Make a Wish Trip September 17-23, 2007 - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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At 3:30 a.m. PDT we got up to head to the airport. Grandpa drove us in his minivan for the 45 minute drive to Spokane. There was NO traffic on US Highway 2 at that hour and the stars were bright. Everyone was too excited to sleep in the van.
We had no trouble checking in and met with Kathy, our Make a Wish Coordinator.
We got on the first plane to Seattle, armed with a Leap Pad and my buddy's DVD player with extended battery. Lysi spent most of the time staring out the window to watch our plane arrive or other planes take off. It was her first time flying.
The flight attendants welcomed Lysi in a special way and gave us each a set of stick on wings. Before Jason cancelled, we had a row of three seats together and two in a separate row. Alaska Airlines explained, when we cancelled Jason's seat, that they could not give one of us his seat to make two rows of two seats. One person would have to sit alone in the odd seat. I did this for the flight to Seattle.
On the flight from Seattle to Orlando (which was boarding when we arrived in Seattle) Linda took the odd seat. She tried to get the man on the aisle to trade with her so we could all be in a row, but he wanted the aisle seat. This was funny, because he never got up once to use the restroom in the 5 hours of flight, but had to keep getting up to let my DW or the other lady in the row get out. This time on her own was kind of nice for Lin though as she had a break from Mom duties and could rest. Lysi and I had a lot of fun with the Leap Pad and Kyle used the DVD player to watch Spider Man 2. Lysi finally ended up sleeping for much of the five hour flight.
At Orlando airport, Philipa, from GKTW met us with a nice sign welcoming Lysi.
She watched our things and the Princess well the rest of us gathered luggage. She whisked us off to Avis to get our vehicle, an Olds Uplander (kind of a minivan-SUV-Suburban cross). It was brand new. We headed out, following the excellent directions provided at gktw.org and arrived at the village in good time. Although it did feel humid in Florida, it was nothing like the build up we had gotten from the internet research I had done. I noticed a very different smell the whole time we were there, but it was not unpleasant. It was fun seeing all the palm trees. The toll roads were a bit odd for us, as we do not have such things where we live.
At the House of Hearts, we met with a really nice older man from New York who was very sweet to us. Lysi kept staring out the window or looking at the scale model of the village. She was enthralled. She got a big Mickey Mouse and we headed to our villa. I drove the "rig" following a golf cart.
Our villa was number 299 but it is the first one you come to. It was right across from the Gingerbread House. A nice basket of goodies was in our room, with little gifts for the kids, the GKTW version of Candy Land, Fudge, Pringles, comic books and crayons.
At the Gingerbread House, we were received with great kindness and friendliness by the volunteers. The food was very good and PLENTIFUL.
Mayor Clayton and Ms. Merry came to the Gingerbread House. Lysi immediately ran up and hugged them. She had ZERO fear or nervousness around characters. Meeting characters turned out to be her favorite part of the trip. That really surprised me as she is normally very shy around new people or new experiences.
After dinner we rode the carousel and checked out the Castle of Miracles. Kyle loved the animation creator, and Lysi dressed up in Princess clothes that they have there.
We had been strongly urged to attend a Safari Double Dare event that night in the Theater, so I took the kids there while Lin went to orientation. That was a big step for me, to send her to orientation since I had been the information and research guy all along. Lysi was able to get me in the face with a whipped cream pie, so the kids loved it.
Lin and I took our first or many whirlpool baths to soothe our already sore muscles. We slept great in the HUGE bed. Kyle and Lysi slept in the kids room beds.
We figured that our first day should be a short one. One thing that I drastically underestimated in my pre-trip planning was how long it would take to get everyone up, fed and on the road each day. For one thing, we were tired each morning. For another thing, there were often characters at GKTW when we had breakfast. I ended up figuring that it saved time in the long run to see them at the Village instead of trying to find them at the theme parks.
We took the time to ride the carriage ride around the Village with a nice family from Greenwich, England. It was a good way to check out the layout of the Village.
This was Tuesday, September 18th and Sea Word Day.
I keep telling my wife that we didn't actually get lost that morning, we just could not find a way into the parking lot for Sea World. By the way, the GKTW directions let us down here. Do NOT turn left until you get past the light by the parking lot, as the only entrance is past the light.
We started off with a character greet. We NEVER had to wait in line to meet characters at any theme park. Only once did I hear a family complain about this after the CMs explained about Make a Wish, this was a German family at Epcot, and we happened to arrive just before Jasmine and Genie's break time.
Lysi really liked the kid rides at Shamu's Happy Harbor. Linda's favorite part was the Shamu "Believe" show.
My favorite exhibit was the Manatee Rescue area. The manatees are so peaceful and serene. We ended up skipping the Dolphin "Blue Horizons" Show, but already were beginning to realize that we would not have time to do everything, so we should pick and choose and try not to be in such a rush that we should fail to enjoy each moment as it came.
We had a lot of unexpected "turns" and setbacks during the trip, that seemed like a big deal at the time, but in hindsight were minor frustrations, or even funny. To understand this first story, you have to get some background on me. I have an uncanny habit of, in perfect innocence, saying the right thing at the wrong time. I particularly have a history of dwarf comments. Please understand that I am only 5'5" myself and come from a family of very short stature.
When my youngest son, Scott was young, he was pretty small (though he is now 6' tall). I had a very large friend who liked to call Scott, the Dweebo Dwarf as a nickname. That name kind of stuck in Scott's early years. On a long road trip, my family stopped at Taco Bell in The Dalles, Oregon, to use the restroom. We were all standing in the hall waiting. I had my back to the men's room door, but everyone else could see it over my shoulder. There was a broom closet in the hall. Scottie asked what it was. I said (again in all innocence and ignorance) that is the dweebo dwarf closet, but you can't go in there, there is already a dweebo dwarf in there. Just as I said these words I saw everyone's eyes get very wide. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that as I said the immortal words, "You can't go in there, there's already a dweebo dwarf in there," a dwarf had walked out of the men's room. To make matters worse, when I saw him, I could not help laughing; not at him, at myself. He shook his head. I can only think he must have thought, "Who are you to talk buddy?"
If this is not enough, when recounting this story to a friend as we entered another Taco Bell in Spokane, Washington, another dwarf walked out of the restaurant. On still another occasion, I was window shopping with Lin in Leavenworth, Washington. There was a Seven Dwarves theme that summer in many of the shop windows. As I said, "Oh look Lin, there is another dwarf," she said, "Bill you have done it again." I said, "You've got to be kidding." She said, "Look around the corner," and sure enough, there was a dwarf. Now, I think you will agree that God has a sense of humor and is trying to keep me humble. Sadly, I have said a lot of other stupid things at the wrong time.
Because of the above events, my wife simply HAD to forward to me a story she read on the internet about a woman who accidentally rear ended another car driven by a dwarf. When the man got out to confront her, he said, "I am not happy." For some reason this struck her as funny and she said, "Then which one are you."
All of this is background to what happened at Sea World. We had found a really nice sit down restaurant that served a variety of food including fish. When I tried to pay for the meal with one of my pre-paid debit cards, it was refused as expired. I had already spend three hours on the phone with Netspend to activate and straighten out my cards. They were terribly disorganized. The person I called from Sea World could barely speak English. He seemed unfamiliar with the English names for numerals. This made giving him by card number rather interesting. I immediately asked to speak with a supervisor, but only got as far as eternal hold. I hung up the phone and walked into the restaurant. I said to Lin, "I am not happy!" She immediately started shaking. When she does this, I know that I am about to be laughed at hysterically because she cannot help herself. Suddenly she blurted out, "Then which one are you?" I about choked to death on my now-cold hamburger, but it sure snapped me out of a bad mood quickly. See why I love her so much? She is really good for me.
I had to include this picture because I really thought the native birds, such as this Egret, were awesome.
At the end of the day we picked up some cool souvenirs. Kyle bought a necklace and Lysi got a Princess purse with Dolly the Dolphin in it and a little Shamu. Sea World was very nice. We bypassed lines for rides, although the park was not crowded, but did not try to get privileges for show seating. We got soaked as it was. I have some video footage from the GKTW video camera we borrowed. You can see a wall of water coming at me, then my hand covering the lens as I protected the camera. We all loved the Wild Arctic simulator ride. Lysi thought Journey to Atlantis was too steep and too wet. It was a bit like Splash Mountain on steroids, but Kyle and I liked it. He loved Kraken.
Lysi got to feed and pet the dolphins. Free feeder fish were provided to her. She was given special treatment and help in meeting the dolphins. She also got free fish to feed the seals. It was a wonderful day.
Back at the village we had dinner, then hit the water park and pool. Lysi went RIGHT to sleep at the end of the day.
So glad to hear an update...your story had moved me to tears and I was anxious to hear about the wonderful trip...
The first day seemed to run smoothly and to see the smile on her face...in each and every picture....it was beautiful and so well deserved for all that she has been though...
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Glad you had a safe arrival. You sure packed in quite a bit already! The pics of your DD and your families speak volumes...happy that GKTW and SW have put smiles on their faces!
danielle
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Wish Trip September 17-23, 2007
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