Tag Archives: Disney Cruise Line

The First Look at Disney’s Newest Ships

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A new era of Disney Cruise Line ships
PHOTO: A new era of Disney Cruise Line ships (Photo courtesy of Disney Cruise Line).

Disney Cruise Line has drawn the curtain back on its three new vessels.

Set to debut in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the line promises that the ships will take family cruise vacations to a new level.

Newly-released renderings reveal a few details. Namely, the ships will carry on the Disney Cruise Line style, evocative of elegant ocean liners of the past.

The ships, which brings the “golden age of cruising” into the digital era will feature high-tech innovations, new technology, and immersive entertainment experiences. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Disney Cruise Line voyage without a surfeit of iconic stories and characters to infuse the experience.

The new vessels will be approximately 140,000 gross tons in size and hold about 1,250 guest staterooms.

What could have been: Disney’s Long Beach port

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Carnival Cruise Line opened its expanded terminal over the weekend in the Spruce Goose Dome in Long Beach, cementing its status as the leading cruise line in the Southern California market. But the terminal was nearly a hub for Disney Cruise Line instead.

In 1990, the Walt Disney Co. announced plans for a Port Disney in Long Beach. The plan called for a marine-themed amusement park, a marina, a speciality retail and entertainment area and hotel accommodations.

Crucially, a cruise port was part of the 443-acre plan. And this was four years before Disney announced it was getting into the cruise business.

Disney had acquired the site, which included the Queen Mary cruise ship and the Howard Hughes-built Spruce Goose, the plane with the largest wingspan ever to fly, in an acquisition of the Wrather Corp. in 1989.

The cruise port would have had five berths with ships going to Mexico, Seattle and San Diego, among other destinations.

Five resort hotels would have been built as part of the development, along with a monorail connecting Queensway with downtown Long Beach. The centrepiece of the plan was DisneySea, an aquatic-themed amusement park and education centre, which would have picked up where the recently-closed Marineland of the Pacific, in Palos Verdes, left off.

Long Beach had a history as an amusement centre. A waterfront area known as the Pike was the site of the Cyclone Racer, the largest seaside wooden roller coaster in the country until it was torn down in 1968.

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As part of the Wrather Corp. deal, Disney had also acquired a hotel across the street from Disneyland, which could now be expanded. Disney set up a competition between Anaheim and Long Beach to see which was more enthusiastic about gaining a new Disney park.

Concerns arose in Long Beach about environmental issues, traffic, local hiring and other factors. In late 1991, Port Disney was cancelled in favour of WestCOT, a Disneyland version of Disney World’s EPCOT centre.

WestCOT was never built. The land would eventually become Disney’s California Adventure. Disney sold its leases on the Queen Mary and the Spruce Goose Dome. Ten years later, in 2001, the new leaseholder arranged for Carnival to use part of the dome as a terminal starting in 2003.

By that time, Disney Cruise Line was up and running out of Port Canaveral in Florida, an hour from Disney World. But it was a decade too late for Disney’s chance to sail from a custom-built home in Long Beach.

When Disney Cruise Line moved the Disney Magic ship to California in 2005 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, it had to sail for the summer out of the Port of Los Angeles.

It’s fascinating to think what the possibilities would have been if only Disney had been a little more persistent in Long Beach.

Big Changes Coming to Disney Magic

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Exciting new things are coming to Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Magic for families that love to hit the open seas.

At Rapunzel’s Royal Table, passengers will be treated to an all-new dining experience inspired by the beloved story of Disney’s Tangled. The restaurant will feature characters, live entertainment, themed menus, special activities and a parade to cap off the evening.

All of the themed events at Rapunzel’s Royal Table compliment Tangled: The Musical, an original production running during each Disney Magic sailing.

Families travelling with teenagers know how fickle they can be, but the crew at Disney Cruise Line has redesigned a portion of the ship specifically for teens ages 14-17, dubbed the Vibe.

The Vibe features a new coffee and smoothie bar, video and virtual reality games, DJ spin-off activities and more in an urban loft environment. The area will be monitored by trained Disney counsellors.

For the parents and guardians of the group, the Cove Cafe is a place for adults only where they can enjoy coffee and tea or get wild with wine and a cocktail. The Cove Cafe also hosts adult beverage tastings at select times.

Other changes announced include the addition of Club Disney Junior in Disney’s Oceaneer Club, a redesigned Rainforest Room with steam and hydrotherapy in Senses Spa for adults and more.

The new enhancements will debut on the Disney Magic ship starting March 9, 2018, on sailings from Miami. The four- and five-night sailings visit Key West, the Bahamas and Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.

The Disney Magic will be repositioned to Europe for the summer season on May 14, 2018.