This isn’t Bermuda!

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away… we surprised the kids with a trip to Florida to spend a weekend aboard Disney’s new Galactic Starcruiser!

Our adventure started in Alberta: we started what the kids thought was our usual journey home to Bermuda, taking a red-eye flight from Calgary to Toronto. When we got to Toronto, however, instead of finding the gate heading to Bermuda we headed to the US departures area. The kids were somewhat confused, but were satisfied when we lied and said the Bermuda flight was sold out so we had to take an alternate route through Orlando. So far so good. One of our carry on bags needed to be tagged at the gate, so upon our arrival in Orlando we had an excuse to go to the luggage collection carousel. When all our bags started coming down the convevor, we feigned surprise / concern (“ummm… why are all our bags here?!”) until we had everything, then finally dropped the truth-bomb as Jenn handed them each a letter from the Captain of the Starcruiser personally inviting them to come aboard! After the kids overcame the initial shock and confusion they were elated – Ryley so much so that she broke down in happy tears!

We weren’t due to embark on the Starcruiser until the following day however, so we had the rest of the afternoon to head to our hotel for some fun in the giant water park and some food (maybe a quick trip to Target, too), then a good night’s sleep before our trip out into space Thursday afternoon!

Ready for Our Adventure

Jenn and I had done some research about what to expect during the weekend aboard, and the main takeaway was that – in true Disney form – this was going to be a fully immersive experience, as if you were aboard a real Starship (like a cruise ship in space, hence my using terms like ‘aboard’ and ’embark’ etc!). From what we read, most people arrived in costume, so Jenn had of course pre-arranged costumes for us (ordered them to Canada under the guise of them being Halloween costumes); I was an imitation Han Solo, Josh was a Jedi leaning to the dark side (?), Jenn and Ryley were both imitation Rey! To top it off, Jenn also found someone online that would come to our hotel room before we left for the ship to do the girls’ hair and makeup all fancy for the weekend. By the time noon rolled around we were costumed up and ready to roll; we packed the car and drove the 5 minutes to the Space Port, where we seamlessly handed our car and luggage to the valet to officially commence our 2-night voyage.

I will try to give a somewhat brief overview of our time aboard the Starcruiser; I could probably talk for days about all the little details that made this an amazing experience (there are many Youtube channels and websites out there dedicated to this pursuit!). I’ll just say to start that the entire experience was awesome and immersive at only a level Disney can achieve, from the moment you drive up to the drop-off point and have the car and luggage magically taken care of.

After a brief wait among fellow costumed Star Wars nerds, you are ferried up to the Halcyon (the ship) from the space port in small groups aboard a shuttle (elevator with realistic motion, sound effects, and screens that make it look and feel like you’re in space). Then the doors open and – wow. You’re on a space ship! Level of detail was amazing – no fake-looking painted props, but gleaming custom-built, well, everything. Windows (HD screens) looking out into space, futuristic lighting and furniture, and cool subtle signage in Star Wars’ Aurebesh language were a few things that caught the eye first. And that was just the main Atrium! The Crown of Corellia Dining room, the Sublight Lounge (hotel bar), the sleeping cabins, and everywhere in between all followed suit, it was all really excellently done. The rooms were especially cool; they weren’t overly huge (again in keeping with the ‘cruise ship’ scale) but spacious enough with lots of detail that was in keeping with the rest of the ship. The kids happily slept in large stacked cubby-like beds, and we all had a ‘view’ of space through a large window.

Welcome to the Halcyon

As we boarded right after lunchtime on Thursday, our first activity (after looking around a bit) was to eat! The food was great – always a wide selection, from simple stuff like PB&J or grilled cheese to fancy salads and other foods, all disguised as exotic space fare; for example, the PB&J was called the ‘sunflower & jelly pod’ and was round and colored green (but tasted like a normal PB&J!). Breakfast and lunch was typically cafeteria style, they had custom trays with little indentations that matched the self-serve pre-portioned food dishes. Dinners were table service, multi-course meals (served by the same server both nights to develop some rapport) with items like Bantha Beef (filet mignon), very brightly colored (green / blue) steamed Tip Yip Chicken (sweet and sour chicken dumpling), and a Felucian Shrimp Cocktail (the shrimp was blue!) as examples. Desserts were equally exotic; most everything was very delicious and fun to eat! The kids especially enjoyed the snacks like popcorn and cookies that were available 24/7!

So as far as the physical environment goes, it was mission accomplished with creating the feeling that we were, in fact, on a star cruiser in space taking a voyage. What made it next level, though, was the adventure and storyline they had woven into the experience that unfolds as the weekend goes along. Every ‘cast member’ (Disney employee) on board has a role to play, but the main characters / actors in the story that you meet along the way really make it all happen. This is what really got the kids going (and us!). The whole weekend is a sort of ‘choose your own adventure’ with a touch of an escape room vibe. How far you go in the story and in what direction (are you a rebel or do you lean towards the ‘dark side’?) depends on who you talk to and what sort of tasks you complete / clues you can unearth. The kids were so outgoing, it was really awesome – they would actively seek out the characters and talk with them, often one-on-one, getting tasks and setting off to some other location on the ship to meet with someone else. There were times I wouldn’t see anyone for an hour or longer, as we were all on varying missions throughout the ship!

The key to it all is your ‘datapad’ (an app on your phone) that acts as the main means of communication with the characters you’ve been interacting with. Through some sort of Disney magic, your interactions with them are noted and often would result in your receiving a secret message on your datapad that so-and-so (that you just met in person) has a job for you and to meet them somewhere for more info or a secret task or something. There were also terminals in certain areas of the ship that you could log into and get clues to help you move forward with your story, solving puzzles to unlock certain doors on the ship etc. Ultimately, you do as much as you want to, though, so I definitely blew off some tasks to go have a Gold Squadrom IPA and play the hologram Sabacc table with strangers in the Sublight Lounge while the kids (and Jenn) ran around gaining rank and advancing their stories.

When not busy with story clues and tasks, there are other experiences and activities as well that were also really fun. Jenn and Ryley participated in a little pop-up fashion show to show off their runway walks and costumes (both were very cute!), we learned to do various things on the Bridge of the ship in Bridge Training (moving cargo and shooting space robots), and a highlight was the Lightsaber training – both kids were quite adept with their Sabres!

The Fastest Ship in the Galaxy

Part of the story involves a day trip down to planet Batuu (the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge park at Hollywood Studios); there are tasks to complete and people to meet while on the planet! In real life this is right next door to the hotel, so you get there via another 5-minute ‘shuttle’ (some sort of bus that, again, has the video screens and effects to make it feel like a real shuttle bringing you there). The park was super cool, again no detail was overlooked (even the pop cans and water bottles sold there were on theme). Armed with our datapads, we were drawn to all corners of the park, deciphering clues etc. Plus, as guests of the Starcruiser, we all got special pins that identified us to the cast members in the park so they would also give clues, and we would get to the front of the lines for the two main rides, the Millenium Falcon Smuggler’s Run and Rise of the Resistance. Between tasks, the kids also made their own custom Lightsabers at Savi’s Workshop and then custom droids at the Droid Depot… Jenn couldn’t resist and made her own droid too! It wasn’t all rush-rush, however; we had time to just walk around and enjoy the park, Jenn also arranged for us to have a snack at Oga’s Cantina, so fun (and weird)!

Back on the ship after a full Friday afternoon on Batuu, the storylines were reaching a crescendo – though I do recall taking a time out for a bit in the room before dinner as the others continued on their assignments throughout the ship. After another quirky / delicious multi-course dinner and dessert, the story would reach a satisfying conclusion as the adventure came to a close. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that heading for bed that evening was truly bittersweet, we didn’t want the adventure to end!

After an early breakfast, it was back to earth (literally) and back to our now-substantially-less-awesome-in-comparison hotel with the waterpark to chill for the rest of the day and figure out how to safely get our Lightsabres and Droids back to Bermuda (which we did)! I know it all sounded a bit hectic and none too relaxing, but we knew what we signed up for so it was all good, we got in a little down time when we wanted, and most importantly – we all loved it, especially the kids. Ryley still says she’d love to ‘go back to space’, it was that good!

Well done, Disney, well done.