![]() Thanks to a little Disney magic (and a hefty set of electromagnets, no doubt) I used the Force for the first time. Together, we reached out with our minds and our hearts. That’s where one of the Saja, a descendent of the Guardians of the Whills that played such a key role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, plucked me out of the crowd. What a Force trial looks like aboard the Galactic StarcruiserĪt one point, I was ushered into an open-air courtyard, a kind of in-fiction holodeck used to simulate the surface of Batuu, home to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Will you join lieutenant Harman Croy in his mission to root out Resistance forces aboard the ship? Or will you help junior mechanic Sammie smuggle aboard some stolen First Order technology? The choice is yours to make during your stay, and the decisions you make will directly impact the narrative you experience along the way - and the kinds of activities you get to do later on during your stay. The staff remains firmly in character the entire time, offering up threads of storylines that guests can interrogate and explore over the course of their stay. There are about a dozen main characters in all, including First Order members and Chewbacca. While she understands English, Ouannii only speaks Huttese, which makes communication via pantomime a joyous necessity. I also met Ouannii, a Rodian musician played by an actor wearing an animatronic mask and headdress. Standing nearby holding court with her manager, the roguish human Raithe Kole, was Gaya, a flamboyant Twi’lek singer who serves as the main act in the evening’s dinner entertainment. ![]() I first met captain Riyola Keevan, a blue-skinned Pantoran with a steady hand on the tiller and a penchant for rebellion. In spite of those flaws, it’s an experience I’ll always remember, something of a dream come true for a Star Wars fan. And the actual hotel experience of it all would fall flat without the cast of characters, a team of skilled, tireless actors who help bring this corner of the galaxy to stunning life. The price point - roughly $5,000 for a family of four for a two-night stay - puts it well out of reach for many American households. I found that the facility itself feels tiny, at times verging on claustrophobic. However, if you put in the effort, you will experience moments of profoundly intimate immersive theater. You can’t steer the story off course by sheer force of will, push the bad guy out an airlock, or hook up with a robot. The narrative isn’t dynamic so much as elastic. What we found isn’t Westworld, not by a long shot. This week, Polygon was invited to Walt Disney World for an abbreviated four-hour preview of what would normally be a 60-hour-plus experience. The media giant has spent nearly seven years developing the immersive Star Wars experience, investing millions of dollars into a new facility, novel technologies, and intensive training for its staff. Disney’s new Star Wars hotel experience, called Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, is a spectacle that’s almost overpowering in motion.
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