Original subtitles

In the early 90s, just like Mickey, Disney wanted to build their very own

boat. We want to be able to bring the Disney brand and the Disney experience

to new audiences everywhere in the world. And their plan was to turn the

cruise industry on its head.

Cruise lines were really focusing on adult experiences. But Disney ships

would be for the whole family. People looked at us like, you're giving what

space to kids?

With no guarantee of success, Disney took to the seas.

It was the first cruise line that offered something for everyone.

It changed the entire vacation to something that was not only always fun,

but very, very family-friendly and very, very Disney.

From beloved character encounters.

I have three favorite Disney characters.

Rapunzel. I just love Goofy. Donald Duck.

Dumbo. Maleficent. Are you?

To a week's worth of water sliding, Elsa vibing, high-fiving experiences.

Because after all, Disney is an entertainment. Disney Wish, Disney

Treasure, Disney Destiny, and the Disney Adventure.

And with new additions to the fleet still on the horizon.

Still about storytelling. It's so much the way of what we're doing in our theme

parks and in our films. It's just a different output.

They're exporting that magic of Disney all around the world.

And they did it by following the blueprint.

No, there was no blueprint.

Chimney crickets.

In fact, right from the start, they knew they were in for a bumpy ride. This

venture was going to take a little more than a few plucky musketeers. All the

shipyard workers are like, wait a minute, they're coming back. Oh, no.

But this is the story of how, with a little ingenuity. Okay, just an idea.

And a lot of determination.

Because even miracles take a little time. Disney became the only

entertainment company. Novel naval adventure.

begins where all good Disney stories begin.

Hello, Walt!

We all know and we've all heard about Walt and his fascination with trains.

But Walt was interested in more than just trains. The very first Disney

cartoon hit, Steamboat Willie, introduced Mickey Mouse to the world,

opens on the shot of a boat.

As a matter of fact... Walt Disney and his wife were cruisers. Oh, they even

brought Mickey!

When Walt became a great success in Hollywood, eventually the pressures of

running a studio got to Walt. And in 1931, he took his very first true

vacation.

That first cruise had Walt and Lillian hooked. After that experience, they

became part of the nascent cruise industry.

Even as air travel overtook ocean liners, Walt would never want to swap a

deck chair for a tray table. Walt once said, the only place that I feel I

really get away is when I'm on a ship.

Unfortunately, Walt passed before the Disney company ventured into cruise

ships. But his passion for always testing new waters left its mark to

someone. For years, the company resiliently sailed through uncharted

waters. But in 1984, Disney brought in a very different kind of crew to take the

helm. One with a whole cargo hold of ideas, including a few about cruise

ships. That is, if one of them could get over one small personal hurdle.

I don't like water.

Please give a warm welcome to Mr.

Michael Eisner and Mickey Mouse.

Michael Eisner was the CEO and chairman of the board of the Walt Disney Company

starting in 1984.

Michael was brought on board along with Frank Wells, who came from Warner

Brothers. Michael Eisner and Frank Wells were brought on as a team. And despite

Michael Eisner's firm preference for dry land.

Cruise ships were on the agenda from day one.

In the mid-1980s, cruising was kind of deemed an adult experience, not really

for families.

But times were changing, and cruise companies saw an opportunity to engage a

whole new market. They were trying out the idea of expanding their audience

base. Partnering with entertainment companies to provide family-friendly

fun. And Disney was one of the first to come on board. And they licensed out the

Disney name and the Disney experience.

And at this point in time, the mid-90s, cruises were starting to take off again.

We knew the cruise business was successful.

But Eisner and Weld had bigger ideas for the industry, the kind they felt only

Disney could pull off. The whole Disneyland idea evolved out of, this is

okay, I can do better. If you're going to do a theme park, if you're going to

do a cruise, make it the best.

The team gathered in Glendale to weigh their options.

The discussion was really, let's make a decision.

Do we do licenses that are more restrictive? Do we step away from this

idea completely?

It's not a fit. Or do we advocate for the kind of capital required to start

building ships and islands and all of the recreational and entertainment

elements this will require?

In the end of the day, I just thought we had to own it. Option three it is.

The next logical question.

How do we do this?

The team sat down to identify which skills they already had.

We knew we were good at sales and marketing and all the things that we do

well at Walt Disney World and Disneyland and elsewhere.

And what they'd need to navigate uncharted waters.

We didn't quite know how to run a ship.

But, of course, Disney hadn't been in the motion picture business when they

made their first movie. They hadn't been in the theme park business when they

built their first theme park. Right.

Just because you don't know how to do something doesn't mean you don't go do

it. Just ask Walt.

Disneyland was just an idea and some plans on paper.

See? Life is just one adventure after another.

And then we went on the adventure of, okay, let's build two ships.

Wait, what? You heard right. Disney wanted to signal their commitment to the

cruising industry and be ready for the demand they knew was out there.

So they started their big sea adventure with two ships, not one, launching their

newest project, Disney Cruise Line. And they entered the design phase with a

mantra. Out tradition, tradition.

When you encounter a Disney cruise ship on the seas, you almost stop in your

tracks in appreciation for their beauty. I know when I see one, I am immediately

struck by their grace, their presence, their...

But before these beauties could grace the seas, Disney had to assemble a ship

design dream team, the Avengers of cruise ship construction.

We hired four ship designers from Sweden and Norway.

They were the best designers in the world. And their first task was to

design the ship that would carry Walt Disney's very name, the F.S. Walt

Disney. No, just the opposite.

I did not want to name it after Walt.

Oh, okay then.

So, what would the inaugural ship or its sister be called?

I thought we should name it after what Walt stood for.

So he stood for magic. He stood for wonder.

So the first of its class would be the Disney Magic, and its sister, the Disney

Wonder.

However, once presented with the architect's designs... I hated them all.

They all looked like Las Vegas of the water. And we were told by everybody

that you had to have the gambling because gambling is where the profits

are. I thought that was wrong.

It was good television, but I did not want the love boat to be the Disney

boat. So if it wasn't going to be a casino on the water, what was it going

to look like? Since I'm a romantic, I guess, I thought it should look like the

golden age of shipping.

They look back at the golden age of luxury liners, particularly the Queen

Mary. The Queen Mary had been one of the greatest ocean liners ever built.

But remember, Disney wanted to out-tradition tradition.

To beat the past at its own game, Disney called in their secret weapon.

Wing Chow. Wing Chow. Mr. Wing Chow.

My name's Wing T. Chow.

I am a former chief architect for Disney Imagineering. Wing Chow had led

virtually all of Disney's development teams across their many theme parks and

hotels. Get the project designed and built. But now he'd be tasked with his

biggest challenge to date. It was Wing Chow who really started looking at what

would a ship look like? What could it be? How could we approach this?

How do we think about an elegant experience that is also very family

-friendly and also very Disney?

The team got to work, sending the cruise industry's old guard clutching their

life vests as they tossed out the rule book.

We had to create areas for kids and young adults.

When you go on the other cruise line, they don't really have a...

Kids club per se, they have a kids play area.

Kids spaces on other cruise ships were about as big as my office.

We had over 5,000 square feet of space dedicated just to kids. A number that,

with each modern ship, has more than doubled in size.

People looked at us like, you're giving...

What space to kids?

And while Disney made sure the kids had the time of their lives, you're welcome,

parents. There's also an adults-only pool and fine dining for when you want a

pina colada with your pixie dust.

But the cruise ship revolution didn't stop there.

We have that split bathroom design.

Because we sleep four people, family.

So multiple people can get ready in the morning at the same time.

And then we designed the bed, too. We had to design furniture.

When you walk in, it's a sofa. It's a real sofa, seats, cushions. At night,

you flip down the back of the sofa.

There's already a pre-made mattress bed, which you didn't sit on during the day.

Truly revolutionary.

We changed the way dining was done.

More on that a little later.

We were the first to build a water slide on the ship.

One loop.

Shh. One of the big revolutions that Disney Cruise Line brought was having a

theater truly devoted to theatrical stage shows.

We had to take five decks with a proscenium with a stage and a pit down

below. They worked with the architects and Walt Disney Imagineering to embed

the ceiling with LED technology, which again, 1996, 97, an LED effect was quite

revolutionary.

As the inside of the ship was brimming with revolutions that would forever

change the cruise industry, a colorful revolution was formed out... side as

well. One of the distinctive design features for the Disney Magic and Disney

Wonder that's carried over on all of our ship designs is this Mickey-inspired

color scheme.

Starting with our red signature funnels. Oh, like Mickey's trousers.

And the white upper stories, like his gloves.

And then our dark navy hull, the exact shade of which was a little hard to pin

down. So we were having this meeting, look at the different color chips, and

Michael looked at it and said, wow, that's too black.

That's too much blue.

We look around, see if there's any reference in the room that we can say,

you know, that's it.

When a cast member strolled in wearing an inspirational fit.

We saw Monica Gonzalez, who was standing right there. She was wearing this blue

-black slacks. We all said, that's the blue.

And so officially, all the hulls are painted Monica blue.

But of course, one of Mickey's signatures is the gold or the yellow.

Disney designers knew where they wanted to add the yellow. The lifeboats. But

there was just one problem. There's not the normal colour for lifeboats in the

industry. So to get that achieved...

We had to go to all the regulatory bodies to get the permission to actually

change the color of the lifeboats. The U.S. Coast Guard signed off on Mickey's

yellow for the lifeboat. And tests showed it could be even safer in certain

conditions. The brightness of the yellow gives you an opportunity to be visible

from a further distance.

Ensuring that Disney Cruise Line ships would have all those colors of Mickey

represented in the design of the ship.

Disney had the design.

The detail.

And of course we had all the Disney magic.

Now all they needed was someone to actually build the thing. There are very

limited shipyards around the world that can do these big ships.

Japan in Asia, Finland, Germany, France, and Italy.

Ultimately choosing to work with an Italian shipyard with a name as big as

the job.

Fincantieri. Fincantier is a big organization, and Italians do have a

reputation for style.

They design beautiful sports cars. Fashion.

And I think they were able to really interpret what Disney wanted.

But perhaps more than anything... We love the location, Venice, and the

pasta, the pizza.

You have more people want to go on a business trip there.

So Disney began searching for employees that were willing to relocate halfway

across the world, but not actually to Venice. Actually, Marghera. Which is

Venice. Uh, adjacent.

What's lovely about it is you're dealing with real people. It's not like going to

a tourist venue at all. It's a wonderful Italian town.

I got a phone call one day that asked if I was open to go do some executive

support in Italy.

I was early 20s. I wasn't married.

Sure. They needed someone with experience working with kids.

And for someone that hadn't been on a ship before, I was like, yeah, let's do

this. I received a letter. We're looking for engineers.

...to work for an entertainment company. It's a huge brand.

Disney's very experienced.

So you know that they must understand what they're doing.

Well, Gareth and Disney were about to discover just how big the challenge

ahead of them was when, on October 31st, 1996, the Disney magic was officially

laid down and the countdown had begun. Oh, the countdown watch.

Oh, yeah, I remember the countdown watch. In classic Disney fashion, they

gave everyone a watch so they wouldn't be late for a very important date. I

think that was two years before the intended delivery date.

Because why check a calendar when your wrist... can do the reminding so with a

crew made aware of the looming deadline construction was officially underway

These were the biggest ships they were building in the yard in Marghera, so it

was a learning curve for them.

Right off the bat, the build became unconventional, as the Marghera shipyard

was clogged with too many projects.

So we had a tight schedule.

The maiden voyage was already on the books for March of 1998.

So they proposed that the ships would be built, two shipyards, and this way they

could do two halves simultaneously.

During the 70s, when we were building supertankers, we used to build

supertankers in two halves because they were too big to build in one place.

But it had never been done with something as complicated as a cruise

ship before.

However... Walt Disney Imagineering stuck a stake in the ground and said,

we've got to deliver this ship by this time.

After all, the countdown watches were already rolling.

And if it means we've got to build it in two halves, we just have to build it in

two halves.

And that's what we did.

The bow being built in Ancona and the stern in Magera.

The first time I saw the Disney magic, it was not in water. I didn't have any

idea how this piece of steel was going to float.

It was the first ship that Disney has ever created.

And first ships in class are always the most difficult because you're still

learning.

It was about a year later in the spring of 97 when Disney gets its first test.

Welding the two have together at Fincantieri.

The bout had to move 100 miles, be towed all the way to Venice and push them

together. Joined in a delicate four-day weld-a-thon.

They would finally see if everything lined up.

You know, piping, HVAC, water, our cables, electrical, all that has to

cross and work as anticipated.

And it did, and we have a beautiful ship. And so their big gamble paid off.

Disney are ingenious. They bring ingenuity to all sorts of things, things

that other people wouldn't contemplate doing, Disney will do.

Feeling confident with the ship back together, in May, Fincantieri began

construction on the sister ship, the Disney Wonder.

And by September, they began taking reservations for the... Elevator's not

working. No carpet on the floors yet.

I didn't know where the restaurants were supposed to be. I didn't know where the

cabins were supposed to be. It just looked like a big open steel football

field. The Disney engineers began to wonder if they had... bit off more than

they could chew. We kept changing our mind on what we wanted and how we wanted

to do things.

Meanwhile, by January, Disney crew members arrived in Italy only to realize

there wasn't a ship to board.

We transitioned crew and all of us to live on the ferries because the ship

wasn't ready yet.

No, no, no, no, no. I'm overdue. Too late to back out now. The only course

was forward. And even with construction crews working around the clock, good

enough wouldn't do it for Disney. If you do a cruise, make it the best.

We had to postpone our maiden voyage. We had to postpone our christening.

There was stress. But we had to finish her and she had to be right.

With the countdown watch at zero and still no ship to perform on, Disney crew

members had to find ways to pass the time.

Because we were the improv comedian, we started doing shows for the crew just to

kind of keep everyone's morale up. And it actually ended up being this really,

like, incredibly bonding thing.

Not only did they bond, but they lent a hand as well, as the crew members were

recruited to help with the finishing touches.

They were bringing out all the supplies, but they didn't know where to put them.

There was simply no more room in the storage.

Climb up the crew.

So they gave a group of us master keys. It all needs to go somewhere in

staterooms. You know, I think about opening one door, and literally the

stateroom was filled top to bottom with pillows.

It was just pillows.

After finally reaching Disney-level perfection, on July 1, 1998, the Disney

magic got the all-clear to leave Venice.

It was time to see if the Disney magic was seaworthy.

The Disney magic, leaving Italy to head home, was a very unique, special

experience. The Italian workers, I don't think they had ever seen anything like

Disney before.

We had so many people in the yard.

Everybody's waving.

It was huge.

Anchors away!

So we were pulling away from the dock.

And all of a sudden, massive hailstorm.

A terrible storm blew through.

And so we had to pull back in. And all the shipyard workers were like, wait a

minute, they're coming back. Oh, no. But once the storm cleared, it was finally

full steam ahead for Port Canaveral. It was exciting.

Coming to Port Canaveral for the first time and bringing a new product that

nobody had seen.

Speaking of shiny new toys, Disney wasn't about to park their ships at some

run-of-the-mill pier.

The brand new terminal built for Disney Cruise Line carried over the same design

ideas used to create the Disney magic herself.

Out-tradition tradition.

And what's the biggest tradition for brand new ships?

The christening ceremony.

The whole theming of the christening was very much in the flair of the

traditional ocean liner. We had a bottle of champagne that was made that was

almost as big as me. I christened the Disney magic.

And it hit the side of the ship, smashed the champagne, and the ship was

christened.

It was awesome.

Nobody loves a great big show better than Disney loves a great big show.

It was pretty amazing. In my 29 years at Disney, Probably one of the most

memorable things I've ever done.

That night, the Disney magic hit the open water for her very first spin, at

least with passengers.

Flipping the script on what a family vacation at sea could be.

It was the first cruise line that offered something for everyone, not just

for the adults, but for the children as well. And of course, with elements of

the Disney brand throughout, with storytelling and characters.

Storytelling is core to everything that we do at Disney Cruise Life.

And when he says everything, he means everything.

We use built environments, physical spaces of all different sorts, and we

create stories in which people can step into them. All of the details of the

artwork, the linen with the Disney Cruise Line logo and the little secret

Mickey head. That attention to detail sails right outside, too. Every Disney

ship gets its own character on the stern, caught in the act of adding those

finishing touches to the ship.

From the carpet to the chandeliers, the desserts to the deck party. The food's

themed, the menus are themed.

Great nighttime spectaculars and the big, beautiful shows in the Walt Disney

Theater. Remember that theater we mentioned earlier with the LED lights?

When we first launched, we brought Broadway-style shows.

to the industry.

Which, oddly enough, was not unlike the love boat. I did not want the love boat

to be the Disney boat. Well, except for this one exception.

Welcome to the love boat, Polly. Remember the cruise director on the love

boat? She was on a tiny little stage and all of a sudden the curtain opened and

it was a big theater and all that.

Back then, that didn't exist.

But today, and because of Disney, it does exist.

Looks like a sellout.

And the performers in the Walt Disney Theater are triple threat.

They can sing, act, and dance.

There's nothing like being part of the Disney first.

And in 1998, I was in the very first cast on the Disney Magic as an

entertainer. And how was it?

Unbelievable. The thing that I still hold close maybe to my heart is our

audience. I know what it means for the little kid when they see these

characters come to life before them, or to see the parent really experiencing

one of their favorite stories from years ago. When I sit in the audiences, I

watch them more than I watch the show. Bravo!

That was wonderful.

But what about the dining experience?

What was it that Michael Eisner said earlier?

We changed the way dining was done.

Well, how was it typically done?

Traditional cruise ships have one large dining room. Breakfast, lunch, dinner,

all three meals in the same space. Oh, that's boring.

The last thing you want to do to your guests is bore them.

So we said, let's do something nobody has done before.

Disney created something called rotational dining.

Go ahead. Tell us what it means.

It means that you go to a different restaurant every single night. We have

an entertainment restaurant, a technology-based restaurant, and we have

an elegant restaurant.

First night, you eat in one space.

Second night, another.

The third night, another.

And every night of their cruise, they get an opportunity to taste something

magical. The mom wants to have two sodas on the table, and when the kids arrive,

it will be there.

Will the mom have a glass of champagne at the table when she arrives?

It can be that. The chance to tell a different story every evening and yet

take that team with you who could take care of you and your family.

Mind-blowing.

But who came up with this dining experience wrapped in storytelling? That

was... Completely revolutionary.

They deserve a round of applause.

Oh.

Who invented rotational dining?

The person?

Gosh. Oh, that I don't know.

I'm not sure, honestly, who it was that came up with the concept.

I invented rotational dining.

Just kidding.

That's a really good question. I'm going to guess.

Oh, I have no idea.

It wasn't me.

Who invented rotational dining? I have no idea.

I mean, it could have been me. I don't think it was me. I have to call a

friend. I'm going to guess it was either Ozer Bali or Wing Chow.

No, no, no.

Oh, wait, I think it's me.

All I can tell you, I was incredibly persistent to make sure the rotational

dining was born. What we've designed is the cadence of a day on these ships that

we can own.

It's designed for kids to go off and play, parents to go relax and maybe go

to a spa, the grandparents to do whatever they want to do, and then come

back together for the rotational dining. And at the dining is when we share the

stories of our day together.

that we created an experience has never been done in the industry because after

all only disney can do this and that philosophy didn't just apply to all the

bells and whistles the disney magic made sure every moment even the moments

between moments were wrapped in luxury luxury also comes from the people that

serve you it starts with high quality and personal touches anything we can do

to make your stay more comfortable it's about listening to the guest so they

feel like they're cared for.

We really want any guest that experiences Disney Cruise Line to take

away a memory that will last a lifetime.

No matter how many times they may come aboard.

I met a retired couple who had never had kids. She was a school teacher and he

was a plumber. They had saved their money and they do in retirement. You

don't have kids. Why a Disney cruise ship? And they said because this is the

one place where we can be treated like royalty.

I'd like to think it's a little bit of pixie dust and a little bit of magic

that goes into our crew. Yep, just a little bit of... Making those magical

memories and those moments that are unforgettable for our guest experience,

fleet-wide across every single ship.

But remember, they were inventing the family cruise line in real time.

A few lessons were inevitable.

The first ship, the Disney Magic, did not have a cruise director.

The guests were going to have their schedules, and they would figure out

this experience, we thought, on their own.

Just a schedule and good luck, everybody?

Keep in mind, you know, we were attracting families, people that had

never been on cruise ships before.

So not only did they not even know how to, quote-unquote, they were now thrown

into this completely new environment to kind of figure it out on their own. It

was heard loud and clear that you need a cruise director.

I'm guessing that wasn't the only lesson learned.

We spent a lot of time trying to create charts of where every guest was going to

be at every minute of the day.

Are they going to be in a lounge? Are they going to be in a kids club? Are

they going to be at the pool? Are there enough chairs on this ship for everybody

to have a seat at all times of the day?

We didn't ever think people might just stay in their room sometimes or might

have their kids take a nap.

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Many of our lounges did have too many chairs, and so

we actually did have to remove some of the furniture from the cruise ship.

Now that they had a lighter load, where were the sisters headed?

Disney has its own island destination.

Of course they do.

Come on, Wendy. I'll show you the island.

That was where the first wonder and the first magic went on their three days or

five day trips.

It's a little tropical paradise with white sand beaches and bike trails where

an entire day is spent in a completely other world.

Hold on.

This new world required a little bit of work before anyone could step ashore. I

was there through the entire construction process.

It was an amazing experience, but probably one of the most difficult in my

life. It took more than 18 months and 50,000 truckloads of sand to build. And

while Disney set out to build a tropical paradise for their guests, they weren't

about to bulldoze one either.

We developed very little of that property.

Keeping the island's natural beauty was the whole point. To make sure our guests

can appreciate what we've done, yet still.

Adam. My name is Adam Ramey.

I'm an aquarist for the stingrays here at Castaway Rays Stingray Adventure.

Guests can touch, feed, and yes, even swim with the stingrays.

Our lagoon ranges from about three feet to eight feet. We have different depths

for different ages and different swimming capabilities.

And if they have any questions, this is the opportunity for our guests to ask

and learn more about our race. Adam is just one of the many cast and crew who

make Castaway Cay more than just sand and palm trees.

It sounds kind of cliche, but it's all about the guests for me. He's part of a

team that turns it into a living Disney story.

There was this one time with this little kid. He saw Goofy and his grandmother.

She was not able to go with him or assist him. I offered to help him. I

take him up to Goofy, got a picture, and he just kicked it. He was happy.

Someone made a magical moment for him.

Whenever you can make a kid's experience wonderful, it's the best.

We get to create magical moments, doing our jobs and creating happiness.

And in keeping with Walt's vision for Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line had

created an experience where families all over the world could gather and play.

Michael Eisner had steered Disney Cruise Line through uncharted waters to build

an at-sea experience unlike any other. But in 2005, it was time to relinquish

the helm and ride off into the sunset. The interesting thing about being a CEO

is 80% of the job is staying above water, keeping it going.

20% is thinking about the future, new ideas.

It should be the other way around.

And Michael Eisner had some parting advice for his successor, Bob Iger. The

cruise ships, we learn money isn't always the answer.

Creativity often solves the problem.

And it soon became obvious that Bob Iger's creativity would stretch across

oceans. We wanted to expand our cruise ship business in a very, very

significant way. We started to do other itineraries and started going to Alaska

and Europe.

We developed the East and West Caribbean itineraries. And then, of course, I

guess... They said, we want to go further.

There were more bookings than ever, which led Bob Iger to the obvious

conclusion. We need more ships.

The result was the dream class ships, which were the dream and the fantasy.

The importance of creating new classes of ships is that we want to be able to

take our incredible experience everywhere in the world. Great. Back to

Italy, right?

Second round, when we were ready for the Disney dream, the ship building industry

is just so...

Busy. One of the concerns we had when we talked about expanding was whether we

would be able to get the slots that we needed to build. All the cruise lines

around the world are adding new ships.

So Disney took the opportunity to see if they could find the right fit, shipyard

-wise. There aren't that many places in the world that build ships that are of

the quality that we demand.

So it was very competitive in terms of checklists.

But one potential shipyard stood out amongst the crowded field.

The Meyerwerth Shipyard. In Papenburg, Germany.

Papenburg is a small town northwest of Germany with centuries of experience.

They live and breathe shipbuilding.

But did they check all the boxes?

Number one, they have a covered dry targ area, and that really helps on schedule

and costs for us.

Second, technology.

They had built a special compound to make tighter wells.

It's so clean.

So the finishes from technique and from technology, from engineering, was a lot

of pluses.

Lastly, they were able to do it on Disney's timeline, meaning no more

having to cut a ship in half. Instead, they break the ship up into lots of

little sections.

Several sections get put together into one large block.

And then many, many blocks, like Lego blocks anyway, get put on top of each

other into a dock. Once you have all these blocks put together, they get

welded up, you have a ship that can actually float up.

My work is extraordinarily reliable in terms of time, cost, and quality.

They are just wonderful builders of these just tremendous, tremendous cruise

ships. And while there was a lot to be missed... Pasta, pizza.

Disney bid a fond arrivederci to Italy.

And a hearty guten morgen to Germany.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Keeling of the Disney dream.

The area around the German shipyard was very different. It's all green

everywhere. There are, you know, lots of cows and sheep and horses.

But we're actually quite a long way from the open sea.

I'm no shipbuilder, but that feels like a pretty big oversight.

But we have a river here.

Well, that's a relief.

And the river has been adjusted for the size of the ship to go down that river.

Since there did seem to be a way out of the shipyard, construction began on the

Disney Dream in August of 2009.

I remember that Disney did come to the shipyard in thinking we want quality and

we want punctuality.

And that really is what my event's done for.

You can count on me. That was a very important one for her. But it also meant

that Disney wanted to get what they needed.

They just didn't want any cruise ship. It had to be what Disney needed. And

really getting it right, that was very important for Disney.

Welcome to the christening of the Disney Dream. So, as promised, the Disney Dream

took its maiden voyage in January 2011, followed about a year later by its

sister ship.

I christen thee.

Disney fantasy.

The first time I saw the dream class completed, frankly, I was blown away.

Just as I've always dreamed it would be. This was quality and Disney on a more

grand scale.

And with this new space came upgrades. I was extraordinarily impressed with what

our Imagineers managed to design.

We're constantly thinking, what else? What else you can make of?

better. For starters, the room. We were able to put the suites all together.

They have a special concierge deck. Next, they rearranged the club so you

could be walking from club to club to club. But nothing would match the

upgrade of the water slide. The water slide has to be tallest water slide on

any ship. But having that much water accessible up there meant we need to

create a lazy river go around the upper deck.

And while that sounded like an awesome idea, I used to see the faces of our

German colleagues. They said,

999. No, right? In German.

They said, that's too heavy.

That much water at the topmost point of the ship would threaten the stability.

I said, okay, just an idea.

And so the plan was scrapped. Or so he thought.

A few weeks later, we went back to one of the meetings.

And everybody, we want to show you something.

We said, what? So they showed us a sketch of how to do it.

By cleverly putting the water tank lower and shooting the water up. We're able to

do it.

So they were more happy than we were. It is called Imagineering for a reason.

Imagination and engineering put together. Everybody is creative, even

our engineers, and we all work together to push the forefronts of innovation and

technology to allow our guests a deeper, immersive, shared experience.

That wave of creativity didn't end at the bottom of the slide.

It just kept flowing through the ship, past the atrium and the Broadway-style

theater, the nightclubs and the kids' spaces.

all the way to the fan-favorite restaurant concept borrowed from the

first two ships.

Animator's Palette, which is our technology restaurant.

This one-of-a-kind dining experience was upgraded to show off the Disney Dream's

high-tech capability.

On the Disney Magic, as you walked in, it was black and white, and then over

the evening, really, it just turned into color on the walls and the little TV

screens. As the tech evolved, so did the restaurant.

On the Disney Dream, animators' palette was ready to paint in higher definition.

We've blown up the screens much bigger, much clearer.

We've added more speakers. We've added more quality in the entertainment, which

allowed guests to interact more with the technology in the product. The

restaurant dazzled guests with cutting-edge technology.

But ironically, it's a tiny touch straight out of a painter's studio that

really grabs attention.

We have these little butter knives that we serve, and the butter knife is

actually like an artist's paintbrush. The guests loved them so much that

Disney decided to give them their own special place of honor. In the retail

shop where we can have a whole display.

Available for purchase in many of the ship's gift shops. We've had it for many

years and it's still a fan favorite. I myself have about 10 to 12 of them. They

are really cute butter knives.

While guests draw on to their heart's content, it's only one of many new

activities on the Disney Dream Class.

To use a word that Walt Disney used to love to use, we're plussing up that

Disney experience with more franchises. We had just so many great things to tap

into to offer our guests.

So everything from adult trivias to our family trivias, to learn to draw, to our

game shows like Musketeer Madness, Inside Out Game Show, Marvel Super Fan

Face-Off.

Oceaneers Club, Oceaneers Lab, Edge, Vibe, the Golden Mickeys. We're talking

about Believe. We're talking about Disney's Beauty and the Beast. We added

some of the stunts that we see on the ships. Mickey flying across the

audience. Captain Jack rappelling down.

There's pirate parties. Everybody wants to be a pirate. Especially the

characters. Mickey and Minnie and Goofy and Donald and Daisy. Everybody has

their pirate wear on, including our entertainment hosts. And we all have a

crazy great pirate party up on deck, complete with fireworks at sea.

Fireworks were already a Disney Parks tradition, so Disney Cruise Line made

sure that sparkle followed guests out to sea by working with... Safety teams, the

engineering teams, the environmental teams.

They developed and patented their own biodegradable fireworks that dissolve

into fish food when they hit the water.

We are still the only cruise line that is able to do fireworks at sea.

But it wasn't just the Disney dream and the Disney fantasy that got the new

restaurants, shows, and staterooms. The Disney magic and the Disney wonder got

their own glow-ups, too. Luckily with ships, we have planned dry dock. Every

few years, ships go to dry dock for inspections and routine upkeep. But we

are Disney, so...

We take advantage of that stop.

And that routine maintenance turns into dramatic upgrades.

There's always room for reinterpreting things.

We want to make sure that when our guests show up, it's not the same old

wow, it's the same feeling of that wow, but in a new way.

Adding special touches that are going to surprise our guests every time they come

back and visit those ships.

When the Disney fantasy headed into dry dock, Disney's Oceaneer Club got an

upgrade fit for the Rebel Alliance.

Called Star Wars Command Post.

This experience allows kids... to interact with their favorite Star Wars

characters. It's just one of the many fun storytelling moments on board the

ship. We evaluate based on our guests' feedback.

For example, we started our journey on the Disney Wonder with the Parakeet

restaurant. Now it's called Tiana's. So when our guests return to the same ship,

they get surprised and delighted.

We follow Walt's vision that our work is never done.

And we will continue to build and create these amazing experiences for our

guests. To make sure every ship is as fresh, as innovative, and as magical as

it can be.

Because from the Disney magic and the Disney wonder to the Disney dream and

the Disney fantasy, they're all part of one big happy family.

That's it!

Not that family.

And it's a good thing, too, because the Disney Cruise Line family was about to

expand. We need more ships.

So Disney introduced the Wish Class, which... We then looked at what else

could we do to take it to the next level. What else? What else you can make

better?

The big idea is the next level of efficiency that we can achieve.

Going for pilot propulsion.

Going from a propeller and a rudder to a gondola hanging underneath the ship that

can rotate 360 degrees.

Okay, that's a lot of words.

Well, an antipod propeller is a propeller that will go around in

circles, basically.

It's very efficient, very effective, and we were all amazed at how quiet it was.

For some crew, maybe a little too quiet.

One of our butchers said, I don't know what time of day it is anymore.

It's all so quiet, I don't know whether we're coming in to port or out of port.

Confusing the crew wasn't the only difference the new wish class had to

offer. They also hired a new captain.

The first four ships have Captain Mickey.

For this class of ships, we said, well, it's time for Captain Minnie to really

be at the helm of the ship.

And when you step on board. That's where we can go the next step. To really make

each ship have their own personality.

The wishes motif is enchantment. The treasures motif is adventure.

And the destinies motif is heroes and villains.

We have incredible stories to work with to bring these spaces to life.

Marvel and Star Wars and Disney Animation and Pixar.

Each of these ships, the theme is about wishing for something deeply in your

life and making those dreams come true.

And the ship's crew finds just as much joy bringing those moments to life.

The crew on our ships are part of the story. They see the joy that they bring

and the joy that the guests are having, and that is reflected back throughout

the whole experience.

a day that goes by when I don't hear from someone who has sailed on one of

our cruise ships expressing tremendous appreciation and praise for a cast

member. I'm a 47-year cast member, and it's like, why do you do what you do?

It's the people, and it's what Disney stands for. I love that they take care

of their guests and they care about people, and the cast members on board

the ship are incredible.

Hello, everybody.

Disney Cruise Line has come a long way since its humble days in Fincantieri.

I did find my enamel pin. Would you like to see it? Of course.

So this is the original enamel pin.

Like the countdown watch, it was another gift for the crew building the Disney

magic. You could get more done.

by gifting one of these pins to somebody in Fincantieri than you could by writing

a cheque for $100,000.

I started with Disney Cruise Line in 1996 and there were many occasions where

I looked back and I thought, have I made a good decision here?

But the excitement of it still kept you going because you could see we will get

there. All of us felt that. By hook or by crook, it's going to get there.

It's interesting that one of the key attractions that he loved and that he

put into Disneyland was it's a small world.

So even when bringing a global audience in to see his Disney park, he was again

taking them around the world.

I think Walt would have been incredibly proud of Disney Cruise Line.

They're exporting.

that magic of Disney out into ports all around the world.

Expanding the ships and bringing them to new markets gives us the ability to

bring a Disney experience and all the Disney stories that come with it to

millions of more people around the world.

We get to introduce them to the high-quality service, the immersive

storytelling, the magic, and our characters. And I'm so excited about new

visitors having the opportunity to sail with us and experience these majestic

ships. Most of all, you're going to see a lot of people having a lot of fun.

Everybody on that ship is there for one purpose and one purpose alone, and that

is to have fun, and that's it.

That's the philosophy of Walt. We offer happiness.

How do you debate that?

Disney had never run a cruise line, but that's what made it work. And somewhere

between too many pillows and no cruise director to private island destinations

and pirate parties, they brought their own brand of storytelling to the sea. We

deserve our guests with more ships, more places, more stories to tell.

Makes no difference who you are.

Who invented rotational dining? Rotational dining? Oh, this is a trick

question.

I do not know the exact person. Oh, Walt Disney.

The Knights of the Round Table.

Mr. Rotational. I don't know who invented it.

I don't know if you're familiar with the story about how Walt created Mickey

Mouse and he sketched it on a piece of paper.

If you turn that piece of paper over, it says Rotational Dining.

I know.

Nobody knows this answer.

Mickey Mouse.

I don't know. I know it's great.

I have no idea, but it's Disney.