On day 4 our plan was to get up and eat breakfast and then meet in Julie's Safari Theater to meet the Disney Characters that were visiting that day. Ave started out her morning with leftover pizza while the rest of us ate breakfast food from the Gingerbread House. After we were done we headed over to meet Mickey.
Meeting Mickey at Give Kids the World was a really special experience for me. Of course meeting Mickey is always special, but it is so different there. Right in front of us there was a family with a little boy - he must have been around 10 and he was blind. I remember him walking up to Mickey with a huge smile on his face. He asked Mickey if he could touch his face and his hands and feet and you could see the little boy kind of making a picture of what Mickey Mouse is supposed to look like in his mind. Once he had knocked on Mickey's large black shoes he stood up and gave Mickey a HUGE hug! It was so special to watch and I don't think anyone who was there wasn't crying.
After that I was so excited to get Ave up there who of course was instantly terrified of him! I went up without her at first to get him to sign our stuffed Mickey on the foot (they won't do that at the parks) and to get a picture. We had pretty much given up on her coming any closer after several attempts when Mickey came all the way off the stage to meet her. He spent SO much time making sure Ave was comfortable and gave her high fives and kisses until she would actually pose for a picture. I can't believe that Disney does so much for these Wish kids and I wish I could've really thanked the Mickey inside the costume to tell them what the experience meant to us.
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After meeting Mickey we went to the Castle of Miracles to meet Goofy and Pluto. Both of them were so sweet sitting down on the ground so they wouldn't seem so daunting to Ave. She was still pretty afraid but did better then with Mickey!
After we headed to Sea World! This was much less crowded then the Disney parks which was nice. We played a few games and won a little turtle for Ave and after went to the Dolphin feeding. Each Wish child at Sea World gets to feed the dolphins for free. As soon as the worker saw my button she told us to go to a special waiting area where we would wait to go in before all the people who had actually paid and waited in line! Talk about royal treatment. :)
Ave and I were too scared to touch the dead fish but Thomas fed this cute dolphins TWELVE fish! This guy wasn't going anywhere once he figured out we had fish! After he flipped his tail up so he was laying on his side and we all got to pet him.
After we saw a few more animals, Thomas wanted to do the "adult rides". He went off with our special pass to do Atlantis and a Manta Ray ride which both looked only like insane people would go on them (to me anyway! :) ) I took Avery in the Arctic section and it looked like you were walking through huge glaciers! I took her on this special interactive penguin ride and she ended up crying for her daddy the whole time!
Afterwords we met back up in the "Happy Harbor" where there are rides that are specifically geared towards little kids. Perfect for Avery and this was probably her favorite part.
She was pretty exhausted when we left. :)
We headed back to GKTW and Ave and Thomas went swimming in their HUGE pool. It was way too cold for me to get in the water but she loved it!
After baths and getting dressed we headed to the Gingerbread house for dinner. Each night GKTW has activities going on for all of the families. That night was Halloween and we got to take Ave trick or treating down the Avenue of Angels and they had fun crafts and games at a few different tables. GKTW also offers one "tuck in" per family by Miss Merry or Mayor Clayton. When I scheduled it they asked who I preferred and made sure I knew Mayor Clayton has a reputation of riling up the kids and jumping on beds! I thought that might scare Avery so I requested Miss Merry and I was so glad! Avery just ADORED Miss Merry and still talks about her four months later!
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