Family Dreams of Disneyland Came True

We received a wonderful letter this week from a family we helped fulfil their dreams of a holiday with the characters from  Disney.

 

We first heard of this deserving family back in October 2013 and after we awarded the funds they sent us this message..

 

To everyone at Dream-A-Way, we would like to thank you so much for supporting us in taking our 8 year old son Ross and 6 year old daughter Hannah to Disneyland Paris next May. Ross has autism as well as severe food allergies, so it has taken us some time to build up the courage to consider going abroad for the first time. You have been so understanding by listening to and accepting our reasons for wanting to go by car rather than plane, stay in self catering accommodation rather than a hotel and its great for us that you just get it!
 
Ross and his sister absolutely love theme park rides, the scarier the better, and we know that they will have a magical time. Mum on the other hand needs to get a little bit braver, and is working on it! We have not told the children yet, as Ross in particular doesn’t have any real appreciation of time so will think we are going immediately….and will ask every day when he wakes up if today is the day. What we have told them is that we are going abroad for the first time, and just that has caused great excitement, especially for Hannah who has asked for a passport for her Christmas present!
 
We just have to be patient now, and have the pleasure of looking forward with great excitement to next May, when we will let you know how we got on.
 
Gary, Sarah, Ross & Hannah

 

We can only help deserving families from the donations and gifts we receive from our supporters.

Please share in the delight we at Dream-A-Way experience because of your help.

They kept to their word and below is their once in a lifetime Dream-A-Way Holiday Report

Disneyland Paris May 2014

This was our first trip abroad with our two children Ross (8) and Hannah (6). Both are confirmed roller coaster fans and Disney mad so we were pretty sure they would love it. Ross has autism as well as severe egg and peanut allergies, so we need to be very careful about food.

With Dream-A-Way’s support and lots of prior planning on our part, we travelled by Eurotunnel to stay at Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch just outside Disneyland Paris. Going by car meant we could take our own food, and staying in self-catering accommodation allowed us to have a bit more space (important to Ross) and freedom to eat and come and go when we chose.

We went into the Disneyland Park on the first evening we arrived, a lovely warm sunny evening. We walked through the entrance gates and the children got their first view of the park – instant smiles and requests to go on all the rides. We got our disability pass and headed to Big Thunder Mountain – as you can see from the photo, Ross adored this ride (which we did 8 times in total during our trip!).

We stayed on to see the Disney Dreams show at 11pm that night, which was a fantastic spectacle of lights and fireworks illuminating the Sleeping Beauty Castle, by which time we had been on all the big rides in the park.

After a very rare but welcome lie–in the next morning, we had a swim at the ranch pool, and then headed back for more Disney magic in the afternoon and the fabulous parade in the early evening. Having the disability pass allowed us to go into a special area to ensure we got the best view, and the best photos!

The next day we took the RER train into Paris, where we had a river cruise along the Seine and a trip to see the Eiffel Tower. Hannah goes to French Club at school so was very excited to be in Paris after learning all about it.

We spent our final day in Walt Disney Studios Park, doing bigger and more scary rides, although I think it was only me that was really scared. I will never go on The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride again!

We all had a fantastic time as you can see from the photos. We now have the confidence that we can go abroad as a family and know that Ross will cope, and we all have special memories that will stay with us always. Thank you so much to Dream-A-Way for making this possible.