What Should Disney Do with the Star Wars Hotel Building?
Not that time ago in a galaxy we call home, Imagineers dared to dream.
These masters of storytelling built an entirely new experience called Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
The immersive experience succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams…right up until the moment it failed spectacularly.
After nine months of triumph, the so-called Star Wars Hotel collapsed seemingly overnight.
Now, management faces a challenging decision. What should Disney do with the former Star Wars Hotel?
Here are a few thoughts…
The Issues with Rebooting Star Wars Hotel
Let’s start with a discussion about the flaws with the current Star Wars Hotel space.
Disney, in its infinite wisdom, created a hyper-realistic immersive experience by building a hotel without windows.
As I’ve joked many times, there’s a fine line between a $ 1,000-a-night impeccably themed Star Wars experience and an early 20th-century Eastern European gulag.
The “guests” at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser performed arduous tasks and paid Disney for the privilege.
As I describe the process, I realize how challenging a sales pitch the process was.
Disney also specifically chose not to build a hotel on these grounds.
Also, since everyone knew it was a limited engagement, the space wasn’t very large. The old version only included 100 rooms.
So, to re-theme this experience into any other form of hotel, it would need to 1) add windows to hotel rooms 2) add a pool 3) possibly expand.
For this reason, we’ll primarily consider other hotel options, but some other ideas remain possibilities as well.
Building a Home for Mickey & Minnie Mouse
Walt Disney World currently lacks a version of Mickey’s Toontown.
However, Chef Mickey’s remains one of the hottest Advanced Dining Reservations in Central Florida, as it perennially sells out.
Do you know what tourists would love? Imagine if they could spend the night in the home of Mickey and/or Minnie Mouse?
Disney could design an entire experience around the concept of members of the Sensational Six hosting a kind of bed-and-breakfast or a boutique hotel.
Similarly, Disney could redesign the restaurant space to add a character meal the likes of which we’d never seen before.
Celebrate the Villains
When Disney reopened the space on the top floor of Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, it introduced new theming.
Top of the World Lounge – A Villains Lair serves drinks and apps themed to popular Disney nogoodniks.
Meanwhile, rumors have persisted for years that a Villains theme park could populate Walt Disney World’s fifth gate. Disney recently admitted as much.
If Disney doesn’t want to build that park, it could redesign this hotel space with a Villains theme.
Guests could stay in the Maleficent room or the Scar room or the one based on the scariest Disney Villain of all, Bob Chapek.
Okay, that last one isn’t happening, but you would stay at a Disney Villains hotel, wouldn’t you?
Honor the Princesses
Think of this idea as the inverse of the Disney Villains hotel concept.
I envision something akin to Princess Fairytale Hall multiplied by Cinderella’s Royal Table.
The idea here is that Disney themes the rooms, the lobby, and the exterior based on various Disney Princesses and their heroine’s journeys.
Hopefully, Disney could allow for quick updates based on debuting stories.
For example, offering a Mirabel experience at the same time as Encanto’s release would have been spectacular.
In fact, I think this idea deserves deeper consideration…
Re-theme Regularly
Disney doesn’t necessarily go all-in on a single theme at the former Star Wars Hotel space.
Instead, management could incentivize guests to visit frequently by offering something new each time.
I envision a plan akin to Minnie’s Holiday Dine at Hollywood & Vine or the four festivals that EPCOT hosts each year.
Let’s use some specific recent examples. In 2023, Disney could have started with an Ant-Man theme, pivoted to Guardians of the Galaxy, and then added Elemental.
Other options would have included theming for The Little Mermaid and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny…or just Indiana Jones.
Obviously, Walt Disney World already includes some rooms based on The Little Mermaid, but these would have specifically tied to the 2023 version.
Circling back to the end of 2022, wouldn’t you love to see what Disney could do with an Avatar theme?
Over the next calendar year, if Disney adopted this approach, it could offer tie-ins with Wish, Elio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Marvels, and more!
Obviously, regular re-themes come with additional overhead. Disney could close the resort to repaint and re-theme as needed.
Such a property would earn less revenue due to the closures and incur more expenses due to the frequent re-themes.
As such, I believe this one’s the least financially viable, but it’s tantalizing, nonetheless.
Star Wars II – The Empire Strikes a Deal
What if Disney returned to the original premise, the pre-Chapek one?
Initially, Disney intended the Star Wars Hotel as a celebration of arguably the most popular franchise on the planet.
Once Chapek got his grubby mitts on the product, it turned into an exclusive upsell for one-percenters.
What if Disney rolled back the concept to something simpler? The pieces remain for a Star Wars themed hotel here.
Yes, Disney has taken accounting write-offs here, but it still owns this stuff. It could use the various pieces for something “new.”
I believe that the idea for the Star Wars Hotel wasn’t the problem. Instead, it was the execution.
Specifically, Disney’s decision to choose a specific timeline prevented established characters like the Skywalkers and Darth Vader from appearing.
Even the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda couldn’t visit this place. These choices weren’t good ones by Disney, something I don’t say often.
The simplest fix is to cut the price of a hotel stay here in half (at least) and rebuild the place as what it always should have been, THE Star Wars Hotel.
That’s different from the luxury cruise ship, the Halcyon, or a series of cubbyholes disguised as hotel rooms.
How feasible is this change, and how much would retrofitting the rooms cost? I can’t answer these questions.
Still, if Disney took this approach, it could yet save face with this building.
Introduce the S.E.A.
Here’s one I wouldn’t have believed possible until recently, but it makes sense.
Disney could mirror the planned theme for the Galactic Starcruiser. The hotel’s pitch called for guests to live out their own Star Wars adventure.
What if we modified that premise to apply to the Society of Explorers and Adventures (S.E.A.) instead?
Disney recently hinted that it may take that approach with the Disney Treasure. Also, Soaring: Fantastic Flight at Tokyo DisneySea does as well.
Similarly, Jungle Skipper Canteen Restaurant at Magic Kingdom has embraced the S.E.A. myth that ties together several Disney rides as well.
I sorely need to write an update about the S.E.A., but here’s one from five years ago.
Disney has hinted that an expanded theme park universe is coming.
A hotel or some sort of entertainment space based on the premise would be fun.
The drawback with this idea is that Skipper Canteen isn’t a popular restaurant.
Part of that stems from the international cuisine, which isn’t an ideal fit for the average Magic Kingdom guest.
Still, demand for S.E.A. wouldn’t be significant at the start. So, I may be suggesting this one a few years too soon.
A Very Small Toy Story Hotel
Hey, don’t laugh!
The premises of Toy Story Land and the Toy Story movies hinge on the idea of scale. What’s regular-sized to you is gigantic to a toy.
Realistically, a 100-room hotel for us would be the Burj Khalifa to Woody and Buzz.
Then again, we’d be the ones staying there, not Woody and Buzz. So, Disney would have its work cut out for it.
In case you’re wondering, the Toy Story Hotel that recently opened at Tokyo Disneyland includes 595 rooms. And the one at Shanghai offers 800 rooms.
A 100-room offering at Walt Disney World would likely seem disappointing by comparison.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!
Feature Photo: Disney