Give Kids The World Village is a real-life dreamland

Posted on April 22, 2019August 6, 2019 by Matt Todd

Home sweet home.

To say that Give Kids the World Village is a wonderful place is an understatement. It’s amazing. And I still can’t believe we got to call that place home for a week. It really did feel like home.

In case you didn’t know, Give Kids The World Village is an 84-acre, nonprofit resort in Central Florida that provides week-long, cost-free vacations to children with critical illnesses and their families.

And it’s an amazing, magical place.

We were met at the airport by a volunteer from Give Kids The World Village. He helped us carry our luggage and choose a rental van that was paid for as part of the trip. He sent us on our merry way.

As we drove to the village, Christy asked us what color we thought our cottage would be. I didn’t know what colors were available so I said I thought we’d have an orange house, just because it sounded like something out of a dream.

Our house wasn’t orange. But that’s OK. Ours was a mini castle.

A dreamland of ice cream and pizza.

Many of the buildings, as I understand it, were inspired by a certain game that I loved playing as a kid. And even if they weren’t officially based off of Candy Land, it sure feels like you’re walking through a candy-infused dreamland. And the buildings aren’t the only reason Give Kids The World Village feels like a kid’s dream come true. The food options in the dining hall are magical.

Perkins provides breakfast every morning, including waffles, pancakes, fruits, donuts, biscuits and gravy, sausage, and bacon! We were able to fuel up for our amazing days thanks to Perkins. And let me say, Mihret still talks about the bacon. She says it’s her favorite bacon now. I’m afraid that she might just order a giant plate of bacon next time we visit Perkins.

For lunch and dinner, we could have pizza. Or we could have food from Boston Market. Shortly before our visit to Give Kids The World, we had discovered Boston Market’s chicken pot pies. Of course, we were in heaven when we found out that we could have their pot pies every lunch and dinner if we wanted.

But that’s not all…

Longtime readers of this blog (thanks for your ongoing support) will remember our family’s long-standing tradition of eating ice cream for breakfast whenever Christy is out of town. Those are always special mornings at our house. Aiden even asked if we were having ice cream for breakfast a few months ago when Christy was in San Antonio for a conference. I hadn’t planned on having ice cream for breakfast, but he asked. So I happily obliged.

But even my much-celebrated ice cream for breakfast tradition can’t hold a candle to what’s available at Give Kids The World Village. You can have ice cream for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between. They’ll give it to you in a cone or a dish or as a milkshake. And if you happen to get tired of ice cream, they have slushies available by the pool.

Like I said. This place is a kid’s dream come true!

The rides

I know. You don’t go to the Orlando area to stay at your resort and ride the rides there. You go to Orlando to visit places like Universal Studios and Disney World (more on that in some upcoming posts). But Give Kids The World Village is different. They’re out to create an amazing, memorable experience for all of the kids (and their families) who stay here. So they have rides and a giant pool and a game room and a carousel and a movie theater that shows first-run movies and a boundless playground and fishing and, well…let me show you some more.

Let me tell you something. Taking a good photo on a carousel is hard, y’all. This is the best I could do. But I had to show it to you because Mihret asked to ride this thing every day. No joke. Every. day.

On the first day we rode it, the volunteers running the ride told Mihret there were two rules for riding the carousel:

Have fun.
Smile and wave.

I guess you could say those were three rules. But who’s counting? The important thing was that if you didn’t do those things, he was going to stop the ride early. We took that to heart and waved at every single person we saw during our rides. It was a blast. So we even instituted those rules when that volunteer wasn’t manning the carousel. We waved and smiled and laughed. I think everyone else thought we were crazy. Maybe we are. But that’s OK.

Anyway, here’s some more photos of fun stuff at the village…

Mihret’s star in the Castle of Miracles

Beginning in 1994 every Wish Kid who stays at Give Kids The World Village is given a star to decorate. That star is then placed on the ceiling in the Castle of Miracles. There are currently between 135,000 and 140,000 stars decorating the castle’s ceiling.

And now Mihret’s star is also one of those stars. We have the coordinates. We’ll seek out that star the next time we’re at Give Kids The World Village.

We’ll be back.

Because of everything else we did in Florida, we really didn’t get to do everything that was available at Give Kids The World Village. But that’s OK. We’re an alumni family now. You know what that means? We can come back!

While we won’t stay at the village, we have the opportunity participate in all of the activities. And we can volunteer to serve the kids and their families who are staying there for their magical dream trip.

You haven’t seen the last of the Todd Family, Give Kids The World. We’ll be back. That’s a promise!

We can’t wait!

We saw first-hand how wonderful Give Kids The World Village is. And we want to help ensure that other children and their families are able to experience what we experienced. So, my family and I are participating in Coasting for Kids at Indiana Beach. We’re raising funds for Give Kids the World! Please support our fundraiser so other families can have the magical experience that we did! You can donate here. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you so much for your support!

Bio
Latest Posts

Matt Todd

Howdy. I'm Matt. My wife, Christy, and I have four kids and two dogs, I'm passionate about orphan care. I'm a die-hard fan of the Evansville Aces, the Indiana Hoosiers, and Star Wars. I'm trying to live life by the Todd family motto: "It behooves us to live!"