Photo by Jeremiah Good
At D23 Expo 2017 in Anaheim, California, then-Disney Parks Chairman Bob Chapek announced the company’s “most experiential concept ever” for Walt Disney World. He went on to describe it as a combination of “a luxury resort with immersion in an authentic Star Wars environment. It will invite you to live your own dedicated multi-day adventure in A Galaxy Far, Far Away. It’s unlike anything that exists today.”
It’s now five years later, and Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser has opened adjacent to the Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park, where the impressive Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge themed land has been welcoming guests since the summer of 2019. I happened to be in the room when Mr. Chapek made the above-reference announcement, and now I’ve had the opportunity to visit the completed Galactic Starcruiser twice– first participating in a four-hour “condensed highlight reel” version of the experience back at the end of February, and secondly attending as a regular guest (thanks to Laughing Place and our partners at Mouse Fan Travel) this past week.
Photo by Jeremiah Good
Because I’d be visiting the Halcyon starcruiser (the name of the ship you’re “traveling” on in-universe) twice in the span of less than a month, I decided to make the most of my very good fortune. For the first trip I would attend as a member of the Earth-based media– covering the features, amenities, food, characters, and other highlights of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser as I would the opening of any other Disney Parks attraction. But for my second visit, I wanted to go all-out in following through on the premise of this groundbreaking immersive experience. I pitched the following idea to my superiors here at LaughingPlace.com: “What if I came up with my own original character, gave him a backstory and a reason to board the Halcyon, then tried to fully commit to the character as much as possible during my time aboard the ship?” They loved the concept, but asked if I could do anything to help build up anticipation for this experiment.
They asked for a video blog or something along those lines, but because I can’t help but overcomplicate things, I turned that notion into a short prologue movie– three minutes worth of my character (a Stewjonian antiquarian named Lotico Fendan) exploring the planet Tython– as seen in the Disney+ live-action series The Mandalorian, and shot in the exact same Southern California location as well– and finding the reason he needed to make it to Batuu (the Outer-Rim planet where Galaxy’s Edge is set, and where the Halcyon travels during its fictional journey several times a week at Walt Disney World). I enlisted my wife and some friends to help put this short together, and emerged on the other side with a serviceable fan film shot in the traditional Star Wars aspect ratio of 2.39:1. Not letting myself stop there, I also wrote a 5,000-word short story that takes place on Coruscant during Lotico’s youth, further fleshing out his defining traits and background.
As a final bit of build-up to my Halcyon voyage– which was scheduled for March 17-19– Lotico took over the Twitter account for my Star Wars podcast (@WhosTheBosskPod) during the week leading up to the journey, posting dispatches that chronicled his travels from Tython to Corellia, and then finally on to Chandrila– the planet from which the famous ship departs. Then when my coworker Jeremiah Good and I arrived at the Chandrila Star Line terminal (really the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser’s bunker-like facade building), the real fun began. A somewhat patience-testing check-in and boarding process aside, once the doors of the simulated launch pod– really a simple elevator with screens that allow guests to watch their pilgrimage up to the orbiting ship through fake windows– opened and we finally stepped onto the floor of the Halcyon’s striking two-story Atrium, I think I can say for both of us that we felt as though we had crossed a threshold into the familiar Star Wars universe we’ve loved for decades.
From that point on, our Galactic Starcruiser stay was spent settling into our rooms, interacting with the friendly and helpful staff, soaking in the atmosphere, eating a wide variety of intergalactic food offerings in the spacious dining hall, and– perhaps most importantly and memorably– meeting / “helping” the characters created for this experience and, through them, living out our own Star Wars adventures. I want to focus on this last aspect of the Galactic Starcruiser, both because it’s where my interests most specifically lie and because I believe it to be the strongest example of what makes this a must-visit for anywho who loves the George Lucas-created franchise and/or the concept of immersive theater as a whole. Among the personalities on-hand to collaborate with (or jeer, in the case of whoever you decide the villain of this particular story to be) are Captain Riola Keevan, Cruise Director Lenka Mok, mechanic turned wannabe-Resistance fighter Sammie, loyal Astromech Droid SK-620, Rodian DJ Ouannii, and the superstar Twi’lek diva known only as Gaya (think Beyoncé but in space).
But the character I ended up spending time with and bonding with the most was Gaya’s manager, Raithe Kole. After first coming aboard, I had used the loaner “datapad” iPhone (with a pre-loaded version of the Play Disney Parks app) provided to me to choose the Resistance path of the story, thinking that most closely matched Lotico’s First-Order-hating tendencies. But (and this was my first clue that someone backstage must have been paying attention to what I was doing) I was soon steered down what I would eventually learn is known as the “Scoundrel” path, of which Raithe and Gaya are the central characters. You see Lotico, as an antiquarian, has a vested interest in relics of the past, and the Scoundrel path culminates in a heist-like story beat that sees passengers recruited by Raithe to cause distractions in the Atrium so that he may make off with an ancient gem known as the Hayananeya, AKA the Twi’lek “mother of the singing stones” from the planet Ryloth’s rich mythology.
Naturally, Raithe recruited Lotico to help in this task, first to assist in the heist itself, then to utilize his expertise to confirm that the supposed Hayananeya in question was indeed the genuine article. Consequently, the climax of that storyline ended up revolving around my character to the point where I felt absolutely rewarded for having dedicated myself to the concept and committed so much of my time and energy to fully living out this experience. I’ll never forget those moments, but there were numerous other instances throughout my stay that indicated to me that either the performers themselves or the powers that be behind the scenes had seen my short film or were keeping up with my fairly constant stream of tweets. There was even a conversation I had with Sammie during day two when he mentioned something about Lotico’s past that I had only referenced in the short story, and I felt completely gobsmacked that anyone officially associated with the Galactic Starcruiser had taken the time to read that, let alone incorporate it into the larger immersive narrative.
All those incredibly personal experiences led me to declare to my boss the next time I talked to him that Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is the ultimate example of “You get out of it what you put into it.” I don’t know how many other people (if any) have gone to the lengths that I did in putting together my character and giving him a backstory, but I’m willing to bet that if anyone else does in the future, their efforts will be just as appreciated as mine were. But even if you just go so far as to show up in costume and react to the characters as though you and they both live in that fictional Star Wars universe, I have a feeling you’re going to be more than satisfied with the results. As a tried-and-true fan of both a Galaxy Far, Far Away and the immersive theater medium, I can’t think of anything more gratifying than the feeling I got when I realized I was “playing pretend” with other adults in a thoroughly convincing environment.
In fact, the only time I could see the seams in the Galactic Starcruiser experience was when I noticed other guests who came across as less-than-committed, or who chose only to wear jeans and their Star Wars t-shirts instead of something more organic to the space so meticulously constructed around them. That’s not to say I would demand anyone who desires to be a more passive guest to change their attitude (this adventure is intended for them to be able to enjoy it, as well), but I did occasionally have to perform some mental gymnastics to block them out of my otherwise fully immersed perspective. Regardless of any of that, I absolutely believe this experience to be a gigantic leap forward in both immersive storytelling and the future possibilities of exploring the Star Wars universe. “We feel like this could be the start of something very, very big,” said Chapek during that D23 Expo announcement five years ago, and I can’t help but agree.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is open now at Walt Disney World.