I Was a Disney World Cast Member and Even I'm Surprised by the Newest Announcement

Before AllEars, I was a Disney World Cast Member. Now I spend my days sharing the Disney magic through our readers and YouTube channel!

Disney news comes across my desk every day, and I’ve seen hundreds of announcements in the past few years — some that are predictable and some that are shocking. But one of the newest announcements caught me off guard a bit!

During a recent shareholder meeting, Josh D’Amaro took the mantle of CEO, stepping into the role after Bob Iger’s retirement. He made a speech in the meeting, sharing updates on the company’s future, as well as thanking Iger, Cast Members, and fans. But snuck into the middle of the meeting was a major reveal!

In the middle of the big speech, D’Amaro kind of randomly made a huge Disney Cruise Line announcement — the name of the next ship in the fleet! The Disney Believe “will be a tribute to those dreamers and doers who dare to pursue their own happily ever after.”

The ship will include stories and characters from Encanto and Frozen, as well as Snow White, Moana, and The Little Mermaid. It’s going to set sail in late 2027. It was a little wild to get this announcement right after Quincy, and I had disembarked from the maiden voyage of the Disney Adventure in Singapore (and a few days before that, we’d done a sailing on the Disney Fantasy!). Cruise news after cruise news after cruise news, y’all.

We already knew that Disney Cruise Line had some ships lined up for the coming years. In 2024, D’Amaro announced at the D23 event that 4 new ships would be joining the fleet between 2027 and 2031. This will be the first of that bunch.

But admittedly, the timing of this announcement was a little bizarre. It just seemed random that Josh would announce the ship’s name in the middle of the shareholders’ meeting, at a time when no other major announcements of that caliber were being made. That’s usually the kind of thing they save for a D23 event.

Either way, I’ll be excited to check out the Disney Believe when it sets sail in 2027. Until then, we’ll continue to share all the announcements about the ship!