Does the Star Wars Hotel Deserve the HATE It’s Getting?

If you’ve been following along with us as we track the availability at Disney World’s new Star Wars hotel, you probably have some questions.

When reservations first opened up, it was hard to find a date with availability. But, as time passed and Disney released more behind-the-scenes looks at the new cruise ship-like hotel, we started to notice a trend — more dates were suddenly available, including the ones that were previously sold out. With guests seemingly canceling their trips in advance, many have been left to wonder if the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser really lives up to the hype. So, we’re covering the biggest complaints fans have and breaking down what it’s really like onboard!

Does it look “fake?”

Back in November, Disney shared a first look inside the Galactic Starcruiser featuring a glimpse at the hallways, the bridge, the Sublight Lounge, and a short performance from the starship’s singer, Gaya. However, the video was taken down from YouTube shortly after, with some speculating that this was done due to the backlash from many Star Wars fans.

Fans became concerned that the Halcyon (which is the name of the starship) had more of an artificial look. But, now that we’ve experienced it, does it really feel like you’ve stepped into a land of plastic rather than a luxurious starship?

First, it’s important to note that the Star Wars hotel is different from any other Disney hotel. Instead of being a place to simply rest your head between park days, the Galactic Starcruiser is a fully-immersive 2-night experience. So, as you might expect, it looks nothing like a traditional Disney resort.

To make you feel fully immersed in the Star Wars story, the Starcruiser is designed to look like a ship that you might see on the big screen in theaters. Because of this, it has much more of an industrial feel to it.

That being said, Disney spared no detail when constructing their first real-life Star Wars ship and the main rooms and cabins have a much more luxurious feel to them. For example, you’ll be eating dinner under unique lighting fixtures while sitting in velvet-lined chairs (and the atmosphere in this room completely transforms at night) …

…and the Sublight Lounge has a similar atmosphere to the one that you’ll find at Oga’s Cantina in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

The biggest difference is that the Sublight Lounge has a “classier” feel to it and includes Sabacc tables where you can learn to play the iconic Star Wars game.

So, while there are certain areas of the Galactic Starcruiser that might leave you wondering how much plastic is in the room, we were impressed by just how immersed in the story we felt throughout our stay thanks to the overall atmosphere. The simplest way to describe it, is that it feels like being on a movie set. Its design and detail are the same quality as the chess room or cockpit on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, or boarding Kylo’s Star Destroyer on Rise of the Resistance.

There is also a lot of story behind the Halcyon itself — it’s been a luxury cruise ship, a high-end casino, and a Galactic Empire officer’s retreat. The ship still carries hints of each of these eras — such as the Holo-Sabacc table and the Brig. Knowing the backstory of the ship, while not required to enjoy yourself, does help explain your surroundings.

We were able to speak with creatives from both Disney Imagineering and Lucasfilm, and they mentioned the hundreds of still photos, video clips, and artist renderings from the Star Wars cannon used to create the Galactic Starcruiser. They wanted to pull inspiration from the existing material, fuse it with a new story, and bring it to life. One example they gave of their dedication were the monitors in the Bridge. They figured out the scale of the screen on starships, and used that size ratio, as opposed to a 16:9 standard.

So while it may not be a familiar place you’ve seen on screen, having watched all of the films (again) the weekend prior to boarding the ship, it truly does FEEL like you’re in the Star Wars universe, you’re just not on a ship you’ve seen on screen. (Plus…can we all agree that Star Wars movies also have a lot of plastic?)

Does Lightsaber Training live up to the hype?

One of the most anticipated activities onboard the Halcyon was the Lightsaber Training — after all, you’ve never been able to actually use a lightsaber and channel the force in Disney World before!

During this activity, a Saja leads passengers through a training program where you learn to use your lightsaber by aligning it with light beams that come out from the wall.

Throughout the session, you’ll rotate with fellow guests through several rounds of practice, using both the iconic lightsabers, as well as shields.

As each round progresses, the targets move faster and faster.  After some practice, the force takes over and you get to show off your new skills — without the training beams! (Use the force.)

While it is certainly a fun and unique activity that you can only get by staying at the Starcruiser, we did find there were a few faults with the training.

There were a few moments where non-Star Wars fans might find it a little cheesy — others said it felt a bit like we were back in middle school gym class. Ideally, there would be more training beams so you didn’t have to rotate with anyone, and for one person in our crew, this was the one time she felt the immersion of the experience break.

Ultimately, it was still fun (and it’s always exciting to hear those iconic lightsaber noises), but it wasn’t a trip highlight as much as we expected.

Bridge Training

The other activity that Disney revealed all guests would be able to participate in onboard is Bridge Training. This training session occurs on Day 1 of the voyage and lasts 45 minutes long. It consists of four different stations —  weapons, systems, shields, and loaders — and each guest gets to take a turn at each station to learn all the aspects of this interactive room.

The Bridge itself was included in promotional videos from Disney and some fans felt like this highly immersive activity looked more like a glorified video game rather than a real Star Wars battle. And, while at its core Bridge Training is a video game, we thought that calling it a “video game” simply doesn’t do it justice.

The room itself makes you feel like you’ve stepped onto a starship and the characters that you get to interact with in the room are what sells the experience. Plus, Bridge Training plays a key role in the rest of the story taking place on the Starcruiser, making it even more fun and memorable.

We were surprised that our entire crew had more fun here than lightsaber training. But with anything aboard the Galactic Starcruiser, your willingness to buy into the story and the urgency of your missions, could impact how much you enjoy yourself. We found it was easier to buy into the story on the Bridge than the Lightsaber Training, partly because of its competitive nature.

And let’s just say…no matter which side you join, that Bridge training will come in handy on Day 2 as well.

Is there enough to do?

Leading up to the opening of the Star Wars hotel, Disney’s promotional materials mostly talked about a few activities on the Starcruiser including Lightsaber Training, Bridge Training, and the excursion to Batuu. This led many fans to criticize Disney for creating a $5,000 experience with virtually nothing to do.

But, it’s important to note that your onboard activities are mostly dictated by the story that YOU create.

Depending on who you interact with and what missions you accept, your personal itinerary will fill up with a ton of different activities that are unique to you! In fact, we had several people stay onboard the Starcruiser and each one had a very different experience with their own unique activities.

So, at first glance, you may think that there’s not much to do during your stay, but if you take the time interacting with the story you’ll find that you’re actually very busy during your 2-night stay.

In addition to mission-related activities, there is a full itinerary of events scheduled throughout both days — similar to a real cruise! From Ryloth Dance Lessons to Mini Droid Racing, and Mocktail Making Class to a Sabacc Tournament. These activities are short (usually 15-30 minutes) and you can simply show up to whatever you’d like to participate. We found some to be more fun than others, but they reminded us a LOT of a real cruise (basically, the possibility to be a little cringey, but fun if you get involved!).

Speaking of getting involved, you’ll be very busy if you’re actively participating in missions and adventures. But if you’re NOT interested in immersing yourself, there isn’t a TON else to do. You can enjoy the Sublight Lounge, play Sabacc, eat, and explore the ship. But there isn’t a pool or other amenities the way there would be at a resort (technically you could leave and go to another park or whatever you wanted to do. But…why would you spend the money to stay here if that’s your plan?).

The cost of the Galactic Starcruiser is for the entire experience (not just a hotel room), so buying in and participating in the action, is a key part of determining whether or not this is something you’d like to do.

How immersive is it REALLY?

Disney promised this to be like nothing they’ve ever created before when it comes to an immersive, involved experience. That the decisions you make, the people you speak with, and the buttons you push, directly impact what happens next in your Star Wars story. It would be a different adventure if you make just one different choice or aligned yourself with a different character.

But…is it really THAT immersive? Is it even possible to feel like you’re on a CUSTOM adventure — or just the same thing everyone else doing?

In short, did Disney really pull it off?

The short answer: yes.

The longer answer: yes…if you throw yourself into it.

If you’re going to sit on the sidelines and just watch the main action without participating in the missions, then you may not find the adventure totally immersive.

However if you engage with the characters, if you buy into the story, and allow yourself to play along, it’s incredibly immersive — beyond anything we expected.

While it’s hard to fully describe the level of immersion and personalized experience, here’s a few tangible examples:

Chewie literally helped us play Sabacc.

At one point, we scanned into the Cargo Room for a mission, only to find SK the droid hiding in there alone. We then got 1:1 time with him before another character joined us and asked for help hiding him (AND we should note — a different one of our teammates had to scan into this room a few hours earlier, after being sent there by the SAME character, and SK was no where to be found).

While sitting in the Sublight Lounge, a character we interacted with earlier, came in and then pulled us out into the lobby for a one-on-one chat, and to put schematics onto our Databand.

And it’s very different based on how you play. With three of us together, we all chose different paths and had VERY different results, even IF we interacted with the same people. This impacted both the big moments (like which side you assist on the Bridge) and smaller moments (like the Cargo room and droid example above).

The characters (and crew) learned our names and spoke to us directly.  On the surface it’s just using the same app anyone can use inside Galaxy’s Edge. And while it literally is, it’s also not just receiving text messages and going to push buttons. You’re interacting with the humans that sent those messages IRL, along with Wookiees and droids. The moment we realized the person we had been communicating with was a living, breathing character we could go whisper our secret passcode to, it blew our minds. As a day guest in Galaxy’s Edge, when you communicate with Hondo or Finn, the payoff is you see their animatronics on the ride. On the Starcruiser, you literally go up to another human and interact with them.

Additionally, when stepping foot onto Batuu in Hollywood Studios, it felt strange to see guests in Mickey ears or talking about Toy Story Land. It also put Galaxy’s Edge into a different perspective. While we’re lucky enough to visit Batuu frequently for our jobs, knowing we were helping Hondo on Smugglers Run because we were sent there by the Captain, or being subtly slid a special coaster with a code by an Oga’s bartender made this land become even more alive and feel very different.

If you allow it to, it feels very real.

Is it really worth $5,000?

Perhaps the most criticized aspect of the Galactic Starcruiser is the cost. According to Disney’s website, it costs a total of $4,809 for 2 guests per cabin, $5,299 for 3 guests per cabin (2 adults, 1 child), and $5,999 for 4 guests per cabin (3 adults, 1 child) for voyage departure dates most weeknights between August 20th to September 17th, 2022.

No way around it, that’s pricey! But you’ll want to keep in mind that the Star Wars hotel is a lot like a Disney cruise, so the price includes:

• Two nights in a cabin or suite
• Ongoing entertainment, which is optional at all times for guests
• Food and drinks while aboard (excluding alcoholic and specialty beverages)
• A quick-service meal at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo or other Quick Service locations at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Admission to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the excursion to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
• Valet parking
• Exclusive Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser MagicBand

Yes, it’s a costly experience, and whether or not it’s “worth it” depends on what you do! We found that you really need to be immersed in the story (interacting with characters and completing missions) to get the best value out of your experience.

If living in a giant, well executed, interactive live game like an escape room or murder mystery party for two nights sounds fun to you, this might very well be your dream come true.

However, those who are more introverted, have no desire to play a game, or are looking for a relaxing vacation may not find that they get much bang for their buck.

Ultimately, the ability to buy into the story and immerse yourself in the giant adventure unfolding around you is the most important factor when deciding if this is worth it to you — even more so than if you love Star Wars or not.

All in all, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is unlike anything else you’ll experience in Disney World. And, while early reviews of the Halcyon have been mixed, don’t rule out a trip for your family! You’ll want to consider things like what kind of experience you’re hoping to have and whether any family members are huge fans of the franchise when deciding.

It’s hard to compare this directly to another vacation, and it’s hard to swallow the price for two nights knowing you could spend similar amounts of money to visit Walt Disney World for a week or go on a nice cruise. But ultimately, it’s apples and oranges. The question isn’t “which kind of vacation do I want to go on?,” it’s “Do I want to go on vacation, or do I want to go experience an incredibly immersive two-night adventure?”

There’s no easy answer to if this is worth it or not, because while we can all agree it’s very expensive, the Starcruiser’s worth is directly correlated to what you enjoy doing for leisure (and your bank account, of course).

So to answer the big question: is the Galactic Starcruiser deserving of all the hate?! Our answer is no. It’s certainly not without flaws, but Disney really did something extraordinary here. It’s like nothing they’ve ever built before, and it truly is opening the door for all new theatrical experiences.

Of course, we’ll continue to bring you a look at everything you need to know about Disney World’s new Star Wars hotel, so be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for more!

Disney World’s Star Wars Hotel Costs HOW Much Per Hour? We’re breaking it down here!

Disclosure: We were invited by Disney to attend a media event for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, and later attended on opening day where we paid full price for travel, stay, and expenses. This did not affect our reporting of the event — our opinions are our own.

What are your concerns about staying at the Star Wars hotel? Let us know in the comments!

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