Disney Day Five!

Disney day five had my eyes misting a few times over the sweetness of it all.  I am also sad to think that our time here is coming to an end soon.  Thankfully we have a wonderful life to return to or I would be in serious mourning. 

Our morning started off on a wonderful note!  Monday  mornings Mickey and his friends from the Disney parks visit Give Kids the World.  As a family we are blessed with plenty of time with Mickey, a volunteer that takes over my camera, and then upon checkout we will get the official pictures from the Give Kids The World volunteer photographer.  They do everything to make sure that the entire family is in EVERY picture.  That alone makes my eyes mist a little:)

Kyle is not to big for a picture with Mickey!!  We got family pictures, each child got an individual picture, and then we got a big group picture! 

After Mickey we headed down to the Castle of Miracles for meet and greet with Goofy!  David was so excited because he loves him so.  He loves him so much that he was a ham with him and they posed several different ways.  We also ran into Mary Poppins outside of the castle. It was so special and sweet that characters come here so wish kids do not have to waste precious time at the parks to see characters. 

Another family picture!  Hope was so proud of herself for taking pictures with the characters.  She did not want her individual picture with them but we are so proud of her for being in the family picture!

Hope has been in true heaven here at Disney!  There is a tradition here at the village to get Mickey to autograph the stuffed Mickey that the wish kid gets upon check in.  Hope kept us on task to get that done this morning:)

By 10:00 a.m. we had done two character meet and greets here in the village and had a huge and awesome breakfast buffet here in the village.  Then we headed to Animal Kingdom!  The first stop on our itinerary was the Safari.  It is truly remarkable and we saw so many great animals. 

Then we headed to the Festival of the Lion King show.  This is when my eyes misted again.  When David was first diagnosed he was obsessed with the Lion King because we had just gotten back from Disney where we watched this show.  I remember distracting him with the Lion King movie while we talked with oncologist and surgeons.  During the finale today when that woman with that gorgeous voice sang Circle of Life I was a little overcome with thanksgiving.  David of course sang every song and loved every moment!

If you are ever at Animal Kingdom make sure to watch that show.  WOW!

Big Boy David rode Everest at Animal Kingdom!  I am not sure he will do it again, but we are so proud of him for trying:)

Here ia another moment where my eyes misted a little.  This amazing staff member at Epcot came u p to David and started chatting with him.  She then handed him an official autograph book that you can buy around here and asked him to sign it.  She said that wish kids are the true heroes and sure enough she had a book full of wish kids signatures.  Can you believe that? 

Tonight was suppose to be the Halloween party, but because the true Halloween is on Thursday, they switched the Christmas party to tonight.  So my kids got to have another Christmas party! 

Complete with another round of gifts. 

After the Christmas festivities and of course a stop in the ice cream palace, we headed to the Castle to see David's star in his permanent location.  While we were gone today the gift fairy brought all three of my kids a vinylmation and then the star fairy left David directions to his star.  To see David' own handwriting on that sweet star up on the wall, was so very sweet.  We are now considered part of the Give Kids the World family so we are welcome anytime we are here to visit his star, eat at the village, enjoy the activities and come "home" to visit. 

The last activity of the night was to do the star pillow activity.  It is this really cool interactive thing where the kids shake the tree and make a wish and the tree gives them a magic pillow to take home with them.  Hope got a girlie one and the boys got sportsy ones. 

Today was awesome-simply awesome.  David got to see his Lion King show, we got to see his star in its permanent spot, we got lots of presents and love from the village, and we made awesome memories at Animal Kingdom and Epcot.  So far, David's favorite has been Test Track at Epcot-we have ridden it three times this week:)  Good night from Give Kids the World:)

Disney Day Four!

The last two days have caught up to us and we are a wee bit tired.  Today to rest up some we took a break from Disney parks and headed out to SeaWorld.  I had not been there since I was a little girl and we had a good time! 

Wish families are blessed with a chance to sneak in a back way and feed the dolphins.  We thought only David would get to do it, but amazingly all five of us got to go!  Hope was horrified and hid in the stroller.  Kyle was grossed out and took pictures for us, and David loved to watch them but did not want to touch their fish food:) Mike and I had a ball!

If the school superintendent gig does not work out for Mike he could get a job at Seaworld with the dolphins!  He was a natural feeding them!  Ha! What an awesome life experience for us!  Kyle and David did touch the dolphin. 

After that we headed to Shamu stadium for that AWESOME show!  Wow!  We all loved that so much and....

we were blessed with special seating but we chose the no splash zone.  Here is David yelling and trash talking to Shamu that He did not get us wet!  David actually cried big tears when it was over!

That show was so awesome!  There was also trick or treating going on at Seaworld, so the kids got to trick or treat while we were there!  That was an unexpected surprise. 

Dave has a new girlfriend now-Joan the jellyfish!  She was so sweet with him. 

After she smooched on David, she fell in step behind Kyle and put her arm around him and gave him a big smooch too-you can see that he was scared to death!  ha! It was sweet that she was so attentive to Kyle.  David has gotten so much attention here because he is the wish kid that I often wonder if this is hard for Kyle. 

We had a shark enounter and went in the shark tank!  Seaworld was way better than I had imagined!  They had several roller coasters there that Kyle loved, several kiddie rides that David and Hope loved and this awesome Antartica ride/exhibit that you actually meet real penguins in their frigid enviroment.  AWESOME!

We headed back to the village before dinner to get an early bedtime for David.  After dinner we went into the Castle of Miracles to let David sign his star. 

A volunteer helped him put it in the fairy treasure box so tonight she can magically put it on the ceiling!  Tomorrow when the gift fairy delivers another round of gifts for the kids, a sign will be dropped off with directions on where David's star is hung in the castle.  We will forever be part of the Give Kids the World village and we can come back anytime for the whole day and visit and enjoy the village.  Amazing!!  Tonight while we were there doing David's a family whose child had passed had come back to visit their child's star.  It was so touching yet oh so heartbreaking.  When you see all those glittering stars in the castle you just wonder how many children made it to adulthood and of course you pray and pray and pray that youe child will be one that can come back as an adult and visit their star. 

Tonight here in the village we were invited to the World's Largest Candyland game!  It was at the huge and gorgeous playground here in the village.  You got to do all these games and fill up your card when they were complete.  You could turn your completed card in for a prize for all three kiddos!  Here is David and all of us playing a real  life game of Candyland around the playground with a volunteer! 

The boys made airplanes out of candy with the help of volunteers! 

Of course the gingerbread man was there!  David kept wanting to race him because of the book.  The kids for their gift today from the fairy was an authentic Candyland game but it is the Give Kids the World edition.  How awesome!

We ended this awesome day by visiting the cookie cart on our way back from the party.  In the evenings there is a cart that drives around with lemonade and cookies for anyone that wants one!  Amazing:) 

 

We are getting to bed early tonight because tomorrow morning Mickey and friends are visitng the village for photo ops!  We are so excited!!! 

 

 

 

Disney Day 3!!

Today our adventures took us to Magic Kingdom.  It was opened until 1 a.m. so we slept in a  little bit, enjoyed a huge buffett breakfast here in the Village, had ice cream after breakfast, and then hopped in our van to go to Magic Kingdom.  The weather has been gorgeous-low 80's and no humidity. 

The Robinson girls heading to Magic Kingdom on the boat.  Hope insisted to wear her Belle dress and her hair clip from Ms. Suzanne.  She wore this dress all. day. long.  Notice all the buttons and lanyard I am wearing-these were given to us by Give Kids the World and they are magical because it identifies us as a wish family.  It allows us to get in the fast pass line without having to have a fast pass.  We have had to wait very little for anything which is amazing considering how MOBBED this place has been. 

We are adventure riders and Hope is proving herself as a daredevil!  This girl loves everything and giggles so loudly on every ride.  We fight over who gets to ride with her because she is so cute with her giggling. 

This space ranger ride was a hit and Kyle came away with the high point total!

We also hit the Speedway to let the kids ride the cars.  They remember this from our trip two years ago and these were a must!

Dumbo:)

This is David showing his love to Ariel with his heart with his fingers.  Ariel was so sweet to David and talked to him about their red hair!  She was beautiful and oh so sweet.  Hope amazingly got in the picture with her!!! Hope really wants Santa to bring her the Ariel movie and Ariel dress so she had me tell her that. 

This picture is precious to me because this is why we went to Magic Kingdom!  David has been obsessed with Beauty and the Beast since he had cancer.  WE would watch that movie a hundred times at UVA and he knows every song and every word.  He loves Gaston so much so here we are posing outside of Gaston's Tavern.  Another amazing perk to being a wish family is that we receive a photo pass free!  I have a  magical card that I can hand to any park photographer and they will take our picture and scan it on the card.  When I go home I can request a free DVD of those photos for up to 30 days!  This is a $160 value but Give Kids the World really recommends we use those cards so that the whole family can be in the pictures! 

This picture may be the highlight of the entire trip thus far.  Which is really saying something because our trip so far has been nothing but magical.  There is a new attraction in the new Fantasyland called Belle's Enchancted Tale.  Kids get to play the parts and David got to play THE BEAST!!!  He was made for that role.  So he got to be up front with Belle and be the Beast.  It was precious, magical, and amazing to see him up there slow dancing with Belle. I got in serious trouble for taking these pictures but it was SUCH a precious moment for David.  The photopass guy took some more pictures from this, but I am so thankful that David got to play the Beast!!

Right when we came out of the Enchanted Tale, Gaston was doing a meet and greet.  We were allowed to go to the front of the line and spend some time with Gaston!  Our magical buttons are suppose to only work on rides that have fast passes, but at every meet and greet we have not had to wait in a line.  Truly amazing!

This picture is amazing to me because David took Hope by the hand and led her out to meet Snow White! 

David and Hope have also fallen in love with Tangled so we visited with Rapunzel!  I am so proud of Hope for posing with these sweet princesses!!

Tonight we had another amazing Disney moment.  David wanted to ride the train one more time so Mike took him to do that.  This amazing Disney staff member helped us get in a special spot for the nighttime parade.  She was so sweet to David!  The boys purchased some light things for the parade and they all three enjoyed it! Hope was SO EXCITED!!

Hope blew kisses to Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother. 

The finale of the parade was a tribute to America with this huge eagle.  David yelled at me "call Ashley Davidson" to see the eagle!  Because of Ashley's new mother-in-law David has a love for eagles! He was so excited. 

 

I want to frame this picture because I will never forget watching these fireworks at Magic Kingdom.  That show was amazing and David was so happy!  The awesome Disney cast member personally escorted us to this special spot to watch the fireworks in a great spot.  The music and fireworks got me at the end and I just felt so thankful and happy.  David is worn out but he is having the best time.  Disney and Make-A-Wish work so hard to make this a magical trip for us all.  Because of our magical wish button we had to wait very little today despite the crowds and we got to do everything at least once.  I am also so thankful for that photo pass because for once all the pictures will have us both in them!! 

 

Tomorrow we are heading to Seaworld and then we will return to the Village to eat dinner, make David's star, and enjoy a huge Candyland game.  We are all tired, but oh so blessed and thankful.