A Wish Come True - The Village

Thursday, March 12th was the much anticipated day of departure. Olivia's "wish" to the make-a-wish foundation was coming to fruition and we were heading to Disney World to "Meet the Princesses". To say the least, we were all pretty excited but I still will argue that no one was more excited than I.  "A whole week without having to do dishes, clean the house, prepare meals or go grocery shopping?!" Heaven on earth truly does exist! I started smiling the Sunday prior and didn't stop until... actually, I'm still smiling. Bill and I both did agree that there is no better way to travel to the airport than in your own Limousine!

We were fortunate enough to stay at Give Kids the World Village in Kissimmee, FL, 20 minutes away from Disney World. It's a village for "Wish" kids and their families to stay and enjoy. We were met in the airport by one of their "angels", holding a sign with Livi's name on it. She helped us get our bags (she was impressed that we only had 2) and then set us up with our rental car. Once at the village, after dinner, I attended

 an orientation were they gave us park hopper passes to Disney World for three days, passes to Universal Studios for 2 and Sea World for 1. On top of the tickets to the theme parks we were able to receive discounts to different attractions around the area and on sight amenities which were all complimentary. Things such as the "Ice Cream Palace" that was open from 9:30-9:30

 (with a "come and partake as often as you want" policy), the "Gingerbread House" with breakfast and dinner buffets, Katie's Kitchen, aka. Boston Market, available for pick up or delivery from 11-10 and pizza delivery 'til 10pm! And that's just the food part of the village. Their was a life sized Candy Land board game area, miniature golf, arcade,

theatre, swimming pool, horseback riding, "La-Ti-Da Spa", train, 

carousel, basketball, bedtime tuck-ins from the mayor of the village, Mayor Clayton, or his wife, Miss Merry, daily "gift givings" with a gift left at

our door for the kids. All of this was part of the stay, none of it is paid for... it was incredible.

 Our "house" as the kids called it was referred to by the "angels" as a "villa", or duplex. It had a full kitchen with a few things stocked in the fridge, along with everything else you would find in your own home, even a washer and dryer. The kids had their own room attached to the "big" bathroom with a jacuzzi tub. They LOVED how the bubbles never went away. 

The village is run 90% by volunteers who have so much love to give. At the Gingerbread House, and everywhere, they service you perfectly. I don't think I carried my tray to my table once. Or my kids trays for that matter. The tables are kid sized, so you sit lower than normal, but the table tops are made of real peppermint candies! TOO cute.

Each day at the village is a different theme. Thursday was Christmas so the whole village was decorated for Christmas and Santa was their with gifts for all. We didn't get to visit the jolly elf having arrived at 6pm after a full day of travel, but the kids dove right in to the atmosphere

and rode the carousel several times after our Christmas dinner of all the typical foods. AND, I almost forgot, if the kids, or anyone for that matter didn't like what was for dinner that night, their was a classic standby buffet of chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, french fries and other "all American kid foods". One night they even had a "Kids Night Out-Parents Night Off". Extra volunteers were brought in so that every child had a partner. It was Monday evening and I dropped the kids off at Amberville, the train station/miniature golf/arcade room. They were 

 as excited as Bill and I were. They got to pick their partners for the evening (from 6-9) and we would pick them back up in the theatre after a "Double Dare" contest. Bill and I enjoyed dinner  and ice cream, of course, while we rocked in the wooden rocking chairs on one of the many wrap around porches of the property. The kids... had an absolute

blast. When they saw us neither one of them could talk fast enough to let us know of everything they did. Thankfully I had left my camera with Olivia's partner Eddie, so we were able to put the talk to some captions. Miniature golf followed by Pizza, cake, Slurpees and popcorn!!! Sheer HEAVEN! The double dare was an audience participation, all of the kids had a chance to participate. Olivia had to toss rubber chickens while her buddy caught them. She didn't win so she got to "pie" her partner. 

Yes, she smashed a creme pie in her buddy's face! Aaron and his partner, Mike, played hot potato with water soaked sponges. Aaron didn't quite get the idea of it and instead of quickly passing the wet sponge he would squeeze all the water out of it, soaking himself, and then pass it as soon as the music would stop... so he won! Because he won, he got to "pie" his buddy! (Yes, you got it, win or lose, all the kids got to pie their partners!) Aaron didn't quite get the whole

 "pie-ing" concept either. I guess when they gave the pie to Aaron he took one look at the pie, one look at Mike, and then started eating the pie! BIll and I wish we had known we could have stayed to watch. I would've died laughing. As it was, my cheeks hurt just from hearing about it. 

 

Another great thing that the village does is have Disney characters come on one of their theme days.

 So, Monday morning Goofy, Pluto, and Mary Poppins were in the outside pavilion with a special photo op. with Minnie and Mickey inside the theatre. The sweet mice, as well as everyone else who saw it that day,  LOVED Olivia's "Cancer Schmancer" shirt. It was a great hit. 

On our last day the kids got a chance to ride horses at the "Kiddie Koral". I knew Livi loved horseback riding, but who knew Aaron was such a cowboy. He loved it more than Livi.

Way too many things to list. Thank goodness for digital pictures! What a great trip. And that was only where we stayed for the week!...