"I smell Elephants" and Forbidden Journey's, Jaydens Make a Wish trip !

[Moodyzblu]

The time has finally come .. I think I am ready to get started on my trip report !!

A few disclaimers .. first off .. I am not in any if these pics (well, maybe a few) I hate taking pics and so .. I didn't !
I don't take pics of food (ok, maybe a few). I just never think about it until we are half way through a meal .. besides you can only take so many pics of chicken nuggets and chocoloate chip pancakes.
Lastly .. I'm really not a photographer .. so bear with me .. I tried !!
Cast: Me (Michelle aka, Mom)
Jeremy, 20, my oldest son.
Jesse, 7 yrs old twin brother to
Jayden (Wish Kid).

If you haven't been following us along on our pre trip journey .. Jayden was granted a wish by Make a Wish back in December (talk about a terrific Christmas present !!
His first wish was to go to Harry Potter World (aka The Wizarding World of Harry Potter) and his back up wish was to go to Disney World. Our wish granter told us that he didn't think granting both his wishes would be any problem .. and it wasn't !!
After a couple of weeks I got a phone call from MAW with some tentative dates and I also asked them about extending our trip and they agreed that it wouldn't be a problem .. so our dates became official .. April 4th through the 15th ! Yeah .. that's a long trip .. but we were all looking forward to it SO much.
Our first leg of the trip had us staying at Give Kids the World Village .. a special resort for children with life threatening illnesses and their families. We were very honored to be able to stay there. It was an amazing experience which brought us and many other families great joy and happiness. This had to have been one of the most special moments of my lifetime (so far)

So .. without further ado ..

After a very restless night, I woke up about 15 minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off (4:00 am) and started to turn on lights and slowly try to get everyone awake. My oldest, Jeremy was first to arise .. he was pretty excited to be going to Disney with his twin brothers for the first time. Soon after, Jayden and Jesse woke and as soon as they figured out what day it was .. they were anxious to go !

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At around 4:45 Jeremy noticed a stretch limo waiting outside our house ! He was like "umm ... mom, I think our ride is here .. there's a huge stretch limo outside". It was finally happening .. our trip was starting !!
Now I know I took a few pics outside the limo .. but they came out terrible .. this was the only one I had that you can actually see ..

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Next up ... will we make it to the airport without needed a barf bag ??

 

[EEs*Mommy]

Oh I am so in! Can't wait to hear all about it <3

 

[OziJo]

I'm in

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

I'm in too

 

[blessedmom4]

You started!!!

I am in too!

The boys look SO adorable!

 

[kaileighbug]

Woo hoo you started. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[Lidian]

I'm here!

A limo? How amazing!

Your boys are adorable and they sure look excited! I can't wait to read more ... and hopefully it will be "barf-bagless".

 

[mpbest]

I can't wait to read all about your trip. Your boys are soooo cute!!!

 

[Delaney21]

I'm here too!

Ugh, I already have tears in my eyes! This stuff gets to me, I have a feeling I'm going to be a blubbering mess on Mitchell's trip!

Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[Kenziema]

yay a new TR to keep my mind off thing. Can't wait for you to start.

 

[Moodyzblu]

So sorry for lack of individual responses .. my time is so limited since I started taking care of my newborn granddaughter !! I have her 11 hours a day along with my 4 yr old grandson and 2 year old cousin. It's just SO consuming .. but I love each of them dearly. (even though they are cutting into my DIS time )

Back to the show ..

We piled into the limo and started on our way ! We were all chatting with excitement and I was messing with the controllers. It was very chilly this morning and I found the heater and warmed us up a bit. After about 20 minutes nausea started to creep up on me. I'm not one to get car sick .. but my tummy had not been feeling very good days prior to our trip. I suffer from IBS and it's one of those things that you just learn to deal with. But I was suddenly afraid that I was going to barf right there in the limo ! I quickly shut off the heater and told Jeremy that I was feeling ill. After a few minutes I looked over at Jeremy and he was looking a little green as well. I asked him if he was ok and he said "nope". He suffers from tummy troubles as well. So we all pretty much sat there in silence for the remainder of the ride. I was SO happy to get to the airport (without barfing) !!
As soon as I got out into the cool air I felt SO much better .. I started to get hungry.
We met up with Jen, one of our WG'ers and she gave the boys some gum and I guess just made sure we got on our way ok. We bid her goodbye at security and headed off to our Jet Blue gate.
Jeremy was still feeling icky .. so he found a restroom as soon as we got to our gate. I spotted a Dunkin's and headed over for a donut. Jayden got one as well but Jesse wasn't in the mood. That would be our only meal until after we arrive at GKTW.

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We got on the plan and settled in for our 3 hour ride (well just under). I was still nervous about being sick earlier and my tummy was not happy about taking off and being air bound .. I just figured I'd concentrate on the little tv screen in front of me. The boys did well and it was actually a very pleasant flight. Normally these Jet Blue (Disney) flights are packed with families with young children .. but I noted that there really wasn't a whole lot of kids on this flight .. so it was pretty quiet.

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We arrived at MOC with no issues and were greeted by a GKTW volunteer .. my hands were full and I didn't take a pic !! I got a call just then from Jaydens school bus company and she wanted me to write down a number to call the SPED department to explain his absence blah, blah, blah. I explained to her that I just arrived at Orlando and my hand were full and couldn't just stop to write down numbers and make calls and that this had already been taken care of months ago !
We immediately noticed how beautiful the weather was and was very excited to spend 12 days swimming and going to parks and everything !!

We got our car .. a KIA .. it was a beautiful little car .. but apparently I didn't know how to drive it correctly (it was an automatic .. how hard could it be ??) But I guess you're supposed to shift it .. or something ?? (thats what the twins dad said when I told him about it) No clue but it would whine really loudly and I thought it was on the brink of breaking down all the time .. you would think they would explain this to you at the time they gave you the keys. My car is 12 years old .. it just shifts when it's supposed to shift !!

Continued in next post ..

 

[Moodyzblu]

I remembered to take a pic of Jayden with his sign ..

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As soon as I got into the car I plugged in my GPS. I love my GPS and felt great knowing she was here in FL to guide me. Well .. she had other ideas.
The GKTW greeter told us we would have 2 tolls (I believe). Well by the 3rd toll I was starting to get curious. First of all .. it just didn't feel right. I've been from MCO to the Disney area before and it just didn't look like I remember so I started to question the GPS. Then I saw a sign for Kennedy Space Center and knew right away that this was NOT right !! I looked at the GPS and checked out what time it said that we would arrive at GKTW and it said something like 9:47 the next morning. The GPS was trying to bring me back to Mass !!
I guess while the GPS was trying to get her location she got mixed up. So as I was driving (I know .. BAD !) I re-programmed her to go to 210 Bass Rd (GKTW) and immediately she had us turn around and we were finally headed in the right direction. Unfortunately I had to re-pay all the tolls (good thing I brought my change purse full of quarters and such because many of the booths were un-manned. This, would be one of many weird things my GPS would pull on us throughout our trip. She doesn't like to travel, I guess !

Happily on our way in the right direction .. it didn't take long until we saw this ..

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and then this ..

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We were then greeted by Daniel (I recognized the robe right away ) and he got us to where we needed to be !
They immediately asked us if we had eaten lunch yet and we hadn't. In fact, we were starving !! So Daniel brought us over to Katie's Kitchen which we loved. We have a Boston Market near our home and go there quite a bit and so we were familiar with the food.
Jeremy and I got pot pie and the boys got mac and cheese and chicken soup..

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After we scoffed down some much needed (and delicious) lunch we headed back over to the welcome center to get all our welcome stuff ..

I hear a baby fussing in the next room .. so I guess we'll end here and continue soon ..

What will we do next ?? It was 90 degrees .. and the pool was calling our name ..

 

[newdrama12]

Can't wait to hear the rest!!

 

[4monkeys]

can't wait to read more!!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

subscribing - looking forward to hearing about your trip.

 

[Kenziema]

Lol @ the Kia that's what we have, well ours in manual. So happy you stared patiently waiting for the next installment.

 

[Kenziema]

Lol @ the Kia that's what we have, well ours in manual. So happy you stared patiently waiting for the next installment.

Wow just noticed how bad my phones auto correct is, it keeps changing my words. I'm going to have to start proof reading.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Once we got our package we were instructed to follow a young woman driving a golf cart to our home for the next 6 days.
I had NO idea how huge GKTW was !! We then pulled up to our Villa. I felt like I was pulling up to a dream come true. See, I used to live in FL, over on the east coast and I miss it SO much .. the Villas remind me of my old neighborhood and for just a moment I felt like I had come back home. It was an awesome feeling and I was very excited to enjoy our "home" for the week.

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Here's a video I made of inside our Villa .. I hope it works ..

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It was very hot and had been a long day .. the boys wanted to go swimming and I had to go to orientation .. so they grabbed their swimsuits and we headed off to the pool area. Daniel met us there and kept Jeremy company while I went off to orientation.

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Orientation was fun and I met some real nice families. I even gave the mom next to me a few pointers since this was her first time. She was very happy to have some helpful tips and I am always happy to share what I know !

During orientation the speaker (completely forgot his name, Bob maybe ??) well he was telling us about the WHITE squirrels that live in the village .. and low and behold .. I saw them !

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I love squirrels and have a family of them living in a tree outside my home and I have them trained to hand feed. (YES, I know its dangerous .. but I just love them SO much !!) So seeing these white squirrels was a real treat.

So I had to go retrieve the boys .. they are little fishies and would swim 24/7 if given the choice. But dinner time was approaching and I was starving ! My tummy was still acting weird .. but I needed some food.
So we thanked Daniel and went off to get dried up and changed.

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We headed off to the Gingerbread House ..

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I'm pretty sure it was spaghetti night .. the food was pretty good .. the wait staff was excellent. They don't let you carry your tray ! They are all very helpful and seem to really want to please everyone.
The boys went over to the Chew Chew train to get their food .. chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.
Look how tired he looks !

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Daniel had given each of the boys these Prefect pins that they really do love !

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After dinner we had a few surprises .. stay tuned to find out who we got to meet and what we had for dessert ..

 

[hey_jude]

Daniel had given each of the boys these Prefect pins that they really do love !

So that's what they had on their WWOHP shirts. I could see it was some kind of Gryffindor pin but I couldn't make out what it was. Very nice addition to the outfit, Daniel!

Judy

 

[Moodyzblu]

So that's what they had on their WWOHP shirts. I could see it was some kind of Gryffindor pin but I couldn't make out what it was. Very nice addition to the outfit, Daniel!

Judy

It went "prefectly" (haha .. get it ??) Ok, I know, that was lame .. but I couldn't resist.
The outfits got us lot's of compliments from WWoHOP staff ! They all loved the shirts .. and then I pointed out the shorts and they were even more impressed.