diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resources.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resources.go
index 3a5d383b0..86e0f5625 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resources.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resources.go
@@ -34,9 +34,15 @@ func resource_aws_instance_create(
 	p := meta.(*ResourceProvider)
 	ec2conn := p.ec2conn
 
+	// Merge the diff into the state so that we have all the attributes
+	// properly. Note that this merged state will contain some computed
+	// properties so it won't actually be our result (which we build from
+	// scratch later).
+	ms := s.MergeDiff(d)
+
 	runOpts := &ec2.RunInstances{
-		ImageId:      d.Attributes["ami"].New,
-		InstanceType: d.Attributes["instance_type"].New,
+		ImageId:      ms.Attributes["ami"],
+		InstanceType: ms.Attributes["instance_type"],
 	}
 
 	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Run configuration: %#v", runOpts)
diff --git a/terraform/terraform.go b/terraform/terraform.go
index 8d26bd9ea..c3b159dec 100644
--- a/terraform/terraform.go
+++ b/terraform/terraform.go
@@ -170,6 +170,11 @@ func (t *Terraform) applyWalkFn(
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
+		// Make sure the result is instantiated
+		if rs == nil {
+			rs = new(ResourceState)
+		}
+
 		// Force the resource state type to be our type
 		rs.Type = r.State.Type