Give Kids the Wold Deserves 5 million stars - It is the BEST place in the entire world! This…read moreincredible resort does everything imaginable to give wish kids facing life threatening medical issues and their families the best week of their lives, all at no cost to the families. We were guests here with two of my daughter in 2012 and 2015, and we've been back as volunteers over the past four years. I have only wonderful things to say about this wonderful resort.
Founded by Holocaust survivor Henri Landwirth, GKTW is celebrating their 40th birthday. They've hosted over 200,000 wish families, and each wish child has their own gold star on the ceiling of the Castle of Miracles. Each family gets to stay in a two bedroom villa for the week, and all of their meals are provided in Cafe Clayton - the on property restaurant. There is also an ice cream parlor that opens each day at 7:30AM and families are highly encouraged to eat ice cream for breakfast at least once during their stay. In addition, Noah's Nook provides poolside snacks such as nachos, popcorn, chips, and iceys; and you can also get pizza deliveries right to your villa from Miss Merry's Pizzeria.
There is so much to do at GKTW! The pool is amazing and is handicap accessible. Actually, absolutely everything at GKTW is fully accessible! There is also a life-sized Candyland Game playground, a beautiful carousel, and two other amusement park rides on site. In Amberville, there are arcade games and the biggest model railroad system I've ever seen. Families can also go fishing, participate in the evening parties, and do STEM activities in the Wonderlab. They can play on the dinosaur themed mini golf course, and get their hair and nails done at the Rockin' Spa.
Best of all is the amazingly friendly and welcoming atmosphere at GKTW. The village looks like a fairytale world with brightly colored buildings, whimsical characters, and Mayor Clayton, a well dressed village who "runs the village". The village is spotlessley clean and very well maintained. Each week, volunteers happily fill over 1800 shifts doing everything from scooping ice cream, to serving meals, to power washing, to helping at parties, to running the carousel to help families have the week of their lives. All of the volunteers are so friendly and really go the extra mile to be kind to the wish children and their families. We've been volunteering during our spring school vacation week for the past four years, and it is the BEST! We look forward to it for the whole year and pack as many volunteer shifts into our week as possible, because being at GKTW and helping these incredible families is so rewarding and also fun. I highly recommend GKTW to families whose child qualifies for a wish due to tough medical circumstances, or anyone who would like to help out by volunteering. GKTW truly is the BEST place in the world!