Wish Trip Part 7: The Finale!!!

Here it is....the end of our wish trip story:

The last few days of our trip were all about slowing down and relaxing before going back to real life. Our hotels and meals were now at our expense since we added these days on. However, we had money left on our debit card to cover most meal and shopping expenses.

We stayed near Cocoa beach so we could see the ocean, a new experience for the children. I didn't know how Jaycee would react. But, she loved it!

The water wasn't warm, so swimming was not a possibility. But, we enjoyed going in a few inches and playing in the sand. Elijah loved collecting sea shells. Jaycee liked laying on the beach. She was very content whenever we were at the beach. I like any place she's laying down instead of running off from me. We tried unsuccessfully to recreate a scene from my childhood.

 

 

This is a picture of me and my dad in '86 during our family vacation to Florida.

Here are some of the failed attempts...

 

 

 



It really wasn't a hard pose but we couldn't pull it off. Besides the beach and visiting our hotel's water park, we went for an air boat ride. The kids loved that as well. It was pretty neat seeing the animals and zooming around the water. We saw several gators. Other than that, we did some shopping, ate at some nice resturants, and went to a dinosaur store. The last few days of the trip were nice. But soon, it was time to fly back home. The magic was over, but we'll hold these moments forever. We loved this time together and cherish these positive memories we have.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read about our trip. The bottom line is that Make-A-Wish and Give Kids the World are amazing organizations! Any family who chooses a Disney wish with the GKTW village will not be disappointed.

Enjoy some final pictures I like that didn't make it in anywhere else.

 

Jaycee hiding at the village.

Mayor tucking Jaycee in at the village.

All smiles on the tea cups at Magic Kingdom

Jaycee's doodle on her star for the Castle of Miracles

Wish Trip Part 6

Our wish trip continued on Friday with our favorite park: Magic Kingdom. This was the only day we skipped breakfast at the village to eat fast food to arrive at the park early. We wanted to be there when it opened and we were! Jaycee was in character heaven again meeting Cinderella, Elsa, Anna, and some other friends.

The new mine train ride was our family favorite. We rode it once and the attendant must have heard us talking about how we'd get back in line to ride it again because as soon as we got off, she showed us back to the front of the line immediately. Wow!

We decided to splurge on lunch. We reserved a character lunch at the Crystal Palace. Pooh and his friends made their way around to our table while we ate off the buffet. We had to wait quite awhile to see Tigger, which is Jaycee's favorite. It seemed like he was with his 30 seconds and then was off to the next table. Maybe it was longer than 30 seconds, but Jaycee felt ripped off. She cried when he walked away. I'll put a happy picture instead:

The Magic Kingdom is my favorite Disney park. There are so many fun rides and ways to see characters. Jaycee loves it too! We ended up staying there until 7 pm.

 

We arrived home too late to eat dinner at the village but their pizza delivery was available. So we ordered some pizzas to eat in the village as we ran through some of Jaycee's medicines. This was our last night at the village, so I had to take Jaycee swimming one more time even if it was a cool night. We were the only 2 people in the heated pool that night. We swam for about 45 minutes when the pool closed then we shivered all the way to the villa. While we swam, the boys went to the ice cream parlor.

The next morning (Saturday) was our final few hours at the village. We awoke early to pack up and check out. We were sad to be leaving such a wonderful, happy place but grateful for the time that we did have. The horses were back at the village, so of course we had to do the horse rides again. Jaycee still loved them.

Then it was time for us to go to the Castle of Miracles and find Jaycee's star. Every child that has been to the village has a star in the Castle. So yes, there are thousands of stars. Earlier in the week, Jaycee was given a gold star that she doodled on and then sent to the "star fairy" The fairy took the star and placed it in the castle and then gave us the location of our star. The volunteer showed us where Jaycee's star was located.

It was too high above to see, but the workers had pictures of her star and pointed it out for us. It was an incredible thing to know that Jaycee has left her mark on the village forever. We said our good-byes to the village and headed off to Sea World.

 

At Sea World, we were given front of the line access again at rides, special seating at the shows, and a free wheelchair rental. Jaycee loved the dolphin and killer whale shows. We were excited to attend Jack Hannah's animal show but Jaycee was not. This was a dark theater, so she immediately sunk to the floor until she felt safe enough to sit in her seat.The Sea World staff were kind and accommodating to us. The other people though.... Ugh!

 

Having a child in a wheelchair requires patience. The animal exhibits were next to impossible to get Jaycee up close to the front for her to see due to the crowds. I think everyone is focused on their view of the animals and getting their money's worth, that they didn't see that Jaycee in her wheelchair was blocked and couldn't get to the front. Either that, or the people didn't care. After being in parks all week and everyone wearing down, we didn't have the energy to fight the crowds for a glimpse of an animal. Maybe some other time....But she did love the shows!

 

We gave up on Sea World without seeing half of it. Leaving Sea World, we drove to Cape Canaveral and checked into the hotel we'd be staying at for the next few nights. We took the advice of other people on-line and added 3 nights on to our trip at our expense to decompress and relax before flying home.

 

Stay tuned....... only 1 more post to go & this wish trip series is over!!!!