Wish Trippers...Unite!! Volume One

[Robin+5]

Amber,

You are wonderful. PM me your address and I will help too.



I have a question for the past wish trippers.... After you got your expense check, did you get visa cards to use in the parks, take all that cash with you, or just deposit it and write checks or charge? I was thinking about getting one of those pre-paid visa cards, but we would have to keep track of the amount we spend to know how much is left on the card . I have not decided what to do yet. Any suggestions
Robin

 

[special-angel]

Robin,

I brought $1000.00 cash plus my debit & credit cards.I used my debit for our Wal-Mart run & gas for rental van.I was worried we would run out of cash but in fact we had money leftover.

 

[SallyfromDE]

Thank you Wish Trippers for sending me your info!

I’ve put together 32 packets for all the children in the wish trip families on the “Wish Trippers Unite” list that are headed to Walt Disney World in 08'. The goodies include Disney themed coloring and activity books, crayons, card games, stamp and sticker sets and journals, pens and trivia books for the older set. I’m super excited for the kids to have some fun travel items for their journey to Orlando. Target and Dollar Tree had awesome stuff! And I was able to get a great deal on the bubble envelopes from Wal-Mart

I mailed the first package today to HeaterN (for Hannah & Logan). I was at the OB yesterday so I totally missed the boat on GoofyDoo’s (Clay, Shay Lynn, Madison & Ty’s) trip. I’ll have to mail it later as a “welcome back” surprise.

Some of ya’ll have asked how you can help with this project... Well…I’m a little daunted by the cost to ship all 13 packages. The first one I sent today was $5.95. It contained stuff for 2 kids. I had the woman at the post office weigh one of the “later” packages for a family with 4 kids and that one was over $10 to ship. Each package will have a varying shipping cost depending on the number of children in the family and the destination. I’m estimating that the total will be about $125.00

In my zest to spread “pixie dust” I didn’t think it all through well enough. I’m considering doing some kind of fundraiser. If you have any ideas on how I can affordably get these packages of Pixie Dust across the country please let me know I’ll probably start by posting on our family blog asking friends and family for donations or to "sponsor" a package.

The packages are done and non-returnable so I must figure it out

Here is a couple pics of my kids "coloring" pictures for the packages. Had to share...

Amber, your packets are wonderful! They would be great for the car, hotel or plane. But what would be just as wonderful, a welcome home gift, to keep the magic going just a little bit more. I know kids just love to get stuff in the mail.

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

Everything is packaged up and ready to go

I posted about the shipping on our family blog and three of my friends responded saying they would like to sponsor a package Woohoo!

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

I thought of something else.....

Next time I go to the post office I plan to lie.

When I was there yesterday the woman behind the counter saw me put the stuff in the envelope and because it contained packages of crayons she wouldn't let me send it "media mail" which is what I requested. "Media Mail" is cheaper than standard mail. So I went ahead and sealed up all the packages and plan to tell the postal worker that they contain books and magazines...and that's all. It is a fib...but for a good cause right?

 

[SallyfromDE]

Amber, Can you keep your receipts for taxes?

 

[HeatherN]

Great minds think alike , I was just coming here to post the same question about the cash situation! I hate the thought of taking that much cash with us but at the same time don't want to deal with keeping it seperate in our bank account.Decisions, decisions!

Ok one more question.I think I read someone posting about GKTW uploading camera memory cards onto disks for you. I am trying to figure out if I should buy about 14 thousand more memory cards or not.Any insight?

 

[mistymouse5001]

Hello fam! I haven't been on the thread in a bit, I see we have been busy. It will take a couple of days to catch up! I love you guys.

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

I got four more packages out in the mail today I did end up sending them media mail and it was so much more reasonable. Problem is they are "subject to search." If they open them and find the crayons and cards they may arrive "postage due" if they do just let me know and I will gladly send a check to make up the difference.

I have awesome news!! Several of my friends have read my post on our family's blog about "Project Pixie Dust" and they have so generously donated more than enough for the remaining postage.

A big Thank you to all you super Wish Trippers who offered to send checks but I won't need them It was NEVER my intention for any of the wish families to have to pay for any of the goodies. The purchase of the items themselves was feasible for our family, I simply had not thought out the whole cost of shipping well enough.

I think any of us who have witnessed or benefitted from the amazing generosity and support of our fellow man feels compeled to "pay it forward." I just wish that our funds grew parallel to my altruism

More packages to be mailed tomorrow!

 

[bigdisgrandma]

Amber,
I truly believe that we are blessed for our service and I know you have been blessed for yours with such marvelous friends. Hooray, Hooray.

Now this is my favorite expecting a baby quote:
"You know you'd feel so much better if you just went and had that baby!"
I always felt like saying "Duh!" when people said that to me.

Have a great afternoon!
Denise

 

[Bill_Lin]

Amber, you are way over the top awesome, wonderful, amazing, caring, helpful, kind and giving.

May you have your socks blessed off.

Bill

 

[Bill_Lin]

Tomorrow, health permitting, we are going to do our first World Passport visit. The folks at Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho were so nice on the phone. They will have tickets and a gift waiting for us. WOW!

I will post pictures to be sure. It is the same place we went to pre-flight test Lysi on theme parks before our Wish Trip to WDW. Check out our TR link in my signatuer. There are some pics of Silverwood there.

Bill

 

[bigdisgrandma]

How wonderful that the Make A Wish dream just keeps on keeping on! Have a marvelous time. Maybe Karlyn's family will drive up that way for a little trip in the next year. They have some family in Boise that they could stop and see on their way up.

Then aren't you heading to Disneyland soon as well?

Thanks again for all you do for the Wish trippers to keep us all going.

Travel safely and have a great time.

Denise

 

[PatMcDuck]

So funny you asked about what to do with the expense check. I cashed ours, and went to AAA to buy gift cards. they wanted $4.95 per card, so I did not do it. At least one bank here gives them for free to customers (Commerce Bank). I was going to get one big one, and at least 2 smaller ones for the girls to have. (I will have a 16 yr old and a 17 yr old with me).

Then I was talking to my son, who works in a restuarant. He said those cards can be a real PAIN, sometimes they do not work, esp. when they are almost used up. We had problems with them when I worked at the Disneystore. If you used a card with say, $10.52 left on it, for a $20 order, you could not just swipe it and pay the difference owed. We had to key in that amount, $10.52 for some reason-- so you had to know what the remaining balance was to the penny. (If the card had over the $20 order total, it went thru ok). I was hoping they worked better now, but maybe they are still a pain. SO, I think I will leave the $$ in one of my accounts that has a MAC card. It is not my main account that I pay bills with. (I did not want to mix it in with my $$ and have to save those receipts.)

I may still buy a few small gift cards and see if they work.

 

[bigdisgrandma]

So funny you asked about what to do with the expense check. I cashed ours, and went to AAA to buy gift cards. they wanted $4.95 per card, so I did not do it. At least one bank here gives them for free to customers (Commerce Bank). I was going to get one big one, and at least 2 smaller ones for the girls to have. (I will have a 16 yr old and a 17 yr old with me).

Then I was talking to my son, who works in a restuarant. He said those cards can be a real PAIN, sometimes they do not work, esp. when they are almost used up. We had problems with them when I worked at the Disneystore. If you used a card with say, $10.52 left on it, for a $20 order, you could not just swipe it and pay the difference owed. We had to key in that amount, $10.52 for some reason-- so you had to know what the remaining balance was to the penny. (If the card had over the $20 order total, it went thru ok). I was hoping they worked better now, but maybe they are still a pain. SO, I think I will leave the $$ in one of my accounts that has a MAC card. It is not my main account that I pay bills with. (I did not want to mix it in with my $$ and have to save those receipts.)

I may still buy a few small gift cards and see if they work.

We recently tried to use a Visa gift card and ran into similar problems in Las Vegas. We didn't have a problem at our local walmart but we did have some places where it wouldn't work. Hope that it works ok for you all.

Denise

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

I got five more packages in the mail this afternoon. WOOHOO!

If your going on a Wish Trip in 08' and have not sent me your address already (twinmum, bex 271...) please PM so I can send some goodies your way as well.

The coolest thing happened today! Since it is "tax free" week here in NC I drove 30 minutes north to a big mall called Concord Mills determined to get some deals on back to school shopping. I went into the Disney Store Outlet and explained to one of the sale's associates that I was looking for some stuff to include in packages that I was mailing to families going on "Wish Trips."

She smiled and said that she had just sent some stuff out to a family going on a Wish Trip too. No way! She said that she was part of the DISBoutique "Big Give" group. I told her my screen name and it turned out she had read and posted to my Pre Trip Report. She's "Mommyof2princesses." Real name, Nicole. We'd posted back and forth and now here we were meeting, totally by chance, in person.

We talked about how good it feels to do a little something nice for someone else. She's currently working on stuff for Robin+5.

The funniest part to me was when she mentioned her upcoming trip in September and said that the days that they would be there were "3 and 4 level days." I really had to smile because I knew exactly what she meant by that having frequented the touring plans website myself I knew it was a number system to refer to crowds. Us Disney folk really get into it huh? It got me thinking though about the kind of people who love Disney and all it's magic and wonder---they are my kind of people.

I also signed up for the Make A Wish check card today with Bank of America.
Everytime I use my check card a donation will be made in support of The Make A Wish Foundation. How cool is that?

p.s. No baby yet!

 

[Robin+5]

Amber,
You are just a love. Here you are going on a wish trip yourself and you are still thinking about other wish trippers.

What a small world to run into a fellow Diser Especially one that is part of the Big Give. WOW

Robin

 

[NicoleDisneyFan]

I also signed up for the Make A Wish check card today with Bank of America.
Everytime I use my check card a donation will be made in support of The Make A Wish Foundation. How cool is that?

I also signed up for the make a wish card. How did you find out about the card making a donation to make a wish? When I asked about the card and if it would help make a wish out, the teller just told me that it was a free design for the atm check card and if I wanted it to help out make a wish then I would need to sign up for the make a wish credit card. I have the other world points credit card from boa and when I told them if I could change my credit card to make a wish then I would have to reapply for the card which I was so mad because I wanted to help out make a wish. Thinking of volunteer as a wish granter if I can push in more time when my dd starts 1st grade soon. Will see what happens soon

 

[bigdisgrandma]

I got five more packages in the mail this afternoon. WOOHOO!

If your going on a Wish Trip in 08' and have not sent me your address already (twinmum, bex 271...) please PM so I can send some goodies your way as well.

The coolest thing happened today! Since it is "tax free" week here in NC I drove 30 minutes north to a big mall called Concord Mills determined to get some deals on back to school shopping. I went into the Disney Store Outlet and explained to one of the sale's associates that I was looking for some stuff to include in packages that I was mailing to families going on "Wish Trips."

She smiled and said that she had just sent some stuff out to a family going on a Wish Trip too. No way! She said that she was part of the DISBoutique "Big Give" group. I told her my screen name and it turned out she had read and posted to my Pre Trip Report. She's "Mommyof2princesses." Real name, Nicole. We'd posted back and forth and now here we were meeting, totally by chance, in person.

We talked about how good it feels to do a little something nice for someone else. She's currently working on stuff for Robin+5.

The funniest part to me was when she mentioned her upcoming trip in September and said that the days that they would be there were "3 and 4 level days." I really had to smile because I knew exactly what she meant by that having frequented the touring plans website myself I knew it was a number system to refer to crowds. Us Disney folk really get into it huh? It got me thinking though about the kind of people who love Disney and all it's magic and wonder---they are my kind of people.

I also signed up for the Make A Wish check card today with Bank of America.
Everytime I use my check card a donation will be made in support of The Make A Wish Foundation. How cool is that?

p.s. No baby yet!

Shannon,

I know exactly how you feel meeting a disboutiquer. Jham came to our home today to deliver her Big Give for Karlyn, Gabby and Brody. It was so wonderful to meet her and her cute children. We had such a fun time. Grandpa says it's truly like a summertime Christmas. Kindness from friends and sometimes strangers who quickly become friends, love and concern for others, even a few neat presents thrown in for good measure.

To see pics from this afternoon, check out Karlyn's pre-trip report!

Denise

 

[angie1445]

Hi Everyone:
Well we are supposed to leave for Justins Wish Trip on the 10th but we just found out that his blood counts are really low. My daughter is very worried that we might have to postpone the trip. His Dr. cut his meds in half to see if that helped and they will be rechecking next Wednesday. The kids will be so disappointed if they have to postpone again. They were supposed to join us in Orlando over Christmas of last year but couldnt make it due to Justins diagnoses. We are just going to prayer that his counts come back up. When they were visiting us in Seattle we all came down with the stomach flu. Justin never did get it but the Dr. said that his counts are probably down due to his body having to fight off that infection. Anyway keep him in your prayers and I will let you know how it goes.

Angie