Castaway Cay, the Bahamian island owned by the Walt Disney Company, is undergoing a massive upgrade in order to accommodate the doubling in size of the Disney Cruise Lines fleet.
The enhancements to Castaway will mean more beach, a new water slide platform, private cabanas and new water play areas.
There will be more stops on the trams that bring people to different areas of the island. New restaurants and a beach bar will help to space people out into different areas.
In order to expand its 1,000 lineal feet of family beach by more than 700 lineal feet, Disney is moving the Stingray Adventure swimming area to a different part of the lagoon, a larger and deeper swimming area for stingrays and guests to swim together.
Also, the teen area will also be moved from the beach to a larger and more secluded area near the restaurants and play areas.
All these changes will improve guest circulation on Castaway, said Mark Kohl, director of development for Walt Disney Imagineering.
For example, guests currently are not utilizing the far end of the beach. With the addition of the tram stop and the restaurant and bar, the am
enities will encourage people to spread out to those other areas.
Also new will be Pelican Plunge, a 2,400-square-foot, floating platform with an enclosed corkscrew slide, a 140-foot open slide and a giant bucket that douses swimmers below. Currently being built in Jacksonville, Fla., the platform will be towed to Castaway.
For passengers who don’t want to swim out to the platform to get splashed, a 2,400-square-foot play area called Spring-a-Leak is being constructed behind the beach. The attraction will resemble the remnants of a beach area after a storm. Guests will be splashed by what looks like dripping pipes and broken plumbing.
The youngest visitors to Castaway will get their first water-play area. Scuttle’s Cove, the supervised area for kids, will have a 1,200-square foot soft, wet deck with "geysers" and water jets.
For families and adults traveling alone, Disney is building 20 new 325-square-foot private cabanas with ocean views and private patios. Most will be on the family beach, with a few on the adults beach. Cabana pricing hasn't been determined and will be tiered according to chosen services, such as a cabana host and catered lunches.
Besides the fun stuff for passengers, there is major marine work being done at Castaway, including dredging and adding moorings and fenders for the new ships to rest against.