Disney’s Tale of Moana aboard the Disney Treasure
In late August, my family and I traveled aboard the Disney Treasure, Disney’s newest cruise ship. Although two new ships will be entering service soon – the Disney Adventure and the Disney Destiny – the Disney Treasure is still technically the company’s newest, sailing ship! With three shows to enjoy on each Disney Cruise Line sailing, having both Tale of Moana and Beauty and the Best makes this ship’s lineup the most impressive.
Our sailing on the Disney Treasure was my 10th, and I’ve been able to enjoy Disney entertainment on every ship except the Disney Fantasy. Generally, Disney rolls out their shows to the passengers based on their production level and overall (assumed?) quality. On this sailing, we were treated to Disney Seas: The Adventure first, a light 30 minute show highlighting some of Disney’s most popular songs and franchises, followed by Tale of Moana and finally Beauty and the Beast. Based on what I’ve seen on other ships, the makes Disney Seas less impressive than Moana, and Moana less impressive than Beauty and the Beast.
Beauty and the Beast is widely regarded as Disney’s best show at sea, and while Tale of Moana gives it a run for its money, I still think it holds that title and should be the Disney Treasures last grand show for passengers. That said, Tale of Moana is an impressive experience, and might just be my second favorite show at sea (Tangled is right up there with it)!
The set design for Moana was the most impressive element. Montanui was an impressive set that captured the heart of Moana’s home, but how they handled the sea and Moana’s boat was incredible. The boat itself was quite large, large enough for both the characters of Moana and Maui to run around and around it during some epic songs. While both impressive, those elements didn’t even come close to the outstanding Tamatoa costume and the Te Ka / Te Fiti set piece.
While Beauty and the Beast is still my favourite show at sea, no costume across the entire fleet is as impressive as the one for Tamatoa. The costume is so large, that while there is an actual person front and centre singing, there is a host of other actors moving the set piece beautifully across the stage in step with the singing actor. And at least on our sailing, that person could sing. I don’t often get chills when watching stage productions of anything, but this was truly impressive and the audience was happy to let the actors on stage know!
The entire show, however, was topped off with an impressive, incredibly tall Te Ka set piece. With eyes that opened and closed, and hands that moved, the Te Ka set piece was not only moveable and functional, but was also given the grandeur it deserved by towering over Moana, Maui and the boat. Most impressive, however, was the transition from Te Ka to Te Fiti, two wildly different set pieces in terms of colour and appearance.
I was expecting the stage team to do some elaborate set-piece swap, but the swap happened right before our eyes as the set piece transformed from a fiery Te Ka into a beautiful and lush Te Fiti. Words don’t do what happened on that stage justice, it’s just something you have to see.
With at least one unique song added to this experience, the entire show was musically sound, taking the best songs and tunes from the film and giving them to us on stage. Disney’s Tale of Moana was incredibly impressive, and with another viewing or two, might become my favourite Disney show at sea!
Article By Adam Roffel
