asthma & allergies for one DS and immuno supressed system for another). We get some little uninvited creatures every so often and I forgot there were traps. We came back to a "lovely" odor.

I believe the airline needs to see his birth certificate. Those rules are changing daily, so you will want to call them and find out what they need.

~Elisa
I have weird questions huh?
I'm still waiting for my call today :worried: Oh well! I'm sooooooooooo excited.
:dance3:
 
Wow I'm really good at this thread killing thing! Maybe the gods of good posting will show me light and the way? :worship: Sorry I ruined your thread:headache:
 
Okie dokie..No DR's no airport planning as of yet. Maybe I'll hear from them tomorrow:confused3 . Oh well, We will see tomorrow! Dilly is too excited...
I'm too excited.
Do you know any Toy Story stuff there he would get a big kick out of?
We found Pizza Planet, The Toy Story Mania...I think that's it oh Woody's Cowboy Camp.
I told you b4 about the PR and I need to find something about Playhouse Disney and the Doodlebops-Seems like alot to fit into 3 days maybe I should add a couple. What do ya think?
 














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