After staying closed for more than two years, Disney’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel located inside Walt Disney World Resort premises in Orlando, Florida, will finally shut down. The area will be converted into offices for Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), the division of the media juggernaut in charge of the theme park attractions, retail locations, and cruise ships.
According to The Wrap, WDI will use the space for hubs working on multiple expansion projects soon to be added to the Walt Disney World resort. These projects include adding “Encanto” and Indiana Jones-themed attractions to the Latin America area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the upcoming Monsters, Inc. Land, complete with a door chase coaster arriving at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The latter is not a fan-favorite so far, as it would replace beloved puppeteer and animator Him Henson’s final project, Mupper Vision 3D.
The hotel opened on March 1, 2022, and remained open for a little over a year. It was heavily criticized by patrons, who are presumably Star Wars fans, that it delivered very little value for money, given that a two-night stay for two people cost north of $4,800. For a family of four, the hotel charged a whopping $6,000 total.
The vacation package aboard the Halcyon included a stay in a Starcruiser cabin and the opportunity to engage in multiple immersive experiences. Guests got to interact with known Star Wars characters and go on different adventures with them. There were also other activities like lightsaber training and witnessing live performances.
The price did include meals and a one-day admission ticket to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge entry, but for many it was not a justifiable amount.
Needless to say, most fans were not surprised about the decision.
Twitter user @TrvthfvlTreasn shared what seems to be an AI-generated approximate estimate of how much it used to cost to stay at the hotel and said, “I wonder why.”
I wonder why.. pic.twitter.com/jGTytKR9Ly
— Chud Dudley, Golden Age Misfit (@TrvthfvlTreason) January 30, 2025
The Wrap says that the Star Wars-themed hotel cost more than $1 billion to build but Disney reportedly claims the number is much higher.
@AuthorCal said that a near-endless stream of revenue must’ve blinded Disney about the average rate for accommodation, even with the added experiences.
Bc they make so much money that they don’t know what an average price is anymore. $5000 a night for a hotel room? Or I could buy my high school kid a used car. Which I did. She’s a junior in college and still driving it. She even goes to a fancy college and doesn’t care!
— Catherine Anne Lewis (@AuthorCAL) January 30, 2025
Another Twitter user, @alexanderbittan, who was there on the opening night said that Disney “had the right idea but the wrong price point for long-term success.”
I was there opening night march 1st 2022 for the Maiden Voyage! Wish this would have worked out and sparked more similar experiences! They had the right idea but the wrong price point for long term success. Hopefully they try things like this again someday
— Alexander Bittan (@alexanderbittan) January 31, 2025
@MusicResorts pointed out that Disney could’ve avoided the shutdown by making it affordable and maybe focusing more on the original trilogy.
This billion dollar blunder could've been avoided had they just followed 2 simple rules;
— Sitruc Sremos⚡🚗 (@MusicResorts) January 31, 2025
1. Use the environments and characters established in the original trilogy of films.
2. Make it affordable.
More and more people joined in with similar inputs.
They charged supernova prices for a moon experience
— Remixedcat the catgod 💎😺🌌🎶 (@remixedcat) January 31, 2025
"Should we expand our parks to add capacity rather than replace existing attractions?" "NO! Waste every piece of land we have and close high-capacity rides to replace them with low-capacity rides!
— Jake Landau (He/Him) 🇵🇸🇺🇦 (@JakeLandauTO) January 30, 2025
Should’ve just made it affordable
— nathan (@OhNathan) January 30, 2025
Wasn’t it like $5k a night to stay here or something wild. Shocking it didn’t work out
— Moosey (@0nlyMeez) January 30, 2025
A good example of corporations rising contempt for the middle class (and below) instead of lowering prices and taking a hit to the profit margins but likely securing longer term revenue they'd rather scrap the whole thing
— Sugma Freud (@JusticeRhino) January 31, 2025
I’ll still never understand why they just didn’t convert this into a “regular” Star Wars themed hotel
— KGMets22 (@KGMets22) January 30, 2025
Meanwhile, few were simply disheartened to find out they’ll never be able to experience it (again).
Noooooo cut out that room and ship it to my house… Ive been saving my credits to go and so this Jabba owes me!!!! Dont ruin this for me
— Blaze on X News (BoXN) (@BlazeRN617) January 30, 2025
can they sell the props from the hotel online and let me buy an entire room
— scrit (@scrit_) January 30, 2025
A handful of fans also talked about Jenny Nicholson’s 4-plus-hour long “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” which went into the nitty-gritty details of the establishment’s inadequacies and failures after staying there herself.
The video was an immediate social media sensation and has garnered over 12 million views since it was shared eight months ago.
We'll have to wait and see what the future holds if Disney tries another gambit like this. Hopefully, it will be affordable for all.