Disney News

It’s a Disney Cruise Line® first! The Disney Wonder® Cruise Ship is sailing to Alaska for a four-month season of 7-night cruises in 2011. Departing out of Vancouver, B.C., the ship will call on popular ports such as Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway.

The first Alaskan cruise sets sail on May 3, 2011, with the last cruise of the season scheduled for Aug. 30, 2011.

Bookings open to the general public on Sept. 28, 2009. If you are a Castaway Club member who has completed five or more sailings with Disney Cruise Line®, you can book as early as Sept. 21, 2009.

Click here to reserve your spot on this wonderful Alaskan Cruise with Disney Cruise Line®

After all the planning and anticipation, the day will finally come when you arrive for your Walt Disney World® vacation! What you do on that very first day can set the tone for your entire trip. How about some fun, undeniably magical, and yes, even relaxing suggestions for your very important arrival day?

If you’ve got a longer trip planned, lucky you! Why not spend your first day outside of the parks? Often, guests are so tempted to get in every last ride in at the parks that the special qualities of the resorts are often overlooked. Ease in to the experience by taking a swim, explore the resort grounds and participate in some of the activities going on there. You will be glad when you awake the next day rested and ready to take on the World!

If you are planning to stay just a few days, getting right into a park is probably on your agenda. But there’s no need to rush through the whole park in one day! Try a more laid-back approach: pick one headliner attraction you really want to experience and grab a FASTPASS® for it as soon as you arrive.

Then stop and smell the roses while you wait for the return time – watch the zany Streetmosphere performers in Disney’s Hollywood Studios™ or get a dazzling hairstyle with colored gel and “Mickey Dust” at the Harmony Barbershop in the Magic Kingdom® Park. Eat a Mickey Bar and watch the spectacular fountains in Epcot® or wander around the trunk of the Tree of Life in Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park. Be open to just letting the magic happen!

Whatever you do, plan something to top off your first day with that essential Disney feeling. A character meal might just do the trick! Try Chef Mickey’s and be welcomed in a festive atmosphere hosted by the Big Cheese himself. There’s Disney magic even in a simple thing like taking a loop on Disney’s Monorail. Riding through the Disney’s Contemporary Resort, catching a glimpse of Cinderella Castle, you could just have that moment – when you feel a little thrill and know you’ve truly arrived.

Walt Disney World Vacations

Disney’s private island paradise, Castaway Cay, is getting an extra dose of pixie dust! New enhancements include an expanded family beach, new water features and play areas, private beach cabanas and more. Completion is scheduled for summer 2010.

Castaway Cay is consistently rated by Disney Cruise Line® Guests as their favorite port of call – the ultimate private island escape for adventure, relaxation and quality time with family.

Expanded Family Beach

• This popular area is being extended by more than 700 feet so that guests have more room to enjoy the pristine white sand, relax under an umbrella or take a dip in the warm, azure waters of the lagoon.
• As an added convenience, the area also will include a new family lunch-buffet location, a new beach bar, and additional beach rental and merchandise locations.

New Water Areas

• Guests can slide, splash and plunge at a new water feature called Pelican Plunge. The 2,400-square-foot floating platform, located within swimming distance of shore, features two corkscrew water slides.
• A new water play area called Spring-a-Leak lets parents and kids cool off. There’s also a new water play area just for the youngsters at Scuttle’s Cove.

New Beach Cabanas

• Guests can have a little piece of paradise all to themselves at one of 20 new private cabanas. The premium rental cabanas provide the privacy and luxury of a deluxe beach retreat with an option to add the personalized service of a cabana host.
• Most private cabanas are located on the far side of the Family Beach, but a handful of private cabanas are situated on Serenity Bay Beach, exclusively for adults.

Disney Cruise Line sails to Castaway Cay on all itineraries originating from Port Canaveral, FL.

Schedule your Disney Cruise, today!

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.