While it was conceived in California, the magical machine that is Disney belongs — essentially — to Florida. First it was the theme park that tilted east, with more people pouring into Disney World than Disneyland, the foundation that old Walt built almost six decades ago.
And for the last 15 years, the extension of the Disney empire has continued to lean to the east. Never is that more evident than right now.
All four Disney ships are currently based in Florida.
The last to return to the family breeding waters was the Wonder. After a summer sailing to Alaska, it stopped off in Galveston for a few months on the way home. There it will stay, in Miami, until heading north to Alaska again in the spring.
Meanwhile, the Magic has moved up the coast from Miami to Port Canaveral for a family reunion of sorts…or a vacation with her sisters Dream and Fantasy, which never leave home. The two newest ships in the fleet spend the entire year on mostly cruises from Port Canaveral to the Caribbean. They always stop at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island, to help the family financial fortunes.
Over the last seven years, the Magic has established a following by operating from her second home in the summers, Barcelona. Except for that and five Caribbean cruises from San Juan, Puerto Rico, that's it.
In fact, from now until April 2015, we could only find 33 Disney cruises that did not embark somewhere in Florida. That's for all four ships and includes two repositioning cruises to bring the Wonder back from Alaska next year and the Magic back from Europe. If you calculate that ships operate 7-day cruises on average, that means 33 of approximately 260 cruises.
Or, 12 per cent.
Florida is Disney, and vice-versa.
Norwegian Getaway
7 nights
February 15, 2014
Miami (return): St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Nassau
Inside: $599
Cost per day: $85
www.ncl.com