Wednesday is a huge day for Disney. The vacation company will introduce a new cruise ship, the first in a decade.
Tomorrow, the Disney Dream will join the Magic and the Wonder, making the mouse house fleet a threesome. Disney will show off the Dream in Port Canaveral, about an hour east of Orlando. And I am excited to take a look at my third Disney ship.
Today, I am in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World to gather a little pixie dust for the Dream ride tomorrow.
I started at one of my favorite barbershops, which sits just off Main Street near the entrance to the Magic Kingdom. Three chairs. I waited about 10 minutes, then sat for a clipping as the Celebration Parade passed on the street outside, with dancers and horns and plenty of celebratory singing. My barber hummed. He apologized, but I told him there was no need. He offered to spread some pixie dust in my hair. I passed, but the two young people, one on either side of me, accepted my share with enthusiasm.
Starved for smiles and sunshine
What I notice at Disney World in the winter is the smiles, both from people on vacation and those in the vacation business. The sunshine helps.
Disney helped me with an attitude change from the one I felt this morning in snowy Cleveland, Ohio, where folks were mostly just trying to get a start on a cold, dreary day.
The guy who drove the van from the parking lot to the airport terminal was working hard to be cheery, but clearly he was tired to the bone. Turned out he had had a rough night. A short night, too, after a long day driving travelers on Monday. In the middle of the night, his cat died.
So, there he was, just after 7 a.m., driving travelers back and forth between the parking lot and the airport terminal, carrying luggage, reminding people where they parked, wishing us all a good day.
Some of us were headed for Orlando, and the smiles and pixie dust of Disney. The driver had a cold day ahead, and then home to a catless house.
