New permit information is shedding new light on the scope and scale of the work taking place within the former Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel building at Walt Disney World. Permitting info obtained by BlogMickey.com indicates that the work taking place within the building will be extensive, and that there will be little left of the highly immersive Star Wars live theater space and hotel rooms when the work is complete. Here’s what we know.
Starcruiser Demolition for Transformation Into Office Spaces
The first thing worth noting is that the permit information not only lists the “Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser” as the location, but it also lists the hotel address. Additionally, the codename for the work is “Project H”, which has been the name for the Star Wars hotel project since the first permits were filed back in 2018.
Rumors of the transformation of the Starcruiser building into office spaces began back in January of this year. Since then, the local Fox station reportedly confirmed the report, but Disney remained silent when BlogMickey.com inquired multiple times about the rumored conversion into office spaces. Affected Imagineers were reportedly told that they would be taking over the former immersive hotel venue in October 2024.
Since early this year, news on the Imagineering takeover of the Galactic Starcruiser has been quiet. That is, until we wrote about the start of construction to transform the space back in late September. Now, we have more details about the planned transformation, including our first confirmation that the space will be used as office space. Here’s the latest!
New permit data obtained by BlogMickey.com calls for the “demolition and reconfiguration of existing space for use as an office”. Work includes changes to interior partitions, finishes, toilet rooms, and emergency systems.
At first, Disney fans were wondering what the space would look like following the transformation. Would the gorgeous atrium seen above continue to look like a Star Wars-themed luxury cruise ship? Unless photos leak from inside the space, we may never know for sure, but the new permit info seems to indicate that the space will be completely reconfigured, and that there will be very little from the former Star Wars-themed experience when the work is done.
In fact, Disney says that there will be “few exceptions for historic value” when demolishing and reconfiguring the space. Disney says that beyond those few exceptions, the building will be “completely reconfigured for its new use” as Imagineering offices. Disney says that they will repurpose the existing building systems and augment where required by code.
In total, it sounds like a lot of the Starcruiser theming and immersive elements will be removed to support the transformation of the space into project offices for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Back in June 2023, fan-favorite executive Josh D’Amaro said that “something will happen” with the Galactic Starcruiser, giving fans of the immersive experience a little bit of hope. As it turns out, that was not the case.
I’ve long held the thought that the Starcruiser wasn’t a failure as long as Disney was able to make something out of it, but it looks like that’s not going to happen under D’Amaro’s leadership. There will be no encore for the Starcruiser. Instead, the highly-themed space will be used as offices. Imagineers will get to dream up new experiences for guests from within an office that sits in a space that represents a failure.
Simply put, the Starcruiser deserved better from Disney. The price point proved to be unsustainable, but the experience was unforgettable. I was fortunate enough to experience the Starcruiser multiple times, and it represented the best of immersive Imagineering and themed entertainment every single time. It was the culmination of what immersion could be and should be, and Disney let it fail. It’s unfortunate that D’Amaro, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Walt Disney Imagineering, and teams at Walt Disney World were unable to find a creative solution for the space.
The Starcruiser, for all its faults on pricing, was exciting for fans of themed entertainment. It was the most ambitious project that Imagineering had taken on in decades, and it was an example of Imagineering taking the lead on the immersive theater concept on a scale that hadn’t been attempted before. In many ways, the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser was the canary in the coal mine for modern Disney and Walt Disney Imagineering. As it turns out, the canary is dead.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
I was always hoping to someday experience the Galactic Cruiser Hotel as it looked so promising and awesome but now my heart just breaks into a million pieces ! Why so greedy and short sided Disney ?! You used to make some good calls and quality family fun but since you’ve gotten your grubby hands on Star Wars you’ve really screwed up, especially for not following through with it’s own creator George Lucas by using his script for 7,8 and 9 !
Why not reopen it as a more affordable deluxe hotel minus all the immersive character interactions? What a waste! But cool themed workplace for the imagineers!
It seems like they could have located a more economically-built Star Wars hotel alongside this facility and then have a resort-stay package that included 5 nights (or whatever) at the less ambitious hotel and then they move your luggage over to the Star Cruiser for one unforgettable night.
They could have put the CARS ride & VILLAINS land that D’amaro and co. are currently ruining Liberty Square and Frontierland for here (as well as many other places on property). Disney management is in utter chaos and has been for several years now. Anyone that’s on the outside of the company watching can see. Look at the stock price the last twenty years. They waste money on the same failing movie formulas over and over. Make expensive, unwanted, un-neccesarry changes to the resorts (Fort Wilderness, Polynesian, etc.). Make it difficult and prohibitively expensive for their most loyal “bread & butter” visitors to come to the parks (ended “Disney’s Magical Express”, ended FAST PASS included with park ticket purchase and annual pass, endless constant up charging…). Time for a massive vote of NO CONFIDENCE for the whole board.