Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser at Walt Disney World to permanently close

May 18, 2023 in "Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser"

Posted: Thursday May 18, 2023 3:20pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

After being in operation for just over a year, Walt Disney World's Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will make its final voyage on September 28, 2023 and will then permanently close.

Then Disney CEO Bob Chapek at Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser

In announcing the closure, Disney told news outlets, "Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is one of our most creative projects ever and has been praised by our guests and recognized for setting a new bar for innovation and immersive entertainment. This premium, boutique experience gave us the opportunity to try new things on a smaller scale of 100 rooms, and as we prepare for its final voyage, we will take what we've learned to create future experiences that can reach more of our guests and fans."

Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser overview

Disney is contacting guests booked on the cancelled Starcruiser voyages and says it hopes to relocate Cast Members to other roles at Walt Disney World.

The official Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser website has been updated with a message confirming the the closure.

The final voyage for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will take place September 28-30, 2023. We are so proud of all of the Cast Members and Imagineers who brought Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser to life and look forward to delivering an excellent experience for Guests during the remaining voyages over the coming months. Thank you to our Guests and fans for making this experience so special.

For Guests who previously booked a voyage on or after September 30, 2023, we will be contacting you soon to discuss your options and modify your plans. As we prioritize these Guests, at this time, new bookings are temporarily paused and will reopen on May 26, 2023.

Carrying a lofty price tag of around $5200 for the two-day, two-night experience, Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser launched on March 1 2022. After stronger-than-expected initial sales, Starcruiser bookings quickly stalled, forcing Disney to look to save costs and boost reservations.

Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser overview

Most recently, Disney began canceling voyages in the summer that had very few bookings, moving guests to other dates with a 50% discount for the inconvenience. Disney also offered various discounts, including Annual Passholder and Disney Vacation Club deals.

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larryzAug 30, 2024

We should probably change the title to "Mostly Off-Topic Movie Discussion In A Failcruiser Thread."

zombiebbqAug 30, 2024

only 19 more years to go until they use the building again! /s

ScreamfaceAug 30, 2024

The planned ending for TFA was to see how strong Luke has grown in the force from the OT by levitating giant boulders behind him. Until the next writer decided to go another way.

Fido ChuckwagonAug 30, 2024

Can we change the thread title to “Galactic Failcruiser” in honor of this one year anniversary?

easyrowrdwAug 29, 2024

Maybe so. But the latter (minus the sea monster, probably) is what Lucas apparently planned too. We weren't getting the former with either Lucas or Disney, which was what I was trying to say in the beginning.

Mike SAug 29, 2024

Going off looking for answers to help him right his wrongs vs. going off to give up and die. Yeah, I know which I’d be more interested in.

ScreamfaceAug 29, 2024

Luke being a recluse meditating, growing stronger in the force is a much cooler idea than him milking sea monsters titties and abandoning the force.

easyrowrdwAug 28, 2024

You know, that's kind of what I assumed was happening with Rey. I'm not deep into Star Wars but it seemed to me that the Force was kind of willing things to happen. I wonder if they would've gone with that if they hadn't brought JJ back for 9. I agree with your overall point. What you highlighted at the end was definitely disappointing for me. The "right back where we started" retread of TFA was a letdown. It felt so lacking creatively.

asianwayAug 28, 2024

They need to let it cool off for a year

FigmentJediAug 27, 2024

It's all about the context of what broke him. Between all the stuff with "The Whills living inside everyone's Midichlorians are essentially manipulating fate across the galaxy" thing in the microbiotic world, the whole "Darth Maul's hot Twi'lek apprentice Talon literally seduced the Kylo Ren equivalent to the dark side" thing, and the talk of Luke having had more support in setting him his new order before things went wrong, it's not like George's version was going to be as much of a hard "Nothing was accomplished at all in the 30 year gap between trilogies" reset as what Disney ended up going with.

easyrowrdwAug 27, 2024

Those settings look cool, but it doesn't show or say anything about the character. The complaints weren't about his habitat. Yes, Disney executed it. But they were following Lucas's idea for Luke. Maybe it would've been executed better or received differently if Lucas had been in charge? Given how the prequels were executed and received, I doubt it.