Galactic Starcruiser, the now-closed Star Wars-themed hotel that was at Walt Disney World, has been repurposed. According to The Wrap, the building will now be “offices for Walt Disney Imagineering,” the team in charge of developing “theme park attractions, retail locations and cruise ships” for the company. Walt Disney Imagineering is currently working on projects for Disney World based on a bevy of the studio’s popular titles, including Encanto, Cars, and Monsters, Inc. The old Galactic Starcruiser building will provide the Imagineers with ample work space as their plans come together.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The Wrap notes that at one point, Disney considered using the hotel’s lobby for “a several-hour-long dinner theater-type experience” and thought about keeping certain areas — including the restaurant and souvenir shop — open to park attendees. While the dinner theater concept remains on the table, the old Galactic Starcruiser will not be part of it. As one might expect, with the building becoming a new office space for the Imagineering team, it will “not be accessible to guests at all.”
Galactic Starcruiser opened back in 2022, intending to give Star Wars fans an extremely immerse experience on their trip to Disney World. The hotel featured several events, such as lightsaber training and sabacc tournaments, as well as “story moments” that saw visitors take part in Resistance/First Order conflicts. In order to build hype for Galactic Starcruiser, Disney posted a video featuring Oscar Isaac gushing about the hotel and even integrated it into official Star Wars canon.
[RELATED – These Pieces of Star Wars Merchandise Are Beyond Bizarre]
However, just one year later, Disney announced Galactic Starcruiser would close. While the hotel itself received the Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Themed Entertainment Association, the very expensive rates proved to be a hurdle for many park attendees. As highlighted in an extensive Galactic Starcruiser deep dive from YouTube host Jenny Nicholson, many visitors were also frustrated by their experience, citing issues with some of the hotel’s features.
While it’s good the building is being repurposed rather than being torn down, this is undeniably an unfortunate turn of events for Disney. A lot of work went into making Galactic Starcruiser, and it’s disappointing that the endeavor failed as quickly as it did. That it isn’t even being integrated into the public park in some capacity (like an extension of Galaxy’s Edge, for example) speaks to how much of a misfire this project was. When it was conceived, a Star Wars-themed hotel designed to transport visitors to the galaxy far, far away seemed like a goldmine, but Disney fell short of their aspirations. Hopefully, the Imagineering team makes great use of the space and crafts several successful park experiences.
Of course, Star Wars continues to have a significant presence at Disney Parks. Last year, it was announced that Din Djarin and Grogu would be added to the popular Smuggler’s Run ride in conjunction with the premiere of the movie The Mandalorian & Grogu in 2026. There are also new characters, like Sabine Wren, periodically added for photo ops. Galactic Starcruiser will go down as a failed investment, but Star Wars fans still have plenty to check out on their vacation.
