PORT CANAVERAL, Florida — The stars were still shining down amid the darkness of predawn Monday as a small crowd of Disney Cruise Line superfans spotted the new ship Disney Treasure far in the distance.

Crowded on the rocky inlet shore from Jetty Park, it was hard to miss with spotlights brushing over some low-floating clouds and then the bright red ship funnels lighting up like police lights on a dark highway as the 144,000-gross-ton sister ship to 2022’s Disney Wish approached to make its North American debut.

“This is kind of a tradition for us because we’ve seen every Disney ship come into the port for the very first time,” said Mark Bishop of Clermont, who made the drive over the previous day with wife Julie and friend Pati Jones of Lakeland. “We come over, we get a hotel room. we get up early. We’re either the first or second car in first and then we watch the ship come in for the first time.”

“And we shed a tear,” Jones added.

The trio were among the first cars making their way into the park that opened up at 5:30 a.m. to let a crowd of about 100 line up along the shore and welcome the lit-up ship as it sailed into the port for the first time.

They cheered and were met with return shouts from the crew on board that had made the nearly two-week transatlantic voyage from Europe. The crowds were lighter than the arrival of Disney Wish two years earlier.

“I talked to people and they were like, “You’re doing what?” Julie said, not phased by the early-morning event. “I’m going to go watch a ship come in.”

“For the sixth time,” Jones added.

The latest vessel in the growing DCL fleet won’t make its maiden voyage until Dec. 21, but the line chose to bring the ship in for its required U.S. inspections at its homeport more than five weeks ahead of welcoming paying customers.

It actually will leave the port for a christening ceremony Nov. 19 up in New York, but will return to Port Canaveral for a series of shakedown cruses in mid-December. Then it’s tasked to sail year-round, seven-night alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries.

The ship made its way deeper into the port channel as the darkness gave way to sunrise, and sat in the turn basin playing a medley of cruise ship horn Disney tunes including “A Whole New World” from “Aladdin” to “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana” to the classic “When You Wish Upon A Star” from “Pinocchio.”

There were no fireworks to welcome the ship, but after its initial horn blast the cheers from a crowd of Disney cast members who’d been watching from Disney’s Cruise Terminal 8 echoed across the water — breaking the silence of the calm morning only occasionally accented by the calls of seagulls taking flight from a nearby pier.

“She’s spectacular,” said Disney’s Yolanda Cade, director of public relations for Disney Cruise Line, as the ship first came into view from a media staging area opposite the cruise terminal. She said it was a satisfying moment for a ship she’s been talking up for years, but finally at the line’s main home port only an hour from Walt Disney World.

“It just represents so many hours and years of designing, building, dreaming about how to bring this incredible vessel to life,” she said. “Our Disney Imagineers, our Disney cast and crew, have really just put their heart into this ship, and it’s always an incredible milestone when we see her make her home here in Port Canaveral.”

Its arrival marks a sea change at the port, as now the two newest ships for the line take on the primary workload for the line, with Disney Wish doing short, three- and four-night sailings to the Bahamas and Disney Treasure taking on the weeklong voyages.

A third sister ship Disney Destiny will arrive in December 2025 to sail from Disney’s new second home in Florida — Port Everglades.

“In 2025 we expect over a million passengers to take ships out of a Florida port between Port Everglades and Port Canaveral,” she said. “So we are super excited for the Disney Treasure to add to the fleet, to provide even more opportunities for guests to sail with us.”

Among the destinations on some sailings will be visits to Disney’s newest private Bahamas destination Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, which opened earlier this year.

The arrival of the next ship, though, will mark a significant shift in the DCL philosophy, which had previously been to bring on two new ships at a time — first with Disney Magic in 1998 and its sister ship Disney Wonder in 1999, then the Disney Dream in 2011 and sister ship Disney Fantasy in 2012.

Next year’s Disney Destiny will be the third of at least four Wish-class ships to be constructed, while the line also has the one-off Disney Adventure, its own class of ship, headed for Singapore next year and a future class of ships that will bring the fleet to 13 vessels by 2031.

“We’re really in an unprecedented period of growth,” Cade said, but each ship will have its own personality, just as Disney Treasure isn’t a mirror image of sister ship Wish.

“There are some things that have never done before that we’re doing on board this cruise ship,” she said. “One of the things we’re most excited for our guests to experience are our iconic, beloved park attractions that are going to be brought to life in new and exciting ways.”

That includes bars inspired by the Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Other features on board will be an Aladdin-themed Grand Hall atrium, a dinner theater experience tied to the Pixar film “Coco” and the debut of a “Moana” Broadway-style show.

“One of the largest puppets that we’ve ever created will be a part of this show,” Cade said. “I won’t ruin the surprise, but let’s just say our guests are going to be wowed.”

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