by Sean | May 29, 2014 | History
Hmm ever heard of Magical Cruise Company Limited? This is the legal name of the Disney Cruise Line, it is incorporated in the UK and cruise ships are registered in the Bahamas. Operational Headquarters for DCL are in Celebration, FL.
Disney Magic and The Big Red Boat
In the 1980’s Disney started paying attention to the cruise industry, but wasn’t ready for the expense of building their own ships. So in 1985, Disney partnered with Premier Cruise Line to provide seven night land and sea vacations on the Big Red Boat. This was a happy partnership for 8 years until 1993 when Premier announced that it would be removing the Disney characters and would start a new license agreement with Warner Brothers. Disney quickly contacted both Carnival and Royal Caribbean to replace the exclusive land and sea deal; these talks did not prove to be successful. This was a blessing in disguise, and in 1994 Disney announced that it would create its own cruise line.
After the announcement Disney commissioned two ships to be built at Fincantieri in Italy. These ships would go on to become the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder.
Disney cruise line was officially born in 1998 with the launch of the Disney Magic. July 30th 1998 a day I will remember well as my wife and I would board the ship for our honeymoon on the maiden voyage of the Disney Magic. Stepping on board was breathtaking for both of us. Disney quality showed through with a beautiful ship that was so clean you could eat off the floors. It was a bit ironic as we pulled into Nassau, Bahamas and docked alongside the Big Red Boat (picture earlier in this article).
Our Amazing Servers
As with any industry that Disney enters, they re-Imagineered family cruising, one change was the introduction of rotating dining. This allows the guest to visit each of the ships restaurants while maintaining the same serving staff. This was an innovative concept at the time and we loved it as we still do today. To top it off, Disney also added its own island to the cruises. Disney purchased a 99-year land lease of a Bahamian Island called Gorda Cay which they renamed Castaway Cay. Find a bit of history on the island landing strip here.
Today Disney Cruise Line has now grown to 4 Ships with destinations all around the world including Alaska, Bahamas, Caribbean, Europe, and the Pacific Coast.
- Disney Magic – July 1998
- Disney Wonder – August 1999
- Disney Dream – January 2011
- Disney Fantasy – March 2012
What is your favorite ship and destination?
by Sean | May 27, 2014 | Disney Cruise
In just a few weeks the DisneyDayByDay Family will be headed to Alaska on the Disney Wonder. This will be our first time on the Wonder so I collected some fun trivia and facts on the ship.
- Maiden voyage – August 1999
- The ship has 875 staterooms
- Passenger Capacity is around 2,713
- Crew of around 950
- Tinkerbell is the Godmother of the Disney Wonder. Disney Cruise Line was the first cruise line to have an animated character as the Godmother of a ship.
- The atrium in each of the Disney Cruise Line ships feature a character statue. On the Wonder, Ariel sits outside her father’s, King Triton’s, restaurant.
- The bow features Steamboat Willie at the helm leading the way.
- On the aft you will find Donald doing his best to finish up the paint job name plate while under duress from his nephew Huey who found a pair of scissors.
- The interior design is art nouveau with a more natural whimsical feel, characterized by an art from nature feel, with whimsical, swirling wave design.
- The ship’s cruising speed is 21.5 knots, kick it into high gear and its maximum speed is 24 knots (about 28 MPH).
- The total diesel fuel storage capability is 20,000 gallons. At $3.90 a gallon that’s $78,000 to fill it up, a bit over my Visa limit.
- The horsepower of Disney Wonder’s five engines is equivalently to the power of more than 100 Formula One racing cars running at full speed.
- The Disney Wonder is 106 feet wide and 964 feet long making it almost as long as the Eiffel Tower is high.
- There are 5,390 pillows on board, these come in real handy :).
- The weight of the anchor is 14 tons (weight of around 3 elephants)
- The weight of the propeller is 18.8 tons.
- The ship can make 1,200 tons of fresh water from seawater each day. Drink up.
- The water used to operate the laundry is water from the atmosphere, collected as it drains from the air-conditioning system. Specifically, 280 tons a day are retrieved; the laundry uses 220 tons. This shows in Disney’s commitment to the Environment and their A grade in the Friends of the Earth Report Cards each year.
- 5500 square feet of Disney themed shopping and I’m sure you will check out every foot.
- 8,260 cups of coffee are served every day on board.
- In a month of cruises on the Disney Wonder, 15,776 cans of Coca-Cola will be consumed. Will you contribute to this?
Have any other facts to add, include them in our comments below.
by Sean | May 15, 2014 | Uncategorized
It’s coming again this year – the D23 Fanniversary!
What is it:
We all know about the D23 Expo that occurs every couple years. The fan club also offers smaller events that travel closer to your home town. These events commemorate Disney milestones that are celebrating landmark anniversaries this year. The 1 hr 45 min presentation consists of videos and short talks about the 2014 milestones. Included in this years presentation will be Donald Duck, the 1964–65 New York World’s Fair, Sleeping Beauty, Haunted Mansion, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, The Little Mermaid, and many more. The event will also feature the never-before-heard track “Evil Evil” from Walt Disney Records The Legacy Collection Sleeping Beauty and a demo recording from Walt Disney Records The Legacy Collection The Little Mermaid. With so much to see and hear you won’t want to miss it. After the event be sure to check out the items from the Walt Disney Archives that will be on display. More details can be found at the D23 Fanniversary Website.
How can I get tickets:
Tickets are available at 3 different levels and can be purchase on the D23 Fanniversary Site:
- D23 Gold and Silver members – $23 – On Sale May 21
- D23 Free Members – $33 – On Sale June 11
- General Public – $40 – On Sale July 9
Where are they going in 2014:
- Burbank – Aug 9 (2pm/5pm) – Main Studio Theater, Walt Disney Studios
- San Diego – Aug 10 (10:30am/1:30pm) – San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts
- San Francisco – Aug 16/17 (2pm/5pm) – Walt Disney Family Museum
- Chicago – Sept 6 (10:30am/2pm) – Museum of Contemporary Art
- Seattle – Sept 13 (7pm) – Seattle Public Library
- Atlanta – Sept 20 (11am/2pm) – High Museum of Art
- Philadelphia – Sept 21 (2pm) – Franklin Institute
- Washington D.C. – Sept 26 (7pm) – U.S. Naval Memorial Museum
- New York – Sept 28 (2pm) – Museum of Modern Art
- Boston – Oct 4 (2pm/5pm) – Boston Calderwood Pavilion
- Orlando – Oct 25 (10am/2:30pm) – Boardwalk Resort
by Sean | May 2, 2014 | Giveaway
Happy May, the Flower and Garden Festival is coming to an end soon at Epcot and Star Wars Weekends are just around the corner. Have you planted your flowers or garden this spring, is there room for a Mickey Wind Chime? And how about a $15 Disney Gift Card to use on your next trip. Sounds good huh? Well, now is your chance, join us along with our wonderful Disney friends and use the easy Rafflecopter form below to enter and win.
Win It!
- The giveaway will run from Saturday, May 3, 2014 until May 11, 2014 at 11:59 PM EST.
- More ways to enter! There is a daily entry for more chances to win. You can enter right here on the blog or from our DisneyDayByDay Facebook Page.
- The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter after verification of entries and notified by email.
- To officially accept the prize the winner must reply by email within 24 hours. Make sure that you provide an email address that you check regularly.
- The giveaway is open to United States residents only, ages 18 yrs old and up.
- The lucky winner will be announced right here on DisneyDayByDay, after the winner has accepted their prize.
Entering is easy through the Rafflecopter form below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Be sure to take some time to visit our friends sites for a wealth of Disney information. Great WDW Tips, Home is Where the Mouse is, Mouse Ears Mom, Frontierland Station, Superheroes and Teacups, Focused on the Magic, Disney Mamas, and Colorado Mountain Mom.
by Sean | May 1, 2014 | History
Since the opening of the first Disney park, Disney has had standards for the Disney Look. This look was to help separate the Disney parks from the traditional amusement parks and make cast members look approachable, safe, and professional. Some of these are a bit humorous but many are still enforced today. Below are a few of the standards that cast members had to follow…..
Women
- Hair cannot exceed 2 inches in height
- No Wigs
- No Frosted or Streaked hair
- No Eye Shadow, Eyeliner, or False Eyelashes
- Fingernails have to be no longer than one quarter of an inch.
- No Earrings
- No Perfume
Men
- Hair cannot exceed 1 inch in height
- Hair cannot touch ear or collar.
- Sideburns cannot go below the middle of the ear.
- No beards, mustaches, or toupees.
Both Men and Woman
- No visible tattoos
- No more than one ring per hand
- Undergarments have to be worn at all times.
These standards were strict and inflexible but over the years they have relaxed a few.
When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971 they allowed women to wear quarter inch plain earrings.
In 1994 the earring size increased to the size of a quarter and women were now allowed to wear eye shadow, eyeliner, flat shoes, hairpieces, and colored fingernail polish (no bright colors of course).
A big change was made in 2000 which allowed employees to grow mustaches. Yes after all these years Walt was the only cast member allowed to sport a mustache. The mustache had to be fully grown in and could be no longer than a quarter of an inch.
In 2010 changes were made so that women didn’t have to wear pantyhose with skirts and even allowed sleeveless tops, as long as those tops had 3 inch wide or wider shoulder straps. One slight change came for the men this year as well; they could now wear untucked casual shirts.
The most recent update to this policy came in 2012 when Disney announced they would allow men to have beards and goatees. But don’t start growing one thinking you will be auditioning for one of the seven dwarfs, like the mustache your beard can only be a quarter of an inch and it must be fully grown in.
Rules over the years have come and gone, but many of the original items are still there. I like the Disney look and am glad Walt put the standards in place, as with any product you want to know what you are getting and with Disney you always know the look and quality you will receive.
If you want to see if you fit the Disney Look check out the latest rules on their career website.
