Walt Disney World took a leap into the unknown with the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. The two-night stay gave guests a cosmic experience that we hadn’t seen before in the world of themed entertainment. Unfortunately, the “Star Wars Hotel” as many called it, was apparently a bit too specialized. With that, Disney World announced that the Starcruiser will close at the end of September after it had difficulty finding enough Star Wars fans to keep it profitable. But it sounds like the resort may already be looking toward whatever is about to come next.
Attractions and experiences end at WDW all the time, but rarely does that happen without something new filling that space. Once a ride closes, construction begins on whatever ride is set to replace it as is happening with the anticipated Tiana’s Bayou Adventure right now. So are there plans to replace the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser with something else? Speaking with The Points Guy, Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro made it clear that something is coming, and it sounds like there may already be more specific plans in play. D’Amaro said:
No hints yet, but something will happen.
The Parks Chairman smiled when he said this apparently, and the fact that he specifically refused to provide any hints would seem to indicate that there are hints that could have been given. We can then perhaps read a bit into the statement to believe that not only will something replace the Galactic Starcruiser, which seemed all but certain, but that plans are already in motion.
That doesn’t mean that Disney World already knows exactly what’s going into the space. However, they may already have a general idea that is currently being discussed, designed and refined.
What comes next could be literally anything, though something else that’s also Star Wars-related would seem to make the most sense. There’s already a path that leads from the Star Cruiser to Galaxy’s Edge, as guests who stayed there had access to the Star Wars land during their time, so using it to transport guests between the two similarly themed locations would certainly work.
And expanding Galaxy’s Edge in some way would certainly be popular. A lot of the concepts that had originally been announced for the Star Wars theme park land ended up getting locked behind the paywall of the Galactic Starcruiser, to the frustration of many. Perhaps we could see some of that brought into the area proper via the newly free space.
Whatever comes along almost certainly won’t be happening too soon. The Galactic Starcruiser still has three more months of operation before it closes and, whatever comes next, even if exec know exactly what they want by then, will almost certainly take time to transform the space. Still, however it pans out, we know for sure, something will happen, and that’s exciting.