About a month ago we were on a weeklong Disney Cruise! It was such a great trip, full of amazing things to do. When on the cruise, the way you keep track of all these activities is through what they call the Daily Navigator. It’s a schedule put out each day of all the shows, classes, movies, and activities happening on the ship. On this cruise we noticed a few items that kept popping up and sparking our curiosity. Events for two groups that we didn’t know about and were wondering what they could be.
The first one was innocent sounding enough, the 1820 club. They would meet everyday for drawing classes, karaoke, games, etc. Who could they be? My imagination ran wild. A reenactment group of the era of 1820? A history club? Did this year have something to do with Disney history? Maybe the year Walt’s family first sailed to the United States? I couldn’t figure it out, couldn’t look it up with no WiFi on the ship, and was too lazy to go ask someone. Then last week I was listening to a Disney Cruise podcast and they were talking about the kid’s clubs on the ships – and suddenly I had my answer. There are a variety of kid’s clubs for all the age ranges up to 17. The adult only bars and clubs are mainly for drinking and, of course, the age for that is 21. So they have the 1820 club. Activities for those age 18-20. Wow. Pretty obvious in hindsight, but I would’ve never have guessed that…
The second one was such a head scratcher I had to finally look it up. Everyday the Friends of Bill W would meet somewhere on the ship. There was never an activity listed, just that they would meet. Who were these friends? Who was Bill W? Was he a big cruise fan who had died recently and his friends and family were doing one last cruise to remember him? Was he someone famous from Disney past? Was it some kind of motivational seminar or sales pitch? What could it be? Well, when I figured out the above mystery, I remembered this one and decided to look it up. Interesting indeed. The Friends of Bill W is code for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. William Wilson was the founder of AA. Sometimes the term Friends of Bill W is shortened to FOB. It’s supposed to be a way to communicate meetings while maintaining some anonymity, since most non members wouldn’t know what the term means. Oops, so ignore all this! But honestly, if there is ever a place where AA meetings need to be available, it is on a cruise ship. There is temptation everywhere and it must be really hard to get through the week watching all that is happening around you. What a relief it must be to know you can book a cruise and still have the support you need for that week. It looks like most cruise ship lines offer this service, not just Disney. What a great idea.
We used to be part of a group of friends a long time ago. Not that we all aren’t still friends, but we don’t really see each other anymore. You know how it goes. You start a family, have kids, get busy with careers, start new friendships with your kid’s friend’s parents, or with people at work. But you keep tabs on the old friends. Run into them once in a while – and think about all those times in high school and college, and those first years of trying to become adults. Of being in each other’s weddings and visiting the new babies – all before we basically went our separate ways. Well, we got to catch up with our group of friends recently. There was a birthday party we got invited to. One of those big ones that sometimes warrants a party. Sometimes, like in my case, it warrants a trip to New Orleans, but that’s a different story. For this one there was a party – with a band and a view and the realization that while people get older, they never really change. Everybody was pretty much the same as they were 15-20 years ago. That could come across as sad, but I take it as a comfort. It was comforting seeing everybody and noticing all the same mannerisms and conversations as when we were younger. It’s like going back to a place you used to live decades ago and seeing the same streets and buildings that you remember. Some things are different, but enough is the same that it feels good to be there. Or its like watching a movie again that meant so much in your youth and have it bring it all back. One of our friends even had his daughter there. The daughter that was the first baby born amongst us, and is now a cool college student. I wonder what she thought of this reunion, and who her group of friends will end up being…
Movies! We love movies. We do this thing in our family where we keep a list of movies we need to watch – either movies we want our daughter to watch that we’ve seen before – or movies we have agreed as a family we all need to watch together. Then we take turns picking from the list. When someone picks something, we can’t officially complain. They picked it, so we all have to watch it. We have had a diverse family movie festival the past few years. This past weekend was no exception.
On Friday night the choice was The Graduate. It’s been on the list for a while as one we wanted our daughter to watch once we thought she was old enough to get it. At least old enough at this age and then will get it in a different way when she is even older. She loved it, though, and was glued to it from start to end. We talked to her about how groundbreaking this movie was when it came out and how much it changed movie making and movie storytelling. It’s such an amazing film. The only real problem I have with it is the overuse of the Simon and Garfunkel music during one stretch. They kept repeating the same song over and over again. Of course, in most of the movie the music is used to great effect, but in that one sequence it gets annoying. At the end, after they flee the church, stop the bus and sit together in the back row, I told the kid to watch their faces and tell me what she thinks. When the scene was over she said – they just realized what they did and are wondering what they are going to do next. Like maybe they made a mistake. Yeah, she got it.
Saturday night’s movie was the polar opposite. Black Panther was the choice. A good movie for a Saturday night. Fun, loud, and all Disney Marvel’ly. With James Bond spy moments, lots of action and special effects, and the superhero plot twists. Now if there really was a third world country in Africa that was really a hidden technological mecca that could end up solving all the world’s problems…
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