It’s still routine practice to christen a ship by cracking a bottle of the finest champagne along the bow, but for Disney’s latest cruise ship – the Treasure – a regular old bottle wouldn’t be enough.
Instead, the Disney team anchored the Treasure in the Hudson River and did the christening very on-point by kicking things off with a 65-foot-tall bottle of champagne. No, it wasn’t a feat of wine-bottle engineering, but one created by 1,000 drones high up in the night sky. Simply, it was eye-popping…but those drones weren’t just programmed to rock a bottle of champagne.
Those 1,000 drones were spinning above the Hudson River in New York City, creating iconic Disney scenes and icons, including a magic lamp and a genie – yes, that one – and various moments from Coco and Moana. The latter is likely a nod to the forthcoming Moana 2 film that opens in theaters later in November.
But for Disney fans, what stood out the most was a floating head and three hitch-hiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion attraction. But did you know the Treasure also boasts a bar themed around that very attraction?
All in all, it was an eye-catching experience and one that caught the attention of unsuspecting New Yorkers, as evidenced by TikToks posted. You can also catch the entire christening ceremony and drone show below. This isn’t Disney’s first drone show either; the company routinely uses drones and fireworks during nighttime spectacles, most notably with the ‘Nighttime Electrical Parade’ at Disneyland Paris, and earlier this year, it offered a drone show at Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida.
Might Disney add a drone show as a regular treat for customers onboard its cruises? That remains to be seen, but the Treasure’s first voyage is set for December 21, 2024.
