We’ve covered some pretty wild Disney World news in the past several years, but one of the most bizarre and interesting events was the grand opening — followed shortly by the unceremonious closure — of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
A room on Halcyon!
This hotel was as short-lived as it was fascinating. A unique experience where you could board a Star Wars ship for yourself and live out your own adventure with characters, missions, and space food. We were lucky enough to visit it multiple times during its short reign, and that just made its closure all the more disappointing. But thanks to Instagram, we’ve got a peek at what the building looks like now!
Instagram user @bioreconstruct has shared some aerial photos of the former Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser building, located on Disney World property near Hollywood Studios. The first photos show a peek inside the former climate simulator.
Via @bioreconstruct on Instagram
The “climate simulator” was an area at the hotel that “simulated” the climate of Earth. This way, guests staying at the hotel could step outside and get a breath of fresh air during their visit, if they were getting tired of being stuck inside the building.
Climate Simulator
It looks like the greenery has been removed, though some of the Star Wars theming remains. The space was home to benches, plants, and rocks in the middle. Some of the interactive activities during your “voyage” were hosted here.
Via @bioreconstruct on Instagram
There was also a photo shared of the entire exterior of the Halcyon. The building is fairly large, and you can see where the various parts of the experience were housed based on its outline. Rooms on the left, common spaces in the middle, and the porte cochere for arrivals on the far right. This building is currently being converted into offices for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Via @bioreconstruct on Instagram
Will Disney ever do another truly immersive hotel experience like this? Only time will tell. While it was very enjoyable as a guest, it had some financial flaws from the beginning — that price was STEEP, making it inaccessible to many fans. It was ultimately only open for 19 months, so if Disney wanted to replicate it in a new way, there would need to be changes.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Atrium
Of course, if we get any more details about the updates coming to this building, we’ll keep you in the loop.
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The Star Wars Hotel failed because it was higher in price than a Disney cruise and lacked what the Disney cruises deliver. Rotational dining, Indoor pool deck with outer space glass ceiling views, kids programs, and shows would have brought people into this expensive hotel 6.
I would so love to see just a regular hotel built with Star Wars theming. It would make it accessible to everyone and would be affordable. I believe this would be a huge hit. I know I’d stay there.
So sad to see the Climate Simulator completely emptied, but appreciate your posting the news about it. The Galactic Starcruiser was the biggest and yet most personized Disney attraction I’ve ever experienced. If only they had figured out that they needed to market it in such a way that people who’ve never experienced immersive theater would know what it was all about, it would still be running. People thinking it was a hotel, or even “like a cruise”, could not understand what it was or why the cost was completely justified, and Disney never corrected all of the misinformation.
Seriously, they could have kept this as a Star Wars-themed hotel. I’ve been a fan since I was a little girl in ’77 (yep, I’m old-school!), and I would totally have paid a Deluxe price to stay there – but I don’t need to play pretend. The whole concept was flawed from the outset, as they were catering to a subset within a subset within a subset of SW fans. Not enough general appeal to keep the thing afloat. Sad, really, because it could’ve been great, and now it’s too late…
It would have been pretty cool to have seen some of the ‘activities’ moved into the Galaxy Edge location(s). Just imagine going into the lightsaber training room or blasting First Order ships from the bridge, but it does seem like Disney took some of the concepts and are using them on the Destiny (cruise with a storyline).
I am on Team “Wish this had been a Star Wars-themed hotel.” That would have been awesome. The rooms looked so cozy. The immersive experience did not sit well with my controlling personality, LOL.