Disney Dream – Mickey’s Midship Detective Agency

One of the more brilliant additions to the two newer Disney Cruise Line ships – The Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy – is the inclusion of Mickey’s Midship Detective Agency, named properly because it can be found on Deck 5 and Deck 2, midship. Mickey’s Detective Agency will allow young and old alike to solve a number of onboard crimes by utilizing clues hidden within paintings around the ship. Regardless of your age, taking part in this adventure is a must do – especially during rainy days – and is also a great way for new cruisers to learn the layout of these beautiful ships.

Mickey’s Midship Detective Agency is an interactive game that uses a QR code embedded in a ‘detective badge’ that will allow you to interact with paintings around the ship to hunt down clues, and solve the mystery. On the Disney Dream, three cases are available for cruisers to engage in. We choose to do the case of the Plundered Paintings, but could have looked for missing pups – ala 101 Dalmations – or engage in a bit of shenanigans involving the Muppets.

When you get your badge, a handy detective desk will teach you how to use your card to interact with paintings around the ship, as well as play a video of Mickey providing you the specifics of the case. In order to interact with the paintings, cruisers are asked to stand on portals located on the floor – a few feet form the picture – and hold their card up perfectly straight and vertical. The painting will recognize that someone is attempting to interact with the sensors – one in the painting and one on the floor – and the painting will come to life.

Throughout the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream, guests are immersed in an element of storytelling only Disney could dream up. Through the use of LCD screens and technology that recognizes when a guest is present, Enchanted Art literally brings framed artwork to life by magically transforming still photos into animated scenes as guests marvel at the compelling compositions. Guests can also play an interactive detective adventure game with Enchanted Art, where they can hold a game card in front of select pieces to unveil clues, ultimately determining the villain and saving the day. (Gregg Newton, photographer)

There are numerous different things you will need to do at each painting to uncover the clues that will help you solve the case, but they all involve your detective badge. As you can see in our video above, you can use the badge as a screw driver to open air duct vents, as a wrench to fix a leaky pipe, a magnifying glass and night vision goggles to find a clue, and as a duster to clean away layers of dirt. There are multiple other interactive puzzles you can solve, but these were the specific ones we interacted with.

Included with your detective package will be a helpful guide, that will not only pinpoint where all the interactive paintings are on the ship, but also provide you with places to make notes, as well as a list of potential criminals. As you progress from painting to painting, you will use the clues to remove names from your list, until you have one, culprit next.

Even without kids, my wife and I had a blast exploring the ship and finding all the clues to the case we were trying to solve. What is great about this game is that it never takes a lot of time at each specific painting, so as long as you are carrying the badge and guide along with you – which we always did in my wife’s purse – it was easy to stop off at a painting on the way to dinner, or if we were heading for the gangways to embark on one of our excursions. When there were lineups at the various paintings, they were never more than 1 or 2 people deep, meaning we never waited much more than 5 minutes to continue our own adventure.

The Muppets star in an interactive adventure game on the Disney Fantasy’s Enchanted Art — artwork that magically comes alive with animation. In “The Case of the Stolen Show,” guests help the Muppets find their missing props, so they can stage a big performance. Guided by a map and using a unique game card that is held up in front of select pieces of Enchanted Art, guests unveil clues to solve the mystery. (Matt Stroshane, photographer)

Regardless of age, this is a great experience, and one you won’t want to miss if you are booking a cruise aboard Disney Cruise Line. Want to get started? Head over to the Disney Cruise Line webpage and see what dates and ships will work for you! Also, if you have done a Disney Cruise, lets chat on social media about it!