Wish Trippers...Unite!! Volume One

[smatterchu]

Bil_Lin suggested this in another thread, so I wanted to post here. I think I actually put this in someone's pre-trip thread (sorry) -- just wanted to offer a little pixie dust to anyone in the MAW program... I'll paste my original message below...

Hi folks,

I just read a note in the Paying it Forward thread that suggested sending a little pre-trip pixie dust for our MAW friends. I think that's an awesome idea, and I would be more than happy to try and help with that!!

I live down here and work at DHS (Hollywood Studios), so I would love to send a postcard to any of you who are planning a trip (or recently returned from one)...

Anyway, PM me if you would like a card from WDW....and let me know if you would like anything special written on it.

And when you do come, hopefully I'll see you when you visit Studios. These days I'm usually on Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard...

See Ya Real Soon...

 

[Bill_Lin]

Nicole,

I could not disagree more about the misting fans. We loved ours. One was plenty (Wal-Mart variety) to share for our groups. Ours was about the size of a 409 bottle. Each person used it when they got too warm. We also used neck coolers which did even more good. Ours were Disney Themed, except for DS 13 who had a more macho tiger stripped one.

Jeans are definitely not going to work. I wore cotton shorts (cargo shorts) and light colored, light weight cotton shirts to wick away perspiration. A hat with a brim helped a lot as well. I had a chin strap so I could throw it back when in the shade.

The thing with jeans is that they are heavy, suck in the heat and dry very slowly after a water ride of rain shower (and in FL it really is like taking a shower).

Bill

 

[Bill_Lin]

Tara, (oops, I spelled Smatterchu wrong, sorry)

On behalf of everyone, THANK YOUR for your awesome offer. You have the true Disney Spirit to be sure.

My OFFICIAL Wish Trip Hero Award goes to TARA LAINE, Photopass Photographer Extraordinaire!

EVERYONE: I highly recommend taking up Tara on her offer of Pixie Dust (2 posts above).

Bless you,

Bill

 

[Bill_Lin]

Hey Wish Trip Veterans,

I have an idea. Perhaps we could come up with some sort of a big group thank you for all those who made our trips possible, especially WDW for the Royal Treatment. Maybe we could create a thank you note thread, have everyone sign it with a post, and send the link to Guest Relations, GKTW, etc.

Anyone have any ideas on this?

Thanks,

Bill

 

[smatterchu]

Hello everyone. Just started our pre trip report so we are excited.
Question. Do water misters work good or are they not a good idea? Someone told me today that they are not a good idea to use when it is hot and humid in September but I always thought that it would be a good relief from the sun. Also they told me to just wear cotton. I guess that wearing jeans is out then. What do you think?

Nicole,

I could not disagree more about the misting fans. We loved ours. One was plenty (Wal-Mart variety) to share for our groups. Ours was about the size of a 409 bottle. Each person used it when they got too warm. We also used neck coolers which did even more good. Ours were Disney Themed, except for DS 13 who had a more macho tiger stripped one.

Jeans are definitely not going to work. I wore cotton shorts (cargo shorts) and light colored, light weight cotton shirts to wick away perspiration. A hat with a brim helped a lot as well. I had a chin strap so I could throw it back when in the shade.

The thing with jeans is that they are heavy, suck in the heat and dry very slowly after a water ride of rain shower (and in FL it really is like taking a shower).

Bill

I second the misting fan thing...still better than nothing. If possible, fill it with ice water when you can - the colder the better. Otherwise, use water from drinking fountains...

Tara, (oops, I spelled Smatterchu wrong, sorry)

On behalf of everyone, THANK YOUR for your awesome offer. You have the true Disney Spirit to be sure.

My OFFICIAL Wish Trip Hero Award goes to TARA LAINE, Photopass Photographer Extraordinaire!

EVERYONE: I highly recommend taking up Tara on her offer of Pixie Dust (2 posts above).

Bless you,

Bill

Aw, Bill, what a sweetheart!! Thanks so much! I am happy to do it, for sure. I'm amazed at the courage and positivie attitude that I see in these families, and I would love to be able to do something to help bring a smile...

Please let me know. I work tomorrow, so I'll be popping some cards in the mail anyway...

 

[HeatherN]

Bil_Lin suggested this in another thread, so I wanted to post here. I think I actually put this in someone's pre-trip thread (sorry) -- just wanted to offer a little pixie dust to anyone in the MAW program... I'll paste my original message below...

Hi folks,

I just read a note in the Paying it Forward thread that suggested sending a little pre-trip pixie dust for our MAW friends. I think that's an awesome idea, and I would be more than happy to try and help with that!!

I live down here and work at DHS (Hollywood Studios), so I would love to send a postcard to any of you who are planning a trip (or recently returned from one)...

Anyway, PM me if you would like a card from WDW....and let me know if you would like anything special written on it.

And when you do come, hopefully I'll see you when you visit Studios. These days I'm usually on Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard...

See Ya Real Soon...

Oh my goodness, that sounds great . I will send you a PM.What a wonderful offer!

 

[bucket o' butter]

I am new to DISboards and I came across the Paying It Forward thread. I think this is such a wonderful idea and I especially love the idea to sending them to children who are going on Wish Trips. My family will be at Disney on July 20 -27 and would love to send postcards to as many children as we can. If you are interested, please PM me your information.

Take care and God Bless

 

[smatterchu]

Oh my goodness, that sounds great . I will send you a PM.What a wonderful offer!

You bet, Heather!!

 

[Ppufi]

I think it's a wonderful idea! WDW, GKTW, Seaworld and Universal are so generous, we should send our thanks.

 

[Robin+5]

Hello everyone,
My name is Robin and my husdand and I have 5 children. We have just been granted a wish trip to WDW. We are going Aug 16-23. Our son Nathan is who the wish is for. He is 14 years old and has 4 sisters. His sisters are 18, 16, 10 and 9. I am very much a planner and I am having a hard time letting someone else do all the planning. I was reading the messages from HeatherN and Bill Lin and found them very interesting. I don't really know what to expect. They have booked us at the Caribbean Beach Resort and rold us that we will have a car. They said that they will take care of everything. What about food and park tickets? Do we need to bring spending money too? Nathan's wish granters said they will get info to us as they get it. We are all getting very excited. That is all everyone can think about, even my older daughters.

A little background on Nathan. In August '07 Nathan got bit by an infected mosquito and contracted Eastern Equine Enchepalitis (EEE). We went from having a healthy 13 year old boy to very sick boy in ICU in Boston in a coma, not sure if he would live. EEE has a very high mortality rate and if the person does survive, the disabilities can be quite severe. He spent 3 weeks ICU in a coma and then eventually transfered to a rehab hospital also in Boston. We finally came home in November. As a result of the EEE, Nathan has suffered a brain injury. He has some pretty severe cognitive issues that we are dealing with. He has a lot of therapy and a great team of professionals that work with him. This trip will be good for all of us.

 

[Iluvmickeymouse!]

Hello everyone,
My name is Robin and my husdand and I have 5 children. We have just been granted a wish trip to WDW. We are going Aug 16-23. Our son Nathan is who the wish is for. He is 14 years old and has 4 sisters. His sisters are 18, 16, 10 and 9. I am very much a planner and I am having a hard time letting someone else do all the planning. I was reading the messages from HeatherN and Bill Lin and found them very interesting. I don't really know what to expect. They have booked us at the Caribbean Beach Resort and rold us that we will have a car. They said that they will take care of everything. What about food and park tickets? Do we need to bring spending money too? Nathan's wish granters said they will get info to us as they get it. We are all getting very excited. That is all everyone can think about, even my older daughters.

A little background on Nathan. In August '07 Nathan got bit by an infected mosquito and contracted Eastern Equine Enchepalitis (EEE). We went from having a healthy 13 year old boy to very sick boy in ICU in Boston in a coma, not sure if he would live. EEE has a very high mortality rate and if the person does survive, the disabilities can be quite severe. He spent 3 weeks ICU in a coma and then eventually transfered to a rehab hospital also in Boston. We finally came home in November. As a result of the EEE, Nathan has suffered a brain injury. He has some pretty severe cognitive issues that we are dealing with. He has a lot of therapy and a great team of professionals that work with him. This trip will be good for all of us.

I am so glad that you found us!!!!! The Carribean Beach Resort is wonderful...I stayed there when I was in High School! We got a van for our rental vehicle. If you request a van, you should be able to get one. You may need it for your family!!! Then again you will be able to use the Disney Transportation since you are staying on site. Your park tickets should be provided. MAW/GKTW (give kids the world) usually provide 3 days Disney, 2 days Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure and 1 day SeaWorld. As far as spending money....MAW will provide you with an expense check, ours was very generous. You may want to take more just in case, up to you.

Your son has been through a lot! This trip WILL be good for all of you!!

Feel free to ask any questions that you may have.....we love to help!!!!

 

[Bill_Lin]

Welcome Robin,

We are thrilled to have you hear. Thank you for sharing your very touching story about Nathan. It is wonderful that you are going on this trip.

Check out LeeLee's TR. They stayed at a Disney Resort, but went through Wishing Well of Texas. Their trip was for Disney only. When a family stays at a Disney Resort, they have access to all Disney parks each day, and can use Disney Transportation.

Check out this website for information on your hotel.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/Resorts/cbr.htm


You will be super close to Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios.
Check out this map.... your resort is number 13.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/propertymap.htm

I don't know if you will get non-Disney Tickets or not. Who is your Wish Granting Organization?

Here is LeeLee's Trip Report
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1604058

If you PM her (LeeLee2U), I am sure she would love to share her knowledge with you. I had the privilege of meeting her at WDW on our trip.

Also, please check out the links in my signature. You will find a lot of helpful information there that I wish I had known, and will be able to link up with many helpful folks.

Again, Welcome!

Bill
​

 

[Bill_Lin]

Tara Laine is helping us come up with good ways to communicate our thanks to CMs. It would also be nice to do something more public to get the news out to the world about how great Disney has been to us.

Bill

 

[Robin+5]

Thanks everyone!
I am so glad I found this site. I was looking everywhere for other people who have been on a wish trip to Disney. I knew you were out there somwhere. Question....should I make dinner reservation for us? Do they make them? They said that we would be given expense money for food. Our wish granters said that we could have a character breakfast or lunch any suggestions? I heard Chef Mickey was good. I love reading all of you stories. What adventures.
Anyone going the same week we are
Aug16-23
I am going to try to set up a TR. I will have to ask my teenage daughers to help...

Robin

 

[Robin+5]

help
I am not very computer savvy, how do I set up a thread? I see everyone has links at the bottom of their pages, how did you do that?
Robin

 

[oklamomof4boys]

Welcome Robin and thank you for sharing your story! ( Nathan is a terrific name, don't you think!-lol!)

I, myself, am not very computer savvy, but since nobody has jumped in yet to answer your question, I will answer what I can.

To post a trip report go to " Disney Trip Reports" and click on trip report ( or if you are doing a pre trip report, click on that and my understanding is they can move it to trip report when you get back, I think- I haven't gotten that far!). Click " New Thread" and start your own thread.

I had to have help providing a link in my signature. I think Bill's very good instructions are earlier in this thread.

I hoped I explained all that right!

 

[Bill_Lin]

Robin,

You have asked some excellent questions. To start your thread go to the top of your page and click on The DIS Discussion Forums - DISboards.com
then scroll down to Disney Trip Reports, choose that, then choose Pre-Trip Reports at the top of the page. Click on that, then click on the "New Thread" button near the top left.

As per character meals, we had to make our own reservations (though they changed as you can read in my TR). Cinderella's castle requires a LOT of advance notice, others significantly less. For some you have to pay up front on a card. Ultimately, the money should come from your spending money given to you. You can find a lot about this on the Disney website under travel, WDW.

Bill

 

[Robin+5]

thanks Bill for helping me set up a thread. I will keep updating our pre trip plans

Robin

 

[bigdisgrandma]

Robin +5,
You had some of the same questions I had. It took me a little experimentation and some help from my friend Aurora73 but I think I am getting better at this too. At least I'm not yelling at my computer anymore for misbehaving!

I am looking forward to reading about your planning as well as the others so I can collect more info and get better prepared for our MAW trip.

Denise

 

[Iluvmickeymouse!]

thanks Bill for helping me set up a thread. I will keep updating our pre trip plans

Robin

Robin +5,
You had some of the same questions I had. It took me a little experimentation and some help from my friend Aurora73 but I think I am getting better at this too. At least I'm not yelling at my computer anymore for misbehaving!

I am looking forward to reading about your planning as well as the others so I can collect more info and get better prepared for our MAW trip.

Denise

YAY!!! Two new trip reports to read!!! Will have to get over there yet tonight!!!

Robin, I would make your own dinner reservations......just in case. They may make one for you, but if there is a certain character(s) that Nathan wants to see, I would make that reservation. My DD wanted to see Cinderella, so I made a ressie at 1900 Park Faire. We found out right before we left that they had made dinner ressies for us at the Castle. So, we did both!!

Off to read TR's!!!!!