Credit: DisneyDisney Cruise Line’s relationship with the Bahamas goes far beyond the ports its ships call at and the private destinations its guests visit. The company has been operating in Bahamian waters for decades, its ships are registered in Nassau, and the 2024 opening of Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point on Eleuthera represented a significant expansion of Disney’s physical and community presence in the archipelago. What has developed alongside that commercial footprint is something less visible to the average cruise guest but arguably more meaningful in terms of long-term impact.
The Play Project, a community-led initiative that Disney Cruise Line launched in partnership with the global nonprofit love.fĂştbol when Lookout Cay opened, was designed from the beginning to direct some of the energy and resources flowing through Disney’s Bahamian operations toward the young people who actually live in the communities these ships visit. In its first year, the initiative focused on South and Central Eleuthera, revitalizing play spaces at six primary schools and generating more than 32,000 hours of annual play for local children. Now Disney Cruise Line is expanding The Play Project significantly, bringing upgraded sports facilities to multiple islands, adding ESPN as a collaborator through its Take Back Sports initiative, and advancing a timeline to have students across the Bahamas access improved play environments by August 2026.
What the Expansion Covers
The expanded Play Project will bring refurbished baseball fields, basketball courts, and track-and-field facilities to communities across Eleuthera, Nassau, and Abaco. Each of these locations has a specific connection to Disney Cruise Line’s operations in the region. Eleuthera is home to Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, which opened in 2024 and serves as a private destination for Disney Cruise Line guests. Nassau is where all Disney Cruise Line ships are registered and a frequent stop on sailings throughout the Caribbean and Bahamas. The Abaco islands sit just next to Disney Castaway Cay, and some port adventure excursions from Castaway Cay travel to South Abaco. The geographic scope of the expansion is directly tied to the places where Disney’s presence is most established, giving the initiative coherence and permanence that distinguish it from more transient charitable programming.
This year’s specific projects include the resurfacing of baseball fields at Tarpum Bay and the installation of new playgrounds at Emily G. Petty and Emma E. Cooper schools in Eleuthera. Community build days in Abaco and Nassau are planned for this summer, led by Disney Cruise Line and love.fĂştbol, with construction and installation work expected to be completed by August 2026.
The ESPN Connection
The expansion brings a significant new partner into The Play Project through ESPN’s Take Back Sports initiative. Take Back Sports is designed to reverse the decline in youth sports participation in communities where rising costs and limited access have created barriers that push kids out of organized athletics. The initiative focuses on providing free programming and resources to ensure that sports remain accessible, inclusive, and genuinely fun for children who might otherwise be priced out of participation.
ESPN’s involvement with The Play Project connects the infrastructure work Disney Cruise Line and love.fĂştbol are doing on the ground in the Bahamas to a broader resource network designed to support the young athletes who will use those facilities once they are built. The combination of physical facility improvements and programmatic support through ESPN’s youth sports framework gives the expanded Play Project a more complete and sustainable structure than facility upgrades alone would provide.
The Buddy Hield Foundation Partnership With Disney
One of the most locally resonant elements of the expansion is the collaboration with the Buddy Hield Foundation in Nassau. Disney Cruise Line is working with the foundation to revitalize sports spaces at Woodcock Primary School, culminating in a basketball tournament hosted by Bahamian NBA star Buddy Hield himself. Hield is one of the most prominent Bahamian athletes in professional sports, and his involvement as both a foundation namesake and an active participant in the tournament gives the Nassau component of The Play Project a cultural connection to Bahamian identity and community pride that extends beyond the physical improvements being made to the school’s facilities.
For the students at Woodcock Primary who will benefit from the revitalized sports spaces, a basketball tournament hosted by one of the most successful athletes their country has produced is a genuinely meaningful experience layered on top of the facility work.
What Disney Has Built in the First Year
The first year of The Play Project focused on South and Central Eleuthera, and the numbers Disney has reported reflect a program that was executed at a meaningful scale rather than as a symbolic gesture. Six primary schools received revitalized play spaces: P.A. Gibson, Deep Creek, Tarpum Bay, Rock Sound, Wemyss Bight, and Green Castle. More than 230 Disney VoluntEARS worked hands-on alongside Bahamian officials, teachers, and students during the dedication and build phases. The initiative created more than 32,000 hours of annual play for local children, a metric that captures the ongoing impact of the improved facilities rather than just the one-time effort of building them. Honourable Clay Sweeting, Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs and Member of Parliament for Central and South Eleuthera, acknowledged the expansion as part of the significant economic development Eleuthera is experiencing and highlighted corporate engagement of this kind as an important component of that development.
For guests sailing on Disney Cruise Line to any of these Bahamian destinations, the Play Project represents a dimension of the company’s relationship with these communities that exists entirely outside the resort gates and private beach access that define the typical cruise experience. By August 2026, the expanded initiative will have touched communities across Eleuthera, Nassau, and Abaco with facilities and programming designed to outlast any individual sailing season.
