A ride on the high-tech Disney “Tradewinds” motor cruiser

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Disney Transportation and Walt Disney Imagineering recently teamed up to create the first new motor cruiser in nearly 30 years. The cruiser is called Tradewinds, a name that was chosen by Walt Disney Imagineering and voted on by the jet ski cast members.

But the name isn’t the only thing the cast members helped choose. Watercraft cast members offered feedback that had a direct impact on the ship’s design, from the cockpit location to the amount of cabin space available for guests.

Guests can identify the new motor cruiser by its bright orange, yellow, white and teal colorway also selected by the cast.

Before Tradewinds made her maiden voyage, the cast members got together to name the boat, a nautical tradition.

Now, the motor cruiser is cruising around the various resorts in the Magic Kingdom area. It was seen on the Magic Kingdom / Grand Floridian / Polynesian Village route. Today, he was doing tours between Magic Kingdom and Wilderness Lodge. We decided to get on board to try the new boat for ourselves. Here’s what we saw.

First, here’s a look at the outside of the motor cruiser.

The Tradewinds is much more accessible than the other jet skis in the fleet. It is extremely spacious and although we did notice some difficulties in getting the boat to dock level to allow boarding of the ECV, it is not uncommon for boats. Once on board, there is plenty of room for EVCs and wheelchairs.

In fact, perhaps the dominant theme of the motorboat’s interior was the space on board.

There is outdoor seating at the front and rear of the speedboat.

As noted earlier, some improvements have been made to the power cruiser based on feedback from cast members. From what we could tell, there have been some tech updates and changes to the controls. Notably, cast members now have live video feeds from the sides and rear of the motor cruiser.

The cockpit appears to be more spacious, almost too much of it. Cast members had a hard time getting to the windows beyond the video monitors.

It also appeared that the controls were different and perhaps more sensitive than other motor cruisers, especially during the docking process.

Overall, this is more than just a small upgrade from a guest perspective. Having more accessible guest areas is a much needed upgrade, and we’d love to see more jet skis take this direction.

As always, keep checking with us here on BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news and photos from the Disney Parks!

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