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$5,000+ Star Wars hotel reviews and impressions (“feels like a 2 day game and escape room”)
- Thread starter Lump
- Start date
we have a different definition of incredible because that looks awful.
They basically keep getting away with it cause people are paying. So much outrage towards Disney cause of their annual price hikes, park ticket prices going up, prices of food, merch, everything keeps going up. Making people pay for genie and lightning lane shit.
Yet the parks are blowing away attendance numbers, the parks are jam packed constantly even on weekdays. Despite all the crap they are doing Disney is not seeing any attendance problems and the fans are just paying for it. They are just going to keep fleecing the hardcore fans who keep paying whatever Disney asks of them.
I know friends who claimed they were done with Disney, but nope, they caved and buying the stupid priced annual passes cause they are so ingrained into the Disney culture cult.
Yea the first three months have been sold out now for like half a year almost. Beyond whats been sold out for some time they aren't showing huge growth in bookings still. Spots have opened up here and there as folks drop their reservations but so far it's not really showing signs of doing all that amazing. Three months have been booked solid now for a while and after all this time one month has filled up? That's not that impressive for Disney.
The parks were already dead to me after what they did to IllumiNations and that was pre-pandemic. At the same time I've had to consistently convince my family not to go, all the cuts, the way they treated their employees, the price rises, gutting Magical Express which even the most ardent defenders were baffled by. I don't understand how people are overlooking all of it, and my best friend who was on the same boat broke down and booked a trip for this summer.
Weirdly All-Stars being $150+ a night feels more egregious to me than Starcruiser at $6k.
This is on point. It's a supply-constrained market and they are pushing the limits of how much people are willing to pay. They've made the decision to focus on the 6-figure-income family. And yet, the parks are always packed and the resorts and restaurants are booked solid. Unless we see another economic slump like 2008, I expect it to continue this way, especially as they recover from the pandemic shutdown.
Everyone was claiming the death of Disney with all the changes, price increases, lightning lanes. Yet it's the total opposite, it seems especially with restrictions going away the tourism is back big time and the parks are jammed. Like folks are seeing higher than normal volume in Feb on weekdays even right now. The waits for rides as bad as ever, everywhere huge hordes of people like it was summer peak season.
Exactly.
I disagree slightly. While it is certainly true that folks with the means to attend this trip could go wild, but I think that it being an extra charge will limit the reorders in a way that an all-inclusive liquor concept wouldn't. I assume they track cocktails and certainly can more easily limit overindulgence than if it was an open bar.
It also allows them to sell better themed cocktails. The handful of times Ive been at a place where alcohol is included it was always lower quality stuff being offered.
Actually someone in Reddit pulled data to show that February is actually the worst time of the year to go. Crowded and multiple holiday weeks plus special events plus tax refunds and people getting away from the snow/cold
Honestly if it was cheaper, I'd actually give it a shot. One of those things that is so odd I really wanna try it. Just at an affordable price lol.
Not from what I've seen
No. I legitimately think the food looks great
The food looks weird but the reviewers seemed to really like it. Out of everything I've seen, it's the thing I'd want to try the most.
The problem is that with many of the reviewers (especially TikTok) is that they are so far up Disney/Star Wars asses that they would give positive reviews to complete shit. So if it's edible, it's AMAZING YOU GUYS.
It's the same with big (or even small) outlets reviewing games. They want to be invited back, so they shill.
It's the same with big (or even small) outlets reviewing games. They want to be invited back, so they shill.
it looks like if mcdonalds tried to replicate a gourmet meal on a thight budget.
when he lifts the cloche with the smoke and there's some crackers underneath lol.
They did this 20 years ago with Star Trek in Las Vegas. And it didn't cost $5000 to go eat at Quarks, get told off by a Klingon, and then beamed aboard the Enterprise.
Ordinary Adventures posted part 4 of their trip Monday, which concludes their coverage of their first trip (amazingly they are actually going again on Mar 1st... so today, lol)
If you think you'd never go but want to get a general feel for the overall story being told, and see the characters and food and such, their roughly four hours of coverage spread across four videos gives you a very good overview. Watch them in order if you can.
I watched it all for that reason, and to see how good the performances were... I was pretty satisfied with the performances honestly. Personal fav is probably Sandro, his instrumentals and vocals were top notch. Gaya is also a lot better than I expected, after watching that horrible intro video showing her which Disney pulled offline.
If you think you'd never go but want to get a general feel for the overall story being told, and see the characters and food and such, their roughly four hours of coverage spread across four videos gives you a very good overview. Watch them in order if you can.
I watched it all for that reason, and to see how good the performances were... I was pretty satisfied with the performances honestly. Personal fav is probably Sandro, his instrumentals and vocals were top notch. Gaya is also a lot better than I expected, after watching that horrible intro video showing her which Disney pulled offline.
Posting here as the most relevant thread I could find…
Bookings opened for 2023 through September and I finally booked with my wife and 3 friends for June! Beyond excited and can't wait.
Yes it's expensive. Yes I'm a huge Disney parks fan. No, I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan. But it seems like an incredible and immersive role playing experience.
With the 5 of us adults, it comes to just under $1,500 per person. Not cheap by any means, but we found it doable. My wife and I are DVC members so we're getting a studio room for everyone the night before, and hopefully we can fly on points.
We originally wanted to do January but it took so long for them to release bookings that we decided to take more time to both save up and plan for it.
The booking process was nuts - a 40 minute call to get through all the details and ask all my questions, but then I ran out of time and had to call back for another 30 minutes to start from scratch and book. No internet booking (I suppose they want to hide pricing as much as they can).
I tried to find the cheapest booking that would work for us all, so sharing the pricing quotes I received here. This is for 5 adults in a regular cabin.
View: https://imgur.com/a/nnaMWH0
Bookings opened for 2023 through September and I finally booked with my wife and 3 friends for June! Beyond excited and can't wait.
Yes it's expensive. Yes I'm a huge Disney parks fan. No, I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan. But it seems like an incredible and immersive role playing experience.
With the 5 of us adults, it comes to just under $1,500 per person. Not cheap by any means, but we found it doable. My wife and I are DVC members so we're getting a studio room for everyone the night before, and hopefully we can fly on points.
We originally wanted to do January but it took so long for them to release bookings that we decided to take more time to both save up and plan for it.
The booking process was nuts - a 40 minute call to get through all the details and ask all my questions, but then I ran out of time and had to call back for another 30 minutes to start from scratch and book. No internet booking (I suppose they want to hide pricing as much as they can).
I tried to find the cheapest booking that would work for us all, so sharing the pricing quotes I received here. This is for 5 adults in a regular cabin.
View: https://imgur.com/a/nnaMWH0
I can't even imagine being anything less than a rabid fan and going to one of these.
Mostly because you are going to have to deal with the other rabid fans and I'm guessing influencer/youtubers trying to get their careers started by doing dumb shit and filming it
We're doing the huge $6,000 Disney trip in one month. We're staying in a villa overlooking the Savannah at Animal Kingdom Lodge, have a 4 day park pass for 3 of us, and we're going with the couple who took our leftover IVF embryos, so my son gets to go to Disney World with his brother and sister. I can't wait to see the Star Wars stuff at Hollywood Studios, but I can't imagine dedicating 2 days to Star Wars while on any sort of vacation.
I like Star Wars, but I'm a huge parks fan, love cruises, and play DnD with my friends. I think I'll have a great time.
Agreed, it's not for everyone. We're leaving the kids with my parents as I don't think it's a worthwhile experience for young kids. We rarely see friends and haven't traveled with them since having kids 7 years ago, so it works well for us! This is a bucket list type trip, not an annual vacation.
WDW is just SO expensive nowadays. Thankfully we bought into DVC in 2019 (with resale points early 2020) before the recent insane increases. Otherwise we'd stay at the value resorts or cut back on the trips. We're planning for Beach Club with the kids and my parents next August.
Have fun at Animal Kingdom Lodge! It's our "home" dvc resort and an experience like nowhere else.
Same….. we got married 10 years ago and couldn't afford it, prioritizing a house in the first few years instead 😭😭
That was SO cool. Did it twice. Mine was the borg instead of Klingons, but it was just the best. Teleporter effect was genius
Same here. Married 10 years ago and didn't have those kinds funds. I never really looked into it. I somehow got it in my mind it was 20 years . But they are 40-60 years. The value woulda been insane ahhhhhhhhh
I hope you have fun please post an update on your experience.
Yep…. Our AKV contracts last until 2057, so I'll be 70. That's plenty. I don't need to plan complicated vacations in my 70s. Also a good age where I can (hopefully) vacation with grand kids for several years before it runs out and without saddling my kids with timeshare contracts to manage if they aren't interested.
Some run out sooner - original OKW, Beach Club, Boulder Ridge, and Boardwalk all expire 2042. That's too soon for us. Riviera is 2070…and I don't need DVC contacts at age 83…. But perhaps if we're well off when the kids are older, we'd buy in for the kids and grandkids to inherit. So much to consider.
Just an fyi - the resort expiration years. https://www.dvcresalemarket.com/buying/dvc-deed-expirations/
Keep an eye on resale in the next 6months, prices have come down recently and are continuing to fall as interest rates rise.
So how much is WDW now?
I also went in 2019 with some friends of mine and spent about $2100 for a 10 day package deal (not including flight). I don't think that was too bad.
Has it gone up a lot since then? And not talking about visiting the Galactic Cruiser. I love Star Wars, but that is too rich for my blood.
Are there any Disney travel advisors that can help you plan your trip for a fee? The more I read about the process (and of guest experiences), the more I convince myself is a titanic task that I won't be able to tackle properly.
The biggest Disney travel agencies usually do that for you to some degree with no additional fee.
The park tickets are VERY expensive. A 7 day park hopper in the summer is like $700. Disney is also nickel-and-diming like crazy. Free airport transit is no more. The fastpass is now called genie+ and costs $15 per person per day, and they also offer the ability to buy fastpasses for individual rides. Hotel parking is no longer free. Restaurant and snack prices are even more insane than the past, and there's no dining plans. We love WDW but it's hard not to sound negative when talking about it recently.
Disney focused travel agents typically won't charge a fee. Good ones will do all the complicated bits too. Better ones will keep an eye out for discounts and get them applied should new/better ones come out that can work for your trip. I book my own trips as a dvc member, but would suggest Dreams Unlimited. It's the same company that runs the Dis and Disboards (biggest Disney forum). They also have podcasts and tons of vlog content.
Yeah, the friends of mine I went with in 2019 (they are more like family) also have two young girls, and the mother has stated she wants to go back again. But her husband has stated he doesn't want to until you can have the full experience again. Although that was about a year ago when we talked about it last.
I did hear about them getting rid of the dining plans (I had that as part of the package) and was disappointed to hear about the elimination of the Magical Express. Just makes you wonder if it's worthwhile now with all the changes, especially with the price increase. We all had a great time in 2019.
I got off the Starcruiser on Saturday.
Tremendous experience overall. The rooms were
Plenty nice (and we were almost never in them except for pass out completely exhausted). There is so much going on with the different threads of the story that you are slammed from 3-10:30 on the ship both days and you have a lot to keep you busy in the park (which admittedly is the "weakest" portion)
If you're at all a fan of Star Wars, theme parks (particularly WDI), immersive theatre and improv, and/or escape rooms, you will find it worth it.
Honestly after experiencing it, while certainly expensive, I don't feel like it was even close to a rip off. It's a huge (and exhausting) amount of entertainment packed into the 23-24 hours you're awake on board. If you priced out Disney deluxe rooms, signature meals, park tickets etc etc - you'd likely be spending close to that, especially if you can do 4-5 to a room. (You can get it close to 1500 per person, I think?)
Legit magical moments though if you embrace it, dress in costume, get to know people on board, continually search the ship for story threads and engage with the cast. When you're having these somewhat quiet but authentic moments with major SW characters or even with brand new characters who you quickly come to care for, it's really special.
Anyways - I wouldn't tell anyone to do this over like international travel or something, but if theatre / SW / theme parks are your thing - and you are extroverted enough or can slip into an extroverted character for a couple days, I don't think you'd regret it
Tremendous experience overall. The rooms were
Plenty nice (and we were almost never in them except for pass out completely exhausted). There is so much going on with the different threads of the story that you are slammed from 3-10:30 on the ship both days and you have a lot to keep you busy in the park (which admittedly is the "weakest" portion)
If you're at all a fan of Star Wars, theme parks (particularly WDI), immersive theatre and improv, and/or escape rooms, you will find it worth it.
Honestly after experiencing it, while certainly expensive, I don't feel like it was even close to a rip off. It's a huge (and exhausting) amount of entertainment packed into the 23-24 hours you're awake on board. If you priced out Disney deluxe rooms, signature meals, park tickets etc etc - you'd likely be spending close to that, especially if you can do 4-5 to a room. (You can get it close to 1500 per person, I think?)
Legit magical moments though if you embrace it, dress in costume, get to know people on board, continually search the ship for story threads and engage with the cast. When you're having these somewhat quiet but authentic moments with major SW characters or even with brand new characters who you quickly come to care for, it's really special.
Anyways - I wouldn't tell anyone to do this over like international travel or something, but if theatre / SW / theme parks are your thing - and you are extroverted enough or can slip into an extroverted character for a couple days, I don't think you'd regret it
That seems pretty expensive for what it is, particularly given that you're sharing this experience with a bunch of randos that'll be recording everything with their phones and whatnot. I'm not a big Disney or theme park person in general, though. I suppose you'd get out what you put in, to some degree, but I worry I'd find it exhausting (in a bad way).
Thanks for sharing your impressions! Did you and your group dress up, and did you notice "all in" people getting more attention towards unique quests?
For our July trip, it's just under $1500 each for 5 adults in the basic room.
Pretty large degree honestly. The story is going to unfold, and while the app will try to keep you involved in it, you have to want to move around the ship and find out what's happening. You have to walk into those rooms and up into the conversations with the group.
My wife and I were both in costume from check-in through the finale (we had breakfast and disembarked in street clothes). We had daytime wear and evening wear - so four total looks each.
I don't think it's entirely about clothing or not, several of the younglings who got plenty of attention were wearing street clothes and were just persistent in their engagement with characters and the characters engaged back.
However, beyond the scheduled events (and additional scheduled events that are added to your calendar due to your personal story progress) there are many interactions between characters that occur naturally during the story where you "had to be there" and some of them are privately scheduled, a character will invite his/her closest passenger confidants to meet them at 4pm to plan a major event that's happening at 4:15, those passengers will be key during that 4:15pm event, and then a debrief / celebration will follow for that tighter inner crew where another special interaction might happen.
The only way you will go to those is if you are memorable and are engaged. So I would advise wearing a costume (and if you use Disney stuff, which is very nice quality, customize it a bit to stand out), consider make-up or hair color choices, considering using a unique and easy to remember name, consider your character's basic backstory (everyone will ask which planet you are visiting from).
It is possible to play all sides and try to progress many storylines, and that may even be the temptation. I certainly did that, and still had memorable private moments in my main path and two secondary paths… but you might get even more of those type of moments by committing deeply to a path and ensuring the cast knows that's the route you're going.
Also the ship is so big and there is so much unfolding it's impossible to see it all, a couple characters I barely interacted with (honestly I kinda thought one was another guest for a good part of Day 1 😂) so try to get past the FOMO because it's impossible to not miss out on something, and instead get as deep into what you do want to be involved in as possible.
We did notice though that we were very familiar with about 40-50 of the other passengers who seemed as engaged as we were. We were talking to another family about this wondering who the other 100-150 guests in the ship were because we felt like we never saw them. Maybe they were just following stories we weren't. Or maybe they were not as engaged.
For my money I wasn't going to spend it sitting in the room. Also there's some filler activities like bingo and sabacc that are fine after 10pm or before 3pm but if the cast is out and about, I'd recommend focusing on staying with them or searching them out in the various places on board to see what they are doingz
Sorry this got really long!
I wonder how profitable it is for them…
Assuming $7,500 average per room for 2 nights, that's $136.9 million in revenue per year with all rooms booked every night (plus merch and "extra experiences"). Given the R&D, buildout, operational costs, maintenance, and (assumed) enhancements, it doesn't seem THAT lucrative for them compared to their other initiatives. But I have no point of reference for how much revenue a standard style WDW hotel brings in a given year…
Edit:
I do think that, as time goes on, the "add ons" will become more plentiful. Right now it's booze, captains table, picture sessions, merch, and normal Batuu experiences (lightsaber, droid, Oga's). They just upped the cost of the captains table by $20 a head and the picture sessions from $99 to $399. I can see them having some "pay to play" plot lines in the future, no doubt. The force sensitive path is included, but would you pay $400 for the Jedi path..? I'm sure sky's the limit.
It's really the ultimate question and I hear you on the break even/profit margin here. I am still amazed that this project was ever greenlit.
It was worth it for us as huge Star Wars fans. It allowed us to tell our own personal story within the universe. There's a price limit to that, but 4k or so combined wasn't it for us. We've got photos that will decorate our walls pretty much forever from the event. The Hollywood studios stuff was just magical as well.
I'd say taking the Star Wars fandom blinders off, it felt like I paid about double what it was worth. Some criticisms:
- I found the food to be absolutely terrible sans breakfast. Which is awful given you're trapped in that environment. If you've ever been to all the Disneyworld parks and eaten at a few different locations, then you know you're in for some bad eating, and it should be no surprise that it's the case at Starcruiser. Shrimp cocktail dyed blue, pre-cooked steak that while medium rare, clearly was either gently reheated or had been sitting for a while before service (given it was warm to touch), also piss poor seasoning.
- Should have been an open bar all the way around for the prices paid. Or at minimum, a large quantity of free drinks per ticket (5 per day?). Not to encourage drunkenness at a family event, but still.
- As much as I appreciate the immersion of the rooms, for the price paid they are pretty shit. I'd compare it to a standard Holiday Inn economy room jazzed up with stuff to make you feel like you're in the Star Wars universe. In reality, it should feel like a prestige hotel stay jazzed up to make you feel like you're in the Star Wars universe.
- Timing cuts itself pretty tight with the missions. Didn't get to experience everything.
- No real free loot. Some custom shirts, maybe a couple of free photos (you need to pay for pro photo package), hell, anything would be nice to take with you out the door outside of your badge watch.
- No discount for Batuu experiences (Lightsaber building, Droid building).
- No real after hours energy. Would have been nice to have things really open up at night with a DJ, dance floor, open bar, a bunch of sabaac tables brought out, etc to get to know your fellow guests without the pressure of the timed mission structure.
The good:
- The Halcyon is dope AF in general, sans the disappointing rooms.
- The missions/rpg structure is just a lot of fun.
- The engineering and custom software for a bunch of things was wild. Without spoiling, the level of interaction with the ship in general was incredibly immersive and impressive.
- Fast passes for Batuu.
- Energetic cast. We loved the Imperial Officer.
TLDR: The price gouging is real. They are definitely taking advantage of the wealthy and or your Star Wars fandom. That being said, still something to experience for huge fans. Would not recommend it for tepid fans of the series unless you make enough money for it to be a fairly casual expense. Would also highly recommend your first visit to Batuu be as part of your Starcruiser visit. The magic of the trip from the Starcruiser to Batuu, paired with being there for the first time and experiencing something like Rise of the Resistance is really special.
Hotel Aspects (lodging, food) : Terrible tbh.
Entertainment aspect: Quite good, but could be improved.
Immersion: Terrific.
I'd say taking the Star Wars fandom blinders off, it felt like I paid about double what it was worth. Some criticisms:
- I found the food to be absolutely terrible sans breakfast. Which is awful given you're trapped in that environment. If you've ever been to all the Disneyworld parks and eaten at a few different locations, then you know you're in for some bad eating, and it should be no surprise that it's the case at Starcruiser. Shrimp cocktail dyed blue, pre-cooked steak that while medium rare, clearly was either gently reheated or had been sitting for a while before service (given it was warm to touch), also piss poor seasoning.
- Should have been an open bar all the way around for the prices paid. Or at minimum, a large quantity of free drinks per ticket (5 per day?). Not to encourage drunkenness at a family event, but still.
- As much as I appreciate the immersion of the rooms, for the price paid they are pretty shit. I'd compare it to a standard Holiday Inn economy room jazzed up with stuff to make you feel like you're in the Star Wars universe. In reality, it should feel like a prestige hotel stay jazzed up to make you feel like you're in the Star Wars universe.
- Timing cuts itself pretty tight with the missions. Didn't get to experience everything.
- No real free loot. Some custom shirts, maybe a couple of free photos (you need to pay for pro photo package), hell, anything would be nice to take with you out the door outside of your badge watch.
- No discount for Batuu experiences (Lightsaber building, Droid building).
- No real after hours energy. Would have been nice to have things really open up at night with a DJ, dance floor, open bar, a bunch of sabaac tables brought out, etc to get to know your fellow guests without the pressure of the timed mission structure.
The good:
- The Halcyon is dope AF in general, sans the disappointing rooms.
- The missions/rpg structure is just a lot of fun.
- The engineering and custom software for a bunch of things was wild. Without spoiling, the level of interaction with the ship in general was incredibly immersive and impressive.
- Fast passes for Batuu.
- Energetic cast. We loved the Imperial Officer.
TLDR: The price gouging is real. They are definitely taking advantage of the wealthy and or your Star Wars fandom. That being said, still something to experience for huge fans. Would not recommend it for tepid fans of the series unless you make enough money for it to be a fairly casual expense. Would also highly recommend your first visit to Batuu be as part of your Starcruiser visit. The magic of the trip from the Starcruiser to Batuu, paired with being there for the first time and experiencing something like Rise of the Resistance is really special.
Hotel Aspects (lodging, food) : Terrible tbh.
Entertainment aspect: Quite good, but could be improved.
Immersion: Terrific.
I think you underestimate how wildly profitable every single hotel room at WDW is for Disney.
I don't agree with a lot of this, but I do think that unless you strongly enjoy Star Wars, Disney Parks / Inagineering, Immersive theatre / improv, you may not find the value in it.
I personally thought the food was pretty good. I had a couple overcooked dishes on night two, so it could be a YMMV situation. I definitely think the buffets were best right when they opened though. Compared to everything else I ate last week, Starcruiser's food was up there. It's not Jiko, or Tiffins or Le Cellier level but I was honestly pleasantly surprised.
But like the idea of experiencing everything? Just not even remotely possible. It's designed for you to not see most of everything. You develop an amazing personal story but you also miss out. Like I was hyper engaged and I hardly interacting with Sammie and I thought Sanjo was a passenger for a long time 😂
I also think the rooms are in line with deluxe cruise ship rooms, and both the viewport and in room droid are wow features. I literally was only in there to change and sleep so I wasn't really offended by room quality. I understand where you're coming from that there could be a value disconnect given the cost
And I think depending on when you cruise (high season pricing) and how many people in the room (cost is much higher for 1-2 people vs 5) can effect that value too. On low season sailings you can be in the 1500-2400 dollars per person range:
Considering that gets you
2 nights Deluxe Disney resort accomodation
1 Park ticket
2 individual lightning lanes
1 magic band
1 pin
2 signature dining meals
4 buffet meals
1 in park meal (including an alcoholic drink)
Unlimited snacks in sunlight Lounge and Grab and go
Unlimited non alcohol drinks on board, Water on Batuu
Free transfer / parking
2 30 minute Disney events (Lightsaber training and Bridge Training)
2 nights of a 7ish hour immersive theatre experience
That all, at Disney prices for similar experiences (and the immersive theatre aspect is the hard one to price) adds up to me to make me feel like the price isn't "gouged"
It's high, it's very expensive, it's hard for me to recommend it over any sort of major international travel someone could do. However I think it's relatively fairly priced for what it provides, it's just aiming for a very niche market
I just think I'd be better off spending that money on Disney property on one of those bungalows at the Polynesian for a few days. But I'm also glad that people are finding value in it for what it is.