Innovative Games Come to Disney Cruise Line's Latest
By rdemott2
Created 03/21/2011 - 11:59
files/pictures/picture-35.jpgPress Release from Disney Cruise Lines
“Paintings” become animated. Animated motion picture characters engage in chit-chat with guests. The walls of a dining room transform into “windows” on an undersea world. Interior staterooms have a porthole view of the sea outside. Riders in a watery tube peer down to nothing but ocean – 150 feet below. The floor beneath children at play comes alive to whimsical movements.
They sound like the storylines of dreams. But, in fact, they are some of the real magic and wonder of the newest Disney Cruise Line ship, the aptly named Disney Dream.
Guests will discover this Dream to be sweet with creativity and whimsical technical innovation – whether it’s mealtime, playtime or bedtime. Among the highlights:
AquaDuck
Disney Cruise Line debuts the first-ever shipboard water coaster, AquaDuck, an exhilarating flume ride featuring twists, turns, drops, acceleration and river rapids …
* The ups and downs of the 765-foot-long course cover 46 vertical feet – equivalent to 4½ stories.
* Coaster thrills are provided by high-powered water jets that send about 10,000 gallons of water per minute through the attraction and accelerate guests upward and forward through the ride.
* A “swing out” loop takes riders 12 feet beyond the side of the ship, with guests surrounded only by a clear acrylic flume that provides a thrilling, unobstructed view of the ocean surface…150 feet below.
* A stretch of river rapids 335 feet in length provides a stunning panorama of the ocean and the ship’s upper decks before a whooshing splashdown on Deck 12.
Enchanted Art
Around the atrium lobby and throughout the Disney Dream, nearly two dozen framed pieces of Enchanted Art inspired by Disney classic movies and other animated sequences immerse guests in Disney storytelling in a completely new way …
* As guests pause to admire an individual piece of Enchanted Art, it magically comes alive.
* An example: A work of art that appears to be an animation cel from the Disney classic film “Bambi” springs to life … as Bambi’s friends Thumper and Flower scamper and a butterfly flies through the scene.
* Another example: A vintage photo of Walt Disney at his drawing board creates a magical moment for guests when the character Walt is creating becomes animated.
* Another example: A “painting” of Peter Pan’s Neverland Cove is fronted by a prop of a ship’s wheel. When a guest moves the wheel, the painting comes to life and the guest navigates Captain Hook’s ship around Neverland Cove.
* While Enchanted Art looks like other hanging art pieces around the ship, it is actually a framed LCD screen with technology that recognizes a guest is present and activates several seconds of animation.
* Guests may see new and different animation as they come back and visit the Enchanted Art another time.
Enchanted Art interactive detective game
Enchanted Art also is involved in an interactive game…
* Using a game card that they hold up in front of select pieces of Enchanted Art, guests unveil clues and find missing objects, ultimately determining the villain and saving the day in an interactive detective adventure game.
* Guests obtain game cards at a self-sign-in “detective desk” kiosk where they also receive a map of the Enchanted Art pieces that are part of the game for them to explore.
* The game card has a 2D barcode – a square marker pattern that is read by a camera, causing something to happen. Since each game card has a unique barcode pattern, the progress of each player can be tracked by the game software.
* The detective adventure is a self-paced game that has six potential villains and features randomized events – so each time a guest plays, they will have a different and unique gaming experience.
Magical Porthole
The Disney Dream carries on the spirit of innovation with a cruise industry first for all 150 inside staterooms – a “window” to the world with a real-time view outside the ship…
* Each room features a wall-mounted monitor framed to have the appearance of a porthole. The monitor displays a real-time video view outside the ship – sometimes supplemented by a little “magic” in the form of animated Disney characters that “fly by.”
* High-definition cameras on the exterior of the ship feed the video to the monitors. The cameras are positioned to correspond with stateroom locations – either port or starboard and from bow to stern.
* Among the approximately three dozen animated characters and objects that may pop by the Magical Porthole are Peach the starfish from the Disney•Pixar film “Finding Nemo,” Dumbo the flying elephant, the house from the Disney•Pixar film “Up” or even Mickey Mouse.
Living Characters
In Disney’s Oceaneer Club and Disney’s Oceaneer Lab youth areas, Disney characters come to life and interact with children in one-of-a-kind experiences …
* It has the initial appearance of a pre-recorded animated movie when Crush, the animated sea turtle from the Disney•Pixar motion picture “Finding Nemo,” or Stitch, the mischievous animated alien from the motion picture “Lilo & Stitch,” appears on the 103-inch plasma screen.
* The characters then chat, play and joke with kids in live, unrehearsed, personalized conversations.
* During the scheduled appearances, Crush and Stitch sometimes even use silly props from their digital environments.
* The “live” experience uses sophisticated, voice-activated animation.
Living Characters create ‘Undersea Magic’
The Living Characters fun continues at Animator’s Palate restaurant …
* The restaurant design is reminiscent of a classic animation studio – filled with character sketches, maquettes (three-dimensional character models), paint brushes, colored pencils and other tools of the animation trade. Scenes and characters from popular Disney•Pixar films adorn the walls.
* After guests are seated, the entire restaurant goes through a transformation as dinnertime is also show time for “Undersea Magic.”
* The transformation involves more than 100 wall-mounted LCD screens that switch to scenes of a vivid undersea environment – as if the restaurant was transported to the ocean floor and the LCD screens are windows providing views of a colorful coral reef and creatures that reside on the reef.
* Crush, the surfer-dude sea turtle from Disney•Pixar’s “Finding Nemo,” swims around the restaurant from “window” to “window,” engaging in live impromptu interactions with guests.
* While Crush is moving throughout the restaurant, other characters from “Finding Nemo,” such as Nemo, Dory, Squirt and Bruce the shark, swim by and visit with guests.
* The dining experience culminates with a surfing lesson led by Crush as the EAC (East Australian Current) swirls around the room.
* As Crush swims away, other characters from “Finding Nemo” make a final appearance before magically turning into pencil sketches.
Magic PlayFloor
For young cruisers, Disney’s Oceaneer Club and Disney’s Oceaneer Lab will feature a Magic PlayFloor, a cruise-industry first that blends the latest in gaming technology with Disney’s panache for storytelling…
* Located in the main gathering space in both venues, the interactive floor allows children to engage in group activities where their movements control the action.
* The PlayFloor was designed with 16 light pads on the perimeter that detect motion and location and trigger actions. There are 28 monitors integrated with one another to create a grid display 15 feet by 15 feet on the center of the PlayFoor.
* Children will be able to explore numerous gaming options created with varying levels of difficulty to suit children ranging in age from 3 to 10.
* It’s not necessarily “every kid for himself”: Gaming options include team play, where multiple light pads can be controlled in concert with one another to achieve a collective goal.
* The games are thematically tied to Disney stories and characters – to everything from “Cars” and “Tron” to “Peter Pan” and “The Princess and the Frog.”
* One activity has children scrambling around the perimeter of the floor with their movements controlling the tilt of a virtual maze.
* Youth counselors will use the Magic PlayFloor during storytelling activities where children will fly over the streets of London with Peter Pan, help their frog feast on a bug banquet, leap over lasers with Stitch, race a car like Lightning McQueen and step into the world of Tron.
To learn more about Disney Cruise Line or to book a vacation, guests can visit disneycruise.com, call Disney Cruise Line at 888/DCL-2500 or contact their travel agent.
