Hi all,

Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Dream was Christened this morning at Port Canaveral in Florida, and although we were not there (sadly), I did watch the live video feed online, and have a special report for those of you who missed it. There is a video now up on the Disney Parks Blog, but it is slightly edited from the full version I saw live, so some of you might still find the following article interesting.

The ceremony was set on the water front at the port; there was a large blue screen across the back of the stage blocking the view of the water. An announcement was made welcoming everybody, and an adapted version of the Dream Along with Mickey music (the Magic Kingdom stage show) started to play.

Lots of performers came on stage with large pencils and other tools, and basically were “building” the ship. On the blue screen behind there were ship schematics and other pictures.

A clip of Walt Disney played, and the Fab 5 and friends came on in cute sailor outfits, along with a host of other characters, including Peter Pan and Hook, and Lilo and Stitch.

The screens were rolled back to reveal the Dream sitting behind on the water, and Bob Iger came on stage.

He made a short speech, and then Mickey appeared in his sorcerer outfit on a barge out on the water next to a giant bottle. They were going to fill the bottle with dreams to Christen the ship, instead of champagne.

Bob then invites Mickey to the stage, and in true Fantasmic style, Mickey magically disappears from the barge, and appears on the stage next to Bob.

Mickey was particularly special, as he was the talking head Mickey, as seen in the Magic Kingdom.

Mickey then invites everyone to dream along with him as they fill the giant bottle with dreams.

The first dream was dreams of adventure. Pirates invade the stage, and the Pirates of the Caribbean music plays. Out on the water a ship appears with Jack Sparrow up the mast giving orders to his crew. They load the cannons on the ship and stage with everyone’s dreams, and partially fill the bottle.

The bottle still had some space in it though, and so Mickey conjures the next dream, and that is of happily ever after, including fantasy, friendship and romance.

Every prince and princess joined Mickey on the stage, giving him their dreams in the form of a flower, which filled the bottle with dreams.

Mickey then does his magic trick again and changes into his street dance outfit, and in a segment reminiscent of Celebrate! A Street Party from California everyone sings and dances along to High School Musical music. With Goofy on the drums and the giant puppets from World of Color they were nearly ready to crack the bottle.

Tom Staggs came on stage and thanks some people, and Mickey comes back on dressed as a captain. There is a marching band and flag bearers.

Before the grand finale, Tom says the ship needs a fairy godmother to Christen it, and the Fairy Godmother rushes in. Tom says that they need their own one for the ship, as she is Cinderella’s fairy godmother. She then makes Jennifer Hudson appear on stage, who apparently started her own career on the Wonder.

Jennifer sings a song, then practically every major Disney character comes on stage, including the UP gang and Max Goof (who is rarely seen in Florida). The reverend is invited to say a prayer for the ship, and everyone turns to see a helicopter take the giant bottle from the barge, over to the wonder.

The bottle hovers for a while, and a real bottle is cracked.

Finally Jennifer waves a magic wand, says a few words, and there are some fireworks and the ship is finally Christened and ready to set sail for dreams and adventure.

Overall I thought it was a cool ceremony, and something we would have loved to have seen. We haven’t done a Disney cruise as yet, but the Dream would be on the top of the list for sure!

Ok, that’s all for now.

Dan.