Give Kids the World, Jan 1, 2026.

Many of you will be familiar with Make a Wish kids. You may be much less familiar with Give Kids the World. Those Make a Wish kids who choose to do a weeklong Orlando vacation go to stay at an equally magical resort called Give Kids the World. There are streets and streets of vacation homes where their families stay. Dedicated volunteers focus on helping the children and their families be able to relax and enjoy this very special time as much as possible.

Hy, Joy, L, me, Nia, Pop, JT, A, Steve, Emie
Mom was too sick to make it

My niece, A, was a Make a Wish kid some years ago because of brain cancer. (She beat the cancer into submission.) For her wish, she chose to stay at Give Kids the World and enjoy a week of Disney, Sea World, and I don't know what else. They allow alumni to come visit occasionally and bring family with them. During this Disney World trip, we took Thursday to visit. For our TX family, it was the first time experiencing this loving place.

The main building and welcome center has a large collection of stars, one for each child. They like to know that you are coming in advance so they can find your special star (that you signed as a Make a Wish kid) to showcase for you. There's a lovely ceremony where cartoon fairies welcome you back to see your star and they send their friendly giant to help you find yours. The door opens and you are ushered into a room of stars and they reveal where yours is.    

Like, a LOT of stars

 There's also a bunch of stuff for kids to do there. There's a movie theater, a small arcade that also has ping pong and one of the most complete, interactive model train sets I've ever seen, several parks to play in, playground equipment, and dino mini golf. They have an antique merry go round that needs a bit of a push to get it running. 

The dino mini golf is pretty special. The dino statues are sometimes statues and sometimes animatronic. When you get your ball in the hole, various roars resound. There are some that spit water at you when you pass them. The last hole has a T-Rex that pops up to say hi. There's a hole in a volcano with lots of glow in the dark paint. ... It's well done.

The cafeteria has a wide variety of kids food. A robot brings by fruit snacks. They also have all you care to eat ice cream and cookies. And all of it was free for all 11 of us because we had A with us. JT best remembers that they had great food. Nia says, "It was fun. The dino putt-putt was cool. And the ice cream was yummy."

L being adorable

We spent a full day there. One of the staff drove me up to the local WalMart to get a prescription med we had run out of. The volunteers really are something special. Joy says, "The people are loving, going out of their way to help with the very smallest comfort. The dear lady in the cafeteria who cleans up after people have eaten defends her sacred right to clean up every dish, requesting very kindly that you not do her job and you leave your dishes there. The people at the ice cream shop come in and ask if you would please like to have more ice cream, and don't even complain when you ask to bring it someone who isn't there" [like me at WalMart!]. "They didn't just take Derrill to WalMart. He was unable to get the prescription because we sent it to the wrong place. So then the man very kindly came back later to pick my husband up after the prescription got to him. They aren't just working for those kids. They are living for those kids, and it's really beautiful."

Really, it's a bright little jewel and a wonderful service these folks give. It's a charity well worth supporting!

A and Nia

 

Disney World 25-26, Day 1-2

The Big Christmas Surprise, that we all somehow managed to keep from the children, was that Pop and Grandma were taking us all to DisneyWorld for about ten days!!! They gave everyone a matching family shirt. Little L (4 yr old) hid hers in the air vent somehow, which took a while for Nia to find. Monday after Christmas we flew out at much-too-early a.m. and enjoyed dinner at the Rose and Crown in Epcot that night.

Our caravan of 11 (at full strength) was a half-chariot troop. Pop, Grandma, and I were in motorized scooters, A and L had their strollers, and Nia was in a wheelchair because of her sprained foot. It was sometimes a struggle to find enough people to push. I normally pride myself on my ability to walk and endurance, but standing in lines gives my back enormous pain, making the wonderful Disney parks a great trial. Our three strollers were decorated with Star Wars characters, inviting many friendly comments from our fellow vacationers.

Tue Dec 30 - EPCOT

We had breakfast crepes. Nia practiced her French with the waitress, who expressed pleasure at Nia's attempts. Right after breakfast most of us did Ratatouille and the key on my scooter broke. I had to climb out of the line to get a new key when the company's rep got there so I could move the scooter again. JT and Hyrum ran off by themselves to hit Soarin and Imagination while we were in line for Ratatouille.

L is particularly fond of Elsa's ride in Norway, so she took people with her in shifts so she could ride it many times without anyone else getting too sick of it. I hadn't been yet and am very impressed with how they remade the Viking ride. Joy: "I loved going on Elsa with L. She makes Disney so magical!" She runs around wearing princess costumes all the time, even at home, so she fits right in.

I took several pictures with odd decorations under the heading
"Me and my brother enjoying DisneyWorld".
He gave me permission to share this one. :)

Nia enjoys "Figgy", aka Figment's World of Imagination. We did Soarin' and visited the Epcot greenhouse called The Land. Nia: "There were lots of signs that tell you to stay off the sand. I think it's because there are tiny hermit crabs that will crawl out and bite you! Either that or there are things that digest stuff under the sand that will infect you." Or they just ask you to stay inside your boat at all times on all rides. I was impressed with how little soil was being used to grow such a very wide variety of plants. "They were BIG! Explosion of vines!!! Like the tomatoes, and the cucumbers, and I think there were some squash that big too."

Most folks did the Space ride, but I remember (from like 20 years ago) that the Mission Space ride was too much for me, so I stayed outside with L. In the middle of waiting, she suddenly crouched down in the middle of the plaza and cried out, "I am LOST! I don't know where my parents are!" A bunch of visitors were staring at her as I came up to comfort her. 'We know where your parents are. They are right inside that building there. They left me to take care of you.' I was most concerned that the staring people would suspect the guy in a goatee of nefariousness. Thankfully I could demonstrate that she trusted me and she was in my party, and let us go at that.

Joy was in line for the faster version, but eventually backed out because of all the signs warning of how extreme it was, so she never got the chance to enjoy it. I did eventually do the easy version with the kids on our second day in Epcot. 

A's favorite ride, and rightfully so, is the new Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind coaster. Nia and I agree it is one of the top three roller coaster/attractions of all time. The other two are Star Wars Rise of the Resistence and Universal's Harry Potter experience. Great, great experiences, one and all! It is so cool, how your cart manages to spin independently of the coaster, so it feels very much like you're going through a double corkscrew and ride backwards, but on minimal track changes. 

(Pictured, JT, Joy, A, and Steve on our later day.)

Joy and I have some confusion about which night was which, but Pop and Grandma weren't feeling up to it one night, so the rest of us headed to China for dinner, only to get there after they closed. The boys and I managed to pick up the last meals served in the America pavillion just before the fireworks started. Joy and Nia had been doing some shopping while Steve's crew did Elsa again. We finally all got together during or just after the fireworks.