Huckaby: There's no shame in being a Disney adult

Darrell Huckaby, a native of Porterdale, Ga, is a double graduate of UGA and a retired educator with 40 years of classroom experience.

Disney.

It has always been a magical word to me, ever since I was a toddler wearing a raccoon skin cap and singing stanza after stanza of Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. My family and I were faithful watchers of the Wonderful World of Disney, even though when Tinkerbelle’s magic wand turned Cinderella’s castle into brilliant colors for most of America, the images on our set remained in black and white and shades of gray.

I hurried home from school every day to watch the Mickey Mouse Club. My first crush was on Annette Funicello. I know there are hundreds of other Baby Boomers who could say the same thing. I always wanted a set of those mouse ears and finally got a set about four years ago when one of my students surprised me on my birthday.

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I would sit in front of the television set, gazing in envy at the specials that aired about Disney Land, in California. It might as well have been on the moon as far as this little kid was concerned. I could only dream of ever seeing Snow White’s castle or walking down Main Street, USA or riding the Dumbo ride or Alice in Wonderland’s tea cups.

But I did get to see Peter Pan and Bambi at the Strand Theater in Covington, as well as any other Disney movie released between 1953 and 1968. 

I was overcome with joy to learn that “Uncle Walt” was building an even larger version of Disney Land in Florida and the first summer it was open Steve Piper - my older brother that I am not related to - got a job there. Naturally, I went down to visit and learned first-hand what was special about an e-ride ticket. Disney World was everything I had dreamed it might be and more. 

When I met the woman who would become my lovely wife, Lisa, and she proposed to me on our third date, I had to make sure she was a Disney person before I said yes.  Throughout our marriage, we have visited Disney World numerous times and even made the trek to California to visit the original “Happiest Place on Earth.” Our children have been raised to be Disney people and Disney is one of only two companies I have ever purchased stock in.

You get the picture. Now I told you all of that to tell you this.

There may be controversy these days surrounding Disney, but there is still magic in the name for me and mine. Several years ago, we took a cruise during Spring Break on a Disney Cruise ship. Two years ago, my Christmas gift to my family was a second one.

Do you know how hard it is for eight adults to schedule a vacation for the same week?  Next to impossible. We did it, though. Spring Break - 2020. You all know how that turned out. But we rescheduled, first for 2021, which was a no-go. Then for June 2022. I am writing to you today from somewhere in the middle of the Caribbean Sea.

Sadly, life happens, and we had to leave my son, Jackson, at home. It has not been the same without them, but it will give me an excuse to come back, the Lord willing.

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We are on the Fantasy, and I have never been on a cleaner ship. Period. The food is great and plentiful, but that’s the case on every cruise. The entertainment is spectacular. Why wouldn’t it be?  But the thing that separates Disney from every other cruise line I have encountered is the staff, or “cast” as they call them.

Every person I have encountered on board, without exception, from the ship’s captain to the person who cleans my room to the two guys whose job it seems to be to varnish the deck rails on an endless loop are warm and friendly. Warm smiles are as much a part of this cruise as unlimited dessert on the buffet. You can see the smiles in the cast’s eyes, even though they wear masks.

That goes a long way with me. I can spot phony a mile away. The warmth on this trip is genuine. Besides, where else can you run into Mickey Mouse on the stairwell or watch your grandson have breakfast with Donald Duck, all while sailing the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea.

Every day onboard we are reminded that if you can dream it, you can do it and that sometimes when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.