Elena's Make A Wish Trip, part 8: Breakfast with the Princesses, Belle's Special Surprise, and The End

Well, all good things must come to an end. In the case of these Make A Wish posts, the end has been long overdue. ;) But, in the case of our Make A Wish trip, it came too quickly. On the day we were supposed to fly home, it felt like we had just barely arrived. We had such a wonderful week!

Friday morning, we checked out of the village and headed off to The Magic Kingdom to surprise Elena with breakfast at Cinderella's Castle. We met up with Danny, Kristi, and Jackson...

... dropped Lily off with them and made a beeline for the castle. Elena was thrilled to be able to walk through the doors and actually go inside. :)

Now I have to tell you, this is the strangest conglomerate of pictures. :) Right after we took this picture, the batteries in our camera died! Ah! And all our fifty sets of spare batteries were in the stroller with Danny and Kristi. :( Fortunately, part of our dining package included pictures with Cinderella by the Disney photographers:

Before we went up to eat, Elena got to talk with Cinderella

Admiring :)

And then Sleeping Beauty saved us! She noticed that we weren't snapping any pictures and got our waiter to hook us up with a complimentary disposable camera. Like I said, the service was so great! We were so happy to be able to still get pictures of the princess breakfast. So, the rest of these breakfast pictures are from the disposable camera (which we totally had forgotten how to use!).

Her knight in shining armor. Notice the "popped" foot. So dreamy. :)

On the staircase that led up to the dining hall at the top of the castle - she looks like she belongs there, huh?

Eating breakfast

During breakfast the princesses come around and visit with you at your table. With Belle:

While Belle was at our table, they did a little thing where all the girls were given magic wands and the boys swords and everyone was supposed to make a wish. Elena was more interested in Eric's sword than her wand. Oh dear... :)

I thought the look on her face in this picture was so awesome

Waving her sword

Sleeping Beauty who rescued us from our cameralessness

After breakfast, we set off towards Toon Town to meet Belle as promised and we ran into Pooh and Tigger.

More Eskimo Kisses

When we got to the Hall of Fame we told the worker at the front of the princess meeting line that Belle asked us to meet her at 12:30. She looked at her clipboard, found Elena's name, and then someone escorted us up the back hallway to the back door of the room where the princesses were waiting. They told us it would be just a minute and we heard people over their walkie-talkies talking about closing down the waiting lines because a wish child was going to have a private session with the princesses.

A moment later, we were escorted into the (empty) room where Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and the Belle we had met before were waiting for Elena.

Between the breakfast and this meeting, Elena's face was covered in kisses. :)

Elena enjoyed her time with all the princesses, but Belle was the highlight. Again, we just couldn't get over the sweetness of this Belle. She just doted on Elena. She really made it such a special time for all of us -the perfect culmination of Elena's wish to meet the princesses.

Elena was in heaven - she had the princesses all to herself for a good twenty minutes!

We just love the sweet, sweet lady who played Belle and gave Elena - and all of us - such great memories. I was so happy that the last day of our trip Elena got to spend so much time being her social little self with so many characters and princesses. It was the perfect ending.

I don't even know what to say here at the end. I don't know how many more times I should spout off how magical it was and how amazing Make A Wish has been. I could go on forever and you're probably sick of hearing it over and over and over again. :)

But the thing that has almost been more incredible is that our Make A Wish experience hasn't ended with the end of the trip. While Elena's been in the hospital recently, she's had no less than three visits from one of her wishgranters, gifts, and a surprise visit and hospital tea party with Belle and the Beast. They are just incredible! You can tell that the people who work with Make A Wish truly believe in what they're doing - taking time out of their busy lives to care about Elena and try to brighten her day when things are rough. Make A Wish always talks about "the power of a wish" - I love that phrase: "the power". We feel that our experience with Make A Wish really has given us power to go on. It has been the most incredible experience for us and has truly provided us with hope, joy, the magic of anticipation, healing, happiness, and good memories to sustain us through the rest of our cancer journey and for the rest of our lives. People's generosity, love, and support have staggered us and lifted us up throughout the whole process. It has all been amazing!

We really hope that you will take time throughout your lives to support and get involved with Make A Wish. It is hard to think of a more worthwhile organization to support- they do so much good. There are local chapters in just about every state and many ways to volunteer. There are many fundraisers for Make A Wish throughout the year as well - things like the Letters to Santa program that Macy's sponsored during Christmas, Make A Wish galas, proceeds donated from renting a car through Avis, etc, etc,. Check www.wish.org and click "find your local chapter". There is information about donating, what fundraisers are going on, how to get involved and more on both the main Make A Wish website and the chapter Make A Wish website. Here is a way to reach out when you feel powerless and make a difference to people who are suffering and tired and hurting. They are the best of the best.

THANK YOU MAKE A WISH!!!