(2 of 2)
If rats desert a sinking ship, mice teem over this one. There are mouse ears on the walls, lamps and smokestacks. A life-size Mickey strolls the decks, waving a cheery hi. Minnie is also aboard, flirting shamelessly; if she spoke, she would be saying, "Hello, sailor!" A huge Goofy adorns the stern. And when the Magic leaves port, the ship's horn blasts seven ominous notes: "When...you...wish...up...on...a...star."
The three- and four-day cruises take you to Nassau, Bahamas, where gamblers can get their fix, and to a private Disney island called Castaway Cay. On this 1,000-acre preserve, kids are supervised in water play, while adults stroll (or bike ride) off to a remote beach for a massage and swimming. In the evening, they return to the ship for dinner in Lumiere's restaurant, the Parrot Cay or the Animators' Palate, where for dessert they get to "paint" their own sundae with chocolate, strawberry and mango sauces. Then it's off to one of three Broadway-style shows, which, as of last week, needed a lot of doctoring. One, a pirate yarn called Voyage of the Ghost Ship, is a calamity unworthy of the Disney name.
But the Magic itself is a surpassing entertainment, a hit show from its first launching. And though it means to recall an elite era, it certainly hasn't intimidated the dress-down Disney audience of the '90s. As the ship sailed from Port Canaveral, a woman plopped her naked infant son onto the pool-deck walkway and blithely changed his diaper. If Eisner had seen this, he surely would have smiled. For here was one generation of Disney customer pampering the next.