Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser was designed to be the most immersive Star Wars experience in the world, putting fans into the action of a galaxy far, far away for two entire nights, living out their dreams of being a part of the franchise. While it was a phenomenal idea that every fan was excited about, most people couldn’t afford it. With the experience running anywhere from $4800 to $6000 per room, the Galactic Starcruiser was clearly not accessible for a lot of fans. Just a little over a year after opening, Disney announced that the Galactic Starcruiser would be shutting down for good.
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The “final voyage” of the Starcruiser will take place this September, according to a release from Disney Parks on Thursday. While it was a great idea, the experiment of the immersive experience clearly failed to catch on with consumers, causing its inevitable downfall. So, starting in September, Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios will have a really big, expensive building sitting behind Galaxy’s Edge without a purpose to serve. What happens next?
Disney hasn’t announced plans for the Starcruiser’s building just yet, but it won’t just take up space on the lot forever. That’s valuable space that could be used by Disney for something else, making you wonder exactly what the company intends to do with it once the voyage is over.
The idea that Disney would tear it down is a bit disheartening. Yes, the company could make space for something else, but the building is already constructed and designed to emulate a starcruiser from Star Wars, so it feels like a waste to just get rid of all that hard work and ingenuity. This empty starcruiser building should be seen for what it is: A new opportunity.
The Galactic Starcruiser experience didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean the starcruiser itself still can’t exist in some capacity. As close as it is to Galaxy’s Edge, it wouldn’t take much to connect the two with an immersive walkway, essentially making the building an extension to Galaxy’s Edge. It could easily be a ship dock on Batuu, giving the Galaxy’s Edge area a little more breathing room. Guests could explore the ship as part of their exploration of Batuu, adding to the overall experience of the area.
There’s also a restaurant and bar on the Galactic Starcruiser. If the building remained mostly operational as a part of Galaxy’s Edge, Disney could take reservations for them and turn them into their own immersive experiences, albeit much smaller than those the building was originally intended for. That would give Hollywood Studios another higher-end dining option for families attending the park, and it would likely play well for Star Wars fans that wanted a taste of that immersive experience but couldn’t afford the original Starcruiser adventure.
Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser is certainly a sight for Star Wars fans, and it would be a shame to lose all of that wonderful design, but there’s also the possibility that the space is better served for something else. The building could be gutted and turned into an actual ride of some kind, giving Galaxy’s Edge a third major attraction. It could also be turned into an actual, functioning hotel, though that would probably take a lot more work, considering there are only 100 rooms and there are no real windows.
There’s no way to know just yet exactly how much Disney is willing to put into the starcruiser space once the experience is closed. I’m not going to pretend to know what the company has in mind for the building’s future. But if giving Star Wars fans something one-of-a-kind and immersive is still important, the Galactic Starcruiser can still be an asset that delivers on that promise, just not in the way it was initially intended.
