No Kidding! Children's Activities Grow on Disney Magic with Marvel, Pixar and Classic Disney Character Fun 

CELEBRATION, Fla. (April 26, 2013) — A new age of family travel dawned when the Disney Magic launched with Disney Cruise Line providing the most kid-friendly attractions, dining and immersive experiences ever offered at sea.

Now, Disney Cruise Line is adding even more pixie dust to the pint-sized fun aboard the Disney Magic, with reimagined interior ship spaces and activities designed for children of all ages.  The ship features new experiences with Marvel characters – the first time Super Heroes from the Marvel Universe have been introduced on a Disney Cruise Line ship.

Here are the highlights of the kid-sized fun:

Disney’s Oceaneer Club

Disney’s Oceaneer Club, open to 3- to 12-year-old children, is a completely reimagined area that transports little ones to the magical realms of brave super heroes, adventuresome toys, fanciful fairies and Mickey Mouse’s club for creativity and fun.

Young guests are greeted by giant storybook facades that allow them to choose their own adventure and step into the stories. Some of the newest “stories” to be added to the Disney family come in the form of comic book heroes from Marvel.

With Marvel now a part of the Walt Disney Company family, this will mark the first time Marvel Super Heroes have been introduced on a Disney Cruise Line ship. Marvel and Walt Disney Imagineers have created a new space for children to enter into the Marvel Universe.

Marvel’s The Avengers make their presence known in an epic way aboard the Disney Magic, with Marvel’s Avengers Academy calling Disney’s Oceaneer Club its new seaward home. Young crime-fighters are transported to a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) – a technologically advanced remote command post used by The Avengers for special missions and operations training.

Throughout the base, displays featuring some of the equipment that helps to make The Avengers earth’s mightiest heroes – Iron Man’s high-tech suit of armor, Captain America’s shield and Thor’s hammer — inspire super hero “recruits” through their academy missions.  Avengers Academy is a multi-day, immersive entertainment experience for children, where they interact with Marvel characters and unleash their inner super heroes.

High-tech fun is the name of the game inside Marvel’s Avengers Academy with computer stations and a giant video wall to assist in their multi-day “training” and super hero missions. Special lighting and audio effects enhance the experience.

Adjacent to Marvel’s Avengers Academy is Andy’s Room, where the toys are back in town!  The popular and toyful stars of the Disney-Pixar “Toy Story” film trilogy come to life in this multi-level activity area where kids become toy-sized. Stocked with all of Andy’s favorite toys, the room features a giant, working Mr. Potato Head, where kids can find huge pieces and parts to craft their own Mr. Potato Head creation.  Also hamming it up in Andy’s Room is a larger-than-life version of the lovable “Toy Story” piggy bank, Hamm.  Andy’s bed is the focal point of the room, with a Slinky Dog slide, the easiest (and most fun!) way to quickly descend to the toy room floor where kids can play underneath.

Next door to Andy’s Room is Pixie Hollow, the enchanted land where Tinker Bell and her fairy friends live.  In this magical forest setting, children are magically shrunk to pixie size.  With tree branches winding their way around the space, Tinker Bell’s teapot house serves as a closet filled with fanciful costumes for dress up.  A compact mirror allows young fairies to see their new attire.  Just like a true tinker fairy, children can make crafts while sitting on stools shaped like mushrooms and acorns, or play on computers shrouded in tree branches.

When Oceaneer Club guests ask “who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?” they won’t have to look far to find Mickey Mouse Club, another new area themed for the younger set.

Inside a room splashed with Mickey’s signature colors of red, yellow and black (which also are the dominant colors of the Disney Magic ship’s exterior), kids can create crafts and play games on custom, ear-shaped tables.

The Mickey Mouse Club is inspired by a new series of two-dimensional short cartoons that places the world’s most famous mouse in contemporary settings like Paris, New York, Tokyo and Venice.  The new cartoons, which borrow from the style of Mickey Mouse’s character in the 1930s, will air on The Disney Channel and Disney.com.

The club also features Goofy Gears, an oversized activity where kids play with wacky, magnetic spinning gears.  Another game, Mickey’s Memory Match Game, is a pixie-dusted version of the classic kids memory challenge.

Disney’s Oceaneer Lab

Disney’s Oceaneer Lab is a space designed for children ages 3- to 12-years-old.  This themed area takes pint-sized pirates on a journey of discovery, exploration and adventures.

Adorned with giant, nautical ropes belayed around columns, ancient navigation maps on the walls and compasses emblazoned throughout the décor, the seafaring fun spot lets children create, play and explore with games, video walls and digital stations.

An animator’s studio lets budding artists bloom as they watch their animation creations come to life before their eyes, a pirate workshop and lab lets kids get hands-on to create experiments and art projects, and Navigator Simulators let young buccaneers take the wheel and captain a ship through the mysterious waters of The Caribbean.

There’s also a craft studio and a giant checkerboard floor to encourage creativity and active play.  And since all pirates need a “secret passage” to escape in case of trouble, there is a passageway that connects the Oceaneer Lab to the Oceaneer Club – allowing kids to float back and forth from room to room during their high-seas adventure. Ahoy!

It’s a Small World Nursery

For the youngest (and smallest) cruisers — ages three months to three years — is the new It’s a Small World Nursery.  Inspired by the style of Disney Legend Mary Blair, this whimsical world is a place of age-specific fun and discovery.  In the nursery’s main play area, cheerful artwork and murals resembling the namesake Disney Parks attraction welcome children.

Hands-on features, including horns to honk, wheels to spin and buttons to press, are sure to delight curious kids. Colorful, kid-sized tables and chairs for toddlers to enjoy crafts, books and games with caring, trained counselors also are featured.

At the back of the nursery, a serene motif and a calm, quiet atmosphere is reserved for naptime. Parents wishing to check on their children without disturbing them can glimpse into the nursery’s main play area through a one-way window.

To learn more about Disney Cruise Line or to book a vacation, guests can visit www.disneycruise.com, call Disney Cruise Line at 888-325-2500 or contact a travel agent.