Disney unveils Star Wars hotel details ahead of Rise of Skywalker release
The luxury Galactic Starcruiser experience is coming to Walt Disney World in 2021.
- I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
The Galactic Starcruiser Terminal.
Disney has detailed its upcoming Star Wars-themed luxury hotel in Orlando, Florida, with the Galactic Starcruiser to begin taking guests in 2021. The "immersive" hotel experience at Walt Disney World will include "a two-night, cruise-style itinerary" with "24/7 Star Wars storytelling," Walt Disney Imagineering announced Tuesday night. The announcement just weeks before the launch of Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker.
After arriving at the hotel's terminal, guests will be whisked away to the Starcruiser in a launch pod. The windows of the pod will make it look like you're traveling through space to a "massive ship that is much too large to land on any planet."
Stays at the hotel also include special passenger transports directly to Batuu -- the park's Star Wars-themed area.
"To get from Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and back, you'll remain fully in-story as you step aboard the transport ships designed specifically for this new immersive experience," the Disney Parks blog said Tuesday. "It will connect you directly to a spaceport at Black Spire Outpost on Batuu."
Disney opened Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge earlier this year. The newest resort area launched May 31 in Disneyland, and at Disney World in August. So far, you can visit Batuu to build your own droid and lightsaber, and experience all the Star Wars-themed food and drink the land has to offer, including the infamous blue milk. It currently features just one ride: the interactive Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run, which is a similar concept to Star Tours, except that you get to help steer or repair the ship, or even fire the missiles.
The second attraction slated for Galaxy's Edge, Rise of the Resistance, is scheduled to open Dec. 5, 2019 -- Walt Disney's birthday -- in Walt Disney World, Florida, and then not until Jan. 17, 2020, in Disneyland, California. Disney is calling Rise of the Resistance a multiplatform experience, and "the most immersive and advanced attraction ever imagined in a Disney Park."
A private transport shuttle will take Star Wars hotel guests to Batuu.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens on Dec. 20 worldwide. While it'll complete the third trilogy, Disney also has untitled Star Wars movies planned for Dec. 16, 2022, Dec. 20, 2024 and Dec. 18, 2026.
To tie in with the ninth Star Wars movie, Disney also has a bunch of new destinations coming to its Star Tours rides in Disneyland, Disney World, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disney, including to the ocean moon Kef Bir.
The Disney Parks blog on Tuesday also revealed new images of its upcoming attractions Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, opening March 4, 2020 in Disney's Hollywood Studios and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, opening summer 2020 in Epcot.
