865 · When Wishes Assemble: The Story of Disney and Make-A-Wish

45 years. 175,000 wishes. One out of every two Make-A-Wish wishes granted in America is a Disney wish.

The Disney Make-A-Wish partnership is about far more than theme park vacations. Every single hour, somewhere in the world, Disney helps grant a wish for a child battling a critical illness - creating moments of hope, joy, strength, and healing for families who need it most.

In this very personal episode, Lou shares the extraordinary history of Disney and Make-A-Wish, from the very first Disneyland wish in 1981 to the incredible “Wishes Assemble” event at Avengers Campus in Disney California Adventure, featuring Anthony Mackie, MrBeast, Mark Rober, Paul Bettany, and 40 remarkable children and their families.

Along the way, he explores the emotional impact of wish granting, the medical research behind why wishes matter, and why this cause has become such an important part of the WDW Radio community for more than 20 years.

You’ll hear stories about wish kids meeting their heroes, Disney Cast Members who once received wishes themselves, and how the WDW Radio Dream Team Project has helped raise more than $550,000 to help grant wishes for children and families through Make-A-Wish.

If you’ve ever wondered what Disney magic truly means, this episode may change the way you see it forever.

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Right now, somewhere in the world, a Disney wish is being granted. Not today, not this hour.

Right now, as you listen to this, a child that's battling a critical illness is having a moment that their family will talk about for the rest of their lives. Because Disney said yes. They say yes every single hour of every single day to making a make a wish trip come true.

And when you stop to think about it, it makes you wonder, what does that actually look like? What does it mean for a child and for a family, for the people inside Disney who show up for it every single day? I was there last week.

I witnessed it firsthand. And I want you to understand exactly what it means.

Hello, my friend, and welcome to WW Radio, your guide to the Disney parks and experiences around the world. I am Lou Mongello, and this is show number 865. And today I'm going to tell you the full story of Disney and Make a Wish.

And whether this is your first time listening or you've been with me since the very beginning more than 20 years ago, thank you for being here. Welcome back and welcome home. Don't forget to come be part of the community and conversation over in the clubhouse@wwradio.com clubhouse.

Join me for our live show every Wednesday at 7:30pm Eastern on Facebook and YouTube. And sign up for my free weekly email newsletter@www.radio.com.

And when you're ready to plan your next Disney vacation or visit anywhere on this big, blue, beautiful world of ours, visit my friends over@m MouseFanTravel.com for completely free, personalized and expert vacation planning. But for now, sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's episode of the WW Radio show.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I just got off stage speaking at a conference at the Anaheim Convention center, appropriately enough, about Disney in a keynote I like to call the Disney Difference and how businesses and brands can leverage lessons from the Disney parks in a practical, tactical and meaningful way. Because I think if you're a business owner, we'd all love our businesses to be like Disney, right? But I digress. And picture this.

It is a beautiful, dare I say, Perfect evening in Disneyland. The sun is going down, the weather is perfect. I go over and I check in.

And a couple hours later, I am standing at the edge of Avengers campus in California Adventure. And I'm watching something I don't think I'll ever forget.

Because starting at Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout, there is this line of cast members lining both sides of the path who are cheering, holding Avengers props, pom poms and streamers. They are going wild. And these kids, these children and their families are marching like heroes, because that's exactly what they are.

These children have all been battling critical life threatening illnesses. Some have spent more time in hospitals than in classrooms. Some have faced things that most adults will never have to.

And tonight, like that night, they were Avengers recruits. They were walking into Avengers campus to dance with The Avengers. Meet Mr. Beast. Ride Spider Man.

Meet Spider Man, Dance with Black Widow, and have a night that they and their families I know are gonna talk about for the rest of their lives. And I am so fortunate and so blessed and so grateful to have been able to visit Disney parks hundreds of times.

And I don't know that I ever felt what I felt in that moment and in that night.

And this week, I really want to tell you the full story, not just of that evening, but about Disney and Make a Wish and where and how and why that partnership started and why it matters so much more than people realize and what Disney actually does for Make a Wish and those kids and their families and the research that proves that it works. Because what I witnessed last week at an event was called Wishes Assemble.

And I also want to share with you why this cause is one of the most personal things in my life and is a big part of the reason why I, why we are here. And that's the story I want to share with you this week. And like every good comic book MCU movie, we have to go back. I love a good origin story.

So his community comes together, they rally around him and they make it happen. He is deputized as an honorary Arizona State trooper. He gets a real uniform around, a real badge, and a ride on a police helicopter.

And a short time after that wish is granted, Chris passes away. But the people who made that wish happen didn't want to let that idea pass away with him. They wanted to do it again.

For other kids who were facing similar things that Chris was. And from that one act of a community coming together, that is how and why and where Make a Wish was born. Now here's where Disney enters the story.

And it's important because Disney didn't just join Make a Wish years after it was formed and famous and successful. Disney was there from the very beginning. Because the very first official wish that Make a Wish ever granted was for a boy named Frank Salazar.

Bopsy was what everybody called him again. Seven years old, battling leukemia, Bopsy's wish was to go to Disneyland and Disney said yes.

Over 175,000 Disney wishes have now been granted. And here's the number that stopped me when I saw it. As if that wasn't impactful enough.

Of the more than 16,000 wishes that make a wish grant in the United States every year, historically one out of every two is a Disney wish. Half of all wishes granted in America are Disney wishes. Let that sink in.

This year, Disney launched its second annual D Disney Week of Wishes, which is a company wide celebration of the partnership, spotlighting nearly 200 signature wish experiences across every part of the company, all around the world. And at the center of it this year was an event that I was incredibly honored and grateful and privileged to be a part of and pay witness to.

And before I take you there, though, I want you to sort of, I want you to understand because I don't think this is necessarily talked about enough, which is why I wanted to do this episode at this time. I don't think people necessarily understand the full scope of what the partnership between Disney and Make a Wish actually looks like.

Because I think when most people hear Disney and Make a Wish, they picture a child and their family going to Magic Kingdom. They meet Mickey Mouse and it is wonderful and it is beautiful, but it doesn't even come close to capturing what actually happens.

And I've been able to see this firsthand. We'll talk more about that later. Because Disney's wish granting spans the entire Walt Disney Company, every single part of it.

And then this year, during the week of Wishes Wish Kids got to announce the first round draft picks for with the Seattle Seahawks and the Detroit Lions live on espn. I've seen it happen in the past. Wish Kid announced the New York Giants, my team pick a few years ago and it was such a beautiful special moment.

And then there are the deeply personal, the one of a kind moments. There is a 16 year old boy named EJ. He is a liver transplant recipient who has been drawing since he was seven years old.

His wish was to spend a day in the life of a Disney animator and Disney made it happen. Not just by taking him to the park and letting him draw, he got to draw alongside Disney legend Eric Goldberg at Walt Disney animation studios.

And EJ's story moved Disney so much that that is what inspired their brand new film called Drawn to youo which premiered on Good Morning America during the week of Wishes. It shows how a wish is born from a child's imagination to the moment it becomes real and is a beautiful look into the wish discovery process.

I'll put a link in the show notes. It's a very short video but I'm going to warn you in advance to have tissues ready.

She was named Grand Marshal of the Festival of the Fantasy Parade and told that she'd be able to return to perform one day on a Disney stage. Her greatest dream in the world was going to come true.

This story is exemplary of the types of wishes and dream fulfillment that Disney and make a wish do together. And here at Walt Disney World there is a beautifully reimagined wish lounge.

You probably have never even seen it right inside the park in Magic Kingdom, designed by Imagineering in collaboration with Walt Disney Animation Studios, where wish families can they can rest, they can relax, just be together during their visits, sort of escape the hustle and bustle of the parks because they Disney understands that families don't just need the magic, they need sometimes a little bit of personal space to get away.

And I think more importantly, and I think what's beautiful about having the wish lounges is the families need somebody to say like don't worry, we've got you. There is nothing to worry about today. We are going to take care of you.

We're dedicated to Make a Wish. Not one, not two, but three windows. One for all of the wish kids in the world. One honoring Chris Grishas, the boy whose wish starred everything.

And one for Bopsy Salazar, the first ever Disney wish. And next time you visit Disneyland, please stop on Main Street USA for just a minute and look for those windows.

They're above the Wish Lounge, which is located near the first Aid and Baby Care center close to the end of Main street towards Sleeping Beauty Castle on the right hand side. Stand there for a minute, like, take it in. I promise you it will be a meaningful moment that you will remember.

And one of my favorite details about this partnership that I only recently learned is that some of their kids who have received Disney wishes when they're sick have grown up to become Disney cast members themselves. The very place that gave them the hope during the hardest moments of their lives became the place that they chose to build their careers.

Like that is part of what a wish can do. It's kind of the lasting impact that we're talking about.

And Disney is telling and sharing that story right now in a new special called Lasting Wishes a Disney and Make a Wish Celebration. It's hosted by Joey Grazia Day and is streaming now on Hulu and Disney.

And what I love about this is that it looks back on the more than 45 years of the partnership through the real stories of the families who lived it. I'll put a link in the show notes. It is like required listening. In this case, required watching for anybody who cares about this cause.

And if you're a Disney fan, you absolutely should.

And part of what I love, too, is how truly important this relationship is through every aspect and I think really layer of the company, from frontline and backstage cast members all the way up to executives. So, for example, during.

And it wasn't something that we were able to see, but during the event at Disney California Adventure, former CEO Bob Iger was presented with the inaugural Wishmaker Lifetime Achievement Award by Make a Wish America because during his tenure at Disney, the company helped grant more than 110,000 wishes. And last year alone, Disney provided $30 million in support of Make a Wish. $30 Million. Not over the course of the partnership.

$30 Million in one year. And Josh Tomorrow, who has obviously taken over Bob Iger's role, has talked about And I think he said it most beautifully and most simply.

Disney and Make a Wish are the perfect match. They're both in the business of creating happiness. And he's right, and the research backs him up.

So I want to stop for a minute because you might be saying, okay, Lou, these are wonderful, beautiful stories, but is a trip to a theme park really that important to a child who's fighting for their life? Yes. And I don't mean just emotionally. And I think that there is something miraculous about these trips, but scientifically, it's proven.

And what the data showed is that 93% of the parents surveyed said their family had experienced traumatic stress because of their child's critical illness. That's the baseline that these families live in every single day.

After the wish, 94% of those same parents saw real improvements in their child's emotional well being. 91% Said the wish gave their child a better chance of surviving their illness.

And the one that got me, obviously, 91% of parents considered the wish not a gift, not a bonus, but a necessary part of their child's medical treatment.

And I think the data from the physicians is even more impressive because 95% of the doctors surveyed said the wish improved their patients emotional and physical well being. 75% Said it could actually improve a child's medical outcome.

And more than 90% said they personally witnessed their patients overcoming feelings of sadness, hopelessness, anxiety and depression after their WISH experience.

87% Of WISH alumni, people who have received a wish as children and are now looking back, said their wish was a singular turning point in their treatment.

Physicians are increasingly incorporating a wish into children's treatment plans, not instead of medicine, but alongside it. Because I think what the research is showing is that what these kids are getting from Disney, hope and laughter literally changes outcomes.

I am a lawyer in New Jersey. I have an IT consulting company on the side. I have this idea to write a book about Disney.

I know I've shared this story in the past, and I'm writing my first Walt Disney World trivia book while I'm still practicing law. Disney is my passion. It is my escape, it is my joy. It is where my parents took me every year. We got in the family truckster.

I sat facing the wrong way in the back of a station wagon and we drove from New Jersey to Florida. Even if Disney wasn't our final destination, we would always stop there.

It was a place that was so important to me and so foundational to me growing up and the memories that I spent and shared with my parents and my brother. So, long story longer. I set out as a personal challenge to write the book I wanted to read.

I was always fascinated by what was bringing us back, the details and the minutiae. There was no Walt Disney World trivia book. So I wanted to see as a personal challenge and can I write a book and can I get it published?

So Disney really has always been my passion. And now it's also this escape and my joy and this project that I'm so excited about.

But it's still at that point, it's a side project I'm working from 7:30 in the morning until sometimes 9, 10 o' clock at night. And then this is the project I'm working on late into the evening. And then my dad gets diagnosed with cancer. And for months I drove with him.

And then I drove him to Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City five times a week. And I sat with him in those waiting rooms. It's where I wrote a lot of my first trivia book.

And I would walk those hallways and when we would walk to where he would get treatment, we would have to pass the pediatric cancer ward. And what I see there changed something fundamentally in me.

There are these kids, these kids who are patients and kids who should be in school and on playgrounds and fighting with their brothers over the remote control. And instead they're spending their day in one of the country's most intensive and best, I think, cancer treatment centers.

And I remember looking at these kids and watching these families walk in with them and started to think to myself, there's nothing I can do for them. I don't know how to help them. I want to do something. And the only thing I could think of was to somehow raise money to try and help them.

But I didn't want to fund research, right, and maybe fund things that they would. Those kids, those specific kids, would not necessarily be able to reap the benefits of.

I wanted to do something for that kid, that family, like right now. So I made myself a promise.

And that was a portion of every book I ever would sell, and I still do to this day, would go towards granting a wish for one of those children.

I had no idea at the time what that promise would become, because my goal at the time was really to just write that one book and see if I can get it published. And that was it. That was going to sort of check the box for me and I'd sort of move on and go back to practicing law.

I did not know it would be the catalyst for this incredibly profound and wonderful and beautiful and special change in my life. But fast forwarding, I didn't know what that specific wish promise would become.

I didn't know that the people who built and created WDW Radio, you, this person, you were the one person listening, this community, this family, would embrace this idea and build something out of it that was so much bigger than a book fundraiser. I didn't know it would become eventually what I would call the Dream Team project. But it did.

And that's the name that I gave to this initiative to start sending these seriously ill children and their families to this place that matters so much to me and my family. And I wanted them to be able to go get out of that hospital, all expenses paid through Make a Wish.

And since we started, this community, this family, you have raised more than $550,000 for make a Wish.

I ran, ish, walked, ran, my first Walt Disney and only Walt Disney World half marathon.

And my body is not one that is built for running, but that first singular event that, again, it was this personal challenge, Could I finish and survive a half marathon? And that first race that I ran with my wife and one other person, Steve, I'll never forget you, became a catalyst for something else.

Well, if Lou can do it, we can run, too. And from that, the WDW radio running team was formed.

And something else beautiful happened, because during those meetups that we would have over marathon weekend, even with people who were not on the running team, just part of the community, we were able to, with the help of Make a Wish, invite and welcome a Wish child and their family. And I don't know if I can adequately and somewhat succinctly, and trying not to get too emotional about it, convey what that means.

Because for us, as those people who are fundraising, to be able to see in person and talk to and meet and hug and bring gifts for that child in the family whose wish we helped make happen is incredibly profound and remarkable and will stay with us forever. But what I found out, too, is that for the Wish family, they loved being able to see who it was that made their wish happen.

We were both able to put faces and voices and hugs and emotions to both sides of that trip.

And it continued on year over year, and we would bring gifts for the family, and someone would make this huge quilt for the child and their family, and we would continue to hear from them year over year.

But being able to look a parent in the eyes, a parent who has walked through things I can barely imagine, and see what this community made possible for their child, and they sort of feeling the same way about us, to see the people behind the donations, the miles, the loves, the fun we become not just a number to them, and they will never, ever become just a number to us.

And I think that every fundraiser, every person who gives to a cause should have the gift and the blessing of an experience like that, where you see the result, where you see the face. I can't put into words what that means. One of my favorite quotes from Walt Disney is that it takes people to make the dream a reality.

And I know he was speaking specifically about the cast members to make the magic in the parks, but I think it's applicable to so many other things. And it's the people in this community who have made that magic happen. And like there's another. I just thought about this.

There's another chapter of the story that I think is important and appropriate to share here.

And not long after, I was doing my regular Wednesday Night Live show from home, because I think it was important that I continued. I think my mom would not have wanted me to be sitting around sad, and she wanted me to keep doing what I'm doing.

And I'm doing the show from home, going along as normal. And in the middle of the show, I get a knock on my door.

And normally my family knows if I'm doing my thing in here, just I get a knock on my door, and it's my wife who says, oh, you need to open the door. I do that. And she's standing there along with my friend Lisa DiNardo Glassner, who you may know, she's been on the show before from the Castle Run.

I'm very much in shock. I have no idea what's about to happen.

But Liza has been part of the community and the running team and watched our community rally around Make a Wish for years. And when my mom passed, she decided on her own, unbeknownst to me or anybody in my family, to do something.

And she reached out quietly without telling me. And within just a couple of days, like two days, the community raised more than $14,000 in my mom's honor for the Dream Team project and Make a Wish.

And she walks in and she hands me a binder, showing me the donations and the notes and the emails and the letters and the messages and the cards from the community. And I just had to pause for a second.

I had to pull the binder off my shelf, maybe take a second to wipe away some of the tears, because at the time, they had raised more than $14,000, which was already going to be able to sponsor a full wish for a child to go to Walt Disney World. And then there were 50 pages, 58 and a half by 11 pages of notes and messages from the community about what they and we are doing.

Like, this is like choosing the good, like, completely personified.

And by the time everything was counted, the total amount fundraised was more than $50,000, 50,000 raised by this community for the cause that my Mom's lost help inspired in her name. That's five wishes for kids and their families to come to Walt Disney World. And I still do not have adequate words for what that means, even now.

I started the Dream Team Project because I sat in a cancer hospital, like, with my dad, watching those children and their families, and I wanted to do something.

And what I didn't know and what I couldn't know was that the community we built around this cause would one day come back and wrap their arms around me in one of the hardest times of my life and channel that love into the wish for a child like that. You know, community has become a marketing buzzword, but that right there, that is what community is. That's what this is all about. The.

The Dream Team project wasn't just something I built or the community built this together. And when I and we needed it most, it came around. And I have to also give Special thanks to MouseFan Travel, but specifically its owner, Beci Mahnken.

And I know we kid and we joke like brother and sister, but we have had a partnership and relationship and friendship. And really, she's become part of my and our family for nearly 19 of the 20 plus years I've been doing this, and oftentimes very quietly.

Beci and Mouse Fan Travel donate and contribute in many ways, not just significantly and financially, to our Dream Team Project. And to Make a Wish and have been such a big part of what I and we get to do in getting to that $550,000 number.

So when you book a trip through MouseFan Travel, you're not just helping me in the show and Beci and Mouse Fan Travel, but you are in a very direct way, also helping to support Make a Wish and our Dream Team project in a significant way as well. So I wanted to just give special thanks and appreciation to Beci and all of the advisors at Mouse Fan Travel.

So when I talk about why and part of the reason why I'm doing the show at this time, why Make a Wish matters to me so personally and the connection to Disney, like, understand it is not abstract.

It lives with me every day in my dad's illness and my mom's passing and those kids I saw in the hallways, and then the $50,000 raised by people who chose the good and they chose love. And in the families we meet over marathon weekend, and it lives in every single wish we continue to help Grant. And it's why we do this.

It's why I do this. Make a wish is still the most important part of what I do.

And One of the things I've been thinking about for a while and what happened last week at Avengers Campus, I'm really going to refocus and redouble my efforts in terms of. And this is my.

I'm putting it out there as my promise and my commitment to you and to myself so I can be held accountable to doing even more fundraising and events and ways that we can help support make a wish. Because. And I do want to sort of come full circle back to April 29, right, that world Wish Day. It just. That the timing just worked out perfectly.

I was invited by Disney to go to Disneyland.

Disney, Disney California Adventure, just to sort of watch and witness and cover what they called Wishes Assemble, which was a first of its kind event for these 40 kids and their family who are battling these illnesses, centered at Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure. They closed that part of the park early and dedicated it just to these kids and that event.

And unfortunately, that day I was speaking at the conference, so I did miss a lot of what was going on because this really was an event that took place throughout the day. And although I wasn't able to see it firsthand, I know that the morning began for the kids over at the Grand Californian with a Learn to draw class.

They learned how to draw Spider man from a Disney artist. Like the simple joy of putting pencil on paper. And then they're sitting there drawing without any announcement or fanfare.

The door opens and Anthony Mackie walks in. Captain America walks in, hands a Hasbro Captain America action figure to every single child in that room, which is magical enough.

And then he goes and he pulls one child aside. And this child's name is Cohen. He's nine years old.

And his very specific, very heartfelt wish was to meet Anthony Mackie, because Captain America is his favorite superhero. And Cohen talked about why he loves Sam Wilson. And it wasn't about the costume. It wasn't about the shield. It was about courage.

And that is what drew him in. And again, I'm paraphrasing from what I heard from Disney and from other folks who were there.

And he got to ride Guardians of the Galaxy Mission breakout side by side with the man that plays as hero. And then, of course, later on, he gets to go to Avengers Campus and meet some of Captain America's friends like Iron man and Havochero.

And, you know, and he gets assigned Captain America shield to take home from his favorite avenger. Those are the kind of transformative events and moments that that kid, that family, will never forget.

And Cohen's story is not unique because throughout the day, every family got these personalized wish moments across the resort. Mr. Beast who was there, I had a chance to meet him. He's a tall drink of water, by the way. Led the kids through a scavenger hunt.

He opened up a Beast Games experience for him. Mark Rober, you've probably seen him on YouTube.

Huge influencer, took over Avengers headquarters for this hands on science experiment with like a classic egg drop challenge. And then I got to watch as they sort of made these giant toilet paper guns. Like, the kids and their families were just having a blast.

Dude, perfect was there. They had like a trick shot. Fan Zone Preston plays clicks was there.

They made custom gaming spaces to play Fortnite and Minecraft before they all rode Spider man webslingers together. Other influencers like Sam and Colby were there hosting like a spooky story time.

YouTube partnered with Make a Wish to create this creator corner lounge where every kid got their own personalized memento award ceremony. It wasn't a group thing. Every kid had their moment on their own. And then later on that night, a huge surprise for everybody in Avengers Campus.

Paul Bettany, vision from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appeared at the after hours celebration at Avengers Campus and gave every single child personally a Funko pop to go along with some of the gifts that they got from Disney consumer products and Lego and Hasbro and others this way, like when the event was over, the magic didn't end when they walked out of the gate. And I heard there were other hotel room surprises and character stuff and keepsakes, all these things to keep that moment and memory alive.

Even after the family got home.

And there were just so many other, like, wonderful moments, I just got to, you know, I never didn't want to ever intrude on the families or sort of hover, but I watched from a distance as the kids. There was Marvel Cinematic Universe characters everywhere. I've never seen so many Marvel characters in one place.

Talking with the kids, taking pictures, signing autographs, dancing in the middle of Avengers Campus. All the attractions were open. Pym Test Kitchen was open. They could get giant pretzels and giant chocolate bars.

But I keep thinking back and I want to share, like the moment that I remember most. It was the Gauntlet, not the Infinity one, although I saw a lot of cast members wearing and waving them.

But on the streets of Avengers Campus from Mission Breakout past pymtechen were cast members lined up smiling, cheering, waving, laughing, crying. And watching those families get to walk down that line like the celebrities and True heroes that they are.

Cast members on both sides holding Avengers props and the streamers, creating this beautiful wall of noise and color and joy. And watching these families, like, videotaping their kids and just the moms and the dads and the siblings, everybody is smiling.

Some are walking, some are running, high fiving all the cast members. And then I watched some that were just going so slow, like they just wanted to take in and remember every single detail, every sound, every face.

And I continued to sort of watch as they interacted with the characters. I watched, you know, when Mr.

Beast came out and I was thinking about and find that I would pause from time to time saying, like, I can't imagine what these moments must be like for these kids to see Mr. Beast, who's their heroes, to know that these kids spent the better part of however long it might be probably in a hospital.

Like, these creators are their generation's biggest stars. And they showed up, like, with their whole hearts at dinner at Avengers campus.

Like, I watched what that meant to them and their families with the huge smiles on their faces. This is it. Like, these are the moments that these families are going to carry with them forever.

When we hear about a wish being granted, I was like, I have been given the privilege of being able to witness these moments firsthand and be able to continue to carry them with me. And it obviously impacted me even after I left more than it did probably when I was there. I should.

I thought about it more and I was like, yeah, I felt compelled not just to talk about it briefly on the show, but I really did want to dedicate an entire segment to it. And this is not about me. This is not about what we at WW Radio do for Make a Wish.

It's about the relationship of Disney and Make a Wish and how it does, I know for me, impact and affect all of us.

And I want to sort of put a bow on everything that I'm trying to say about what Disney's commitment to Make a Wish actually means, because it's not just about a corporation, but as people. Because that same night, I had the privilege of sitting down one on one with Thomas Masloom, who was the new chairman of Disney Experiences.

If you listened to last week's show, you got to hear that interview. And it was the very first one he gave in that role.

And we talked, like, right there in Disney California Adventure while Wishes Assemble was happening just outside the doors.

And before we talked about anything about Thomas role at Disney Corporation, I love the fact that Thomas shared his personal story and the flight that he took years ago and changing planes in Salt Lake City and the captain coming on and saying that there was a Make A Wish child on the plane and that child's wish was to go to Disneyland and the way that plane erupted and please go back and listen to at least that portion of Tom. I mean, I think you should listen to the whole interview.

But it reminded him about the power that Disney has to make a real difference in somebody's life, not just in a vacation, but a meaningful difference in their actual life. And how these children choose Disney for one of the most important moments of their lives.

And for him and for everybody at the company, it's not something that they take lightly. Like, clearly, they look at that as a very humbling privilege.

And he also shared how he is going to be joining the Make A Wish America board, not as a corporate representative, but as a personal member of it.

And again, I invite you to listen to that episode because Thomas talked about leadership and cast members and the protecting of the trust that guests place in that brand and moral. But I want you to hear that piece in context when he talks about Make a Wish.

Now that I've given you a little bit more about what was going on that night, because the person now responsible for the entire Disney guest experience around the world chose to start talking about it by talking about Make a Wish and a child on a plane. And for me, that told me everything I needed to know, not just about Thomas, but what that relationship means to the people inside the company.

And I just felt it was so important that I shared contextually, not just what happened at the Wishes Assemble event, but the history of the relationship with between Disney and Make A Wish, the history of Make a Wish itself.

And I want you to hopefully take away from those stories and from this episode, not just a good feeling about Disney and Make a Wish, but I hope that it inspires you to do something, because you can do a lot from wherever you are. Our Dream Team project is still going. We're still granting wishes. We still need you.

And if you want to learn more, if you want to participate, if you want to donate, Please go to DreamTeamProject.org Every dollar goes towards sending a seriously ill child and their family to Walt Disney World through Make A Wish. This community and family has done it for more than 20 years. I want to keep going and I want to turn it up to 11 this year.

And if you're not a runner, don't worry, Neither am I. For the past couple of years, we've also started to participate in something that is new to us but has been going on for almost 20 years.

Because walk for Wishes is Make a Wishes Signature Fundraising Walk and the WW Radio family has now done it together here in Central Florida two years in a row. I'm also honored to serve on the Walk for Wishes Committee here in Central Florida, which means it's not something I just show up for.

It's something that is really important to me and I want to help contribute to in any way I possibly can. And it's exactly what it sounds like. You show up, you walk. It's a mile around Lake Eola. There is free food, free entertainment, free food.

I know I mentioned that twice, but it's really important. And every dollar that we raise goes directly towards granting a wish for a child right here in our community.

Did I mention no running required, no special training. Just us together, part of the WW Radio Walking team.

One foot in front of the other, surrounded by people who get it and understand that like magic is real and it matters. And there are wish families there as well. And every single time we do it, it has been such a beautiful like special evening.

I'll put everything you need in the WWE community on Facebook@www.com clubhouse. I'll also put it in our newsletter. So I would love for you to come and walk with us when it happens.

And if you are a runner, I would love to invite you to join our WDW Radio Running Team. We participate as a team in all of the rundisney events here in Walt Disney World.

I don't run, but I am there with other folks from the team cheering you on from the sidelines. It is a great fun community event whether you are a seasoned runner or you have not done your first 5k yet. Anyone and everyone is welcome.

You can learn more by going to wdw.

Com or just send me an email about the running team, the walking team, Louwwradio.com and if you want to learn more and go a little bit deeper on the story, Disney has given you two incredible ways to do that right now. The first one is called Drawn to youo and it is a brand new short film inspired by wish Kid EJ's story. I'll put a link in the show notes.

You can find it over on YouTube. Just search for Drawn to youo the second is called Lasting Wishes, A Disney and Make A Wish Celebration.

That is the full special right now on Hulu and Disney, really covering more than 45 years of the partnership through real stories of real families and those kids who grew up to become cast members. It's only about 22, 23 minutes, but it is a great watch and I highly, highly, highly recommend it.

And something else I'd love you to do is share this episode. This is not about me. This is not about wru. But share the message of what Disney and Make a Wish do together.

What the research means about what it means for a child who is sick.

You never know who might need to hear this or might know somebody who might need to hear it and understand more about what they can do to help or know somebody who might need to have a wish granted. And I just want to leave you with this. It only takes one.

It's a lesson that I learned years ago when this whole journey started for me, when I realized that it only takes one yes. I only needed one yes from a publisher to give me a chance to write a book and start me down this journey that I never would have imagined.

And it's good because I only got one yes from one publisher of the 47 query letters I sent out. But it also only takes one person. That seven year old boy that wanted to go to Disneyland and Disney said yes became a 45 year partnership.

It became 175,000 wishes. It became Windows on Main Street. It became somebody drawing alongside a Disney legend. It became a kid meeting his hero, Captain America.

It became an eruption of applause on a plane somewhere over Salt Lake City. It became those 40 kids marching through that beautiful gauntlet of cheering cast members into Avengers campus on a Wednesday night in April.

And it's been the wishes of that we have been privileged to grant and sometimes get to see happen in person. And I am so grateful to you for being here, for indulging me and spending and sharing this time with me.

Because this event and everything that sort of happened as a result really made me understand more what Disney does for and with Make a Wish. How they show up every single hour of every single day. Disney is showing up for a child who needs them.

And they've done it for 45 plus years and there's clearly no sign of stopping. It made me continue to remember and be aware and be grateful of what we as a WW Radio family do.

How we show up and we walk and we run and we donate and we fundraise and we gather and get to look into the eyes of families whose wishes we helped make real. And then the way you showed up when my mom passed, like, we show up for each other, too.

Like, we keep going and we keep showing up because you get it. The magic matters. It does. And the children on the other end of your generosity get to be the recipients of that. So thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for not just listening, for being part of this community, for being part of my family, because you are, whether we have met yet or not. And for everything that you give to it and to me.

And for believing in the way that I do, that the most important thing Disney has ever done isn't an attraction or a film or a park. It's this. And you know what? That's what I want to leave you on. Like, no trivia this week. Again, sorry, no outro.

This is the message I wanted to share this week. This is what. What is most important. You are what is most important.

If you have any questions about Make a Wish, our dream team project, Walk for Wishes, the running team, the walking team. Any way that I can help you, please reach out to me, Lou, DW Radio, and let me know. I promise next week we'll get back to trivia.

We'll get back to everything else. But I hope these stories mean as much to you as they do me. I love you. I appreciate you. So until next time. Thank you. See ya.

Well, it sounds pretty good. In fact, that's just the right spirit.