As The Walt Disney Company embarks on its inaugural “Disney Week of Wishes” to celebrate the company’s 45-year relationship with Make-A-Wish®, Walt Disney World Resort hosted its second-ever Once Upon A Wish Party — a multi-day, large-scale, wish-granting event where nearly 50 children facing critical illnesses and their families were swept away into their own Disney Princess stories.
Events like these are part of what makes Disney the world’s largest wish granter for Make-A-Wish, granting a wish every hour of every day, on average.
“We are always dreaming up innovative ways for people to experience the magic of Disney, and with the Once Upon A Wish Party, we invited these kids to step into their own storybooks,” Josh D’Amaro, Chairman, Disney Experiences, said. “It was a very special opportunity to bring our beloved characters and powerful stories to life in experiences that only Disney can offer — creating happiness for families when it’s needed most.”
Across multiple days, the wish kids stepped into and took charge of their own stories by becoming Disney royalty, culminating with a coronation at a Royal Ball planned just for them at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
Here’s how over 500 cast members and employees across the company worked to bring together yet another amazing experience for kids facing critical illnesses.
Creating Happy Memories
As Once Upon A Wish Party was being assembled, the teams had one guiding principle: “We kept the transformative power of happiness as our north star because we know the impact it has on kids and their families,” Tajiana Ancora-Brown, Director, External Affairs, Walt Disney World Resort, said.
“My favorite part of granting a Disney wish is seeing all our cast members join forces to make the magic happen. It truly is Disney magic at its best,” Ancora-Brown added.
Parks & Resorts Operations, Disney Live Entertainment, Disney Consumer Products, Events, Food & Beverage, and more teams across the entire organization pulled together to ensure they would create an inventive party that would make happy memories for the kids.
To keep pushing the boundaries from the first Once Upon A Wish Party, this year’s event brought all-new interactive experiences that took wish kids directly into the story, making them just like the heroes and heroines they look up to.
“We always look for innovative ways to make these wishes even more special, which means incorporating as much of Disney as we can,” D’Amaro said. “Whether that’s bringing in talent from our movie studios, using merchandise from our Disney Consumer Products team, or harnessing the best of our company’s storytelling, our goal is to make each wish unforgettable.”
To help tell that story, wish kids transformed into the Disney heroines who inspired them during their medical journeys, receiving their very own princess dresses and designing crowns to match. They had the opportunity to engage with more than 55 character greetings, including interactive experiences themed to Frozen and Moana.
The event also included a red-carpet arrival, themed meals, a scavenger hunt, pajama party, fireworks display, and plenty more.
“This means everything,” Patrick Tenney, one wish kid’s dad, said. “With this experience that Make-A-Wish and Disney allows us, it puts us at ease and gives us a moment to relax and enjoy. It’s so wonderful for all the kids, especially our girls.”
On the last night, wish kids were whisked away for magical makeovers ahead of the event’s grand finale: The Royal Ball. Here, they saw almost every Disney Princess and enjoyed entertainment from iconic fairytales. Just before the clock struck midnight, wish kids were officially crowned Disney Royalty — a moment families will never forget.
Nearly every Disney wish is made even more unforgettable with the magic of Disney products, which allow the kids to bring a piece of the magic and a lasting memory home with them.
“Some of the Most Important Work We Do”
“When you ask a sick child what their one wish is, and more than half of the time it’s to experience Disney, it’s a reminder for me of why we do what we do,” Ancora-Brown said.
D’Amaro agreed, noting that, “wish-granting is some of the most important work we do in Disney Experiences, and our cast members are at the heart of every wish-come-true.”
Disney doesn’t take the responsibility to grant these wishes lightly. Kids get one wish, so it’s incumbent upon Disney to make sure it’s one that they will never forget.
That’s why Disney works tirelessly on events like the Once Upon A Wish Party to make sure that what the kids experience goes beyond their expectations.
“These moments are life-changing for the kids and families. They build them up with strength and resilience, and they have a lasting impact on them — and also on us,” D’Amaro said. “We are so honored when kids choose Disney to grant their wish, and it’s a very special privilege to share these experiences with them, and help them make joyful new memories.”
Disney Week of Wishes
The Once Upon A Wish party happened during Disney’s unprecedented Disney Week of Wishes. All week long the company is honoring the transformative power of happiness by creating unique wishes selected by Make-A-Wish kids that only Disney can make come true. This includes a wish-granting moment on American Idol, making one girl’s wish of meeting a star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe come true, and many more.
In fact, the unique power of Disney to share more than 170 signature wishes this week is made possible by harnessing the breadth of the company’s businesses to deliver on the core promise that has guided Disney for over a century: to create happiness for kids and families around the world.
It’s this promise that has made The Walt Disney Company the world’s largest wish granter for Make-A-Wish, having granted over 165,000 wishes since the very first official wish at Disneyland Park in 1981.
