ORLANDO, Fla. — Official voyages have begun for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, Walt Disney World’s two-day, two-night immersion experience. As many people have noted, this is not a cheap ticket. Customers will spend thousands of dollars to mingle with interplanetary species and get involved in intrigue pitting the First Order against the Resistance and their allied camps. On Halcyon, considered a luxury liner starship, there also is fine dining, a lounge, lightsaber training and other shipboard activities.
For Earthlings who commit to Starcruising, there are preflight preparations ― some free, some inexpensive ― that can be made to increase bang-for-buck ratios. They aren’t required moves, but they can put future travelers in the right mindset and relieve some of the “What just happened?” syndrome.
Get to know Play Disney
Much of the onboard activity is steered via the Star Wars: Datapad located on the Play Disney smartphone app, which is used for other Disney games. It’s available before boarding. Key information about the aforementioned intrigue is relayed there as well as the individualized itineraries, which are frequently updated.
Downloading and fooling around on the app is a worthy familiarization idea, especially if there’s time and the access to try it out on activities at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the land within Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park (and site of the excursion out of Starcruiser.)
What’s up, Deck?
The Halcyon is presented as a 13-deck vessel, but visitors use only four decks. Once visitors take the launch pod from the ground-level terminal up onto the ship, they exit onto Deck 6, home of the atrium, bridge, Sublight Lounge, the Chandrila Collection store and service desk.
Decks 5 and 7 are exclusively cabins for passengers.
Deck 4 includes the dining room, lightsaber training pod, the climate simulator (translation: fresh air), engineering room, cargo hold, more cabins and the transport dock, where travelers go to be taken to Batuu for the Galaxy’s Edge excursion.
Decks 4 through 7 are connected by a staircase and elevators.
Graphics aboard Halcyon indicate that Deck 8 is the atrium mezzanine and crew quarters, and although characters and crew use those stairs, customers do not.
Other alleged decks of interest: Escape pods, trash compactors and “creature holding bays” on 2, upper airlock and crew turbolifts on 12 and comms deck and navigation deck on 13, which doesn’t sound lucky.
Face time
Among the Starcruiser crowd are familiar “Star Wars” characters (Hello, Chewbacca) and lesser-known types, including some developed for the Disney World project. Their bios have been sprinkled about and that background can enhance the experience.
On a November post on the official Disney Parks Blog, the public learned that cruise director Lenka Mok is optimistic and has a joyful soul; Sammie the mechanic is eager to prove himself; First Order Lt. Harman Croy is “ambitious and intimidating” and SK-620, an astromech, is devoted to Lenka and Captain Riyola Keevan, who is described as cool under pressure.
Since then, more info has been distributed by Disney, including that Gaya is a singing superstar (and Twi’lek); her manager Raithe Kole is a rule bender; and aspiring musician Sandro is trying to get Gaya’s attention.
There’s also going to be a comic book series dubbed “Halcyon Legacy.” The first issue includes some Starcruiser names and sights, including the D3-09 droid, Keevan, the hyperspace compass, scenes from the atrium and windows out to space shaped like today’s cabin views. (There’s also a flashback to 265 years earlier, so there’s a lot of ground to cover.)
Layers for players
There’s an onboard store off the atrium with official Halcyon gear, but clothes from the home planet are OK, too. Packing basics and layers, especially scarves and tunics, is a way to get into the spirit. Brown vests remain a Han Solo classic.
Sensible shoes are recommended. The adventure includes standing on hard surfaces, the climbing of stairs and lurking about, plus theme park time.
More traditional souvenir fare ― such as T-shirts with STARCRUISER on them ― are sold after checkout, outside at the terminal, back on Earth, if you will.
Brush up your aurebesh
Signs aboard Halcyon are most typically presented in aurebesh, the “Star Wars” type of code directly from English. It’s not an actual language. Some areas don’t have an English translation at all, and while the app features a translator, it didn’t work on everything during the media preview.
Hunting down an aurebesh guide on the internet and saving it to the phone would be helpful. One might print it out on paper, which is old-school, but, hey, it’s a long time ago, right?
More vital info — such as RESTROOMS — are presented in a stylized aurebesh-ish looking font for English that’s more recognizable. And EXIT signs are in standard USA format as the fire marshal has a very long arm of law in this “Star Wars” story.
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