Disney Cruise Line Terminal – Port Canaveral
The Port Canaveral Cruise Terminal is designed to service up to two mega-class ocean liners, each containing 2,400 passengers and 900 crew members. The pier-type structure is oriented perpendicular to the water’s edge, allowing for passenger circulation through the length of the building into the ship from the short, rounded end facing the channel. This allows for an extended curb length on both long sides of the facility to accommodate both buses and cars, and a smoother baggage handling operation.
Disembarking passengers are directly channeled through Customs, and their baggage is transferred to waiting transport vehicles assigned to major airlines or the Disney Resort. This streamlined approach reduces long queues and waiting times in an effort to move large quantities of passengers through the facility during peak times.
The use of an exposed steel structure of oversized punched plate columns, girders and tie-rods evokes images from early transport terminals used by transoceanic vessels during the 1930s. The traditional materials vocabulary is updated with the use of riveted white metal panels over a base of brick-coursed elongated keystone panels and green-tinted glass.
