Those looking for a return to the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, the “Star Wars”-themed hotel and experience that Disney opened on March 1, 2022 and closed the following September, will probably have to put that dream aside. As of now there are no signs that you’ll be able to return to a galaxy far, far away. (We have been told that the Starcruiser cost upwards of $1 billion; Disney asserts that the number is much, much lower.)
According to several sources, including an individual close to the company, the building that formerly housed the immersive adventure (located near Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World) is being converted into offices for Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive arm of the company responsible for theme park attractions, retail locations and cruise ships.
WDI will be using the building as a hub for several expansion projects coming to the expansive Walt Disney World resort including (among other things) the Latin America area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom that will be home to “Encanto” and Indiana Jones-themed attractions; the upcoming “Cars”- and Disney Villains-themed lands opening at the Magic Kingdom; and the “Monsters, Inc.” land, complete with door chase coaster, arriving at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. (That “Monsters, Inc.” coaster is perhaps the most controversial, because it calls for the removal of Jim Henson’s beloved final project – Muppet*Vision 3D.)
TheWrap had heard rumblings that the building was going to be potentially utilized for a several-hour-long dinner theater-type experience that would use the hotel’s lobby (used for key storytelling moments as part of the Galactic Starcruiser), bridge, bar and restaurant and that the gift shop would also remain open. But TheWrap has now been told, quite firmly, that the building will not be accessible to guests at all.
This likely has to do with how cumbersome it would be to shuttle guests to the Starcruiser building, which is in a backstage area of the park. When the hotel was open, themed shuttles would transport guests to and from Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the experience’s “away day” – where guests would have exclusive interactions in Disney’s “Star Wars”-themed land Galaxy’s Edge. Those shuttles could only carry a few guests at a time, which isn’t ideal if you’re trying to repurpose the space for a more inclusive dining experience.
According to one source, several playtests have been conducted in that part of the old Starcruiser building, with cast members filling in for paying guests. But the tests would be for a potential dining experience in the theme park, not in the Starcruiser building itself.
When Oga’s Cantina, the “Star Wars”-themed bar in Galaxy’s Edge, was first conceived, it was initially part of a larger, dinner theater experience. This experience was teased in early concept art and seemingly repurposed when many of these experiences, meant for regular park guests, were shifted over to the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser project. Now, they’re circling back to that dinner theater idea.
While the Starcruiser experience only lasted a little more than a year, it has been memorialized by those who actually did it and by those who watched video essayist (and Disney theme park superfan) Jenny Nicholson’s four-hour takedown of the enterprise, which has a whopping 11 million views on YouTube.
Some were hopeful that the experience would reopen as something (perhaps with an overlay attached to whatever “Star Wars” project was currently being promoted by the company), but the conversion to office space seems to close the book on the project for the foreseeable future.
Disney took a tax writedown on the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, which would freeze the use of that building for a specific period of time. And most of the projects outlined above are just starting, so it could be years before they actually open.
