When you embark on a Disney Cruise, you will be given a Key To The World Card.  The card will not only unlock your stateroom but also uniquely identifies you to the crew.  It has a lot of information embedded on the card as well.  I’ll try to breakdown the information as well to show you some examples of the card.

The Key To The World cards underwent a change when Disney Cruise Line restarted sailing in August 2021 (post-covid shutdown). 

Here is an explanation of the cards from March 2020 and before:

Here is our first card, which was for a cruise to Alaska.  The only difference here is that we didn’t have any Disney Transportation booked, didn’t have Castaway Club status, and Disney had not yet started to indicate if you were using a Disney Visa Card.

On our second cruise, we had obtained Silver Castaway Club Status.  We went on a Spring Break cruise on the Wonder.

On our third cruise, we got a star added to our card.  This was to indicate that we had visited the Immigration and Custom Officials before the ship docked in Key West.  This cruise was a four night Caribbean cruise on the Wonder.  

Nothing new on this card for our fourth cruise.  Although, it is interesting to note that there is no check in line number on this card.  I think my Key To The World card got demagnetized on this cruise (and wouldn’t open my stateroom door), so it got reprinted while we were on board.  This was a five night Western Caribbean cruise on the Wonder.

This was our fifth cruise and it was our first time on the Fantasy.  This was a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy.

Back on the Wonder for our sixth cruise, where we changed to Gold Castaway Club Members.  We also don’t have a check in line number for this cruise, but I remember that we did upgrade our stateroom in the cruise terminal.  This meant that our card got reprinted in the supervisor’s line. This was another five night Western Caribbean cruise on the Wonder.

For our seventh cruise, we returned to the Fantasy.  We also paid for Disney Cruise Line transportation from the airport and the port, so the card has a PA on it.  We also used a Disney Visa Card for the default credit card for this cruise, so they added the DV to this card.  We didn’t actually use the credit card, since all the charges were paid off using Disney Gift Cards.  This was a seven night Eastern Caribbean Star Wars Day at Sea Cruise.

Our eighth cruise was our first cruise on the Dream.  We again paid for round trip Disney Cruise ground transportation and used our Disney Visa Card.  This was a three night Bahamian Cruise on the Dream.

On our ninth cruise, we went on the Magic for a Very Merrytime Cruise.  We drove to and from the Port of Miami, so no annotation about Disney Transportation.  We used our Disney Visa Card as the default credit card for this cruise.  This was a 5 Night Very Merrytime Western Caribbean Cruise on the Magic.

On our tenth cruise, we went back on the Magic for a Sprint Break Cruise.  We drove to and from the Port of Miami, so no annotation about Disney Transportation.  This was a 5 Night Bahamian Cruise on the Magic.

Our eleventh cruise, where we were Platinum for the first time, was another cruise on the Fantasy.  We drove to and from Port Canaveral, so no annotation about Disney Transportation.  This was a 7-Night Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy.

On our twelve cruise, we went back onboard our favorite ship, the Wonder, for a Spring Break Cruise.  We left from San Diego on a 5-Night Baja Cruise.  This was the first time we had been on the Wonder since its refurbishment that added Tiana’s Place.  Disney Cruise Line changed the way the dining rotation was specified on the card to add two letters for the name of the restaurant so there was no confusion with Tiana’s and Triton’s. We actually didn’t sit at Table 57, as we discussed in the trip report, because we wanted to sit with our favorite crew member.   Since we took an Uber to and from the port (we had additional vacation days before and after the cruise), we didn’t use Disney transportation.

Our thirteenth cruise, we left from San Juan on a 7 night Southern Caribbean on the Wonder.  We flew into San Juan and arranged our own transport before and after the cruise.

Our fourteenth cruise was delayed significantly due to Covid. We booked a 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy that ended up getting significantly changed due to port difficulties and we ended up going to Cozumel instead.  Either way, we were excited to get on board.  Covid testing was required at the port and reduced passenger counts on the ships.  Because of this, we inquired at the port for upgrade opportunities.  We ended up upgrading to a one bedroom in concierge, which was our first sailing in concierge.  The Key To The World Card also changed formats.  Previously, they would be printed in the terminal and handed to you.  After the covid restart, the cards are waiting for you at your stateroom.  Because we upgraded at the port, we were handed our cards in the terminal.  The line number that was printed on the cards are no more, along with the dining seating, table number, and restaurant rotation.  The dining information is now found in the Disney Cruise Line App on your smart phone (or you can inquire at guest services).  As shown on the card, we took Disney Ground Transportation between the airport and the port.

Our fifteenth cruise took place during the height of the Omnicron wave of Covid, which reduced the number of passengers on our Magic sailing out of Miami on a 5 night Marvel Day at Sea Cruise.  We again inquired at the port about upgrades and scored the upgrade of a lifetime, we moved up to the Walter E Disney Suite Royal Suite.  Again, because we upgraded at the port, our cards were printed and handed to us.  We arranged our own transportation to and from the port.

Our sixteenth cruise was a 9 night Southern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy.  We did check for upgrades, but none were available.  We boarded the ship as normal and found our cards waiting for us at our stateroom.  As shown on the card, we took Disney Ground Transportation between the airport and the port.

During some recent cruises, our daughter was old enough to go to the Vibe.  When the kids check in to the Vibe, they get new Key To The World cards printed on this special card to indicate they are allowed in the Vibe.  If they don’t have this card during a “Card Check”, they will be asked to leave the Vibe.  Our daughter indicated they do this check every so often.

Some friends sailed in a Concierge Cabin pre-Covid and were kind enough to share their Key To The World card with us.  As you can see, they had Port/Airport transfers and also used their Disney Visa Card as the default payment.  The card is gold because they were Concierge guests and had access to the Concierge Lounge.   There are two interesting items to note with this card.  One first is the Concierge check-in desk number “993”.  The second item is the crossed Mickey Keys in the bottom left, which also indicates a Concierge guest.

We just added some information on how you can store your Key to the World Card as well, talking about Lanyards available from both Disney and Amazon.

If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page, which has useful hints as well as our cruise trip reports!