DisneyFanatic.com The Latest News, Advice, and Perspective from Disney Fans for Disney Fans!
There’s no shortage of Disney magic these days (even if it doesn’t always feel like that for guests on their Disney vacations), but the Disney Parks Blog has just shared a particularly heartwarming story about a young woman who has participated in the Make-A-Wish Foundation program!
Magical Multitasking
Disney World recently hosted “the largest wish-granting event ever held at Walt Disney World,” which was called the Once Upon a Wish Party — and during that party, Disney multitasked by bringing in a 17 year-old Florida resident so that she could grant her own wish and share some music with all of the other party attendees in the process!
Mikayla is a 17 year-old participant in the Make-A-Wish Foundation program from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Her wish was granted after she overcame a battle with cancer and was chosen to perform at the Once Upon a Wish Party and Royal Ball on World Wish Day. This also involved trying on Disney Princess dresses like the dress she chose, shown above! Credit: Disney Parks Blog
Mikayla is a 17 year-old participant in the Make-A-Wish Foundation program from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Mikayla has been singing and performing since she was in elementary school (with some standout performances including the Frozen song “Do You Want To Build a Snowman”, her performance as Belle the Disney Princess onstage, and her villainous performance as Ursula).
As the 150,000th Disney wish granted through @MakeAWish, Mikayla’s wish to perform at Disney came true during @WaltDisneyWorld’s largest wish-granting event ever! 🎤✨ Take a behind-the-scenes look now: https://t.co/8ePnlll3Su pic.twitter.com/EaKZph9JHe
— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) September 15, 2023
Her Disney Dream “Fueled Her Fight”
According to the Disney Parks Blog, “three years ago, Mikayla was diagnosed and began her battle with cancer. Throughout this difficult time, her dream of one day performing at Disney fueled her fight.”
“Now a happy and healthy senior, it was time to make Mikayla’s wish come true,” Disney added. Because Mikayla’s wish involved performing onstage, at Disney World, in front of a real audience, her wish-granting process was a bit unusual.
After learning about her performance on World Wish Day, Mikayla began rehearsing with “the Disney Entertainment team” before singing with hundreds of Royal Ball guests in her audience. Take a look at her rehearsal process, her costume choices (hint: it involves Disney Princess dresses), and her stunning performance in the video shown below!
Mikayla sang songs like “Almost There” and “Beauty and the Beast” during her time onstage, and left listeners (including Wish kids and Wish families) enchanted.
Is a Disney Princess Role in Her Future?
Mikayla also met with one of Disney’s Live Entertainment Casting Directors before her performance (not to mention Josh D’Amaro), so here’s hoping that we see her in a Disney Princess role onstage or onscreen soon!
Who knows? Maybe we’ll see her in World Princess Week instead of World Wish Day sometime in the not-so-distant future!
“After high school, I plan to go to college and hopefully see what doors in music open,” Mikayla declared excitedly. “I am so thankful to be healthy and look forward to whatever the future holds!”
To top things off, Mikayla’s wish was “the 150,000th Disney wish granted”!
Are you hoping to see Mikayla playing a Disney Princess in a Disney Park or playing a Disney Princess on a movie theater screen in the future?
