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Cruises:
Panama Cruises in the News
Disney Cruise Line Rumours
www.mickeynews.com
3/15/2005
The Disney Cruise Line is now well established and ready for expansion.
In his latest article, Shaun Finnie looks at the possible directions
that expansion could take.
There have been many rumours about a possible expansion of the Disney
Cruise Line over the years, but recently they’ve started to
get a bit more specific. In this article I’ll try to collect
some of the more reliable ones together. Remember, this isn’t
what’s definitely going to happen; it’s what has been
rumour to be in the planning stages at the Disney Cruise Line.
The plan is apparently for the Disney Wonder to stay at Port Canaveral,
continuing with the current three and four night cruises. Her sister
ship, the Disney Magic, would cruise back through the Panama Canal
to take passengers on a regular version of the Los Angeles to Mexico
route that will be sailing this summer. The 2005 trial of this route
was supposedly just for a limited run in honour of Disneyland’s
50th anniversary but as it’s been hugely popular, making it
a regular occurrence seems a sure thing.
The longer cruises that currently sail out of Florida would be done
by a brand new ship to be named the Disney Dream. The Dream would
be styled to the same classic look as the two current ships but
would have a few more decks – three or four seem to be the
most commonly reported numbers. This would make it higher than the
Wonder and Magic, but no wider, as that would make passage through
the Panama Canal impossible: the current ships only just fit through
it.
Disney Dream will be instantly recognisable to anyone who’s
been on the two older boats, but with a few additions. A second
exclusive restaurant will be added. It will be similar to Palo,
but will be French in theme. The three main restaurants will actually
be larger that on the Magic & Wonder, but will be variable in
size with movable walls so that they will always feel full even
if the ship isn’t running at full capacity.
Another difference in the proposed Dream is with the much-loved
Animator’s Palate. This restaurant is to be replicated at
the Walt Disney Studios, Paris, in a version that will be more or
less the same as the current cruise line restaurants. The Disney
Dream version will be much more elaborate though, with better and
more colour-changing effects.
Finally, the Dream will (if the rumours are to be believed) feature
a number of larger staterooms capable of holding families of up
to six people. This is in response to large family groups of passengers
complaining in the past that they’ve had to split them up.
So with the building of the Disney Dream and the new western route,
that’s the proposed DCL expansion phase one.
Phase two would involve cruising to much further afield places.
Los Angeles to Tokyo would be a fairly obvious route for a larger
ship like the proposed Dream to embark on. And there’s also
talk of putting a ship in the Mediterranean to do a land / sea vacation
link with Disneyland Paris. But the US West Coast is looking very
likely candidate for expanded touring options. Why else would Disney
just last month have started inviting guests who had been on multiple
DCL cruises and theme park holidays to join them on escorted touring
trips (not via the Cruise Line) to Hawaii? Can you imagine a Lilo
& Stitch-themed cruise to Hawaii? The 50th State is a definite
prime target for future DCL sailings, and an Alaskan cruise has
been mentioned too.
There has even been talk of Disney buying two cruise ships from
other operators for the shorter runs and renaming them Disney Fantasia
and Disney Enchantment. I can’t really see this happening
though as the cost of refitting an existing vessel to the standards
of the Magic & Wonder would surely be almost as much as building
a brand new boat.
Of course there are no timescales for all this to happen in, nor
any guarantees that any of it will happen at all. It’s just
the Disney rumour mill.
But it’s always fun to Dream….
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