A travel blogger who gushed about Disney’s “Star Wars”-themed hotel when it opened admitted that she “wouldn’t have paid” out of her own pocket to remain there — and told The Post she isn’t surprised that it’s closing.
Benét Wilson was a senior editor at travel blog The Points Guy when she was invited to remain on the “Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser” hotel for a press preview — freed from charge — ahead of its March 1, 2022 opening.
The result was a glowing review from the self-proclaimed “Star Wars geek” of the doomed hotel — which Disney revealed last week it plans to shut for good at summer’s end.
In an article that called the doomed hotel “the travel experience I waited 45 years to enjoy,” Wilson gushed over the lightsaber training, in-room tech and staff’s ability to remain in character.
Nevertheless, the 59-year-old Wilson told The Post in an exclusive interview this week that the Galactic Starcruiser did not deliver bang for the buck.
“I might not have paid to try this,” said Wilson, who now works as a contract journalist and runs a journalism fellowship program. “With the cash that it costs, I could have gone to Europe. I could have gone to South America,” she added — and she or he doesn’t mean in Epcot.
A two-night stay on the Orlando, Fla.-based hotel ran a pair $4,800 or a family of 4 about $6,000.
For those with deeper pockets, a “tricked out suite” was on offer for an eye-popping $20,000 for just two nights.
“I’ve at all times been a budget traveler,” Wilson said. “I really like to travel, but I refuse to pay ridiculous prices. And, you recognize, it wasn’t just me. Other people were saying this was a number of money for a 2.5-day experience, where you might have gone to the 4 Seasons on Disney property and it could have been cheaper.”
A mean night at Disney’s 4 Seasons Resort Orlando will run guests a median of $400 per night, while the typical nightly cost on the ‘Star Wars’ hotel is a whopping $1,209.
That’s why Wilson said she wasn’t surprised when she heard of the hotel’s closing.
While Disney tersely referred to the Galactic Starcruiser’s demise a “a business decision,” Wilson pointed to the out-of-this-world rates.
On the Galactic Starcruiser, guests got windowless lodging, meals and entry into Disney World’s “Star Wars: Galaxy Edge” park using a MagicBand that doubled as a Lightning Lane pass to avoid lofty wait times.
Beer, wine and other specialty drinks are on offer at additional costs — anywhere from $11-$23.
If guests need a photo memento to recollect their stay, a photographer is on-site for a $99 minimum.
There have been no employees on board to fulfill guests upon check-in. As a substitute, Wilson was given an iPhone 5 “to maintain up with things, to schedule the time you were going to lightsaber training and to administer your reservations.”
“There was no one saying, ‘Oh, welcome,’” she said. “Your room is in your phone and also you go about your online business.”
Nevertheless, visitors met a number of characters along their journey, including the Starcruiser’s captain, mechanic and director, not to say the long-lasting Chewbacca, Rey and Kylo Ren.
“They were really good about staying in character. Ask them any variety of personal query, it could at all times come back to ‘Star Wars,’” Wilson said.
Inside one in every of the hotel’s 100 rooms, as an alternative of ordinary windows that looked out to the hotel’s surroundings — just like the nearby Hollywood Studios — screens made guests feel as in the event that they were in starships cruising through outer space.
“You may look out the window and you’d see spaceships going by. Randomly, we’d jump into lightspeed, and you might see that within the window. It was really cool,” Wilson recalled.
When starships within the multibillion franchise traveled at lightspeed through hyperspace, they might cross galaxies in a matter of days, as shown on-screen by lights whooshing by. The identical effect was utilized in the hotel’s so-called “windows” as a part of the advertised “immersive adventure.”
“I believed I used to be going to be claustrophobic, but I used to be just do wrapped up within the story,” Wilson said of the screens for windows.
Come nighttime, Starcruiser guests are offered an early or late seating for dinner, where foods are cut, coloured and plated in a nod to ‘Star Wars.’ Wilson pointed to a memorable shrimp appetizer she had “where the shrimp was blue, it didn’t affect the taste of the food.”
It “all looked familiar, but additionally looked different,” Wilson added of the themed food. “The eye to detail was just amazing.”
Guests staying multiple nights may even reportedly be seated at the identical table for dinner.
In the event that they wish to upgrade to the top of the captain’s table within the Starcruiser’s Crown of Corellia dining room, that may be an additional 30 bucks.
Nevertheless, it’s still “the closest that almost all people will ever get to being inside a ‘Star Wars’ movie,” Wilson said of the experience.
The hotel, which has been blasted for being overpriced since its first voyage, will take its final one Sept. 28-30.
