Imagine that you’ve just spent THOUSANDS of dollars to go on a totally immersive experience. Quite literally — thousands. of. dollars. You’d want to milk that experience for all that it’s worth, right? Now comes the wild part. What if we told you that part way through that experience you’d have the chance to (and maybe even want to?) LEAVE the central location where the experience is conducted and go on some more missions in a different place?

Disney World’s new Star Wars hotel will soon be open, which means you’ll soon be able to live inside a Star Wars story for two nights. You’ve donned your costume, learned how to wield a lightsaber, and fueled up with some Blue Milk, so now it’s time to…leave the hotel in the middle of your trip? Why in the galaxy would you leave before the experience is done? Well, now we’ve got some answers on what you can experience if you DO take this excursion off of the Halcyon, and just what is included in this adventure.

Part of the Galactic Starcruiser experience includes an excursion to Batuu (AKA Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios). There are extra experiences to be had in Disney’s Star Wars-themed land, so you and your crew can depart the Halcyon and be transported to Batuu to spend a few hours there.

But should you actually leave the ship to go to Galaxy’s Edge, when you can visit that land any old time? Or should you ditch the excursion and spend more time exploring the Starcruiser instead? Let’s see what’s included in the Batuu excursion and how Galaxy’s Edge is different for Starcruiser guests in order to decide.

During our stay on the Starcruiser, we went on the Batuu excursion in the early afternoon on Day 2 of our voyage. Before we left the Halcyon ship, we were given Halycon passenger badges so we could be easily identified as Galactic Starcruiser guests while we were visiting Galaxy’s Edge. The VIP status continues even in Batuu!

A Cast Member directed our group to the vehicle that would take us to Batuu. We waited maybe 5 minutes for our ride to arrive at the ship (since these transports run between Batuu and the Starcruiser continuously during the excursion times). Then we boarded and were off!

The transport had about 12 seats in groups of 3 as well as handrails so some guests could stand. There were high-tech gadgets on the walls as well as “windows” towards the ceiling. The transport was wheelchair accessible, and it seemed like one wheelchair would be able to fit at a time in the vehicle.

When we were there, we traveled with a few groups on the way to Batuu, but there was only one other group with us when we returned to the Starcruiser later in the day. The trip between the Starcruiser and Batuu only took about 4-5 minutes.

On our way into Batuu, a Cast Member told us that each guest received complimentary Lightning Lane passes on their MagicBands, so we could ride Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance without waiting in the standby lines.

They also noted that in the event that one of these rides is not available during our excursion, we would likely be given a Lightning Lane to use on another day. So if Rise of the Resistance breaks down (as it often does) during your Batuu excursion, you may still get to skip the line on a different day.

Once we arrived, we started with a quick ride on Smugglers Run, where we go to use the first of our Lightning Lane passes as esteemed guests of the Halcyon. Cast Members told us later that Hondo (the character host of this attraction) is supposed to recognize Starcruiser guests, but he didn’t seem to recognize us when we rode. This may be a glitch that is worked out for later excursions!

We decided to stop by Oga’s Cantina next. Keep in mind that you will still need to book reservations for this experience if you want to visit during your Batuu excursion. A trip to this watering hole is NOT included in your Starcruiser stay. On our way to Oga’s, we were stopped several times because guests saw our super cool space outfits (which you can wear into Galaxy’s Edge!) and assumed we were Cast Members! TOO funny!

We only stopped by Oga’s long enough to pick up a secret code (which was a coaster with a QR code that you can scan for a secret message) for one of our Starcruiser missions. There are all kinds of missions that you can complete on the Starcruiser as part of the story, and some of those extend to Batuu as well! Keep an eye on your DataPad to see if any characters need your help while you’re on Batuu. (Hint: they probably will.)

We didn’t even have to go inside when we arrived at Oga’s — a Cast Member outside was able to give us the coaster we needed. If you’re looking for a full review of this Cantina, though, don’t worry — we’ve got one right here.

Our code acquired (mission accomplished), it was off to Rise of the Resistance, where we had another mission to complete. We got to use Lightning Lane again to ride without waiting in standby.

By the time we got off Rise of the Resistance, it was time for lunch. We used Mobile Order to order our food from Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo, and we noticed that credits had already been applied to our payment that said “Dining Plan” within the app. We didn’t have to pay for this meal, as it was included in the cost of our Starcruiser stay.

So here’s what’s included with the meal: you can get a drink of your choice (including an alcoholic beverage) plus an entrée. If you want anything in addition to that, you can use the payment method you already have on file in the My Disney Experience app.

There may be exceptions to that rule because we purchased a Thermal Detonator Diet Coke bottle in Galaxy’s Edge, and the Cast Member scanned our Dining Plan credit and gave us the drink for free. This was not during lunch (it was at a snack stand later in the day), so some drinks may also be free. We don’t know the official policy on this yet, but that was our experience during our Starcruiser visit.

If you don’t want to eat inside Docking Bay 7, just let the Cast Member out front of the restaurant know that you want your lunch to-go, and they’ll package it up for you so you can take it back to the ship if you want to eat it there.

We ordered the Fried Endorian Chicken Tip Yip, which is served with Macaroni and Cheese and Roasted Veggies. For our drink, we got the Gold Squadron Lager.

Note that you don’t have to go to Docking Bay 7 for lunch. In fact, you don’t even have to stay in Galaxy’s Edge! If you want to head over to Woody’s Lunch Box for some Totchos, there’s nothing stopping you. The dining plan credit that you’re given as a Starcruiser guest is valid at any quick service restaurant, but not at table service restaurants (so you can’t get a free lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby, for example).

Don’t want to eat lunch on Batuu or Hollywood Studios at all, but maybe just want to redeem your dining credit for some drinks? The Cast Members might be able to make that happen! During our return trip on the Halcyon (during its official maiden voyage), we went on our excursion to Batuu but didn’t want to eat a full lunch there since we wanted to eat back at the ship. We did, however, want to grab some drinks while there.

The My Disney Experience app wouldn’t let us just order drinks and use our dining credit. If we tried to do so, it appeared like the app wanted to charge us for the drinks and not use our credit. So we spoke to a Cast Member at a register and told the Cast Member what was happening. The Cast Member was able to order us meals AND drinks, and then told her fellow Cast Members to VOID the food portion of the order. We were then able to get our drinks using the lunch credit!

Once we were full and had completed all of our Batuu missions, it was time to go back to the ship. Before we got on our transport, a Cast Member met us with Cool Towels for our hands…

…and extra water.

We waited just a couple of minutes for a transport to arrive to take us back to the Halcyon. We scanned our band and headed to board our transport, but one more mission was waiting for us before we boarded. A Cast Member met us with a crate and asked us to make sure we got it the next Cast Member we met onboard the ship. And so our next mission began… .

One more quick note before we wrap up — we were still able to go and get lunch on board the Halcyon once we returned from Batuu. As long as you get back before the lunch time is over (which was 4PM during our trip), you can get double-lunch on this day by eating in Galaxy’s Edge and at the Crown of Corellia Dining Room (on the ship). So if you really want to eat a Ronto Wrap in Galaxy’s Edge but you still want to check out the lunch buffet on the ship (which changes each day), you can do both. 

Stay tuned because we’re covering EVERYTHING about Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser, so don’t go anywhere!

Click HERE to see our COMPLETE GUIDE to the Star Wars Hotel!

Do you have a journey booked aboard the Halcyon? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Recently, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media preview of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. We later visited on our own accord during the inaugural “sailing.” Some of the photos in the post above are from the media event, some are from our own paid trip. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink.You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ