Grumpyismyfavorite
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2009
- Messages
- 135
We are a middle-class family, of modest means. Early on in our marriage, we decided that we would put a high premium on family time. This included vacationing, and in order to keep it the priority that it should be, we have been content to be more frugal in other areas housing, automobiles, and so forth.
I love Disney. Some people would call it an obsession. Disboard people understand. We bought into the Disney Vacation Club some years back, and that purchase has allowed us to stay places and do things that I dont think we would do otherwise. To go to Walt Disney World that bright, scrubbed morning place where dreams are commonplace yet no less wonderful is a respite for me from the cares of the world.
I am aware that Disney, Inc., is a gigantic, foreboding, corporate colossus. I know that they are in business to improve their bottom line, and I am fine with that. Capitalism rocks. But in providing to me, as a guest, the finest of commodities at an admittedly premium price, they have, in the same fell swoop, given me something that money cant buy.
I pause sometimes in the middle of Main Street, USA, and watch the people around me. This place as familiar to me as anywhere weve ever lived is a place I never take for granted. Even though we visit Disney once or twice a year, Im aware that I am surrounded by people who have saved for years and years to experience the vacation of a lifetime, and I want their experience to be just as soul-satisfying as it has been for me over the years.
The Disney Cruise Line is just an extension of all this for me. We have cruised twice, and have set our sights on a 7-Day Western in a couple of years.
You folks have graciously accompanied us from our first entrance into that sun-washed atrium onboard the Disney Wonder. Youve heard When You Wish Upon a Star on the ships horns, and known that a Disney cruise is a wish come true. Youve dined with us, gazed at the horizon with us, walked the streets of Nassau with us. Youve basked in the surreal beauty of the beaches at Castaway Cay. Youve watched the sunrise over a calm, beckoning sea, and touched the Eternal. Youve experienced the wind in your hair, the smiles from cast and crew, and sweet encounters with the most gracious Mr. Mickey Mouse. Youve been greeted with turned-down covers, towel animals, and chocolates.
This particular cruise is over, and in an odd sense, Ive almost grieved, because Im missing what was for a time an idealized place and time. While so many worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make our cruise a terrific experience, we were the benefactors of the best, most attentive service imaginable.
Early one morning, while most of the ship was stirring to life, I walked down Deck 4 to the Walt Disney Theater. I was all alone. At the entrance is that famous, larger than life photograph of Mr. Disney. I though of him, of how his life and work has become part of the collective consciousness of so many people, and felt that he would be pleased at this seagoing extension of his handiwork.
Shhhhh. Move in close, folks. I have one more thing Id like to share, and its going to be our secret, OK?
I announce, with trembling pleasure, that the dream is still alive.
God bless you all.
A year after your cruise I have just read your trip report. I feel the magic and the pixie dust every time I cross the bridge on the way to the port and see the ship, hear the magic horn as we pull away from the port, or even drive under the arch on the way to the parks. You are a phenomenal writer and have made me feel just as magical as those other awe-inspiring events.
Thank you. God bless you as well.
My family and I are going on our first cruise ever in June. Tell you what ... I'll stand on my verandah watching the sunset and whisper, silently so my DH can't hear me, your name. 
I hope that our trip is as magical as I believe it will be.
Thank you, you just made my day!
