MAW chosing between Gktw or on site

[mcmom]

My son is getting to do MAW and his wish granters will be here on Monday and we have to decide by then where we want to stay. I read the thread about GKTW being so great but we want to know if anyone has stayed on site for MAW and what was done or which resort you stayed in.

Pro's for staying on site would be if he gets to tired we could just take the transportaion there back to the hotel instead of driving and making everyone leave at once.

BUT Gktw sounds so great! My son has Cp and Epilepsy he is 4 we will be going for his 5th birthday since our local MAW changed their policies on letting children under the age of 5 to travel out of the area for a wish. (new policy in effect July 1) I also have two other kids a son 10 and a daughter 7. We have never been to Disney World so this will be a first for all of us.

We are stationed in southern CA so we have went to Disneyland many times but it is not a big deal and we want to make this as fun as possilbe for the kids and keep Hunter from getting worn out and my other son (Asbergers/ADHD ) from getting to off the wall out of control.

Any advice and experience would be greatly welcome.

Lori

 

[scrapperjill]

Congrats on you sons wish. We are going on a Wish trip for my daughter in September. We will be staying at GKTW. We've never been to WDW or the Orlando area...so it will all be new to us. We also had to decided between GKTW and a hotel...never found out if the "hotel" would have been a Disney resort hotel...or just one of the near by hotels. From what I have learned (which is not a whole lot...but a good amount) is the wish foundation provides the transportation (air fair) there, rental car and some spending/expence money...where when you stay at GKTW they provide tickets to the parks including...WDW, SW, and US...they also provide meals. I'm not sure how the meals would work if you stayed on site at a WDW resort...that may have to come out of your expence/spending money.

GKTW also has (from what I hear) lots of activites, games, pools, movies...to keep you busy. It didn't sound to far away from WDW...making it possable to go back for a break. GKTW also has the Mayor (large rabbit) who will come over and "tuck" your son in one night. We were also told that GKTW has a 24 hour ice cream parlor...which my girls can't wait to try.

So I know what I had to say wasn't really what you were looking for...but maybe it'll help some.

Oh....by staying at WDW resorts you'd be able to do the "extra hours" thing that they have...I haven't looked into it to much since were not staying on site. I was going to see if by staying at GKTW if we could participate in the extra hours thing...but haven't yet. Another thing by staying at GKTW world you son would get a pin to wear to the park...letting all CM know he is there as a wish. Not sure if you didn't stay at GKTW how they'd know you were a wish family....With the pin...you get somewhat of priority seating and front of the line acess to rides....from what I have heard...they don't want you spending your wish trip waiting and waiting in lines. So that's a big Bonus of GKTW .

Hopefully someone else has experienc with being on a wish and staying on site at a WDW resort to let you know the pros/cons ot that.

 

[mbb]

and whichever you choose will be absolutely magical...

We love staying onsite for the very reason you mentioned...someone gets tired, it's a quick bus/monorail - even a taxi for $8 - back to the WDW resort..

If it's a DTD resort...I'd go to GKTW...

JMHO...Enjoy the planning!!!

 

[AmazingGrace]

Have you been to the GKTW site? Check out their scrapbook. The previous posters brought up some very good points for staying at GKTW.
Check out the GKTW scrapbook!

 

[mommie2angels]

I think if you choose to stay onsite at Disney you stay at a value resort which would be one of the All Star resorts or Pop Century. While we love those resorts nothing can compare to GKTW. We love the priviledges you have by staying onsite at Disney but absolutely love GKTW. Also if you choose Disney I do not think you receive the tickets for Sea World and Universal. Which in my opinion is not a big lose. I say that only because there is just not as much for our daughters to enjoy at the other parks and the service is just not Disney service.

Staying onsite would give you the advantage of going back to the resort to rest. However depending on the time of year you may not need a rest and your children may do great being at the parks most of the day. We met a family at GKTW whose child cried each morning when they left GKTW because the child loved it there so much and didn't want to go to the parks. Of course once at the parks they loved it there too.

I am probably not helping at all with your decision. I am sure it's a hard one to make. Maybe if you could find out which resort you would be staying in that would help with your decision. Good luck and enjoy whichever you choose!

 

[mcmom]

The new MAW rules will not let us travel until he turns 5 at the end of February. They would not tell me which resort it would be at if we stayed on site.

We also asked to be able to take a family member with us to help out with the kids since that park is so big and my oldest with Asbergers and youngest with CP it would be nice to have one adult per child there. They said it will be hard to get an extra person to be able to go along with us like that. My son's nurse can't go since she is a single mom and can't leave her kids so that is why it would be my sister whio can handle my kids and their medical issues that come up.

MAW keeps asking me what we want to do there but since we have never been it is hard to asnsewer that. Any ideas on specific special things at the parks to ask for?

We are so excited about going this will be our first familiy trip besides going back home to viisit family for a couple of weeks a year. My husband is in the Marine Corps so we don't get a lot of chances to do big things. We just want to go and be a familiy with no pressures for once!

Thanks for all the answers. We are leaning toward the Gktw because that seems to be where everyone has had such a good time at and where you get to do more with the kids there.

Thank you
Lori

 

[scrapperjill]

mcmom....I wanted to add a little bit of my experience with trying to get someone outside the "household" to be able to join us. We had asked if DH mom could come along to give us a hand with treatments and what not for Sydney....Of course they told us that she could not come along as part of the wish....but she could go along on her own...with the help of the wish foundation getting her the tickets at their price (not sure if they get them for less some how or not). Since we are staying at GKTW...she too would be able to stay there (no additional charge), and get all the benifits of being at GKTW...(meals)...everything..except tickets to the parks...but they (GKTW) would be able to help her get discounted tickets. So in all, all she would have to pay for is her way there, tickets for the parks (if she wanted to go) and spending money for snacks, park meals, souverners...and goodies. Needless to say after we got everything arranged for her and set up w/ prices and everthing..she backed out and decided she didn't want to go and help.

 

[SueM in MN]

We have not been to GKTW or ever applied for a wish, but here is a perspective of someone who has read a lot about GKTW.

The GKTW village is a once in a life time situation. If you are ver able to come back to WDW, you will be able to stay at a Disney resort, but you can only stay at GKTW with a wish. From everything I have read about it, it is a very special place where your whole family will be treated like VIPS.
You will still get special privileges (like front of the line access) that only kids on wish trips get. Most of the wish granting organizations have arrangements with Disney for that. The paperwork that grants your wish is what gets the special access, not staying at GKTW.

 

[debbiemomto4]

Hi
We went on our MAW trip in 2002. That year GKTW was full so we stayed at the Broadwalk (two adjoining rooms) . We had to check inat GKTW and were given our tickets there. We got tickets to Disney- 3 days, Universal -1day, SeaWorld - 1 day. We loved GKTW while were there we got free ice cream, and hotdogs. but staying at the Broadwalk was a dream come true. I think that even if you don't stay at GKTW they are still the ones that make the arrangements for Disney. You can always ask your wish coordinators. Also we went back this year to Disney and I called them and they encourage their past wish kids to visit them and enjoy all there things at GKTW- they added miniture golf and a train so ds loved it. Ds also received the GKTW button the first time we went and was able to ride the rides without too much of a wait but what was great was the extra attention the characters paid to him when they saw his button. Goofy pushed his stroller in AK and he simply loved that!

 

[mcmom]

Thank you everyone for your post. I know we will have a great time no matter where we stay!

We are picking out the dates now to go. We are trying to work it around the Daytona 500 NASCAR race since my husband and sons love it! My little guy loves the vibrations from the cars~his wheelchair is NASCAR themed. Checkard flag tire inserts and a race car on the back of his seat.

There is so much to do and I know we can't do it all but we don't know when my hubby will be deployed again so we want to make the most out of our trip. Gktw sounds like it is just the place for that.

We are so excited! I have been reading all the other threads to get some tips on what to see and bring. This site is great!

Thank you
Lori B

 

[meeshi]

Lori..I agree with SueMN, GKTW is a once in a lifetime situation for most families. Your kids will have a blast.


By the way, you're son's chair sounds so cute!

 

[Piglet]

Because we have stayed at GKTW Village before, I would definetely choose to stay there if given a choice. When my DD (who was 5 at the time) had her MAW trip, she actually cried when the trip was over, because she said she knew we couldn't come and stay again. The Village is as much fun as WDW!!!!!

Melinda

 

[mommie2angels]

Melinda, tell your dd that I cried too when we left GKTW. At each meal we met some awesome volunteers. All those people there became like family to us. It was hard to leave all that fun and especially all that ice cream! We try to go by there each time we go to Disney World.

debbiemomto4, The Boardwalk? What an awesome trip!!! I bet that was amazing to stay there. I am so glad ya'll had a great trip. Tell your son that's so very special of Goofy pushing him.

Lori, do you have pictures of your son's chair you can share with us? It's sounds great! I am sure whatever you decide it will be a wonderful trip for your family!

 

[mcmom]

[/IMG]

I am hoping this is right on how to post the pictures. If it is then you can see the back of his chair before we put the checkard flag covers on. I will post that next if this one works out.

Lori

 

[AmazingGrace]

We stayed at GKTW and LOVED IT!!!! It was a truly magical place. The kids were always out doing something fun. The food was awesome, and the general feeling was pure magic. These people at GKTW truly love what they do and it shows. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.