With the Galactic Starcruiser at Walt Disney World closing at the end of September 2023, I was able to visit a second time and made a lot of notes on this amazing experience.    This is part of a series of posts as I contemplate what made it so unique, why it was cancelled, and what may happen with the building after September

Number of Voyages

First Sailing: March 1st -3rd 2022 

Final Sailing Sept 28th-30th 2023

There are 576 days between those dates, so 288 voyages were possible

Sailings Canceled:

Sept 27th and Sept 29th due to Hurricane Ian

Nine voyages were said to be canceled due to low attendance, but probably were filled since the termination was announced:  (July 4, 12, 17, August 1, 7, 15, 27, September 4, and 12)

Total Voyages:  286 voyages

 

How many guests are on each voyage?

I’m looking to arrive at two different numbers: the absolute maximum capacity, and the expected capacity, since not every room is filled to the full capacity all of the time.

 

Available Cabins:

I found this graphic from wdwnt.com:

 

Based on the above floor plan from wdwnt.com, I calculated 102 total cabins, with maximum occupancy of 504)

• 72 regular cabins (up to 5 guests)
• 24 suites (up to 4 guests)
• 6 captain suites (up to 8 guests)

But that is assuming the same layout on each of the three floors.  Another of their articles cites 100 cabins, which consists of 94 Standard cabins, 4 Suites, and only two Grand Captain Suites.  That equates to 506 possible guests, so basically the same number.

It’s important to note that both of these calculations are with every bed of every room filled to capacity. However cabins frequently only have two guests per cabin. So how can I estimate the expected capacity? I did this by counting the number of seats in the dining room.

 

Dining Room Seats

Version One – My observation

• Higher Level, outside bench seats
  • 13x 4 seaters (52 total)

• Floor level, outside
  • 11x  4-seat one side (44 total)
  • 6x 4-seat other side (24 total)

• Floor Level, inside
  • 2x 8 seats (16 total) 
  • 1x long 12 seats (12 total)
  • 2x round 5 seats (10 total)
  • Captains table with 12 seats (12 total)
  • 2x round 5 seats (10 total)
  • 1x long 12 seats (12 total)

• 2x corner 4 seats (8 total)

Total by my count: 200

 

Dining Room Seats, based on Floor Plan:

• Higher Level, outside bench seats
  • 13x 4 seaters on (52 total)

• Floor level, outside
  • 42 on bottom (42 Total)
  • 28 on top (ramp takes up some space) (28 Total)

• Floor Level, inside
  • 0x 8 seats 0
  • 2x long 12 seat 24
  • 4x round 5 seats 20
  • Captains table with 12 seats 12
  • 2x corner ~6 seats 12

Total Seating Capacity, based on image: 190

Since there are two dinner seatings, around 380-400 seems to be the max planned capacity, which equates to an average of 4 guests per room.

Total Guests experiencing Galactic Starcruiser:

Some early voyages were filled to capacity, and we know that some of the latest voyages had few enough guests that the voyages were cancelled and there was only one dinner seating, so those must have had fewer than 200 guests. Both times that I visited (once when it was pretty new, and once after the cancellation was announced), the dining rooms were mostly full. So I’m comfortable guessing an average of about 320 guests on an average voyage.

With 285 voyages, that means around 91,200 guests will have been able to experience the Galactic Starcruiser

Repeat Visitors

Some guests have been able to visit the Galactic Starcruiser more than once.  On our first visit, just a couple months after it opened, the security guard mentioned that “some crazy Club 33 member” had been eleven times already. Antecdotally, from the couple facebook groups I’ve been a part of, and from talking with others while there, I’d estimate 5% of guests on any voyage that have visited before, so I’l estimate that around 86,000 unique guests will have been able to experience it before it closes at the end of September, and around 4,000 guests have been able to visit it more than once

Cast Members:

How much staff does it take to operate the Galactic Starcruiser?  Below are my estimates, based on observation and some reasoning.

• Entertainment Staff:
  • Actors   (17 roles x 2 cast members per roll = 34 + a couple shadowing/training)
    • Raithe Kole
    • Gaya
    • Ouannii (musician)
    • Sandro
    • Captain Keevan
    • Cruise Director Lenka Mok
    • Sammie
    • Lt Croy
    • Chewbacca
    • Stormtrooper
    • Stormtrooper
    • Rey
    • Kylo Ren
    • 4x Saja
  • Back Stage (estimates)
    • Tech Crew:  6
    • Makeup 6
    • Costuming 4

 

• Food & Beverage
  • Servers 15
  • Bartenders (Chemists) 8
  • Cooks/Kitchen 15

 

• Valet: 2
  • (Educated Guess. Perhaps they valet on arrival day and drive the shuttle between Batuu on the other day)

• Housekeeping 8
  • (100 rooms, 12 rooms each = 8, again every other day)

• Merchandise: 8
  • Estimate, based on observations

• Front Desk / Guest Service 8
  • Estimate, based on observations

• Management
  • Food & Beverage 3
  • Hotel Operations 3
  • Entertainment 3

 

What do you think? Did I miscalculate anything or are my estimates way off?  Do you have any additional knowledge that you’d like to share? Anything I missed that you’d like to see?  Please let me know in the comments