Wish trip was great!

[mommie2angels]

Thanks so much to everyone for all the well wishes. We had a wonderful time on the wish trip. Give Kids The World is amazing. They have added so much since we were there for our other daughter's wish. We were so blessed to have the chance to meet so many wonderful families and make so many new friends.

I am so excited for all of the families that have wish trips coming up. I hope that ya'll have a wonderful and very blessed trip! Can't wait to hear what ya'll think about it all.

 

[cuddlebugz]

Welcome back and am glad you had a wonderful time. We are so ready to go!!!!

 

[wuv tigger]

glad to hear that y'all had a wonderful trip!

Looking forward to your trip report ... when you have time

Judy

 

[SueM in MN]

Glad to hear you had a great trip.
Did you have good weather?

 

[JinniLynn33]

Ok what kind of new stuff? And what was the most fun thing you did at GKTW? My son asked me if we could bring his PS2 on the trip incase they get bored, LOL. I told them there is so much that we will not have an opportunity for boredom. Did you go shopping at any of the outlets? If so any recommendations?


Virginia

 

[JudithM]

I am glad to read you all had a nice Wish trip. I, too, am waiting to read your trip report!

 

[mommie2angels]

Sue, we had great weather. It was actually unusually hot for that time of year down there. That made it great for the girls to be out at night though.

Virginia, they didn't have the train or the putt putt course when we were there in 2000. The most fun thing we did at GKTW? That's so hard to pick. Everything was great! We loved going to the ice cream palace. The halloween party was the most amazing halloween party we had ever been to and that's including Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party. We were totally blown away. We love the carousel because our daughter's wheel will go on there. Also the night they did Christmas was simply magical!

Tell your son he will not get bored. We weren't at the village enough to do everything there was to do. There is just not enough time to use all the tickets they give you and enjoy time there. Plus they provide you with parents night out if you want it and lots of other tickets for other attractions if you want those.

We were incredibly blessed and so thankful for each thing and everyone. I know that ya'll will have an awesome time!!!

Oh I almost forgot to answer you about the outlets. We stopped by the one on the way to Universal one morning cause we made better time than we expected. I don't even remember the name of the outlet. It's on the right on the main road going to Universal. It's called Character something. It was a big store and had lots of nice things and great prices.

 

[eeyorelor]

Moderator note: post removed at poster's request

 

[lunabkat]

Lori i am glad i found you.

i just called Hotel Kingdom and they had a rate of 70.80 per nite for the cypress pointe hotel for a 2 bedroom, two full bath (one whirlpool one roman), full kitchen suite. (with a dining area) The dates i gavve were 12/11 to 12/16 so you would have to check for avaiability but i believe they fit 7 and you would save big money cooking some meals at home. They have 7 pools, heated and I have heard great things about them.

# is 877-766-6787

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Can you tell me what they did at GKTW for their "Christmas night"? We will actually be there over Christmas and I'm trying to plan, I'm not sure if we want to try to go to one of the parks or if maybe it would be best just to hang out at GKTW. Do you think they will do something special on Christmas day?

 

[mommie2angels]

I sent both of you a PM. Please let me know if you have any other questions or if I can help with anything. I would be glad to help!

 

[eeyorelor]

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[SueM in MN]

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Good luck to you, eeyorelor!

 

[eeyorelor]

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[Cheshire Figment]

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I think your expectations were wrong. If you go to the MAW web site you will see, in "about us" the following as the first statement: "We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy." If your son, as you say, does nothave a life-threatening illness he is not eligible for MAW.

However, if you contact other resources in your community you might be able to find an agency that will work with you to arrange a trip for your family.

As a person with disabiities, I do not feel that I am entitled to anything that a person without disabilities is entitled to; all I ask for is to allow me to be treated as other people are. A question in my mind is were you completely honest to the MAW people, or did you initially give them the impression that your son's problem was life threatening?

 

[tiggerfan58]

My daughter was granted a wish by the MAW foundation in 2003. She had bone cancer. MAW would never make promises that they could not keep. They grant thousands of wishes every year for children with life threatening illnesses. If your son was denied a wish by MAW then his disability must not be considered life threatening.
To use fowl language and name calling because your children were not granted a trip to GKTW is simply wrong. If you feel that their decision is incorrect you should simply call them or better yet go see them and find out why they came to that decision. Don't get me wrong. My heart goes out to you, having a child with a disability is very tough on a parent. My daughter has been cancer free now for 16 months and I thank God every day that goes by. Even though she has beaten the cancer she is left with a disability that she will have the rest of her life. But she is a very strong young lady and she will continue to enjoy life. Our family was blessed by the great gift of her MAW trip. And we will always be thankful to them. God blessed us with her ability to make it through the 10 months of chemo and surgery.

 

[SueM in MN]

What I know about MAW is from reading a lot of articles, going on their website and talking to some people associated with MAW. So, I am not speaking for MAW or any other wish granting organization.

From what I know about MAW, it is a national organization, but each chapter of it has some autonomy in how they do things.
They don't have money to grant wishes to everyone who comes to them, no matter what their condition or need. Being referred to them is definately not a guarantee that the wish will be granted, so anyone who does apply needs to realize that it is just a wish, not a sure thing until there is a contact that says the wish has been granted. I do know that their highest priority is granting wishes to kids with terminal or immediately life-threatening conditions (since they may not have a second chance for a wish). After that, they go on to other "life-threatening conditions" (per their web site, as Mike noted) if the individual chapter that serves the area has money/resources left. Depending on their resources and their board or directors, what one chapter may consider a life threatening condition that can have a wish granted may not be considered for a wish in another area.

As Mike suggested, you may want to check for other wish granting organizations in your area. MAW is the best known, but they are not the only ones. Some have differnt requirements and will grant wishes to kids with chronic conditions that are not life-threatening.

I also agree that if there is a question about why a wish is not granted, it should be directed (nicely) to the people who made the decision. The MAW people that I am aware of are very dedicated volunteers who are doing the best that they can. Sometimes they have to make hard decisions, based on the requests they receive and the resources they have. But they are in the business of making wishes come true (as much as possible), not giving out false hope.

 

[eeyorelor]

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[eeyorelor]

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