Disney Cruise Line Unveils Disney Dream Details

At an event in New York City, Disney Cruise Line officially unveiled major features of its 4,000-passenger Disney Dream cruise ship, which will sail on its first cruise Jan. 26, 2011. The 128,000 gross-registered-ton, 14-deck ship is currently under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenberg, Germany, but cruises will go on sale on Nov. 9.

To underscore the importance Disney is putting on the new vessel, the event featured Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of Walt Disney Company; Jay Rasulo, chairman of Disney Parks & Resorts; Karl Holz, president of Disney Cruise Line; and Randy Garfield, president of Walt Disney Travel Co. and executive vice president-worldwide sales and travel operations for Disney Destinations, among other top Disney executives.

Disney Dream, like the other two ships in the Disney fleet, will feature an interior design that blends elegant Art Deco style and Disney decor in a ship that will very much cater to families. The ship have a first-of-its kind water coaster, called appropriately the AquaDuck, which will send guests careening around the twin stacks on the upper decks of the ship and out over the ocean.

The AquaDuck will stretch 765 feet in length and spans four decks of the ship. Guests slide 13 feet over the side of the ship in a translucent “swing out” loop allowing them to look down on the ocean 150 feet below. They will experience coaster-like thrills as high-powered water jets push them upwards and forwards at 20 feet per second.

Disney Dream will have another stateroom innovation with all inside staterooms on the Disney Dream featuring a Virtual Porthole that provides guests with a real-time view outside the ship. High-definition cameras placed on the exterior of the ship feed live video to each Virtual Porthole. As guests observe the outside views, they also can glimpse animated characters such as Peach the starfish from the Disney Pixar hit film “Finding Nemo,” or Mickey Mouse.

Like other ships in the Disney Cruise fleet, Disney Dream will feature large spaces for children. The ship will have nearly an entire deck of youth spaces designed to inspire, entertain and unlock the imagination of children.

There are two main spaces for children ages three to 10: At Disney’s Oceaneer Club, children can play among larger-than-life characters from Disney Pixar’s “Toy Story” in Andy’s Room; explore the Laugh Floor with lovable monsters Mike and Sully from “Monsters, Inc.”; or dive under the sea with Nemo and friends or visit Tinker Bell’s fairy forest.

Nearly nine out of 10 of the 1,250 staterooms on the Disney Dream are outside rooms, and of those, 90 percent have a private verandah. To accommodate larger families and groups traveling together, there are 500 connecting doors adjoining staterooms. On connecting verandah staterooms, the partition between verandahs may be opened to create a larger shared balcony.

The Disney Dream will have 21 suites, each lavishly appointed and designed with upscale furnishings. Most suites can connect to another stateroom, creating an exceptionally spacious living area for larger groups and families. Each suite has two bathrooms designed with opulent granite and marble finishes.

The master bathroom features a whirlpool bathtub, a rain shower, double sinks and a television built seamlessly into the mirror. Suites also have a large private verandah, walk-in closet, living room and Blu-ray disc player. Both the living area and master bedroom have a 42-inch, high-definition LCD television.