Walt Disney World has been home to a small fleet of motor cruiser boats, which have been sailing the waterways of Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon since the 1970s, and last week it welcomed a new member to the fleet.
The cruiser is called Tradewinds, a name that was chosen by Walt Disney Imagineering and voted on by watercraft cast members.
The name isn’t the only thing that cast members helped to choose, as those cast members also offered feedback that directly impacted the design of the vessel, from the position of the pilot house to the amount of cabin space available to guests.
“We solicited feedback from cast members about the things they would like to see in a new motor cruiser, and we put it into the boat,” said Transportation Guest Experience Manager Collin Garton. “Everything about it was made to make cast member input a reality.”
“The project team on this boat has been amazing,” said Greg Klesaris, the Facility Asset Management Project Planer in charge of Tradewinds. “From Transportation Operations to our engineers, everyone has come together to get the job done, and it’s been really great getting to collaborate with all of these people.”
Guests can identify the new motor cruiser by its bright orange, yellow, white and teal coloring, which was also selected by the cast members.
It’s the first new motor cruiser to join the fleet since 1993, so before Tradewinds made its maiden voyage, cast members gathered together to christen the boat, which is a nautical tradition.
I think it’s cool that Watercraft cast members got to have a say in the design. I look forward to seeing it out on the waters sometime. If you spot it out in the wild on your visit, let us know what you think of it.
It doesn’t say if this boat can accommodate ECVs
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