The Meg Gilbert Crofton Gets Its Second Deck as Magic Kingdom's Fourth Ferryboat Takes Shape
New aerial photos show a second deck now assembled on the Meg Gilbert Crofton, the fourth Magic Kingdom ferryboat, giving the vessel the two-level profile of the existing fleet. The boat is named for Walt Disney World's fourth president and is due to debut in 2027.
The fourth Magic Kingdom ferryboat now has a second story. New aerial photos of the assembly site near Seven Seas Lagoon show a full metal deck spanning nearly the length of the hull, turning what was a flat single level structure last month into the recognizable two-tier silhouette of the existing fleet.
Key details
- Vessel: The Meg Gilbert Crofton, fourth boat in the Magic Kingdom ferry fleet
- Named for: Meg Crofton, the fourth president of Walt Disney World
- Debut: Announced for 2027
- Current stage: Second deck partially assembled, ends of both sides still open
- Where: A marina assembly site near Magic Kingdom, with the hull resting on cradle supports
- Photos: Aerials shared by @bioreconstruct on X
The second deck takes shape
The new deck is a large metal span running nearly bow to stern, built directly on top of the hull crews finished last month. Work is not done: the ends on either side of the deck remain open, and the vessel sits unpainted on its cradle supports outside the large assembly building with its bow facing out into the lot.
Two rectangular cutouts run along the deck's centerline. They sit in roughly the same position as openings visible on the deck below, and they line up with where the staircases sit on the boats currently in service. A yellow mobile crane is still staged in the adjacent parking lot with a boom lift and a telehandler nearby.
How far it has come since last month
A month ago the project looked like a barge. Only the first deck was complete, forming the flat lower level of the hull, and the vessel gave no visual hint of the fleet it was joining. The upper deck is what gives a Magic Kingdom ferry its shape, and its arrival is the moment the Crofton starts reading as a Disney boat rather than a construction project.
It is now much closer in profile to the three vessels already crossing the lagoon: the Admiral Joe Fowler, the General Joe Potter, and the Richard F. Irvine. Each of those carries a distinct color scheme. The Crofton is expected to run purple, though Disney has not confirmed the choice.
Who Meg Crofton is
The naming follows a long pattern. Disney's Magic Kingdom ferries honor figures who shaped the resort: Joe Fowler and Joe Potter both ran construction of Walt Disney World, and Dick Irvine was a key Imagineering leader. Meg Crofton served as the fourth president of Walt Disney World and later oversaw Disney's park operations in the United States and France, making her the first woman in the fleet's naming lineage.
Why a fourth boat now
The ferry route between the Transportation and Ticket Center and Magic Kingdom is one of the busiest single links at Walt Disney World, sharing the load with the monorail and the resort launches. Three boats means any refurbishment, mechanical problem, or dry dock cycle immediately cuts capacity by a third on a route that already backs up at park open and after fireworks. A fourth hull gives the fleet slack it has never had.
The buzz
- Disney has not added a Magic Kingdom ferryboat in decades, so watching one get built in the open is a genuinely novel thing for fans to follow.
- The aerial photos let people track visible progress month to month, which turns a 2027 debut into an ongoing story instead of a single announcement.
- The unconfirmed purple color scheme has become its own small guessing game.
The story so far
- March 2026: The Magic Kingdom ferryboat expansion project receives approval
- Spring 2026: Disney announces the fourth boat for 2027 and names it the Meg Gilbert Crofton
- May 2026: Assembly begins on the new vessel
- June 2026: The first deck is fully assembled, forming the flat lower level of the hull
- July 2026: The second deck goes up, giving the vessel its two-level profile
What this means for fans
Nobody rides the ferry for the ferry. People ride it because the approach across Seven Seas Lagoon, with Cinderella Castle growing on the horizon, is one of the best arrivals in any theme park. A fourth boat protects that arrival on the days when one of the others is out of service. Between now and 2027 the Crofton will keep gaining pieces in plain view of anyone with a camera and a flight path, and the next thing to watch for is paint.