The Wish's Pool Deck!

The Disney Wish is still a long way away, but as you know, I love speculation.  So, this week, I'm wondering what the design of the Wish's pool deck will be like.  Last week, I compared the poolside restaurants between the Disney ships, and I'm hoping the Wish's poolside restaurant layout is similar to the layout of the Magic and Wonder.  So, today, we're not thinking about food, and instead thinking about the whole pool deck, which will probably be on Deck 11.

On the Wish, I think everybody wants the pools to be larger.  The main family pools often get filled to their absolute maximum capacity, which makes moving around in them a chore.  Also, it's impossible to maintain social distance when the pool is that full.  A way Disney could implement larger pools on the Wish is by spreading them out, just like the restaurants!  On the Magic-class ships, Goofy's Pool is located between the funnels, and the AquaLab pool is behind the Aft funnel.  However, on the Dream-class ships, both family pools are found between the two funnels.  The layout of the Magic-class ships works better, because like the poolside restaurants, having them spread out around the deck helps to distribute crowds between them.  Instead of two small pools between the funnels, like on the Dream-class ships, there could be one large pool there, and a smaller, shallower one behind the Aft funnel.  I'm not sure how large the pool between the funnels could be, since it must be able to be covered during deck parties.  Maybe they'll do something like this:

The blue rectangle is the pool. The brown lines represent the five sections of the deck cover.  The deck sections could come out from the port or starboard side of the pool.  Or, each section of the deck could split down the middle, and the two subsections could meet in the middle.  This method could be hazardous, if the two subsections were to spread apart.  To solve this problem, the subsections could lock in place using some sort of locking mechanism (I'm not a cruise ship pool engineer) and get unlocked by a lifeguard after the deck party.

This pool cover system was completely made up, I don't know if it would work, or if it's even possible to build.  But hey, if it is possible, maybe Disney will implement something like it on the Wish.

We can't forget about the kids' play area near the pools.  Nemo's Reef on the Dream and Fantasy isn't usually too crowded, so it doesn't really need to be any bigger.  It'll probably go somewhere near the shallow pool behind the Aft funnel.

On the Dream-class ships, there's a tiny pool on Deck 12 that overlooks the Quiet Cove, the Funnel Puddle pool.  This pool is a family pool, so noisy children are allowed.  Since it's above the Quiet Cove, the sound of these kids can carry down a deck.  Every time I walked past it on the Fantasy in January, I thought, why does this exist?  It's in an unusual location and is a lot less fun than the main family pools.  There are some similar pools on the port and starboard sides of the Dream-class ships, and these are in a much better location than the Funnel Puddle.  That pool is unnecessary and can be an annoyance, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Wish keeps the small pools on the sides and just gets rid of the Funnel Puddle.

The Dream-class ships have multiple bars on the upper decks:  The Cove Bar, Currents, and Waves.  Currents and the Cove Bar are close to each other, so I think the Wish should just keep Waves and the Cove Bar, and either change or remove Currents.  More about that in a bit.

Next, let's discuss the Quiet Cove.  This area will probably be similar to its counterparts on the Dream-class ships, with the poolside Cove Bar and easy access to the Cove Café and Senses Spa.  The pool could be larger, with more seats at the Cove Bar.  A change I'd make would be to make easier, more obvious access to the adult-exclusive sundeck.  According to some adults I've asked, almost nobody goes up to the sundeck, and it's kind of a waste of space on the Dream-class ships.  I hope there's a section that everyone is allowed to go up to, because I love being able to look out from the sports deck on the front of the Magic-class ships.  Maybe this sundeck area won't be only for adults on the Wish in an effort to get more people to use it.  Or, it might be something completely different, like a restaurant.  Palo and Remy, or whatever the Wish will have instead, could be up there, and Cabanas could be in Aft, where the adult restaurants would've been.  They could have outdoor seating, which would give people beautiful views of the ocean.  

Changing up the sundeck on Deck 13 is a reason to remove the Currents bar, because the casual bar just wouldn't fit with the formal adult-exclusive restaurants.  Also, I'm predicting that Meridian will still be on the Wish, between the two restaurants.  Having Meridian, Currents, and the Cove Bar together would make three bars within a minute walk of each other.  It'd be like an upper deck After Hours area, and I don't think having that many bars is really necessary.  I'm sure bars are great, but I prefer Mickey ice cream bars.

Now, we have to talk about everyone's favorite Disney Cruise Line buffet, Cabanas.  This restaurant is huge, which could be a problem.  It takes up a lot of space on Deck 11 of the Dream-class ships, so maybe on the Wish, it could be moved down a deck.  There are many staterooms below Cabanas, so they could go to Deck 1!  The Dream-class ships don't have any guest rooms on Deck 1, so why not move them from Deck 10 to Deck 1 on the Wish?  They'd cost less, and there'd be more room for Cabanas where they would've been.  Or, if the adult restaurants are in Forward now, Cabanas could be smaller on Deck 11, with seating above on Deck 12.  Like Cabanas on all of the other ships, the Aft elevators would open up right into the restaurant.  Although, going up a flight of stairs to sit and eat, then going back down for more, and finally going back up again wouldn't be ideal.  I never thought finding a place for a buffet would be so hard.

The Dream and Fantasy are very easy to distinguish from the Magic and Wonder.  They're much, much larger, of course, but they also have AquaDucks.  The AquaDuck is a defining feature that makes the Dream-class ships special.  When people see the Dream or Fantasy, they notice the AquaDuck.  Since the Wish isn't going to be much larger than the Dream-class ships, it really needs a defining feature in addition to an AquaDuck 3.0.  Something that'll make people know that it's not like the Dream-class ships, it's a completely new ship.  It'll have to be outside, because people looking at the ship from a distance can't see inside it.  It can't be an eyesore, that's a violation of Disney's maritime law.  Finally, it can't be too big, because the Wish is only going to be around 15,000 tons larger than the Dream-class ships.

So, what should this feature be?  A second Funnel Vision screen!  One of my biggest issues with the Magic-class ships is that you can't see what's on Funnel Vision from the AquaLab, since the Aft funnel is in the way.  Imagine being on the Wish, sitting by the smaller pool and possible AquaLab, and watching Funnel Vision on the Aft Funnel.  Then, imagine you go for a swim in the larger pool and continue watching Funnel Vision, just on a different funnel.  After that, you go up to the sports deck, which may be in the same place that it is on the Dream-class ships and you can still watch Funnel Vision!  Sounds magnificent, doesn't it?  The screens could play the same movie or show, or play different ones.  Just like the restaurants and pools, having a Funnel Vision on each funnel would solve the problem of everyone crowding around the same funnel, while also making life more convenient.  I see a common theme with my imaginary pool deck.

This key feature could also be an AquaDunk in addition to the AquaDuck.  Remember the artist's rendering from back in 2018?  We only saw one side of the ship.  Remember this video when Disney announced the ship's name?

The 3D ship model was very simplistic, it didn't even show an AquaDuck.  So, this means an AquaDunk in addition to an AquaDuck is possible.  There could even be a second Funnel Vision on the Aft funnel with an AquaDunk if the Imagineers wanted to go all out.  The AquaDunk would be on the Forward funnel, the AquaDuck would start on the Aft funnel and go through the Forward funnel, all while having a second Funnel Vision.  If this were to happen, a smaller slide around the scale of the Twist n' Spout probably wouldn't be included.  Instead, there would probably be one or two small slides, around the size of Mickey's Slide on the Dream-class ships.  They'd be called Minnie's Slides because of how small they'd be.  Like pretty much everything else I've talked about today, having multiple large-scale slides would distribute crowds and shorten lines.

Similar to the pool cover deck I thought of, I'm not sure if it's even possible to have these two massive slides on a cruise ship.  But if it is, that would be amazing and the Wish would instantly become my favorite DCL ship.

I think that covers just about everything.  To give this post more depth and make it more comprehensive, I made a deck plan based on what I think the Wish should include on its pool deck.  You can click on the image to make it larger.

Pretty cool, right?  I know almost nothing about cruise ship design, so this design might not even be possible.  But hey, anything can happen in my imagination.  When creating this, I took some elements of it from the Magic-class ships and other elements from the Dream-class ships, and this is what the Wish's designers need to do.  They need to take the best parts of the Magic-class design and the Dream-class design and combine them to make the best DCL ship yet!

We don't know anything about the Wish's pool deck yet, but we probably will soon.  I'm thinking that when Disney announces cruise itineraries for the beginning of 2022 (when the Wish will enter service), there will be an enormous amount of information revealed.  Why would someone book a cruise on a new ship that they know almost nothing about?

I really hope Disney includes some of the features I want on the Wish's pool deck.  If the actual design turns out to be somewhat similar to my design, I'd be shocked and convinced that Mickey reads my blog.  From making this post, I realized how much work and thought goes into designing a cruise ship.  Disney's Imagineers have to include so much in a limited amount of space, and I don't know how they do it.  It would be fascinating to learn about how the Wish was designed, possibly through a book or documentary when the Wish launches.  Hey Mickey, if you're reading this, I want to know your magical design process!