Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser at Walt Disney World to permanently close

20 days ago in "Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser"

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Posted: Thursday May 18, 2023 3:20pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

After being in operation for just over a year, Walt Disney World's Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will make its final voyage on September 28, 2023 and will then permanently close.

Then Disney CEO Bob Chapek at Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser

In announcing the closure, Disney told news outlets, "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. 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."

Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser overview

Disney is contacting guests booked on the cancelled Starcruiser voyages and says it hopes to relocate Cast Members to other roles at Walt Disney World.

The official Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser website has been updated with a message confirming the the closure.

The final voyage for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will take place September 28-30, 2023. We are so proud of all of the Cast Members and Imagineers who brought Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser to life and look forward to delivering an excellent experience for Guests during the remaining voyages over the coming months. Thank you to our Guests and fans for making this experience so special.

For Guests who previously booked a voyage on or after September 30, 2023, we will be contacting you soon to discuss your options and modify your plans. As we prioritize these Guests, at this time, new bookings are temporarily paused and will reopen on May 26, 2023.

Carrying a lofty price tag of around $5200 for the two-day, two-night experience, Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser launched on March 1 2022. After stronger-than-expected initial sales, Starcruiser bookings quickly stalled, forcing Disney to look to save costs and boost reservations.

Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser overview

Most recently, Disney began canceling voyages in the summer that had very few bookings, moving guests to other dates with a 50% discount for the inconvenience. Disney also offered various discounts, including Annual Passholder and Disney Vacation Club deals.

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Fido Chuckwagon4 days ago

Thread should be named to “Star Wars: Galactic Failcruiser” IMO.

asianway5 days ago

Did they advertise this on the resort tv loop?

twilight mitsuk5 days ago

https://www.margaritaville.com/margaritaville-at-sea want a similar 2-night experience?

erasure fan15 days ago

Is this supposed to be a gotcha? No I didn't go. Just like like the vast majority of fans, hence the reason it's closing down. There was zero chance I would put down 6 grand plus for it based on the marketing and influencer videos.

danlb_20005 days ago

Probably recorded well before Disney decided to close it.

OceanBlue5 days ago

Have you been?

Nubs705 days ago

You wouldn't want it to be too obvious. From a marketing perspective, a little more upscale than I Drive. 3 hours + 1 hour cleanup/turnover. Might be a little low brow to jump into warm bed sheets 🤔

erasure fan15 days ago

I listened to that episode as well. I agree, it didn't feel like star wars. I said when the first videos showed up it felt like they were trying to imitate star wars. It just failed on so many different levels. The real failure, or root of the failure, in my eyes, is Disneys hubris. The star cruiser didn't give that ultimate star wars vibe because Disney said this is OUR star wars. If you don't like it, we don't care. They were counting on this new generation of fans to carry the torch of fandom. Turns out they don't care, or more importantly, won't spend that kind of cash on Disney star wars. They should have rethought the whole thing when people had little desire to run to galaxys edge when it opened.

lewisc5 days ago

Have you heard the term hourly rate? Why have a 3 hour minimum?

FettFan5 days ago

Oof. They even re-did the WoF set to promote Galaxy’s Edge. https://www.starwars.com/news/wheel-of-fortune-star-wars

twilight mitsuk5 days ago

Like fhloston paradise

Incomudro5 days ago

The Star Wars - No Tell Motel.

Nubs705 days ago

Seriously, the special room rental option would sell. 1. Fits the existing back story of the Han and Leia honeymoon. 2. Book rooms in 3 hour increments. Pushes effective room count to 800. Although not practical when considering turn over time. But still could increase effective room count to 400. 3. Fits the syrategy of selling parks multiple times a day.- why not sell rooms multiple times a day?

Bleed0range5 days ago

I’ve been thinking about where the true failure of this thing lies. They talked about this on a Star Wars podcast I listen to. Rebel Force Radio. Although the price was ridiculous… I think the biggest failure is that it doesn’t actually capture the feeling of Star Wars very well at all. From the design perspective, it looks more like Star Trek or some nondescript sci Fi show than it does something we have actually seen in Star Wars. Rise makes you feel like you’re on a star destroyer, the first order and the empire ships look similar enough it gets the feeling across. This doesn’t evoke that same feeling. You aren’t boarding a star destroyer or the Millenium Falcon. You’re on a freaking cruise ship? And with all the great music John Williams has written this Gaya character sings bad show tunes? It captures none of the actual spirit of the films. I believe if the experience captured the actual feelings of the movies with aesthetics that we recognize it might have resulted in more people coughing up the money because it’s a can’t miss experience. Honestly, it gives off holiday special vibes at times. Especially with Gaya.