Nothing can be finer than to be with your entire family on vacation. Nothing can be sweeter especially if that vacation is a Disney cruise and the only thing that matters is the grandkids. Being at sea with a 6-foot mouse and his friends is all about the children, but I got caught up in the hoopla that is Donald, Mickey and Smee
I was a Disney kid growing up. I didn't actually have the mouse ears, but I wanted to be Zorro, sail the seas like a pirate and lie like Pinocchio. When my wife suggested a vacation that included Disney World and a Disney cruise, I was all for it. "Perhaps I can finally meet Captain Hook," I thought.
We planned this trip one year ago, and even though we were trying to get granddaughter Cady and grandson Ryan excited about the possibility that they would meet Mickey, Peter Pan and the princesses, I secretly was even more excited. I grew up with all of these characters. As a little boy, I witnessed Cinderella meeting her Prince Charming and the wicked witch poisoning Snow White with that apple. This trip wasn't just for the kids.
One year flew by, and last month we journeyed down to Florida to embark on a five-day boat ride complete with all of the Disney characters. You should've seen how every child's eyes lit up when they met their favorites. When Cady was introduced to Minnie Mouse for a photo opportunity, I had flashbacks to when I first met Minnie as a young boy. She hadn't aged. Goofy still looks and sounds the same, and I had no idea that Daisy Duck had such long eyelashes.
Every day, Cady and Ryan would plan where to be when the stars came out. If you weren't meeting Mickey on deck 13 for drinks, you would meet all of the princesses on deck 3. Cady's favorite is Belle. Ryan has a crush on Ariel. This went on for five days. Everywhere you turned, a Disney character was there. During the lifeboat drill, I think I knocked over Peter Pan. He's pretty short.
What took us a year to plan was over before we knew it. We took plenty of pictures, posed with all sorts of rodents and even bought the professionally done photos. The memories of my childhood came back to me when I saw my own grandchildren holding hands with Captain Hook and getting a hug from Cinderella. We may have to plan our next trip without the kid.
