The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Hotel at Disney World opens to its first paying customers today, but last week prepared for its grand opening by inviting a host of YouTube and TikTok channel hosts along with the media to hype up the $5000 per stay accommodation. While the first reviews were mostly positive about the experience and the character actors who make the whole place come to life, quite a few reviewers all had the same nit-pick with the super-expensive hotel.

When you think of the scope and scale of the Star Wars franchise and everything in it, from its vast landscapes and hulking space cruisers, the artist’s impressions of what the hotel would look like were very much in line with that kind of mentality. Perhaps a little too much in line, as those first to experience the hotel, named the Halcyon, all seemed to be expecting something much bigger than what was on offer when it came to the accommodation side of things.

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Polygon’s Charlie Hall was one of the first to publish and laid out the issues many would echo in other reviews. He wrote:

A further short statement taken from Disney Food Blog’s report put it in a more succinct sentence. “Disney went all-in on an experience that seemingly puts only the wealthiest guests inside a windowless bunker for two full days.”

Disney’s Artist Concepts of the Halcyon May Have Promised More Than It Could Deliver, But Not In the Experience Aspects

     Courtesy of Disney

While the initial reviews of the rooms and inside spaces may leave something to be desired, there is a complete one-eighty when it comes to the actual experience itself. As that is what the Halcyon is all about, that is where Disney needed to deliver, and it certainly seems to have managed that for anyone who wants to fully immerse themselves in the world of Star Wars and forget the outside world entirely.

“The No. 1 thing that will make this experience worth it to you or not is how much you’re going to immerse yourself in the story. You have to suspend reality,” Molly McCormack of AllEars. “You have to buy into all of these things happening around you for it to be a meaningful and impactful experience.”

As some pointed out, there will be only a limited time spent in the rooms of the Halcyon, as the main stay is taken up with exploring the other areas of the spaceship, taking in the entertainment, partaking in lightsaber training and take part in missions and storylines via a smartphone app. For those who have spent years wanting to be part of the Star Wars universe, this is as close as you will ever get. However, for the $5000 price tag, unless you are willing to fully become part of the story then the cost may not be worth it to watch a lot of adults pretending they are in the middle of a sci-fi epic. As CNBC’s Sarah Whitten put it, “You have to be willing to play. Passengers get back what they put into their time aboard the Halcyon. If you suspend your disbelief, embrace the story and participate without self-consciousness, this will be a trip you and your family will never forget.”