Make-a-Wish Tuesday

 We woke up with Tommy sprawled in the king-sized bed. I like all the space.

clutching his new wand even in sleep

Tuesday morning we went to the Ice Cream Palace for breakfast. We ran into our friends from Canada and compared notes about highlights that our families had enjoyed. The kids had some fruit loops, yogurt, toast and pastries while Clinton and I got some eggs and biscuits. Emma got a pastry wrapped up to save for lunch, her own idea, and worked out so well that she would repeat that each day for the rest of out trip.

Lizzy hurried through her fruit loops before ordering chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup, hot fudge, and chocolate sprinkles. I got a cup of vanilla ice cream to go and allowed myself to be talked into whipped cream as well.

Today was the Magic Kingdom, where none of us has ever been, but was build on the basic pattern of Disneyland. I was so excited - I've been wanting to go to the magic kingdom forever. The kids were pretty excited, too, since they knew something of what to expect.

We rode the ferry from the parking lot to the main entrance.

Emma's genie pass allowed us to get in the FastPass line for every ride or attraction in the park.

We have probably been ruined for all future Disney visits because it required no planning, no waiting, and it bought us the royal treatment.

I love this picture - I love how Lizzy is kissing Emma's head

Disney also provided us a PhotoPass plus which includes all the pictures on rides and with the roving Disney Photographers.

We started with Adventureland, where we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean and saw some pirates teaching a new batch of recruits.

 

We rode Splash Mountain a couple times and Big Thunder Mountain a couple times.

Clinton is wearing the red shirt in the back of the log in the foreground

Lizzy and Emma said they didn't want to ride it because they would get wet; but they wouldn't miss the chance when it came down to getting in line.

Tommy loved riding the train. The boy is only three years old, but tall enough to enjoy a lot of the more adventurous attractions.

Lizzy and Emma with their hands in the air, Tommy and Mommy in front by the engine

Clinton and I had bypassed Jasmine's Flying Carpets on our way in through Adventureland, judging it to be not a priority. "Maybe we'll come back to it," we said. The girls kept asking about it. This is their trip, after all. This is Emma's wish, not mine. 

We went back to Adventureland to get a magic carpet ride. Watch out for the camels; they spit. I liked that part.

 
We next visited the Haunted Mansion. Lizzy and Emma had lots of questions. "How did all of them die? Is there really a ghost that will follow me home? I don't want a ghost Daddy..." We tried to answer on our way to the Pecos Bill Inn for some lunch.
 

Horseless carriage

Caleb at fruit loops, Emma ate her danish, Lizzy and Tommy ate peanut butter sandwiches, and Daddy and Mommy got some burgers. The children all declined even to share our fries. I suppose there is something good about kids that don't prefer fast food. We all cooled off with some ice cold lemonade.

Fantasyland started with Peter Pan's flight and the magic carousel.

I love the simple rides, I think, just as much as the thrilling ones. I love the Disney ambiance and magic.

We took a few turns on the Seven Dwarfs' Mine train, which is a lot of fun.

It was getting hot and we were getting a little short-tempered. The girls declared that It's a Small World was torture - way too boring. The fun was draining just a bit.

We headed for the Wish Lounge.

Disney World has a quiet room set aside for wish kids only. We showed our genie pass and were let into a lovely parlor with a checkers table, dominoes, huge pillows, and comfortable seats. Even a couch to lie down. It was air conditioned with cold drinking water.

We took off our shoes, leaned back, and relaxed. I hoped we might get some of the kids to nap for a bit; but even slowing down to play normally with dominoes and pillows and a magic carpet refreshed them.

 Lizzy played a couple games of checkers and wished for chess pieces. Caleb and Tommy scattered the dominoes everywhere and then gathered them up again.

Emma liked the water dispenser and happily brought drinks to everybody and was delighted to get us refills.

I looked at the art, the stained glass, and the antiques. Clinton got - not a nap - but a lie down.

After nearly an hour, we felt ready to go back and enjoy the park again.

Lizzy was determined to drive her own car at the Tomorrowland Speedway, and she was tall enough to have it; but the pedal is pretty hard. One of the ride operators finally jumped into her car to get a ride to the pits.

Daddy pushed the pedal while Emma drove. Tommy really wanted his hands on the wheel until we had gone 100 feet, after which he was bored with steering; but her really didn't want me reaching around him to control the steering either.

Clinton and I were both eager to share Space Mountain with the kids since it was not operating in Disneyland during our visit before Emma's cancer diagnosis.

We also enjoyed Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.

By now we were hungry, and the kids were pretty tired. We walked comfortably back through the park, taking pictures and enjoying the Disney climate. Not the weather climate - that was humid.

The Disney climate includes families having fun together, dreams realized, possibility embraced. I love the attention to detail, the grand showmanship, the animated physical reality of fantasy, hope, and dreams.

Walt Disney said that he enjoyed doing the impossible. He was an innovator, a dreamer, and an inventor. His parks are surely full of smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand, illusion, and tricks. They are also monuments to courage, innovation, and imagination.

The Disney climate inspires hope. It is happy and rejuvenating. It believes anything is possible. It sees a great future. That is a refreshing climate for a family that has been fighting cancer for nearly a year.

That climate and feeling and faith builds up. Is it any wonder that so many kids, when offered a wish, choose a Disney trip?

When Emma made her wish, she was picking from her life experiences the most fun she had ever had. She told her wish granters, "Disneyland, or, no, wait, Disney World." 

We got back to our villa tired and happy. Give Kids the World provided another great dinner, pizza delivered right to our door in a downpour. Mayor Clayton was throwing a party; but the kids were tired and needed baths, so we got ready for bed and listened to the rain fall.