Expansion plans within Disney Cruise Line

On a cool November night in New York City, a swarm of hundreds of drones soared gracefully over the Hudson River, emerging above a dark boat floating in the water.

What followed was a veritable parade of Walt Disney Co. intellectual property combined with classic Disney music. Drones continued to form characters and scenes, including the Genie in Aladdin, Madame Leota in The Haunted Mansion, and Dante in Coco.

Finally, as Moana’s “How Far I’ll Go” played on the sound system, a drone formed a heart of Te Fiti over the ship and the ship’s lights flashed. At the grand finale, drones formed a crackling champagne bottle and Disney CEO Bob Iger’s voice officially named Disney Cruise Line’s newest cruise ship, Disney Treasure.

Just minutes before the drone rose above the water, Iger himself spoke to a crowd of guests at an event space in the Chelsea Piers athletic complex on Manhattan’s west side, as Disney floated hundreds of feet away in the Hudson River. -I looked down at the treasure.

Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of the Disney Experience, and Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, dressed as captains, joined them on stage (as the characters exited the stage to applause, Iger said, “Here, it’s like they’re on stage.”) “I feel like it’s a big deal,” Disney CEO quipped. Treasure is “a shining example of everything our fans love about Disney.”

“Since Disney Cruise Line launched in 1998, our ships have become brand ambassadors, bringing our world-class storytelling and the immersive nature of our theme parks to new audiences and new locations around the world. ” Iger said.

In fact, no entertainment company has been as successful as the Walt Disney Company in leveraging its IP in so many different ways and places. Movies will lead to streaming series, and theme park rides and attractions will be turned into stages. Characters appear all over the world in shows and ice shows.

The Disney Treasure, which set out on its maiden voyage on Dec. 21, is a textbook example in many ways. This ship features characters and IPs everywhere.

Some are obvious, like the oversized bronze statues of Aladdin and Jasmine that greet you in the Grand Hall when you first step on board, or when the ship’s whistle blares a classic Disney song, while others are obvious, like the oversized bronze statues of Aladdin and Jasmine that greet you in the grand hall; Some are more subtle, like statues. Hei is a chicken from Moana who stands at the end of the bar at the eponymous Hei Hei Cafe.

There are immersive restaurants and bars, including a Coco-themed dining venue that will make you feel like you’re walking through the village of Santa Cecilia in the Pixar movie, and a stage front and center that features live music. Musical shows can be held. While eating. With a bar based on the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland and Disney World, guests can feel like they’ve stepped out of the “Doom Buggy” and into the world of the ride itself.

There are also more abstract venues, such as a loosely Aristocats-themed piano bar called The Scat Cat Lounge, and the Jungle Cruise-themed Skipper Society, with subtle nods to classic vehicles everywhere you look. You can see the mention.

“We wanted people to feel like we had a version of these attractions onboard and experience them in a way they hadn’t before,” said Jason Roberts, senior producer at Disney Imagineering. It’s just that,” he says. Sarabi Lounge is a venue reminiscent of the classic animated film The Lion King.

Disney Cruise Line has long developed venues based on Disney movies and other IP, but The Treasure looked to Disney theme parks for inspiration.

“As an imaginer coming from the department that developed these theme park attractions, I think the most important thing is that those attractions be authentic,” Roberts said, adding that the Haunted Mansion, which includes haunted ghosts, List all the parlor details. A mirror above the bar, portraits on the wall that change over time, and an aquarium where the swimming fish are skeletons. “Every detail is so authentic. It’s the wallpaper, that signature chair design, the bat sconces on the wall. We want you to feel like you’re in the Haunted Mansion. We want you to feel like you’re in the Haunted Mansion. We want you to be a part of that story. We wanted to immerse you in it and envelop you in it.”

Or maybe the Skipper Society doesn’t feel like they’re on a jungle cruise per se, but instead hangs out in a pub where all the captains go to have a quick chat after their shifts. .

“It’s not as immersive, but the clues are all around you and you can see the corny, awful jokes printed on the walls,” says Roberts. “A canopy over the bar that looks like a Jungle Cruise boat. That’s what we really wanted to convey. We wanted people to feel like the attraction was right there and that they were a part of it.”

The same science applies to the onboard entertainment experience. Disney is in the entertainment business, after all, and like any Disney cruise, Disney Treasure has no shortage of programs.

Disney will debut Moana, a new Broadway-style stage show of The Treasure, the first-ever stage adaptation of an animated film. It also features two comedic actors, Coriander and Sage, who host an Indiana Jones-themed trivia contest and perform encantos and other performances in the Grand Hall for moments aimed at surprising and delighting guests. We present an intimate rendition of the film.

Of course, movies are shown in the ship’s two theaters and on the giant screen above the pool deck. There are also moments of intimate entertainment, such as Chewbacca, Spider-Man, and Belle giving missions and surprises to children in the kids club. adventure.

Jenny Weinbloom, vice president of live entertainment at Disney Signature Experiences, said the company evaluates what IP it can and should leverage when developing shows for cruise ships. He said he uses several different lenses for this purpose.

“We certainly think about what our guests like. What stories do they relate to and want to spend more time with?” Weinbloom says. “What are the franchises that the company continues to invest in for the long term that we expect future generations to relate to? Because if you think about the longevity of these ship shows, they’re long-lived. . They run for a very long time.”

“But that’s just one angle from which we look at it. I think it’s actually a secondary angle. The most important thing is what we sing. What makes a great musical?” ” she added. “It’s not just the great songs that make a great musical. It actually has a lot to do with the structure of the movie.”

Moana, she says, ticked all the boxes.

The Disney Experience is in many ways the company’s secret sauce, the place where IP meets the real world and where emotional memories are formed by fans. The company will pump $60 billion into the sector over the next 10 years, billions of which will go specifically to cruise operations.

But Disney Cruise Line is a particularly unique business. Other entertainment companies have IP in theme parks, but no other company can ship that IP around the world.

At the christening of Disney Treasure in New York on November 19th, Mr. D’Amaro singled out Bruce Vaughn, chief creative officer of Disney Imagineering, who was in attendance, and said of the cruise business, “Disney’s storytelling… “Power” was promoted. Of course, Imagineers leverage Disney’s IP and create ways for fans to immerse themselves in its worlds.

And he cited a “period of unprecedented growth for the Disney Experience,” including the fact that Disney Cruise Line plans to double its fleet by 2031. In fact, the company plans to launch two more ships in 2025. Cruises depart from Florida and Disney Adventures operate from their home port in Singapore.

There’s plenty of room to showcase your IP.

Doubling the fleet emphasizes the division’s financial potential. Morgan Stanley analyst Ben Swinburne wrote that the cruise division could generate $10 billion in revenue and $3 billion in EBITDA by 2031. “For context, the cruise business that exits this decade could generate more EBITDA than ESPN by 2024,” they wrote.

For every ship, Roberts said, Imagineers looked at the “rich history of storytelling at Disney” to create some kind of theme that acts as connective tissue, one that makes travelers feel as if they’re truly authentic. They say they are discovering something that connects different parts of IP in a way that allows them to connect. run away.

The theme of Disney Treasures is adventure.

“If you think about every animated movie, no matter what the story is, whether it’s Mulan or Miguel from Coco, they all have some kind of adventure,” Roberts said.

This includes a Marvel-themed restaurant that includes a mission to rescue Groot, and The Periscope Pub, which features a shark-swimming shadow image based on Disneyland’s classic attraction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This also applies to other Disney IPs, such as a sports bar called “. Overhead of visitors drinking beer and watching the game. It will soon extend to non-Disney IP, with the popular children’s show Bluey set to bring its characters to a Disney cruise departing from Australia and New Zealand in January.

We realize unique proposals. Of course, Marvel movies are shown all over the world, but Disney only has theme parks in a few locations. What Disney is betting Disney Cruise Line can do is bring some of that magic to home ports far from the parks, such as Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Vancouver, Canada.

Disney Treasure is just one ship, but it represents a larger goal for the company over the next few years. Live experiences based on IP may be commonplace, but only Disney is committed to bringing them to fans around the world at sea.