The secret technology behind Disney’s new Star Wars hotel
Star Wars fans have been given their most tantalising look to date inside the forthcoming new Galactic Starcruiser hotel at Walt Disney World, Orlando, that will take them deeper than ever before into a Galaxy far, far away.
The Starcruiser will be Disney’s most creative hotel experience when it opens in late 2021, delivering a vivid and hands-on immersion in the world of Star Wars with the use of innovative technology led by a series of new patents.
While guests will arrive via the usual terrestrial means of car, bus or taxi, they will then be enveloped in the latest simulation gadgetry, whisking them into ‘space’ for a two-day voyage among the stars. Guests will be transported by a ‘launch pod’ to the ship, where their cabins will have ‘space views’, they will be allowed to visit the ‘bridge,’ and can take part in special missions for either the First Order or Resistance.
The two days will include a chance to ‘visit’ the Planet of Batuu (as the hotel is situated behind the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge section of Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park at Walt Disney World), with a simulated journey to the planet’s surface.
The latest technology that will be used to bring all this creativity to life aboard the Starcruiser has now been revealed, as Disney has been issued with three futuristic patents this month, each highlighting key aspects of the onboard experience.
One patent is listed as an “Image generation using a spinning display and blur screen,” which would be used to create hologram-type images that can interact with guests, notably in the Silver C Lounge, where a Disney artist’s image shows guests playing a sci-fi table game. Star Wars characters, like Rey and Chewbacca, could also be introduced in this way, too.
Another is patented under “large-scale infinity optics window for use in small facility packaging applications,” which goes on to outline a new method for displaying “a window or portal that can be mounted within the wall of a facility.”
This would effectively provide the Starcruiser with all its external observation ports, fully synchronised to show a ‘live’ streaming view of intergalactic space from different points throughout the ship.
The third patent is potentially the most exciting, as it details a system for creating a new kind of drone show that Disney experimented with at the opening of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge area in 2019 but has not repeated since.
It is described as a “themed aerial vehicle entertainment platform for providing dynamically-coordinated show,” and would be the most advanced use of “ground to air unmanned aerial vehicles” Disney has ever attempted. It could be part of a new show for visitors on Batuu, putting X-wing fighters into the ‘live’ space experience, or something to entertain guests on the space ‘transport’ to the planet.
These latest revelations are all part of the steady drip-feed process that the company has used since initially unveiling the Starcruiser in 2017, a near four-year journey of growing anticipation and excitement, especially for avid Star Wars followers. Though there are other hotels influenced by the franchise, this will be the first of its kind.
The basic concept of a complete Star Wars-themed hotel was announced first, but then it was two years before more substantial detail emerged, with news that the ship would be called the ‘Halcyon’ and it would be a full two-day experience, very much like taking a cruise.
Guests will all embark on the same day and disembark together two days later, staying within the hotel's confines for the entire period, albeit allowing for a day-trip to Batuu and the chance to enjoy the shops, dining and attractions of the 20-acre Galaxy’s Edge section of the park, including Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and the massively high-tech ride, Rise of the Resistance.
More details then emerged, including some of the activities aboard the Starcruiser, which will include learning to use a Lightsaber with a training droid like the one in Star Wars: A New Hope that tested Luke Skywalker, and a trip to the bridge, where guests will be able to operate the controls.
The 94 regular cabins will sleep a family of four, with “space bunk bed pods” for children, while the six Captain’s Cabins will be more spacious. All will have the patented infinity optics windows for ‘space views’ instead of normal windows.
Disney has yet to provide any information on the main restaurant, with dinner show entertainment, or the Cantina, but these are expected to build on the dining options in Galaxy’s Edge, where a series of regular dishes have been cleverly disguised with names like Ronto Wrap (effectively a pork doner kebab) and Fried Endorian Tip Yip (crispy chicken).
The other remaining mystery surrounds the element of pricing. This will clearly be a premium experience at Walt Disney World and, with only 100 rooms to fill every two days, the rates are likely to be more like an upmarket cruise than a typical hotel. Having said that, there is still likely to be a Star Wars fan stampede of epic proportions when booking is finally opened later this year.
