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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2017-02-01, Page 15Make a Wish trip leaves Asher Britton with plenty of happy memories Dublin family recently returns from Disney trip Galen Simmons Postmedia Network When he was first told that Make -a -Wish Southern Ontario would be sending him and his entire family to Orlando, Fla. to spend a week at Disney World, Universal Studios and a few other theme parks, Asher Britton's num- ber -one priority was to meet Mickey Mouse and have his picture taken with the Disney icon. Yet once Asher, who was born with a congenital heart condition know as CHARGE Syndrome, arrived at Disney's Magic Kingdom on the first day of his family's vaca- tion, he quickly realized there were a lot more colourful characters to get excited about than just Mickey. On Dec. 9, Asher, mom Lisa, dad Jesse, and his siblings Joel, Calla and Mylo, hopped into a limo parked outside their Dublin -area home and headed to London Inter- national Airport, where they would fly to Orlando for a week-long vaca- tion neither Asher or his family could have ever dreamed of. The excitement started at the air- port when the team from Make -a - Wish had signs and banners wait- ing for them, Lisa noted, and WestJet has cut out letters at the check-in i., anter that spelled out 'Welcome Asher' with a whole bunch of Disney pictures. "They got him to stand on the conveyor belt for the luggage and took pictures and stuff," she said. "He loved it." Not only was the family treated like royalty before departure, but the family was upgraded to the Plus (first class) seating, Asher and his sister Calla were asked to help the flight attendants serve drinks and food, and Asher even got to meet the pilot. The Brittons arrived at their villa in the Give Kids the World Resort, a special all-inclusive resort set aside for Make -a -Wish kids and their families from all over the world, at around 10 p.m. Dec. 9, and the next day went to Disney's Magic King- dom, which happened to be filled • •• . • . • . • . • • • • • • •f • • f• • ; • • •'• • • , , , 9 • • • • • 9 4 • • • • • cis €W»,cmaTkcr cwrap .)./ Make Your Own Beer, Wine, Coolers and Fruit Wine rapt J!m t h f) 84 Kingston St, GODER)CH 524-2323 AW439553 to capacity. "We were all a little tired... it was a little overwhelming._ but we saw their daytime parade and that was awesome because one of the men working there, we asked him where we should sit to watch the parade and he took us over to the VIP seat- ing area and sat us on these roped - off benches. So all the characters would come by and they were right up close and personal and high liv- ing Asher and the kids," Lisa recalled, adding that Calla got to meet one of the child actors from a Disney show she watches called Bunk'd. As he had hoped, the first char- acter Asher got to meet was none other than Mickey himself, but once he discovered how exciting it was meeting his idol, Asher made it his mission to meet as many char- acters as possible, have them sign their autographs in his Disney autograph book, and have his pic- ture taken with them. Equipped with a Disney photo pass, every picture taken by the pro- fessional photographers stationed with each character was immedi- ately uploaded online and was avail- able for the Brittons to view and download to their phones. "Asher didn't like doing family pictures at any given point, he only wanted it to be him," Lisa laughed. "He didn't mind doing family pic- tures with the characters, but any time I tried, four different times over two days, to get family pic- tures, none of them turned out:" Both Asher and Jesse came down with a bit of a bug while in Orlando, so the family took a day to relax and rest up back at their villa, but once they were feeling a little bet- ter, Asher went right back to hunt- ing down his favourite characters. At Disney's MGM Studios, Asher was able to meet all of his favourite Disney Junior characters, he met Goofy and many more. Although Asher hadn't really shown that much interest in Star Wars prior to his trip, one of the souvenirs he absolutely had to d have before leaving MGM Studios was a toy lightsaber. The Brittons spent half a day at Epcot and another half-day hack at Magic Kingdom before they were due to head over to Universal Stu- dios for the next two days so Asher could meet some of his favourite non -Disney characters. "The first day we went (to Uni- versal) Asher was able to meet Bar- ney. None of our other kids watched it, but Barney has always been a show, when Asher is sick or in the hospital, he watches Barney, and that's the only time. When he's sick, he watches Barney. So we watched a Barney Live show and every song they sang, I can't explain how happy Asher was," Lisa said. Over the course of his time at Universal, Asher met all of his favourite characters, from Dora the Explorer and Diego, to Gru and the Minions from Despicable Me, and even Bumblebee and Megatron from Transformers. "He went on his Wish Trip to meet Mickey Mouse because he loves Mickey, but he came home a Transformers fan," Lisa said. "Bum- blebee started playing the different clips of music that he has and he's like 12 feet tall or whatever, their costumes were mega, and Asher just goes right up to him, no fear, and he starts dancing with him. Ile played like two bars of Hammer Time by MC Hammer and Asher turned around and faced and he was like, 'Stop, Hammer time,' and he started dancing with him. It was the best." Since he wasn't a fan of trans- formers prior to his Make -a -Wish trip, Asher didn't know he was sup- posed to be afraid of Megatron, so when he met the evil Decepticon leader, he walked right up to him and tapped him on the knees to see what they were made of. Because of Asher's bravery in the- face heface of the evil Transformer, the • • • • • • • • • • Brodhagen Chamber of Commerce VALENTINE'S DINNER a DANCE Saturday, February 11, 2017 Dianne & The Cavaliers Social 6 pm Dinner 6:30 pm For Tickets: $25 each 519-348-0940 519-345-0143 519-345-2209 519-345-2248 Brodhagen Community Centre www.brodhagencommunitycentre.com • • • • • • • • • • Wednesday, February 1, 2017 • Huron Expositor 15 Submitted Make -a -Wish Southern Ontario sent Asher Britton (right) and his Dublin -area family to Orlando, Fla. Dec. 9-16, where they stayed at Disney's Give Kids the World Resort and visited Disney World, Universal Studios and a few other theme parks. Pictured, Asher was granted a private meet and greet with all of his favourite Marvel superheroes at Universal Studios. • employee stationed with Megatron offered to give the Brittons a pri- vate, behind the scenes tour of Uni- versal Studios the next day, an offer neither Asher or any of his family could turn down. "He got a private meet and greet with all the Marvel super heroes. We were in an empty amphitheater and they all just came out as they were finishing their breaks, and they all came in from different directions. Spiderman came in from behind the curtains and I thought Asher was just going to fall over. He started imitating Spider - man. He got to hold Captain Amer- ica's shield and it was really cool, he just loved it," she said. Getting the chance to meet his favourite characters from movies and television was a dream come true for Asher, but the best part of the trip for Lisa and Jesse was the amount of time and effort the staff at all of the theme parks and the staff at the Give Kids the World Resort put in to ensure the Brittons could have a break from the daily responsibilities associated with raising a son with a congenital heart condition. UNIVERSITY 0/GUELPH RIDGETOWN CAMPUS CHANGANG Lams hiPROVINGam. "It was just such a break, like it was truly an amazing break," Lisa explained. "We stayed at Give Kids the World, they have 150 staff and over 1,500 volunteers. It's all differ- ent houses set up for families that stay there from all over the world. So any kind of organization that grants a wish to a child with an ill- ness or disease, they go there and it's amazing. "They had buffets for every meal and they had volunteers just stand- ing there saying, 'How can I help you?; or 'What can I carry for you?; or 'What can I get you?,' and clean- ing up after our messy kids - just the little things that we do day -in and day -out. They took care of eve- rything and just gave us such a break" Although they had to return home on Dec. 16, Asher and his family now have plenty of wonder- ful memories to get them through the next year and beyond. When Asher had to travel to Lon- don earlier this month to have den- tal surgery, he wasn't afraid at all - he was actually excited to tell his doctors and nurses all about his Make -a -Wish trip to Orlando. CONSmERPOSTINGYOUR STUDENT HOUSING LISTING NOW On the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus Website The University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus is currently offering equine training programs at REACH Huron, and students enrolled in these programs require student housing in Clinton and area during their academic studies. It's Easy to List Your Student Housing Posting Option 1 - Complete our online Off -campus Housing Form located on the Ridgetown Campus homepage Option 2 - Contact us at 519-674-1300 ext.63517 (Connie), or at REACH Huron at 519-482-3998 (Cindy) Thank you to everyone who is currently offering student housing in the Clinton and area community.