Disney’s new ‘Star Wars’ hotel includes a ‘tricked out’ suite that costs up to $20K
Disney’s new Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel, which lately has been blasted for being overpriced, reportedly is offering luxury suites that will cost as much as $20,000 for a two-night stay.
To stay at the immersive Orlando, Fla.-based Star Wars hotel, a family of four will pay about $6,000 for two nights, with lodging, meals and entertainment included. But those looking for a more spacious, “tricked out suite” can expect to shell out an eye-popping $20,000, according to a report.
In recent months, there has been fierce backlash by Disney World fans over the sky-high prices leading up to the hotel’s March 1 opening. Last December, The Mouse House scrubbed the promotional video from Twitter and YouTube, after fans slammed the lodging as subpar and too expensive.
“The ‘light saber training’ looks about as exciting as a roadside sobriety test,” one Disney watcher commented on YouTube. “It’s way too expensive,” another said.
The New York Times, which recently got a preview of the hotel, laid out some of the egregious additional costs guests can expect to pay outside of the basic experience fee.
A stay at the hotel does not include alcohol, which runs around $13 for beer, $11 and up for wine and $23 for specialty drinks, or any fun “Star Wars” themed-extras, the report said. For instance, it costs $99 minimum to hire a photographer for a portrait or if you want to sit at the head of the captain’s table in the Starcruiser’s Crown of Corellia dining room, you’ll need to cough up an extra 30 bucks.
For guests who want to really get into character, there’s an on-site hair and make up team on call, as well as a gift shop teeming with costumes. The Times said that while hair and makeup prices are still being worked out, Togruta head tails, will set you back $100 at the gift shop.
The hotel is being billed as an immersive experience by Disney, hence the high prices. You do not simply book a room for the night, but you “board” the 275-year-old space liner dubbed the “Halcyon” and travel to “Star Wars” planet and back. All “journeys” are two nights, and guests stay in one of 100 cabins.
While the astronomically high-priced cabins do not have any windows, guests will instead get a view of screens playing videos of stars, planets and asteroid showers.
Similar to an immersive theater experience like the popular “Sleep No More,” characters interact with guests during their “voyage.” According to The Times, a guest might be asked to deliver a secret message or be dispatched to the engine room to help repair a fuel valve.
In groups, guests are invited to participate in lightsaber training or thwart an Imperial attack by taking control of the bridge The two-night stay also includes a visit to Galaxy’s Edge, the “Star Wars” theme park and a supper club performance with cameos from popular characters like Yoda.
Despite gripes over the price of the hotel, so far March, April and most of June are sold out. But, it remains to be seen if the expansive project will be a success of a flop.
“People should hold us to the highest possible standard,” Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products told The Times ” I also knew what was waiting inside, that our imagineers had created a whole other level of surprise and delight.””