Yup.....we really ARE going.......and SOON! - Matty's Wish Trip December 12-18, 2009

Hi Pamela! As another Central MA person, I just wanted to stop in and see how your planning is going. I love all the family fluff - your pics are great! Did Matty have his heart surgery at Children's? Both of my girls are followed by cardiology there, as they both have ASDs. And I love your energy.:banana:

How have you found working with the MA MAW chapter? We are just in the very initial stages of planning, though I have been verbally assured that Ali has a wish-qualifying diagnosis. I filled out the online form last week, but I haven't heard anything else yet. Did you start the process with a phonecall? How long did it take from initial referral to approval?

Anyhow, I have subscribed and I look forward to following you through planning and the actual trip!

Kelly

Hey Kelly:wave2: Great to have you along!!

Yup, we are a member of the Boston Children's family. Who is your cardiologist? We've been seeing Jaime Levine since that fateful fetal echocardiogram 7 yrs ago. Gotta love her!!!!!! :love: She's got such a great attitude and is not restrictive at all.............I've heard lots of stories from other heart moms about how conservative their pc's are. I figure Matty's got enough to deal with without restricting him unnecessarily from alot of life's fun activities and adventures.

The MA/RI MAW chapter has been unbelievable!!!! They have really risen above board for us. I will tell you however that originally I made an inquiry online (I think I read that that is what you did) and after not hearing for a week I decided to take matters into my own hands. I was just afraid that perhaps my inquiry would get lost in the shuffle. Once I made contact with someone they took my info and our pc's name and sent off whatever paperwork was necessary. After a number of weeks I got concerned, yet again. When I called to check on the progress I was told that Jaime had yet to send the info back:confused3. That seemed odd to me (she knew we were doing this, gave 100% support, and had always been pretty timely in her response to my calls/emails in the past). As a result I asked if they could contact her again;they said they would; and, lo and behold the NEXT morning I got a call saying they had the info from Jaime and we were approved:yay::yay::yay: I will say, to this day I still wonder if they really had to call her again (my phone call to them occured late in the day) or if they in fact already had it and just happened to FIND it after I called.:sad2: Since then, though (that was less than 3 wks ago) it has been a whirlwind. Two days later our Wish volunteers called me; 3 days later they came out to meet us and fill out all the ppwk; and 2 days later I got a call from the office saying we were on! All of the arrangements were then completed within the next week:woohoo: Don't think one can ask for better service than that!

My suggestion would be to call them and make sure they got the info. You'd hate to just sit around and wait and wait only to find out it got lost in the shuffle. I was especially eager because Matty's wish involved being in WDW for the Xmas festivities. If they hadn't been able to push it through for this year we would likely have waited until next. Did you have a timeline?

Anyway I hope you find some useful information in and amoungst all my idle chatter!! (btw we are in North Grafton; my dh and I are originally from Concord and Lexington respectively)

Pamela:santa:
 
ok, now seriously, someone has to help me with the multiple quotes!!!! Of course, all these posts are making me look alot more popular:rotfl:

Pamela:santa:
 
Hey Pamela! To multi-quote, in the first post you want to quote, hit the middle button on the lower right of the screen, the one with a quote sign and plus sign on it. Do the same until you come to the last post you want to quote, on that one hit the regular quote button. All the posts you wanted should show up. As you hit the "+ buttons, they should light up red.
 
ok.....just when you think you've got things all figured out you get thrown a monkey wrench. What to do......What to do:confused3

I'm cruisin' around here tonight and find a thread about SeaWorld which reveals the schedule and show times. I had originally had us going to SeaWorld on Monday but now I find out that alot of the special holiday shows won't be scheduled for Monday since the park is only open from 9-6:sad2:. If we want to see alot of those shows we will have to go on a Saturday or Sunday when the park is open 9-9. On Sunday we are already booked for a Grinch character breakfast at Universal (won't change that). On Saturday I had thought we would do AK and MK. MK is open 'til 11 that night and we would be able to catch Spectromagic Parade and Wishes Fireworks (so important!). Hmmmmmmmmmmm So the question remains do I switch the plan for those two days? Of course if we do we have to keep in mind that we would get far less accomplished on Monday because MK is not open 'til 11:sad1:. At least not to us (they do have evening EMH on Monday). Have we pretty much figured that they will make an exception and allow GKTW guests to stay for EMH ONLY in the very rarest of circumstances, if at all???? Has anyone read a Wish trip report where they noted the people had been able to stay? I'm so torn:confused: I want to be able to really enjoy all the special holiday shows at SeaWorld (isn't that why we wanted to go at this time of year in the first place?????) and yet I know that we won't get through everything we want to at WDW which is why I specifically picked Saturday, with the extended hours, as a day to go to WDW parks (ESPECIALLY MK).

Argh! Now this is the problem with being the Energizer Bunny Family with children who are all old enough to be able to enjoy most attractions:sad2:. When the kids were younger and we'd go someplace it was easy to get everything we wanted to do in because there were always things we could eliminate; things that wouldn't interest them; things they weren't tall enough for. Now as I go through the loooooong list of attractions at the parks I am having trouble knocking stuff off the list. We're going to need roller skates:eek:

Now I know, I know, some of you are going to politely warn me not to try to do too much:) BUT.........trust me................my family's ability to go from morning to night and pack it all in is astounding:eek: Of course we've never done it sooo many days in a row. But I think with a good night's sleep each night we should manage ok. And then of course, when we come home on the 18th................ we will promptly crawl into bed and sleep until January:rotfl:

So I need advice ladies.

I'll be waiting:surfweb:

Pamela:santa:
 

ok.....just when you think you've got things all figured out you get thrown a monkey wrench. What to do......What to do:confused3

I'm cruisin' around here tonight and find a thread about SeaWorld which reveals the schedule and show times. I had originally had us going to SeaWorld on Monday but now I find out that alot of the special holiday shows won't be scheduled for Monday since the park is only open from 9-6:sad2:. If we want to see alot of those shows we will have to go on a Saturday or Sunday when the park is open 9-9. On Sunday we are already booked for a Grinch character breakfast at Universal (won't change that). On Saturday I had thought we would do AK and MK. MK is open 'til 11 that night and we would be able to catch Spectromagic Parade and Wishes Fireworks (so important!). Hmmmmmmmmmmm So the question remains do I switch the plan for those two days? Of course if we do we have to keep in mind that we would get far less accomplished on Monday because MK is not open 'til 11:sad1:. At least not to us (they do have evening EMH on Monday). Have we pretty much figured that they will make an exception and allow GKTW guests to stay for EMH ONLY in the very rarest of circumstances, if at all???? Has anyone read a Wish trip report where they noted the people had been able to stay? I'm so torn:confused: I want to be able to really enjoy all the special holiday shows at SeaWorld (isn't that why we wanted to go at this time of year in the first place?????) and yet I know that we won't get through everything we want to at WDW which is why I picked Saturday, with the extended hours, as a day to go.

Argh! Now this is the problem with being the Energizer Bunny Family with children who are all old enough to be able to enjoy most attractions:sad2:. When the kids were younger and we'd go someplace it was easy to get everything we wanted to do in because there were always things we could eliminate; things that wouldn't interest them; things they weren't tall enough for. Now as I go through the loooooong list of attractions at the parks I am having trouble knocking stuff off the list. We're going to need roller skates:eek:

Now I know, I know, some of you are going to politely warn me not to try to do too much:) BUT.........trust me................my family's ability to go from morning to night and pack it all in is astounding:eek: Of course we've never done it sooo many days in a row. But I think with a good night's sleep each night we should manage ok. And then of course, when we come home on the 18th................ we will promptly crawl into bed and sleep until January:rotfl:

So I need advice ladies.

I'll be waiting:surfweb:

Pamela:santa:

Girl I am feeling your pain! I have been struggling to figure it all out but I did put a schedule that works for us (I think).I dont think we will get all that seaworld has to offer but for us the main events were to feed the dolphins, see the penguins and watch Believe. WE are going to fit seaworld and epcot into the same day so we had to select favorites in both.

If we end up adding 2 days to our trip which right now I am considering we will only do 1 that day and save the other for our last day.

whats holding me up is flights right now. Ill post about that later.

GODD LUCK, But we will be exhausted no matter what we do and it wil all be worth it!!
 
ok.....just when you think you've got things all figured out you get thrown a monkey wrench. What to do......What to do:confused3

I'm cruisin' around here tonight and find a thread about SeaWorld which reveals the schedule and show times. I had originally had us going to SeaWorld on Monday but now I find out that alot of the special holiday shows won't be scheduled for Monday since the park is only open from 9-6:sad2:. If we want to see alot of those shows we will have to go on a Saturday or Sunday when the park is open 9-9. On Sunday we are already booked for a Grinch character breakfast at Universal (won't change that). On Saturday I had thought we would do AK and MK. MK is open 'til 11 that night and we would be able to catch Spectromagic Parade and Wishes Fireworks (so important!). Hmmmmmmmmmmm So the question remains do I switch the plan for those two days? Of course if we do we have to keep in mind that we would get far less accomplished on Monday because MK is not open 'til 11:sad1:. At least not to us (they do have evening EMH on Monday). Have we pretty much figured that they will make an exception and allow GKTW guests to stay for EMH ONLY in the very rarest of circumstances, if at all???? Has anyone read a Wish trip report where they noted the people had been able to stay? I'm so torn:confused: I want to be able to really enjoy all the special holiday shows at SeaWorld (isn't that why we wanted to go at this time of year in the first place?????) and yet I know that we won't get through everything we want to at WDW which is why I specifically picked Saturday, with the extended hours, as a day to go to WDW parks (ESPECIALLY MK).

Argh! Now this is the problem with being the Energizer Bunny Family with children who are all old enough to be able to enjoy most attractions:sad2:. When the kids were younger and we'd go someplace it was easy to get everything we wanted to do in because there were always things we could eliminate; things that wouldn't interest them; things they weren't tall enough for. Now as I go through the loooooong list of attractions at the parks I am having trouble knocking stuff off the list. We're going to need roller skates:eek:

Now I know, I know, some of you are going to politely warn me not to try to do too much:) BUT.........trust me................my family's ability to go from morning to night and pack it all in is astounding:eek: Of course we've never done it sooo many days in a row. But I think with a good night's sleep each night we should manage ok. And then of course, when we come home on the 18th................ we will promptly crawl into bed and sleep until January:rotfl:

So I need advice ladies.

I'll be waiting:surfweb:

Pamela:santa:

Well I dont know to much about all the parks being we have never been But I dont think I would give up MK time. From what I hear there are plenty of holiday stuff to do there and you can still do everything at SW. Just my opinion :)
Which ever you choose Im sure it will be great!
 
Hey Kelly:wave2: Great to have you along!!

Yup, we are a member of the Boston Children's family. Who is your cardiologist? We've been seeing Jaime Levine since that fateful fetal echocardiogram 7 yrs ago. Gotta love her!!!!!! :love: She's got such a great attitude and is not restrictive at all.............I've heard lots of stories from other heart moms about how conservative their pc's are. I figure Matty's got enough to deal with without restricting him unnecessarily from alot of life's fun activities and adventures.

The MA/RI MAW chapter has been unbelievable!!!! They have really risen above board for us. I will tell you however that originally I made an inquiry online (I think I read that that is what you did) and after not hearing for a week I decided to take matters into my own hands. I was just afraid that perhaps my inquiry would get lost in the shuffle. Once I made contact with someone they took my info and our pc's name and sent off whatever paperwork was necessary. After a number of weeks I got concerned, yet again. When I called to check on the progress I was told that Jaime had yet to send the info back:confused3. That seemed odd to me (she knew we were doing this, gave 100% support, and had always been pretty timely in her response to my calls/emails in the past). As a result I asked if they could contact her again;they said they would; and, lo and behold the NEXT morning I got a call saying they had the info from Jaime and we were approved:yay::yay::yay: I will say, to this day I still wonder if they really had to call her again (my phone call to them occured late in the day) or if they in fact already had it and just happened to FIND it after I called.:sad2: Since then, though (that was less than 3 wks ago) it has been a whirlwind. Two days later our Wish volunteers called me; 3 days later they came out to meet us and fill out all the ppwk; and 2 days later I got a call from the office saying we were on! All of the arrangements were then completed within the next week:woohoo: Don't think one can ask for better service than that!

My suggestion would be to call them and make sure they got the info. You'd hate to just sit around and wait and wait only to find out it got lost in the shuffle. I was especially eager because Matty's wish involved being in WDW for the Xmas festivities. If they hadn't been able to push it through for this year we would likely have waited until next. Did you have a timeline?

Anyway I hope you find some useful information in and amoungst all my idle chatter!! (btw we are in North Grafton; my dh and I are originally from Concord and Lexington respectively)

Pamela:santa:

We see Dave Brown. Love, love, love him! Though we only see him annually now. Maya's ASD has closed, surprisingly enough since it was huge. Ali's is also closed, but since she was dx'd with mitochondrial disease, she is at high risk for cardiomyopathy and conduction defects. She does have autonomic issues, so regularly has high blood pressure and heart rate as well. We always say how lucky we are to have such a great medical facility within spitting distance. Ali also regularly sees complex care, gastroenterology, pulmo, allergy, neurosurgery, neurology, orthopedics, opthamology, and otolaryngology, and there's not a single weak link - we love them all.

Thanks for the info on MA MAW. I should have known better than to fill out an online form; I'm always paranoid that those things are not forwarded to the right people. I'm home from work today, so I think maybe I'll give them a call to get the ball rolling. As much as I love her mito doc, his office is sloooowwwww. I requested a school letter back in June and finally got it last month. I hate to complain because overall they have been fabulous to us, but I'm not thinking that things will move quickly there. And we have an appointment on December 15th, so I could follow up on things then.

We really want to go over April vacation. Our foster son will be 18 on April 24th, and we really want him to be included. I'm pretty sure MAW will only cover his expenses if it's done before his 18th birthday, and we certainly cannot afford it. Actually, there's no way we would go without him - he's that much a part of our family. So, if we can't get April vacation, we want February vacation. My husband and I are both teachers and already miss so much school due to hospitalizations and surgeries, so we can't afford to otherwise take the time off. And, Ali's autonomic issues mean that she can't tolerate the heat so summer is out. If not this year, then next year so we can save to be sure to bring Gabe along with us.

So that was probably way more information than you really wanted. Can you tell I've been bedridden for two days with limited adult contact?:rotfl: I wish I could answer your questions about SeaWorld versus MK, but I have nooooo idea. I know nothing about Disney, and really, I don't even know where to start. Right now, I'm just reading, reading, reading. Oh, and we're from Templeton, north of Worcester. I'm originally from the North Shore area and my husband is from RI.

Later!

Kelly
 
I think it totally depends on what your family wants to see.

Personally, I would not skip Spectro and Wishes to do anything at Sea World. But if I had a child that LOVED Shamu, then I would certainly skip it so that the child could see a special Shamu show.

Maybe you guys should ask each member of the family to fill out a survey...

What is your favorite park? What do you most want to do in Disney World? What are the top 5 attractions (or types of attractions) you really want to ride? What characters are you most excited about meeting?

That way you can get an idea of what they want to do. William's main goal...was to ride the "train in the sky." The monorail. :rotfl: Lauren's was to see the castle. They were sure easy to please. They had no idea what Disney was going to be like. They ended up LOVING seeing Spectro in the rain. That was the best part of the trip. Playing in the rain and watching the parade.

Then you can decide.

On one hand, you really can't do it all...on the other hand, you will have the button and the GAC and if you split up and each take one - you should be able to accomplish a lot more in a day than a family that has to run and get FPs for an attraction and double back a lot. So that will help.

And don't forget all of the things they have for you guys to do at GKTW.

That probably didn't help much. :rotfl:

You really can't go wrong... you are picking the best of great things!
 
I just mentioned this on another thread, but I'll say it here too. It might be worth your time to check out "the Unofficial Guide to WDW" book, and an online site as well, that can help you maximize your time in the parks. You don't have to use it, but it would be nice to have a plan ahead of time just in case.
 
Okay, so I know this isn't my PTR, but I just wanted to let you know that I followed your lead and actually put a call through to MAW and was essentially told that Alison should be approved but we need to go through the formality of having her mito doc fill out the appropriate forms confirming that she does indeed have mito.!:cool1:
 
Okay, so I know this isn't my PTR, but I just wanted to let you know that I followed your lead and actually put a call through to MAW and was essentially told that Alison should be approved but we need to go through the formality of having her mito doc fill out the appropriate forms confirming that she does indeed have mito.!:cool1:


I'm glad you called. Don't be uneasy about continuing to keep tabs on them. I honestly think if I hadn't called (when they were awaiting the ppwk from our pc) it could've been awhile until we had heard back. Apparently it's a pretty busy office and now that they are consolidating the MA and RI offices into one, I can imagine it'd be easy for things to get backlogged and/or lost in the shuffle.

Keep me updated:)

Pamela:santa:
 
Thanx to those who offered opinions on the whole schedule thingy:).

I'm still not sure:confused:. It's not as if that Saturday night was the only night we'd be at MK. l also have us scheduled there the bulk of the day on Wednesday (when they have Spectromagic and Wishes again) and then again on the last Thursday night for MVMCP. So all told it's a portion of three days that we will be there regardless. I think it's just the ability to enjoy MK that late into the night on that first Saturday that I'm not sure I want to give up. I suppose I could see if I could reschedule the Grinch breakfast and our day for Universal allowing for Seaworld on that Sunday. Oh, nevermind, that's not an option. Don't want to miss the Candyland Party at GKTW!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhh....don't mind me. I'm just babbling:sad2:.

It's a total of four holiday shows at SeaWorld that are only scheduled on the weekend. The Shamu Holiday show, a Holiday Ice-Skating show, Fireworks and an Elmo Christmas show (wouldn't that surprise Matty hahahahaha). Now I suppose I could argue that who needs one more Fireworks Spectacular LOL And there is already one Shamu show......how different could the 2nd Holiday Show be??????? So just how big a deal is the Elmo Christmas Show and the Ice-Skating show????? Heck, if I knew I'd be able to make a decision!!!!

Can you blame a girl for wanting to do it all??????? Hey, do you think maybe they'd let us extend our extension..........maybe add on another month or so??????????? hahahahahahahahahahaha


Pamela:santa:
 
Okay, good, at least you've read about them. I hadn't heard of or thought about anything like it until the book suggested it. What I like is that they point out how most people don't get there early, most people eat lunch at midday, EMH mornings/nights are way more packed than average, and the charts on what crowd levels will be on different days so you can pick the best park for that day. Even if we never wait in a single line for a single minute (yeah right!) it would be nice to be at the parks when they are less crowded for dining, pictures, safety and sanity. :lmao:
 
Even if we never wait in a single line for a single minute (yeah right!) it would be nice to be at the parks when they are less crowded for dining, pictures, safety and sanity. :lmao:

I think you should write a letter to Len Testa (Unofficial Guide to WDW Author) and give him that line.... It is publishable! Great line!
 
I think you should write a letter to Len Testa (Unofficial Guide to WDW Author) and give him that line.... It is publishable! Great line!

Do you know him?:rotfl:
Sorry, I'm having way too much fun on here tonight.
 
I'm glad you posted the information about Sea World. I had no idea because I haven't completely planned that day out yet. Now I'm going to be doing a little rethinking of my own but unfortunately, like you, our plans can't be moved around much. I think Maroo's advice is the best, I second what she said!
 
Plans are just that - you'll know more once you get there - and you have the best plan of all -letting Matty decide!! (if its too much, or not - you'll know - as Maroo said, no one can do it all!! - and the crowds may just overwhelm you - the magic button will help get you on the rides - so you'll have that going for you!! Dont forget when it gets really crowded - go up to Tomorrowland and ride that people mover - its amazing to look down on the crowds from up there!!)

You will be able to direct with your plans - but just being there - and spending all the time at GKTW will help kep your sanity I'm thinking!! The parks at Christmas time - magical!! Make sure you get a picture of everything - and then share it with me!! *grin!
 
Plans are just that - you'll know more once you get there - and you have the best plan of all -letting Matty decide!! (if its too much, or not - you'll know - as Maroo said, no one can do it all!! - and the crowds may just overwhelm you - the magic button will help get you on the rides - so you'll have that going for you!! Dont forget when it gets really crowded - go up to Tomorrowland and ride that people mover - its amazing to look down on the crowds from up there!!)

You will be able to direct with your plans - but just being there - and spending all the time at GKTW will help kep your sanity I'm thinking!! The parks at Christmas time - magical!! Make sure you get a picture of everything - and then share it with me!! *grin!


I actually prefer it when there's alot of people...................it adds to the festive atmosphere. Of course that doesn't mean wall-to-wall people....................but then that's why we are going in early December. School vacation week at Disney:scared1: (anywhere for that matter) would be another story entirely. I think the only potential issue with the crowds will be the fear of losing a child. Especially my youngest (just over 4)! We'll be sure to tie him into the stroller with duct tape! He's also the only one who is likely to tire out but fortunately he can sleep anywhere (and I mean anywhere!). The strollers at Disney are the same hard plastic ones as the ones at Sesame Place where we are frequent visitors and, believe me, he has noooooooo difficulty nodding off when necessary. Growing up Crosby means you "go with the flow"

Oh and yes there will be many many pictures. And I'd be most happy to shar them with you:)

Pamela:santa:
 
ok, after much consideration I have decided to leave my "schedule" well enough alone. Yay!!!! I made a decision:cool1: Oh so proud of myself!
But now.....what do I do? I have a tentative schedule, I made all of our dining reservations, I've researched the parks................ There MUST be something else I need to do!!!!!!

I've been doing a little Mickey/Disney shopping in anticipation of preparing some surprises for my kids. I went to the Dollar Store and loaded up on all fun (albeit cheap) things Disney, bought some Mickey t-shirts and jammies, a holiday Disney Storybook, a gingerbread storybook and of course, the Gingerbread Man cosume!!!!!!!! My plan today is to go to the craft store and get some Disney themed flannel to make some blankets as well as the necessary material to make some autograph books. What a Crafty Suzie I am huh? Just call me "Martha":laughing: Of course I have to keep working on this Xmas shopping too since my goal is to have it ALL done before we leave. I'm actually about 75% done so the stress level in that area is fairly low. Decorating? Well that would be causing me a high level of stress. Why, I still have assorted paraphenalia from Halloween littering all corners of my household:eek:

ok.....off to bring dd to her rehearsal (Nutcracker). The plan is to shop shop shop until it's time to pick her up at 5:00. Hopefully I'll have great success!!

Pamela:santa:
 












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