What comes next for the soon-to-close Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser at Disney World?
The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser was one of Disney World's most ambitious projects — and that's saying a lot about a company that has paved a lot of roads in the worlds of parks and entertainment. While it may have been unofficially known as the "Star Wars" hotel, it provided much more than a place to sleep after running around Disney World all day ... and charged accordingly.
When the Galactic Starcruiser departed on its first public voyage on March 1, 2022, reports from guests of the immersive entertainment painted a picture of an out-of-this-world time. Multiple TPG staffers who tried it felt the same magic of living out childhood dreams.
But guests on the Starcruiser also paid an out-of-this-world price for the experience, even by Disney standards — a two-night voyage for a family of four costs upwards of $6,000. Despite the price, many of the first several months of experiences sold out, but by late 2022, there was evidence of cracks in demand.
Today, Disney announced the final voyage for the Halcyon Starcruiser will be Sept. 28-30, 2023.
This news comes as Disney is in the midst of a plan to cut $5.5 billion in costs across the Walt Disney Company, which will not only impact the Starcruiser but also result in reducing 7,000 jobs from its workforce, restructuring its business segments and canceling a plan to move approximately 2,000 Disney Parks, Experiences and Products cast members from Southern California to a new campus in Lake Nona, Florida, near Disney World.
While this is a much larger day of news for Disney than just the Starcruiser, we're going to focus on what happened to this one-of-a-kind "hotel" — and what we hope will come next.
Why is the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser closing?
Voyages on the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser booked up quickly in the early days, with mega "Star Wars" fans jumping at the chance to take a (simulated) voyage through the universe of Kylo Ren, Rey, Chewbacca and a handful of new characters created just for the experience. The cast members who played these roles brought the story to life in a way unlike anything experienced before. It was such a unique experience that it sold out for months after opening.
By November 2022, Disney started offering a 30% discount on select voyages to Disney Vacation Club members. In January of this year, Disney took the move a step further, releasing its first public discount on pre- or post-Starcruiser Disney hotel stays. Then, in March, Disney announced that Starcruiser voyages would be cut back from three voyages per week to only two starting in October. Annual pass holders would also receive up to 30% off of the experience.
Even with discounts, the experience was far from cheap. Guests still needed to shell out thousands of dollars to climb aboard the Halcyon Starcruiser.
Despite the high price tag, previous guests largely heaped praises on the Galactic Starcruiser, as evidenced in multiple Facebook groups solely dedicated to the experience. It won a themed entertainment industry award, even though it was only open for a short time. Even TPG gave it an award in 2022 for its innovation.
But at more than $6,000 for a family, a Galactic Starcruiser stay costs more than a Disney Cruise and potentially even more than some family trips to Europe. As cool as it is, ultimately, the high price tag for a less than 48-hour experience largely taking place inside a building is simply too much for most families to afford — a realization that Disney just publically accepted.
In a statement shared with TPG, Disney gave more details on the closure.
"Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is one of our most creative projects ever and has been praised by our guests and recognized for setting a new bar for innovation and immersive entertainment," Disney's statement said. "This premium, boutique experience gave us the opportunity to try new things on a smaller scale of 100 rooms, and as we prepare for its final voyage, we will take what we've learned to create future experiences that can reach more of our guests and fans."
Can you still book a voyage on the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser?
As pricey as the Starcruiser experience is, we know of multiple repeat guests who even would go in with friends (or strangers) to share a room and divide the cost by as many people as possible just to have the experience.
Luckily for them and other hopeful voyagers, the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser can still be booked through the end of September. The final voyage will take place Sept. 28-30, 2023, and most weeks have two to three voyages available.
Know, though, that new reservations are temporarily paused while Disney works to rebook guests who had already booked the experience on dates that come after the final voyage.
New bookings will reopen on May 26, 2023. You can view available voyage dates on the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser website.
What does the future hold for the space occupied by the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser?
After hearing this news, we couldn't help but wonder what comes next for the Galactic Starcruiser. Truth be told, we've been pondering that for a while as some warning signs became evident.
The themed space hotel is already there, fully operational and located directly behind the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge area within Disney's Hollywood Studios.
There are plenty of "Star Wars" fans who still haven't had a chance to sleep in a space bunk, look out the room's "window" into space and enjoy the exclusive themed bar and restaurant, not to mention the other unique spaces.
Perhaps the next journey for the Starcruiser could be as a "Star Wars" hotel, as it was offhandedly known. We'd love to see the themed restaurant, bar and common areas available to more visitors, especially since the only other space-themed restaurant at Disney (Space 220 in Epcot, which shares some similarities with this hotel) is one of the hardest-to-book restaurants in all of Disney World.
With this property's theme and proximity, layering in some special early or late access to Hollywood Studios' Galaxy's Edge area seems doable. The technology that enables guests to take part in special missions and unlock codes in an app also already exists. While the latter would lose some magic without the immersive element of the Starcruiser, it could still appeal to many.
Related: How to plan an epic Disney 'Star Wars' trip — that doesn't cost $6,000
A themed hotel with special park access and unique food and beverages could presumably command prices at least on par with Disney's Deluxe hotels, which generally hover between $500 and $700 per night.
Perhaps staying in an out-of-this-world-themed hotel is still a one-and-done experience, but there are likely more guests willing to spend several hundred dollars per night to travel to a galaxy far, far away than there are ones who'd spend several thousand dollars per night.
Bottom line
You don't need the power of the force to know that "Star Wars" is likely to remain a major presence at Disney for years to come.
A quick scroll through the long list of "Star Wars"-themed movies and TV shows on Disney+ proves that "Star Wars" is still quite popular. Not to mention, there are entire "Star Wars"-themed lands at both Disney World and Disneyland that aren't going anywhere.
While big changes are ahead for the Starcruiser, we aren't fully packing away our Jedi robes and lightsabers just yet. Instead, we'll cross our fingers that there may be "A New Hope" for a different version of Disney's Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser awaiting in the future.
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