Jun 042012
 
The Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom at...

The Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hello everyone! Well by the time you got the email saying that this post was up, we were at the airport and getting ready to get on the plane to Florida!!!!

We are all very excited and ready to get to Give Kids the World and Disney World!  We got our itinerary last week at the Star raising party and were told that Amelia will be leading the parade at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  We don’t know what day it will be yet, we should find out when we get to Give Kids the World.  I will have it all up on here as we know!

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you out there who have supported and helped us through all of Amelia’s ordeals and beyond.  We really do appreciate all of you.  If you know someone else that would like to read about our trip and Amelia’s wish please share!

The next update here will be from Florida with some pictures from the plane and Give Kids the World!  For now, we have to go get Cameron’s birthday done and get the rest of our stuff packed.

See you tomorrow.

Justin.

Give Kids The World Village

Give Kids The World Village (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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May 222012
 

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL - (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Hello all.  Just a quick post to say that in two weeks, at the time this is being written, 1145 MDT, we should be somewhere over Illinois on our way to the Cincinnati airport and then onto Orlando and Give Kids the World!  And Disney World of course.

We are getting really excited and trying to pace ourselves.

Amelia turned 6 last Friday and she wants to bring all of her presents with us!  We don’t have room.  She does get to take the new princess dresses that Mom made her and we are sure that she will wear nothing else in Florida.

The time will be here before we know it!  Thanks again for all of your support.  Remember that there will be videos every day, as well as pictures and updates.  All from Florida to your computer, every day.  Isn’t the internet great?

Don’t forget to sign up for the email list over there on the right and you will wake up with a fresh new post with aforementioned video and pictures in your inbox.

Talk Later.

-Justin

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Mar 302012
 
Walt Disney World Resort

Walt Disney World Resort (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hello!  I just realized today that I had not posted the fact that we are booked for Disney World!  We have our flights and hotel set up, now we just have to get prepared to go.  We are going to be in Florida the first part of June!  We fly out on the 5th and will return home on the 14th.

We added a couple of extra days so that we can do a couple of other things, we don’t know when we will be able to get back to Florida.  The kidsa re getting excited and I am having a hard time keeping the plans small enough to be manageable.  I tend to overdo things.  We are now starting to work on details of what day we are doing what.

We know for sure that one of the days Amelia will be leading the parade.  The day we don’t know yet.  We know that we are going to hit all 4 Disney parks as well as a water park, and a day at Universal Studios so that we can hit Harry Potter World.  There are parades to attend, safaris to ride, Princesses to meet, and turkey legs to devour.  We are just now trying to sketch out an outline of things to do and, more importantly, things to cut out.  We just can’t do it all as much as we would like to.

There will be much more to come as we get dates set and things finalized.   And, in case you didn’t know, I am planning on having an update every day while we are gone.  The best way to keep track of that, besides logging on and looking everyday, will be to sign up for the email list.  Every time something is published on here, an email will be sent out at 9AM Mountain time.

If I have it correctly, I will post something from Florida at about midnight, and if you don’t want to read it then, you can get the email in the morning.  So please sign up for the email list and I will keep you updated.  I won’t even send you anything that doesn’t have to do with Amelia and her wish.  Ok Ok, I won’t sell your information either, I just want everyone to be able to follow our adventure and send Amelia your comments as we go!

Sign up over there in the sidebar….it only takes a minute!  Also note, the video there in the sidebar will change daily during the trip.  You will be able to see all of the videos on You Tube, head over to our Pictures and Videos Page and you can link there.  Each Day will also have a picture page that you can view to your hearts content.

Please direct any questions to us using the comments below or by emailing me directly: justin@ameliasmakeawish.com

Thanks for reading, now that things are getting closer, these will be more frequent!

-Justin

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Jan 282012
 
Cinderella Castle by day

So the New Year has come and the guessed about date of Amelia’s wish trip is coming.  Last week we got a flyer in the mail saying that there would be a party with and for all of the Princesses in Make A Wish Land.  Of course Amelia wanted to go right away.  I had the flyer on my desk and just had not gotten around to emailing about the party yet when I got an email from one of the ladies that is working on Amelia’s wish.

She wanted to make sure that we were going to be at the party so that they could announce that her wish had been granted!  Of course I emailed right back and said “Yes she will be there!”

Amelia has been counting down the days ever since.  Finally on the 18th of January 2012 the Princess Tea Party happened.  Amelia was escorted into the Make A Wish office by a princess and then was assigned her very own princess escort.  The princesses were from the Distinguished Young Women of Utah and were just great to all of the little girls at the Tea Party.  They ate treats, danced and got crowns and magic wands.  They all had a great time.

We took the whole family because we were told that there was a special announcement for Amelia.  These princesses were so fun, they took Cameron around as a prince and he danced and had a good time as well.  Eventually, it was time for the special announcement.

Amelia was called up to the stage and was told that her Wish was going to be granted!  Not only that, but Walt Disney World had come through and Amelia was going to be allowed to lead the Disney World parade as Rapunzel!  If you recall from previous posts, they usually do not do this and even the Make A Wish people were blown away.  Needless to say, our whole family is excited.

So now, we make plans and get things ready to go to Florida!  There is a lot to do but so worth it.  We just keep saying thank you to everyone at Make A Wish, they are truly making dreams come true.  More to come as we find out!

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Jan 282012
 

20 oct

Wishes fireworks shows in the Magic Kingdom Wa...

Image via Wikipedia

The appointment was set for October 20.  The whole family was invited to the Make-A Wish tower to have Amelia formally declare her wish to the Wish Wizard.  We were the only ones there besides the 2 ladies that would be working on Amelia’s wish.  We entered the front door and there was a large sign welcoming Amelia to her Wish Declaration!

From there we got a tour of the facility and got to see stars that all of the wish kids get to raise when their wish gets granted.  We then continued through the building where each of us received a wish token that we took out and got to toss into the fountain.

Back inside, we went to discuss what Amelia would like for her wish.  They have a great game that helps the kids to decide what their wish will be or to help the volunteers make sure that the wish is for the wish child and not for the family or someone else is pushing the kid.

Amelia however, did not need to play the game.  She knew what she wanted to wish for.  Her wish?  To be Rapunzel in the parade at Disney World.  Now a little background here.  During the initial call about her wish, we told the gentleman about it.  He told us that it probably was not going to happen because Disney doesn’t let people do that.  So, her second wish was to be Rapunzel and have a tea party with all of the princesses at Disney World.

Yes, Disney World was her idea as well.  She said that she had already been to Disneyland and wanted to see the other castle.  So Disney World it is.  She wrote her wish down on a special paper and then had to wait for the rest of the family to fill out our own wish for Amelia.  These wishes were things just for her, to have a good time, to stay healthy etc.

2 weeks before our appointment for wish night Amelia received a package in the mail.  It contained a special announcement and a key that would unlock the special “Wishing Room” at the Make A Wish headquarters.  After we all finished with the wishes, Amelia was led to the Wishing Room and had to use her key to enter.

This was quite the “royal” adventure for our princess.  We entered the Wishing room in the tower of the foundation.  There was a water wall, and fancy lights, and a very, not solemn but peaceful feeling.  We all read our wishes to Amelia and she put them in a special envelope.  She then had to follow a special path of lights on the floor, behind the water wall, and around the other side to the special wish portal of the Wish Wizard.

This was a large, brass cone in the floor.  Her wish was rolled and placed in a special cylinder that went into the wish portal and was accepted by the Wish Wizard.  She had made her declaration and she was ready to get some cookies.

We talked about some particulars and then were ready to wait for her wish to come true!  They would be telling us about it in January sometime because they have to have the OK from her doctor to go.  That OK is only good for 6 months and it would be June before we would go on the trip.  So we went home and waited!

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