Ships Ahoy!!

More than just theme parks and movies, Disney also has its own cruise line, Disney Cruise Line (DCL). Currently they have two ships, The Disney Magic and The Disney Wonder. Two additional ships are being built in Germany which are due to be launched in 2010 and 2011, thereby doubling their fleet.

I, my husband and our two children took our first ever cruise aboard the Disney Magic in January of 2008. It was a once in a lifetime trip, or so we thought, to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. The whole family had a great time. As soon as we left the ship our children asked when can they go back on it (and do so practically weekly!). The amazing children's programs afforded our children tons of activities that only Disney could provide. That in turn allowed DH and myself some much needed (and sadly lacking) time to ourselves.

Although I have lots of information to share with you all, I know some people just love facts, figures and useful (or useless) trivia.

The Disney Magic

Facts and Figures...

The Disney Magic made its maiden voyage on July 30th 1998. Departing from Port Canaveral, guests for the first voyage were chosen by lottery.

It was built at the Fincantieri Shipyards in Italy. The bow was constructed in Ancona. 100 miles away in Marghera, they built the stern. The two sections were then welded together!

Registry is The Bahamas.
Home port is Port Canaveral, Florida.

Gross tonnage is 83,000.
Overall length is 964 feet
Maximum width is 106 feet.
Weight of the anchor is 14 tons.
Weight of the propeller is 18.8 tons.
It can store 82,000 gallons of potable water.
Fuel storage is a whopping 20,000 gallons of diesel.

Speed

• cruising speed is 21.5 knots
• maximum speed is 24 knots.

Water

• The ship distills 1,200 tons of fresh water each day from sea water.
• 280 tons of water a day are recovered from the air conditioning system and used in the laundry.

Rooms

• 875 staterooms
  (73% have outside views. 60% of those have private verandas)
  

Crew size = 945 crew members
Maximum number of guests = approx 2400

Decor

• The Disney Magic is painted red, yellow and dark blue. These are Mickey's colors.
• Sorcerer Mickey stands at the bow.
• At the stern of the Disney Magic, Goofy is busy painting.
• The Disney Magic is decorated in an art deco style. A style that was popular from around 1925 to 1939. (Wikipedia has a history of art deco here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_deco.)
• Helmsman Mickey is the statue in the foyer of the Disney Magic

When you wish upon a star!

your dreams come true..

Both the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder have horns that play their unique sound. It still brings tears to my eyes when I hear it!

The Famous Ship Whistle

This is from the Disney Wonder and the ship's horn playing a famous tune.

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Disneyland, CA

Drove down on Wednesday, 2 days at the parks Thu and Fri then Saturday just lounging around the hotel's water play area. Upgraded 3-day passes for annual ones so we could come and go whenever we wanted rather than cram everything into 3 days - we kept missing the fireworks display in front of the castle and wanted to just turn up one the evening to watch them. We plan to come back within a year anyway so it made sense to upgrade.

The 4 of us are staying at the Howard Johnson (HoJo) just across the street - takes us about 7 mins to get to the Park entrances on foot. First few days were painful on the legs/feet but it got easier after that.

Neil and Arran spent most of the latter days on the California Screamin' roller coaster and the Hollywood Tower Hotel. Both excellent rides.

Kay and Iona spent most of the latter days exploring Bugs Life and the other smaller attractions - as well as PlayHouse Disney of course. Iona takes much persuading to go on new rides but usually likes them in the end. It took a lot of effort to get her on the Autopia cars ride but she really loved it in the end - wanting to go on it again and again and again... There were a few Princesses around too!

Drove back Tuesday - took 6 hours each way including short stops so not too bad.