Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Slashes Voyages, But Not Prices…or Anything Else.
Walt Disney World has released Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser resort stays for the remainder of 2023, and also officially confirmed a reduction of “voyages” per week. This post shares dates & details, plus extensive commentary about why this is frustrating and not an actual solution to the issues.
The main substantive detail is that Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser voyages are now on sale for October through December 2023 travel dates. The voyage calendar has been updated online with the new availability posted for the remainder of the year, which confirms something we suspected back in January–Disney is reducing the number of weekly Starcruiser voyages.
Here’s Walt Disney World’s official statement on this: “When the voyage calendar is live, you may notice the schedule has been modified to provide two voyages per week, except for holiday weeks where we may have three voyages. We’ve been learning a lot during our first year of operation and have adjusted voyage dates to meet the needs of our guests.”
To be clear, “meet the needs of our guests” is a PR-friendly way of saying that the number of voyage dates has been reduced due to low demand for the struggling Starcruiser. You don’t reduce the availability of something that’s a rousing success. The only “need” being addressed here is Disney’s attempt to stem the bleeding and reduce loses.
This follows a couple of different discounts for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, neither of which really did anything to incentivize voyages. First came the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser “discount” released for DVC members. This was a deal in name only, as it was a low-value DVC point offer. Members would’ve been better off renting out their points and paying cash for Starcruiser.
Following that, there was last month’s special offer to Save Up to $700 on 2-Night Disney World Resort Stays when paired with Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser (see above savings chart). In our view, this was a good discount for people who already had Starcruiser booked. In other words, it incentivized Deluxe Resort stays before or after, and not Starcruiser bookings. The focus was on the wrong thing.
Finally, we didn’t cover it in a standalone post, but Walt Disney World just released Cast Member discounts of 50% off select Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser voyages. Now this actually is a good deal and one that might help fill some of the many empty rooms. The only issue is that it’s very narrowly targeted, and only a small subset of all Cast Members who are eligible could actually afford to do this pricey experience.
With that out of the way, let’s turn to commentary. Frankly, this is frustrating. Before it even opened, we predicted that Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser might struggle to find an audience once the initial wave of hardcore fans and affluent enthusiasts got their fix. We also predicted that Walt Disney World would be slow to pivot, and would quietly offer targeted discounts to Cast Members and other groups to avoid publicly “admitting” that the Starcruiser was not a big success.
This perspective was hardly unique, and one many Walt Disney World commentators and fans who had ‘been around the block’ shared. So I say this not to boast that I nailed the prediction, but out of frustration that Disney did not foresee this internally, and has no apparent plans to pivot or do anything differently.
Let’s be clear: Starcruiser is struggling. If the status quo is maintained, this will only get worse over time. Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser debuted during a period of pent-up demand and free-spending consumers. Its first year largely exhausted the supply of hardcore Star Wars and Disney fans who have the money and interest in an experience like this.
Reducing the number of weekly voyages cuts costs and consolidates what demand does exist, but it doesn’t fix any underlying issues. Namely, it does not expand the audience or appeal of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. It’s a band aid approach that will simply result in Starcruiser losing less money and failing slower. If this is Walt Disney World’s only fix, then failure is still inevitable.
To that point, another prediction we made even before Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser opened was that if it failed, it would close. There are possible pivots (we’ll discuss those in a bit), but converting this building to a standard hotel is not one of them. Many Walt Disney World fans seem to assume this is a plausible or inevitable outcome. It is not.
Starcruiser does not have a laundry list of amenities that a normal guest would expect of a hotel–everything from a pool to outdoor common areas to working windows. Part of the reason Starcruiser has been such a challenge to market is because it is fundamentally not a hotel. It’s an immersive experience that offers a place to sleep.
Starcruiser is also very small. The entire thing is only 100 rooms. The scale does not work as a hotel, especially given the level of investment that would be required to convert this into a standard hotel. It would be like throwing good money after bad.
Honestly, even if Starcruiser could somehow be operated as a hotel without any material changes, I suspect it’s not viable. The operating costs of staffing and maintaining it–even without entertainment performers–might be too high given the low number of rooms. (As I’ve said before, even at present, I don’t think the margins on Starcruiser are nearly as healthy as many fans assume. Yes, the price is high, but so too are the operating costs.)
I write all of this not as one of the doom & gloom bloggers or vloggers who has an axe to grind with Disney or Star Wars. There are plenty of people who have been openly hoping for the failure of Starcruiser. I am not one of them. I’m simply trying to be cognizant of operational and economic realities, as well as demand for this experience as it exists.
To those points, I also know that guest satisfaction for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is excellent. We’re talking higher scores than just about anything else at Walt Disney World. I have heard this from multiple people with knowledge of the Halcyon, and I have no reason to doubt them. (This also comports with our Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Review, which is incredibly positive about everything except for the price.)
I have no issue calling out the many mistakes that Disney has made with this, but the actual experience is not one of them. Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser having some of the highest guest satisfaction scores of anything at Walt Disney World should be entirely unsurprising for anyone who has actually done a voyage.
For those who haven’t, it’s an incredibly well-done, memorable, and personalized experience. Everything about it is amazing. You become emotionally invested in the outcome of the storyline and the whole thing is just immensely satisfying. Walt Disney World has had its hits and misses in recent years, but this delivers in just about every regard. Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is classic Walt Disney World–a true triumph of Imagineering.
The main problem, of course, is the price. (For more thoughts on this expensive pricing, see Is Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Worth the High Cost?) Guest satisfaction is incredibly high, but there’s just a tiny bit of selection bias there: it’s surveying those who could afford to do Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. Not polled are the ~95% of the potential audience for this that either could not afford it or don’t want to invest the time in a multi-day live action role playing experience.
Basically, Walt Disney World has something that’s awesome and envelope-pushing, but has high operating costs and even higher price points for guests. The end result is something highly exclusionary that reduces a potentially large consumer pool into a very small one.
So what’s the solution? Well, I can tell you what it is not, and that’s what Disney is doing. Again, this is a band aid approach that temporarily stems the bleeding and reduces costs. But it still puts Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser on a path to eventual closure if no other interventions are taken.
The real solution is expanding the consumer-base. This is accomplished by offering something that’s more approachable, both from a pricing perspective and also a time commitment one. It’s not either/or, it’s both. Due to the scale and operating expenses, there’s likely only so much cost-cutting that can be done to reduce pricing on the 2-night experience while still maintaining profitability. That’s fine, because price is not the only impediment to people doing Starcruiser–it’s also investing 2 nights of limited vacation time into an experience that might not be for everyone.
As we’ve suggested before, the solution is debuting ‘day trips’ aboard the Halcyon. Walt Disney World could offer 8-hour experiences that condense key moments of the storyline into a single day visit. The branching script could be rewritten in a way that hits the major high notes, basically turning the Halcyon into a boutique theme park or interactive narrative experience. (Somewhat like Meow Wolf, but exponentially more expensive.)
This shorter experience would be very attractive to some fans and also significantly cheaper. It would introduce a whole new audience to Starcruiser, and whet their appetite for even more. It could result in even more bookings of the 2-night voyage as people learn how good Starcruiser really is.
I know this is feasible and also would incentivize full voyages because I attended a partial-day preview of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser before it officially opened. It was pretty much what I’m describing above, and it left me satisfied but also wanting more. Granted, we had already booked and paid for the full voyage by that point, but I’m fairly positive that day trip would’ve convinced me to do the full experience regardless.
To be sure, that will not be the outcome for many Star Wars and Walt Disney World fans. They will book the day trips because that’s all their budget allows, and no amount of saving or skimping will change the equation on that. The 2-night experience is simply too expensive for the vast majority of the park-going public–or not how they want to spend their limited vacation time.
That’s perfectly fine. Capturing a new audience is capturing a new audience, and the day trips would be a great pivot that offers a less expensive entry point into Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser while also maintaining its future financial viability. This alone would be huge, and keep the Halcyon operational for at least a few more years.
Ultimately, I really want to see Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser succeed. That’s why it’s so frustrating to see Walt Disney World make changes that don’t fix the underlying issues, but instead allow it to circle the drain a little slower.
Frankly, I get why so many fans are frustrated by the Starcruiser and are openly cheering for it to fail. It was dumb of Disney to make this so exclusionary, both in pricing and appeal. There are dozens of ways Disney could’ve approached this so it didn’t alienate so much of the audience. Yet they opted against all of that and remain steadfast in their refusal to fix the underlying issues. In a sense, Disney will get what they deserve if Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser fails.
However, that’s not what the creative team behind the Starship Halcyon deserve, nor do the passionate performers who poured their hearts and souls into making these characters and the whole experience come alive. It’s also not what Star Wars or Walt Disney World fans deserve–and that includes those who have bashed it. There are so many fans who have done so out of justifiable frustration, but who would actually love the Starcruiser if given a chance to experience it.
At the end of the day, I don’t know if offering ‘day excursions’ to the Starcruiser in between full voyages would actually work or save the Starcruiser. But it’s certainly better than the alternative, which is trying absolutely nothing and hoping that it just magically becomes more popular even as pent-up demand is fizzling out and consumer spending is slowing.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is actually awesome, innovative, and a leap forward for the world of interactive storytelling. Imagineering created something outside the box that offered full immersion, interactivity, entertainment, and personalization in a highly-themed environment. It will be an absolute shame if more fans do not get to experience this, and if Disney scraps the millions of dollars in physical infrastructure and R&D. Walt Disney World needs to be as creative in fixing the current problems as Imagineering was in designing the experience–because there’s something special here, more people just need the chance to experience it.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on Walt Disney World reducing weekly voyages for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser? Any ideas for solutions to the Starcruiser’s struggles? Think day trips would be a good compromise solution? Would you prefer a more conventional hotel stay at a Star Wars-themed or decorated hotel? Do you agree or disagree with our advice and 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 just returned from two nights at the Galactic Starcruiser. Simply amazing, and I’m not a huge Star Wars fan! Totally agree that it is a marvel of imagineering, and the actors, crew, and dining staff put their hearts and souls into it. We are definitely planning on going back, as you could have a completely different experience each time it seems. It’s so sad Disney has apparently mismanaged this incredible project, and I wish they’d heed the advice from loyal and paying customers such as yourself. Love, love, love the idea of a daily “excursion” to Starcruiser that could be tied into a visit to DHS, a more sophisticated scavenger hunt of sorts that could tie into other Galaxy’s Edge experiences. There really is so much they could do with this experience. I hope they get this sorted so we can return in 2024!
Reskinning it as an Original Trilogy setting and it will sell. Easy as that.
The problem is that Disney has to share their profits with George Lucas every time they use his original characters. That’s why Disney is so eager to push their characters and their timelines. Not only that, actors like Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford have contractual control over their image, which further require Disney to pay them for their appearances. Its not a surprise that the OT characters that still appear are costumed characters (Chewbacca, C3P0) and puppets (Yoda, R2D2). Disney doesn’t want to sell Luke action figures, they want to sell Rey action figures. Unknown actress Daisy Ridley sold her soul to Disney for the chance to star in Star Wars sequel trilogy. Who wouldn’t?! They totally control her and the rest of her career she will be trapped in Disneys claws.
We’re headed to the Starcruiser next week and while we’re grateful to get a chance to go, I’m sad that this looks like it may be our only visit. (We were hoping for additional storylines, etc., to enjoy on a return trip in the future.) I hope the cast members aren’t too disheartened. It sounds like they’ve put a lot of effort into making this project the wonderful experience we’ve heard it is.
I think they should offer 3 day hotel bookings at a Disney resort as an add on and priced at cost (or even buy Starcruiser and get add’l 2-day stay). You choose value/moderate/deluxe and they choose your hotel from open inventory. It’s a win win where guests get a complete Disney vacay and more for their Halcyon Starcruiser expense. They could offer it at less busy times or limit the packages. I mean it’s only 100 rooms so not a huge number.
Hi Tom,
You gave a good explanation of why the Starcruiser can’t be operated as a regular hotel, but it seems to cheaper to run it as a regular hotel (with no performing casts) rather than bulldoze it. The fact that it doesn’t have a pool or outdoors or windows shouldn’t stop matters. Lots of downtown 5 star hotels don’t have that. I think it can charge the same as the Grand Floridian and people will pour into it. I mean, the thing is already built, and it’s right next to DHS. A hundred rooms isn’t a lot for Disney World, but it’s normal for smaller hotels to be that size. It can pull in $50,000 a day, which should be a small but acceptable gain, especially compared to shutting it down, which is a total waste.
You said Disney “… avoid publicly “admitting” that the Starcruiser was not a big success.” That just cracks me up.
I can only imagine that this approach will further undermine the Starcruiser. I can only imagine that the morale and the performance of the CMs can only be on the low point, and I wouldn’t book it now knowing that the thing is on its last legs. How sad is that? It’s like watching a dying animal on vacation.
This head in the sand approach seems to be Disney’s standard approach. They are not good at pivoting or developing new ideas in short order. How many new experiences/rides has Universal built/announced compared to Disney in the past 10 years? Spending hundreds of thousands on repainting a bridge just to try and create a thinly themed BayMax land, for example, rather than a new dark ride? They spent hundreds of millions on a concept that by its very nature had a limited audience potential i.e. LARPing, coupled with the extreme costs to participate, let alone operate. I don’t believe the senior executives who approved this business model sincerely thought it would be profitable long term. One didn’t need an MBA to see “FAILURE” written on the wall when this was being developed. What tax breaks and/or writeoffs were realized to give this the green light. You can only sell so many gold plated 900 foot yachts before you run out of customers, no matter what IP it’s dressd up as…
My 62 year old mom, 25 year old brother, and I (27F) did the Galactic Starcruiser last June and we’re not into the LARPing aspect at all but still had a great time. I’d personally do a repeat voyage if they introduced a new storyline. I know that’s probably wishful thinking because the investment to add a new storyline/characters would probably far outweigh the benefit. But maybe adding new themed storylines for day trips could be viable.
I like the day trip idea. Not even sure it needs to be a full 8 hours. I think if they had a 4 hour version with some activities, a meal, and a show, that would be enough. Enter and exit via the “shuttle” through Galaxy’s Edge. Toss in Lightning Lanes for Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon. Price it around $500, and it could probably do steady business…
My husband and I shared a cabin with a couple of friends and we absolutely LOVED it. The cast was top notch, and we would book it every year if we could. But going again in the near future is too expensive for our family, even though we don’t have kids and have a combined income of $400k before taxes (we live in the Bay Area and we pay rent because homes are crazy expensive). So I completely agree with Tom’s point: it’s great and guests are probably super happy with it, but the amount of people with the interest AND the actual disposable income to go is way too small to fill the rooms at this price point.
That said, I’d love to see the data modeling behind Disney’s recent choices around the Starcruiser, especially the deluxe hotel room offer (which makes the trip MORE expensive by linking it to an out-of-pocket deluxe stay, and not cheaper). Do they have data that proves we’re wrong? Are their margins SO small that they can’t lower prices? Aren’t there other demographics that would do this as an add-on (such as Platinum/Pearl/Concierge cruisers) with better incentives than a discount in extra deluxe nights? I have a lot of questions, and I’d love to have a go at their segmentation dataset. A girl can dream.
I think if you don’t start with the assumption that Starcruiser is “struggling”, then the conclusions to the question of why are they making these changes are different.
For example, you assume their profit margins are low such that they cannot lower prices, but what if Disney doesn’t see a need to lower prices because they don’t view it as struggling?
They could look at this reduction of voyages as a way to address a typically slow period for Disney.
I am the definition of who this is targeted for. Sci Fi geek (I just went on a week long Star Trek cruise which is about 4 times the cost of a regular cruise) with a large amount of disposable income. I’ve paid for experiences for a family of four that are just as if not more expensive on a daily basis than the Starcruiser. Those experiences and luxuries, however, tend to be educational or at least a real bucket list level activity or experience. The Starcruiser holds no educational value and paying the $6000 for a family of 4 in which 2/4 don’t care that much for Star Wars is tough to swallow. If everyone in my family was super into Star Wars I could justify it, but with just me and my son it’s hard. At least things like long haul biz class, expeditions, exotic travel, safari camps, luxury hotels, etc. everyone can enjoy the experience. This is just sooooo niche, that for the price it’s just so hard to justify when not everyone cares for the product and couldn’t tell a Jedi from a Sith.
I like your idea of “day trips” for a taste of the experience.
Then Disney could offer the day trippers maybe 20-25% off the real cruise price for those people who want to experience the full deal.
I can see this being marketed as a different kind of VIP Tour. Get rid of filling rooms and focus more on the experience – food, entertainment, quests, front of line access to SW rides. Then stay wherever you want with the hotel amenities that the starcruiser lacks. Even cruises have pools and real windows! 🙂
I hate to belabor the point—but the fatal flaw is that this is too expensive—even for people who CAN afford it. Lots of people who have the money, but yet cannot justify the expenditure. You can take a family of five to Europe for 10 days and spend 15K. 5k for a two day experience, no matter how immersive and awesome, is just a bridge too far. And no doubt, once experienced, many would say it’s worth it–but it’s just as easy to have no idea of what you are missing and say “Kids! We’re going to Europe this year.” I love the idea of day voyages–priced accordingly. I would be fully onboard. I hope it happens!
Exactly, Chris. Even within Disney’s portfolio, it doesn’t make sense. It’s almost the same as an Alaska cruise for two, or 30 extra Grand Floridian direct DVC points for someone who already has a contract (and these can be enjoyed for 50 years!). Beyond unjustifiable, it’s badly positioned within the possibilities of Disney experiences the same money can buy…
I’m with Chris on this one. We’ve done it once and while we can afford to and would love to do it again, it’s highly unlikely we will because there are so many other things we can do with $7K. Give us a return guest discount, an AP discount, or any real substantial discount and we’d likely come back in a second.
This may have been covered here already, but I am surprised that something this niche was ever greenlit in the first place. You don’t have to be a Star Wars fan, you have to be a dedicated fan who understands the characters and story. You have to be extroverted enough to participate in a role playing activity. You have to be able to afford the high price point. And you have to be willing to take two days out of your vacation. How many people will be in that cross section?
This does sound like a great experience for the people who do fit that profile but is anyone surprised that there are not enough of them?
As a roleplayer, I promise you there are plenty of people in the US who could appreciate the experience. The problem is almost entirely the cost. If it were half the price, they would multiply their potential market 10x it would be sold out for decades. It’s just priced way too high for most people, so even folks who really, desperately want to do it just can’t.
This makes me sad. I want it to succeed. I love Disney and Stars Wars. But, the single reason I have not booked is price. It is just far too much!
Same. This sounds like something I’d love but can absolutely not afford. My only other concern is that it might feel claustrophobic.
Having just written about it for my upcoming “WDW Hidden History” book, the similarities between the Disney Institute and the SW Starcruiser are remarkable. Both were born as corporate pet projects, both were ambitious attempts to expand the potential audience base for WDW by offering something radically different. Both suffered from confusing messaging and high cost due to a huge array of very specialized jobs required to make good on the promise. Both suffered due to WDW vacationers unwilling to take time away from their vacations to experience them outside of a select few with deep pockets who loved it. I’m not predicting the Starcruiser will fail, just pointing out that we’ve been here before.
It would be a shame to see it go, I hope they figure something out. I took a cruise back in November and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I recognize the price point keeps a lot of people out. But if they can find a middle ground, it would be packed because the experience is incredible!
I’m in the category of people who can afford it, love Star Wars, but DO NOT have the personality for LARPing. I would LOVE to stay there for a few nights if it was just a hotel, for the price of a deluxe resort, maybe with perks of exclusive early morning or late night access to Galaxy’s Edge, but the role playing thing is not going to happen. It seems like that would be a fairly easy option to offer in between the full-experience voyages.
Same here. Don’t mind paying a premium to stay in and explore the hotel but not willing to pay to be part of a play.
I wish there would be more advertisement that you don’t HAVE to be into LARPing to enjoy this! I went, and have pretty extreme social anxiety, and still had tons of fun! The actors are FANTASTIC about bringing people out of their shells, and making you feel involved even if you can’t do anything more than smile and nod. PLEASE give it a chance if you can!
I feel this is absolutely a bucket list thing that Star Wars fans should try really hard to do…once. I do share the frustration that it is nearly impossible to justify returning at that price point, and would be heartbroken if it fails.
I don’t see why they haven’t taken some of the downtime and filmed an episode of Mandalorian/Andor/Obi Wan/whatever they’re currently producing there. If more families saw it actively in the media I think they’d get an increase in bookings. Still not a long-term solution, but it’s free advertising on an already-built set.
Downtime hasn’t happened yet
I think this is a cool idea
Marketing and awareness certainly could help. Way too much of the current narrative around Starcruiser revolves around “expensive Star Wars hotel.”
The first three words of that are unquestionably true, but the “hotel” part is not. Correcting that and conveying to fans what, exactly, this is might garner additional near-term interest.
Ease of booking is another ridiculous, and IMO unnecessary this point, barrier. I want to be able to plan out an ENTIRE potential trip on the website, see my total cost, dates that would work for the different hotels I might consider surrounding a SW stay, park days, etc. Between hotel choices, park hours and reservations, ADRs, etc, Disney is already more work to plan than many other family trips. By keeping SW offline, they make it basically impossible to really get a handle on what you want to do without spending hours on the phone, calling back, etc.
Sadly, there’s no great solution to that.
Integrating Starcruiser into the online booking engine would result in a lot of affluent guests blindly booking because they want the “best” hotel…and then being shocked and confused upon arrival.
It could definitely be handled better than it is currently, but most booking solutions would just trade one problem for another.
I agree you’d get a lot of blind bookings for people that don’t understand the concept. Given they are already utilizing some staff or DV planners to book these voyages, I’d utilize them to followup and make sure the person understands what they are getting into. If it falls to a DVP then they can maybe get their commission if they continue to book. The DVPs would be put in a pool and when their name comes up they make the call to keep it even among DVP’s when booking these lucrative voyages.
Having to call someone is definitely a hinderance.
Is it possible that the outside perception of “success” and “struggling” are not shared internally at Disney?
Is it possible that the reduction in voyages have nothing to do with either of those? And potentially more to do with cost cutting thats going on across the board at Disney? Or having to do with maintenance or needing to train new CMs and rehearse away from cruises with guests on board?
Reducing voyages reduces overhead while it should maintain a similar number of guests and thus revenue
Maybe the reason Disney isn’t fixing any of the perceived problems is that they don’t see them as problems or that Starcruiser is failing or struggling.
Or maybe they do and 3 days off a week gives them an opportunity to train CMs on a new storyline or prepare for new offerings. Without this downtime, when would they train and rehearse different offerings?
“Reducing voyages reduces overhead while it should maintain a similar number of guests and thus revenue”
It also reduces the number of guests, because each voyage is capped by the number of rooms.
It cuts costs, but it also cuts revenue. If occupancy were high, they wouldn’t want to do that.
Since we know that attendance isn’t 100%, it doesn’t change the revenue unless voyages would otherwise be over 58% full
Assuming minimal losses of attendance due to different travel dates offered, moving from 3.5 voyages a week at 50% attendance, you hit ~85% attendance on the 2 voyages a week, which leaves you a little headroom so you aren’t at your occupancy cap. But you’ve reduced operating expensive by about 1/3 without reducing revenue.