Wish Trippers...Unite!! Volume One

[Iluvmickeymouse!]

Hello! Today is Canada Day and we're celebrating our country's 141th birthday! We'll say a cheer for the USA on Friday.

Here's a question. I just read Amy's pre-trip report, and she described buying a paving stone for GKTW. This prompted me to explore the GKTW website and I see that there are all kinds of things that are available. Not only do I see things that our boys (and me!) might like as a souvenir of our upcoming trip, I also think my mother might enjoy a GKTW souvenir as well.

Are any of these items available for sale at GKTW? It's a lot easier to do our shopping than ship cross-border.

Thanks,
Alison

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!


I lost my other quote... It was for Jonah....WAY TO GO JONAH!!!

Heather, I would be happy to help. I will pm you.

 

[Robin+5]

We are going to WDW on Aug 16-23. I would love to send postcards to kids who are going after us. Please PM me with info and I will do it. If anyone could send one to me kids before hand, I would be so greatful

Thanks

Way to go Jonah!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bill_Lin]

What are your trip dates!

Please update this thread by posting your Trip Dates again. It would be great if everyone with an upcoming trip would do this. Then I will compile them in one post and repeat if from time to time.

THANK Y'ALL

Bill

 

[GoofyDoo]

We are going to WDW on Aug 16-23. I would love to send postcards to kids who are going after us. Please PM me with info and I will do it. If anyone could send one to me kids before hand, I would be so greatful

I can send a postcard if you don't mind waiting until the very end of July/first of August!! Or if you would like for your kids to receive one sooner, "smatterchu"/Tara-Laine on these boards (whom Bill has spoken of) is a CM at Hollywood Studios. She is awesome!! She offered last week to send cards out, and I messaged her and she had our card ready to go within a few hours!! I think we'll be receiving it this week--I can't wait to see the kids' reactions!! Smatterchu's original post is here. She is so, so sweet!! Let me know what you decide to do!!

 

[Bill_Lin]

Amy 7/29-8/4
Robin 8/16-8/23
Denise 9/10-9/16
Nicole 9/22-9/27

 

[HeatherN]

We will be there August 2-8th. I have post cards coming to my kids already. I would be happy to send some out while we are there.

 

[bigdisgrandma]

Amy 7/29-8/4
Robin 8/16-8/23
Denise 9/10-9/16
Nicole 9/22-9/27

I know this is silly but I am so honored to be a part of this great experience. My kids, all adults now, are just laughing at me because I have developed this new "addiction". To be honest with you all, this is something that all my family has needed for a long time.

On Aug 17, 2006, our youngest son, then 22 years old was killed in an industrial accident, leaving a wife and 2 small children. We brought Karlyn home from her second open heart surgery the day after Ryan died. Then 2 months later, my oldest son, 35 began losing his sight. He and his wife have 4 children and he was in the final year of college to get a teaching degree in English. We have continued on because we know that God is mindful of us and we have been blessed but it has been hard. In March of this year we were told that Karlyn was losing lung function and there was nothing more that could be done to help her.

Then we were contacted by MAW. I discovered the Wishtrippers and this new adventure began and we are all enjoying this time so much because things are so fun and we realize that there are so many other people with hard things in their lives too.

Thanks for all you have done for us!
Denise

 

[GoofyDoo]

Denise, I was so moved by your post. Your strength of spirit is an encouragement to me, and if there was ever a family deserving of the vacation of a lifetime, it's your family!! I am saying prayers for all of you!! Thank you for your willingness to share.
God bless~xo, Amy

 

[bex271]

Denise, you and your family have been through a lot and i hope y'all are able to have fun and relax. You're a strong woman to handle everything.

thank you everyone for your congrats for jonah, he fell asleep early tonight from all his hard work.


Bill, our trip is 11/20-11/26

becca

 

[bigdisgrandma]

Denise, I was so moved by your post. Your strength of spirit is an encouragement to me, and if there was ever a family deserving of the vacation of a lifetime, it's your family!! I am saying prayers for all of you!! Thank you for your willingness to share.
God bless~xo, Amy

Thanks for your kind words. We have a motto in our family "We may not have it altogether but together we have it all." We all stick together and help each other when the days get long or we all need to cry. We do a lot of crying at times but we laugh a lot too. I guess having 7 kids in 12 years makes you a little crazy but they are all such a wonderful support to each other and to us. I want you and all the wishtrippers that I also pray for you and your families and I know God hears our prayers!

Denise

 

[SueM in MN]

His brain is still healing and he needs frequent rest breaks to prevent that from happening. He gets overstimulated very easy. At school last year they gave him breaks about every 45 minutes to hour. It is hard for everyone to remember that things are not as they were last summer and Nathan is a different kid now. The part that is hard it that he looks healthy on the outside. I guess that is the tough part about a brain injury.
Robin

I work in a hospital that does rehab on patients with brain injuries, so I know where you are coming from and send

You might want to look at some past threads in post #3 in the disABILITIES FAQs thread. (There is a link to that thread in my signature).
Even though your son is not autistic, some of the past threads about autism may be helpful to you because many people with autism have difficulty with overstimulation.
There is also a link to a past thread with hints for dealing with Attention Deficit Disorder that might be helpful to you since many people have problems with attending after a brain injury.

Also, if you need a very calm, unstimulating environment for him to take a break, I'd suggest First Aid. There is one in each park. They are fairly dimly lit, cool and quiet. They also have cots in individual rooms or cubicles if he needs to lie down and nap.

Robin,

I don't know what the best way might be to pick up your GAC. It would be a good idea to ask about that on one of the GAC threads at DISabilities. There are lots of folks there who are not wish trippers, but deal with GACs all the time. I have heard that you can get a GAC from Guest Services outside the park entrance. If you don't find a thread, start a new one. Make the title very specific, like "The Best Place and Time to Pick up GAC."

You can rest at the Wish Trip Lounge at MK, at the VIP lounge in Epcot (Future World), and at any First Aid Station in any park.

Bill

I'll save you some trouble;
There is a link in my signature to the disABILITIES FAQs thread. Post #6 of that thread is FAQs about GACs and should be able to answer all your questions. The only 'addition' for MAW is that I think you should have been given some paperwork that indicates you are on a MAW trip. It would be good to have that with you when you request the GAC.
You can go to Guest Services either inside or outside of the parks to request a GAC. The same staff cycle between the inside the park and the outside of the park station, so neither one is any 'better' than another.
Guest Services outside the park at MK and Epcot are on the right, as you face toward the park entrance.
At AK and the Studio, it's on the outside on the left side.
I'd suggest looking before you go into the park to see if there is a line there. If there's no line, you might want to stop there for your GAC.

I thought I would share what we used for DD's autographs. I cut out the tags on my Cricut machine. Then I bought a brown clipboard at Wal-Mart and decoupaged it. I found an o ring (is that what they are called?? ) and that is how I kept the tags on the clipboard. I kept the extra and the signed tags in a seperate ziploc baggie. We carried the clipboard in a ziploc baggie also with the pens. You can see both in the pic. I also put the sharpies in the pic. I am working on putting the pics and autographs together in a book. The one I have is an 8x8 scrapbooking album. Even if you are not a scrapper, I thik an 8x8 book would work nice because you could just put the pic and autograph together on a page and call it good. I have seen others who have used blank index cards also. I would be happy to cut tags out for any one who would like them. I cut mine at 5 1/2 inches. I felt it was a good size for them to have room to write. I can do smaller if you would like. Let me know!!!

Those tags are one of the best ideas I've seen for getting autographs. The best is that you don't have to be trying to find a specific page to get the autograph on.
I'm also a big believer in having things/activities to do after the trip (helps to stretch the experience). This would be a great activity for afterward and also give some good opportunity for the WISH kids to create some memories.

 

[bigdisgrandma]

Denise, you and your family have been through a lot and i hope y'all are able to have fun and relax. You're a strong woman to handle everything.

thank you everyone for your congrats for jonah, he fell asleep early tonight from all his hard work.


Bill, our trip is 11/20-11/26

becca

Becca, Yeah for you and Jonah. Karlyn didn't learn to walk until she was 4 because of the stroke she had during her first open heart surgery when she was 4 months old. One day she just took off across the room and we could hardly believe it. Each day you will see his true strengths come shining through and your miracles will continue.

Thanks for your kind words. They mean a lot to us all.

Denise

 

[bex271]

twinmum,
i keep forgetting to wish you happy Canada Day, my husband would be mad since i almost for got to tell he too. hope you had a good one

becca

 

[twinmum]

Way to go, Jonah!!!

It's so wonderful to see a new skill emerge, isn't is, especially one that you've been hoping for. I can feel your excitment and pride. You've all been working hard towards this.

Sometimes, when my son hits a new milestone or learns a new skill (like...he totally rocked it with his quad canes in an assessment last week. We've been working with those canes for 3 years!), I can tell that some people just don't "get" why we're so excited. They just don't know what it's like to watch this happen. You know you've found kindred spirits here, so shout it out to us and we'll celebrate with you!

Alison

 

[twinmum]

Denise: You and your family have been through so much, but I can tell you are blessed by the way you support each other. How wonderful that you are going to be able to enjoy this vacation together.

God bless,
Alison

 

[Iluvmickeymouse!]

I know this is silly but I am so honored to be a part of this great experience. My kids, all adults now, are just laughing at me because I have developed this new "addiction". To be honest with you all, this is something that all my family has needed for a long time.

On Aug 17, 2006, our youngest son, then 22 years old was killed in an industrial accident, leaving a wife and 2 small children. We brought Karlyn home from her second open heart surgery the day after Ryan died. Then 2 months later, my oldest son, 35 began losing his sight. He and his wife have 4 children and he was in the final year of college to get a teaching degree in English. We have continued on because we know that God is mindful of us and we have been blessed but it has been hard. In March of this year we were told that Karlyn was losing lung function and there was nothing more that could be done to help her.

Then we were contacted by MAW. I discovered the Wishtrippers and this new adventure began and we are all enjoying this time so much because things are so fun and we realize that there are so many other people with hard things in their lives too.

Thanks for all you have done for us!
Denise

Thank you Denise, for being who you are and for doing what you do. Your family is amazing.

 

[bigdisgrandma]

Denise: You and your family have been through so much, but I can tell you are blessed by the way you support each other. How wonderful that you are going to be able to enjoy this vacation together.

God bless,
Alison

I really wish all our immediate family could go but that would be a really grand gathering with 27 people and even I am not that crazy We have promised to help our other children and their families with disney trips when they can go so I am sure my husband and I will get to enjoy several more of these but none will be quite like this MAW trip.

Happy Canada day though it is almost over. My husband travels to Canada for business quite often and I love it when I get to go with him. It is so beautiful no matter where you go!
Denise

 

[bigdisgrandma]

Thank you Denise, for being who you are and for doing what you do. Your family is amazing.

Thanks, it was actually you who invited me to join in May and I am so grateful to you for sharing your experience and encouraging the rest of us to dive into the pool so to speak. I would have never dared..I don't even text message, but everyone is so kind and willing to support. You are all the BEST!
Denise

 

[twinmum]

Amy 7/29-8/4
Robin 8/16-8/23
Denise 9/10-9/16
Nicole 9/22-9/27

Looks like we have the longest wait!

Our trip is scheduled for Nov 1-8 at GKTW, and then we're adding on, returning back to Toronto on November 11th.

Alison

 

[alizesmom]

Popping in late but had to cheer for Jonah! Karen