Some more GKTW questions

[DJBounce]

Hello, we are going on our MAW trip in October. I have several questions and I don't really want to bug our coordinator with them. I'm used to planning every detail of our trip. We are fortunate in staying at GKTW, which we are so very excited about!! Here are my questions that haven't been answered yet: First, parking at the parks. Do we pay for this?? We've always stayed onsite, so it's never been an issue. Second, they will give us the park tickets at our orientation the first night, right? They are 3 day hoppers to WDW, 1 day ticket for Sea World, and a day at Universal. Can the ticket at Universal be used for both the studios and Islands of Adventure the same day. We would love to visit both parks if we can. We are planning on buying tickets well in advance for MNNSHP and making PS at LTT for dinner. I know we will be getting spending money just before we leave, but I don't have any idea how much? If someone would like to share how much they received, you can PM me, if not, I certainly understand. I think that's all I can think of for now. Thank you in advance!!

 

[2morrow]

I can help you with the ? about parking, when you stay at GKTW all the parking is free. I know that the first night that you arrive you have an orientation and that is when you get the tickets( SW, 3day pass WDW, US) as fas as the other questions someone else will have to answer them for you! We haven't gone yet but we will be there May4-10, !!

 

[SueM in MN]

bumping up so more people will see....
We have not been to GKTW, but I can tell you 2 things I have found out from reading what other people have posted.

As 2morrow posted, the parking is free for GKTW guests.

The amount of spending money seems to vary (maybe by how much money your local wish granters have in their budget???)

 

[roseprincess]

I think when you stay at GKTW, the standard tickets you get are the 3 day hopper passes,SW, and Universal Studios. There are separate tickets to get into IOA, I don't think GKTW supplies those, tho. You can ask your Wish granter or Coordinator to see if the US tickets get you into IOA. You can ask your Wish granter or coordinator if you can substitute the SW or US tickets for IOA tickets? I don't know if that is possible, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Re:spending money from MAW: Like Sue said in her post, it does vary from one MAW office to another as of spending money for the WDW trip. MAW does budget in for daily meals at the parks, but it is not that much. MAW pretty much expects your family to eat at the restaurant at GKTW at least for breakfast and dinner. They budget in a lunch money or snack money daily for the parks. As what I've heard, the meals eaten at GKTW are all free. I have read some families have ordered pizza at GKTW late at night (pizza made at GKTW) that when you come home late at night from the parks, you can have the GKTW pizza delivered to your villa.
Also, MAW usually budgets in souvenir/misc. money per child. You should probably contact your Wish coordinator to know the exact amts. of how much is budgeted for this or that. Don't worry about bothering the Wish coordinator, that's what they are there for, to answer your specific questions about your child's wish. Oh, also, you might not get an answer right away on the budgeting of the money until maybe 2 months before the Wish trip.
Hope this helps.


Roseprincess

 

[mcmom]

Hi

We just got back this week so maybe I can answer some of your questions. Parking-as you pull up to the pay booth just flash your blue or pink GKTW button at them and they wave you in. If you have a handicap placard take it so you can park in the handicap lots.

There were two different orientation times right now 2:30 and 7:30 due to the fact they are full right now. You get a 3 day hopper for WDW, 2 Day Universal (both parks same day), and a 1 day Sea World ticket. Also you can see if they have dates and times open for you to have dinner at either Medieval Times Dinner Show (for 4 only you must buy additional tickets which are cheaper at Walmart then at the GKTW rate!!!) or the Pirates Dinner Show (for 5 only) They only allow one family per night to sign up for these showes so pick early like as soon as you check in or they will be gone. You can also get tickets to Gatorland, Kennedy Space Center, and several other places if you have the time or if you extend out of pocket at a local hotel you could do them.

For a family of 5 we received $1,050 for food and $75 per child for souvineers, and $45 for the adults souvineers, $50 film allowence and $20 tip money.

The only thing that did not happen that I had read about and I asked a CM about is we had to pay for all park pictures. EXCEPT at Universal. Universal was so much friendlier then WDW as far as the workers were concered. My little guy was treated like a king there! Sponge Bob gave him a stuffed SB toy, all the X-men took us in the back and did group pictures without us asking for it. All park pictures (5X7) were free. They just seem to love the kdis there where as Disney we had some very rude CM when I would ask them at the entrance of the rides where to go with his wheelchair. On the Indy speedway car ride one lady CM was just nasty about having to help us.

However we did clear all of WDW in a day and rode all the rides and seen a couple of shows. The VIP lounges at Epcot were a nice break for us. It gave my little guy a chance to get out wheelchair and relax while we took turns riding the ride they were at.

GKTW was AWSOME! I can't say enough about that place. The ice cream was great! We were also able to pick up sandwiches at the ice cream palace and put them in the cooler for lunch at Disney to save more money for other things.

I have to run right now but if you have any questions feel free to ask.
Lori

 

[2morrow]

That was some nice info that I was needing to know also! We will be going in two months so we should be getting this info ourselves pretty soon! When We find out how much money we get I can let you know!! Since Jan. they have been sending my ds little reminders through the mail about the trip, he just got a countdown calendar that he can mark off, to get him excited about his upcoming MAW! I did get a phone call from the MAW office about a month ago to ask us about what kind of van we would want, regular mini-van or w/c accessible one! We are all getting so excited, can't wait to get more info about our trip!

 

[MarieS]

Lori--
Thank you for all that great information! My boys are scheduled for their MAW trip in late October.
I don't have all the details yet, but I was told we would receive lunch money for each day, souvenir money for the boys and gas money since we are driving our lift van down. I am also hoping to be able to go to MNSSHP with the boys. We are so looking forward to this!

 

[roseprincess]

mcmom,
Re: MAW food and spending money. Wow, we were told for my dd's wish trip last June to WDW that we would get $18 per person per day for food money for a family of 4 if we stayed at GKTW and $50 souvenir money per child, no souvenir money for the adults. We then opted to stay on property at a deluxe resort for my dd's Wish trip. MAW did give us a little more meal money since we were mostly going to eat at the resort and parks. The $50 souvenier money for the kids stayed the same. Somehow, we had enough money throughout the trip.
Like I said before, the budget varies between each individual MAW office and how much they need to budget for other kid's wishes at that office.

Sorry to hear about the nasty CMs at WDW.


Roseprincess

 

[mcmom]

I am learning that each MAW office is different and each worker's view of the guide lines. My girlfriend who's son is very much like my son in abilities is being given a hard time by the same office that my son's wish went through. They keep changing the rules. I always thought there was one set of guide lines but that is just not true. The new San Diego MAW office rule is nonverbal children (that can show in other ways what they want) are not allowed to travel out of the local area. So in just a few weeks time since our wish was granted the rules changed.

As far as how much food money we got I was very suprised because it was about $300 more then what we were originally told it would be. I think they may have figured in a PS meal in there as well.

Lori

 

[mommie2angels]

I am behind on answering post. It looks like everyone answered your questions though. If you have any more please post away!

Lori, I am so very sorry about how you were treated by the CM at Disney. I have been anxious to hear about your trip. I really hate that! Glad you had a good time at US.

 

[DJBounce]

Thank you everyone for your responses! I really appreciate it!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Can the ticket at Universal be used for both the studios and Islands of Adventure the same day. We would love to visit both parks if we can. We are planning on buying tickets well in advance for MNNSHP and making PS at LTT for dinner. I know we will be getting spending money just before we leave, but I don't have any idea how much? If someone would like to share how much they received, you can PM me, if not, I certainly understand. I think that's all I can think of for now. Thank you in advance!!

When we went on DS's wish trip we received two day park hoppers for Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, the man at GKTW said that they had just changed to two day hoppers instead of one. If they give you a one day, ask, because they also offer tickets to other area attractions at GKTW, but you have to ask because they aren't the common ones and there are limits to how many they will give out.

I don't remember how much our spending money was, but for a family of seven (six actually because one infant) it was more than enough. We ate breakfast at GKTW every day and dinner at GKTW probably 3 nights, the rest we ate at the parks or out. We had enough to buy each of our kids a moderately priced souvenir at each park (we tried to stay under $20), but we also bought a couple things at the Walmart near GKTW for souvenirs because they were so much cheaper than WDW. We took some money with us of our own, but actually only spent a little bit for incidentals (drinks, snacks) at the airport because we didn't feel that the money they gave us should be used for that.

If you want a character meal or tickets to MNSSHP you may want to ask your wish coordinator if that can be arranged through them rather than try to use your budgeted money for them, we received enough money to cover a character breakfast which was $100.00 with tip for our family and they made the PS for us which we wouldn't have been able to get otherwise because we only had a couple days.

I hope that answers some of your questions! I know I was stressed about alot of this stuff too, I really wanted it all planned out before we left. But MAW made it all very smooth.