Did you go to Disney as a child? My parents took me when I was young and we were Florida natives. Past my bedtime to the Christmas parades. I recently found the buttons my mom had saved in a memory box for me, I was 5,6,7 at the time before we moved out of state and honestly thought I was older in my own timeline. I continued to go occasionally with my family who had younger kids and visited in college and only cared about roller coasters and then drinking around the world before it was a thing. Fast forward to me having my own young children, and we ended up staying late and the lights on Main Street came on. I started crying, I felt an intense feeling of memories and nostalgia from my childhood, not my teen or college years. Something was deep inside me and I remembered it decades later. So to these parents who didn’t go as a child in the late 80s or early 90s… maybe your opinion isn’t everything?
Maybe my memory just stinks. I don't remember much before I was about 10. My parents took us to DL and MK when I was in my teens, and I remember it fondly. That's why I took my kids to WDW. However, Starcruiser is sorta like buying your kids a Mercedes 4 door. Sure they would like it, but is it worth it?
I never for a second thought my opinion was everything, In fact, the very definition of opinion would support this statement.
Forget the kids, I enjoy the memories of being there with my kids! If I used that standard, I would have sat at home for 10 years as my kids now in their 20's don't remember anything before then, but I have amazing memories of MY joy seeing the kids have fun all over the world!
"Waiting until they can remember it" is just bizarre advice to me.
You are leaving out the costs associated with the activities.
WDW is a trip best remembered AND enjoyed by all parties to be worth the money.
As a parent, I can tell you, for a fact, my little kids (ages 0-10) would not have enjoyed 10+ hour days at the park. When you spend that kind of money, in my opinion, you spend all day at the parks. If not, why go to the park? Do something way cheaper.
Add to that WDW is, in my opinion, about making memories. Not just yours, but memories for all participants. Seems weird to me to spend big bucks on folks who wont remember a thing.
When my kids were little we bought a travel trailer and traveled all over the southern US. Still fun for all, but affordable and enjoyable for all.
I never said do nothing, I meant to communicate to do something that price is commensurate with memories.
This weird guy again with his 'review'. He says you go in a simulator room for just 2 people and fly a spaceship in circles as part of the experience, is this true as I've not heard anything about it? He also incorrectly states that unless you pay extra to sit at the captains table, all you get to eat is pizza which is a blatant lie. Also claims everyone was asked "Would you like to sit at the captains table" as they entered the restaurant ........................ erm? He also says "If anyone ever gets video of this out there, Disney will be in trouble" even though there's videos all over about it. Says it's $50 per alcoholic drink too and $10 for a coke?
We've already established in the other Halcyon thread that the guy Doomcock is interviewing is just flat out lying ("you get a red or blue ticket that assigns you to the First Order or Rebellion"). This YouTube channel exists to feed nerdragers with clickbait and lies. This is not a valid guest report and should be removed from this thread. Funny that the the interviewee doesn't have any pictures, which in the other video, he claims they weren't allowed to take pictures or video, which, again, we all know is a lie.
You are leaving out the costs associated with the activities.
WDW is a trip best remembered AND enjoyed by all parties to be worth the money.
As a parent, I can tell you, for a fact, my little kids (ages 0-10) would not have enjoyed 10+ hour days at the park. When you spend that kind of money, in my opinion, you spend all day at the parks. If not, why go to the park? Do something way cheaper.
Add to that WDW is, in my opinion, about making memories. Not just yours, but memories for all participants. Seems weird to me to spend big bucks on folks who wont remember a thing.
When my kids were little we bought a travel trailer and traveled all over the southern US. Still fun for all, but affordable and enjoyable for all.
I never said do nothing, I meant to communicate to do something that price is commensurate with memories.
I had a fantastic time with my little kids on several trips - go to the park, back to the hotel for a long nap/swim, out for dinner and the fireworks at night. You adjust your days with them just like every other day with your little kids.
So yes, it was absolutely worth the money and MY memories are priceless.
On the subject of the idea of going when your children are old enough to remember it...
I feel like this is based on balancing expectations with the stresses of what you're going to do. Taking a <5 child to the resort is a sizable undertaking. There's a cultural phenomenon around parents wanting to do things solely for their children getting to be able to experience them. The crowd that wants to "make memories" and take them because they don't believe they're good parents without doing this. If they're solely concerned with the child remembering it and the stress and work it takes to pull this off will make their experience terrible, then it's not worth it.
But, if you love the resort yourself and visiting even if you didn't have children, and you're familiar enough to pre-plan things out and know what you're getting into, and you are not troubled by the prep and literal baggage and stress, then yes. It's worth it. It's a matter of what you enjoy and what your expectations are. For people who don't care about Disney and are just doing it to make memories for their child and get confused by a baby crying on Pirates of the Caribbean, it's not going to feel worth it.
There was another reviewer that showed the dark side too, Happily Evan After.
It's been fun trying to puzzle all of these activities and their different storylines through YouTube haha.
For instance, unlike Ordinary Adventures, he reported the digital interactive droid in everyone's' room to the First Order when asked so they replaced her with another one. I can't wait for Ordinary Adventures to release part 2.
There was another reviewer that showed the dark side too, Happily Evan After.
It's been fun trying to puzzle all of these activities and their different storylines through YouTube haha. For instance, unlike Ordinary Adventures, he reported the digital interactive droid in everyone's' room to the First Order when asked so they replaced her with another one. I can't wait for Ordinary Adventures to release part 2.
The Disappointing
1. It's Overwhelming. You just cannot do it all. I think the amount of time is about right - one more day would just be too much. But we never really got to do Sabaac lessons or tournament or the other optional stuff, because we had other things scheduled. There is very little downtime.
2. Engagement. We did not get the level of personal engagement from the equity cast we would have liked. We had a few CM's that we got friendly with - Emma from engineering, Grace my caf supplier, Brandy our evening waitress, Christopher the lounge bartender - and that was great. But we never got all that close with the "storyline" actors. Folks who did got a much better experience. This is a little jealousy on my part, and there is only so much to go around, but it would have been nice, as we were ready and willing to play.
Just back from our 4/14 cruise, and I agree with the vast majority of this review. In fact, I'd rank the Starcruiser right up at the top of all the experiences I've tried at WDW (and I've been there 10+ times in my life). Just a fantastically good time, and if you can mitigate the cost by sharing a room/suite with another household, the value proposition gets much better.
I wanted to comment in particular on these two disappointments.
1. We didn't find it overwhelming, but it's true that you definitely can't do everything. It's interesting because I thought that I was going to do the Sabacc stuff, too, but you very quickly realize that you're either going to be prioritizing the story or taking part in the things on the general itinerary. It's almost as if that stuff is there almost entirely for the few people who want to just treat it like a normal cruise and not engage with the story.
2. We got quite a bit of engagement with representatives from all of the paths at one time or another, and I wouldn't say that we tried real hard to do so. One of the Sajas, Gaya's manager, the captain, and the cruise director all could recognize us and remember our names by the time we were back from our Batuu excursion. A few pieces of advice for future cruisers:
a) It helps if you have a distinctive look. M and I thrifted to put together some unique Star Warsy outfits (not just Jedi robes or other shopDisney-type apparel) and M also had coincidentally freshly dyed their hair, so we stood out in the crowd quite a bit. It will help you be memorable to the cast.
b) Do something different and memorable early on in your interactions. M got noticed and earned a nickname from Gaya's manager right away after muster
when they tried to filch a piece of Gaya's luggage from the cart.
c) If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Approach the cast you are interested in at any time you see them on the first day, and come up with an in-story reason that you want to help them with their cause. They should do everything they can to include you at that point. They all linger an especially long time in the atrium after muster, so you should be able to touch base with at least two characters while everyone is mingling. If your first choice is being bogarted by someone, give up and track down your second choice. You should still have time to get back to your first choice, unless they're really being hoarded by a guest -- in which case, you probably don't really want to be a part of that scene anyway.
This is always odd for me to hear. 'old enough' is one thing - but is the happiness and joy of a 2-4yo at WDW somehow less because they won't remember it in 20 years? There's value in happiness on the day, I'd argue.
I have multiple VERY clear/distinct memories of visiting WDW when I was 3 and 4 years old.
- Minnie Mouse came up behind me and put her hands over my eyes. I still remember the feel of her cloth gloves. I was confused for a very short moment, but I also quickly realized it was either Mickey/Minnie covering my eyes. After that, I felt like a superstar-Minnie chose ME!
- In MK, I wore a hat with a semi-transparent green visor (eye covering). To me, it made WDW look like the Emerald City (Wizard of Oz). For the rest of my childhood, I imagined WDW would someday add a "Wizard of Oz' land, or at least that WDW should add one. In my imaginary WDW Emerald City, everyone would wear - more or less- a hat like my hat.
- I remember when Space Mtn was new, and how my family reacted (what they said) after riding it.
I remember how frustrating it could be to be a toddler at WDW in those early years. I hated the 365-theater, because it was long, and I had to stand for the whole thing, even though - as a toddler- I could not see much of the show. As a toddler, the experience mostly consisted of being ignored by adults who blocked my view. It was so frustrating.
It was so frustrating, that I made myself a promise to NEVER forget. I promised I would never ignore small children the way I was ignored.
So I laugh whenever someone says small children won't remember WDW.
And even if they don't, small children's experiences are building blocks. They can't learn to play music if they are never exposed to music. Or words if they are never exposed to words. Early exposure is key to later development.
That said, I can also understand holding off on the expense of WDW and the Starcruiser.
We made a reservation for my wife and I, our 17yo daughter and 13 yo son for October. It’s a lot of money but Disney’s not cheap, and a few years ago we paid $550/ticket to see Taylor Swift. At those hourly rates the Starcruiser’s not bad!
I think we’re going to be dressed up- but one costume the whole time? I should think the cast will do better recognizing us as such, but it seems a bit odd perhaps.
I definitely appreciate the reviews on this forum with their suggestions. Really excited.
I think we’re going to be dressed up- but one costume the whole time? I should think the cast will do better recognizing us as such, but it seems a bit odd perhaps.
I agree that one outfit would probably help them unless you have something else particularly distinctive, and there were plenty of people who did that. M and I wore four different outfits (Day 1, Day 2/Batuu, Day 2/ship, Day3), but we had M's hair (dyed purple/blue/green) to fall back on to be quickly recognized.
There was a guy named Jim on our cruise who everyone knew by name, even though he wore normal clothes, because he was the guy in the red shirt with glasses.
These photos are wonderful. Good eye on the PhotoPass photographer they got; the ones at the parks can be very hit or miss so I'm glad I've yet to see one bad photoset from the Starcruiser.
This thread is for reports, both positive and negative, from those who have actually experienced a Star Wars Galactic Cruiser stay. Questions about said stay are fine, as are questions for those interested in planning a trip. Opinions from those who have not actually experienced this do not belong in this thread. Thank you.
