Scott Trowbridge has worked with Walt Disney Imagineering for 15 years, and has served as the creative lead for Disney Parks’ Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge themed lands, and now the highly anticipated immersive resort experience Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser opening at Walt Disney World guests next week.
This week I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Trowbridge about how the idea for Galactic Starcruiser first came about, the variety of technology in use at the experience, and why guests should take advantage of that excursion down to Batuu.
Mike Celestino, Laughing Place: At what point did Star Wars: Galactic Starcruise become part of the larger plan for Galaxy’s Edge? Did those ideas get developed together after Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012?
Scott Trowbridge: Oddly enough, I started thinking about building a more immersive Star Wars experience even before Lucasfilm became part of the Walt Disney Company. Star Wars has been part of the Disney Parks experience going all the way back to 1987 when the original Star Tours opened, so it’s been something that’s been in my head for a very, very long time. But when Lucasfilm became part of the Disney family in 2012, that was when it was like, ‘Oh, we really gotta figure something out here.’ And so when we started the development of what eventually became Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, this idea for a multi-day immersive companion experience was part and parcel of that from the very beginning. I will say it took us a little bit of time to actually crack the code on what we thought it should be, which is why it didn’t open with Galaxy’s Edge. But we developed these basically hand-in-hand, and that’s why the stories connect so seamlessly, and why the characters connect so seamlessly. They were really designed from the beginning to be companion experiences.
LP: Most of the immersive experiences I’ve done have been roughly one to three hours in length, while this one is over 40. How do you build out something that enormous in concept and execution?
Trowbridge: I think the answer to that is, ‘with great care.’ [laughs] You’re right– it’s a two-day, two-night experience that’s all driven by a set of interlocking, interwoven stories that all come together to hopefully a fun and satisfying conclusion. And one of the interesting things about it is you have the power to change the way the story plays out for you, based on the choices you make, the affinities you select, the characters you choose to engage with or don’t choose to engage with. All of that impacts how your story plays out. So it’s not just one story, but it’s many many many interlocking stories that all weave together.
LP: Walt Disney Imagineering has always been known for pushing the envelope of technology in terms of immersive entertainment. When I go on an attraction like Rise of the Resistance, I see so many different techniques being used. How did that approach apply to Galactic Starcruiser?
Trowbridge: I think one of the things that allows us to actually have this 45-ish-hour experience where your choices matter and you’re seeing all these different parts of the story play out and hopefully having a great time while it’s all happening, is the technology foundation that powers all of that. We have a… you could almost think of it as a ‘story engine’ that lives underneath this, that is paying attention to how to select the next best step for your story as you go through this, and the Star Wars Datapad– which is the Star Wars portion of the Play Disney Parks app– that allows you to communicate with characters when you’re in this experience, and to kind of have this back and forth banter and for us to use that information to see which way you’re leaning.
Are you supporting the Resistance? Are you supporting the First Order? Maybe you’re just supporting the underworld for a little bit because that’s kind of fun. We pay attention to all that, and then use that as part of this technology structure to frame the experience for you, and then bring it to life with all the other kinds of technologies that we hope to be the magic behind the scenes. Our massive real-time image and– basically– gaming system that runs throughout the entire ship, the theatrical illusions that allow us to bring lightsabers to life just like you want to believe. Spoiler alert: we don’t have real lightsabers, and we can’t do the CG tricks that we see onscreen, but we can use really state-of-the-art theatrical illusions to make all that seem like it’s happening– not just on screens, and not just onstage, but right there in the room with you.
LP: Lastly, one of the big questions I personally had when I first heard about the excursion to Batuu was why I would want to leave the Halcyon. After paying a premium to be aboard the ship, how is the Galaxy’s Edge experience enhanced by going down to the planet?
Trowbridge: As I said earlier, these were designed to be companion experiences, so the stories that we tell in Black Spire Outpost– the stories in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge– hopefully they’re fun and compelling and satisfying in and of themselves, but we’ve actually designed them to work with the stories of the Halcyon starcruiser. If you’ve ever wondered, ‘Why are we stealing coaxium with Hondo Ohnaka? Where did we get the coordinates? Where is that coaxium going? Who’s buying and selling it?’ These are all the preamble and after-the-fact stories that we use to connect everything that’s happening aboard the Halcyon in the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience and the stories of Galaxy’s Edge. So although there are also new experiences that happen in Galaxy’s Edge for Halcyon guests, it’s also the ability to see those fan-favorite attractions through the lens of additional story unique to our Halcyon passengers.
LP: Thanks so much, Scott. And congratulations– this is a really impressive experience.
Trowbridge: Oh, thanks! I hope people come and have a great time with us, and help us save the galaxy.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser opens this coming Tuesday, March 1 at Walt Disney World. For additional information, be sure to visit the resort’s official website. This interview first appeared in its audio form as part of Laughing Place’s regular Star Wars podcast “Who’s the Bossk?”