So I’ve wanted to talk about the Galactic Starcruiser since last week but things have been pretty busy and last week I was also feeling a bit sad.
Disney made the announcement that the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser would be closing permanently after September of this year. Politics aside I understand why it’s closing, the price point is too high and the target market is too small.
When we went last year it truly was such an amazing experience that we could not wait to do it again, so much so that we began coordinating a Costume only sailing for early 2024 where we were planning on taking over an entire sailing. The plans even got as far as locking in dates with Disney. It was heartbreaking that I had to announce that after a year of planning, it was never going to happen.
Of course, my first thought was will I be able to do the Starcruiser one more time? Is there even still availability? Can I even afford it?
Thankfully I reached out to the travel agent helping us with the group sailing and discovered that it is still available and thanks to my budgeting I already had funds set aside for that group sailing we were planning so that was also not an issue. The bookings for the Starcruiser will reopen in a few days after a short closure and we will hopefully have an opportunity to go one more time.
Yes, last week I was sad for a few days but realize that it is what it is and that I am grateful that there is still an opportunity that I will be doing it one last time before it closes.
The reason why I felt a bit heartbroken is because of what the Starcruiser represented. As geeks, we daydream about our favorite fandoms, yearn to enter the worlds we love and become a part of the story. I saw the Starcruiser as a beginning. I wanted so much for this to succeed, I had hoped that Universal would try next with a similar Hogwarts experience.
It also comes back to my thoughts on Ready Player One the film and books. Will VR ever evolve to a point where we can have a truly immersive experience so we can enter the realms of our favorite fandoms?
This is why losing the Galactic Starcruiser makes me sad, it’s a setback for mainstream roleplaying experiences.
I wrote a post about this last year.