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star wars galactic starcruiser hotel

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser – everything you need to know

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, an interstellar experience at Walt Disney World, is now launching guests to the Halcyon.

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, an immersive two-night hotel experience, was officially unveiled by Disney in 2019 and opened in March 2022.

The attraction is a stellar space with a cruise-style itinerary where visitors become the hero of their own Star Wars adventure. Described as ‘storyliving’ rather than storytelling, guests are taken deeper into the Star Wars universe than ever before.

“Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is a first-of-its-kind experience where we’re inviting guests to step into a galaxy far, far away, and live out a Star Wars story over two days and two nights,” said Ann Morrow Johnson, executive producer and creative director at Disney Imagineering.

star wars galactic starcruiser hotel

The Halcyon Starcruiser is the setting, famed for its impeccable service, comfortable cabins, thrilling entertainment and delicious F&B. Halcyon passengers can alter their own stay as they interact with characters, crew and other guests. State-of-the-art technology is merged with captivating storytelling to create an innovative experience.

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser has already received a Thea Award, one of the highest honours in the themed experience business. 

David Lightbody, senior VP of Disney Live Entertainment, described the experience as “one of the most audacious pieces of theatre in history”. He added: “It is an extraordinary piece of theatre. It’s two days long, and the script is impressive. We talk about legacy – that breadth of time is incredible.

“Here, the live and physical and the digital come together to tell stories in a new way that we haven’t done before. Starcruiser is the beginning of something new in our industry, and for us. Where it will go, I don’t know, but I believe it’s the beginning of something very important.”

Launch Pod to the Halcyon ship

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser offers a two-night itinerary, much like Disney Cruise Line. All guests arrive and depart at the same time. They begin their journey at the Galactic Starcruiser Terminal at Walt Disney World. There, they enter a Launch Pod to transport them into space. 

star wars galactic starcruiser

Passengers watch as they jump to hyperspace through the Launch Pod’s viewports. They feel like they are speeding through space as they approach the luxurious Halcyon ship, their accommodation for the next two nights.

The Halcyon, known for exotic expeditions in a galaxy far, far away, is too large to land on planets. When the Launch Pod docks with the Halcyon, the airlock opens and guests enter the Atrium.

“Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is a completely new type of experience,” Morrow Johnson said. “You’re going to live onboard a starcruiser, and you can get wrapped up in the larger Star Wars story. For the first time, we’re going to invite guests to become the hero of their own Star Wars adventure. They will live aboard a starship for two days and two nights.”

“When guests arrive at Walt Disney World, they will go to this terminal – and you and your family will then be ushered into a Launch Pod. This is a small capsule where you will then simulate the experience of blasting off into space. There will be a window overhead until you eventually see our ship, the Halcyon, in the distance.”

Droids, aliens and Star Wars personas

star wars galactic starcruiser characters

Visitors encounter popular characters, including First Order stormtroopers, from the world of Star Wars. Rey, Kylo Ren and Chewbacca all make an appearance. Guests also get to know a host of new characters created for the attraction, as follows:

Captain Riyola Keevan leads the voyage. Charismatic, strong and respected, the captain can be found on the ship’s bridge.

Cruise Director Lenka Mok is the captain’s right hand and is in charge of entertainment. She’s the go-to crew member for visitors, and is optimistic and joyful.

SK-62O is an astromech droid and Mok’s assistant cruise director. He makes sure that operations are running smoothly and keeps an eye on the ship’s workings.

Sammie the Mechanic is an enthusiastic and proficient mechanic. Popular with guests, he always manages to complete his tasks.

D3-O9 is another droid whose main responsibility is running ship logistics. She knows everyone and everything, and loves talking with the starcruiser’s passengers.

First Order Lt. Harman Croy is an ambitious and intimidating official on a special assignment to locate and expose Resistance fighters aboard the ship.

star wars galactic starcruiser characters

“Each person has a reason to be on board that ship,” said Wendy Anderson, executive creative director at Disney Live Entertainment. “Each person has a role to play in the larger fabric of the universe and the larger fabric of the galaxy.”

Interaction aboard Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

The experience is interactive, according to Imagineers:

“There could be a galactic superstar who entertains you on the first night but then also tasks you with helping to smuggle something,” said Sara Thacher, senior R&D Imagineer. “You never know what you’re going to wind up around every corner with.”

“Your choices really do matter here and how you treat each other is also going to matter,” Thacher added. “Guests get to choose who they want to interact with or they get to choose to sit and watch. There are so many different ways to engage – you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to.

“You can stay in the story and live out the different storylines or just go be a tourist – head back to your cabin, take a nap, have some lunch. You can choose to be as casual about this as you want or dive as deeply as you want.”

Guests can choose whether they want to join the First Order or the Resistance during their stay on the luxurious Halcyon ship. Anisha Deshmane, assistant producer at Walt Disney Imagineering, asked: “Are you going to help the First Order? Are you going to sell out Chewbacca?”

Halcyon Starcruiser accommodation

Star Wars galactic starcruiser themed hotel room

The starcruiser’s cabins are “unlike any place you will have stayed before”, according to Morrow Johnson.

Each cabin has its own ‘window into space’, offering ever-changing views of stunning ships and heavenly happenings. Cabins include a double bed, two bunk bed berths and a wall pull-down bed. The sleeping berths are similar to a bunk inside the main hold of the Millennium Falcon.

star wars hotel bedroom

Concept art shows a sleek king-size bed with digital readouts on the bed frame and military-style bedrolls at the foot of the bed. Children sleep in bunk beds built into the wall. A window with a sweeping simulated view of outer space dominates another wall. Disney uses similar ‘virtual porthole’ LED screens on its cruise ship rooms to provide real-time views of the ocean.

Lightsaber training and droid racing

Galactic Starcruiser activities include lightsaber training, learning the ancient ways of the weapon and exploring your own connection to the force. Guests also get to visit the ship’s bridge to learn how to operate ship systems. They can explore the Halcyon and have a reception with the captain. 

“For the first time, both adults and kids alike will get to wield a lightsaber and face off against a training remote,” Morrow Johnson said. “Every guest will be invited to take a tour of the bridge of the ship, so this is where the navigation systems are, this is where defence systems are.”

Additionally, guests can take part in a droid racing competition and model shipbuilding. They also spend a day at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. To get from the Halcyon to Galaxy’s Edge and back, passengers remain in the Star Wars story. They board transport ships designed for the experience. These connect guests directly to a spaceport at the Black Spire Outpost on Batuu, a 14-acre land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser realistic lightsaber

Walt Disney Imagineering’s realistic lightsaber made its debut at the Star Wars hotel. In the video below, an Imagineer can be seen holding the replica weapon as it ignites to make the blue blade appear.

Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney parks, experiences and products, teased the lightsaber training during Destination D23 in November 2021. Check it out above.

“When people come to visit Disney, they want to enter a world where anything is possible,” said Josh Gorin, who leads Imagineering’s Blue Sky and creative strategy. “As Imagineers, it is our challenge to apply both creative and technical skills to make that magical world come to life. We have to keep upping our game: that means innovation in storytelling and technology.”

F&B at the Crown of Corellia

F&B options on the Halcyon continue the immersion. Guests can enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Crown of Corellia Dining Room, a nod to the planet Corellia. The Crown of Corellia Dining Room promises “wildly dramatic” dining. A live Twi’lek performance takes place on the first night. Dishes inspired by Star Wars planets include blue bantha butter and blue shrimp from the planet of Felucia.

Disney Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser hotel

“We’re taking really delicious things and presenting them in unexpected ways,” Morrow Johnson said. “So even what you eat enforces that feeling that you’re going to be in a galaxy far, far away. It’s all about world-building. You’re living in a galaxy far, far away and you get to see a dinner show. The music is going to be great. It’s going to be performed by aliens, folks you would never see on your home planet.”

The best entertainment in the galaxy

“Like any fine cruise line, there’s going to be entertainment,” Thacher added. “We’ve hired some of the best in the galaxy. So, at your seated dinner on night one there will be a show and some phenomenal music.”

star wars galactic starcruiser food

In addition, the ship’s Sublight Lounge is a stylish space for cosmic cocktails and beverages such as Hoth Frost and Mooja Twist. The lounge also features a working holotable for playing a game of sabacc. Guests also visit Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo at Galaxy’s Edge. Dishes include Smoked Kaadu Ribs, Fried Endorian Tip-Yip and Braised Shaak Roast. Signature drinks at Docking Bay 7 range from a Moof Juice fruit punch to a pear-flavoured Phattro that combines lemonade and iced tea.

Cosmic costumes and cosplay

Disney-star-wars-galactic-starcruiser-hotel-atrium

Halcyon passengers meet other humans, droids and alien species and can opt to become characters themselves. The Chandrila Collection – an onboard boutique – sells clothing including Twi’lek headtails and a Togruta’s montrals, as well as a cloak inspired by the outfit worn by Padmé in Attack of the Clones.

“We really took the color inspiration from the original, the pattern from the original,” said Tracie Alt, senior merchandiser. “We’re really focused on transformation and role play,” said Brad Schoeneberg, VP of brand merchandising. “You get to live out a story here. Who do you want to be? Where are you from?”

The poster for the Galactic Starcruiser revealed four characters representing the Halcyon’s passengers – a child in Jedi robes holding a lightsaber, an adult dressed as a First Order officer, a Twi’lek adult, and a child holding a device.

All-inclusive astronomical costs

Astronomical pricing was released for the Galactic Starcruiser in 2021. Cabin rates varied in 2022, with a standard cabin for two costing from $1,209 per person per night. The price dropped to $749 per visitor based on four sharing a standard cabin, and the total for four guests came to $5,999. The cost includes all entertainment and F&B, except alcohol and special drinks.

Admission to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for a trip to Galaxy’s Edge is also included in the price. Moreover, guests receive an exclusive Galactic Starcruiser MagicBand.

Visiting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is the largest and most technologically advanced single-themed land expansion in Disney’s history. Galaxy’s Edge opened at Walt Disney World and Disneyland back in 2019. The new land and its characters have their own backstory. The food and drink are themed, as is the merchandise on offer at the various retail outlets

hotel flight deck

Galaxy’s Edge guests enjoy interactive experiences, a variety of starships and two rides – Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and Rise of the Resistance. Galactic Starcruiser takes the immersion of Galaxy’s Edge one step further. “We’re giving you ways to see and explore the land,” said Morrow Johnson. “But we’re also giving you the lens of its continuing story, the story that you’re living.”

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser day trip

The setting for Galaxy’s Edge is the Black Spire Outpost, a remote village on the planet of Batuu. “It’s a remote frontier planet somewhere on the edge of wild space,” said Disney Imagineering’s portfolio creative executive Scott Trowbridge. “A place that in days of yore was a necessary stopping off point for food and provisions and to refuel as you were exploring the outer reaches of the galaxy.”

“Black Spire Outpost is an opportunity that’s designed from the very get-go to be a place that invites exploration and discovery,” Trowbridge added. “A place that invites us to become a character in the world of Star Wars. And to the extent that we want to, to participate in the stories of Star Wars.”

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser opening date

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser embarked on its inaugural voyage at Walt Disney World on 1 March 2022. “The events of your stay at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser are set between the events of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” said Matt Martin, from Lucasfilm franchise content and strategy.

“As a passenger, you get to choose your own path and the parts of Star Wars that really call to you, that are special to you, you get to go live those,” he added.

Images: Disney

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Bea Mitchell

Bea is a journalist specialising in entertainment, attractions and tech with 10 years' experience. She has written and edited for publications including CNET, BuzzFeed, Digital Spy, Evening Standard and BBC. Bea graduated from King's College London and has an MA in journalism.

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