Star Wars – Galactic Starcruiser, the Star Wars-themed immersive overnight experience at Disney World, is a “resort” unlike anything you’ve experienced before.

While you may find folks referring to this one-of-a-kind destination as the “Star Wars hotel,” it’s far from your traditional Disney World hotel stay (or any hotel stay, for that matter!). But there’s a pretty big problem guests at this hotel might face that we haven’t been talking about.

What Exactly IS Star Wars – Galactic Starcruiser?

Star Wars – Galactic Starcruiser is an immersive experience unlike anything we’ve seen at Disney World before. This two-night “excursion” in a galaxy far, far away is filled with unique dining, characters, entertainment, and oh yeah…lightsabers.

The cabins that guests sleep in come with picturesque views of not Central Florida, but of outer space, giving you the feeling that you truly ARE “out of this world,” light-years away from Disney World.

Since it’s a set two-night itinerary (much like what you would experience when you go on a cruise), all of the guests “arrive” and “depart” at the same time. During your two-night stay, you have a scheduled stop at Batuu, otherwise known as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios (it’s up to you if you want to break the Star Wars illusion and check out Slinky Dog Dash or other parts of the park). So, you do have a little bit of time in a theme park included in your stay!

While aboard the Halcyon (that’s the name of the starcruiser!), guests can dine at the Crown of Corellia Dining Room, take part in lightsaber training, and even operate the ship’s defense system.

But we aren’t just here today to review all of the features and activities on board the Galactic Starcruiser. We need to talk about one MAJOR detail that isn’t often discussed, and it has to do with what the Halcyon is NOT.

Click here to learn more about what you can expect aboard the Galactic Starcruiser Halcyon

What Is Star Wars – Galactic Starcruiser NOT?

When you pause and think about it, the Halcyon is not really a “hotel” at all in the traditional sense, meaning it’s not like ANY of the other hotels you can stay at when you visit Disney World. In fact, as far as you’ll experience aboard…you’re not even IN Disney World. (You’re in space, OBV!)

We aren’t just talking about the unique and immersive experience — with this being a FULL 2-day experience (it even has an itinerary), the Halcyon is not a hotel that you can leave in the morning to hop on a bus and head to Magic Kingdom. For better or for worse, you’re “trapped” aboard the Halcyon during your two-night stay.

While there is plenty to do to fill your time aboard the Halcyon, it’s VERY important to know that for the two nights you’re on board, this will be your entire Disney World experience.  You will eat, breathe, and sleep Star Wars. If the idea of basically being trapped indoors with essentially zero visibility to the outdoors — or the rest of Disney World — isn’t appealing to you, you might want to steer clear.

Click here to read our no-BS guide to being claustrophobic at the Star Wars hotel.

What do you need to keep in mind if you want to stay aboard Star Wars – Galactic Starcruiser?

Star Wars fans of all ages will be curious to see exactly what the Halcyon has in store. If you want to experience really anything beyond the Halcyon when you’re visiting Disney World (which we’re sure you do!), you’ll want to treat this experience like a Disney Cruise Line “land and sea” vacation.

Meaning, you’ll want to consider your stay at the Halcyon as a fun add-on, but totally separate from your typical week in Disney World.

This could mean that your vacation budget will look different than it normally does. A stay at the Star Wars hotel is NOT cheap — $4,809 is the starting rate for 2 adult guests in a standard cabin ($1,209 per guest, per night). This means you could potentially be almost doubling your vacation budget to experience both the Star Wars hotel AND a “normal” hotel with theme park tickets, dining, and all the other stuff a normal trip entails.

It may be tricky to explain exactly what this hotel experience is like to little kids, so give them a brief rundown before you leave home so they can start to understand that they aren’t going to be staying at a “hotel,” per se. You can also show them our DFB video so that they can see inside the hotel before they get there!

More importantly — make sure your kiddos know that they won’t be able to do all the other Disney World stuff while they’re at this “hotel.” Don’t expect many of those traditional hotel amenities either; for example, you won’t find a pool on the Halcyon. 

So if you choose to stay here, just keep in mind you’ll be shelling out a LOT of dough to be essentially trapped in a windowless building for two days that in no way, shape, or form is supposed to be Disney World. Not as far as the “story” on board, at least. So if you’ve got kiddos begging to see Cinderella Castle or looking to visit Mickey, it could be tough to explain to them they simply can’t. Not on that leg of their trip, at least.

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Click here to learn EVERYTHING about the Star Wars – Galactic Starcruiser!

Are you planning on booking a stay aboard the Galactic Starcruiser Halcyon? Let us know in the comments!