More Disney Cruise Line passengers are now passing through Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, the company’s new Bahamian resort stop on some voyages. The beach area on the island of Eleuthera has been themed to the local culture, particularly with junkanoo, a colorful holiday celebration in the Caribbean. Some touches may not be immediately apparent to visitors. During an early preview of the space, Disney executives explained the back story and some of the symbolism of the elements. Where’s the lighthouse? Lighthouse is right there in the name, but the structure may standout in the daylight from a distance. It’s smaller than the stereotypical kind of rocky coastline lighthouse one might see up north in Maine or Canada. It doesn’t need to be tall because generally the Bahamas are flat. “It’s not exactly a historic lighthouse. It was constructed more in the modern era. But it is of some serious cultural significance to this area,” Bradley Watson, conservation program manager, said. “This area has a lot of fringing reefs. … Those reefs kind of inhibit boat traffic,” he said. “Even now, it’s very difficult for you to get a boat to come into this shore because if you look out there, you see all those reef patterns. And so that lighthouse was a beacon to communicate with ships as they go by this area.” Remember, Lookout Cay is a stretch of the island of Eleuthera; unlike Castaway Cay, which is a private experience for Disney passengers. There are full-time residents, businesses and schools on Eleuthera. But DCL passengers can hike to the light station. It’s at the end of the resort’s nature trail and provides a fresh, natural view of the area. What is Minnie wearing? Disney reached out to Bahamian fashion designer Theodore Elyett to come up with appropriate looks for multiple characters seen on Lookout Cay. Elyett talked about the process and the finished product during a public session aboard the Disney Magic the day after the costumes debuted. “When you think of anything Bahamian, it’s always bold print, pattern and texture, detail, volume, proportion. That is what Theodor Elyett has always spoke with,” he said. “I want you to know it’s a Theodore Elyett piece before you even have to be told that it’s that. And so when you look at the beautiful designer collection that I created for our VIPs, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, I want you to see the beauty of the Bahamas and I wanted to take our cultural expression which is junkanoo in and make it digestible for guests from around the world to enjoy,” Elyett said. Some of the costumes have rays of sunshine around the neck and hemlines. There are pineapples, a nod to a Eleutheran product, and pop-art conch shells on Mickey’s board shorts. (He also wears big straw sandals.) At one point, Minnie was going to have a pineapple as a headress, but that was altered as the emphasis was more on fashionwear than costumes. “We just decided to go with a green and yellow bow, which lays flat as a turban,” said Elyett, who is also a full-time TV news broadcaster in the Bahamas. They also pulled back on the number of bows for Minnie seen in his early sketches, but she does have a number of her trademark polka dots, but they’re fashioned from raffia. “It was a way to connect the Disney character that we all know and love with the Bahamian culture and this design,” Elyett said. A handful of the characters have matching plush figures available for purchase through the cruise line. Daisy sports a big wide-brimmed hat. “She is the fashion girl. She is the it girl, and I really wanted to bump up her look to be the typical Bahamian woman,” Elyett said. “If you venture out into the community and you’re going into a special event, if a Bahamian woman shows up, she’s coming dressed just like this – over the top for no reason but looking fabulous.” “A lot of my friends, when I started posting these images on social media, they said she looks like she’s going to church on a Sunday morning,” Elyett said. “That’s exactly what I wanted it to be.” What’s that logo? Lookout Cay visitors may pose in front of a free-standing photo backdrop at the resort. It’s red, black, white and yellow, and leans into the junkanoo look seen on show performers during the day. The ovals harken to the dots on Mickey’s pants, and the whole thing gives off ear vibes. Junkanoo costuming is typically handmade with cardboard, crepe paper and feathers. The Disney look, seen on associated T-shirts and ear-hat bands, is designed for more permanence.
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