This Disney Cruise Ship’s Doctor Strange Bar Proves Mixology Is a Mystic Art

The Sanctum Is a New Bar on the Disney Destiny Cruise Ship

By Garrett Martin | November 12, 2025 | 3:55pm

Photos courtesy of Disney

Theme Parks Features disney destiny

This Disney Cruise Ship’s Doctor Strange Bar Proves Mixology Is a Mystic Art

Is Dr. Strange considered cool today? (Sorry, Doctor Strange, as Disney prefers to spell it now.) He definitely wasn’t in the ‘80s, when the kids picking up X-Men or Spider-Man every month would mock the weirdos reading about the Master of the Mystic Arts. And I feel like anything Benedict Cumberbatch touches is immediately rendered uncool, so I don’t see how the movies could’ve helped here. I mean, anybody who’s actually read Dr. Strange comics, especially Steve Ditko’s foundational run, would realize they’re about as cool as superhero stuff gets. But what’s actually cool and what mainstream pop culture deems cool rarely aligns, and Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme has always seemed to stay on his side of that line. The real heads get it, the masses don’t, and thus is the eternal fate of Dr. Stephen Strange.

And yet Disney has created not one but two bars themed to the wizard. That tells me the character might be more popular than his comic book success rate indicates—at least with people who like to drink. Strange’s comic series might have a decades-long history of getting cancelled, but there’s something about his character and the qualities it evokes that work for a bar, apparently; as Disney Cruise Line beverage director Salah Chetbi tells me, “he brings a little bit of elegance, of finesse—the way he dresses, the way he acts—and I think people connect Dr. Strange much more with being in a bar than other [Marvel characters.]” Maybe mixology is a mystic art?

The newer, and far more impressive, of Disney’s two Strange-themed bars is The Sanctum, which can be found on the brand new Disney Cruise Line ship the Disney Destiny. The ship departs Fort Lauderdale on its maiden voyage on November 20, but I’m on it right now, trying to write these words as Encanto blasts loud and proud on the massive movie screen overlooking the pool deck. The Sanctum serves as the Destiny’s main lounge, an open-air space off the ship’s Grand Hall, and the only one of its four themed bars that’s consistently open in the daytime. If you sail on the Destiny, you’ll wind up at the Sanctum often—not just to drink or eat snacks, but to play trivia, learn how to draw characters, listen to a band (The Mystics) play, and for all manner of other activities throughout your cruise. If you’re me, though, you’re there mainly to drink—and maybe to also pay your respects to one of your favorite Marvel characters, one that’s never really seemed to get the respect it deserves.

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The Sanctum Disney Destiny

If you’ve been on the Disney Treasure or Disney Wish, you’re already familiar with the Destiny’s layout. The Sanctum can be found on the third floor, just a few steps from the central hall, in the same spot as the Wish’s Princess and the Frog-themed bar and the Treasure’s Jungle Cruise bar. The fact that it’s not an enclosed space means it’s not quite as immersive or transportive as the Haunted Mansion Parlor (which is also on the Destiny) or the pirate-themed Cask & Cannon, but its decor still aims for the striking combination of class and Boho exotica that Strange and his Greenwich Village neighborhood are known for. When you’re in the Sanctum, you aren’t supposed to feel like you’re on a ship in the Caribbean; you’re at 177A Bleecker Street, inside Strange’s mystic home, complete with mystic paraphernalia on display all around you. On the wall behind the bar you’ll even see his Cloak of Levitation on display.

With its dusty books and their gold-lettered spines, and the random assortment of vaguely magical knick-knacks, the Sanctum captures the general vibe of Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum as depicted in the Marvel movies. As a dedicated comic book dork for much of the last 40 years, I wish there were more explicit references to Strange’s comic book adventures hidden within these details, but hey, I’m just glad this place even exists. (And that it isn’t just a brick wall with a Strange painting hanging on it, like the terrible Strange-themed bar at Disneyland Paris’s Art of Marvel hotel.) To really sell the magical aspect of it all, there are a couple of displays on the bar that visibly defy the law of gravity, as two spinning glasses levitate a few inches above the bar. The bartender will ruin the illusion for you, if you’d like (it involves a bit of science that the Insane Clown Posse infamously can’t understand), but maybe some things should just be enjoyed without explanation.

The true deep dives into Strange lore come on the menu. Where else could you order a drink called the Vapors of Valtorr? Or order the non-alcoholic Eye of Agamotto in a plastic sipper that looks like Strange’s amulet? Sadly there’s no Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth—would’ve been a perfect name for some kind of chilled cocktail for two to four drinkers—but I can report that the Distortion Effect is a robust Manhattan variant that comes in a cool glass that makes the drink look like it’s a perpetual whirlpool. If you’ve always wanted to know what the Darkhold (Marvel’s answer to the Necronomicon) tastes like, apparently it’s amaro, coffee-flavored tequila, caramel, chocolate, and milk. Who knew?

If you’re able to get one of the two circular tables on either side of the bar, each set within their own little private nook, it’s easy to forget where you are. This is the Sanctum at its most immersive. But that’s not to discount the rest of the space; it’s an elegant lounge with a wonderful selection of inspired cocktails that successfully evokes the refined and esoteric nature of the character it’s inspired by. It might not be the truly magical experience that the Haunted Mansion Parlor is, but it’s a more than worthy tribute to one of Marvel’s richest characters, and also a more successful use of this space than the lounges found on the Treasure and the Wish. And since it’s the only bar onboard that stays open past midnight, you’ll probably wind up spending a decent amount of time at the Sanctum, if you’re as into magical, mood-altering elixirs as the Good Doctor himself is. And it’s definitely cooler than any X-Men or Spider-Man bar could ever be. After all, part of growing up is realizing that being a rich hippie surgeon-sorcerer with an otherdimensional girlfriend and a glorious mustache is a much better fantasy than being a nerd with spider powers or a short Canadian who can’t die.

Editor-in-chief Garrett Martin writes about videogames, theme parks, pinball, travel, and more. You can also find him on Blue Sky.