Disney Tips Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
The Walt Disney World Resort offers Guests a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel aboard a luxury ship within the Star Wars universe, complete with themed dining experiences, a day trip to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and an interactive role in a fully immersive story (for Guests willing to pay, that is.)
The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser opened just over one year ago, in March 2022, as a first-of-its-kind two-night immersive getaway for Guests. While the experience was originally marketed as a “Star Wars hotel,” a trip aboard the Halycon is not your typical Disney World Resort, and as such, it comes with a not-so-typical price tag.
Credit: Disney
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The sticking point for many Guests when it comes to the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is, of course, the price, which starts at about $4,800 and could run over $6,000 depending on the cabin type, date, and add-on experiences Guests choose for their voyage. While Disney has begun discounting the excursion, most recently for Cast Members, it is no secret that a stay aboard the Halcyon remains a premium experience that is out of reach for many Guests.
In the latest update on the Starcruiser, Disney fans are learning that voyage dates are becoming increasingly limited. The Orange County Register recently reported that Disney travel agents had been made aware that voyage dates are being reduced for future stays on the Starcruiser.
Credit: Disney, Matt Stroshane, photographer
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To be more specific, voyages will be decreased by 25-50% depending on the week and time of year beginning this October. Where dates for October-December have only recently been released for Starcruiser voyages on Disney’s official website, no excursions have been canceled and it is just future trips that have been scaled back.
Guests who have experienced recent stays aboard the Starcruiser have also noticed that their voyages have come with very light crowds. The ship should have a capacity of about 500 Guests, but reports on social media indicate that few voyages have been close to capacity.
Credit: Disney
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Since news broke regarding the upcoming canceled voyages, Disney has shared the following response per TheDirect.com:
…you may notice the schedule has been modified to provide two voyages per week, except for holiday weeks where we may have three voyages. We’ve been learning a lot during our first year of operation and have adjusted voyage dates to meet the needs of our guests.
As for the future of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser beyond the reduced voyages this fall, several questions remain unanswered as to how Disney could remedy the experience’s low bookings. While trips aboard the Halcyon are entirely self-contained save for an excursion to Batuu (Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios) it seems one solution would be to open up visits to the ship to Guests who are not staying overnight.
Whether it be for limited storyline experiences (basically a condensed version of the full two-night stay) or opening up the Halcyon for dining reservations for day Guests, it looks like there may be room to try new initiatives to boost interest in the experience (assuming that even deeper discounts, or simply lowering the base rate is out of the question.)
We will continue to monitor updates to the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, and will share additional information as we have it here on Disney Tips.
