My family and I recently took a cruise on the newly Re-Imagined Disney Magic which re-debuted back in October of 2013. I was able to attend the relaunching festivities back then, and I had wanted to bring my family aboard so they could see the changes and experience the first ship in the Disney Cruise Line fleet for themselves (my husband had been on before, as had my oldest son with me back in 1999 – however at 10 months old, he didn’t remember much). When that same son’s 17th birthday rolled around and I saw this 5 night sailing out of Miami come up, I figured what better way to celebrate?
I was excited to show them what cruising on a smaller ship would be like (relatively speaking, compared to the Dream they had been on before) and since we traditionally enjoy the ship vs. many activities or shore excursions, I thought this would be perfect. We were all quite excited to get to see the all-new Tangled: The Musical show on the Magic as well. In fact, it was really what we were looking forward to the most (except maybe the food). I’ll write more about our impressions of the Disney Magic in a future post, but for now, let’s talk Tangled!
The first pleasant surprise was to see that the Tangled theming extended beyond the nighttime show on stage, but also to the forward elevator area on deck 4, and the Snuggly Duckling took over in place of O’Gills Pub. I stopped by the Snuggly Duckling before the takeover to see the decorations. There’s also a scavenger hunt where you look for various Thugs all over the ship which we had lots of fun locating. See the Snuggly Duckling Takeover below:
The anticipation of the Tangled: The Musical show did not disappoint, it was an amazing production. The way they did the sets and Rapunzel’s hair were so clever and unique to this show. One of my favorite parts (and the rest of the audience’s too) was Max the horse. Created by Master puppet designer Michael Curry, whose extraordinary creations are featured in Disney’s Tony Award-winning musical “The Lion King” on Broadway, Max was even more animated and full of personality than he is in the movie, and was a joy to watch on stage with his puppeteer performer inside.
Award-winning composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, who created the original soundtrack for “Tangled,” teamed up again to adapt the score and story for the stage. Complementing the score from the film, three new songs have been added, which weave a delightful combination of narrative, humor and theatrics into the performance.
In addition to new melodies, audiences enjoy live performances of favorite songs from the movie, including “When Will My Life Begin,” “Mother Knows Best,” “I’ve Got a Dream” and the Grammy Award-winning ballad, “I See the Light” – which of course, brought me to tears and was adapted perfectly for the theatre. It’s hard to imagine how one of the most beautifully animated scenes in history can translate to a theatre show, but they did it so well. You’ll feel engulfed by lanterns.
“Tangled: The Musical” premiered aboard the Disney Magic during the Nov. 11 four-night Bahamian sailing. The ship will continue to sail four-night Bahamas and five-night Western Caribbean cruises from Miami through the new year.
Disclosure: This cruise was entirely paid for ourselves and not sponsored or complementary. These opinions are my own. As a side note: I was recently invited to experience Tangled: The Musical on the Disney Magic when it is docked in Port Canaveral and have updated the post with more photos from that visit. My opinions didn’t change, I loved the show even more the second time!