Old and New - A Disney Magic Class Ships and Disney Dream Class Ships Comparison

As a family we’ve taken six Disney Cruises since August 2015. We’re so thankful that we’ve had the opportunity to do so, and that we have three more cruises booked for the future at the moment. Our most recent cruise on the Disney Fantasy was our first opportunity to sail on one of the bigger and newer Dream class ships! So, we’ve taken one cruise on a bigger ship, our next cruise is on the Dream, and we’ve sailed on the smaller Magic class ships five times (Magic – 1 and Wonder – 4)! Today we have for you a comparison of BIGGER and smaller Disney Cruise Line ships.

The first, and most obvious difference between the two classes of ships is the overall size of the ships.

Dream Class Ships:

·         14 Decks

·         1,115 ft.

·         130,000 tons

·         Capacity – 4,000 Passengers, 1,458 Crew

Magic Class Ships:

·         11 Decks

·         984 ft.

·         84,000 tons

·         Capacity – 2,713 Passengers, 950 Crew

Speaking from experience I can say that you can definitely tell that the bigger ships can hold more people. We really enjoyed our time on the Fantasy, but everything felt more crowded than on the smaller ships.

Locations

This ones goes along with size. Since the bigger ships have more decks some things, like main dining rooms, youth clubs, and the pool deck are in different locations than they are on the Magic and Wonder.

Dream Class Ships:

Enchanted Garden (Main Dining Room) – Deck 2

Animator’s Palate – Deck 3

Shops – Deck 3 and 4

Walt Disney Theater – 3 and 4

Bars and Lounges - 4

Buena Vista Theater – 4 and 5

Vibe (Teen Club) – Deck 5

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique – Deck 5

Pool, Buffet, and Quick Service Dining – Deck 11

Quite Cove and Satellite Falls – 11 and 13

Palo and Remy – Deck 12

Edge – Deck 13

Magic Class Ships:

Bars and Lounges – Deck 3

Animator’s Palate – Deck 4

Shops – Deck 4

Walt Disney Theater – Deck 4

Buena Vista Theater – Deck 5

Pool, Buffet, and Quick Service Dining – Deck 9

Quiet Cove – Deck 9

Edge – Deck 9

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique – Deck 10

Palo – Deck 10

Vibe - 11

Adult Dining

The Dream and the Fantasy have both Palo, an upscale Italian experience, and Remy, an upscale French experience. The Magic and the Wonder have Palo. Both locations are available with reservations only for those 18 and older. They came at an extra cost.

Animator’s Palate

All four ships have Animator’s Palate, but on the Dream and the Fantasy guests have the opportunity to interact with Crush from Finding Nemo on their first time in the main dining room.

Quick Service Dining

All four ships offer quick service dining by the pools! Flo’s Café on the Dream and Fantasy offers a variety of quick eats all right next to each other – this can get crowded. The Magic and the Wonder’s offerings are spread out just enough that there isn’t really a crowd.

Ice Cream

Who doesn’t love ice cream?! The Dream’s Vanellope’s Sweet Shop and the Fantasy’s Sweet on You offer sweets including cookies, cupcakes, candy, milkshakes, ice cream by the scoop and sundaes all at an extra cost. Don’t worry, the soft serve that you’ll find at Eye Scream on the smaller ships is available on the Dream and Fantasy, too.

AquaDuck

The Dream and the Fantasy have the AquaDuck, a water coaster at sea! It’s a lot of fun!

Goofy Golf

You can play a round of mini golf at Goofy Golf on the Dream and Fantasy.

Midship Detective Agency

New technology allowed for an interactive game to be part of the experience on the Dream and Fantasy. Help solve mysteries with the Midship Detective Agency.

Magic Portholes

Inside staterooms on the Dream and Fantasy also feature magic portholes that allow to have a virtual view!

Go More Places

One of my favorite things is that the smaller, older ships go more places! Our first cruise was to Alaska on the Wonder and it will always be my favorite! Once the new ships debut (early 2022, 2023, and 2024 most likely) the locations of the ships and their itineraries can, and most likely will change, but this is the case for now.

It may seem like the Dream and the Fantasy have more “stuff” than the Magic and Wonder, but that does not mean that the smaller, older ships are any less fun to sail on. You must keep in mind that the Magic first set sail in 1998 and the Wonder in 1999. The Dream debuted in 2011 and the Fantasy in 2012 – this allowed for new technologies to be developed and implanted on the new ships. The newer ships are bigger, and therefore have more space to work with. We’ve loved all of our cruise, and we can’t wait for our upcoming ones as well. We enjoyed our time on the Fantasy, and we’re looking forward to sailing on the Dream in just over two months, but we also really like sailing on the smaller ships, especially for the smaller number of people onboard.

Do you prefer one class of ship over the other?

Are you ready to start planning your next magical vacation? I’d be happy to help! Contact me at miriyawhitaker@worldofmagictravel.com for your FREE quote and to start planning your next trip on land or sea. For more Disney and travel information follow me on Facebook.