“Who’d spend $US6,000 (A$8,227) to stay at Disney’s Star Wars hotel for and LARP for two nights?” we all asked, ready to be cut down by our hubris like Anakin Skywalker slicing his way through younglings. Turns out the answer is a lot of people.
Revealed during today’s Disney FY2021 earnings call for shareholders, Disney CEO Bob Chapek confirmed that Walt Disney World’s Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser has been “virtually” fully booked out for its first four months of operation. The hotel is set to open in the spring of next year, and only has roughly 100 rooms available at a time. Still, considering you can only stay for two days as part of its curated experience that asks you to balance being in a hotel with trying to be a Star Wars character (in a hotel) swept up in the franchise’s grand galactic conflict (relatedly also happening in a hotel that’s a spaceship, of course), that’s a lot of bookings already. A lot of expensive bookings, as said two-night stay costs anywhere between $US4,800 (A$6,582) and $US6,000 (A$8,227) for guests to get on board.
Considering that Disney fully expects people to somehow also just book a regular Disney park vacation around their stay at Galactic Starcruiser, any potential trip is going to cost a prettier penny than even most Disney park excursions, which meant the pricing announcements earlier this year were met with some significant derision. Deride as we might however, there’s a reason Disney is as mahoosive as it is: if it sells it, there will be people who will absolutely cough up for it.
You really are just gonna have to read that comic book and wait. At least it’ll be cheaper, as is wishing like Rose Tico that we could put our fist through this whole lousy, beautiful town. Spaceship. Hotel-spaceship.