The Magic completed her planned dry dock and returned to service on May 5, with an eight-night sailing that is still underway. In addition to minor refreshes to spaces throughout the ship, major upgrades included:
- The new “Soul Cat Lounge” replacing the former Promenade Lounge just outside of Rapunzel’s Royal Table onboard;
- The conversion of eleven family verandah staterooms to concierge staterooms onboard, along with upgrades to the concierge one, two and royal suites onboard; and
- An expansion and upgrade to the concierge lounge onboard.
The “Soul Cat Lounge” has been met by some DCL fans with a collective “meh.” Early photos (thanks to our listener Carin who is onboard right now for sharing these with us and our listeners) show a jazz-themed bar space with touches of Disney IP from the movie “Soul.” It also features a drink menu with New York and jazz-themed cocktails and non-alocholic concoctions, as well as coffees and “Giant New York Style Zeppole’s” which appear to be similar to the beignets served in the “French Quarter Lounge.”
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- Photos Courtesy of Carin
We would have definitely preferred a “Snuggly Duckling” themed space to tie in with the “Tangled” themed Rapunzel’s Royal Table. That would have been consistent with the upgrade Disney made to the Wonder with the “French Quarter Lounge” augmenting the theming of “Tiana’s Place.” Disney could have also easily updated “Keys” to a “Soul” theme without much effort if they wanted to incorporate that IP into the fleet. Notably, “Keys” is already a piano bar – Joe’s instrument of choice.
That said, we welcome the update to the “Promenade Lounge” whose interior was looking pretty tired, and can’t wait to check out this new space ourselves later this Summer when we sail the Magic out of Miami.
The upgrades to the Concierge Lounge are also welcome, although we were a bit disappointed to see them fall short of the full upgrades that the Wonder received. It looks like Disney has laid the groundwork to complete the full upgrade at a future dry dock, as the outdoor space has been partially enclosed by steelwork resembling a navigator’s verandah. We are excited to see a different layout to the space, and the inclusion of an actual bar space in the lounge, much like the Wish. Lots of photos are circulating online, and we can’t wait to see the space ourselves when we are next onboard.
