What Disney Magic’s Changes Mean

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Disney Cruise Line last overhauled its Disney Magic back in 2013, but that’s not stopping the company from enhancing it yet again.

Why is some of what was brand new already set to be replaced?

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For instance, when I first heard that Rapunzel’s Royal Table would be joining the trio of rotational main dining rooms onboard, my first inclination was to assume it would be swapping out Lumiere’s.

This would put the most traditional of the three restaurants closer in line with the similarly named Royal Palace on the Disney Dream and Royal Court on the Disney Fantasy.

After confirming with Disney, it’s now understood that Rapunzel’s will instead be taking over for the existing Carioca’s—which was itself a brand new addition in 2013, replacing the former Parrot Cay restaurant. At the time, the new eatery added a festive vibe but lacked extra interactivity that the comparable space received on the Disney Wonder sister-ship with Tiana's Place in 2016.

Like the musical theater element of that "Princess and the Frog”-themed restaurant, Royal Table promises live music, entertainment and appearances from Princess Rapunzel herself and the Snuggly Duckling Thugs.

Best of all, it goes hand in hand with the ship’s “Tangled: The Musical” stage show.

Interactivity reigns supreme as more and more restaurants add additional stimuli beyond static theming and dining. Once the restaurant debuts, only aforementioned Lumiere’s on the Magic and Triton’s on the Wonder will be relatively subdued.

As such, the “royal” restaurants on the Dream and Fantasy are likely to stay as is for the time being, but each of those ship’s Enchanted Garden restaurants may be earmarked for something more entertaining in the near future. With a treasure trove of catalog films, Disney has plenty of other potential dinner theater franchises at its disposal to implement.

A “Beauty and the Beast” restaurant could pair with the new production show on the Dream, and an “Aladdin” one could do the same on the Fantasy. Or like on the Wonder, the two newest ships could opt for movies unique to their main performances.

READ MORE: 'Beauty and the Beast' Debuts on Disney Dream

Another revision to the previous makeover is coming to the once-new Mickey Mouse Club section of Disney’s Oceaneer Club. It is being redone into Club Disney Junior. Since the final episode of “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” aired back on November 6, 2016, the updated space will allow newer properties to be showcased.

One remaining inquiry I had for Disney: Will the planned enhancements for the adults-only Cove Cafe include a second-story observation lounge as was added to the Wonder for its cruises in Alaska?

This is not scheduled as part of the tropical redesign and shows that the line does not place a premium on such features even though it would be as beneficial in destinations such as Norway as it is in Alaska. It then would stand to reason that the three ships to come will also not tout observations lounges.

READ MORE: Disney Cruise Line Expands, Recommits to Caribbean

What can be expected on the next batch of ships is more interactive restaurants out of the gate. If those come to include three main dining rooms like the first quartet of ships, they may even all feature some live entertainment element.

What has yet to be seen is what will be exclusive to the future ships. The Wonder is still the only one to have an observation lounge as is the Magic the only to sport the thrilling AquaDunk free-fall water slide.

Such attractions give guests an incentive to try out every ship in the fleet, so surely the next three will have some surprises up their sleeves to look forward to.

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