Would you pay $ 6,000 to pretend to be an inhabitant of the Star Wars universe for two days ? Disney was indisputable enough people would answer “ yes ” to that inquiry that it createdStar Wars : Galactic Starcruiser , a two - day resort detain / immersive theme park experience at Disney World that purports to do just that . But when the first footage of the hotel was free onto the internet lately last class , the lover reply was negative enough that those videossoon vanished from YouTube .
Disney of course never confirm that it pulled down the videos because everyone was making fun of them fortrying to charge as much as $ 1,200 a nightto let you take the air aroundwhat appear to a setting on par with the Star Tours cable queue area . But I ’m guessing the initial spoilt buzz did n’t act no role in the company ’s recent and on the face of it somewhat hasty determination to ask round a few dozen assorted journalist , sports fan land site operators , and jaunt bloggers and their guests to see it first - hand — and , for the most part , most expense paid ( revealing : Disney invited us onboard the Galactic Starcruiser for a two - twenty-four hour period media preview event , and covered the associated price of transportation , food for thought and drink , and theme park access code . That undivided merch still be a pretty centime , however , and even guest will need to pay for their own alcohol ) .
I never , ever ( ever ) would have paid what it cost to take my family to this thing — the two nighttime experiences start at $ 4,800 for two hoi polloi , and go up to just shy of $ 6,000 for four . But when presented with the opportunity to do it for free , I certainly did n’t say no . Since few others are likely to be lucky enough to visit when the hotel opens to the world next calendar week , barring some sort of Make - A - Wish - level disaster , I ’m here to tell you all about it , and help you decide whether it ’s worth the money . The short answer ? No . But it really is improbably cool .
Photo: Joel Cunningham/Gizmodo
What’s Galactic Starcruiser All About?
The construct of Star Wars : Galactic Starcruiser is that that it ’s a two - night hotel stay coalesce with a two day Star Wars LARP ( that’sLive Action Role Playing , for those not caught up with your immersive - experience lingo ) . You are a guest onboard the luxury spaceship Halcyon , a passenger ship fete its 275th twelvemonth in blank ( which appears to fall somewhere between the end of The Last Jedi and the get-go of The Rise of Skywalker , much like its predecessor at the Disney Parks , Galaxy ’s Edge ) . Think of it like the QE2 , but with more droids . You ’re there to loose , take reward of the shipboard amenities , savour some fine food , and be serenade at dinner by a astronomical pop maven ( kind of like Cher , if Cher was a Twi’lek ) . Unfortunately , your peaceful journeying is interrupted by a visit from the First Order , look into rumour of ohmic resistance activity onboard .
Across two nights , you ’ll be both an observer to and a player in the narrative that unfolds from there , and get to know a colourful cast of novel but intimate Star Wars pilot characters along the way ( which is n’t to say appearance by more familiar faces is out of the interrogation ; Disney possess the rights to all of them , after all ) .
How Does Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Work? (Or, How to Stare at Your Phone in a Galaxy Far, Far Away)
Before see , I was a little disquieted the experience of LARPing in the wandflower far , far away would remind me of the time I attended a Renaissance Fair with a friend of mine who was manner into leatherwork — that is to say , intelligibly attract to a sure variety of geek , but very much not for me . Not that there ’s anything wrong with LARPing ! I ’m certainly a immense nerd , I just do n’t experience that well-off around other people , and I have trouble beget over finger ego - witting about being an adult playing make-believe . But the world , such as it is , is far more detailed and structured than that , and sure the better for it .
Much has been made of the fact that every person will go through Galactic Starcruiser in their own path , and that is truthful to an extent , but all the guests are still populate the same introductory narration . It is n’t nearly so malleable that I ’d name it as mathematical group improv ( which is what I was dreading ) . It ’s closer to participatory theater — something likeSleep No More , where your intellect of the story will change base on who you break into along the way , but the story itself will remain the same from night to dark ( or ocean trip to voyage ) .
The sand of the tale is , not unproblematically for anyone who goes on holiday to get forth from a life spent asterisk at screens , an app . When you get on the ship , you ’ll be hand your “ datapad , ” which look a lot like an iPhone 12 miniskirt lean a stripped - down OS ( the default unlock code is , naturally,“1138 ” ) . This is where much of the story will spread out , and how your own docket will be shaped . And drab if you have a “ no phones ” principle for your kids , because they ’ll be getting their own too . If your kids are anything like mine , you will unironically yell something like “ That ’s it , no more datapads ! ” at them before the voyage end .
Photo: Joel Cunningham/Gizmodo
Along the way , you ’ll receive textbook chats from various characters onboard the ship who will amount to act a role in the narrative , from the police captain , to the “ sail managing director , ” to a First Order police officer investigating rumor of resistivity activity onboard , to a contrabandist playing both side . How you respond to these messages — via a series of video secret plan - corresponding branching conversation — will determine what activities will wind up on your schedule . Will you be manoeuvre into a visit to the engine room to avail a hapless raw recruit keep all systems usable , or aid spring a Wookie from the brig ? Will you trust to help a Jedi protect the secrets of an ancient holocron , or be invited to snitch on your fellow passengers to a go by stormtrooper ? If you ’re hungry for more back story or not sure what to do next , you could “ hack ” into the ship by tapping your wristband / room key at one of the ATM - similar onboard computers around the hotel , to solve a simple puzzle on your datapad or chatter via video with the droid that dish out as the Halcyon ’s concierge . When you maneuver “ off - ship ” to the Galaxy ’s Edge section of Disney ’s Hollywood Studios , you could justride the ridesandbuy some souvenir , or you could scan QR code enshroud around the Mungo Park to complete yet more story - enhance “ missions . ”
How much effort you put into all of this is entirely up to you . Your choices weigh only in so much as they will permit you to have the story in the direction you want to . you could side with the good guys , or you could holiday asa bit fashyand buddy around with the First Order . Whatever you do , though , the story is still going to include the same “ wow ” moments , if presented a little differently — for case , every passenger will wind up participating in a firefight on the bridge , but some will be pullulate at Tie Fighters and others at X - Wings — and the ending is always go to be the same . Naturally , because this is Star Wars , you will not be surprised to learn the climax involvesmore than one optical maser sword .
Do You Have to Be a Massive Star Wars Geek to Enjoy Galactic Starcruiser?
Considering my brain has been marinating in Star Wars trumpery for 35 - odd year , I might not be the good one to answer this query . Luckily , I brought along a ascendance group . My children have never encounter Star Wars , and my spouse is actively neutral to it , so they wait on as excellent case studies for the interrogative sentence of whether one need have spent their childhood waving around a broomstick and imagine it was a lightsaber to enjoy pretend to last inside the saga for a few day . The answer was an emphatic no , and for reasons that have less to do with Star Wars and more to do with good old Disney Magic ™ .
Certainly you ’ll get more of a charge out of realize a real - lifespan sabacc mesa it if no one has to explain to you that Han Solo won the Millennium Falcon from Lando in a plot of sabacc ( and then explain to you who Han Solo and Lando are , and what the Millennium Falcon is ) . But the experience proceeds swimmingly enough that you ’ll be able to follow along , provided you have a vague understanding of the basics : you ’re in space , there ’s a thing called the Force , Jedi use lightsabers , the furred guy is named Chewbacca , and the ones in the fascistic uniforms are the bad guy cable .
That ’s because a head trip onto the Halcyon is more of a Disney experience than a Star Wars one , and if 60 yr of running radical parking area has taught the companionship anything , it ’s how to make guests of all ages and background feel welcome . Being onboard the Galactic Starcruiser does n’t really feel like being inside the mealy , lived - in macrocosm of the original Star Wars as much as it feels like visiting the in - macrocosm equivalent of a radical common ( allow ’s pause to imagine Han and Leia on their honeymoon , as is now canon , wait in line to ride Coruscant ’s variant of the Haunted Mansion ) , with all of the stilted legitimacy that entails .
Photo: Donna Mehrabi/Gizmodo
Like the Disney - geological era Star Wars take themselves , everything onboard the Starcruiser is perhaps a short too burnished and sheeny , a fiddling too quippy and self - aware , to truly feel anything close to genuine . Disney ’s “ plaster bandage members ” are rigorously discipline to please guests , and it ’s hard to imagine the indweller of a galaxy far , far away brightly state “ effective journey ! ” to you every time you accidentally make eye touch with them . There was seldom a moment I was n’t hyper cognizant of the fact that everyone I speak to was not only playing a role , but was being pay a very diminished slice of that $ 6,000 booking fee to show us a good prison term . Even the stormtroopers humored the little girl dressed as Yoda , pretending to mind - command them with the Force .
But if you’re able to conquer your internal critic ( a true challenge for me , an motherfucker ) , you will almost definitely be drag up in the experience , because that ’s what Disney has design it to do . It is definitely not a passive undertaking ; you do n’t have to take on a part and craft your lineament ’s backstory , or even interact with any of the cast fellow member or your fellow guests all that much , but you do have to be uncoerced to participate — to wander the ship and perk up your ear when you hear kids shouting that they just saw Chewbacca , and toggle switches on the bridge , and actually go to lightsaber preparation even if you think it sounds incredibly childish ( it was a lot cooler than I was expecting ) . Every time you leave your way , you ’ll break right into the unfolding narrative , and unless you work actively against it , you ’ll witness yourself pulled into the account .
It does n’t hurt that the tarradiddle plays out in a setting fastidiously designed to be fully immersive . you may digress around somewhat much the totality of the ship at will and everything you issue forth across will seem to be plausibly a part of the Star Wars universe . you may tinge most every open and push every button ; all the flips and flip on the bridge or in the locomotive engine elbow room come out to serve a purpose ( even though they do n’t actually “ do ” anything — you ca n’t barge in the hotel ) . There are no windows , and though the “ viewports ” into place are n’t quite as convincing as I was hoping , specially from sure angles , the effect was still cool enough that it never father old , and I never felt like I was in reality wandering around a hotel that seems to have been built mostly underground ( if you ’re wondering why the exterior of the place see so drab , it ’s because it ’s only supposed to be a spaceport — the first thing you do is take a “ shuttle ” to the Halcyon , which I visualize out to be a big elevator the second time I ride in it ) .
Photo: Joel Cunningham/Gizmodo
Is Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Worth It?
No . But maybe yes ? How big is your holiday budget ? you may take an unbelievable slip almost anywhere in the human beings for $ 6,000 , and it will last a lot longer than two day — I once spend two full weeks in Costa Rica for a fraction of a fraction of that amount , and came aside a set more relaxed . But Galactic Starcruiser is the only position you’re able to LARP Star Wars in luxury , and if LARPing Star Wars in luxury is an experience you need to have , well . I felt much the same way as I did when I used to jaunt to San Diego Comic - Con for workplace : Enjoying myself , but also astonished that so many were willing to spend so much to do what I was able-bodied to expense — but at least the Galactic Starcruiser does n’t involve mostly standing in line .
Disney is ridiculously expensive at the safe of times . A few days ’ visit is pass away to cost a family of four thousands in park ticket alone , and much more once you factor in accommodation and intellectual nourishment . The Galactic Starcruiser is a ( mostly ) all - inclusive experience that chat up with being luxurious , particularly the food ; dinner party is a sterilize bill of fare served at determined time and by all odds striving for ok dining with a splash of Star Wars worldbuilding ( the dreary half-pint in the iced Felucian prawn cocktail was a nice touch , and the Bloody Rancor was a large forenoon pick - me - up ) .
The nicely themed rooms are , admittedly , a bit useful on a comfort layer , but you are n’t supposed to spend much fourth dimension in them anyway . In full term of personal facetime with Disney employees , though , the attention you ’ll receive feels intimate , if not unmatched by anything else you ’ll find at the parks . We were later to one of our schedule narration pit - stopover , for example , and wound up getting an elaborated secret refreshment of it that involved a holographical Yoda and a full - sized astromech droid . It was nice consider the same brass over and over among the crew , whether they were doing their terrestrial jobs or more actively participate in the story , and they never failed to commemorate our old interaction .
Even judged against the experience of a theme park holiday , the Starcruiser packs in a lot of action . On either terminal of my stop on the Halcyon , I read my family to the veritable old Disney parks , which are as crowd and spread out as ever . We ended those days exhausted from walk too much , and minus a bunch of money expend on the intellectual nourishment and snack necessary to nourish young Kyd through multiple hour - long line . Even trying to move rapidly , we ’d action maybe four or five things — a few rides , a show — before everyone was too tired and grumpy to pretend to have sport . But onboard Galactic Starcruiser , we faced no line , battle no crowd , and never had to trek back to the hotel for a mid - sidereal day rest . So in full plunge were we in the action and the narrative , the drive fundamentally did n’t terminate for two full days . plagiarist of the Caribbean lasts , what , seven proceedings ? Provided you do n’t number the 70 spend wait in lineage .
This is definitely among the quickest way to spend a lot of money while at Disney World , but when weighed against a $ 900 a night room at the Grand Floridian plus the toll of Mungo Park tickets , it ’s arguably a better value for the experience you welcome in comeback . You know , relatively . It was a once - in - a - lifetime journeying that left me with some truly magic retentivity , but I also did n’t have to foot the vizor for it . If you ’re going to visit Galactic Starcruiser , my best piece of advice is to have Disney pay for everything .
Star Wars : Galactic Starcruiser opens for guests at Disney World from March 1 , 2022 .
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