Top 10 Best Details Aboard the Disney Wonder

It's no secret that Disney loves to hide details and easter eggs in their projects. Whether it's a character from one movie appearing in another or a reference to an extinct attraction in its replacement, hidden details are everywhere. Disney Cruise Line is no exception.

I was hosted by Disney on a four-night cruise on board the Disney Wonder, the second ship in the Disney Cruise Line fleet. Despite being among the smallest, it's jam-packed with some great details, many of which are unique to that ship.

There are so many I could explore, but for now, here are my personal 10 favorite details aboard the Disney Wonder.

Number 10

Let's start where every guest starts their cruise: the Atrium. This grand lobby is inspired by The Little Mermaid on the Wonder, with subtle touches such as bubbles on the floor, Triton's restaurant to the left, and a statue of Ariel herself by the staircase. But that's not what I want to highlight for this detail. Instead, I want to turn your attention to the 4th and 5th decks overlooking the lobby. Here you'll see depictions of Disney characters doing some of the jobs you'd expect to see on a cruise. 

Minnie is dressed as a chef cooking food, Pete is a server delivering a meal, and Mickey, ever the entertainer, is on stage with a microphone in his hand. As explained to us during one of the ship tours, this was done as a way to show respect to the crew who are working hard in often invisible roles to make your cruise the best it could be.

Number 9

Let's go back to The Little Mermaid. As mentioned above, this ship's lobby statue is of Ariel, depicted with her hair twisting up, similar to the moment near the beginning of "Under the Sea." If you look at the statue, though, you'll notice something is missing when compared to the scene: the flower in her hair. But this was no oversight or mistake. The flower is in the room, you just have to look up.

That's right, the Disney Wonder's chandelier is the flower in Ariel's hair. It wasn't always that way, this chandelier was added when the ship went in for dry dock in 2016, but this detail is a welcome addition that fits right in alongside the rest of the Mermaid-inspired Atrium.

Number 8

Moving past the Atrium, but remaining on Deck 3, we arrive at the French Quarter Lounge. This space is inspired by New Orleans, with heavy influence from The Princess and Frog, which makes sense as Tiana's Place is right next door. The venue has many references to the film and New Orleans as a whole. One of the most eye-catching set pieces is this trolley car, which actually functions as a seating area.

While this is cool enough, the trolley isn't just made to look like any trolley, but rather the trolley Tiana herself hops off of when arriving at work at the beginning of the film. 

If you look at the color, window frames, and the headlight, everything seems to line up. However, there is one detail that might seem a bit off at first, that being the number. In the movie, A113, a reference to a Cal Arts classroom found in many Disney and Pixar movies, is used in that location rather than 820. At first, I thought maybe 820 was referencing a release date, but the film came out December 9th not August 20th, so that's clearly not it. I did some research and found this photo. 

While it may look like a frame from the movie, this exact pose is not. I'm not sure exactly where it's from, but it could be a promotional image from around the film's release. As you can see, the trolley is labeled as 820 rather than A113. I'm not sure why this version was used over the one from the film, and if anyone has any ideas, please feel free to let me know, because I'm extremely curious.

Number 7

Now let's move on to another lounge... sort of. 

This carpet, in the Deck 3 Forward elevator area, features a version of the logo for After Hours, the ship's adult-only area. The area contains three lounges and while they each have their own details, I wanted to take a moment and highlight the logo. It features a cocktail glass with a ring with the area's name under it. Now, I don't know if it's intentional, but I think the ring looks like a plate that the glass is sitting on. I could be overanalyzing, but if that is intentional, it's a cool design detail.

What's unquestionable are the two stars and crescent moon you can see inside the glass. During our tour, they told us that when you look at the logo upside down, the moon and stars combined with the liquid become Mickey's Sorcerer Hat. Can I see it? Yes. Do I think that was actually the intention? Not really. Most of the time the logo is on the wall where you won't be seeing it from the other side, and the moon and stars are nowhere near where they would be on the real hat. But I could be wrong, and if that was the intention, I think it's a cool idea.

Number 6

Moving deeper into After Hours, we find ourselves in the British-inspired Crown & Fin Pub. This space is full of references to Disney movies set in Britain, as well as British culture in general. There is honestly enough for an entire article on this place, but I'll stick to two areas where some of my favorite details are found.

For 6, I’m choosing this shelf to your left when you first walk through the door. You'll find quite a few items on it, including a dog collar. This was pointed out to us as being a reference to 101 Dalmatians, which is fitting, seeing as it takes place in London. The other one you might have noticed is also an item from a London-set Disney film, this time being the parrot umbrella from Mary Poppins.

Number 5

Staying in Crown & Fin, we'll go to the other side of the room. On the first day of the cruise, we went in here for a rest and I saw a stack of newspapers. I looked at them, examined them, even took a photo, wondering if they were real British newspapers. 

Apparently, I wasn't doing a very good job examining them, as I totally missed the identical twin prominently featured on the paper's front page. This is actually the Daily Chronicle newspaper from the beginning of The Great Muppet Caper. But that's not all, as underneath it is another newspaper, highlighting a reckless roadster by the name of Mr. Toad. As mentioned earlier, these details just scratch the surface. If you like hidden details and ever find yourself on the Disney Wonder, make a visit to Crown & Fin Pub. You won't regret it.

Number 4

Ok, we've been on Deck 3 long enough. Let's go up to Deck 9 to take a quick visit to Edge. Edge is the space for tweens 11 to 14 years old. This ship's Edge takes on a nautical theme with screen windows looking under the ocean and the metal design I'd compare with a submarine. However, a room with a cool design is only part of the story. The Disney difference comes when theming is applied in areas you wouldn't expect.

These are soft, padded chairs meant to look like boxes. This is the kind of theming I love. They could've just used a normal chair, even a metal one, and it wouldn't have stuck out at all. But by going the extra mile to do it in a more creative way, it helps add variety to the space, and keep it feeling fresh and different from other themed areas on the ship.

Number 3

Probably the most well-themed areas on the ship are the two areas for kids aged 3-10, the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab. The Lab takes on a more nautical approach, with its wooden aesthetic serving as a fitting home for its shelves of artifacts and paintings of adventurers. The Club goes for a different approach with a library inspired by Beauty and the Beast that branches off into four themed rooms, each themed to a different Disney franchise. While each has a ton of details to explore, the final three details I want to focus on are in the Club.

Let's start in the Captain's Deck, an area that, within the children's club, is designed for the youngest children. There's small-scale play equipment and a large panel with interactive buttons, dials, and a ship's wheel. On the floor in one corner is a Disney Cruise Line life ring. However, that's not what I'm focused on. Instead, I want you to look at the floor. You'll see it's the same pattern found on the top deck meant to emulate the wooden deck of older ships. The walls are also cool, featuring the same colors as the side of the ship.

If you look at the back right wall, you'll see a map of the world. While most of the kids who play here might notice the castles on the map, they may not realize their locations are actually where all the Disney resorts around the globe are, with the castles even matching that resort's castle. Isn't that fun?

Number 2

One of the other rooms they have is Marvel-themed. Now, I'm not a Marvel person at all, so I'm sure there are a ton of details in here that I wouldn't notice, but there was one that I did.

In this display case are various Marvel-related items. A Daily Bugle newspaper, a collection of medals, and a flyer referencing something called the Iron Wing. This contraption doesn't originate from any Marvel movie, but rather from Hong Kong Disneyland's Iron Man Experience, a Star Tours-style simulator in the park's Tomorrowland.

That detail may be a deep cut depending on how familiar you are with international parks, but the last one is such a random reference, that I wonder how it even found its way into the Club.

Number 1

My favorite room (and going off what the counselors tell me, a lot of the kids’ too) is the Toy Story room. This two-level room lets children go up to the top of Andy's bed, and go down a Slinky Dog slide back to the bottom. There are also boxes of toys, soft blocks, and this.

This is an oversized handheld video game console. The game loaded on the screen is called Toy Drop, with various Toy Story characters depicted on it. If you look on the bottom right of the game screen, you'll see the high score is 1,995, which is a reference to the year the original movie came out. However, this device holds another secret, the design itself. Disney Parks fans may recognize this as the Game Brain, which can be found at the end of Toy Story Mania in both Hollywood Studios and California Adventure. 

In the attraction, the screen is functional, showing the vehicle's top scorer and the best scores of the hour, day, and month. I don't know the exact sizing of this to know if it's possible that this was simply a reused design from the attraction or if they set out to recreate it specifically for this room. Either way, I think it's a super fun way to tie the rides in with the room, and was one of my favorite details noticed while on the ship.

I honestly could go on forever, Oceaneer Lab with its Society of Explorers and Adventurers paintings, the details in Animator's Palate, the concept art outside the Buena Vista Theater, but I think that's a good place to stop for now. I hope you've enjoyed our trip traveling between the decks of the Disney Wonder to check out just a few of the ship's many hidden details. If you ever find yourself on the Disney Wonder, or of Disney’s ships for that matter, keep an eye out, because you never know what you might find.