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| Sunday November 10th, 2002 click here for pictures from days 1 & 2! We rose bright and early and left for Roanoke Regional Airport at 8am. We had plenty of time for a breakfast stop at McDonald's and then we were on our way to the airport. Once there we met our Make A Wish greeter Rory, who made sure we got on the plane ok. He waited with us until we were ready to go through security to our departure gate and then we said Goodbye to him. We then proceeded through security and found our gate. The gate attendant recognized Madison (Thanks to his Make A Wish Tshirt) and escorted us down to load early. We got to take a picture with the flight crew outside of the plane and once we loaded the pilot came to visit Madison and took him up to see the cockpit. He got to sit in the pilot's seat and check out the view! Soon we were on our way. Madison was initally apprehensive but soon realized there was nothing to it. He especially loved the pretzels! Both Aspen and Morgan did great. Once we landed at Orlando we were again met by our greeters. This time they were from Give Kids the World. There was also another wish family on our flight and our greeters were a married couple who volunteer for GKTW. Our greeter helped us to our rental car. (A chevrolet Ventura Van....it was awesome! It was new and only had about 800 miles on it when we picked it up!) and we were told by Avis to return the car empty of gas as they provide our gas for us! Then we were off to GKTW. Once there, we were told to all come in for check in. Madison was given a big Mickey Mouse doll and both Morgan and Aspen were given stuffed Shamu dolls. They also each got a GKTW tshirt. Madison got the ever famous GKTW button to wear during the trip. (Let me tell you this button is better than GOLD. Anytime anyone at any of the parks saw it, Madison became the center of attention. It meant no waiting in lines to meet characters, no waiting in lines for rides, special seating at the shows, behind the scenes meeting of the characters, free parking, free strollers, and so many other little perks.) Then we were shown to our totally awesome villa where we would be staying for the remainder of the week. There was nothing lacking at our villa. It was even stocked with candy, milk, orange juice, potato chips and so many other little extras. (The only bummer was that the kids room had the big bathroom, of course. Complete with whirlpool I might add!) Also on the table was a disney movie for the kids. (They did get to bring it and everything left for them in our villa home.....and everyday there was something else for them to find.) We unloaded our stuff and headed out in search of the gingerbread house for dinner. Everyday our breakfast and dinner was served compliments of the gingerbread house. All of the food there is donated by perkins restaurants and the food awesome. It's served buffet style by GKTW volunteers. Once finished there, we were off in search of the icecream palace. Once again staffed by volunteers (and all the icecream and drinks are donated by Friendly's restaurant) and where you can find all the icecream you care to eat all day long. (During the day they also serve sandwiches for anyone who cares to remain at GKTW.) Have I mentioned that everything at GKTW is free? In addition to the Gingerbread house and the Ice Cream Palace there is also a movie theatre that shows movies twice a day (complete with popcorn, candy, and icees), a trainstation, two arcades, the castle of miracles, a chapel, happy harbor fishing pond, sparkleberry nature trail, and two swimming pools. (Not to mention probably something that I am totally forgetting right now.) And lets not forget Mayor Clayton, the bunny Mayor of GKTW. At 7:45 I was off to our GKTW orientation meeting. (Also led by a volunteer named Larry, who also works at Disneyworld.....he says he works at the two most wonderful places on earth.) This was where I picked up our Disneyworld tickets and a ton of little suprizes. We were given (for each of the five members of our party) 3 day park hopper passes good for all four disneyworld parks, a one day park hopper to the universal parks (and we were told we could get a second day at the front desk if we needed it), and a one day pass to seaworld. We were also given a disposable camera (compliments of Walgreens), a $25 gift certificate from Perkins restaurant good for the next year, and a coupon good for a free dinner at the Hard Rock cafe for every member of our party. We were told to show Madison's GKTW button for free parking and stroller rental. We were also told not to wait in any lines to meet characters or ride the rides. Whew! What a first day! |
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| Monday, November 11th, 2002 Click here for pictures if you missed the link above!! We got up early in order to make our appointment in the castle of miracles with Mickey Mouse for a photo shoot. Madison hugged Mickey like he was never going to let go. GKTW took an 8 by 10 photo of our family with Mickey that they later gave us at checkout. Then we set off outside for breakfast to see what characters we could find. Monday is Character breakfast morning at GKTW. Morgan had already found cinderella while we were waiting to see mickey and we saw her once again on the carosel. Goofy was also on the carosel, and chip and dale were roaming around outside the castle. Once we finished up our breakfast we were off to the Magic Kingdom. The kids loved the Magic Kingdom. We found a ton of characters there (no lines of course) and the kids had a great time chatting and playing around with all of them. We rode the buzzlight year ride (Madison said his star cruiser was broke cause he didn't get many points) and the pooh ride. We also found "PUSH" the talking trashcan in tomorrow land. Push is a real trashcan that you can put paper in, but she talks and follows you around. She wanted Morgan's crown and chased her for it but Morgan wasn't giving it up. We also saw the parade at 3pm. The parade was great. Aspen went out in the street and was dancing with the characters. The kids loved not having to wait in the 30 minutes + long lines to meet and greet the characters and they all really enjoyed getting the Autographs. We toured Minnie's house and visited Ariel's Grotto. Then it was back to GKTW for the Monday night pool party which is sponsored by Seaworld. First we had dinner in the Gingerbread house and then headed toward the party. The kids had a great time there before retiring back to our villa for the night. (Oh yes, and day two in our villa there was yet another disney movie awaiting us and three lilo and stitch cups for the kids.) |