The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser may be gone, but it’s not forgotten.

To say that the Star Wars hotel-that-wasn’t-really-a-hotel was controversial might be an understatement, and there were some things about the whole interactive LARP-like experience that still leave Disney fans scratching their heads. However, a lot of things about the Galactic Starcruiser just outright shocked fans, so let’s take a look at those things that had us all like 😲.

The Concept

So one might think Disney announcing a hotel devoted to all things Star Wars would be a hotel, right? Well, a lot of fans were shocked — and maybe even a little excited — to learn that the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser would be a two-day “cruise” in space on a ship (read: building) called The Halcyon (where Han and Leia apparently honeymooned) with all kinds of immersive experiences that would let Star Wars fans live out their wildest fantasies.

Even for Disney, that sounded pretty ambitious. The scale of the Starcruiser’s concept was hard to grasp at the time and it possibly raised expectations that might have been TOO high when the experience finally opened.

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The Price

So Disney got Star Wars fans HYPED for this new experience. Yes, we expected the Galactic Starcruiser to be pricey. But even WE did not expect it to be as pricey as almost $5,000 for two people — and that was just the price for the lowest tier of room. YIKES! Pretty much EVERYONE was shocked when these prices were announced.

Granted, that price got you all your food, two full nights of accommodations, a day at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and the whole interactive experience. But the cost was so high that many fans were priced right out of ever being able to afford a voyage, which was also a shock for those who were initially interested in it.

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Not A Typical Disney Hotel Stay

For the price, many fans expected that the rooms on the Galactic Starcruiser would be more like something you would find at Disney’s deluxe hotels. You know…big, luxurious beds; lots of space?

They were wrong.

The rooms were just teeny cabins — like you’d find on a cruise ship — with tight spaces and no windows (granted, there were fake windows with views of “space”). BUT there were bunkbeds, which is pretty cool.

Perhaps even more daunting is the fact that you had to stay on the “ship” for the whole two days, save for a brief trip to Batuu. Because of the immersive nature of the experience, Disney couldn’t have guests just randomly walking out of the hotel throughout their stay. Granted, there was a “room” that actually let guests sit in the outdoors for a little while, but it was still a confined area. Claustrophobes had to beware!

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Disney Added NEW Galactic Starcruiser Characters To Canon…(Also, Han and Leia Wuz Here)

Want to know how to create controversy with a Star Wars fan? Add new characters to the canon! Well, that’s exactly what Disney did with the Galactic Starcruiser, which brought in a brand new cast of characters; these included a Twi’lek entertainer called Gaya and the ship’s captain, Captain Keevan. These characters interacted with existing characters in the Star Wars universe including Rey, Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, and more. Yes, everything that happened aboard the Halcyon was considered canon in the Star Wars universe.

Disney doubled down on the Starcruiser characters as canon with several books and comics, too, including The Princess and the Scoundrel, which introduced the Halcyon ship itself as canon because it’s now officially the location where Han and Leia spent their honeymoon. At the time, Captain Keevan was the quartermaster on the ship.

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Surprise Appearance By Yoda

For those who DID get to experience Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, there was a BIG surprise that was kept under wraps. There’s a point during the experience where Halcyon guests, along with Rey, discover a Jedi Holocron. On that holocron? A message from none other than Master Yoda. 

YODA, y’all. Yoda made an appearance on the Halcyon and we are STILL shook. This might have been the highlight of our two-day journey on the ship, but it was also a HUGE surprise.

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So goodbye, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. You were QUITE an experience, to say the least. We hope that Disney isn’t completely through with the concept yet, as it really was something unique that had not ever been done before. We’ll just have to see, though…

Stay tuned to DFB for more!

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The final voyages have sailed, so we’re bringing you an exclusive Starcruiser Farewell Voyage design!

We’re going to miss one of the BEST parts of the Starcruiser — Gaya the nightclub singer, so we immortalized her in this design!

Grab your Starcruiser Final Voyage shirt here!

What was the most shocking thing to you about the Galactic Starcruiser? Let us know in the comments!