Travel is . . .

New dimensions. . .

It was a dark and rainy (day and) night, and that early December weekend in 1971 was our family's first trip to Walt Disney World. Despite the bad weather, our three sons, complete with the requisite "I wants" (ice cream, T-shirts, assorted other souvenirs and rides, rides, rides,) loved the race cars, Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents. They explored, with their dad, some of the more daring attractions and tolerated the "girlie" one I adored - It's a Small World.

The park was new, none of us had ever been to Disney Land, so it was a wonderful new family experience. The Contemporary Hotel, the monorail, the ambience of so many people with happy children and adults were all quite memorable.

I have been back to WDW many times. I visited again with our boys, with grandkids, and with members of the media.

I was back at Walt Disney World last week, for a gala in the closed-to-the public park celebrating new additions to Disney and the christening, the next day, of Disney's third vessel, the Disney Dream.

Disney is growing. the park is adding new attractions, building a hotel in Hawaii, adding to its international sites and in WDW a new African trek experience allows families to get up close and personal with many animals. Names have been changed at some attractions and the key words are growth and more growth.

The new ship is an example of that: It is the largest in the fleet and will offer three-, four- and five-night itineraries from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas.

With a capacity of 4,000 passengers, the new vessel features imaginative inside staterooms with virtual portholes and outstanding youth areas for kids from the nursery set to clubs for teens. Adult areas aren't given short shrift, either. Consider The District on Deck 4 with five attractive cocktail lounges and the private adult pool area on Deck 11.

Technology is a major player at Disney - the whole concept of course is the result of animation - and today's offerings combine cutting edge developments with time-honored concern for family vacation experiences.

Disney today - on land and on sea - is bigger and better by far than the park we visited close to 40 years ago. And just as memorable.