Stupid Guest Tricks

it's extremely upsetting to know that there are people who would scam people by wearing a bogus MAK/GKTW button. when we applied to the MAW foundation, they thoroughly checked my daughter's medical history. when we arrived at the GKTW village, they gave us a dated button. we had a wonderful time at WDW, Universal and Sea World for my daughter's wish. all the people who work at these parks went out of their way to accommodate us. and i thank you all for your considerations. when i hear that there are people who would pose as disabled to get ahead of a line, or special preference, it makes my blood boil. if only these SG could live the in the shoes of a severely disabled person, they might see things differently, or am i giving too much credit to their conscience? i only hope that these creepy SG don't ruin it for the ones who truly need the extra assistance.

I think that is so sad that people would feel the need to have to fake a MAW or GKTW button. Can't they be happy that they are healthy, and are in Disney? So, so sad.

hello!
We're going to WDW with Make a Wish in June and we're staying at give kids the world. We're going with myself, my husband my 4 year old daughter ( a wish kid) and my 7 year old niece.
The first thing I wanted to clear up is that ... all of the wish kids are not necessarily terminal. To qualify for make a wish you need to have a life threatening illness not necessarily a terminal one. Clearly if your illness is life threatening it may end up being terminal but there IS hope for these kids.
I just wanted to point that out .. so that maybe it's not as depressing to see MAW kids!
My daughter qualifies because she had a liver transplant which means for the rest of her life she'll take immune supressant drugs and will have to walk the fine line between rejection - and infection. But in many ways she is a normal kid .. and she definately looks like a normal kid and doesn't need any sort of special equiptment etc. So it would not be shocking to me to get some ugly looks from people who perceive us as budding in front of them or are jealous of extra attention etc.
I think I can cut these people some slack though too .. it's hard to wait in line in hot weather with your kids! Plus having a chronically ill kid helps teach you to not worry too much about small stuff like other people's ignorance. I am hopeful that if people are rude to us I will be able to set them straight-gracefully.
I participate in an online forum for parents of kids with liver disease so we know a lot of families who have done make a wish either going to disney or other things .. and every time I read one of their wish stories it makes me cry - but in a happy way. it's not fair to be born sick or get some sort of nasty disease while you're a child .. and miss out on a lot of stuff and have to go through a lot of painful and scary procedures .. and it's wonderful that people want to do something special for these kids.
it's a little surreal for me to have a kid that qualifies for make a wish ... I never imagined I would have a kid with a serious illness or that needs an organ transplant but here I am .. and it's my life now and mostly it feels normal to me. On a day to day basis our life IS pretty normal - but our perspective is changed and we can't take things for granted that other people can.
I'm so excited for my daughter (and my niece) and this experience!

kelli giorgio wrote:That is so horiibly that I actually cried reading it while sitting at my work desk. I have a 4 year old nephew who has been granted a trip to WDW by Make-A- Wish and I pray to God that nothing like that happens to him. I hope that there will be great CM's there like Driver Dylan who will make his trip great. We will be there sometime in May of 07' and I hope to show him all of the places that I worked at there and meet the great people that make the magic happen. It's ashame that the guests can't be trained on how to behave as well as the CM's have.

Unfortunatley my nephew never got to see his wish come true. He died on Jan.15 at Vanderbilt Children's hospital. He was 5 years old. I am so sad to have lost him and that he never had the opportunity to enjoy such a happy place as WDW. I will continue to sing the praises of CM's that help these children live out their greatest wishes. Keep up the good work.

kelli giorgio wrote:Unfortunatley my nephew never got to see his wish come true. He died on Jan.15 at Vanderbilt Children's hospital. He was 5 years old. I am so sad to have lost him and that he never had the opportunity to enjoy such a happy place as WDW. I will continue to sing the praises of CM's that help these children live out their greatest wishes. Keep up the good work.

I'm so sorry to hear that :( .

I agree, Make-A-Wish is great,a nd the CM's work so well with them. My sister got a wish from MAW, but it wasn't to WDW. Instead we went to Tokyo Disneyland, and the CM's were so amazing, and they really tried to help us, through language barriers and all.

-Dainan " :( " Rafferty

kelli giorgio wrote:Unfortunatley my nephew never got to see his wish come true. He died on Jan.15 at Vanderbilt Children's hospital. He was 5 years old. I am so sad to have lost him and that he never had the opportunity to enjoy such a happy place as WDW. I will continue to sing the praises of CM's that help these children live out their greatest wishes. Keep up the good work.

I am soooo sorry to hear that. That is why I try so hard to make it a great experience for MAW and GKTW kids at Disney, because you never know if they will make it back to Disney.