| Millennium Dreamers |
|
You are here:
Walt Disney World ›› Epcot ›› Millennium Celebrations
›› Millennium
Dreamers |
Millennium Dreamers Ambassadors to Help in Africa
Alexandra Muis d'Entremont-Govere, a Millennium Dreamer Ambassador, has been so moved by the plight of children in Africa whose parents have died of AIDS that she has started a project to help some of these children in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
Alexandra is no stranger to HIV/AIDS. Most of the productive adults in her village in Bikita, Zimbabwe have succumbed to the disease, leaving mainly the children and the elders to somehow survive. Alexandra states that this is becoming a common occurrence in many of Zimbabwe villages.
Alexandra says she is blessed that her parents do not have AIDS and that she feels a commitment to helping children who have lost their parents to AIDS.
Alexandra wanted to let all the Millennium Dreamers
Ambassadors know about this project and hopes some of them would be
interested in joining it. She says about 16 Dreamers have joined
the project already. The project has a listserve (e.group) and is in the
process of building a project website. In the meantime, any Dreamers can
visit the Millennium Dreamer
Ambassadors website at:
http://www.geocities.com/zimbabwe_gurl
which will link to the AIDS project page when it is ready, or e-mail
Alexandra at
sashamde@yahoo.com
about the project.
A great first hand report of the Dreamers event from Tyler
First off, let me say that Disney and
McDonalds made this absolutely amazing. I never experienced anything like it in any trip in the past and I don't
believe that I ever will again. It was magical beyond anything I have
seen before!
Next, if you don't know what the Millennium Dreamers Program was, here
it is:
McDonald's Corp. and The Walt Disney Company, in association with
UNESCO, have teamed up to celebrate the remarkable contributions of young people
around the world through a global children's recognition program called
Millennium Dreams.
The Millennium Dreamers program is open to young people who are between
the ages of 8 and 15 on or before September 1, 1999, who are making a
difference in their local communities.
Finally, the good stuff....
Monday, May 8
Well, this was the most exciting day....getting there!
We got the Hartsfield (Atlanta) International Airport about 9:00 and did
the airport thing till our flight left at 11:00. From Atlanta, it is only
about
an hour flight to Orlando (we had never flown before since it was only
an 8 hour drive, so that was the beginning of the great trip) and we got
there (MCO that is)!! It was very difficult to find someone who would get us
to the resort since there was no one in a Disney costume or uniform there to
meet us at the gate. We finally got to baggage claim and made it to the
All Star Sports Resort about 2:00. We went to the Millennium Dreamers Global
Village (which had those free McDonalds French Fries!!!) We also checked
in and got a bunch of free stuff...our meal vouchers, theme park tickets,
credentials for the private parties, and my mom got the free drink
tickets! We made it to the Magic Kingdom at about 3:00 just in time for the
Magical Moments Parade and we did the attractions that we wanted to do. At 9:00 when
they had the fireworks, every one but us left and we got NO LINES for all the
attractions in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland!!! At 10:30 we got a private
showing of the Main Street Electrical Parade and that was awesome!!!
Moving on to Tuesday....
Tuesday, May 9
We were up first thing in the morning, and Heather (absolutely
awesome, our personal guide) met us outside out set of rooms and we took an early bus
(we had our own busses by the way) to Epcot and they had a high set of
stands and there were shirts, ponchos, hats, and other stuff in the seat. All 2000
of us were set up in a "leaning square" and when we had the colored
ponchos on we made a picture of Spaceship Earth, and when we took the ponchos off,
our shirts and hats made a picture of the Earth (I was just off the west
coast of South America!!!) The ceremony went on with the president of
McDonalds Paul Pressler and Christopher Reeve speaking. Very inspiring
and Mr. Reeve got a standing ovation from all of the students! We continued
the day at Epcot and enjoyed it, participated in Tapestry of nations, and
watched Illuminations 2000! After that, the 5 kids in our group and Heather went
off
without parents to Downtown Disney and stayed out till 2 AM.
Wednesday, May 10
The next day we had our YES (Youth Education Series) classes and mine wasn't
till 3:45 so in the morning me and my mom went to Blizzard Beach and
Animal Kingdom. After that, I went on my behind the scenes tour of the
Tower of Terror! That was cool, but not as magical as I had imagined! That
evening, we had a loud, rockin party in Disney Studios (Heather informed me that the
name changes next March) We got a star with our name on it and that was on
Residential Street. I hung out with our group and we did all the rides
with ~Again ~ NO WAIT!!!! We had a private showing of Sorcery in the Sky with
absolutely amazing fireworks!
Thursday, May 11
The worst day :( We got up a little early and went to the Global Village as they were
closing
everything down and I even got a tear in my eye....
I wanted to stay longer to stay with all the people I met and experience
the once in a lifetime magic that I will never experience again :(
We left at 11:00 and rode the bus to the airport got on our flight at
1:00 and I was depressed for the next few days... it was that PDDS (Post
Disney Distress Syndrome).
By the way, at the Magic Kingdom, I met Micheal Eisner and at Epcot, I
met Paul Pressler. Both of these men were amazing. They were nice,
talkative, and gave me autographs. I constantly hear about them being terrible people
who are destroying the magic, but I believe that both men are geniuses. Mr.
Eisner combines the creativeness of Walt Disney with the business sense
of Roy Disney, and Mr. Pressler described the magic he envisioned with the
ideas that he made reality and I completely understood where he was coming
from. Like I said, they are both amazing men and I enjoyed meeting them and
talking to them!
Tyler
FUTURE WALT DISNEY IMAGINEER
AND
WALT DISNEY WORLD CAST MEMBER
MILLENNIUM DREAMERS AMBASSADOR
WALT DISNEY WORLD
MAY 8-10, 2000