Midship Detective Agency on the Disney Dream

The Disney Dream, in addition to being a work of art, acts as a display for works of art.  From the Vista Gallery on Deck 4 to the variety of art displayed throughout the ship.  Don’t be surprised when some of the art moves, changes, or better yet, interacts with you.  It’s all part of the enchanted art aboard the Disney Dream.  And, one way to interact with much of the art is by playing Midship Detective Agency.

Midship Detective Agency is a game that takes players throughout the ship, in search of clues to solve one of two mysteries that the player selects when registering for the game.  You start your game at one of two Midship Detective Agency kiosks located midship on Deck 5.  Tip:  Know that there are two kiosks!  The kiosk near the kids club can have long lines, but if you walk just past the Port Adventures Desk and turn right and go past the elevators, you will discover another kiosk to start the game.  We saw guests waiting in line at one kiosk without knowing there was another one just around the corner.

When you register and select a “case” to solve at the kiosk, you will take a Midship Detective Agency badge—see photos below:

The back side of the badge has a code of sorts that will allow the enchanted art to recognize you and the case you are trying to solve.

You will also get a “casebook” which has a list of potential suspects, room for your notes—as you get a pencil, too, and a map of the ship indicating where to find art and therefore clues.

Here’s a video from PassPorter.com that does a great job showing how Midship Detective Agency works:

We played Midship Detective Agency our first afternoon on board—just after enjoying Deck 11, but before the mandatory drill at 4:00.  We were glad we did!  Here’s why:

• The ship wasn’t full yet, as guests were still boarding the ship.  In the following Williams Family Video you can see a photo opportunity near one of the Midship Detective Agency kiosks and hear the welcoming aboard of new guests.

• It was a great way to familiarize ourselves with the ship.  Using the map of the ship, we used the stairs and elevators to traverse the Dream in search of clues.
• Searching for clues took us to some unexpected places, such as the Vista Gallery, located on Deck 4 midship.  The Gallery displays many pieces of art and I don’t know that we would have made it here—with the boy in tow—if we hadn’t been playing the game.  But again, glad we did!

The “case” was not all that easy to solve and it took several clues for us to figure it out.  What I would have liked was to be able to return to the kiosk and somehow enter “who done it” with feedback about the case.  Then you could see if you cracked the case and potentially register to solve another case.  There isn’t that capability as of yet. . .

Midship Detective Agency is not available on the Disney Wonder or Disney Magic, but I imagine as those ships enter drydock for updating, that we may find this interactive game on all the Disney ships.

Midship Detective Agency also reminds me of the interactive quests found at Great Wolf Lodge using magic wands--MagiQuest.  Just a side note—on at least one Adventures by Disney tour, guests have an overnight stay at a Great Wolf Lodge.  Karl Holz is the president of both Adventures by Disney and Disney Cruise Line, so I’m not surprised to see the connection.

Enjoy Midship Detective Agency and have some ice cream when you’re done.  We did!  In fact, the boy had two cones as he wanted to try more than one flavor.  Ah, vacations!