This family was from a town near me. Here's our local newspaper's article:
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070126/NEWS01/701260337
DeWitt family wins stay at Cinderella's Castle
By Mike Hughes
Lansing State Journal
On a cold and rainy morning Thursday, a DeWitt family accidentally became famous.
At random, the Fouches were chosen as the first people to spend the night in Cinderella's Castle, in the heart of Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fla.
"I was really stunned," Lisa Fouch said by phone Thursday. "Except for little drawings, I'd never won anything."
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Then they won big. "It probably took 15 or 20 minutes for everything to sink in," Jim Fouch said.
The Fouches (rhymes with "couches") have a DeWitt mailing address and live in the Bath School District. Jim, 49, works for IBM; Lisa, 40, is a preschool teacher.
Brad is 16, a Bath High sophomore. Hannah turned 8 on Monday - the first day of the Disney World vacation - and loves the castle. "I think it's beautiful," she said.
This is the third time the Fouches have been to Disney World and a lot of happenstance was involved.
"It was kind of cold and rainy," Jim said. "We stayed in the car for a while, hoping it would let up."
It didn't, so they reluctantly stepped into the MGM Studios portion of the park. "We all got our ponchos on," Jim said. "We looked like a bunch of wet ducks."
That's where they caught the "Star Tours" ride, Brad's choice. "I'm a big 'Star Wars' fan," he said.
Hannah was hesitant. "I didn't want to go on the ride," she said. She did and the Fouches promptly scored in Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign.
First, it was announced that everyone on the ride had won a "fastpass," allowing shortcuts to other rides. Then the Fouches started to exit the ride.
"As soon as we got out, there were lights and cameras," Jim said. "We didn't know what it was."
A computer, at random, had chosen Brad's seat on the ride as the first winner of the daily contest. That meant by the end of Thursday they would be:
Grand marshals at the Disney World parade.
Honored at a dinner in the Cinderella's Royal Table restaurant.
Measured for royal sleepwear.
The first people to stay in the Cinderella Castle Suite.
The suite was originally empty space, about four stories above the park. The plan was to have living quarters for the Disney family.
That never happened, though; then this promotion began. The suite was fixed up with a marble foyer and a bedchamber, bathroom and salon, all suitable for royalty - and for the Fouch family.
