A deep-dive into a failed 'Star Wars' hotel is going viral
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In 2023, Disney closed a highly-publicized luxury hotel on the Walt Disney World property called 'Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.' Now, a year later, a four-hour-long YouTube deep-dive has resurfaced details about the concept and spread the niche piece of Disney lore to millions of viewers.
In 2023, Disney closed a highly-publicized luxury hotel on the Walt Disney World property called “Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.” For Disney superfans, it was a time of high drama and schadenfreude as promises about the hotel’s immersive world ran aground on the rocky reality of some guests’ experiences.
Now, a year later, a four-hour-long YouTube deep-dive has resurfaced details about the concept and spread the niche piece of Disney lore to millions of viewers.
The creator of the video, YouTuber Jenny Nicholson, is known for her commentary on various corners of fan culture. Some of her most popular videos cover shows and movies like “The Vampire Diaries,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and instalments in the “Star Wars” franchise.
None of them are nearly as long as her most recent video, “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel.”
Over the course of 20 video chapters, Nicholson details her 2022 stay at the “Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser” hotel in Orlando, Fla. The tale is likely familiar to Disney and Star Wars fans, many of whom heard about the high-dollar, high-concept hotel and its closure in 2023.
Nicholson says she paid more than US$6,000 for a two-night stay in the hotel, which was supposed to resemble a Star Wars-style spaceship called the Halcyon. The big draw of the hotel lay in what Disney marketing called an “immersive, customizable Star Wars experience” that Nicholson equated to LARPing, or live-action roleplaying. Guests were encouraged to dress up, and through a combination of live experiences with cast members and choices made in a special app, were guided through a three-day-long Star Wars storyline complete with full itinerary and, if played to its full extent, very little downtime.
With Disney-esque details like working lightsabers and colourful themed food, the experience was supposed to feel like a “landlocked cruise,” with all of the entertainment happening onboard the ship — in reality, a large ultra-secure windowless building near Walt Disney World’s Epcot resort area.
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