The Admiral Joe Fowler ferryboat has returned to service, transporting guests from the Transportation and Ticket Center to Magic Kingdom across the Seven Seas Lagoon. The boat was repainted blue during refurbishment, swapping color schemes with the General Joe Potter ferry.

Admiral Joe Fowler Ferryboat

Last summer, the General Joe Potter was painted green and a Cast Member told us the Admiral Joe Fowler would soon be painted blue. These are more thematic colors, with green being the color of the army for General Potter and blue being the color of the navy for Admiral Fowler.

The blue is across the ferryboat’s cabin, behind the Admiral Joe Fowler sign.

The sign is wood with golden lettering.

There are blue accents on the stairs.

The boat’s trashcans are blue. A man recently sued Disney after a ferryboat crashed, causing him to fall into a trashcan.

The blue continues on the walls of the ferryboat and the benches.

There’s a framed portrait of Admiral Joe Fowler on the boat. After retiring from the U.S. Navy, Fowler helped Walt Disney construct Disneyland and Walt Disney World. He was General Manager of Disneyland for the park’s first decade. He was later chairman of the board of WED Enterprises (Walt Disney Imagineering).

He retired from The Walt Disney Company in 1978 but continued acting as a consultant. He was named a Disney Legend in 1990 and passed away in 1993.

The original Magic Kingdom riverboat on the Rivers of America was named Admiral Joe Fowler. It was destroyed by a dry dock accident in 1980. The other riverboat, the Richard F. Irvine, was later renamed the Liberty Belle. The ferryboats were consequently renamed Admiral Joe Fowler, Richard F. Irvine, and General Joe Potter.

Irvine similarly helped construct Disneyland and worked at Walt Disney Imagineering. His ferryboat is red.

Disney met Potter at the 1964 World’s Fair, where Potter was executive vice president. Disney then brought him on to help construct Walt Disney World.

At Disneyland, the dry dock harbor for the S.S. Columbia is “Fowler’s Harbor” with a building called Fowler’s Inn.

Weather permitting, ferryboats are available to transport guests across the Seven Seas Lagoon daily. The Walt Disney World Monorail is also available.

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