Inside the Haunted Mansion Parlor: Disney Treasure's Eerie New Lounge

DznyGrlSD10 hours ago

this show is AMAZING. photos/video do not do it justice. Moana & Grandmother carry the entire show. The puppetry is beautiful too

DCBaker22 hours ago

BroadwayWorld has shared a first look with several photos from Disney The Tale of Moana onboard the Disney Treasure: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photos-New-MOANA-Stage-Musical-Debuts-on-Disney-Cruise-Line-20241210

HauntedPirate8 days ago

Two Ears12 days ago

You have to wonder why some posters here pay double the price for a disney cruise compared to other cruises when they dont seem to want disney elements on the ships. you want bigger adults areas, walking tracks and less ip. Well then other cruises offer all that for half the price. Disney cruises are worth it if you value disney magic. The castle on the sea atrium with the kiss goodnight. Disney themed bars, kids clubs and restaurants. Disney music in the hallways. The more theming the better. Characters dancing with the kids. Disney wish does this more then any of the other cruises. Therefore its currently the best disney cruise....cos it does the thing that makes disney cruises special better then all the others.

HauntedPirate15 days ago

We are in total alignment here. When you explained you top deck comment further, I agree, it is absolutely a carbon copy of the other 4 in terms of theming. The pool design is far worse, IMHO, as we saw more adults in the kids pools than kids. We chalked that up to there being such an inadequate adult area on the Wish. Bob made sure to take the classy, nautical-with-Disney-touches theming of the first 4 ships and throw that completely out with his "Castle on the Sea" crap. Because throwing every bit of IP you can onto a ship in some random way qualifies, right? Add to that the fact that one cannot even consider themselves cruising unless you hear some Jimmy Buffett at least once, and ... I didn't hear him at all during our Wish cruise. All Disney music, all the time. Another thing I just realized, when thinking back to our Wish cruise - The indoor sports area has an entrance/exit very near Marceline Market, if memory serves. That was... a choice. I guess. Because Cabanas/MM needs more traffic near the entrance. Oh, the ice cream shop is in the same area, as well, and you have to walk past that to get to MM. The rest of my thoughts on the Wish are contained in a late September/early October 2022 post or two around here. Elevators are problematic. Layout is problematic. Premium shopping space is problematic. The number of bars (allegedly the "#1 complaint" about the older ships) is problematic. The inward-facing design is problematic. The feeling of narrowness is problematic. We could probably discuss these and other design flaws for days, which is sad in and of itself. I am with you - I sincerely hope they base the design of the next 4 ships on the original 4 ships and not the Wish class. But I am afraid they have learned nothing, and will proceed with stretching the Wish design onto the new, slightly larger ships coming beginning later this decade.

HauntedPirate15 days ago

If I could “Like” this post a million times I would. 😁I’ll respond with additional support/thoughts when I’m back at a computer, which could be tomorrow.

cjkeating16 days ago

Ah yes, I don't think I explained myself vey well. When I said the Wish deck was a carbon copy of the original ships I was referring to the theming. As I said in my main post the original 4 ships have an overarching nautical/ocean liner theme which makes sense with the deck as it it fits that theme perfectly. The Wish meanwhile has it's loose theme of 'Castle on the Sea' as the Imagineers called it yet there is NOTHING on the top deck to suggest Castle on the Sea, it just randomly goes full on nautical. And then the IPs that are used like Toy Story or Mickey and Minnie (I can't remember what else) have nothing to do with Castle on the Sea. Also yes, the layout of the top decks is shocking. If you've been on it and been on the original ships you'll know what I mean. So many steps, so many levels, dead ends, you can't access all levels from all parts of the ship. This then transfers to how it impacts on the indoor areas that link to the top deck. I dislike with a passion how the front elevators dump you out into the quick service food area, I'd hate to be in the rooms around here as it's so hot and can small of food, I saw so many people sat inside by the elevators eating food due to a lack of seating and discarded plates etc. And then at the back of the ship the entrance to the adult dining area I never worked out... it's kind of via the older kids clubs/the sports area? Which is really not the vibe for going for an adult only fancy meal. Honestly I would pay out of my own pocket to give some Imagineers a guided tour of the Wish to highlight to them things they really need to avoid on whatever the design is of their next 4 US based ships which please to god are not just stretched Wish class. And yes the adult area is a disaster.

HauntedPirate16 days ago

I wouldn't call the top deck of the Wish a carbon copy of any of the previous 4 ships. Those have an actual adult area, whereas the Wish designers chose to cram in a small adult area at the front of the ship, almost as an "Oops, we forgot about this, let's put it... here". Not to mention the enclosed sports area taking up a decent chunk of ship real estate. I haven't bothered to look into sizing between the sports court on the first 4 vs. the enclosed area on the Wish, so maybe the enclosing makes it feel larger than it actually is.

cjkeating18 days ago

I do think the Treasure is looking better than the Wish in many places, however one thing to remember is all of the venues that haven't been updated, they are all the same and many had issues that can't be fixed due to the design of the ship. I think for many people it is the balance... the original ships certainly are Disney... the stage shows, restaurants, entertainment, characters but they are often put in less overtly Disney settings. Remember the overarching theme of the ships was nautical/ocean liner but with a Disney twist. It was very much the Eisner way of Disney. I think the problem with the Star Wars Lounge was that it was themed badly... which left people wanting more. The top decks for me are a huge issue on the Wish class.. they are mostly carbon copies of the original ships are don't work at all. I have a feeling we had a discussion about this before but whether or not the restaurants are better is subjective... I personally found the Marvel and Frozen restaurants loud, cramped and unpleasant and have seen many similar comments online. With people having increasing number of sensory issues I am surprised Disney took this path. The Wish is themed like what the parks are becoming... disjointed IP jigsaws. The classic ships were Ocean Liner with Disney which gave it a lot of room for maneuver on making Disney IP work. The new ships are Disney on a cruise ship and I don't think they are able to be immersive like the parks can be, the focus on the names 'Wish/Treasure/Destiny' just creates so many contradictions as well.

Two Ears19 days ago

I would like to know how anyone could define the bars, top deck of the ship, atrium as heavy disney theming. They simply aren't. They are lightly themed. One of the main complaints of the star wars lounge is that it wasn't themed enough. And it was easily the most themed bar on the wish. The only areas that are heavily themed on the wish class are the kids club (which kids love and so do most adults) and 2 of the 3 restaurants (which are also far better for it). That's it. Nothing else. This idea that disney wish is heavily themed is simply inaccurate. It's based on a relative comparison with the old ships and not an objective independent assessment. Read reviews of the older ships outside disney forums and the major complaint is those ships don't look like disney outside character meets and shows. The ships simply look like old Ocean liners that could be made by anyone. The disney wish class now look like ships actually owned by disney but are lightly themed overall. Certainly not heavily themed like the parks. And what exactly is wrong with heavily themed anyway?

JMcMahonEsq19 days ago

I am curious leaving aside personal taste, why wouldn’t Disney want to lean into more heavy Disney Theming for its ships? I mean they are trying to break in and now grab market share in the cruise industry. They need something that sets them apart from other options, and leveraging their IP seems the logical choice. It’s not price, as from comparisons I have done, more established commercial lines like royal caribean have better comparable price points. It’s not variety/options as right now the more established lines have bigger ships, a bigger fleet, and more offerings as far as trips and destinations. It’s not going to be the class/luxury option either as there are premium cruise lines that do that better, and given the younger/child demographic that Disney has, your likely not going to go that route (i am as big a park Disney/ip but as you can get, and while this ship might get me to try it, I have never been able to pull trigger as other lines are cheaper and like the late/great comedian John Pinnette said, “if it don’t have a buffet and a casino it ain’t sea worthy.” So given all that, isn’t what sets a Disney Cruise apart for all the other options…Disney? Why wouldn’t you play to your strength. I mean personal taste aside, it seems strange to want to spend money on a Disney trip, but then say I don’t like it, it feels too Disney for me

Disone19 days ago

I mostly agree except for I probably would have said the first four ships are themed in a classy way. The wish is themed to Disney Disney Disney. And If I'm to be honest with myself, I think the Treasure is too but it's just doing a much better job of it. Honestly the grand parlor, The haunted Mansion lounge, the Skipper society, and even the 20K bar, all look significantly better than their artist renderings making me wonder if iger decided to loosen the purse strings just a little bit to ensure that the ship did better than the Wish? But yes it's definitely a case of Disney Disney Dizzy;) versus classic theme. I too prefer the classic theme (but I'm still very excited for the treasure. )

JMcMahonEsq20 days ago

I don't think its all that hard to understand. The DCL ship IS the product that people are spending their time on and experiencing when on a cruise. Given the longer history and in some cases better price points of more traditional cruise lines, DCL needs to give people a reason to choose their ships over others. The themeing is that reason. To relate it to the land experience, the themeing of the ship, restaurants, rooms, ect ARE the attractions. On land, the Disney hotel rooms are NOT the attractions, the parks are. People already have a reason to choose on property hotels vs off property ones already outside of the theming, given easy access to parks, early entry, and other bonuses that make them preferable over off site other properties. While on a cruise the ideal for the company is keeping people on ship, using their facilities, Disney wants people in the parks. Most Disney hotels are not set up as all inclusive/resort type areas where they are looking to hold people on property. So they are putting the theming where they think they get the most ROI.

CraftyFox20 days ago

They're a little on-the-nose but I think they're tastefully done. The paintings are pretty derivative though. I do like that they kept the Winchester Mansion inspired stained glass window!