DAY 2 Animal Kingdom and Cirque du Soleil

There's a lot to blog about after Millie's wish trip, so Amanda and I are taking turns. Tonight is my night, and I'm looking forward to documenting it.

First, a little about Millie's Wish(es):

When Millie was first asked what her wish would be, she said "Eat at Olive Garden!" When we explained that it should be something more special than salad and pasta, she suggested "be a cowgirl," before settling on the following: 1) Have a picnic with princesses 2) Swim with princesses 3) Swim with dolphins (they suggest kids make multiple wishes in case they can't grant the first). After talking about it, Amanda and I felt that the best solution would be a trip to Disney World to see all the princesses. Little did we know, ALL her dreams and wishes would come true on this trip.

Now, back to the action - Here's day two, our first full day in Florida:

Twice a week volunteers (of which there is an army of at Give Kids the World Village) bring horses in so the kids can ride. Millie got to go before breakfast!

They gave her a cowgirl hat and and a certificate authenticating her as a cowgirl. Check out the pink button pinned to her chest. This shows that we are staying at Give Kids the World Village. The button told everyone at Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld that Millie is a VIP.

The first thing we did when we got to Animal Kingdom was go see the Lion King. Millie loved it. They sat us in the front, and upon seeing her button, many of the characters would come give her a high five during the presentation. She was beaming! We really enjoyed the show. It makes us want to take Millie to see the full Lion King play one day.

When Millie saw Minnie and Mickey Mouse were signing autographs, she just had to meet them. This was before we learned that her button meant that we got to walk right up to them. She was really happy to see them.

Here she is with Rafiki later in the day. She was so cute with the characters the entire trip - running up to them and giving them hugs.

Millie was so happy to pet and brush the animals.

Austin would get so excited when I'd hold him up in the air by the fans.

The highlight of the day was the safari. I thought this would be cool, and it was better than I expected. The safari area is 800 square miles, so it feels like you're seeing the animals in their natural habitat instead of small pens at a zoo. My favorite were the giraffes roaming through the savanna.

Millie loved seeing the hippos swimming.

Millie was so excited to have her face painted! The girl who did it was so nice, and refused to let us pay.

We finished the day by going to Cirque du Soleil's resident Disney World show La Nouba. This was an amazing experience for us as my cousin Dustin is in it. In the ad above, he's the character in red, the Pierrot Rouge. He's a different character now, but that's him in the ad. The show was beyond amazing, and despite Millie being very tired from a hot day at Animal Kingdom, she LOVED it!

Dustin was great in the performance, as usual, and took the time to give us a backstage tour. All the performers were so nice to Millie and she loved comparing makeup with them, as they were made up like clowns, and she had a unicorn on her face! It was a great day. Thanks again Dustin!!!