Disney granted wishes for 19 kids fighting critical illnesses as part of “Blaze Your Path: A Star Wars Adventure” in Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. This shares details of the magical milestone for Make-A-Wish families, during which a courageous group of young Padawans participated in a first-of-its-kind Star Wars-themed large-scale event.
Children across the globe are captivated by the power of The Force and magic of Star Wars. For wish children especially, the Jedi can be powerful symbols of hope and courage. Blaze Your Path: A Star Wars Adventure brought the wonder of Batuu to kids who wished to have a unique, Star Wars-themed experience at Disneyland Resort, inviting them on a journey they’ll never forget.
“We’re humbled that so many children choose Disney to make their dreams come true,” said Josh D’Amaro, Disney Experiences Chairman and Make-A-Wish America board member. “We’re constantly finding innovative and uniquely Disney ways to grant wishes at our parks and experiences around the world.”
Dozens of Cast Members and Disney VoluntEARS across the Walt Disney Company worked together to dream up and plan this one-of-a-kind experience designed for some of the biggest Star Wars fans. The first-ever event featured special merchandise, curated adventures and thoughtful surprises for each Make-A-Wish child.
Across five days of fun, wish kids and their families explored Disneyland Resort and made the jump to lightspeed in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, embarking on a galactic adventure full of surprises. To begin their journey, travelers enjoyed an exciting kick-off celebration, complete with special photo moments, festive goodies and opportunities to meet some of their favorite characters from the Star Wars galaxy.
After an immersive breakfast at which children chose to follow the light or dark path, each Make-A-Wish kid entered Batuu for the day. During their tailored experience, each was invited to build their very own droid, a fitting companion for the next part of their adventure – a thrilling scavenger hunt created just for this event, where families were tasked with finding the missing pieces to their own lightsaber and encountering the leader of the First Order, Kylo Ren, on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
The Force was strong with each family, as they journeyed to an immersive private dinner and dessert party in Batuu, with galactic eats and treats. Each child embraced the power of the Jedi before a surprise visit from First Order stormtroopers and an epic lightsaber battle for the ages between Kylo Ren and Rey.
Immersive wish-granting events like Blaze Your Path: A Star Wars Adventure at Disneyland Resort and Once Upon a Wish Party at Walt Disney World Resort help unite families and friends in life-changing experiences during a time when it’s needed most.
For nearly 45 years, Disney has worked alongside organizations such as Make-A-Wish to make wishes come true for children facing critical illnesses across the country. Since the very first official wish was granted at Disneyland Resort, Disney has helped fulfill more than 155,000 wishes globally with Make-A-Wish. Additionally, Disney is the largest wish granter in the world for Make-A-Wish, making dreams come true for children across the globe.
“It’s a testament to the passion and commitment to the Make-A-Wish mission that Disney continues to find new and creative ways to deliver truly life-changing experiences for wish kids and their families,” said Leslie Motter, president and CEO, Make-A-Wish America. “This event gives wish kids and their families a chance to feel like a normal family again – perhaps for the first time since the start of their medical journey. The stress, fear and anxiety that come with their illness are the furthest things from their minds.”
Just last week, Disney highlighted another Star Wars wish that the company had granted. It’s an interesting story of 14 teams from the Walt Disney Company spread over five cities working over the course of eight months to bring the magic of Disney to Brisbane, Australia. On May the 4th, Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium transformed into Savi’s Workshop through video, lighting, sound, props, local talent and the dedication of dozens of Disney Cast Members.
That fascinating behind-the-scenes story showcases just how involved of a process wish-granting is at Disney, and also how meaningful it is for both the kids and Cast Members. As Disney underscored in that article, Wishes have a transformative power. The majority of wish children go on to live fulfilling lives, and they often credit their wish for giving them the physical and emotional strength to face their illnesses.
As Disney also notes, wish-granting is likewise impactful for the individuals who make it happen. Witnessing a wish being granted is often a significant moment in the career of a Cast Member or employee at Disney. “I never quite get over the feeling I get when I reflect on the fact that this critically ill child, when asked to wish for anything in the world, has chosen Disney. It’s incredibly humbling and a huge responsibility to make it the very best it can be,” expressed one of the Cast Members involved in granting that wish in Australia.
Turning to commentary, I wanted to share this for a few reasons. First, to simply draw attention to the great work being done by Make-A-Wish and other wish-granting organizations that partner with Disney. It feels like it’s been too long since we’ve plugged Give Kids the World, so this is a convenient conduit for that.
Readers occasionally ask how they can support the site since we don’t have Patreon or that type of thing. The answer is paying it forward by donating to Make-A-Wish, Give Kids the World, or a comparable charity of your choice. (We also like to support Second Harvest of Central Florida and Orange County, CA.)
Second, because it’s both fascinating and a feel-good story that makes us proud to be Disney fans. We grouse about this and that, but it’s nice to read accounts of care and compassion from those in the company–it helps remind of us what makes Disney so special in the first place and fills our hearts. The above story about Australia, in particular, is illuminating because it details the massive effort undertaken by Imagineering and other Cast Members around the globe to go above and beyond in granting a wish.
Finally, because Blaze Your Path: A Star Wars Adventure featured live action elements and a grand finale stage show in the catwalks above Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge that were strikingly similar to the entertainment that was cut from the land before it debuted. Here’s video from our friend, Guy Selga:
This might be familiar if you watched video from the grand opening media events for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or footage from the ill-fated Galactic Starcruiser. It’s not exactly the same as any of those, but from what I understand, this is what the end-of-night show would’ve resembled in Galaxy’s Edge. That video features the light side show. A dark side show would’ve been performed on nights with more dark side victories during the day in the datapad games.
It’s intriguing that Disney would be performing this show 5 years after Galaxy’s Edge launched and drawing public attention to it (Blaze Your Path: A Star Wars Adventure was in the entertainment showtimes of the Disneyland app). This is surprising and oddly reassuring–five years is a lot of time, but especially when you throw in COVID and all of the turnover resulting from that. Given that, it’s good to see this show hasn’t been lost to the passage of time.
As regular readers are no doubt aware (because I harp on it incessantly), I have consistently and repeatedly been advocating for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to have a soft reboot. I’m not going to rehash all of that here, but the bottom line is that I’d like to see Batuu break the sacred timeline and use the setting of the land as a jumping off point for new adventures. (See Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Needs to Break the Rules for my take on all of that.)
A soft reboot of the Star Wars land would be an opportunity to introduce beloved characters, use the catwalks in the land for mini-shows, and make the land more lived-in thanks to droids and additional performers. They could also doing a test run of a dinner show in Starcruiser at Walt Disney World for a future purpose-built venue in the land. All of this would breathe new life into the land and help it finally realize its full potential.
To be fair, the finale of Blaze Your Path: A Star Wars Adventure wouldn’t break the rules. It’s part of the original storyline and works with Galaxy’s Edge as-is. But I think that in order to get entertainment like this on a regular basis, it’s going to require a funding package that revolves around a renewed marketing push. My hope is that the upcoming Mandalorian & Baby Yoda Mission for Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run might be just the ticket, and we’ll get that along with new entertainment and more in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. We shall see!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts on Blaze Your Path: A Star Wars Adventure? Does hearing about the effort and care Cast Members put into granting wishes make you proud to be a Disney fan? Do you think Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge should break its own rules or stick to the fixed timeline and story? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
