Credit: DisneyDue to an unfortunate turn of events, Disney has had to scrap travel plans for thousands.
Over 100 years after its creation, The Walt Disney Company runs like a well-oiled machine. While it’s faced more than its fair share of ups and downs during its history, its reputation as a vacation destination has remained stellar, with guests traveling from all over the world to visit the likes of Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Paris, and more.
However, even Disney has to grapple with real-world obstacles that sometimes throw its operations into disarray. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, forced lengthy closures for all of its theme parks, with some – such as Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland – closing and reopening multiple times before they finally stayed open for good.
Bad weather has also proved to be an obstacle in the past, with hurricanes and typhoons alike sparking the closure of its theme parks. Disney World tends to face more of these closures than most, with 2024 seeing Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom all temporarily close their gates due to Hurricane Milton. Over at Tokyo Disney Resort (which is technically run by The Oriental Land Company, not Disney), guests have also had their vacations axed due to an earthquake in the past, with the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami causing the closure of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea for over a month.
Disney Cruise Line Faces Cancellations
The Disney Cruise Line has also had to contend with unexpected obstacles.
Like Disney’s theme parks, the vast majority of these cancellations or schedule changes are weather-related. For example, Hurricane Helene forced Disney to push back the departure for some guests from Port Canaveral.
Sometimes, however, cruises are canceled for even more unexpected reasons. Last fall, for example, the Disney Cruise Line canceled thousands of vacations due to civil unrest unfolding in New Caledonia.
Now, the company has canceled even more vacations.
According to Cruise Industry News, the Disney Magic has canceled a four-night Pacific cruise originally scheduled to depart San Diego in April 2026. The sailing, which would have ended in Vancouver ahead of a planned drydock, was pulled from the schedule due to a shift in maintenance plans. Affected guests will receive full refunds, plus a 20 percent discount toward a future cruise, valid on all stateroom categories.
With the drydock now pushed later into the spring, Disney Cruise Line has added three new West Coast sailings in April 2026. These include two Baja Mexico cruises departing round-trip from San Diego, with stops in Ensenada and Catalina Island, and a repositioning cruise to Vancouver on April 27. The vessel is now expected to enter dry dock in the Pacific Northwest after that sailing.
Following its winter season in the Caribbean alongside the Disney Wonder, the Disney Magic – which carries approximately 2,700 guests at a time – will resume its previously scheduled Alaska deployment from Vancouver. No other changes have been made to the ship’s 2026 itinerary, which includes sailings from Galveston (where Disney will reportedly begin full-time sailings in 2027), San Diego, and Vancouver.
Other Issues Facing the Disney Magic
This comes amidst a rough period for the Disney Magic. As the cruise line’s first vessel, the ship is nearing 30 years old. Guests have complained that it is showing its age, with a pipe bursting aboard the boat earlier this year. In March, guests also experienced sewage backup, which left human waste on the floors of certain staterooms.
As per other guests, this isn’t exactly a rare occurrence.
“Happened to us on the Magic back in October,” said one guest on Reddit. “Our bathroom flooded with poop water THREE times. It was so gross. We got a $150 OBC, plus some rice krispies treats and a bag of popcorn. Not enough in my eyes. We were in room 2084 when this happened. The whole deck seemed to smell of sewage, so I am sure we weren’t the only ones it was happening to.”
Disney Cruise Line has plans to build a smaller class of ships in the coming years, with three new ships set for delivery in 2029, 2030, and 2031. Each will have a passenger capacity of around 3,000 passengers, making them fractionally larger than the Disney Magic.
Have you noticed issues aboard the Disney Magic?