Off to Neverland Travel® Disney Vacations Blog

Starting today, you can book your next Disney Cruise onboard Disney’s newest ship, the Disney Dream™.  Click here to learn more.

The new Disney Dream™ will take family cruising to all-new heights, embracing the spirit of innovation, magical entertainment and immersive experiences that have made Disney Cruise Line® the preeminent cruise of choice for families since 1998.

For the majority of 2011, the new ship will alternate three- and four-night sailings. During the summer months, the ship will alternate four- and five-night itineraries. The schedule also includes special five-night holiday cruises during Christmas and New Year’s.

The Disney Dream™ will introduce a number of cruise-industry firsts and family-friendly innovations designed to make your experience even more magical. Among the highlights:

• AquaDuck — Disney Cruise Line® debuts the first-ever shipboard water coaster! This exhilarating high-speed flume ride featuring twists, turns, drops, uphill acceleration and river rapids — all while traversing the upper decks of the ship.
• Virtual Porthole – A cruise-industry first for all inside staterooms! Virtual Portholes offer a “window” to the world with a real-time view outside the ship using high-definition cameras. As you observe the view, they may glimpse a magical surprise: animated characters like Mickey Mouse may pop by the Virtual Porthole.
• Enchanted Art — Around the atrium lobby and throughout the ship, Enchanted Art will immerse you in Disney storytelling in a completely new way. Enchanted Art magically comes alive as you pause to admire individual pieces.
• Living Characters — In youth spaces, Disney Characters come to life and interact with children in one-of-a-kind experiences. Crush, the animated sea turtle from the Disney•Pixar motion picture “Finding Nemo,” or the mischievous animated alien Stitch make scheduled appearances to chat, play and joke with kids in live, unrehearsed conversations.

In order to expand to many more itinerary options all across the globe, the Disney Cruise Line® is expanding its fleet with two newly designed ships. The first of those two ships, Disney Dream, is celebrating its keel laying. The Disney Cruise Line® fleet will see the addition of the Disney Dream in 2011. In 2012, the Disney Fantasy will join as well. Once both ships have arrived, they will more than double the current capacity of Disney Cruise Line®. Each weighs 128,000 tons and has 1250 staterooms onboard.

In order to create these wonderfully appointed new ships, Disney Cruise Line® has called in the team at Walt Disney Imagineering to give the new ships creativity in imaginative storytelling. Along with superb shipbuilding from the Meyer Werft shipyard, they have created a truly distinctive design.

While design details have yet to be released, the two new Disney ships will deliver unique vacations that every family member believes was created just for them. With spaces for kids, venues for families, and secluded spots only for adults, the Disney ships have something for everyone.

Port Canaveral will serve as the homeport for both the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy. The new ships are larger than Disney’s current ships so expansion efforts are currently underway in Florida to accommodate these new vessels.

In addition to an extension of the dock and making the terminal bigger, a new multi-level parking structure will also be built. These new designs will add to the story-telling nature of the new ships, and will provide a seamless transition from land to sea for all cruisers.

Keep an eye out for the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy in the Off to Neverland Travel Disney Vacations Blog as these new ships will be sailing to uncharted magic soon.

It’s official! The newest ships in the Disney Cruise Line® fleet now have names – Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy.

Bob Iger, President and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, announced the official names today at the 2009 Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Oakland, Calif. The Disney Dream is scheduled to launch in 2011, with the Disney Fantasy following soon after in 2012.

Like the Disney Magic® and Disney Wonder® Cruise Ships before them, the names of the two new ships were chosen with care to celebrate Disney’s unique heritage – creating incredible worlds of fantasy where your dreams really do come true.

Walt Disney Imagineers and shipbuilders have been working full steam ahead since the fleet expansion was first announced in 2007. On March 2, 2009, construction on both ships began at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany with a special steel-cutting ceremony.

The new ships will more than double the passenger capacity for Disney Cruise Line and create even more family cruise options for you to enjoy.