Walt Disney World Resort rededicated its newly reimagined Wish Lounge at Magic Kingdom today as part of Disney Week of Wishes 2026, with a Cast Member who first visited the space as a Make-A-Wish kid in 2011 now standing on the other side of the wish as one of the people helping make it happen.
For the full scope of what Disney and Make-A-Wish are doing this week, read our Disney Week of Wishes 2026 launch coverage and our 45-year Make-A-Wish history piece.
The Wish Lounge is a space inside Magic Kingdom reserved exclusively for Make-A-Wish families. It opened in the late 2000s and was recently rethemed with new artwork and design touches built around wish-granting moments from beloved Disney stories. It is not a room most guests will ever see, and that is the point. It exists so that families who are there on the most significant day of a very difficult season have somewhere quiet to sit, breathe, and be together.
At the center of today’s rededication was Abigail Hoyle, a Disney Cast Member who visited Walt Disney World as a Make-A-Wish kid in 2011 and sat in that same lounge with her family. Today she works on the Walt Disney World entertainment team, helping kids meet their favorite characters every day. “It’s so special to be able to do that because that’s what the Cast Members did for me on my Make-A-Wish trip,” Abigail said. “So it really is a full-circle moment.” During the Wish Lounge renovation, Abigail and other Cast Members who are also Make-A-Wish alumni were invited to sign a wall inside the space, leaving a message of hope that every future wish family will walk past without ever knowing exactly who left it there.
Abigail was joined at the rededication by 6-year-old Paxton, a wish kid from Pennsylvania living with a gastrointestinal disorder whose wish was to come to Walt Disney World. Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum, Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle, and Abigail surprised Paxton and his family with a special character moment featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Walt Disney World grants more than 7,000 Make-A-Wish wishes every year. Paxton’s was one of them today.
This is the kind of story that does not require any added context to land. A child who needed a wish grows up and becomes the person granting them. The room she sat in as a kid now has her signature inside its wall. Walt Disney World built a quiet space that most visitors will never find, and they just made it better. That matters.
The Hidden Room at Magic Kingdom Just for Make-A-Wish Families Got a Beautiful Makeover
Disney Week of Wishes runs through May 1. Follow wish stories all week at wish.org/Disney. For more Walt Disney World coverage, visit Fantasy Land News. Join the Realm at fantasylandnews.com/the-realm.
