Departing from the platform we’ve come to know and love about Disney Cruise Line ships, the Disney Destiny promises to be something different, with a Heroes and Villains theme throughout the ship. Disney is promising five really amazing Marvel inspired spaces on the brand new ship and we can’t wait to see them!

First, we’ve come to know that beautiful, grand entrance into the Atrium when you board a Disney ship. On the Disney Destiny, your first welcome into the Grand Hall will have the colors and textures inspired by Wakanda and the “Black Panther” movies. There will be metalwork on the pillars, and the crystal chandelier you may be expecting will be replaced by a light fixture made from “Vibranium” – a rare metallic ore found only in Wakanda. The grand hall looks like it will have a sleeker, more contemporary feel than the similar spaces on other Disney Cruise ships, but we’re here for it. The Grand Hall will be capped off by an amazing centerpiece – a statue of T’Challa, King of Wakanda. He will stand in guard over the guests on this pretty remarkable cruise ship the same way he did over the people of Wakanda.

The second Marvel themed thing to notice – and maybe the one I’m most excited about, since we have a grandson who is OBSESSED with Spiderman – is the character on the stern of the ship. You’ll be able to look up and see Spiderman and his spiderbots as they attempt to decorate the stern with the famous fillagree we know from other Disney cruise ships. What a beautiful contrast our superhero in red makes against the background of this beautiful ship. We’re sure we’ll be taking LOTS of pictures of this character.

Also coming to this heroes and villains themed space is The Sanctum, which boasts unique surprises inspired by Dr. Strange’s New York City Sanctum. Magical cocktails and coffees will be served up in this lounge inspired by the mysticism and sorcery of the Dr. Strange movie. This may be one of those places that you have to go to, even if you don’t much care for lounges and cocktail hours, just so you can bask in the theming and marvel (no pun intended) at the atmosphere.

If you’re not yet finished “marvel-ing” over these awesome features coming to the Disney Destiny, wait until your pint sized avengers find out about Marvel Super Hero Academy. As part of the programming in Disney’s Oceaneer Club, your little ones ages 3 to 10 will get to enjoy a brand new, high-tech Avengers headquarters. The tiny recruits will be trained right alongside some of their favorite Avengers characters to become the next generation of Super Hero. Oh, Disney, just take allllll of my money.

And if you’ve really enjoyed the Worlds of Marvel dining experience on the Disney Wish, wait until you see the new “world” in store for us. Debuting on the Disney Destiny will be a “Guardians of the Galaxy” celebration, with Groot heading up the festivities. I’m so excited to see how the guest interaction goes here, because my grandkids are seriously convinced they have saved the Disney Wish from absolute peril by pushing those buttons on the dinner table.

Booking for the Disney Destiny starts on September 4th for Disney’s Castaway Club members, and the general public can begin booking on September 12th. If you’d like to get on our list of people to make reservations for, email me at anna@wavesandwandering.com.