Photos & Video: New Disney Wish Cruise Ship
Ahead of Disney Cruise Line’s grand reveal of the new Disney Wish ship, which begins sailing in Summer 2022, the company has shared new concept photos and behind the scenes video of the development of the fifth ship in the fleet. We’ll share that here, along with some quick commentary.
The design of the Disney Wish centers around the motif of “enchantment.” This is the architectural and thematic foundation of the ship’s design, weaving imagination, emotion, and adventure into the ship. This fairly nebulous term provides latitude for a wide range of stories to be represented on board. Judging by the video, those will include Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. It’s presumably similar to how the motifs for nighttime spectaculars in the parks provide a loose, all-encompassing framework for a variety of intellectual properties.
“Enchantment is about unlocking the wonder in everything we do and experience,” said Laura Cabo of Walt Disney Imagineering. “For the Disney Wish, we are creating a signature design language that exudes this emotional magic like only Disney can, by infusing every inch of this enchanted ship with more Disney stories and characters than ever before. The Disney Wish will be a place where families really do get to wish upon a star.”
Per Imagineering, enchantment is an ingredient that brings the worlds of Disney films to life. Translating this concept into a design theme provides a means for infusing Disney storytelling into the cruise experience, giving the Disney Wish a completely new look and feel.
Inspired by Disney fairytales, Walt Disney Imagineering has captured what they call the “essence of enchantment” through three design lenses, using:
- Fairytale castles, emulating the classic storybook charm at the core of many enchanted tales
- Forests and animals, bringing to life fascinating natural worlds and the animals that inhabit them
- Spirit of the sea, embodying the magic and mystery of the watery world below
The Disney Wish will continue the Disney Cruise Line tradition of incorporating an elegant, classical exterior design that pays tribute to the golden age of cruising, in the emblematic colors of Mickey Mouse.
A hallmark of Disney Cruise Line is the adornment of two character art pieces on the hull of each ship. For the Disney Wish, artwork on the bow will be an intricate scrollwork pattern reminiscent of the classic ocean liners of the 1930s, and will feature Captain Minnie Mouse for the first time.
The stern of the Disney Wish will display a custom sculpture of Rapunzel from Tangled. Suspended by her golden tresses, this artistic princess will be “decorating” the exterior of the ship with her trusty paintbrush and the help of her chameleon pal, Pascal.
To take it one step further into enchantment, Imagineers have added curvature to the deck edge along both sides of the Disney Wish, creating a sense of motion and fluidity both inside and out.
The Grand Hall will be a bright, airy, and elegant space that welcomes guests as they first step on board. The heart of the Disney Wish, this atrium is designed with Gothic, Baroque, and French Rococo influences imbued in the columns, carvings, trimmings, and adornments.
The Grand Hall will be Disney Cruise Line’s “Castle on the Seas,” with glittering trails of pixie dust on three-story columns, leading to the shimmering chandelier above. The chandelier is inspired by Cinderella’s transformation into a princess, which Disney calls “the manifestation of wishes come true — a swirling spiral of crystal gems punctuated with light, its crown jewel a wondrous wishing star.”
At the base of a grand staircase, beneath the glow of the wishing star, will stand Cinderella. This princess’ story is the epitome of magic transforming wishes into dreams and dreams into reality, and is a pillar of the Walt Disney Company’s historic legacy.
The beautiful bronze statue of Cinderella is one of many tributes to the fairytale in the Grand Hall’s design. Others include railings that glisten, stained glass in her signature colors, rich carpeting embellished with icons from the film, plus nods to her carriage and glass slipper in the metalwork and light fixtures.
The Grand Hall will be the gateway to everything on board the Disney Wish: fairytale worlds, heroic challenges, epicurean indulgences, thrilling adventures, galactic encounters, peaceful escapes, and much more.
The Disney Wish is the first of three new Disney Cruise Line ships to be built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany through 2025. All three ships will be powered by liquefied natural gas and, at approximately 144,000 gross tons, will be slightly larger than the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy.
Here’s a behind the scenes video about designing the Dish Wish:
It’s great as a hype video, and certainly has me more excited for the Disney Wish. (Probably in large part because I’m beyond ready to cruise again, in general, honestly.)
It’s cool to see the Wish’s atrium rendered in Imagineering’s Dish, too. Behind the scenes stuff like that is always fun.
As for new details and info, there’s not a ton here, which makes sense given that the grand reveal is only a week away. I did notice there were several props from the live-action Beauty and the Beast that are also found at the new-ish Enchanted Rose Lounge in the Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World.
This makes me wonder whether Enchanted Rose is also a concept for the Wish. Even though it’s been open at Walt Disney World for over a year now, it’s even possible that Enchanted Rose was developed first for the Wish. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened.
Ultimately, not a ton of commentary beyond that. Fans might poke fun at the motifs Disney likes to use for these all-encompassing projects, but that’s the nature of the beast. Star Wars, Marvel, Disney Animation, Pixar, etc. are all very disparate properties, yet they all need to be present aboard a new DCL ship. There’s simply no other option–that’s what guests expect. Also expected is that quintessential Disney storytelling, which is what leads to efforts to weave everything together like this. I’ll be very interested to see how that’s executed beyond the atrium!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Does this have you more excited for the Disney Wish? Looking forward to the big reveal of the ship? Do you plan on booking a cruise aboard this ship, or are you awaiting more details? Excited by the range of IPs that will be featured on the Disney Wish, or would you prefer more ‘classic Disney’ properties and characters? Do you agree or disagree with our advice and assessment? Any questions? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
If you can’t take the vaccine, then don’t. You won’t be cruising either. Ya’ll would believe aliens landed on this planet before taking a vaccine. Stop being ignorant and take the vaccine.
My family and I have been on several Disney Cruises, and they were by far our favorite cruise’s. However if we are required to get a vaccine (That I might add has no long term testing for side effects and not something I am willing to give our children that is still considered experimental) we will no longer be sailing with Disney. We also gave up our season tickets to Disney World because of the reservation system they put in place, it was a struggle to use the passes we had paid a significant amounts of money for. Looks like a beautiful ship, I hope those who sail on her have a wonderful time. .
Sooo beautiful!!! We had always planned on cruising, but we wanted to wait until our youngest was 5. We were hoping to book a cruise last year, but, you know…Covid. Now that cruise lines will most likely require vaccination to board, we may not get the chance. 🙁 I understand why they would require them, I just wish that if they’re going to go that route, they would accept proof of antibodies as well. We’re not vaccinated but we are immune to Covid, having gotten it and recovered. We should not be required to get a vaccine for something we already have the antibodies for. So little is known about how long immunity lasts (both natural & from the vaccine) that I actually think an antibody test taken within a certain time before departure makes more sense!
We would really like to sail on the wish. We have no problem with vaccines, testing, distanced characters, and masks. I don’t even mind reduced entertainment (no fireworks, sail away party etc). We do have a problem with everything on the ship requiring a reservation or virtual queue (pool deck, kids club, trivia etc.)… While they’ve had some reserved activities in the past (spa, golf, drink tastings), if you didn’t get a reservation for those those, there was plenty to do on the ship every hour of the day. Now if you don’t get a reservation I guess you are just stuck in your room reading a book–while paying disney cruise prices for the privilege.
Imagine if they had the same concept for disney parks: if every ride was like Rise if Resistance and if you aren’t lucky enough ti get a reservation you won’t be riding anything. Hated that for ROTR, and I’d hate it even more being stuck on a cruise ship with nothing to do.
I hope that is not a long term plan as we won’t be back on a disney cruise until we can be sure we’ll get to partake in at least some activities and it won’t all be booked up by the platinum and concierge cruisers, or left to a same-day “virtual queue” lottery.
Vaccines prevent transmission. Please stop those lies. I am so tired of this crap peddled by people who are outing themselves as anti vaxxers essentially even those in government who clearly want this to continue. They work like any vaccine does by preventing transmission as well as severe illness. I had it. It was mild. Swine flu on the other hand was horrendous.
Very disturbing that the UK is requiring people to be vaccinated. That won’t go over well here in the US. We’ve been on about 8 cruises with Disney and they do it right! However, if they require the vaccine, we will not be going anymore. Sad that this is what the world is coming to. What’s go for one, might not be good for another.
This looks beautiful!
I’d like to remind people that the vaccine does not prevent COVID.
It’s supposed to help with not getting severe symptoms or hospital stays should you get COVID.
They have no proof yet that it keeps you from spreading it, should you contract it.
You could have it and be either asymptotic, or presymptomatic and spreading it, even to fully vaccinated people.
Severe or mild, I don’t want it!
With regard to infection, and by extension transmission, from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0329-COVID-19-Vaccines.html
I am so excited for cruising to return but very nervous we won’t ever experience it again the way it was before, with the freedom and fun it provided on board. And with allergies to the vaccine, that isn’t an option for some members of my family, so we may have to wait much longer. I have a fantasy cruise booked for next year but I’m fully expecting to have to cancel it. Regardless, the Wish looks really neat and I’m excited to see the rest of it! We are huge DCL fans!!!
I’m guessing they are starting out very conservative by requiring both vaccination and masking. They don’t want to be on the evening news as a ship with a COVID outbreak. Are they booking to full capacity?
On the subject of Disney Cruise Line – Tom, have you seen the updates to the UK Magic at Sea? They’re requiring all adults to be fullly vaccinated, but still ask all guests over age 11 wear masks and socially distance. As well as that, there’s no rotational dining – you have one dining table to yourself for the whole cruise.
I was on the fence before, but because of the UK vaccination system (12 weeks between shots, youngest adults – I’m 27 – only likely to get the first shot in July) I probably won’t be able to. But, even if I was vaccinated, no way I’m going without rotational dining. And it makes no sense to me to ask for masks and distancing when every adult has proof of vaccination. I don’t think this bodes well for the return of DCL elsewhere…
https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/why-cruise-disney/experience-updates/
Thanks for the heads up. I saw some questions/uncertainty…maybe last weekend…but missed the latest development.
I wouldn’t be doing it in those circumstances, either.
Never been on a Disney cruise but I hope next year! It looks beautiful.
More worried about noro than I about anything else on a cruise…
I’m with you Tom, I can’t wait to cruise again. After several cancellations and rebooking with DCL, I sincerely hope the CDC lifts their death grip by 2022. We gave up on cruising in 2021 so we’re all in on WDW until then.
Booking on this as soon as we can ! Looks lovely abs magical
Gorgeous!
I don’t have vaccine hesitancy.. but I do have cruise hesitancy after the last year..
That said… it looks like it will be a gorgeous ship, very tempting.