Hello again everyone. Well the final decision has been made regarding this site. It will live here as it is now.
We had a wonderful time with the Wish and the focus on Amelia and that needs to stay up for people to see and be inspired by. But now, it is not all about Amelia, it is about our family as a whole.
Sure Amelia is still our One Kidney Princess, and she will always have certain needs that none of the others will have, but, we are not focused on that. We don’t want to focus on the kidney failure and we don’t want to let Amelia focus on it to the point that she becomes defined by her disease.
From now on, the future will be chronicled online at 6matthews.com. You can also click the link in the menu bar at the top of this page.
Thank you for all of your support over these last 5 years of Amelia’s life and trials. We do appreciate all of the prayers and well wishes that has gotten us through everything. If you would like to keep up with all of the family join us on our new blog site.
Well folks I am finally done reporting on Amelia’s Make a Wish trip in Florida. My original intent was to leave this site after that point, and let people read and relive the trip and the stuff we did before.
However, this week here in Utah we celebrate Pioneer Day, when the first settlers entered the Salt Lake valley and began to turn the desert landscape into the city it is today.
As part of that celebration, there is a parade! And the Army Reserve is having Make A Wish families ride along with them in the parade. So, Amelia and the rest of us will be riding with some of the soldiers of this great land in the 24th of July parade. We should be able to get a link to the video from the local news station that puts it on TV and I will share that with you.
So it seems that this site will live a while longer, as long as we attend Make A Wish functions and Amelia is the star I will post pictures and video.
Thanks again for reading and sending your comments and thoughts.
Well folks, this is it. The last day we are to spend in Florida. We are excited to get home, but still sad to be leaving this whole experience. I guess that is why it has taken me so long to get this posted. Florida was great to us, other than the heat. The people at all of the Disney parks and at Give Kids the World were fantastic.
We were treated like such royalty that it is still hard to believe, even looking back at it almost a month later. And we are not the only ones that get that treatment down there. It is just amazing.
So the last day we had only 1 thing to do for sure, and that was be at the airport by 4:00. We started off the day early. Grandma’s flight was early that morning, she had to be at the airport at 5:00 AM! So I was up early to take her and then get back for another hour of sleep before we got everything packed up and out of the hotel.
We soon saw that we had a lot of stuff coming home with us that we didn’t have on the way down. They told us to bring a duffle bag to Give Kids the World but it took 2 plus a mailed box to get it home. More on that later. We did manage to get everything into the van, after folding down one of the seats into the floor. Stow and Go seats are great.
With only a few hours left in Florida and our Disney tickets expired, we headed to Downtown Disney to let the kids spend the last of their souvenir money. That place was great, all of the Disney stores from all 5 parks crammed into one spot. There were individual stores for everything and then the biggest gift shop I have ever seen that had everything. I think it was bigger than the one in California.
So, shop we did at the kitchen store, Christmas store and the lego store. Eventually, it was time to go. We had to ship some things home and get another duffle bag to send things home in. Walmart in Kissimmee must have had people doing hte same thing over and over because there were displays of duffles and boxes.
We stuffed 2 more duffle bags than we came with with stuffed animals and little things, and then we stuffed a box with the hats that the kids got from Amelia’s jungle parade as well as Indiana Jones’ hat and the cowboy hats that they got in Give Kids the World. There were even a few toys that ended up in the box, we just didn’t have anywhere else to put them!
The next hurdle was to find the post office. We had a vague idea where it was from the map the front desk of the hotel gave us, but we had yet another torrential rainstorm to navigate to find it. At least we were in the van for this one, but still it was raining harder than we had seen it so far on the trip. At one point we drove under the freeway and traffic was almost stopped due to the rain and the water on the road.
Finally, we found the post office and shipped the box home. Then we headed to the airport, pushing our timetable but still in good shape. At the airport everything went smooth, even getting through security which took a lot longer than it should have. After security you board a shuttle that takes you from the main building that has a hotel in it (?) to the terminals where the planes are.
It was at the gate where we got to wait. Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:30 but got pushed to 6:50 and then it was undetermined. We got on the plane at almost 7:30. Come to find out, due to the rain and the big storms, the flight crew that was supposed to be on our plane got re-routed to Tampa and had to fly from there to Orlando to get back to Salt Lake. Just took time.
The flight home was uneventful for us. We didn’t have a connecting flight to catch. Some people on the flight missed their connections by over an hour. One interesting thing about this flight, they had the TV’s in the seat backs and there was a setting to watch the progress of the plane on the way home. Using this, we watched the little plane icon fly from Orlando, out over the gulf of Mexico, over New Orleans and then over all of Texas before heading North again over Arizona. Apparently there was a huge storm system over the center part of the country that they were trying to avoid.
Finally, we landed! After that it was rather quick to get the van from parking, get loaded up and get home. Home was a nice place to get back to.
So yet again we want to thank everyone who was involved in Amelia’s wish, from Grandmas and Grandpas, to the staff and volunteers at Make A Wish, to the staff and volunteers at Give Kids the World, to all of those employees at Disney that truly made out experience wonderful. We will never forget all of the things that we were able to do on that trip and how much kindness and hope you all gave us.
Well the time comes for all things to end and this is the last day that we will be spending in the parks. Tomorrow we go home! Anyway, today we were headed to both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Epcot because we didn’t get to ride Mission: Space, and we didn’t get the last stamp in the kids country passports.
So we headed out and took the monorail to Epcot. We were not planning on doing a whole lot there but we wanted to get the last stamp in the kids books and ride mission space since we missed it. Well, we did both! It wasn’t hurried and since we knew what we wanted to do, it was easy to hit both and get some really good lunch at the same time. Well in order, not at the same time.
In Mission space there is yet another secret lounge that is available to Make A Wish kids. This one is inside the building and looks out over the line and then the game area of Mission Space. It was my favorite one, they had computer access and Tristan got to sit and watch Mickey Mouse on a huge computer screen. We also had a special door into Mission: Space. We never did make it into the lounge in the Magic Kingdom, but we hit both of them in Epcot. Go figure.
After lunch we boarded the monorail again and went back to finish up everything there was to do in the Magic Kingdom. This mainly included riding our favorite rides one more time. But first, we had to see Rapunzel again. Amelia nearly knocked her over giving her a hug that really looks more like an open field tackle.
We then rode the train around the park, and hit the Jungle cruise, where Amelia got to drive the boat! We spent the next few hours riding the Pirates, haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Railroad, Splash Mountain, It’s a Small World, Peter Pan, and a couple of them twice!
With rain threatening we did see a show in front of the castle, and luckily, the rain never hit. We finally ended up behind the castle for the fireworks show. It was cool. The fireworks are set to go off “behind” the castle when viewing it from the front. We were behind the castle, so the fireworks were even behind that, well most of them. Some were on the sides of the castle, so we would look first one way, away from the castle, then toward the castle as the fireworks went off all around us. That was something we don’t get to see very often.
Finally, the park was closing so we hit the last few times riding Space Mountain before we headed back to walk through the castle. If you haven’t seen the walk through of the castle, there are some huge tile murals of the Cinderella story inside. I am talking 10 feet wide by 20 feet high. They must have taken a long time to do. And it did, I found THIS ARTICLE about it. Click for the story.
Finally, it was time to make our way out of the park, and Disney World. We didn’t hurry but took pictures with all of the photopass photographers down Main Street and finally bid our farewells to the Magic Kingdom on the Ferry back to the parking lot. It has been a great trip, with tons of memories made and fun experiences tucked in our minds.
It has also made me see just how good people in general are. We read so many bad news stories about people doing horrible things to each other, but the love and kindness that was heaped on us over these 10 days was overwhelming. Thanks again to all of those Disney Employees and Give Kids the World people who made this trip truly a one of a kind, magical, humbling, and above all special experience for our family.
Hello again! Tuesday the 12th we decided to tackle Disney’s Animal Kingdom again, hopefully without the rain. We got up a bit late due to the 1 am closing of Disney World the night before but the sun was out and the animals were waiting. Only problem, I left the stroller in the rental car that we switched out the day before. The rest of the family got dropped off at the Animal Kingdom while I headed back to the airport to get the stroller.
During the time I was gone the kids got to ride the dinosaur ride and explore the park including the river rapid ride. They just finished that when I got there, so I was off to ride it with the kids and Grandma. I got some good video of it, check it out below.
After that we decided that food was in order and during that time, Mother Nature decided that raintorrential downpours were needed. We got the ponchos out just in time to get drenched again. and again. We were headed to ride Everest, but it became quickly closed in the rain.
One thing with Disney, they tend to shut down the rides if the rain is too bad, or the lightning decides to pay a visit. They told us that they monitor the lightning and it has to be at least 2 miles away before they can open the rides, at least the tall ones.
So we waited in the rain. We were going to see the Nemo show but decided instead to head down to the Kilimanjaro Safari ride again. And then the rain stopped. But the lightning was still too close for Everest so to the Safari ride we went. This time we got the whole ride and didn’t get wet! We saw a Lion and a few other animals this time, including a cow with horns anything in Texas would be jealous of.
It was a nice ride this time. When we got off, Cameron, in his typical “customer relations” way, asked the ride attendant if she could call over and see if Everest was open, and she did! And it was open so we thanked her profusely and headed back to Everest.
Oh, Everest? yes it is a great roller coaster that goes up through that mountain in the background. and it goes backwards for a bit. It was a lot of fun and we rode it 3 times in a row!
After that the park was closing and so we walked around the Tree of Life and got some more pictures on our way out. It ended up being a good day, rain and all. This whole trip is still good, rain and all.
We are nearing the end of our trip now, only a couple of days left and we will be home. Well, you know what I mean. Enjoy the video, all of the videos are up on the daily picture pages. Tomorrow will be a bit of Epcot, and more of the Magic Kingdom!
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!*******
The “Icon” tower at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure, Orlando, Florida. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Well folks today we decided to take advantage of something that wasn’t Disney and headed to Universal Studios. Now in retrospect, we can say that Universal is no Disney World. The main reason we headed there was to see the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter” since we are reading the books to the kids.
Before that however, we ate breakfast at Give Kids the World and had some more ice cream! We are never going to get the kids to stop asking for Ice Cream for Breakfast. We also got to ride the carousel there! It was a fun old fashioned carousel that gets run just for the wish kids!
Now the recap of Universal: It was hot. you end up walking about a mile from the parking lot to the entrance of the park going through a bunch of shops and finally getting to where we want to be.
We rode a couple of rides in Dr. Seuss land and were surprised just how long it took to get people on and off of the rides, since Disney is very efficient at this. But the kids liked it. We then headed to Harry Potters world.
Did I mention it was hot? Leatha and Mom rode a cool roller coaster that was themed like the dragon fights in the movies. They have some seats on the wall at the bottom of the coaster to make sure you can fit in the things. Cameron and Amelia were not tall enough to ride the coaster but it looks like they did!
The whole Harry Potter world was interesting because it really looked like the movie. It was a bit odd though, most of the stores were just facades and we couldn’t shop in them. I really wanted an owl and a magic quill but I guess that will just have to wait. We did get to go into Olivanders wand shop for a demonstration and a wand being chosen for…..Leatha! she got picked from the small group and ended up having her wand choose her. She seemed intimidated but it was really cool. There is some video of it in todays video.
Amelia and Cameron also found a roller coaster that they could ride and did so over and over. It was fun to hear Amelia giggling and laughing at the ride.
After a while of playing at Harry Potter land and fighting crowds that would make the fire marshal tear out his hair in frustration, we headed to Jurassic Park. It was neat so see some of the models and vehicles that were used in the movie. After lunch the kids got to ride the Jurassic Park ride and had a great time on that as well. There is a great Cameron reaction on the video from that ride.
Finally, we were getting ready to leave the Islands of Adventure and head over to the other side of Universal studios so we had to go back through Harry Potter and get some Butterbeer and Pumpkin juice. You want to know the secret to Butterbeer? Butterscotch flavored cream soda. It was really good stuff. And then there is pumpkin juice. That is a secret because I think I can duplicate it and will be doing so over the holidays.
We never did make it to the other park. Grandma had issues with her scooter that took way to long to get fixed and by the time we were going to be able to hit the other park for fireworks the wind came up and the skies opened again. This was one of the biggest rain/ lightning storms that we saw the whole trip. Luckily, we got to hang out under the awnings by the front gate customer service windows so we were dry. The lightning was something. We were talking to one of the customer service guys and he said that two of the roller coasters had already been hit and they were running on emergency power! It was a good thing that the park was closed.
We waited for a while until the lightning receded and then made our way home. It was another big day of going and going but at least we managed to stay dry and our ponchos got another workout. Tomorrow, June 11th we are moving out of Give Kids the World. It is amazing how quick that went. But that is all in the next post.
Dont forget to sign up for the mail list! I will send out mail when I have loaded new pictures and videos!
Thanks again for being here, There is much more to come.
*** Don’t forget to check out even more pictures on the pictures page! CLICK HERE to see it!*****
Hey folks, I know you have been eagerly anticipating more pictures and videos, but it has turned out to be much harder than I had anticipated to get to the parks and still have enough juice in the tank to do a video or even get a post up. Just know that we are having a great time, Amelia will be very hard to live with after all of the attention she has been getting, and I have some drafts of our days almost ready to go. I also have many pictures to post and I will as soon as I can as well as the videos.
This whole process will take some time so there will be wish stuff on here even after we get home. I have more pictures to sort through and get posted, so I hope you have signed up for the mail list. As for tonight, I have to crash again, Disney World beckons for the last day at 9 in the morning. That is 7 our time and that is just way too early.
Hello All! Today we went to Hollywood Studios and guess what, there was sun! Some rain, bust mostly hot, humid and some sun! This was a big day for Amelia, there were so many nice people that went above and beyond for her today, if you are one of those and reading this, Thank You Again! We printed up some thank you cards to give out to those who were nice to us. The kids have been handing out tons of them!
I was looking at the “what link brought the people to this site” stats and I found a tumblr blog that is for the Disney Cast Members with this picture:
I also read an entry in our guest book: READ IT HERE. That is why we have handed out the cards. We are grateful for those who are making this trip awesome and we are glad that these little cards can mean so much to you all!
Boba Fett, the most well-known Mandalorian in fan culture (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Again, today we went to Hollywood Studios and got some real VIP treatment. We started off heading to the Indiana Jones show and stopped to see one of the Actors from Star Wars. Oh yea, it was Star Wars Weekend, there were characters everywhere. Well this actor was the guy who played Boba Fett, my favorite guy from the whole series. I missed getting the pass to get an autograph so I was content with a picture from the other side of the railing. But, Brenda asked anyway and the cast member who was barring the gate went and got us some of the pre-signed headshots. Pretty darn cool.
Then we get to Indiana Jones. First we get VIP seating, 2 rows from the stage. Next, the guy tells us to hold on after the show and he will see if Indiana Jones can drop by for an autograph. Well, it went beyond autograph. There was just something about Amelia that everyone liked. We were told to hold on to the end because they had something special for Amelia. That something special turned out to be an autographed Indiana Jones hat! Then they posed for pictures. And that was just the beginning.
We got VIP seating for the stunt driving show that Cameron just loved. We got rained out of the backlot tour, it was just coming down too hard to be safe. The nice comment above is from the gentleman who was just inside the door when we exited the tour. We got VIP entrance to see Darth Vader, much like the Princess yesterday, Priority seats on the Movie Ride, and second row center for the Beauty and the Beast show. I didn’t see that one, but Amelia charms again and Belle sent her a rose after the show. Quick question: how do you make a little girls day and make Grandma cry at the same time? Have the girls favorite princesses be nice to them.
After the show, Amelia decided that she wanted to ride the Tower of Terror. I don’t want to give a chronicle of “this is what we did, then this, then this, ” so forgive me if it sounds that way; there is a point coming. We left Cameron, Grandma and Tristan to watch the early fantasmic show and Leatha, Amelia, Brenda and I went to the Tower of Terror. We got to the front of the line, just getting ready to get on the ride and Amelia gave the girl at the gate one of her cards. The cast member was so touched that she nearly started to cry right there. She said that we had just made her whole day. But we are not done. She sent one of her cohorts off and a few minutes later said cohort returned with a bellhop uniform like the ones they were wearing.
They put it on Amelia and she got to ride the Tower as a bellhop. We got a copy of that picture, and will have a copy to post from the CD we are getting. This girl was also so excited for Amelia that she came down to the ride exit to make sure she had fun and then took us back up to ride again.
Finally, we all went back to the late Fantasmic show and Amelia was a hit again. She had given all of the ushers up there cards and not only did we get a huge discount on a couple of drinks and some snacks, but Amelia and Brenda got stuck up there talking to all of them for about 20 minutes after they had shut the doors to the theater.
Talk about some fun for Amelia! she loves being the center of attention and it is easy to forget that she does have a kidney transplant. Most of the time she is just normal, and does what a normal kid does, however, this trip is tolling on Amelia a bit. She usually doesn’t push this hard and we can see how tired she gets about half way through the day, especially if we are not making her drink every little bit. We are used to her not showing any signs of being other than normal but we are seeing that she needs more rest than the other kids. It is a good thing that her Give Kids the World pin lets us rent a stroller for free as well, we have used them the last couple of days.
She is fine, she just gets tired and not feeling well in the heat and the rain and the going going going all day. It is an eye opener to us and a reminder that we have to be careful and watch her closely.
That said, we are all doing pretty good! We are headed to Universal Studios on Sunday to see Harry Potter and we are not quite sure what else.
Pictures will be posted when I can see clearly, as well as videos.
***** Don’t forget to check out even more pictures on the picture pages! CLICK HERE to see them!*******
So sorry about the lack of post yesterday, but we had more adventures and I just gave up when the internet connection was acting screwy. Lousy excuse I know.
Anyway, I am still working on the video for the parade on Thursday the 7th. It is taking a ton of time to render down the videos. I am also taking the videos off of the sidebar for a while, to get those there takes about 2 hours of additional rendering so they are on hiatus. The videos are still on the bottom of each post, and on the pictures of the day pages, as well as the all video page.
So, now that that is out of the way, on Friday we went to Epcot. We went under threat of rain, some slightly blue skies, and then rain. Our ponchos are getting a good workout; I may frame some of them like the tattered map the war hero used to get out from behind enemy lines. Ok not really. But they are getting used. I will say as well, check back after we get home, there will be more pictures when we get the professional ones from Disney.
There are photographers all over and they scan your card and then you can order the pictures from Disney later on. BUT Give kids the World has a special card and at the end of our trip we get a CD with all of those pictures on it for free. And I will post them.
English: Epcot Spaceship Earth Walt Disney World Orlando 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Epcot. Our first ride was in the iconic big golf ball and was pretty darn cool. With the Give Kids the World button that Amelia has and the Make-A-Wish buttons, we haven’t had to wait hardly at all for rides, or even character signings. We have been bypassing the main line and getting real VIP service. We got in and saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald all in a row with hardly any waiting. I am talking like 2 minutes. Tristan was fascinated with the characters and giggling his little heart out for all of them. We had a hard time keeping him in the line as he wanted to run to the next one and the next one.
We also got to get right in to see Sleeping Beauty, and she spent several minutes talking with Amelia and signing books. Now, I know you are saying the same thing I did, “Isn’t that just a shady deal that we don’t have to wait in line like everyone else?” Well yes and no. We were willing to wait in line, but the people who are assisting the characters see those buttons and jump us right to the front. They say that Mickey or the Princesses would never want to keep one of the Wish kids waiting. And, they tell the people waiting in line who grumble about it that the Make A Wish kids come first at Disney so if they want to have a child with a life threatening disease they can get their own Make A Wish and be jumped up in line. .
That made me laugh and I don’t feel so bad about jumping ahead. We also got exclusive access to a VIP lounge area in Spaceship Earth hosted by Siemens. From what we were told this is a pretty big deal. There was a cast member with the characters who saw the pass and said to be sure and take advantage of it, people have tried to pay up to $10,000 to get into this place, but it was free to Give Kids the World families. We spent a little while in there, out of the first big rain storm, learning about some of the things the company does for Disney and playing games, and having some drinks. It was kind of neat, and now we are in this exclusive club that has been to the Club 21 Lounge at Epcot.
Image via CrunchBase
And can I just say how nice all of the people we have met at all of the Disney parks have been. If you got one of Amelia’s cards and came here I just want to say thank you again, you all are truly making this an incredible trip for us. A prime example, and an example of just how good the people who work there are follows this period. We were in the England village and Amelia accidentally knocked a cup off of a hook and it broke. Not only would they not let us pay for it, and I tried, one of the ladies gave her a coupon for an ice cream bar because Amelia was so upset. And then, Alice from Alice in Wonderland was heading out for her character meet and greet. I was sitting on the floor with Amelia and she just happened to see us through the door. She came in, took Amelia by the hand, and ran her to….well we had to find them.
They were at the other end of the long store and she was talking to just Amelia and trying to cheer her up. This was not part of any schedule, she was late to her character signing, but she took the time to help Amelia. You can’t train that into people, that is just natural.
We spent the rest of the day in and out of the countries and the rain around Epcot, finally ending up watching the fireworks and fire show that was all over the lake. Even in the rain it was something to watch.
There is not much in the way of pictures or video from today, it was wet and not as interesting as some of the other days. Still check out the daily picture page HERE. We are still having fun and will for the rest of the time. I hope it doesn’t rain all day again. Anyhow, again sorry this was late, there will be more, videos are just being slow. I will get them up for you as soon as I can!
*** Don’t forget to check out even more pictures on the pictures page! CLICK HERE to see it!*****
