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Magical Cruise Company Limited

Trading name	Disney Cruise Line
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Hospitality, Tourism
Founded	1996
Headquarters	Celebration, Florida, United States and London, England, United Kingdom
Area served	Alaska and the Pacific Coast, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Europe
Key people	Karl Holtz, President
Services	Cruise line
Parent	The Walt Disney Company
Website	Disney Cruise Line homepage
References: [1]

Disney Cruise Line is the trading name of Magical Cruise Company Limited,^[2] which operates as a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is domiciled in London, UK, with their operational headquarters located in Celebration, Florida, USA.^[3][1] The President is Karl Holz.^[4]

Disney Cruise Line currently operates four ships: the Disney Magic, the Disney Wonder, the Disney Dream, and the Disney Fantasy.^[5] Disney Cruise Line also owns Castaway Cay, a private island in the Bahamas designed as an exclusive port of call for Disney's ships.^[6] Disney Cruise Line operates the Disney Cruise Line Terminal, which homeports the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy. The Disney Magic is homeported in Galveston, Texas, Barcelona, Spain, and Miami, Florida, while the Disney Wonder is homeported in Vancouver, and Miami, Florida. In 2012, it is estimated Disney Cruise Lines will own nearly 3% share of the worldwide cruise market.^[7]

The Disney Cruise Line offers a variety of destinations including; Europe, Panama Canal, Caribbean, Alaska & Pacific Coast, Bahamas, and Transatlantic destinations.^[8]

History [edit]

Disney Cruise Line although founded in 1998 (http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-companies/parks-and-resorts), was originally created in 1995 when the company commissioned its two ships at Fincantieri in Italy, ending the Walt Disney Company's arrangement with Premier Cruise Line for the maritime segment of its vacation packages.^[9] Disney had contracted Premier Cruise Line to provide cruise vacations in the 1980s, also sailing from Port Canaveral. The ships were similarly marketed as family vacations and featured costumed Disney Characters.^[10]

In 2007, Disney announced the creation of two new cruise ships.^[11] Disney Dream set sail in 2011, while Disney Fantasy set sail in March 2012.^[5][12][13] The ships were built by Meyer Werft shipyard, based in Papenburg, Germany.^[14]

Fleet [edit]

Current [edit]

Disney Wonder in Port Canaveral

Disney Dream at Castaway Cay

The Disney Magic began operation July 30, 1998.^[15] The Disney Wonder began operation August 15, 1999. They are 294 m (965 ft) long and 32.22 m (105.7 ft) wide. The ships each contain 875 staterooms^[16] and are not identical in their design, with a lot of variations in interior design, restaurants and entertainment venues. Both contain areas designed exclusively for various age groups, including children, teenagers, and adults. Current routes are Alaska, Bahamas, Caribbean and Europe, depending on the ship.

The ships are the first in the industry to be designed and built from the keel up as family cruise liners, with the goal of accommodating parents and children. Unlike most ships of their type, they do not include casinos. Disney ships also feature ship's horns which play the opening seven-note theme When You Wish Upon a Star from Disney's Pinocchio, in addition to the traditional horn.^[17] The line's two new ships expand on these tunes to include: "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" (Cinderella), "Be Our Guest" (Beauty and the Beast), "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" (Pirates of the Caribbean), "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me)" (Pinocchio), and "It's a Small World".^[18]

The Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy entered service in January 2011 and March 2012, respectively. These new 129,690-ton ships are 339.5 m (1,114 ft) long and 36.8 m (121 ft) wide. They are 2 decks taller than the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder and have 1,250 staterooms each.^[19]

With the arrival of the Disney Dream in 2011, the Disney Wonder was relocated to Los Angeles,^[20] and with the arrival of the Disney Fantasy in 2012, the Disney Magic was relocated to New York City in May 2012 for only the Summer season, before relocating to Galveston, Texas.^[21]

Future [edit]

Disney Cruise Line has negotiated with the Port Canaveral port authority and has extended their contract for 15 more years, through 2022.^[22] As part of this contract, the port authority expanded and upgraded the dock in order to accommodate the new ships (both of which will be home-ported there), the terminal will be enlarged to accommodate more passengers and luggage, and a parking garage was built.^[23] Both the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy have departed from Port Canaveral.^[14]

In late 2012, the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder will begin sailing cruises out of Galveston, Texas and Miami, Florida, respectively.^[24][25] In Summer 2013, the Disney Magic will relocate to Barcelona, Spain^[24] and the Disney Wonder will relocate to Vancouver, British Columbia.^[26] In Fall 2013, the Magic and Wonder will return to the United States of America but switch home ports, with the Magic leaving out of Miami and the Wonder leaving out of Galveston.^[24][27] In January 2014, the Wonder will take over for the Magic in Miami and the Magic will join the Dream and Fantasy in Port Canaveral, placing all four ships in the state of Florida for the first time.^[28][3]

Disney has the contract options with Meyer Werft to build 2 additional "Dream Class" ships, but - as at October 2012 - no announcement has been made about future ship orders.^{[citation needed]}

Executive Management [edit]

Current [edit]

Former [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Disney Cruise Line
• DCL News
• Media related to Disney Cruise Line at Wikimedia Commons