Mouse Extra

Late last year, Disney Theme Park Merchandise released a DVD called The Treasures of the Disney Cruise Line.  Being a lover of both the Wonder and Magic, this was a pleasant surprise to see it on the shelves at Walt Disney World and one I was excited to watch.  I don’t get on the ships as often as I would like, and often get nostalgic when I see photos of what are certainly the nicest cruise ships I’ve seen.  After viewing the DVD, however, I think I my money would have been better served being flushed down the toilet. (…okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration.)

But I have only myself to blame.  In recent years I have watched and even purchased some of the DVD’s of Disney World’s parks only to use them as coasters after the first viewing.  Some, like the Epcot DVD from last year, are so over-the-top annoying that it took everything in me to actually finish watching it.  With that in mind, I still, for some reason unknown to me, thought this would be different, something more like a great Mouse-filled documentary of my favorite cruise.

It took only about 4 minutes for my wife to start asking me to shut it off.  This was exactly like those annoying videos.  I can deal with advertising, heck I willingly bought an infomercial, but the cheese on this DVD comes spilling out of the player!  This DVD was clearly not meant for adults looking to find a reason to enjoy the Disney Cruise Line.  Nor does it seem geared towards a child looking for something fun to watch with Mickey Mouse.  In fact, I can’t figure out who it is for.  It takes the same footage you’ve seen on every advertisement since the ships first launched, and combines it with a story that is so downright silly it was embarrassing me to sit there.  The only way I would ever watch this again is with the sound off.

The reason I won’t give it to my dog to use as a Frisbee, however, is there are some extra’s that are at least…not remarkably goofy.  There are short interviews with a Chief Engineer talking about the workings of the engine room, as well as the Stage Manager, and Technician for the Walt Disney Theater.  The three only total about 10 minutes, but at least its 10 minutes of your life you won’t be throwing away.  There’s also a nice, and happily devoid of narration, featurette showing the ships during the holiday season and also a multi-angle video as the boat pulls away from its dock.

If you are so desperate to see video of the Disney Cruise Line, and simply can’t watch the Travel Channel for some reason, I suppose this DVD will have some redeeming value.  As I said before, if you turn the sound off you may be able to at least enjoy the advertisement style visuals for whatever that’s worth.  Other than that, I would suggest you bring your video camera the next time you go on a Disney Cruise.  You can most certainly shoot a more entertaining video than this one.