Disney Cruise Line history · History of Disney Cruise Line
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History of Disney Cruise Line
History of Disney Cruise Line
In retrospect, it's a little surprising it took Disney so long to get into the cruising business. The industry seems a perfect fit for Disney's brand of entertainment, but it took a while to come to fruition.
Disney had partnered with Premier Cruise Line to provide ship-based components of combined vacation itineraries starting in the 1980s. Although Disney sold the vacation packages and provided some costumed characters for the cruises, eventually the company decided they could create a better experience?and keep more money in-house?by establishing their own cruise line.
In 1995, Disney commissioned their first two ships, the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder. They're sister ships, nearly identical, both designed from the keel up to present an ocean-going version of their theme parks and hotels, one where the operational areas of the ship are kept carefully hidden from guest view. The Magic was completed in 1998, with the Wonder following a year later; both ships ported at Port Canaveral, where a dedicated Disney Cruise Line terminal opened in 1997.
Also part of the Cruise Line is Castaway Cay, a 1000-acre (4 km2) island in the Bahamas once known as Gorda Cay. Disney had purchased the island in the mid-80s (part of the 1984 film Splash was filmed there), and it turned out to be a perfect spot for large cruise ships. After making an existing natural harbor even deeper (and using the excavated sand to expand the beaches), Castaway Cay was born and incorporated into the new ships' itineraries.
After a almost decade of successful cruising, including occasional trips to the US west coast and to Europe, Disney announced plans to add two ships to the fleet. The Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy would be about 40% larger than the Magic and the Wonder, with unique features including an enclosed overhead water coaster called the "AquaDuck". The Dream launched in January 2011, cruising from Port Canaveral. To make room for the Dream, the Disney Wonder moved to a new home at the Port of Los Angeles, from where it will sail to Mexico (with summertime cruises from Vancouver to Alaska).
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Disney Cruise Line Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.