Hayden's Magical Wish!!!!

[Hayden's Dad]

As some of you know my son Hayden was diagnosed with Krabbe disease in Febuary. It is a neuro degenerative disease that is terminal. We were given a timeline of six to twelve months left with him. My family came through and started a fund for him, since there are no organizations to help families with children under the age of two and a half, so we could go to Walt Disney World. This is a shortened account of Hayden’s Magical Wish. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them. Thank you all so much.

Day 1: We flew in to Orlando about 11:30, checked in with Magical Express and were whisked to the All Star Movies Resort. We checked in with the hotel and Hayden’s nurse, then headed to MGM Studios.

We ate at 50’s Prime Time (good food, nice atmosphere, still like Sci Fi better). Then we found Sorcerer Mickey (That was awesome, Hayden loved him). We then did the Muppets, Star Tours (First time I had ridden. It’s cool), and The Great Movie Ride. We got to the park late and by then they were closing down so we did some shopping and DW hunted for pressed pennies.

Day 2: We went to the Magic Kingdom to catch the monorail to the Poly and to get Hayden’s first haircut. They did such an awesome job on his hair, and then he got a certificate and his own set of mouse ears that said “First Hair Cut” on the back. On the way out we got to see Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horesecollar.

We met up for breakfast (all 12 of us) at the Poly for the Ohana breakfast. The food was good, but the characters, Mickey, Lilo, Pluto, and Stitch, took a looonngg time to come around to the tables. Not sure I would want to spend the money or the table service again on breakfast we were ready to be in the park. Then we jumped on the monorail and headed to Epcot.

At Epcot, Hayden and I did the leave a legacy tile then we headed for The Seas with Nemo and Friends (Very Nice). We fast passed Soarin and headed to Journey Into Imagination with Figment (My DW and I really like, but Hayden did not like the blasts of air), then we went through Inoventions towards Ellen’s Energy Adventure (We love the Dinos). On the way there, we rode Spaceship Earth, which I am glad we got to see before the new update. I love this ride, but it does need some sprucing up especially the track. We stopped in the Character Connection where they took us around the side and did a special greet with us with all the characters at once!! Chip, Dale, Pluto, Mickey, and Minnie. It was absolutely magical they just kept fawning over him and the photo pass photographers took our camera and video camera so DW could be with us. Then we headed into World Showcase, but we couldn’t see much of the countries because we were trying to keep up with the rest of our group, and get back to Soarin for our fast passes, which was very cool. We saw Aladdin in Morocco; they let us be the last ones for the night. By that time we were tired and slowly headed back to the resort.

Day3: This was by far our best day. We went to the Magic Kingdom for a Grand Gathering breakfast at Tony’s Town Square, which was actually hosted by Tony himself. He was awesome and man can he sing. The food was good (same food from Ohana’s) but much better character interaction. We saw Chip, Dale, Goofy, and Mickey. We then headed into the park where we met Honest John, Gepetto, Pinocchio, and Daisy. We headed to Mickey’s Philharmagic, which we had gotten fast passes for as part of our Grand Gathering. We did everything in Fantasyland, rode the Haunted Mansion; and then went to get an ornament for Hayden in the Christmas Shoppe. While there the parade started so we stepped out into their little courtyard, sat by ourselves at a little table and chairs and had a front row seat for the whole parade! It was great!! Next we headed to Tomorrow Land for dinner at Cosmic Rays. We then rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, met Buzz Lightyear, rode the Carousel of Progress, and headed to Toontown. There we saw Mickey, Donald (We now had all of the fab five!!!), Chip, Dale, Daisy, Snow White, Cinderella, and Belle. Next we were off to Adventure Land to ride Pirates (It was awesome; I love how they did Davey Jones in the mist.) Then we debated between seeing Spectro Magic or the Country Bears. We opted for the Bears which we had a front row seat for, and when we exited, the parade just getting to where we were and again we had excellent front row seats!!!. By then we were very tired and made our way back to the hotel.

Day 4: This was our most exhausting day. We first went to Animal Kingdom, and headed towards Camp Minnie Mickey, where we saw Mickey, Goofy, and Donald. They all just loved Hayden. Goofy kept blowing kisses to him. Then we saw Festival of the Lion King for the first time. That was awesome! I highly recommend it. We then heard a rumor that Jiminy Cricket was going to be appearing at Rafiki’s planet watch, so we headed there. On the way we got to meet Baloo, and King Louie. At Planet Watch we saw Jiminy and Rafiki. We met the rest of our group for fast passes to Kilimanjaro Safari. We got lost on the trails and somehow still not sure how lost the rest of our group and ended up on the other side of the park. So we made our way back to the front to catch the bus for the Grand Floridian for dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare (I wouldn’t personally recommend this resteraunt unless your little one is just a die hard Cinderella fanatic. It is extremely loud and the food wasn’t bad, but I just expected more.) The character interaction was pretty good, we met Suzy, Perla, Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the Fairy Godmother.

After dinner we headed back to Epcot to get a better look at the countries that we missed before, but by the time we got there it was 7:30 and they were closing at 9:00 and we wanted to get the passport filled out for Hayden. So my wife and I took off like a shot out of a gun and almost had to run around World Showcase, because they don’t make the Kidcots very noticeable. If you are looking for them just go to the very back until you can’t go any further into the country and then jump over the back wall and that is where they will be . I know why they do it so your children will be immersed in the country, but man is it tiring on the parents. So at 8:55 we hit Mexico and got our last stamp in the passport and on his mask. Yeah! I think we even did a little dance. We got the poster for completing it and went to find something to eat and to sit down. We ate at the Lotus Blossom in China which was pretty good. We headed out of the park taking time to look at all of the new topiaries for the Flower and Garden Festival. We slept very well that night.

Day 5: Our last day. We had reservations at Chef Mickey’s, but we had a small scare with Hayden. He got upset when I woke him and got a little sick, so by the time we made it down to check our baggage for the Magical Express it took longer than we thought and we ended up missing our reservation. So we headed back over to MGM to see a couple more characters. We saw Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Sorcerer Mickey (Do you see the pattern?), and Woody. Then we headed back to the hotel and boarded our bus back to the airport.

I have to say this was the best trip we have had, and for any parents who have children who are disabled I was thoroughly impressed with Disney’s handicapped facilities and the extra attention to those who have special needs. We have memories that will last us a long time. Thank you all for all of your thoughts, prayers and pixie dust. We are now counting down our next trip to Disney World later this year.

Jiminy Cricket x 1
Woody x 1
Kim Possible x 1
Ron Stoppable x 1
Stanley x 1
Perla x 1
Prince Charming x 1
Suzy x 1
Cinderella x 2
Fairy Godmother x 1
Rafiki x 1
Baloo x 1
Donald Duck x 2
Goofy x 2
Stitch x 2
Aladdin x 1
Daisy Duck x 2
Honest John x 1
Buzz Lightyear x 1
Snow White x 1
Belle x 1
Horace Horsecollar x 1
Carrabelle Cow x 1
Pluto x 3
Lilo x 1
Figment x 1
Tony x 1
Gepetto x 1
Pinocchio x 1
Winnie the Pooh x 1
Tigger x 1
Chip & Dale x 3
Minnie x 1
Mickey x 7

[Strmchsr]

I'm glad it was a great trip for you and little Hayden. It'll certainly be a trip you'll always treasure. Thanks for sharing the good report!

[sgdisney]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. It sounds like magical memories were made all through the week.

[poeticeclipse]

Thanks for the great trip report! Disney does a wonderful job making those feel special who deserve the extra attention. Lots of prayers and pixie dust your way.

[faline]

Sounds like you created many special memories during this trip. Thanks for reporting!

[BrerSchultzy]

Wow. I am so happy you had such a great trip. I read your earlier post, and have been praying for you and Hayden ever since. I am glad you had such a wonderful time, and here's some extra for Hayden, so that his next trip will be just as great!

[maizey05]

Many wishes and prayers for Hayden, and a very magical next trip to WDW.

[pogo]

I'm glad your trip went well.

Thank you for sharing it wih us.

[TiggeRia]

I'm glad you had such a magical trip! My thoughts and prayers are with Hayden and your entire family.

[jennbunn]

sounds like you and your family had a wonderful trip!!! we will keep your family in our thoughts and prayers!!!!

[mrsgaribaldi]

I'm glad that all had such a good time, especially Hayden

[disneydrmr]

So many magical memories for you to treasure! Thoughts and prayers to your family!

[momofdisneyprincess]

Thank you so much for posting your trip report. I have been waiting to find out how your trip went. I'm so glad it went well and you created many magical memories. I will continue to keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

[Hayden's Dad]

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! Now comes the organizing of souveniers and photos. My wife and I took over 1000 pictures and we have the photopass cd which has another 215 on it. But that is the fun part.

[January-2007]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Your family will continue to be in our prayers. So glad you had an enjoyable family vacation. Lots of character meets!

[FriendsofMickey]

I am happy that your family had such a great time.
My thoughts and prayers are with your family.

[Hayden's Dad]

That is an understatement about the character meets. We met a total of 35 different characters and got I think 48 different signatures. Almost all of the CM's were outstanding with him and would pull us aside for special meet and greets.

[baby minnie's mommy]

So happy to hear about the trip - I've been keeping my eye out for the report! I'm glad you did the leave a legacy at Epcot. I wasn't sure if they were still doing that. And that's a super list of character greets!

[Christine]

I too am so glad you did a Legacy tile in EPCOT!

Sounds like you made precious Hayden a very happy little boy! I would love to see the pictures once you get them organized!

Thanks for sharing your magical trip!!!

Give Hayden a big from me!!

-Christine

[Bethanymouse]

What a wonderful trip you had! I hope that you took lots and lots of pictures! So many characters, I am impressed! I bet Hayden loved meeting them all. Which was his favorite? Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us!