ORLANDO -- Disney's Star Wars-themed hotel, Star Wars:
Galactic Starcruiser, will open here in 2021.
Ann Morrow Johnson, Walt Disney Imagineering's executive
producer and creative director, announced the opening date during a media event
Tuesday night.
The hotel will offer a cruise-like experience, as guests
will arrive for two-night itineraries aboard the Halcyon. Guests will take a "Launch
Pod" to the hotel, where they will have personal adventures through both
onboard activities and an excursion to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in Disney's
Hollywood Studios.
Johnson unveiled new renderings of the hotel, including the
terminal where guests will arrive on the ground and the interior of the Launch
Pod transport that will whisk them to the Halcyon.
She also gave a taste at what guests can expect "on board"
the hotel: droids, an alien crew and windows with views of space. Activities
will include lightsaber training, tours of the bridge (that may or may not
devolve into space fights with guests taking the controls), and visits to "secret
parts" of the ship like the engineering room.
Disney also announced several other opening dates on
Tuesday.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, a new attraction in
the Chinese Theatre that formerly housed the Great Movie Ride, will open next
year on March 4.
In Epcot, three new films will debut on Jan. 17, 2020: "Beauty
and the Beast Sing-Along" in the France pavilion; "Canada Far and Wide in
Circle-Vision 360" in the Canada pavilion, narrated by actors Catherine O’Hara
and Eugene Levy; and "Awesome Planet" in the Land pavilion.