Needing Suggestions and Advice for Make a Wish Trip to Walt Disney World

Updated on July 31, 2010
E.B. asks from Amarillo, TX
4 answers

My oldest daughter who will be 7.5 years old at the time we leave on this trip is getting a Make a wish trip from our home town in Texas to Disney World in Florida. The whole famiyl gets to go including her Pawpaw (grandpa), me (her mom), her little brother who will be 6.5 years old at the time and her will be 1 year old sister. Also taking her service dog. We are having to drive due to her medical condition. She has intractable epilesy, anxiety, and metabolism problems just to name a few.
they are getting us a rental SUV to drive from home town to there. We are staying at Give The Kids the World.
This is the very first trip that has NO hospital or doctor or testing during the trip. Also the first time actually going in a car for so long or out of state. So needless to say Im not sure what all I need to pack to go to Florida. We are leaving here October 2 and due to come home Oct. 11. We are to go to Disney World, Sea World and thigns like that.

It would be great if you can give me any and all information or ideas to go for the trip, during etc and while at the parks. Thanks!

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T.C.

answers from Austin on

It sounds like it will be a memorable family trip! I haven't been to Disney World, but we just got back from a trip driving from Texas to Disney Land in California.

My husband always jokes that I pack everything, including the kitchen sink. For this trip, I brought my own pillow to be comfortable, a small blanket if I got cold in the car, a towel to keep the floor of the rental car clean from sandy shoes and drink spills, a cooler full of bottled water (water bottles with a lid were allowed at disneyland and we could refill them from the water fountains), trail mix and other snacks for the trip, plastic dishes and some food to cook if the hotel had a microwave, swimsuits, sunblock, hand sanitizer, basic medicines including a thermometer and remedies for carsickness and constipation, hats, camera with extra batteries, cell phones in case we got separated at disneyland(don't forget the chargers), ziplock bags to keep things dry if we went somewhere with water rides, enough clothes to do laundry halfway through the trip, breathable socks and 2 pairs of shoes for each of us; small toys, craft projects, books, and music CDs for my son; and for my husband- GPS and a folder with printouts of all the info he found ahead of time- hotel info, car rental papers, family and emergency phone numbers, cheapest gas price locations, local restaurant coupons, maps and travel guides. I hope this gives you some ideas.

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S.B.

answers from Dallas on

I hope that this trip is a wonderful experience for your family. Give Kids the World is a wonderful non-profit that exists to help you make memories.
I would make sure that I had plenty of medication or special equipment that my child would need and get copies of the prescriptions to take along in case they needed to be refilled. Make sure you take a list of all your doctors and their phone numbers in case they need to be contacted while you are away. If your child needs special foods, I would take those along too so that you won't be searching for them. Going to the theme parks can become stressful to some children because of the excitement so I would also plan some downtime. You might call the Disney info line (1-407-WDISNEY) and see if they have a list of rides that has restrictions that you may want to avoid--such as loud music, strobe lights, hight restrictions, etc.
The suggestions that others have made about the character breakfasts are a great idea. Make sure you have your camera and lots of extra film or a photo card. Disney also has a photocard that you can get and they take pictures of your group at many major attractions. Then you can look at them on the computer and print which ones you like.
Have a wonderful trip.

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D.B.

answers from Dallas on

We went last year and here are some of the things we did to make it special.

I bought photo mats from Michaels and brought sharpies. Rather than using an autograph book we had the characters sign the picture frame mats. We did a Mickey and Friends one, Princess one, and other character one (Up, Incredibles etc). When we got home we printed off our favorite family picture with those characters and put the mat into the picture frame. They are priceless family photos now. FYI- put each picture mat in a zip lock back while walking around every day to protect it from weather and kids fingers. Also, the characters had sharpies but I brought them just in case.

I went to petsmart and printed off dog tags with my phone number on them. They have cute ones! I attached the dog tag to my child's shoe so if she got lost and forgot my phone number they could find me. RoadID makes a product that has space for insurance info etc that they could wear on wrist/ankle as well. I have never lost my child but I was so worried about her running towards a princess and me not seeing which direction she went! They also make tatoos but I was worried if it was under her clothing she would forget it was there and not tell the authority.

Finally, we brought princess dresses and glitter. Each night after she went to bed we put out either a crown, dress, stuffed animal, something princess like and a little glitter around the item. I printed off little tags that said Love, Tinkerbell and we told her Tinkerbell makes special visits in such a magical place.

We made very early morning breakfast reservations before the park opened. That way we got photos of us in front of the castle etc with no people in the background. Its looks like we were the only ones there!

allears.net and disboards.com were a huge help for me. They both have a blog and you can find great packing lists their too.

Have a wonderful trip. Blessings!

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J.G.

answers from San Antonio on

Seems like Tracy said it all. Perhaps you will get more responses if you change your subject line to "Disney in Florida - What to bring with us?" or something like that.

FOR THE CAR TRIP:
I've always liked having baby wipes in my car so that if a kiddo has orange "cheeto fingers" they are easily cleaned.

Pack plenty of games (Melissa and Doug have CUTE car games including hangman, memory, 4-in-a-row, and travel bingo. http://www.amazon.com and type in "melissa and doug hangman" and all the good car games will show up.)

Snacks, a cooler with a variety of drinks, kiddos loveys or blankets & pillows.

Print some 'car trip' games off the internet. Like playing 20 questions, license plate game, the alphabet race game (pm me for explanation if you want). Here are tons more ideas: http://www.momsminivan.com/bigkids.html

FOR WHEN YOU'RE THERE:
I haven't been to Florida, but be sure to bring sun screen and a hat! Extra extra batteries when you're at the park, as I'm sure they charge a fortune for new ones.

Sounds like an amazing trip. Have fun. Don't forget to take plenty of pictures!

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