The wish party was so much fun! It was perfect. Just perfect. We honestly had been a little nervous about the party. Adri didn't really understand the concept. I mean, she's 3. She knows she's going to Disney and she knows she wished for that, but she's been to Disney before so she isn't fully grasping that this is a special trip. But the idea of a party because of a trip she just didn't understand. In her mind, what's a party where none of her friends are there and she doesn't know anybody? So we've kind of been talking a lot about how special this is and how thankful we are and all of that, to build excitement.
We get there and it's just the Marketing Coordinator for the SC chapter and the casting director that did all of the fundraising. And honestly, we weren't sure if that was going to be it or not. We introduced ourselves and within a few minutes Adri was asking for lunch and Tona (casting director) said that one more special guest was coming. I wasn't sure who it was.
Turns out that Cyrus (from King of the Crown, which was the show that by far raised the most money $ from the competition) is good friends with Tona. He told her that there was a girl he coached in pageants that had actually been all of the princesses at Disney and was great with kids. So they invited this girl to the party. She couldn't be in Disney princess character because of her contract with them, so she was just princess Mikayla. But she comes walking through the park and Adri's eyes got so bright. Now mind you, it's noon in a very popular park in the area and there are kids EVERYWHERE oohing and ahhing over this girl. She comes up to our shelter that was reserved and Adri runs to meet her. She says, "are you Adri?" and Adri grabs her hand and they walk to the shelter together.
Once they got there, she gave Adri a princess book and brought pictures of every Disney princess (who actually, were all her - she has played every one at MK except for Mulan) and each of them had signed a special message. Then she taught Adri how to wave like a princess, curtsy (sp?) like a princess, hug like a princess, dance like a princess, play pat-a-cake like a princess and on and on. Then Adri sat in her lap and she read her a book. Then we had lunch, opened presents, and ate cake. And this girl - in blazing heat and fully decked out in princess garb did it all with Adri. And she was in character the whole time. It was awesome. Then after the eating and present opening, Adri took her to the playground where they did all sorts of stuff. She even convinced her to go down the slide with her in her big dress and crinlin. Her mom was there with her so it was just our family, the MAW staff person, the casting director, the princess, and her mom. But it was perfect. I think a big crowd would've been intimidating.
The girl and her mom were so gracious and I think the casting director and MAW staff girl had fun watching all of the interaction. Adri was in heaven! One of her gifts was a dress with matching crown, shoes, earrings, and wand, so they dressed up and posed together. Then she also got a princess teepee and they sat in there and had a tea party together. Honestly, this was like a wish for Adri. She's not going to understand when the Disney princesses don't just follow her around the whole time. Ha!
I'm going to edit some pictures and upload them but wanted to share the story. Tona said that they could've bombarded us with people (I guess a lot of the reality contestants actually wanted to come?), but I'm actually glad we did it this way. This was more fitting for the wish. She did invite us to a dinner that she is doing in September where there will be a "reality stars" table so that the people that gave will have a chance to meet her. She also had a bunch of signed pictures for us but had to check with MAW before giving them to us (something about national standards for MAW and not doing "extras" that could be considered a wish), so that will be a fun treat for me later.
What an awesome party for your little princess. I look forward to seeing the photos. 
