Make-a-Wish Trip

So here's a brief rundown of Grace's Make-a-Wish trip. Make-a-Wish is phenomenal, they pretty much take care of every detail for you. We stayed at a great place called Give Kids the World, which is basically a resort that caters to Wish families. We stayed in our own villa, which was a two bedroom, two bathroom condo. The Give Kids the World Village had three different places to eat, a great pool, and numerous activities for Grace. We could've had a great week at the village without ever leaving, but we had too much to do! Here's the rundown:

Sunday, June 6
We flew out of Sioux City, had a layover in Minneapolis, and arrived in Orlando mid-afternoon. First time flying for both girls, and the power wheelchair in the airport was a little adventure.
After we checked in we settled in, then Grace went to play life-sized Candyland in their boundless playground (she could take her wheelchair everywhere in the playground). We finished the night by having ice cream--the village had a place you could get free ice cream any time of day.

Monday, June 7
Grace met Goofy, Mickey Mouse, and Minnie right after breakfast in the village. Then we headed for the place Grace wanted to go all along--Magic Kingdom. Grace got to meet Belle, Buzz Lightyear, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Ariel, and Eric--these meetings were definite highlights for Grace. Her favorite rides at Magic Kingdom were the Snow White ride and Goofy's coaster. We also went to a Beauty and the Beast show at the park, as well as going through Cinderella's castle. All in all a very full day for all four of us!

Tuesday, June 8
Grace met Spongebob after breakfast, then we went swimming. The pool had a great splash area and had some manual wheelchairs made out of PVC pipe--we'd never seen these before but they were perfect for the splash area. Then we went to Hollywood Studios for the day. We went to a number of shows, including the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Muppets 3D, and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Grace got to meet Woody and Buzz Lightyear again, and her favorite ride at Hollywood Studios was the Buzz Lightyear ride. We went swimming again that night.

Wednesday, June 9
Both Grace and Claire got to ride horses after breakfast Wednesday morning. We then headed for Sea World, where we fed dolphins, watched Shamu's show, and rode on another good roller coaster. That night Grace spent some time in the Castle of Miracles back at Give Kids the World. The Castle of Miracles was one of the major activity places at the Village. There she got to interact with the star fairy, make her own pillows, and spend some time in the La Ti Da Spa. At the spa she got a hand massage, a tatoo, a manicure, and a makeup job. Right up Grace's alley. Then later that night we had one of the highlights of the trip. They had a Village Idol contest, in which the kids could actually be contestants in an American Idol like contest. I was surprised, but Grace entered and did a great job. She drove her wheelchair up on stage in front of everybody and sang two songs. Definitely brought tears to her parents' eyes. She got a big ovation, and we've watched the video almost daily since then. Hopefully we can figure out how to get the video on the site.

Thursday, June 10
My parents arrived in the middle of the night to spend the rest of the trip with us, mainly to help take care of Claire. That day we took Grace to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure parks. Some of Grace's favorite rides were the Woody Woodpecker coaster, and Jaws. The Twister ride terrified her (what were we thinking?). We also watched Shrek 4D, and she met Dora the Explorer. At Islands of Adventure she rode the Pteradon Flyers, the Dr. Suess train, and we went through the new Harry Potter part of the park. Later that night we swam even more (theme of the trip, Grace loved the pool).

Friday, June 11
We went back to Magic Kingdom again. We went to the Mickey Philharmonic show, rode the train, and did some more of Grace's favorite rides. That night they had a Pirates and Princesses activity for the kids back at the Village, so Grace got turned into a princess. Right up her alley. Then we swam some more.

Saturday, June 12
We had to be up early to catch our flights. Everything went smoothly on the way home, and we were in Sioux City by 5:00 pm. An absolute whirlwind of a trip, and definitely an awesome one!

I didn't proofread this, so sorry for any errors.

June 20, 2010

We've been back from Grace's Make-a-Wish trip for a week now, and we're still trying to get caught up with everything. And that is my feeble excuse for not writing until now. We will post a full rundown (hopefully with pictures) of our trip sometime this week.

It was a great trip. Make-a-Wish does a great job, and Grace had many, many memorable experiences. Highlights included Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, meeting a number of the Disney princesses, many rides, swimming, and much more. Grace also competed in something called "Village Idol", which was an American Idol-style competition for kids at the place we were staying. She brought her parents to tears during that, and we've got the video if we can figure out how to get that on-line. Much, much more later.

Also, RAGBRAI is little more than a month away!