Disney heading for Europe?

There’s a vast amount of speculation in the holiday and cruise industries about whether the Disney Cruise Line is planning to bring one of its new ships, launching in 2011 and 2012, to Europe.

While this might seem like a wild leap of imagination, it does seem as though that may be a possibility because the Disney Cruise Line is said to be sending 20 employees, including the company’s number two executive, to London.

Why would they do that, if not to set up a large holiday based operation? A company spokeperson said that about 20 employees will be stationed in the United Kingdom office and the team will be led by Tom Wolber, Disney Cruise Line’s senior vice president and the company’s No. 2 executive. Wolber’s inclusion in this transfer suggests that the twenty staff are simply an advance guard for a larger group, which, the spokesperson said, would include local recruitment, not just people being transferred from the Florida office and that implies a major operation base in Europe in the future.