Previously on Rob Plays: It was 1984 and Disney wanted to get into the cruise industry.
Unfortunately cruise ships are really expensive.
So they partnered with Premier Cruise Line who offered Disney Cruises on The Big Red Boat.
Things were great.
In 1994 the partnership ended.
Premier decided to partner with Warner Bros instead.
It worked out well for them… until it didn’t.
Disney tried to partner with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.
It didn’t work out.
Disney tried to partner with the Carnival Cruise line.
It also didn’t work out.
So Disney decided it was finally time for them to just spend the money and start their
own cruise line, the Disney Cruise Line.
In the late 1980s and 90s, when it came to entertainment and vacation ventures, Disney’s
philosophy was that the best approach was to take a crash course in the industry in
question and take a try at it themselves.
They believed that their methodology to entertainment was unique, and that applying it to these
new ventures allowed them to do it “the Disney way.”
For reasons mentioned in the last video, which you should check out before watching this
one, Disney simply couldn’t do that with cruises.
But as their partnership options ran dry in 1994, Disney was in a much better financial
situation compared to a decade prior when they first wanted to get into the industry.
So they decided that it was finally time to do what they always did best, which was approach
the venture “the Disney way.”
Disney Cruise Vacations, as it was referred to at the time, was announced in May of 1994,
but it would over four years before any ships would set sail.
Disney decided that instead of buying second-hand ships which cruise lines would sometimes do
to build a fleet, they would have two brand new ships built from scratch.
Disney was prepared to pay four-hundred million dollars per ship, and they wanted to get off
on the right foot so they hired industry veteran Arthur Rodney to lead the venture.
Just six years earlier Rodney had successfully led the launch of Crystal Cruises, which is
still around today.
Similar to the structure of their old partnership with Premier, Disney initially planned to
offer cruises to the Bahamas that sailed out of Port Canaveral and that were packaged with
short stays at Walt Disney World.
It made the most sense.
While Miami was the larger port in Florida for cruises, Port Canaveral was just about
60 miles east of Walt Disney World, and if Disney loved one thing, it was synergy.
The company would hire Italian shipbuilders Fincantieri to build the two ships while the
design would be completed in Norway with the help of Walt Disney Imagineering.
The 85,000 ton ships, later named the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder, would be able
to hold up to 2,500 passengers each.
Disney didn’t just want their famous magic to be apparent through the entertainment and
crew on the ships, they wanted the ships themselves to feel like they had that special Disney touch.
You see, at that time the family cruise market was still just a small part of the overall industry.
It had certainly grown thanks to Disney’s involvement with Premier, but it wasn’t
what it is today.
Disney wanted to design a ship that would not only appeal to families with children,
but to adults without children as well.
At a time where many cruise lines were catering towards one group or the other, Disney was
aiming to win over both.
One way of doing that was by designing the two ships to offer staterooms that were 25%
larger than the industry standard at the time in order to better accommodate families with children.
They also wanted to make sure there was enough for kids to do while on the ship, and so an
unprecedented 15,000 square feet, almost an entire ship deck, was exclusively set aside
as space for children’s activities.
That said, it wasn’t enough to just have entertainment options for kids.
In order to truly appeal to both audiences, it was important that the ship also had options
for those who wanted to avoid the more family-centric offerings.
For instance, the ship would have three separate pools.
One for adults only, one for kids only, and one for everyone.
This tactic would also be used with dining, as the ship offered, among others, an upscale
adult-only restaurant.
Even the island the ships docked at would have both a general beach area for everybody
as well as a quiet adults-only beach area.
Meanwhile, once Disney made their pick of Port Canaveral official, the Canaveral Port
Authority got to work at building a $27 million dollar terminal for the two ships.
Disney would pay to lease the terminal and operate it themselves.
The Port Authority was more than happy to pick up the tab on building the terminal.
They estimated that the introduction of Disney cruise ships would have a positive economic
impact of up to one-hundred million dollars annually between the lease, the port fees,
and the jobs created.
They even hoped that Disney picking the port as it’s home would entice other cruise lines
to choose Port Canaveral in the future.
In fact, if there was one word to describe the general reaction to Disney’s decision
to move into the cruise industry, it was hopeful.
Even competing cruise lines felt that Disney’s arrival would help them more than it would hurt.
They believed that the Disney name would attract many first-time cruise passengers who might
then be willing to explore other cruise options down the line.
Disney themselves even believed that as many as 90% of their initial passengers might potentially
be first timers.
On top of that, while Disney was promising to offer a top of the line experience with
the Magic and Wonder, it would also come with a top of the line price.
So other cruise lines felt safe in knowing that the Disney Cruise Line wouldn’t eat
into the market of passengers looking for a more economical vacation.
Now if at this point anyone still doubted Disney’s dedication to diving head first
into the cruise industry, those doubts would be put to rest when Disney purchased a 99
year lease on their own private island in the Bahamas, called Gorda Cay.
Later renamed Castaway Cay before opening, it would be a stop along the way for the two ships.
I originally planned to go more into the island, but there’s enough of an interesting history
behind this place that I’ve decided to dedicate an entire video just to Castaway Cay in the future.
So keep an eye out for that.
By all accounts it appeared that Disney was committed to making sure that their entrance
into the cruise industry would be grand and smooth, and for a while that’s how it was going.
Unfortunately it wouldn’t be the case for long.
In October of 1997 Disney was just six months away from their planned launch of the first
cruise of the Disney Magic.
Many families were likely getting excited for their upcoming Disney cruise, but unfortunately
they would learn that the maiden voyage of the Disney Magic was to be delayed to April
of 1998.
Disney cited construction issues in Italy as the reason for the delay.
It was disappointing, no doubt, but what could you do?
One positive result of the delay was that with an April 1998 launch date, Disney could
plan one grand celebration to mark not only the start of the Disney Cruises, but also
the opening of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which was slated to open its gates that same month.
Four months later those same families were once again growing excited for their upcoming
Disney cruise, and were once again disappointed when they were informed that the ships were
once again delayed.
This time the delay was over two months and the maiden voyage was pushed back to July 30th
This delay was especially painful for Disney.
For one, they had to scrap their joint Animal Kingdom/Disney Cruise launch celebration,
but more importantly, it began to hurt their credibility.
For years the hype of Disney’s cruise line was building, and one constant question being
asked was whether or not they could pull off the famous Disney magic when it came to a cruise.
Now, at a time where the press coverage should have been all about the excitement for the
upcoming voyage, the media story was instead about the string of setbacks.
It raised the question of whether or not Disney knew what they were doing.
Once more construction issues were cited as the cause of the delay.
Officially, both Disney and Fincantieri pointed to a shortage in supplies and persistent weather
problems as the two main issues.
The cruise industry was growing at a faster rate at that point, and so Europe saw a spike
in ships being built during that time.
Fincantieri was busy building eleven cruise ships at that point, and Disney wouldn’t
ultimately be the only cruise line to be hit with delays.
That said, there are others both within Disney and within Fincantieri who put part of the
blame on Disney, claiming that their perfectionism, constantly revised plans, and unique designs
for the custom ships played a large part in the two delays.
In any case the setbacks would effect a total of 26 voyages, and Disney tried to placate
the understandably disappointed passengers by offering 25% off of the vacation for those
families impacted by one delay, and 50% off of the vacation for those impacted by both.
It worked, too, because cancellations were kept to a minimum and the vast majority of
families ended up rescheduling.
Commercial Man: Presenting the most long awaited cruise ship ever, The Disney Magic!
Commercial Man: From Disney Cruise Line. Now sailing.
With no other delays in sight, The Disney Magic made its way to Port Canaveral that
July and it was reported that up to 10,000 people showed up to the port to watch the arrival.
Like most ventures into something new, there were some logistical and service hiccups during
the first few cruises, but nothing disastrous.
Disney would quickly iron out the wrinkles and go on to show everyone who was still asking
that, yes, they could bring that famous Disney magic to the cruise industry.
Within a matter of years the cruise line was not only growing in popularity, but winning
awards and accolades from all manner of publications for their level of quality and service.
A couple of years later in 2000 Disney would expand their offerings to a 7-night cruise
in the Bahamas, and the following year in 2001 Disney would begin hinting that more
ships were planned for the future.
After that the word to best describe the Disney Cruise Line was growth.
They began to sail to more locations, including Europe in 2006.
In 2007 they announced that two new ships, The Disney Dream and The Disney Fantasy would
be joining the fleet in 2011 and 2012.
Just recently in 2016 it was announced that two more ships, yet to be named, would be
joining the fleet in the future, and as if that wasn’t enough a 3rd upcoming ship was
announced last year.
The three new ships are expected to set sail in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Today the Disney Cruise Line covers it all.
They offer cruises that are as short as two nights to as long as two weeks.
Destinations that range from the Bahamas to Europe to Alaska and Mexico and more.
Thanks to the wonderful cast members they continue to win awards for their fantastic
service and with three more ships on the way it seems they have no intention of slowing down.
The Disney Cruise Line serves as yet another example of Disney’s ability to bring that
famous Disney magic somewhere new.