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 Disney Cruise & Resort News - (4/16/2023) A few new details about the Disney Treasure (MORE...)
(3/10/2023) Disney Cruise Line Shows New Art and Opening Timeline for Lighthouse Point
 (12/18/2022) TheDisneyBlog has posted an interesting update to the story about how Disney Cruise Line has purchased the unfinished Global Dream vessel at a heavy discount. The Global Dream was on the verge of being scrapped, despite being 75% complete, as the original owner found themselves unable to complete the funding for the ship’s build due to the impact of the pandemic on their business earnings.
According to the update, Disney Cruise Lines was able to negotiate the purchase of the mostly completed vessel for a meager $42 million, far less than what Disney would spend on a major E-Ticket attraction at their theme parks. Of course Disney will also have to fully fund the completion of the vessel, which will include adjustments and modifications to make it fit the Disney Cruise Line standards. The expected cost to complete the former Global Dream as a Disney Cruise Line vessel is expected to be somewhere north of $900 million.
The planned reworking of the ship will likely include bigger/better guest accomidations, as the previous press releases for Global Dream stated it would be able to accommodate 9,000 passengers, but Disney’s announcement has lowered this number to just 6,000 passengers. Screamscape had also previously reported on the Global Dream back in 2019, as it was announced to feature their own version of the powered Maurer’s Spike Coaster system across the top deck in similar fashion to Carnival’s Mardi Gras, Celebration and upcoming Jubilee vessels where it is marketed as BOLT - The Sea Coaster.
So far Disney has not announced what features will be present on the vessel once they re-brand it as a Disney Cruise Line ship, but when it was announced as the “Global Dream” it featured a virtual amusement park across the top decks. So far the only artwork of the vessel from the Disney Cruise Line look applied definitely does not show a roller coaster sitting across the top deck, but it also doesn’t show any kind of AquaDuck or AquaMouse waterslide either, which has been the trend for Disney branded vessels.
So it looks like Disney may be keeping some secrets close to the vest for the time being regarding what additional “play” features may be on the vessel when they are ready to launch it into the international cruise market in 2025.
(11/18/22) As rumored, Disney Cruise Lines has confirmed that they have completed their plan to acquire the cruise ship formerly known as the Global Dream. The Global Dream, already well under way at a ship-yard in Germany, will be redesigned and re-branded to fit as a new Disney Cruise Line vessel. Don’t look for this new ship to sail the usual routes that the other Disney Cruise Line ships do, instead this new vessel will be based to operate outside of the United States area.
(9/22/22) Disney Treasure Confirmed
(7/4/22) While Disney Cruise Lines is giving the media along with some social media influencers a test cruise on the new Disney Wish, the one story that keeps getting repeated is about a particular drink being served at the Star Wars Hyperspace Lounge. I’m not sure if this is exactly the type of attention Disney wanted, but as the old line of thought goes, good or bad it doesn’t matter as long as people are still talking about you.
If you haven’t seen it yet on Social Media (mine included) the overall shock is that the Hyperspace Lounge is offering a drink that will set you back $5,000 called the Kaiburr Crystal. Our bubby Arthur Levine is on the Disney Wish right now and took it upon himself to find out the details behind the Kaiburr Crystal, which is served in an odd container of sorts that requires some buttons to be pushed and a knob to be turned before it opens to reveal a set of silver shot glasses that the buyer gets to keep. But exactly what is it and why would anyone pay $5k for a couple of shots?
Follow the link and I’ll get Arthur explain what goes into the making of the beverage, but your money actually gets you more than just the drink. Guests who can afford the pricy beverage will also have flowers and Skywalker Vineyards sparkling wine delivered to their stateroom, along with a pass that will give you access to take a tour of the vineyard located at the Skywalker Ranch in California. (Note: Tours are not something ever offered to the general public, so this is somewhat of a special invitation.)
(7/2/22) It has been a long time coming, but congratulations to the Disney Cruise Line on the arrival of the Disney Wish, their 5th vessel, which was just christened at Port Canaveral ahead of the public maiden voyage on July 14th.
While there are a number of new things to see and do on the Disney Wish, one item that most guests will be curious about if the new AquaMouse, an updated and more themed version of the AquaDuck waterslide installed onto the last pair of Disney ships. Theme Park Insider has posted a video of the AquaMouse coaster slide in action which you can see below, which features animated footage on the lift hill of Mickey and Friends, animated in the same fashion as the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park.
2024 - Disney Treasure (2nd Disney Triton Class Ship) - (4/16/2023) Last Fall the Disney Cruise Line confirmed the name of their next vessel to launch will be the Disney Treasure. Following the launch of the Disney Wish in 2022, the Treasure will be the second of three ‘Triton-Class’ ships to be launched by the Disney Cruise Line. No itineraries have been confirmed yet, but the Disney Treasure is expected to launch sometime in 2024. Unlike the brighter and more fairy tale look of the Wish, the Treasure is said to have taken different internal design inspirations from adventures in far-away lands like Asia and Africa… and the city of Agrabah from Aladdin. You will find a statue in the Grand Hall attached to the staircase features Aladdin and Jasmine on the Flying Carpet.
(9/22/22) Disney Cruise Line has begun to release a few details about their newest Cruise Ship to join the fleet in 2024… including the name: Disney Treasure. In addition to the name reveal they’ve also shown off a peek at the “Grand Hall” of the new vessel.
2025 - 3rd Disney Triton Class Ship - Name and Actual Launch Date Still Unknown...
Summer 2024 - Lighthouse Point - (3/10/2023) Disney Cruise Line has confirmed that their new Lighthouse Point private beach port of call in the Bahamas will be ready for guests by Summer 2024. As previously shown on Screamscape, during a non-Disney cruise I took last summer, we stopped for the day at Princess Cays private beach area, and I quickly noticed that Disney’s Lighthouse Point was already under construction on the southern tip of the same island.
Disney has posted a series of new concept art images of Lighthouse Point, which will feature a number of themed building structures that will house dining and other amenities while on the island. There will be a water fortress style play structure for the kids to enjoy, a Little Mermaid inspired splash-pad, an exclusive adult-only beach area, cabanas and more.
Also, in a major change, while guests to the island visiting Princess Cays have to tender from the ship to shore, Disney’s Lighthouse Point will make use of a large sea-dock for the cruise ships to use, allowing for quick and easy ship-to-shore access.
(6/13/22) While taking a cruise on the Carnival Liberty last week, we stopped for a day at the Princess Cays private beach destination. While sailing in, I couldn't help but notice a rather large construction project taking place a few miles away along the southern shore of the island.
This appeared to involve a very large crane on shore, another floating unit out in the ocean and a series of very visible pilings extending from the shore out into the ocean to the floating unit. Visually it looked like they were trying to create a long pier structure, possibly one big enough to dock a cruise ship. This stuck out to me at the time because to visit Princess Cays you have to travel by Tender Boat from the ship to the shore, as opposed to our other port-of-call in Nassau where the ship parked at a dock. Then I remember the pre-COVID announced plans from Disney Cruise Line to build a second “private” destination called Lighthouse Point, and this matched up exactly as the location.
I managed to get one picture of the construction taking place from where our ship was positioned by Princess Cays and based the early layout plans Disney had released, this does appear to be work to build a very extended access pier out from the shoreline to a larger “ship berth” structure positioned in the deeper water.
While much of the actual beach resort features will be buit on the south and eastern side of the southern tip of the island, it is interesting that Disney will be docking their ships within easy viewing from Princess Cays. So while each “Beach Resort” will of course be exclusive to each cruise line company, the illusion of having the island all to yourself will be lost. Of course, illusion is also the key word here, as both resorts are part of the Eleuthera / Harbor Island destination in the Bahamas that has two international airports for guests who wish to fly in to visit the rest of the island that you are not allowed to see while visiting by cruise ship.
(2/5/20) The Disney Cruise Line has posted a new website and video to show off their plans for “Lighthouse Point”, another exclusive Bahama island stop (Eleuthera) for the Disney Cruise Line. Lighthouse Point will serve as a complement to Castaway Cay as the Disney Cruise Line fleet expands in the coming years.
WDI’s Joe Rohde can be seen in the video below as the creative force overseeing this project as he explains a bit more about their plans for the site.
(3/14/19) According to this article the Disney Cruise Line has completed the purchase of a second destination in the Bahamas for the growing cruise line. Disney has purchased a piece of property known as “The Lighthouse Point” on the island of Eleuthera, with the Bahamas government entering into a deal for future development of the property. According to Disney, the development of the 700-acre property will be somewhere between $250 and $400 million, with a side deal for Disney to donate the 190-acre southernmost tip of the island back to the government as a national park.
Currently the Disney Cruise Line vessels stop at the private Castaway Cay island location.
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