During the Christening cruise aboard the Disney Wish, I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion on the making of Disney’s newest cruise ship. Yolanda Cade (Vice President of Communications, Disney Signature Experiences) welcomed everyone to the session in Luna and Sharon Siske (Senior Vice President, General Manager Disney Cruise Line) briefly spoke to the audience before the panel assembled on stage.
Yolanda was then joined on stage by Laura Cabo (Portfolio Creative Executive Walt Disney Imagineering), Danny Hanke (Senior Creative Director Walt Disney Imagineering), Sachi Hanke (Project Coordinator for Show Design & Production Walt Disney Imagineering), Denise Case (Director of Entertainment Creative), and Lisa Pickett (Hotel Director) for a discussion on the making of the Disney Wish.
The panelist shared the story on how the Disney Wish was born from the motif of enchantment to a castle at sea. Inspiration from Cinderella and ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’ helping to settle on the name for the first of three new Triton-class cruise ships. The creative process was to do something different than the first four ships which celebrate the classic age of cruising. The Disney Wish creative process focused on a lot of looking through a ‘lens of enchantment’ when designing the spaces onboard. There was an effort to spread guests out over different areas of the ship rather than crowding a single venue or area.
Below is the full Making of the Disney Wish panel discussion from July 1, 2022.
The coverage of the pre-sailing has been awesome and phenomenal!!! Really enjoyed the super content. In single digit countdown mode and just wish there’ll be enough time to experience all the things already on my must see/do list.
For better & for worse, the Wish looks like the Shanghai park of Disney Cruise Ships.