Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser review: Disney hotel surprises, for a price

Disney’s new Star Wars hotel experience, called Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, is a spectacle that’s almost overpowering in motion. Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is a Star Wars immersive experience that Disney has invested millions in, including new technologies and intense training.

Polygon received an invitation to Walt Disney World this week for a four-hour preview experience that would otherwise last 60 hours. What we found isn’t Westworld, not by a long shot. The narrative isn’t dynamic so much as elastic. You can’t steer the story off course by sheer force of will, push the bad guy out an airlock, or hook up with a robot. You will still experience intimate theater if you are willing to put the work in.

It’s far from perfect. The facility is small and at times felt claustrophobic. The price point — roughly $5,000 for a family of four for a two-night stay — puts it well out of reach for many American households. The hotel experience wouldn’t be the same without its cast of characters. These talented and tireless actors bring this part of the galaxy to life. In spite of those flaws, it’s an experience I’ll always remember, something of a dream come true for a Star Wars fan.

Steel bollards block the way into a massive concrete bunker. Guests stream out of a waiting bus.

Staff welcome the viewer aboard a shuttlecraft. The door slides open, vanishing into the wall.

Inside the shuttlecraft, a slim simulated viewport shows the starship Halcyon floating in space.

As with most hotel visits, the journey begins curbside. The bunker is a concrete, brutalist-looking building that guests arrive in by car or bus. That’s when the claustrophobia starts to creep in. A narrow staircase leads guests down to a smaller chamber, which is decorated as a shuttlecraft. From there, thanks to a few hydraulic rams and a pair of clever viewport-shaped computer screens, you’re transported up into orbit.

When the door finally opens, you’re inside the atrium of the Halcyon. The flagship of the Chandrila Star Line, it’s a storied vessel with a 275-year history that reaches all the way back to the High Republic, Disney’s newest chapter in the Star Wars universe. The two-story atrium is its beating heart, a crossroads and a meeting place where guests are first introduced to the ship’s main characters.

The captain of the ship, wearing blue facepaint. Her hair is dark red.

An autonomous R2-class astromech droid, one of the ship’s crew.

A rougueish human, a Twi’lek, and a Rhodiian, greet guests in the atrium outside the bar.

Captain Riyola Keevan was a Blue-skinned Pantoran who had a strong hand at the tiller but a flair for rebellion. This is how I met her first. Standing nearby holding court with her manager, the roguish human Raithe Kole, was Gaya, a flamboyant Twi’lek singer who serves as the main act in the evening’s dinner entertainment. Ouannii was a Rodian actor who wore an animatronic headdress and mask. Ouannii speaks Huttese and understands English. This makes pantomime communication a joyful necessity.

There are roughly a dozen major characters all together, including First Order Members and Chewbacca. Staff members remain true to their characters throughout the stay, providing guests with a variety of stories that they can explore and ask questions about. Join lieutenant Harman Croy as he tries to eradicate Resistance troops from the ship. Will you join junior mechanic Sammie in smuggling First Order technology aboard? The choice is yours to make during your stay, and the decisions you make will directly impact the narrative you experience along the way — and the kinds of activities you get to do later on during your stay.

On the bridge of the Halcyon, guests marvel as the ship jumps into hyperspace.

A sideways view of the bridge. Dozens of guests stand ready at their stations.

One of the stations aboard the bridge of the Halcyon. A bewildering assortment of dials and switches is laid out in front of them.

Some activities are reminiscent of escape rooms. However, they can be quite complex. As I was on the bridge with my partner, we worked together in a command station, turning switches and dials to transport cargo and destroy enemy TIE fighters. On a huge, curved screen the action took place. It was thrilling to feel like I was moving through hyperspace with signature starlines swirling above and around me.

Some activities are like being a guest in a movie where you, and others around you, become the main characters.

A Force trial aboard the Galactic Starcruiser

At one point, I was ushered into an open-air courtyard, a kind of in-fiction holodeck used to simulate the surface of Batuu, home to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. That’s where one of the Saja, a descendent of the Guardians of the Whills that played such a key role in Star Wars Story: Rogue OneI was taken out by him. We reached out together with our hearts and minds. With a bit of Disney magic and a lot of electrical magnets, I was able to use the Force for my first time. I felt silly, scared, and just a little bit vulnerable, but I also felt an uncanny connection to that character, named Keer — and to the Star Wars universe itself.

Intimacy gives way to an incredible finale. All of the atrium becomes a battlefield between First Order and Resistance. Rey’s stand-in is present, making deflective invisible laser beams while troopers shoot sparking squibs all around her. A Kylo Ren actor makes an appearance, literally taking down the place in Force-fueled fury. Every single one of those marquee characters — including new friends like Saja Keer — gets their chance in the spotlight.

A Saja — a Force-sensitive tutor — and the captain herself, hold First Order troopers at gunpoint.

Galactic Starcruiser’s immersive story isn’t just fluff. The storyline is restructured to fill in some gaps and it also covers up some plot holes. The Last Jedi And The Force Awakens. The overall story arc is inspirational, and makes the ship itself — and by extension, its hundreds of guests — an integral part of this beloved universe. It’s marvelous theater, and an authentic Star Wars experience. But those narrative triumphs make the facility’s flaws stand out all the more.

The Halcyon’s interior scale just doesn’t match up to the grand ship shown in marketing materials. The atrium was expected to be higher and the banquet hall wider. The cantina — home to the ship’s bar and its singular holographic Sabaac table — is at most half the size of Oga’s Cantina in Galaxy’s Edge. Particularly sterile spaces such as hallways or stairwells feel like you are wandering through a middle-class suburban school. Also, the staterooms feel too small. They fall between Disney’s cabins on a cruise ship and an ordinary hotel room at a Disney World resort.

My Halcyon experience was far from complete — for one thing, it was about 60 hours shorter than the full paid stay, cutting short the vast majority of the in-flight narrative content. But also, the Data Pad app, an invaluable part of my experience at Galaxy’s Edge, simply wasn’t available for me to try out. It extends your experience beyond the ship and makes Batuu a scavenger hunt only Galactic Starcruiser guests can experience. In a similar vein, I’d love to have been wearing a costume throughout the whole time. Homemade garb is encouraged, and Disney-made apparel is available for sale before and during your stay on board the ship, but wasn’t offered to the press during our junket. It was hard to immerse myself in the ship’s culture when I saw so many passengers dressed up as street people.

Ultimately, individual guests’ visit to the Halcyon will depend a lot on the energy of the other Star Wars fans at their side during a given stay. The best guests will enjoy the Star Wars fiction and take responsibility for making friends or starting trouble. Be prepared to spend a lot of money for this privilege.

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is open at Walt Disney World Resort, Mar. 1.

Polygon’s preview trip and accommodations were paid for by Walt Disney World, but this did not influence our editorial content. Here are the details. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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