Disney Cruise Adventure
- Brand
- Disney
- Year
- 2012
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- PrizeLogic
- With
- Nomadic Agency
- With
- SYZYGY Warsaw
Objective
Disney Cruise Line wanted to lock in "magical experiences" as its signature edge over other cruise lines and keep families thinking about a trip through the height of booking season. The sweepstakes gave the brand a reason to pull people back to DisneyCruiseLine.com again and again, building the kind of preference and repeat traffic that feeds into actual bookings.
Solution
On desktop, players moved a ship token across a board of five islands modeled on real ports of call, taking on Disney villains who'd stolen the ship's "Magical Experiences." Beat a villain and you won an Upgrade — a real perk like dining, entertainment, or a shore excursion — which dropped into your ship's cargo hold. On phones and tablets the board gave way to a simpler screen: a big spinning wheel and villains to call out one at a time. The grand prize wasn't fixed — whatever upgrades were sitting in your hold when the sweepstakes closed got bundled into the cruise you'd win. Hold space was limited, and the only way to open up more of it was inviting friends by email, so every session ended with a reason to come back and a reason to bring someone else along.
Results
The promotion's entry rate ran about 8 times over goal, with participants averaging 13 plays each, and time spent on site came in 300% higher than the brand's previous programs.
- 1
Players start by entering a valid email on the promo site; first-time visitors are routed to a registration form asking for name, zip code, phone number, and date of birth to enter the sweepstakes. Registering, and returning to play on any later day, each earn an extra sweepstakes entry.
- 2
On desktop the game presents a board-game route across five islands modeled on real Disney Cruise Line ports of call, each guarded by a Disney villain; the player's token is a cruise ship, and the daily goal is to recover Magical Experiences (real cruise amenities) the villains have stolen.
- 3
Each turn the player spins a wheel and moves the ship that many spaces. Landing on a Magical space returns a stolen experience and awards points, a Treasure space adds an upgrade to the potential grand prize plus more points, a Disney Hero space lets the player choose which nearby upgrade to claim, and a Villain space costs the turn with no reward.
- 4
The daily session ends when the ship reaches Castaway Cay, after which play resumes the next day; scoring above a set point threshold in a single day earns a bonus sweepstakes entry, though the points themselves do not carry over.
- 5
Two tracking tabs show overall progress: one lists which stolen experiences have been reclaimed and which are still hidden, the other shows which prize upgrades have been collected in the player's cargo hold.
- 6
Cargo space is capped at five upgrades at a time; players can raise that limit by sending email invitations to friends, with each successful referral adding more slots.
- 7
Unlike points, reclaimed experiences and collected upgrades persist between sessions, building toward a customized version of the grand prize, and recovering every stolen experience over the course of the summer-long campaign unlocks a special bonus upgrade.
- 8
On mobile, the board is replaced by a spinning wheel and a list of Disney villains to challenge; the player picks a villain and gets three spins per matchup, loses a turn on any villain result, and closes the day's session after facing three villains and reaching Castaway Cay.
- 9
The eventual winner receives a five-night Disney Wonder cruise from Miami through the Western Caribbean for four, plus every upgrade accumulated in their cargo hold; entry is open to U.S. and Canadian residents 18 and older.
