MAW Trip of a Lifetime....1st time to WDW! -Beach Update!

[brookerene]

Well here I go.... my pre trip planning for my son kaleb's MAW trip in Oct. We are really excited since 1: none of us have been to WDW (although I am a Disneyland Veteran) 2: We live on a ranch in NE which can be difficult to leave 3: This is more than likely a once in a childhood trip for my kids. Let me introduce myself I am Brooke, my husband is Brian, and my oldest son is Nathan (8), Kaleb(6) my Wish Child, and Zoe (4).
My son Kaleb was diagnosed with FSGS, a kidney disease, last year after a routine Kindergarten screening, and this winter he was put onto peritoneal dialysis until we could get throught the donation process. While we were at the hospital for his transplant evaluation, the social worker said he would qualify for Make-A-Wish. So we started that process too. Now we are three and a half hours from Omaha and the closest workers are 2+ hours away, but they came and asked Kaleb his wish. He had a hard time deciding between Disney or a playset. He wished for the playset but didn't like the choices so he wish for Disneyland but changed it when they said the accomodations at FL and GKTW were great. SO DW here we come.
But before we visit Mickey...I will be donating a kidney to him July 20th. Not too far away. Praise God that He has guided us through this journey and provided for us. Kaleb has had good health otherwise and so should do well for his surgery.
I grew up in SoCal and my grandparents worked at DL, my parents worked there and I worked there in High School, so I know a lot about DL but have no experience with DW. My good friend Carole will be meeting us there and she is a Disney Fan if every there existed one! LOL!
Any suggestions would be great, I made a Dining Res for CRT for the Wed of our trip, and we hope to make it to the beach one day if possible. We are also looking forward to the new Harry Potter area at Universal.
Thanks....

TR Started on post 615! http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40883304&postcount=615
Off to Florida!

 

[brookerene]

How do we upload photos? Thanks

 

[J'sMum]

How do we upload photos? Thanks

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2356343 if you go to second post on this it should lead you right to all the know how's

Welcome !! and i will be following along, How wonderful that you are a match for your son my prayers are with you and your family

 

[brookerene]

[/IMG]
This is Nathan, my oldest.

[/IMG]
This is Zoe, my youngest.

This is Kaleb, my wish kid.

 

[J'sMum]

You have a beautiful family you must be sooo busy !! fun ages

 

[mommy_lisa]

Does your son go to UNMC in Omaha? My son had a liver transplant there when he was 7 months old (3 yr ago now), and I was his donor. We absolutely love the team there. We will be in Omaha the weekend of July 16th for their transplant reunion if you would like to meet up.
Luca was 2 years post transplant when we went on his trip but the biggest thing is use common sense. We carried hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes for the tabletops. Omaha never suggested wearing masks and luca was furher out from transplant and on low immunosuppression, so we never used them (not even right after transplant). If we hear or see someone that is sick, we politely steer in a different direction, other than that theres not a whole lot you can do.
We went in the middle of october and absolutely loved it that time of year. it was not extremely hot. It was also a little on the cooler side when we went. We have many pictures with my kids in shorts and a sweatshirt, or wearing pants.
I hope yyou guys have a wonderful time. I dont check on here as often anymore, but feel free to pm me (i usually check every couple of days)

Lisa

 

[brookerene]

Hi, Yes we are having the transplant at UNMC. We won't be at the reunion this year though because of ranch stuff, and trying to cover things here for the following Tuesday's surgery. I'm glad to hear that things went well for your son's liver transplant. It seems like they have a good program and everybody is really nice. My pastor had a liver transplant there a few years ago and had a good experience. I wish I were going to the reunion so that I could meet you. It's nice to get to know people who have gone through similar experiences. Thanks for the advice. I'm thinking about plenty of sanitizer and wipies. My son is such a touchy feely kid, it's gong to be hard to keep him off of everythingLOL How is your son doing on his meds? How is he doing overall?

 

[mommy_lisa]

Luca is doing good. He has had no rejection and because of that is on low immunosuppression. he only takes 1 medicine twice a day ( a huge improvement from the 16 or 17 he was on after transplant). We have been very blessed, besides having elevated EBV numbers for awhile he has not really had any complications. He is a normal almost 4 year old boy. He gets labs drawn every 2 months and even helps them get the stuff ready. I fyou didn't know his histroy, you would never know he was once so incredibly sick.
Well we try to go to the reunion every year, so hopefully we will e able to meet up next year. I hope everything goes well with the transplant. Iw ill keep you all in my prayers.

 

[brookerene]

thanks for the reply. That would be great to meet. I'm glad Luca is doing so well.

Other planning news. My friend Carole,who is the hugest Disney fan I know and will be meeting us for a few days at Disney, is collecting some Disney carry-ons for the kids. This is so nice of her. We have very little luggage.
Also, we are planning on packing ligh, I'm sure we'll pick up some shirts and stuff while there, so I'm thinking of just packing three shorts and shirts per person. One nice white shirt for each us when we go to MK's CRT. If we need something additional to take stuff home in I thought that I could pick something up at Walmart.
It'll be cold in NE in Oct so I thought we'd probably leave our jackets in the car while it's at the airport so we don't have to carry some with us. We are three and a half hours from the airport so I doubt MAW will provide any fancy ride arrangements. Although it sure would be nice to not have to drive since we have to drive it for Kaleb's hospital and Dr visits. But our own vehicle would provide some flexibility for us.

Our only ADR is CRT on Wed. Otherwise we'll playing things by ear. Even though I think other character dining would be great, I would rather spend the money in other ways on this trip, especially since I don't know how much MAW will give us, and I pulled it close on the CRT res in regards to money. I think it'll be worth it. So if there are any good places to eat that don't require a res or you can usually res the same day, I would appreciate any suggestions.

I think tentatively we'll be doing either Universal IoA on Tuesday or splitting between Epcot and HS. Wed is MK all day. Thursday is AK then Christmas at GKTW. Friday What we didn't do on Tuesday and Saturday I'm not sure yet.
I'm not sure about Sea World yet, but we would like to try to get to the beach. I think we'll be playing a lot by ear. What do you all suggest? Thanks.

 

[yinyanggirls]

Hi Brooke! I'm glad to hear you are a match for your son. I hope you both do well and are fully recovered for the trip of a lifetime! I grew up in OC, Ca also, so I have been to Dland a thousand times. I was very surprised at how different DWorld is. In Magic Kingdom they have the same rides, but it is laid out different and the buildings and facades are so different. Now that they are changing toontown it will be even more. I know your family will love it!

I really wanted to try O'hana but we had to change our plans. I've also heard SciFi diner is fun for kids.

 

[brookerene]

Hi Melissa, OC, great! I saw that you did photography for a time. I do photography from my home as a part time business. I really enjoy it. I hope you can get back in like you want. It's hard not to think of DW in terms of DL since that's wht I know, but I sure look forward to seeing my kids eyes when they see everything. I took my oldest to Disneyland when he was a year old and haven't been since. So they have no clue what they are in for. I'm reading your TR and have really enjoyed reading what everyone is going through and how they are planning and more. Thanks for replying.
My son's transplant is next week and I plan to use Disney to motivate him and myself to quick recoveries. We'll see..... Talk to you all later!

 

[brookerene]

When flying with kids, do you need to take birth certificates or other types of ID for them?

 

[yinyanggirls]

When flying with kids, do you need to take birth certificates or other types of ID for them?

Double check the airline you are flying, and the time you are flying (since terror alerts can fluctuate) but we have not needed ID for our kids to fly in the past. Just the adults. Also, car seats don't usually count as luggage if you want to bring your own. I liked using one on the plane for mine so that they had a comfy seat they were used to. Have to make sure the seat says it is FAA approved though.

 

[brookerene]

Well I've come up with a tentative schedule....

Monday we arrive and will enjoy GKTW.
Tuesday we will hit AK and HS.
Wed is MK and CRT
Thursday and IOA with WWOHP, and Christmas at GKTW
Friday will be Epcot and MK
Saturday will be free, maybe go to the beach and the Space Center.
Sunday Go home

I would like to eat at one of the ethnic restaurants in Epcot, do they need Reservations or should we be safe to pick one when we get there?
I did email one of my wish granters about the halloween party. If we fof that then we'll adjust the schedule.

Since I don't know how much money we will have, I think we are going to eat at the walk up restaurants or at GKTW as much as possible. If we ate the nice retaurants it would probably cost $150 for two meals a day. I'm okay with corn dogs and fish n chips, etc...

I really want to make the most out of Photopass...are the photopass photographers pretty obvious about who they are and where they are at? I think they are a good idea, since I'm always taking the photos just like most moms and would like a few with me in them!

Does GKTW include the Photopass with the package of things they provide?

 

[xanphylus]

Well I've come up with a tentative schedule....

Monday we arrive and will enjoy GKTW.
Tuesday we will hit AK and HS.
Wed is MK and CRT
Thursday and IOA with WWOHP, and Christmas at GKTW
Friday will be Epcot and MK
Saturday will be free, maybe go to the beach and the Space Center.
Sunday Go home

I would like to eat at one of the ethnic restaurants in Epcot, do they need Reservations or should we be safe to pick one when we get there?
I did email one of my wish granters about the halloween party. If we fof that then we'll adjust the schedule.

Since I don't know how much money we will have, I think we are going to eat at the walk up restaurants or at GKTW as much as possible. If we ate the nice retaurants it would probably cost $150 for two meals a day. I'm okay with corn dogs and fish n chips, etc...

I really want to make the most out of Photopass...are the photopass photographers pretty obvious about who they are and where they are at? I think they are a good idea, since I'm always taking the photos just like most moms and would like a few with me in them!

Does GKTW include the Photopass with the package of things they provide?

Hiya! I have been lurking- just felt the urge to pop up..... I am a Wish Trip junkie....

Sounds good to me schedule wise!

Definitely make a reservation or two now! Just to be safe... I can't remember right off hand when you are going....(I think its in sept or Oct right?) if it's anywhere near free dining period- there won't be many, if any, walk-ins at the sit down places!

And yes- do the Halloween party!!! Its the best party ever! I loved the trick or treating and all the cool characters you rarely see. (and duh- you're there during free dining if it's during the halloween season.... so def get those reservations in!!! ASAP. Grab 2-3 and cancel what you end up not needing- that way you are safe if your plans change.)

Photopass people are sooo easy to find! In general they wear similar outfits- each park has a specific one. You can't miss them. They are at most character meetings and esp as soon as you walk in to the parks. Don't forget to ask for the magical photo poses too! Those are my fav! I love the Tinkerbell in your hand pic.

And yes- the photopass cd is free for GKTW kiddos- thanks to Maroo that is!!!!

 

[yinyanggirls]

Sounds good except I don't see any other "breaks" in the week after your arrival day. Unless some of the park days will be late starts or early finishes, you will need some relaxing time in between the longer more important parks. I thought for sure our family could do it but we ended up changing the whole schedule to add in a break. Just be prepared!

 

[brookerene]

thanks for the info. I forget that I'm going with kids, especially one that is ill, and I can't do everything! Most of my life I went to Disneyland from opening to closing with no break and this won't eb the case. I'm going to try to plan for some breaks and hopefully not try to do everything. I don't know if I'm going during free dining....what is that and how do I find out when it is?
Also, thank you Maroo for getting MAW the free Photopasses.... as a photographer I can see the value of it for the MAW families. How may photos do they give with it?

 

[Chelley00]

Posting to follow along. Your journal caught my eye as we also have a Kaleb at our house

Photopass can hold as many pictures as you can get taken

 

[brookerene]

I've been inspired by you all who have bought or received Autograph books.... I never thought of them. When I was a kid, I never would go up to the characters, but I know my MAW Kid will if none of the others will. And so I went to the scrapbook store (I'm usually a digi scrapper but..) and got some cute Disney stickers and paper and will be trying to make some books for my kids. I thought I could work on them while at the hospital during my son's transplant next week. Although the first week I won't get much done (since I'm the donor), I know we'll be there about two, so I thought the second week it would be a great project. Of course I may not get to them, but it is my goal to make them.

 

[brookerene]

You have a Kaleb too? Great. I love the name. It means tenacious and I think the little guy will have to be!
That's great about Photopass. I want everything they take! Even if it's bad... I can fix bad.... Nice to meet yah!