DISNEY CRUISE LINES

The Disney Magic

By Carol Watts, Travel Planner


It seems as if I can't pick up a trade publication without seeing an article on the new Disney cruise ship, the Dream. This ship's inaugural voyage was in Jan. 2011. It joins 11 and 12 year old Disney Wonder and Disney Magic, sailing the Caribbean, Alaska Mexico and Europe. Unlike most other cruise lines, Disney ships were designed and built as family cruise lines; they do not have casinos or libraries. Cabins are larger, able to accommodate families of 4 – 5. Cabins feature a split bath with tub for children.

Unique features of all Disney ships are fireworks at sea and the ships horns; the Wonder and Magic play the opening 7 note theme song “When you wish upon a star” whenever they pass another ship at sea. All Disney ships were built to resemble ocean liners from the 20's, with elongated hulls, twin red funnels, and elaborate gold insignias. The ships' ambiance is casually elegant. Disney dining features a unique rotation through several dining venues, keeping the same waiter and table mates.

Disney ships feature adults only areas, including a coffee bar, pool, piano bar, sports pub, dance club, and boutique restaurant. But by far the main attraction is the childrens program, with daily Disney character visits. There is a toddler pool and a kids pool. The nursery for children under 3 years has shorter hours, but older childrens facilities are open from 9 am to 1 am. Oceaneer Club for children 3 – 7 is a supervised program split into 2 age groups. Oceaneer Lab for 8 – 12 year olds offers high-tech interactive programs ship wide with treasure hunts and hands-on science experiments. Teens have their own area in one of the funnels, complete with video games, MP3 stations, board games, and a soda and smoothies bar. Of course there is the Walt Disney theater offering nightly shows, Disney films, and Studio Sea, which offers G rated floor shows.

While most cruisers are families or multi-generational reunions, some honeymooners and couples without children sail because of the oversized staterooms and adults-only areas.

So you're probably wondering what itineraries are available. Currently the Wonder does 3 and 4 day Bahamas sailings which include a day at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. Here there are both family and adults only beaches. These short cruises can be combined with a Disneyworld vacation. In the late spring the Wonder will sail through the Panama Canal and remain on the west coast alternating sailings to Alaska in summer and the Mexican Riviera in winter. The newest ship, Disney Dream, will take over the short Bahamian cruises. The Disney Magic will do 7 day Caribbean sailings alternating east and west, before heading to the Mediterranean for the summer. Another new ship, Disney Fantasy, is due to set sail in 2012.

While both the Wonder and Magic offer a 200 ft. Mickey water slide, the new Disney Dream goes above and beyond, literally, with the Aquaduck “watercoaster”. An industry first, part roller coaster, part water slide, the Aquaduck consists of a clear acrylic tube that totals 2 and ½ football fields in length. But it's not straight; it winds around the top deck, up and down, through a stretch of river rapids and even extends over the side of the ship, 150 ft. above the water. A two person raft is pushed forward at 20 feet per second by water pressure. The ride is free, and if children do not meet the 48 inch tall requirement, there's always the tamer kids-only water slide.

New stage shows are featured on the Dream, as well as a “Pirates IN the Caribbean” costume party and expanded fireworks set to music. The Dream's horn plays the second line, “makes no difference who you are.” So now if two Disney ships pass each other at sea, the Dream answers the first line of “When you wish upon a star.”

Disney's rotational dining continues with three newly designed dining rooms, Animator's Palate, Royal Palace, and Enchanted Garden. The Garden's paintings and flowers magically transform day into night. This restaurant is also the site of the nightly grand chocolate buffet. In addition to the adults-only restaurant Palo, the Dream also features a specialty French adults-only restaurant named Remy, after the little chef in “Ratatouille.” Of course there's the lido buffet, Cabanas, and a pool side snack option for burgers, pizza, wraps, and salads.

Public spaces feature “Enchanted Art”, where framed screens have guest-activated animation; for example a butterfly flying across a scene from “Bambi.” Another industry first is available for interior cabins only. Virtual portholes show actual footage from cameras fore and aft on the ship onto flat screen “portholes”. The seascapes can be turned off is you wish, but you might miss Mickey in a pirate ship or the starfish from Finding Nemo swim by.

In addition to the many childrens programs, the Dream offers a spa for teens ages 13 – 17. Adults have their own play area on deck 4 with bars and clubs, including a “Sky Bar” whose faux windows (actually seven 65 inch LCD screens) feature cityscapes from London to Tokyo. The locales change every day, and feature real time day to night transitioning. Of course, the main spa remains an adults-only area.

Alaska's Good Friday earthquake, March 27, 1964

Portage Alaska Ghost City

By Carol Watts Alaska Expert


The strongest earthquake in North America's history, recalculated at 9.2, occurred in Alaska in 1964. Alaska and it's Alleutian Islands sit on the edge of the circum-Pacific seismic belt. More earthquakes occur in Alaska than in the rest of the 49 states combined, as many as 4,000 quakes per year. On March 28th of this year, 48 earthquakes were recorded in Alaska. The epicenter of the Good Friday earthquake was in Prince William Sound. The area of major destruction covered more than 100,000 square miles, while the quake was felt in an area of over 500,000 square miles. The shock wave lasted about 3 minutes in downtown Anchorage and the adjacent residential area of Turnigan Arm. This is where the most severe structural damage occurred, 75 miles northwest of the epicenter. Over 30 blocks of commercial buildings and residences were destroyed, leaving over 2,000 homeless in the Anchorage area. Two hundred miles southwest of Anchorage, some areas on Kodiak Island were raised by 30 feet, while southeast of Anchorage, near Portage and Girdwood, the land dropped as much as 8 feet in elevation. Seward highway which runs between Seward and Anchorage required not only reconstruction but fill to raise it above the new high tide levels.

In his extremely readable history book, Alaska, Saga of a Bold Land, Walter Borneman puts faces to the earthquake story. He writes of Anchorage taxi driver Joe Kramer who thought the other drivers had gone berserk when their vehicles fishtailed towards him like amusement park bumper cars. 的t was when they started bouncing two feet off the ground that I knew it was more than just the drivers.Anchorage resembled a was zone. As darkness fell, residents spent the night without electricity, heat, and running water as temperatures dropped into the teens. Of the 55,000 Anchorage population, only 9 deaths were recorded. Fortunately, because of the timing of the quake, 5:36 p.m. on a holiday, schools and most of the office buildings were empty.

For towns along the coastline of Prince William Sound the death tolls were much higher. Underwater landslides caused water displacement and waves traveling at 500 miles per hour. A 70 foot tall wave roared into the little village of Chenega killing 23 of its 68 residents. The nearby port of Valdez just about disappeared when the tsunami swept over the harbor docks and tidal flats, killing 30 people. Fuel tanks ruptured and soon the harbor area was aflame.

Similarly in Seward, the bulk storage tanks of Standard Oil fell from sight, only to be replaced with a huge fireball. Waves lifted the wall of fire 8 blocks inland and set many homes and shops on fire. Flames lit the sky all night long. Pilings from the exploded docks burned like candles in Resurrection Bay, their waterlogged ends submerged while the other oil soaked ends flamed above water. The Alaska Railroad lines north of Seward were a twisted mess.

Kodiak is located further away from the epicenter. Here successive waves displaced boats from the harbor 2 to 3 blocks inland. Kodiak itself fell about 5 feet. The islands famous bears were awakened from their hibernation, and rather than wandering around as usual, their tracks showed a direct flight towards the mountains.

Damage from the quake and tsunami was estimated between $380 - $500 million; that's 1964 dollars. As federal relief poured into the state, the resulting building boom turned the earthquake into an economic benefit for many Alaskans. The state of Alaska recovered, mostly, as salmon beds that had been covered with silt returned to prolific breeding grounds. Where forests had been leveled, new growth developed. And wetlands that had been covered with salt water soon returned to nesting grounds for both native and migratory birds. But at the eastern edge of Turnigan Arm, along the highway from Anchorage to Seward, there stands a forest of dead trees. This was once the town of Portage, where the Alaska Railroad splits, with one line running south to Seward, and the other tunneling through the mountain to Whittier. The name Portage is now mainly associated with the tourist attraction Portage Glacier. The town itself sank 6 feet during the earthquake, making it below sea level. There remains in Portage only a few ruined buildings and a forest of skeleton trees that died after the water table of their roots was covered with salt water. Unlike Valdez, Seward, and Kodiak, the town of Portage was never rebuilt.

Our first hand cruise experience means valuable inside information on Alaska cruises and cruisetours.


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