Disney claims the high seas

Disney Cruise Line represents the fourth and final lingering success of the Disney Decade. Back in the 1990s, Eisner saw how much other cruise lines earned per voyage, and he correctly deduced that families would prefer to travel with Disney.

The company commissioned the construction of the longest boat in the world. It was so large that Imagineers built it in two parts then welded them together at the end. The Disney Magic first set sail in 1998, followed the next year by the Disney Wonder.

Since then, the Disney Cruise Line has become arguably the most respected brand in the cruise industry. Disney regularly wins awards, usually in populist votes. Now, you may believe that critical opinions matter more, but customers vote with their wallets. The fact that so many people support Disney Cruise Line with write-in ballots causes jealousy amongst the competition.

For calendar 2018, Disney claimed 2.2 percent of the cruise industry’s market share. For a 20-year-old company, that’s a remarkable feat, especially in an industry with such large profit margins.

Final thoughts

I suppose that rides compose the last part of this evaluation. I previously ranked the best Disney attractions of the 1990s. I would describe six of them as instant classics, three of which are damn near perfect. So, that’s a lot of success across a decade.

Overall, I don't think that the Disney Decade worked out as well as Eisner expected, but the death of Frank Wells is a substantial contributing factor in that. While the company suffered many lows during this decade, some of which were self-inflicted wounds, Disney still claimed enough successes to justify the endeavor.