A couple of themed attractions
have a little something new for everyone. For superhero fans, Disney Cruise Line announces a new Marvel Day at Sea that will set sail next year. Meanwhile, Universal Studios announces two extra days of its Halloween Horror Nights this year.
If you make money for Disney at the movies, you get to go on a cruise. At least that’s the theme as Disney Cruise Line announced a new Marvel Day at Sea coming to Disney Magic.
The day-long celebration, themed to Marvel characters, such as Captain America, Thor and Spider-Man, will be sailing out of New York on the line’s oldest vessel in fall 2017.
The company has had themed days for years, including pirate days at sea, but rolled out days centered on “Frozen” and “Star Wars” this year. Marvel now gets its chance to try out its sea legs.
The themed days will take part during seven- and eightnight voyages out of New York in October and November. Six trips (Oct. 6, 14, 28, Nov. 4, 11 and 18) will be Bahamas-bound with stops at Port Canaveral, and one cruise, Oct. 21, will be a Canadian-coast voyage with stops in Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island and Sydney and Halifax in Nova Scotia.
The themed days will be the same approach as the pirate, “Frozen” and “Star Wars” days. They will feature character meet-and-greets, a pool deck party with themed fireworks, Marvel trivia and Marvel-themed games and activities in the Avengers Academy section of the Oceaneer Club. There will also be Marvel movies and TV shows from Disney XD taking over the ship’s movie theater and pool deck Funnel Vision screens. That includes 2017 cinematic releases, such as “Guardians of the Galaxy 2,” “Spider Man: Homecoming” and “Thor: Ragnarok.”
There will also be unique merchandise and food-and-beverage options.
Disney Magic was the first ship to get a Marvel-themed space back in 2013, while sister ship Disney Wonder is about to get its own when it emerges from dry dock this month. Wonder’s version will be heavy on Spider-Man, a character for which the company recently gained the rights from Sony.
The cruise line is one outlet Disney has to use its lucrative Marvel properties while dealing with Universal Orlando’s East-of-the-Mississippi rights to certain characters at theme parks.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Disney is turning Tower of Terror at California Adventure park into a Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Overseas, Hong Kong Disney will have the company’s first Marvel-themed ride, Iron Man Experience, which began testing in May.