After 3 previous trip cancellations, we finally made it on our
Dreams Come True trip to
Give Kids the World Village! It was amazing...! We came close to cancelling a 4th time, as our DD15 went back into the hospital a few days before we were to leave on this trip. Luckily, we were cleared to go and it was the best time ever for her and our family. I have a few thoughts that may be helpful to other families so I will jot them here...
Give Kids the World:
VILLAS
1) GKTW Villas are so comfortable. We had 8 people in a 2 bedroom 2 bath villa and it was fine. (They told us we might feel cramped, but not at all.) The decor is bright and cheerful and very tasteful.
2) The kitchen is not a full kitchen. The dishwasher is tiny. There is a full size refrigerator with water and ice through the door (both cubed and crushed). A coffee pot, toaster, and microwave, but
NO stove or oven (which surprised me).
3) Our Dream Coordinator from
Dreams Come True had an electric hospital bed and IV pole waiting for us in our villa; in the children's room, along with 2 very comfortable twin beds.
4) The Dream Child gets an ensuite bathroom which includes a jacuzzi and a separate HA shower with river rock floor. The things I noticed about this bathroom is that the lighting is a little dim and the water pressure was low. The temperature was fine. But the space was HUGE! This is where we stored her wheelchair when not in use, and it was never in the way. The Hall Bath has a toilet and shower, but the space is very tight. You have to close the bathroom door to get into the shower.
5) None of the interior doors have locks... this includes the bathrooms! So you might want to bring a sign that the bathroom is occupied!
6) The refrigerators are NOT magnetic, so no magnets will stick. However, the exterior doors are metal and white, so that is a good place to put your schedules and notices with a magnet. Just be careful not to scrape the paint.
VILLAGE
1) The food: ALL of it was delicious! Perkins, Boston Market, Papa Johns are all sponsors and provide most of the food.
2) There is morning to late night ICE CREAM sponsored by Friendlies. You can get sundaes, banana splits, cones... you name it. We LOVED this! There is every flavor from Orange or Rainbow sherbet, to Cookies and Cream, Strawberry, Chocolate, Mint Choc. Chip, etc... There are sprinkles, cherries, and whipped cream to be added. Or if you prefer M&M's! There are no nuts to add, but there is Butter Pecan if you crave ice cream with nuts!
3) There are parties every night... and they are all FUN!
4) There are characters from all the parks available in the morning for autographs and pictures. This was lovely! One morning it was Disney, another it was Nickolodeon... etc.
5) When you go into the Food Court at Town Hall to get meals, there is always a volunteer asking to assist your family by carrying your tray, getting silverware, drinks, you name it; then helping you find a table.
6) The playground is so accessible and we wish we had spent more time there.
7) There is also a mini-amusement park with rides that are really fun.
8) The carousel ride was near the ice cream building and on our way back to our villa so WIN-WIN!
Sea World
1) This was our first park to visit and our LEAST favorite. No one was helpful to us (except for one or two photographers).
2) Favorite ride was
Antarctica: Empire of the Penguins. If your child can take a little spinning choose the WILD option. We chose MILD and wish we had done the other.
3) Cast Members here were not well trained (across the board). We tried to take our DD15 on the
Shamu Coaster (which is the kiddie coaster) and had so much push back and no help. We have an anti-skid cushion that we wanted our DD15 to sit on and they said no loose articles. Well, it won't be loose because she is sitting on it! In fact, we were already on the ride and ready to go, but they did not want her to sit on the cushion for "safety reasons". So I gave the cushion to my DH and he was HOLDING it (so now it is a loose item), but that was OK?
Then they told me my purse could not go on the ride, but they would not be responsible for it while we rode. There was no where to leave it except on the wheelchair. It would have been so much easier if they had told us all this before the ride. We were in the exit queue and had multiple interactions with the Cast Members before loading, so there was time to let us know.
4) The only show we saw was
ONE OCEAN with the orcas. Our DD15 did not like it and we wish we had skipped it altogether. (The music is LOUD and we were about half-way up the stadium.) We were told to find a certain Cast Member to show us where to sit. When she pointed to the stairs and the upper decks, I asked how we were supposed to get the wheelchair up there? She then pointed to the Wheelchair seating on the level I was standing. So no special treatment in this park, other than 2 photographers at the beginning of our day. It could be that this was Spring Break and the Cast Members were a bit frazzled? But for our first park on our Dream Trip we were pretty let down and left early.
5) When you leave you get to choose one 6X8" photograph as a free souvenir. (Of course, the rest are available for purchase.)
6) The drive to Sea World was not bad, but coming home the traffic was horrendous on I-4. Very Stressful and took a long time to return to GKTW. Don't know if better planning could have avoided this since it was Spring Break and rush hour is from 4 to almost 7 PM.
Universal Studios
1) Both parks were hit and miss. We had some fabulous interaction and some frustrations at these two parks. Our BIGGEST issue was that for each and every ride we had to demonstrate that our DD15 could sit on her own, hold her head up, and grasp the lap bar. They would not take our word for it. Also, they would not let her wear her safety harness in her wheelchair on the ride. OK..... now correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be
safer to have her wear the harness in addition to their lap bar?? Our general consensus was that these tests were meant to discourage us, because it does take more time and effort to load a wheelchair than a person who can walk-on. Some of these tests were so ridiculous... especially for
Cat In The Hat and the
ET Rides.... We actually agreed to transfer our DD15 from her wheelchair onto a regular seat on the ET ride, because the Cast Lead would not believe she was capable. The Cast Leader then told us we could not touch her, that if they saw we were touching her at any time on the ride they would stop it. After lifting her into a seat, pulling down the lap bar and putting her hands on the handlebars, the Cast Lead could see she could do it. She then pushed her and shook her to see if she could "handle it". ***???
I looked at this woman and said OK, she has passed every test you have given her. I can see that this is going to be SOooooo much safer than her riding in her wheelchair. So let's get going. The Cast Lead then said "let's put her back in her wheelchair". OMG@@@@!! That whole shenanigans must have taken 40 minutes.
She rode that ride perfectly all by herself and LOVED it! But the frustration level was so HIGH to get on that ride. I have to say that it was ultimately worth it for my daughter's sake, but I let the Cast Leader know this was really beyond what was necessary for safety. No one's mother is more concerned with SAFETY than that of a Special Needs child.... (I can only imagine the Law Suits that must have preceded the implementation of these Safety Rules...) Later that day I ran into another child with a GKTW button who told me not to bother going on ET because they won't let her ride. I turned to her and said, oh yes they did. She was shocked! She said her daughter not only couldn't ride that they made her go through the regular line. I told her to show them the Universal Gold card her daughter was wearing, and ask to speak to a Manager or Team Leader. Later that day back at the Village she said they had indeed gone on the ride. But also echoed my sentiments about what a hassle every ride turned out to be.
2) The Barney show was adorable and we all loved it!
3)
Finnegans was very accommodating for lunch and so was
Mythos. We enjoyed our meals at both of these restaurants very much.
4) We were also VERY happy with our parking and security screening experience. We were allowed to go through the Cast Member screening which was a breeze with no lines. AWESOME!
5) Drive time to the park was not bad. Driving home? See number 6 under Sea World. It was bad both days....
6) Universal did not have a special VIP lounge. If we needed to change her or take a break, we headed to first aid. However, I did have access to the American Express Lounge. It was small and crowded and really not relaxing at all.
Disney World
1) This was our FAVORITE experience of all! Disney knows how to do it right. Everyone was courteous and professional with an extra helping of kindness! All Cast Members seemed to know exactly what to do.
2) There were no pressure tests to prove she could ride.... YAY for
BTMRR! She also had no problems using her gripper cushions on
Expedition Everest which is much more of a roller coaster than Shamu..
3) We also had better driving experiences to Disney since we did not have to get onto I-4. Rush hour going back was a little more stressful, but that is the nature of Orlando/Kissimmee.
4) Parking was great everywhere but the Magic Kingdom. You have to park at the Ticket & Transportation Center, then take the ferry. The monorail was very backed up and they were loading buses to take people to the MK entrance, but no strollers or wheelchairs were allowed, so we took the ferry. You just have to take care when getting on so your punkin doesn't get squished (and you don't run into people ahead of you).
5) We visited every park except EPCOT. We would have made it over there, but time got away from us and by the end of the week we were dodging rain drops.. so we skipped that one park.
6) The Magic Kingdom had a Wish Lounge that we used to relax while DD15 got to lay down in First Aid for a break. It was a nice quiet respite.
7) Double rides.... this was the only theme park that allowed us to go around 2X if we wanted to on a ride. Some we did, others we did not... but it was a very nice benefit and so different from the other two parks (SeaWord;Universal).
8) Character Interaction and Photopass photographers were the BEST here! Disney knows how to charm their little visitors (and parents, too)!
9) Shows! Beauty and the Beast... Lion King.... Finding Nemo!! Disney had the Best Shows HANDS DOWN!
LOL! My short synapsis is getting long (so sorry!) So I will say that our trip was soooo worth it to us for all of the joy it brought our daugher, Phoebe. By the end of the week, she was just smiling all the time! That was more than precious, it was uplifting.
So THANK YOU to ALL
volunteers and Wish Granting Organizations and Sponsors. I would never have believed before this trip how wonderful it would all be. I know our experience has inspired me to want to volunteer myself when I am in the Orlando area. Please feel free to ask or PM me with any questions you may have of this trip!
. I asked it in the PTR I just made, but others may have similar questions. Our trip will be myself and hubby, and our 12 year old daughter and 8 year old son (wish kid.) We haven't even met with our wish granters yet, lol, but I'm so excited to find out that my son will be granted a wish, and he wants to go to Disney and Universal. My son has his own medical stroller, it's important that we take it because it is comfortable and reclines, and he tires more quickly than a lot of kids. However, all four of us have a connective tissue disease a well (hubby and I both found out we have EDS when we went to the geneticist about our kids.) Hubby has type 1 diabetes and is disabled with really bad neuropathy pain. I am not technically on disability, but I also have fibromyalgia and deteriorated joints in my back. Our daughter is 12 and the connective tissue disease really affects her feet and legs - she cannot walk distances like that without extreme pain. So we are pretty much 4 mobility challenged individuals... I have a couple questions. Has MAW paid for anyone to rent scooters in the parks each day? Realistically we need to rent two of them each day. Hoping that hubby, our daughter, and myself can take turns pushing our son in his stroller and the other two of us can drive scooters. Also wondering if they will let our 12 year old daughter drive a rented scooter in the parks? She has driven them in stores when she is having bad foot and leg pain, but doesn't always need one.
and I'm glad your son will getting a WISH!
