For years, Disney has been hyping up its mega-expensive, hyper-immersive Star Wars hotel in Walt Disney World. But now, as its opening date approaches, sneak peeks have fans concerned the luxury space resort is the latest Disney dud.
The Galactic Starcruiser is Disney’s most ambitious hotel concept yet. Guests must book two nights — which will set you back nearly $5,000 for two people or $6,000 for a family of four — and will spend most of their time inside the spaceship resort, much like a cruise. There’s an “excursion” into the Galaxy’s Edge part of Disney World, while the remainder of the stay includes interactions with characters, lightsaber training (more on that later) and exclusive restaurants.
With the big price tag and big promises from Disney, Star Wars fans were expecting a mind-blowing, life-changing experience. As the March 1, 2022 opening day grows closer, however, glimpses of the finished product have been underwhelming. The look and feel of the hotel has been criticized as looking plastic and cheap, and reception to one sneak peek video was so bad, it has since disappeared from Disney’s YouTube channel.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, according to Disney, “will invite guests aboard the Halcyon, a starcruiser known throughout the galaxy for its impeccable service and exotic destinations.”
Courtesy of DisneyThe video showed actor Sean Giambrone of “The Goldbergs” being given a tour of some of the ship’s features, which look pretty bare and antiseptic for the Star Wars universe, and listening to a strange musical performance. (Another user uploaded the deleted video here.) The promo prompted one Twitter user to comment, “Bro this isn’t Star Wars, this is ‘Space Conflicts.'”
Fans responded similarly to a demo of Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro testing out the vaunted lightsaber training. Instead of a flashy, super realistic adventure, the training consisted of a standard light-up lightsaber and some lasers.
Comments on the YouTube video are generally negative, with one of the top comments reading: “If this were free I’m not even sure I’d queue 30 minutes for it, let alone spend thousands of dollars. An entirely poorly executed idea for the rich.”
Things got even worse this week when Disney dropped its welcome video for booked guests, which features a character heretofore not part of the Star Wars universe. Endario Zinn, a representative from the starcruiser, looks decidedly low-budget with cheap purple makeup and a clearly repurposed iPhone for space tech. Some fans on social media also noted the actor’s eyes appear to be moving left to right, as if reading off a teleprompter.
Reservations booked up quickly when the hotel was announced but now, as the 90-day deadline to cancel approaches, people appear to be ducking out of their expensive commitments; a number of openings have begun popping up in March, April and June.
“A big thank you to Disney for doing everything they can to make me not feel like I’m missing out by not being able to afford the Star Wars hotel,” blogger Alicia Stella wrote on Twitter. “I’m grateful for your efforts.”