The First Reactions to Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Hotel Rave About Immersivity but Balk at the Price
This looks cool and all, but is it worth $6,000 for two nights?
Few theme park attractions have been more highly anticipated than Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, a hotel and immersive experience that is set to launch next week at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The “immersive adventure voyage” features a two-night stay aboard the luxury starship Halcyon, a passenger ship celebrating its 275th year in space, during the time between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
Once aboard the ship, guests are plunged into an immersive LARP-style experience, where they interact with costumed ship staff, members of the First Order, and familiar faces from the Star Wars franchise. Depending on their responses to various situations, guests are then guided through personalized storylines that take them through different activities aboard the ship. It’s a combination of Choose Your Own Adventure and immersive theater, where different choices can take you to different missions and side quests, like lightsaber training, bridge training, a day excursion to Batuu (aka Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme park), and find you siding with the resistance or the First Order (or both for the especially crafty player). Or, you can simply enjoy the food and drinks over a game of sabaac in the lounge.
Early reviews of Galactic Starcruiser praise the immersive elements and high attention to detail. Joel Cunningham of io9 writes, “It doesn’t hurt that the story plays out in a setting painstakingly designed to be fully immersive. You can wander around pretty much the entirety of the ship at will and everything you come across will appear to be plausibly a part of the Star Wars universe. You can touch most every surface and push every button; all the flips and switches on the bridge or in the engine room appear to serve a purpose.”
CNET’s Bridget Carey described the experience as, “You’re paying to live in a high-tech, constantly changing, personalized Broadway production with access to a few no-wait theme park rides. It’s hard to explain. But if you love Star Wars and role playing and the energy of live theater, this is an entertaining and moving experience.” Reviewers also noted the accelerated pace and activities packed into the two-day experience. Nerdist’s Amy Ratcliffe wrote, “On one hand, you’re paying a lot and they keep you busy. On the other hand, I left my trip feeling as though I’d just worked five days at San Diego Comic-Con. Just utterly drained and wiped after less than 48 hours. That’s not a bad thing—I had a good time—but I want people to be aware this isn’t a vacation with downtime. The pacing needs work.”
And while many visitors were swept away by the immersive nature of the experience, they found it hard to justify the staggering cost, which ranges from $4,809 for two people to $6,000 dollars for four. That’s an exorbitant amount of money for a two-day experience which doesn’t even include booze! Guests also took issue with the rooms, which were small and utilitarian. Guests spend the majority of their time outside their rooms, but still, for $6,000 there should be more luxurious accomodations. Cunningham noted, “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that left me with some truly magical memories, but I also didn’t have to foot the bill for it. If you’re going to visit Galactic Starcruiser, my best piece of advice is to have Disney pay for everything.” Ratcliffe added, “Personally, I cannot see myself booking a trip at the current price. I had a fun time, but I am not made of money and for that price, I hope for and expect near perfection.” Guests also took to social media to share their thoughts on the experience:
Would you shell out $6,000 to live your Star Wars LARP fantasy? Let us know in the comments!
(image: Disney Parks)
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