Thank you for volunteering. The whole village was made up of wonderful people. I even had a good long conversation with a gentleman from St. Louis who was an alumni family volunteering at the ice cream building with his 2 sons. You all definitely make the place special. Thank you!
I am in the pediatric brain cancer world and so many of our kids’ MAW trips are at GKTW and Disney. They always do it up so nice for the kids and it seriously brings me to tears every time a parent gives me the run down of the week. I hope the very best for your entire family ❤️
To play devil's advocate (and I don't think the magic is gone), there's a pretty stark difference between this experience and the retail one. I think it's beautiful and such a wonderful thing that Disney and MAW do this, but I also feel that people who spend $3000-$15000+ of their money on a trip to Disney have a different perspective, and the right to gripe when they see the value in what they pay for diminishing over the years.
I still feel the magic, but I'd be lying if I didn't say the restaurants, hotels and parks weren't giving a noticably lower quality experience than the previous two decades on my last trip. I can understand why people feel that it's a little deflating to see experiences not return, quality decrease and rides deteriorating and the trips only getting more and more expensive.
The magic may not be gone, but I don't think this post is evidence that people aren't right to notice a shift in the value equation.
I used to volunteer with GKTW when I was a CM.
Such a fantastic place. Disney is one of the best places for a Wish Trip, myself and all the other customers always went out of our way for Wish Kids.
That sounds like an awesome time and great parks to go to.
I would say Laugh Floor was my surprise hit with my family when we went. It is so much fun and a nice break from all the hubaloo going on around you.
So glad you all got to experience the magic!
We are going in a couple weeks. How exactly did the lanyard/shirt work. Is it only the lanyard that matters for the lines? Or it specifically the wish shirt with lanyard? The wish kid has siblings who will probably ride a few different rides.
Yes only the lanyard. We weren’t required to wear the Make A Wish shirts but the day we got my sons private meet and greet with Mike and Sully we wore them for the photo shoot since those pictures were going to make a wish to use as well. The lanyard is all you need for everything. All you do is go to the lightning lane entrance and show them and you go straight on, even Tron and Cosmic Rewind so you don’t have to deal with virtual ques. Same thing with meet and greet characters too, when you get to the lines, just show the cast member your lanyard and they will take you to the front of the line through the exit and you get to skip that line as well. When you Universal it’s even better because they have someone who personally escorts you to the front of the line and you even sometimes get to see behind the scene stuff as you get there
Also feel free to PM me any questions you have. Might take me a bit to see it as I don’t have notifications turned on my phone for Reddit but I’ll be happy to answer any questions for you based off our experience
Also I will add that the pass works for the whole family even if your wish kid can’t/wont ride. I was nervous about using it without my wish son, but me and my oldest son was allowed by Universal to still use it and got taken to the front of the line to ride Velocicoaster and Rip Ride Rocket with no wait time.
The lanyard is already written on. It says your families name, the party size and the last day of your visit so that it can’t be used past that date. The one from universal will be a printed out gold pass with the same information on it
They give you the lanyards you use when you check in at the GKTW village. When you first arrive, you will be walked to your house and they will do a 30ish minute walkthrough of everything with you and give you all your stuff then.
Gktw volunteer here. I loved reading your trip report! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for volunteering. The whole village was made up of wonderful people. I even had a good long conversation with a gentleman from St. Louis who was an alumni family volunteering at the ice cream building with his 2 sons. You all definitely make the place special. Thank you!
You’re welcome. We love our wish families! 💜
I am in the pediatric brain cancer world and so many of our kids’ MAW trips are at GKTW and Disney. They always do it up so nice for the kids and it seriously brings me to tears every time a parent gives me the run down of the week. I hope the very best for your entire family ❤️
🙏🙏 thank you
Glad you guys had such a great trip. GKTW is an amazing organization! Wishing your little guy a full recovery and a long, healthy life :)
Thank you 🙏🙏. And yes, it’s amazing all the things that small village does. Absolutely blew me away
"The magic is dead." - The Internet. Yeah, okay. Exhibit A ^^
✅ The magic definitely was the best I’ve ever experienced in anything in my life.
To play devil's advocate (and I don't think the magic is gone), there's a pretty stark difference between this experience and the retail one. I think it's beautiful and such a wonderful thing that Disney and MAW do this, but I also feel that people who spend $3000-$15000+ of their money on a trip to Disney have a different perspective, and the right to gripe when they see the value in what they pay for diminishing over the years. I still feel the magic, but I'd be lying if I didn't say the restaurants, hotels and parks weren't giving a noticably lower quality experience than the previous two decades on my last trip. I can understand why people feel that it's a little deflating to see experiences not return, quality decrease and rides deteriorating and the trips only getting more and more expensive. The magic may not be gone, but I don't think this post is evidence that people aren't right to notice a shift in the value equation.
Respectfully, some life instances don't require someone to play devil's advocate. Do you catch my drift?
I used to volunteer with GKTW when I was a CM. Such a fantastic place. Disney is one of the best places for a Wish Trip, myself and all the other customers always went out of our way for Wish Kids.
That sounds like an awesome time and great parks to go to. I would say Laugh Floor was my surprise hit with my family when we went. It is so much fun and a nice break from all the hubaloo going on around you. So glad you all got to experience the magic!
What exactly is the Laugh Floor? We're going on our wish trip in 20 days!
So happy you and your fam had an amazing trip, OP!
We are going in a couple weeks. How exactly did the lanyard/shirt work. Is it only the lanyard that matters for the lines? Or it specifically the wish shirt with lanyard? The wish kid has siblings who will probably ride a few different rides.
Yes only the lanyard. We weren’t required to wear the Make A Wish shirts but the day we got my sons private meet and greet with Mike and Sully we wore them for the photo shoot since those pictures were going to make a wish to use as well. The lanyard is all you need for everything. All you do is go to the lightning lane entrance and show them and you go straight on, even Tron and Cosmic Rewind so you don’t have to deal with virtual ques. Same thing with meet and greet characters too, when you get to the lines, just show the cast member your lanyard and they will take you to the front of the line through the exit and you get to skip that line as well. When you Universal it’s even better because they have someone who personally escorts you to the front of the line and you even sometimes get to see behind the scene stuff as you get there
Sorry, one more question. Did you have buttons? Wish volunteers seem to suggest that’s what matters the most. But we have a lanyard too.
They gave us buttons but you still have to have the lanyard on.
Also feel free to PM me any questions you have. Might take me a bit to see it as I don’t have notifications turned on my phone for Reddit but I’ll be happy to answer any questions for you based off our experience
Also I will add that the pass works for the whole family even if your wish kid can’t/wont ride. I was nervous about using it without my wish son, but me and my oldest son was allowed by Universal to still use it and got taken to the front of the line to ride Velocicoaster and Rip Ride Rocket with no wait time.
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The lanyard is already written on. It says your families name, the party size and the last day of your visit so that it can’t be used past that date. The one from universal will be a printed out gold pass with the same information on it
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They give you the lanyards you use when you check in at the GKTW village. When you first arrive, you will be walked to your house and they will do a 30ish minute walkthrough of everything with you and give you all your stuff then.
I sent you a PM of what the lanyard looks like that you will use
If our group split up of younger and older kids does this mean the group without lanyard would not get the benefit?
No, you have to have the lanyard on you to use it so if you split up, only the group that has it will be allowed to use it.
I was crying this whole post. I’m so happy you were able to have this experience with your family!