Tyler's Wish Trip - Nov. 20-25, 2009 / Dream Factory

[kdzbear]

Hi there,

I saw one of your responses on another thread I was reading and noticed we will be in WDW around the same time so I just had to take a peek at your trippie. And now I am hooked! I can't wait to see how Tyler's trip goes. And I am thrilled that you were able to stay on Disney property. That just makes any trip more magical, IMO. I am actually a speech pathologist which also drew me into your trip report. Last year I worked at a "separate day school" (basically a school for children with specials needs that are too severe to be in a typical school) and many of the children on my caseload were nonverbal, very little verbal expression, wheelchair bound or receiving PT and OT. This year I was placed in an elementary school with more typical students, but I am also working in the school's 3 autistic classrooms.


Yeah! Welcome! What are your Disney dates? We are so excited to stay on Disney property. We just stayed at Pop Century in Sept. for a family trip that we planned last January before Tyler's Wish was approved and when his Wish was approved we decided to keep both trips. We thought that for his Wish Trip we would have 2 days at Universal, 1 day at Sea World and three days at Disney just based on other Wish Trippers reports, but it did not work out that way. Staying on property and only going to Disney fits Tyler's age and interests better since Tyler loves Disney! Tyler receives speech therapy right now and this fall he has started to talk a little more. He is probably up to a 2 year old level right now, but he can sign over 400 words. He also receives physical therapy. We just picked up his new braces today. The ones with the bar between them did not work at all and no one was sleeping due to his screaming while wearing them. His left foot now turns in at a 90 degree angle again. I hope that we can correct this quickly.

Just wanted to post some thoughts on your restaurant choices (the ones I've been to anyway).
Garden Grill - definitely liked it. The character interaction was great, food was good and it was really neat to "spin around" the Land
Coral Reef - Haven't eaten here in a few years, but when I did it was really good. I had the blackened catfish (yum!), but they definitely have non-seafood dishes.
Poly b-fast - another fun breakfast and the food is good too. Plus I just love the Poly

Thank you for the restaurant advice. Tyler and I sat at the computer one day and he picked all of this restaurants so I hope he likes what he picked.
Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your planning adventures...plus how the actual trip turns out!

P.S. What is the "Big Give" (for those, like me, that aren't in the know)?

As for the Big Give, there is a community within Disboards called Big Give. It is made up of mostly Disboutiquers. Theses wonderful men and women make custom clothing or provide small gifts for Wish families going on their Wish trips. There is a whole Wish Trips section to Disboards: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.... We are blessed to have been chosen.:wizard:

 

[kdzbear]

After being persistent and a pain, I have our flight information from our volunteer.

Leave home at 05:40 on Nov.20,2009 and get to Orlando at ll:00 AM Nov 20, 2009. You come back at 4:30PM to home at 08:00PM. Disney World is suppose to be mailing all pertinent information to you. - From his volunteer

Then I guess that we will not meet her either. She asked if it would be ok if she mailed us all of this paperwork so she would not have to make the 5 hour round trip to bring it to us. We would have met her half way. I guess we were not meant to meet her. I guess I am just a little disappointed.

However, once I come up with the money I now know that we will be able to make it to the MVMCP. Now I just need to save enough money to purchase the tickets. I have half of it so far! I can't wait to surprise the kids with the tickets!

 

[kdzbear]

I am back. I have been working on my September trip report for the past three weeks and it is done except for the Photopass photos. I just realized that we leave in 35 days!

Here is the plan so far:

Friday, Nov. 20th – Arrive at about 11 am at the airport. Arrive at the resort by 1 pm? Then rest or head to Epcot – Dinner at Garden Grill at 4:15 pm – Then after dinner head to MVMCP? Has anyone ever been to this? I am still going to wait a few more weeks before purchasing tickets. I hope it does not sell out.

Saturday, Nov. 21st – Spend the day at Animal Kingdom – Dinner at the Yak and Yeti at 4:45 pm – see AK after closing on the way out after dinner
Then I thought that from AK we would go to the Beach Club resort and check out the gingerbread carousel if it is up and finished – Then head to Downtown Disney for some shopping

Sunday, Nov. 22nd – 8:20 AM - Lilo and Stitch breakfast at the Polynesian. Then we will spend the day at the Magic Kingdom and probably go back to the resort for a nap in the middle of the day. Tonight the Magic Kingdom is open until 11 PM for resort guests.

Monday, Nov. 23rd – Spend the day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We have dinner reservations at 8:25 PM at the Sci-Fi and this park is open until 10 PM for resort guests. It closes at 7 PM for everyone else. I may try to get an earlier dinner reservation, but it will only be 7:25 PM in our time zone so the kids should be ok.

Tuesday, Nov. 24th – Spend the day at Epcot. It opens one hour early for resort guests. We have dinner reservations at 5:35 PM at the Coral Reef. This park closes at 9 PM.

Wednesday, Nov. 25th – Breakfast at the Crystal Palace at 8:10 AM. The park does not open until 9 AM today so the kids will get to see a nearly empty park. Then we will spend our last few hours here. I assume we will need to be back at the resort around 1:40 to take the ME back to the airport to catch our 4:30 PM flight.

I know that some of these days are probably days to avoid according to crowd calendars, but we only have single day tickets, which means we do not have park hoppers. We have never not had park hoppers so this will be a challenge to adapt to.

We have never been to Disney during a busy season or the holiday season so any advice is welcome. Also, we found out the Osborne Lights will go on on Nov. 11th this year so we will get to see them! I am very excited about this. Tyler sat on my lap and watched the 10 minute video of them on this site without moving. I think he will really like them too!

 

[p00h4me]

I've been following your trip report and Tyler's Wish Trip report.

We prefer to go to WDW during Christmas time. It's cooler and less crowded.

Since this is your family's first time going to WDW during Christmas, get the MVMCP tickets and enjoy all the special shows, parades and the park with all the Christmas lights and decorations.

Can't wait to see your pictures from Tyler's Wish Trip! It won't be long now.

 

[kdzbear]

I've been following your trip report and Tyler's Wish Trip report.

We prefer to go to WDW during Christmas time. It's cooler and less crowded.

Since this is your family's first time going to WDW during Christmas, get the MVMCP tickets and enjoy all the special shows, parades and the park with all the Christmas lights and decorations.

Can't wait to see your pictures from Tyler's Wish Trip! It won't be long now.

Welcome! I am glad you are following along. We finished our Countdown Mickeys! This time we glued two HD Mickey heads together so there was a front and back since last time we could not keep them all facing forward. Hayley wanted to be in the picture too!

 

[Wonders10]

I could be wrong but I believe the carousel is at the boardwalk, not BC.

I've done mvmcp before and my friend and I are doing it again for this trip. Definitely do it if you can. Also the Osborne lights are awesome!

 

[misskate]

Your PRT has made my day! I know that might sound a little weird, but I am so thankful that you and your beautiful family get to have this wish granted. I'm praying that your wish coordinator turns her attitude around. I can already feel the magic in the air for Tyler!

 

[kdzbear]

I could be wrong but I believe the carousel is at the boardwalk, not BC.

I've done mvmcp before and my friend and I are doing it again for this trip. Definitely do it if you can. Also the Osborne lights are awesome!

Thank you for the advice! I read on these boards that it was at the Beach Club and that the Boardwalk's decorations weren't that amazing. I forgot to put that we plan to walk from the Beach Club to the Boardwalk to look around prior to going to DTD. We stayed with a cast member friend at the Boardwalk when Breanna was 2 1/2 and I fell in love with that resort, but it does not fit in our financial situation. The kids love the All Star Resorts so it works out anyway!

Your PRT has made my day! I know that might sound a little weird, but I am so thankful that you and your beautiful family get to have this wish granted. I'm praying that your wish coordinator turns her attitude around. I can already feel the magic in the air for Tyler!

Welcome! I understand. I love to read about these amazing and special kids on this site. In college I volunteered at the blind preschool here in town and those kids were amazing and inspiring. They all had many additional medical challenges in addition to being blind, but they were the happiest kids you would ever meet. They did not see their disability as a challenge and they just loved life! As for our Wish coordinator, she has never met Tyler. I have sent her a picture of him. She does not know who Stitch is so I have not figured out how I am going to explain to Tyler that Stitch won't be able to ride the Dumbos with him. I guess maybe I could tell him that Stitch is sick? I will worry about that later. He is very excited right now. He looks at the pictures from our September trip and says, "I wanna go" and points to the pictures. I am hoping that since he went recently we won't have all of the screaming tantrums we had in September and he will just have fun!

 

[pipersmom]

Welcome! I understand. I love to read about these amazing and special kids on this site. In college I volunteered at the blind preschool here in town and those kids were amazing and inspiring. They all had many additional medical challenges in addition to being blind, but they were the happiest kids you would ever meet. They did not see their disability as a challenge and they just loved life! As for our Wish coordinator, she has never met Tyler. I have sent her a picture of him. She does not know who Stitch is so I have not figured out how I am going to explain to Tyler that Stitch won't be able to ride the Dumbos with him. I guess maybe I could tell him that Stitch is sick? I will worry about that later. He is very excited right now. He looks at the pictures from our September trip and says, "I wanna go" and points to the pictures. I am hoping that since he went recently we won't have all of the screaming tantrums we had in September and he will just have fun![/QUOTE]

Hey
Sorry to hear that your wish granter is ermm..less than knowledgeable. Maybe the first morning you go to the park you could go to guest services and explain the situation? From reading some of the trip reports, stranger things have been made to happen

 

[chrissid7]

OMG you are so close now. I have loved reading your PTR and I also eally enjoyed the last one. Great Halloween pics! Your kids a re beautiful and I cant wait to hear the rest!

Im actually trying to get it together too so that i can get Alyssa to MVMCP, she desperatly wants to do it (we all do) but its not in the budget right now. I asked our coordinator if she had a connection that could maybe get them at a discounted rate but she had never even heard of MVMCP so no avail.
We are looking forward to the Osbourne family lights too! The video was incredible so I can only imagine!

Enjoy the rest of your planning. It looks great!

 

[kdzbear]

Hey
Sorry to hear that your wish granter is ermm..less than knowledgeable. Maybe the first morning you go to the park you could go to guest services and explain the situation? From reading some of the trip reports, stranger things have been made to happen

I will figure something out. I have reservations at the Polynesian for the Lilo and Stitch breakfast one morning. I also had them put that it was my son's Wish trip on all of our dining reservations. When we went in Sept. it printed my daughter's birthday and our anniversary on every reservation slip and not just the actual day that we were celebrating! Maybe some magic will happen at breakfast and at least this way it ensures he will see Stitch!

OMG you are so close now. I have loved reading your PTR and I also eally enjoyed the last one. Great Halloween pics! Your kids a re beautiful and I cant wait to hear the rest!

Im actually trying to get it together too so that i can get Alyssa to MVMCP, she desperatly wants to do it (we all do) but its not in the budget right now. I asked our coordinator if she had a connection that could maybe get them at a discounted rate but she had never even heard of MVMCP so no avail.
We are looking forward to the Osbourne family lights too! The video was incredible so I can only imagine!

Enjoy the rest of your planning. It looks great!

Thank you for all of the compliments. I showed all three kids the Osbourne light video and I am so happy it is starting on Nov. 10th this year! I am a stay at home mom and I do some mystery shopping on the side, but lately most of my shops have been paying in reimbursements rather than cash. I am up to about $115 saved so I only need $85 more. Hopefully, in the next two weeks I can make that up. I think the kids would love it! I did mention it to our Wish granted and that is how I got our airline times and she said that I could purchase the tickets now that I know the times. I am just happy that we are staying on property with free dining. If they do anything else, it will just be icing on the cake!

 

[kdzbear]

More exciting news! I guess my husband thought we had park hoppers and I explained to him yesterday that they were single day tickets. Then he also wanted to know what I was saving for so I ended up telling him I really wanted to go to MVMCP and he said, "Ok. Order the tickets!" That was too easy! I am going to order them tomorrow! He has been to MNSSHP three times while the rest of us have only been twice. He went once on a business trip so he knows how special the parties are. He asked lots of questions about what you do and then agreed to it!!!!

Then I picked up the mail yesterday and our Magic Express tickets and bag tags were in the mail. It said that Disney did not have our flight information yet. I spent several hours on the phone last week trying to get a confirmation number so I could look up our flights online. Our Dream Volunteer had given me the airline name and the flight times only. Today when I called Delta the agent was so nice. When I looked online it appears that one of our flights had changed by one minute and it meant that most likely we would miss our connection. So she booked us on a flight that has about an hour between flights rather than 25 minutes. She also put a note on the changes that they were done due to Delta schedule changes so no one could try to charge us additional fees later. We will get to Orlando at 11:35 AM. She also gave me confirmation numbers for all of us! Also, both the baby and I were booked as infants on the original booking even though my birth date showed I was not so that was corrected in the system so we would not encounter any additional problems! After I hung up I realized that I probably just did the job of Dream Factory's travel coordinator, but I did not want any surprises when it came time to leave on our trip and all of the flights were full and we could not change. The problem has been averted and I have confirmation numbers for both the airlines and Disney now! Once I purchase our MVMCP tickets tomorrow it will feel even more real! I am so excited now!

 

[pipersmom]

More exciting news! I guess my husband thought we had park hoppers and I explained to him yesterday that they were single day tickets. Then he also wanted to know what I was saving for so I ended up telling him I really wanted to go to MVMCP and he said, "Ok. Order the tickets!" That was too easy! I am going to order them tomorrow! He has been to MNSSHP three times while the rest of us have only been twice. He went once on a business trip so he knows how special the parties are. He asked lots of questions about what you do and then agreed to it!!!!

Then I picked up the mail yesterday and our Magic Express tickets and bag tags were in the mail. It said that Disney did not have our flight information yet. I spent several hours on the phone last week trying to get a confirmation number so I could look up our flights online. Our Dream Volunteer had given me the airline name and the flight times only. Today when I called Delta the agent was so nice. When I looked online it appears that one of our flights had changed by one minute and it meant that most likely we would miss our connection. So she booked us on a flight that has about an hour between flights rather than 25 minutes. She also put a note on the changes that they were done due to Delta schedule changes so no one could try to charge us additional fees later. We will get to Orlando at 11:35 AM. She also gave me confirmation numbers for all of us! Also, both the baby and I were booked as infants on the original booking even though my birth date showed I was not so that was corrected in the system so we would not encounter any additional problems! After I hung up I realized that I probably just did the job of Dream Factory's travel coordinator, but I did not want any surprises when it came time to leave on our trip and all of the flights were full and we could not change. The problem has been averted and I have confirmation numbers for both the airlines and Disney now! Once I purchase our MVMCP tickets tomorrow it will feel even more real! I am so excited now!

That is exciting! I bet you feel a lot better having the confirm. numbers, I know I would. Woohoo for MVMCP!

 

[misskate]

Hey, sometimes it's best to take matters into your own hands! Now at least you have peace of mind knowing that the flight situation is entirely taken care of and everything is correct and ready to go. Good stuff!

Yay for MVMCP!! That's going to be a blast! Can't wait to hear the rest of the details along the way.

 

[maroo]

Don't feel bad (not that you are, but still) about taking things in your own hands.

It was me calling the actual airlines that alerted them all of the issues we were going to have trying to get Lauren to fly two legs of the Wish Flight. While the fanfare would have been great for her, they just could not accomodate her wheelchair and all of our plans were changed.

Sometimes they just don't know what questions to ask for your particular family situation. They assume that 25 min is plenty of time and don't consider what it takes to move a special needs child and an infant from one place to another.

So way to go!!

 

[kdzbear]

I can't stop shaking and crying happy tears. Hayley is sleeping and Tyler just keeps hugging me. His new case manager is amazing! The funding for diapers changed. You can now apply as soon as your child is 4 and you do not have to wait for January. We applied about a month ago. The case manager called back and had many new questions for me. I gave her my husband's work number. I was not sure of exact expense amounts for some things. He has been approved for diapers and wipes through June 2010! I just have to send in my receipts and they will reimburse me! I just can't believe that he was actually approved for this! This funding will help our budget so much with having two in diapers! We just spent $80 for two huge boxes of diapers the other night at Sam's Club. Now that knowing half of that is reimbursed is wonderful! I know I am rambling, but I had to share this with a group that would understand!

 

[chrissid7]

I can't stop shaking and crying happy tears. Hayley is sleeping and Tyler just keeps hugging me. His new case manager is amazing! The funding for diapers changed. You can now apply as soon as your child is 4 and you do not have to wait for January. We applied about a month ago. The case manager called back and had many new questions for me. I gave her my husband's work number. I was not sure of exact expense amounts for some things. He has been approved for diapers and wipes through June 2010! I just have to send in my receipts and they will reimburse me! I just can't believe that he was actually approved for this! This funding will help our budget so much with having two in diapers! We just spent $80 for two huge boxes of diapers the other night at Sam's Club. Now that knowing half of that is reimbursed is wonderful! I know I am rambling, but I had to share this with a group that would understand!

OMG thats amazing!!! I am soooo happy for you! I know how much every dime means when you have so many expenses. WTG and you deserve it!

 

[maroo]

I can't stop shaking and crying happy tears. Hayley is sleeping and Tyler just keeps hugging me. His new case manager is amazing! The funding for diapers changed. You can now apply as soon as your child is 4 and you do not have to wait for January. We applied about a month ago. The case manager called back and had many new questions for me. I gave her my husband's work number. I was not sure of exact expense amounts for some things. He has been approved for diapers and wipes through June 2010! I just have to send in my receipts and they will reimburse me! I just can't believe that he was actually approved for this! This funding will help our budget so much with having two in diapers! We just spent $80 for two huge boxes of diapers the other night at Sam's Club. Now that knowing half of that is reimbursed is wonderful! I know I am rambling, but I had to share this with a group that would understand!

Oh, that is GREAT news!!!!

 

[kdzbear]

OMG thats amazing!!! I am soooo happy for you! I know how much every dime means when you have so many expenses. WTG and you deserve it!

Oh, that is GREAT news!!!!

Thank you both! It is amazing news!


We are down to 30 days!

 

[kdzbear]

I have some more happy updates.

First we received our Disney Welcome packet today. There were 4 luggage tags. They are nice and thick with a picture of the castle and Mickey balloons! Then it came with paperwork for our stay. It has lots of the extras that I thought were exclusive to AAA. It has our ME transfers, 30 minute arcade voucher, miniature golf voucher, Planet Hollywood Merch. Voucher, Sea Raycer voucher, all of the meals included in our dining plan listed out and a pre-order card for Photopass. My husband and I are starting to discuss this now. It was so exciting!

Then I had Junior Girl Scouts from 3:20 pm – 5:00 pm today. We made ghost milk jug decorations for our upcoming Spooktacular. Then we did cooking experiments. We made cinnamon and sugar pita chips that we dipped in strawberry yogurt. We also made 3 minute chocolate microwave cakes. They fulfilled some of their badge requirements. They are so cute when they cook. Tyler and Hayley run around the meetings and “help” too. The only way I can be a leader is to bring them with me!

Then I was looking over Breanna’s homework tonight and she brought home a lunch calendar for November. Her school is out the entire week of Thanksgiving. There is a conference for the teachers on the first two days of the week and then everyone is off the last three days. It also says that there is no school on the 20th! I emailed her principal to verify this, but if this change is true, then she will not have to miss any school for Tyler’s trip!