Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Sells Out All Dates
After announcing that Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will permanently close in Fall 2023, Walt Disney World reopened bookings and quickly sold out all remaining voyages. This covers official statements and details, plus commentary about how it was able to sell out and whether that offers hope for the future.
In case you missed it, the final voyage for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will take place September 28-30, 2023. In announcing the closure, Walt Disney World indicated that it’s “so proud of all of the Cast Members and Imagineers who brought Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser to life and look forward to delivering an excellent experience for Guests during the remaining voyages over the coming months. Thank you to our Guests and fans for making this experience so special.”
“Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is one of our most creative projects ever and has been praised by our Guests and recognized for setting a new bar for innovation and immersive entertainment. This premium experience gave us the opportunity to try new things on a smaller scale of 100 rooms, and we will take what we’ve learned to create future experiences that can reach more of our Guests and fans,” Disney shared in a statement.
When the above announcement was first made, it resulted in Walt Disney World necessarily cancelling the reservations of guests booked on Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser between October and December 2023. As a result, the company paused new bookings for Starcruiser and contacted guests with previously-booked reservations for voyages departing on or after September 30, 2023 to discuss their options and modify their plans.
As a guest recovery measure, those previously-booked guests were given the opportunity to move to an earlier Starcruiser voyage at a discount of up to 50% off. Presumably, a good number took Walt Disney World up on that offer, because the final voyage of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser sold out even before general public bookings resumed.
Disney also ended all discounts for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser before general public bookings resumed. This included the 50% off discounts for Cast Members, as well as 30% off discounts for Annual Passholders and Disney Visa Cardholders. There was also a special offer for $700 off Deluxe Resort stays booked as part of a Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser vacation package. All were cut short prior to general public bookings resuming.
When general public bookings did restart for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, fans flooded the phone lines to get a chance at booking their preferred dates. Many, if not most, guests had difficulty getting through when calling (the only way to book Starcruiser) and were met with an “all circuits busy” message.
Some superfans reported having to call back several times to actually get a spot in the phone queue, and after waiting in hold for a lengthy amount of time, were told that their preferred voyage dates were already sold out. Others indicated that they were advised to “call back later” because the system was overwhelmed.
It sounds like a scene more out of Free Dining drop days than of a ‘failed’ full-priced interactive experience.
Those who did heed the call center’s advice and try again later almost assuredly were not able to book. Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is now unavailable for new bookings, having sold out all remaining voyages in only a few hours.
According to Walt Disney World, availability is still subject to change and a very limited number of rooms could become available for new bookings from time to time. They advise continuing to check the website for any updates to availability. (The actual availability calendar has been removed, so calling is probably the best course of action. Perhaps first thing on Tuesday morning when the dust settles after the holiday weekend.)
As we wrote previously in our commentary to Walt Disney World ending Starcruiser special offers early, it selling out all remaining dates is completely unsurprising. Although Walt Disney World had difficulty filling voyages even at 30-50% off, there has also been no sense of urgency among potential guests.
The first ‘category’ of guests who booked the remaining voyages through the end of September 2023 are the first-timers. We’ve heard from many Walt Disney World fans who have indicated that they’ve been waiting for better deals, erroneously assuming that the prices would continue to fall if bookings remained soft. Others simply hadn’t found the time or budgeted for Starcruiser yet. All of these folks would now have a firm deadline for booking Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, and that undoubtedly pushed some off the fence–even if it meant having to pay full price.
Then there are the diehard Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser superfans. It’s common criticism within the Walt Disney World fandom that unpopular experiences don’t gain a following until Walt Disney World announces they’re closing, and then they’re suddenly beloved. This sentiment is stupid. It should go without saying, but something can be unpopular with the general public and have a fan following. (It’s like these critics have never heard the term “cult classic” or don’t know what it means.)
Even Stitch’s Great Escape played to packed houses on its final day. Ellen’s Energy Adventure, the random exhibits in Innoventions, Camp Minnie-Mickey, and more all surging crowds prior to closing forever. This happens with just about anything Walt Disney World has ever closed. When Dino-Rama finally goes extinct, there will be a crowd on its final day to mourn the “loss.” You better believe that I’ll also be there, just to make sure it actually closes.
There’s also the reality that Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is no Stitch’s Great Escape. While it has polarized the fandom and there are no shortage of people who will be attending the funeral just to make sure it’s still dead, Starcruiser has a group of ardent adherents. Many of those who love it…really love it.
This includes just about anyone who has actually done it. As Walt Disney World has pointed out, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser was an unprecedented achievement, receiving widespread praise and recognition throughout the themed entertainment industry, winning some of the industry’s highest honors. Starcruiser also has received some of the highest guest satisfaction ratings in the history of Walt Disney World from the thousands of guests who have experienced it firsthand.
This is also not surprising. If you’ve read our various posts about Starcruiser this year, you’ve probably seen the repeated references to its excellent guest satisfaction scores. Many of you didn’t believe this, presumably preferring the narrative that everyone hates it. That’s probably true in the broader Star Wars and Walt Disney World fandoms. The degree to which Starcruiser has inspired anger and contempt–rather than indifference–is relatively unprecedented. Suffice to say, Starcruiser has produced passionate responses in both directions.
In any case, the small-but-loyal diehards coupled with the fence-sitting first-timers should explain how Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser sold out all of its remaining voyages so quickly. They had a sense of urgency and a firm deadline for setting foot aboard the Halcyon for the first or final time, and between that and the capacity-constrained nature of the Starcruiser, spots filled up fast.
Nevertheless, the speed with which this happened is slightly impressive. Saying farewell to Starcruiser is different than Stitch’s Great Escape, because there’s essentially zero cost to the latter. That final day audience was probably almost entirely local Annual Passholders, plus a few first-timers who inadvertently stumbled upon the attraction and were confused by the fond farewells. I’d hazard a guess that almost no one loved that enough to buy a plane ticket or single-day park ticket to say goodbye.
By contrast, Starcruiser superfans are rearranging their vacation schedules and dropping several thousands of dollars on short notice to bid adieu to it. That’s dedication, and speaks to the lasting connections made and way the experience resonated so strongly. (We loved Starcruiser…but not enough for a full-price farewell!)
On social media, we’ve already seen some Star War: Galactic Starcruiser faithful openly wondering whether Walt Disney World might extend the Halcyon’s run “by popular demand” after seeing these bookings. After all, there’s clearly enough demand to fill cabins through at least the end of 2023, and probably until the Starcruiser’s 2nd anniversary in March 2024. Heck, maybe even beyond that. So…how does this spike in demand change the equation for the future of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser???
We don’t want to give anyone false hope or fan the flames on this wishful thinking. The strong demand for the final few months almost certainly does not change a thing. Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will permanently close at the end of September 2023, and will never reopen. This wasn’t a ploy to juice demand; there is no “by popular demand” pivot for Starcruiser.
Again, we discussed all of this in our commentary to Walt Disney World Taking Up to $300 Million Loss on Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser. That was published while bookings were paused, and predicted that all remaining voyages would sell out. We actually took that a step further, saying that “the same would’ve probably been true if that end date were December 31, 2023. Heck, a farewell season with a telegraphed end date would’ve probably made Starcruiser viable through mid-2024. And that’s without discounts.”
We’re not patting ourselves on the back for a good prediction. This one was obvious to anyone who pays attention given the fan following of Starcruiser, past closures seeing spikes of demand at the end, and the limited capacity nature of the experience. If it was obvious to us, it was also obvious to Walt Disney World. They aren’t great with data and analytics (see greenlighting Starcruiser in the first place), but they’re good enough to know this.
What this says is that Disney just wanted to wash their hands of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, take the write-offs this fiscal year, and move on. For whatever reason, those write were more advantageous than letting the Halcyon have a proper “farewell” season and capturing as much revenue that way. Stated differently, taking a $300 million loss was deemed better than continuing to operate Starcruiser into the next fiscal year.
That’s kind of mindblowing when you consider just how much the full-priced voyages cost for October through December (lots of peak holiday dates in there!), but it should reinforce the reality that Starcruiser was also ridiculously expensive to operate. Contrary to what some Walt Disney World fans believe, this venture was not insanely profitable.
This reminds me a lot of an episode of Seinfeld during which Kramer tries to convince Jerry to claim that his stereo was broken during shipment: “Jerry, all these big companies, they write-off everything.” To which Jerry responds, “you don’t even know what a write-off is.” The two eventually concede that neither of them understand the financial impact of write-offs, illustrating a misconception among consumers that write-offs don’t cost companies anything. Except in this case, there’s a weird kernel of truth to that $300 million write-off for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on all remaining Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser voyages selling out at full price within only a few hours? Think this actually might give the company pause, and consider pushing off its closure until 2024? Surprised that the $300 million write off this fiscal year is more ‘valuable’ than the revenue from fully-booked, full-priced voyages? Still somehow convinced that the company will convert Starcruiser into a regular resort or reopen it as something else? Expect some of the tech to move over to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We try so so hard to book… but nothing… more than a 100 calls and the answer was “sorry all voyages are taken, keep trying and don’t loose hope…” we won’t… hopefully they will reconsider and extend or never close. Thank for the blog Tom, big fan.
If we, by chance and luck, had already happened to book a 2-person September voyage with the Disney VISA discount, do you think they would let us add 1-2 people to the room with the same discount…?
(Thanks for the heads-up on that discount, Tom!!)
I saw someone try to do this on the Starcruiser Facebook group, and they said that if you add more people then the discount drops. Might be worth calling to ask, but that does track.
I’d be really disappointed if I booked a trip on the Starcruiser and couldn’t get that SK-620 action figure. I hope they made enough for everybody who wants one, and that they don’t ALL get bought up by ebay sellers before 9/30.
They have thankfully already re-initiated purchase limits on all merchandise. No idea what will actually happen with supply though…
I was fortunate enough to also realize (after 89 busy dialtones) that I needed to call the regular booking line, and thus ended up on the ‘antepenultimate’ voyage (third from last). It was a lot more stressful than I expected it to be, and then exceedingly relieving…but then I spent the last few days watching the ‘Starcruiser Suitemate Finder’ group on Facebook and am really depressed at the sheer number of people who missed out. There’s no way to accommodate all of them, and it’s a shame that there’s no way for them to experience it for either the first or the last time. I mildly feel like I got on a lifeboat on the Titanic, and am having to watch as the rest of the ship goes down with something like survivor’s guilt.
As another commenter said, the best hope at this point would be if they’re able to re-open those blacked-out voyages in August and September. I know they aren’t able to extend past Oct 1, but they *might* be able to squeeze something in there. Also interesting is that Shop Disney is still running a sweepstakes that includes a room on the Starcruiser. A lot of people are wondering how that is going to end…
“I mildly feel like I got on a lifeboat on the Titanic, and am having to watch as the rest of the ship goes down with something like survivor’s guilt.”
We’ve had similar feelings when lucking into spots at exclusive D23 events and other offerings that sell out or book up in seconds. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the nature of fandom. Also, Disney is the only party able to prevent or minimize this type of occurrence–it’s not on the fans.
Anyway, I hope you get over that feeling. I can’t think of anyone who, for lack of a better term, “deserves” a spot on one of those final voyages than you.
Also…were there blocked out voyages in August and September? I thought the reductions were entirely in Oct-Dec for some reason.
Tom – That is incredibly kind of you to say, and it does make me feel better. We’ll also be documenting as much as we can for posterity, and making sure that as many of the cast and crew as we interact with know the impact that they’ve made.
You know, I was *sure* before you asked that a bunch of mid-week dates in August and September had been blocked out, but after looking around at posts I realize now that I might have been conflating the AP discount dates with the blockout dates. There were definitely a chunk of voyages that weren’t available as of when the closure was announced, but I have no proof that those weren’t already sold out. I guess I can cross my fingers that I was right or that Disney is holding back some availability until after their sweepstakes ends, for the sake of those still looking. It’s a slim hope either way, but it’s something…
Tom, yes. We were booked for August 17-19. We booked this cruise last year right after stepping off our first voyage. Anyway, when they cut back on voyages, the one before ours (August 15) and the one after ours (August 19) were both cancelled. They have been removed from the calendar for quite a while.
i wonder if anyone will be waiting at the exit to try and be the “last one out”
I’d say that’s a safe bet!
Without even trying I was accidentally the last one off on both of my previous voyages. I don’t know how everyone else managed to get up and out so early but it was really hard to find the energy to move on that last day…
I’d imagine it’ll be worse when people intentionally linger.
Our DVP got in pretty early on the 26th so we had pretty much all the dates available except those that were already sold out. We hemmed and hawed, but ultimately landed on Sept 6th. Figure there will still be some merch available and not totally sold out and given they have a month to go they’d still fix anything that breaks. We debated on the 26th or 20th, but I was getting antsy that there’s be no souvenirs left and that the maintenance team would be mailing it in by then allowing broken stuff to just stay broke at that point. The 2nd to last sailing was tempting but was concerned maintenance may go to the wayside at that point and the vloggers would be out in full force.
I hope you’re right about maintenance and merchandise, but I wouldn’t hold my breath about either. They stopped maintaining Splash Mountain over 6 months before it closed–even the last refurbishment a year in advance felt phoned in.
Either way, enjoy your trip! Starcruiser is still new enough that, hopefully, it won’t need serious maintenance between now and closing.
Almost anything known to be “rare” or “limited” becomes a hot commodity with associated bragging rights. This is apparently no different. For example, take the new Figment AP magnets, a perk that used to be mailed out free to us annual passholders. Thanks to some brainiac at Disney, one can now only get them at WDW, in person, and only for about a month. Well, what to my wondering eyes did appear, but about a week ago, they were selling for close to $50 each on EBay, well BEFORE they were officially issued! Anyway, as Tom said, this “voyage” must have been very expensive to operate. If fully booked, its “per voyage” gross would have easily been somewhere north of a million two! Considering that, I’d sure love to know the average daily pre-closure announcement occupancy, turn around time and operating cost!
Didn’t they just mail the magnets as a courtesy during the post-reopening period? I remember having to visit EPCOT in 2018-2019 for past free magnets. The goal then, as now, was to increase AP foot traffic in the parks. (Personally, I don’t mind this approach as we often don’t get AP mail from Disney, anyway.)
Also, just because something is listed for a certain price on eBay doesn’t mean it’s selling for that price. Once the initial mania on the Figment popcorn buckets ended, those could be had for a 15% or so premium. I’d expect something similar with these magnets (just a heads up–in case anyone is actually thinking about buying one from eBay).
Tom, I remember that Disney had previously reduced the number of voyages per week… so are there “open dates” where new capacity could be added between now and September? Or did that reduction only apply to post-September dates?
I’m also inclined to agree that there’s no chance they’ll extend the closing for some number of months by “popular demand”. While they can probably squeeze more profits out of the Halcyon, there’s no way those would offset the $300 mil write off during a year where they’re desperate to improve their balance sheet.
With all the fiscal craziness happening (like removing shows from Disney+ that cost them almost zero to host) it’s surprising there haven’t been more mentions of the recent hostile takeover bid and the “war of the Bobs”. To casual observers that turmoil is old news — but regardless of the public image of Bob Iger having calmed all nerves with his sure she steady hand, the company certainly knows it’s on shaky ground with some of its board members and major investors and has a lot riding on its fiscal year 2023 numbers. I don’t believe they’d have dumped the Starcruiser (ot other employees/projects/properties) so quickly in other circumstances.
Pete, they’re still so cheap they haven’t restored the period-costumed musicians who used to play nightly in The GF lobby. How much could that wonderful contribution to the ambiance and atmosphere have cost them? Yes, they have a pianist but it’s nowhere near as nice.
If I recall correctly, that reduction was just in the new fiscal year. Back at the time that news came out, I remember hearing that it had something to do with new performer contracts. I don’t recall what, exactly, but entertainer contracts would be another impediment to extending.
The streaming content removal has become a big story in the Disney fandom, but it’s pretty small scale as compared to what’s happening over at Warners with HBO/Max. Granted, the circumstances there are a bit different with accounting rules post-M&A, but it’s a similar idea. Both part of the “reckoning” that will or is happening with streaming and a shift towards sustainability.
I had a December voyage planned (attached to a longer Christmas-season trip where I’ll be staying at the Poly) and moved it to August as soon as I could. I always figured it would be a one-and-done for me due to the cost, but that I definitely did want that one. The only real change the closure/reschedule makes for me is that having two separate trips to Disney World this year means buying an extra set of plane tickets.
But here’s the silver lining: that 50% discount for moving the reservation knocks so much off the price that even after buying the extra plane tickets, I’ll be getting a substantial chunk of change back. I’ll find out in August whether the Starcruiser is good enough to make me regret that I won’t have a chance at a second voyage, but in the meantime this whole situation has turned out to be pretty much a plus on my end.
I’d imagine most people in your position hit the jackpot–even with having the buy additional airfare (which doesn’t seem too bad right now for August/September, at least from here).
It’s everyone else who flooded the phone lines to pay full price. I have friends who would’ve had access to the 50% off CM rate, but instead found themselves paying full price for September voyages. Same is likely true with plenty of others and the 30% off discounts.
Have fun!
Three minutes and 30+ unsuccessful calls right at 7:00 convinced me to pivot and try the standard booking line. Received a quick transfer and four hours of spooky space wind later wound up with a 9/20 booking – the latest still available.
All while trying to get ready and check out of a hotel room. Good times.
Congrats!
I would hazard a guess that you hit the sweet spot–on one of the final voyages, meaning it’s going to be emotional for crew and guests, but avoiding all of the ‘influencers’ (etc.) on the final couple of sailings that might make those a bit obnoxious. (Then again, we were on the very first voyage and had zero issues with vloggers or anything–just a lot of people who were really excited to be there.)
Happenstance placed us on the fourth ever voyage, and now the fourth final. That was a great date for similar reasons and lucked me into a nice meeting and unflattering photo with Ann Morrow Johnson.
Now time to get our space pirate costumes in order to give those gift shops a final, proper looting.