June 11th, Last day of Give Kids the World!

Jun 212012

Well folks it looks like I am finally caught up with the videos and posts. Now for the next 4 days in Florida. Read on. June 11th was the last official day of the wish trip. It was also the end of our stay at Give Kids the World. It was actually sad leaving because it was so nice to stay there. It never felt like a hotel, probably becasue we were in our own little villa, or maybe just because they really want you to feel like you are home. Away from home. Anyway, after check out we decided that we really needed to explore some more of the Give Kids the World property that we had thus far neglected. We rushed in early to get autographs from Mickey Mouse and Goofy right at the village!

The kids played in the swimming pool while I checked out the pavilion they have on the fishing pier.

I was impressed that the pavilion had low cut outs for kids in wheelchairs to sit and pole holders all over to help the kids out. I also saw that it was all refurbished by the local scout troop for someones Eagle Project. The Scouter in me was excited about this project, what a great cause to support Give Kids the World.

Anyway, The kids rode the train around the place and saw dinosaurs and they even got to drive! Well, with help but it is fun. See the video for that. They also spent time looking at a scale replica of the whole village, driving remote control boats, and running into Mary Poppins!

We went into the Castle of Miracles again to find Amelia’s star before we left. They have this great portable computer that helps locate where the Star Fairy put each star. And we found it in one of the constellations in the tower. It is so cool to know that Amelia’s star will be there forever. They even gave us a commemorative star to put up in her room!

We then got lunch and more ice cream before we hit Matthew’s playground. This playground was inspired by a kid who stayed at GKTW. His Dad worked for Hasbro and led to a special edition of Candyland, the Give Kids the World edition. They gave us a copy of the game before we left. This playground is basically a huge CandyLand game. In fact, every week they play the world’s largest Candyland game there!

I keep saying it and saying it but Give Kids the World is amazing. There is no better place that I have ever seen that does more for kids with life threatening illnesses. They are completely accessible to all handicaps and the volunteers treat everyone, regardless of tubes, equipment or infirmities, like regular kids. It is so great to be a part that. The outpouring of pure love to every person that enters GKTW is so overwhelming that I can barely type this without losing it.

This is not official or anything, but if you are open to splitting your charitable contributions at the end of the year, Give Kids The World is a great charity to donate to.

Onto the rest of the day! Our other hotel called and told us the room was ready early so we could go check in. After a few more pictures we headed out to the new place. I think the whole family is looking forward to going back and volunteering. We can’t go back and stay without another sick child, but we can go back any time and see Amelia’s star, have ice cream, and participate in the daily activities as Alumni.

So with mixed feelings we made it to our other hotel. Little did we know when we booked this through Costco, we were going to stay in a vacation resort. This room, well condo really, was incredible. Granite countertops, full kitchen, big bedrooms, big bathrooms and a screened in porch! It seems I failed to get decent pictures of this place but it was very nice. After check in we had to go trade rental cars and then we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the rest of the afternoon and into the night. They were open until 1 AM that night and we were there until they closed! Again!

This time there was sun and an agenda….princess autographs. We started out in City Hall where our new friend Chelsea (see the top part of the June 9th post, she posted the picture of the card) gave us a map of the park with all of the princess locations marked on it!

I thought that was way cool of her. She also gave us vouchers for Cotton Candy because Amelia said how much she loved cotton candy! She was very nice, Thanks again for being Awesome Chelsea!

After we left City Hall, we headed next door to give Amelia another surprise….That is where Rapunzel was signing autographs! Amelia had no idea it was Rapunzel until she saw the sign as we were headed up to the autograph area. Her reactions are in the video. Afterwards she didn’t talk for about 15 minutes, she was smiling too much. I haven’t seen anyone that excited to see a princess since Leatha attacked Ariel!

We then headed over to see another group of princesses, this time Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty! Again, they were all really good with Amelia and Belle even made her sign the thank you card so she could have Amelia’s autograph. That is in the video too, I thought that was just a great touch and another one of those things that you can’t train into people, jut natural kindness.

We spent the rest of the night riding rides, eating ice cream and watching fireworks. It was a good day that ended again at 1 AM! The new hotel waited for us and out plans to hit the Animal Kingdom again in the morning. We had a rain free day on Monday, and we hoped that Tuesday would bring the same. And it did, for most of the day at least! You will have to read all about it in the next post!

Have a good one.

-Justin

***** Don’t forget to check out even more pictures on the picture pages! CLICK HERE to see them!*******