May the Stars Light Your Way: Our Trip Aboard the Halcyon (March 2023)

[Kestryl]

(NOTE: Wow. What timing. I was finishing writing all this up when the announcement was made that the Galactic Starcruiser would be closing. I’m still going to post this as a reference, just in case anyone does have a trip coming up, or if anyone is researching this soon-to-be defunct experience.)


Good Journey!

And welcome to my heavily spoiler-filled trip report of a trip aboard the Halcyon, also known as the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.

A quick primer on who we are: we are two adults, early 30s, married, no kids.

We are, predictably, big Star Wars fans. I have memories at the age of 3 of watching VHS tapes, and I’m one of those “how dare they make special editions of the original trilogy” kind of people. My husband came on board when the prequels came out, and Darth Maul is his favorite character.

You may wonder about our opinions on the sequel trilogy, as that’s the era the Starcruiser is based on. We truly enjoyed seven. When The Last Jedi came out, I loved it, but I left the theater knowing that a lot of people were going to hate it. My husband hated it at the time, but he has come to like it now- turns out he needed to let the past die. We dislike nine. The biggest sin to me was the total flip of Rey as a nobody (“a powerful Jedi can come from anywhere”) to Rey as a Palpatine (“only those born into it are worthy”). Also not a fan of the Reylo ship. Or Palpatine being back, period, to be honest, but 10/10 to Ian McDiarmid for being the absolute best.

Anyways, we were totally fine with acting in the sequel era. We knew the experience was going to be expensive. And we also knew we wanted to experience this before any possible changes happened. There have been constant rumors about changes to the storyline, or turning the building into just a hotel or just a dinner show, or any other thousands of thoughts. We didn’t want to regret not going, and we had the money, so we booked it.

Our voyage occurred in mid-March, during the prime spring break season. (You see, my husband is a teacher, and we are unable to take vacation during non-break times.) The Starcruiser was part of a larger Orlando trip (see that part of the trip report here). I’ve elected to break out the Starcruiser from the rest given the difference in trip style and wanted to go into potentially deep spoilers.

Before I go too deep into what we did, let’s lay out some prologue.

 

[Kestryl]

GENERAL STORYLINE/PATHS

Just in case anyone reading doesn’t know what the Starcruiser is, it’s a 45-hour, two-night adventure that places the traveler in a Star Wars environment. The Halcyon is celebrating its 275th anniversary in the era between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Gaya, a galactic superstar, is on board to perform an intimate concert for the cruisers, who are also schedule for an excursion to Batuu. But, of course, there’s more to Gaya’s visit than just a concert. And the First Order and the Resistance are a constant presence in this part of the galaxy.

There are six story paths you can end up on: Resistance, Smuggler, Force, First Order, Rom-Com, Heist. These paths are not mutually exclusive, and you can follow more than more. The choices you make affect your story. There are some that are tightly linked, and others that will have little overlap. There’s a lot of gameplay going on, and I’ll try to recap a bit on some stuff that we missed at the end.

 

[Kestryl]

PREP

We booked our trip about two months out (so mid-January). At the time of booking, we elected to make a reservation for Oga’s on our Batuu excursion. We already had lightsabers from Savi’s, but I would recommend this if you haven’t done it already. We did end up booking the CSL Portrait Experience in February. I wish we had booked this sooner so we would have had more times to pick from, but it all worked out. We were unable to book the Captain’s Table- my understanding is that this fills up immediately, but it was worth an ask.

We made sure both my husband and I had My Disney Experience accounts. This is pretty vital, especially if you don’t want to stick together every single minute. You’ll be sent messages and itinerary updates through the “Datapad,” which is run through the Play Disney app. About a month before our voyage, our itinerary started populating, and we received a few welcome messages. Getting familiar with the Datapad before our trip meant we struggled less later.

We are not cosplayers, but we absolutely felt the need to dress up. Technically, you don’t have to dress up. But I think it’s an integral part of the experience.

My “character” ran a porg sanctuary. This meant I was carrying at least one porg at all times. For clothing, I focused a lot on neutral, earthy tones, using a jumpsuit, work belt, and layers to construct my outfits- at least, for the most part. I also had a bright blue dress and gold and silver accessories that I had originally planned on wearing for a dinner, but I ended up wearing it on our disembark day. I also had a Kyber crystal (styled like Jyn Erso’s in Rogue One) to help signify that I was connected with the Force.

My husband’s “character” was an archeologist with a penchant for Sith artifacts. His outfits were focused on black, red, and gray.

Many of our outfit pieces were bought new or resourced from our closets, but I did find some nice boots at a thrift shop. I think thrift is the way to go, especially to get a more “worn” look, it’s just that we couldn’t find the types of things we wanted in our sizes in the time we had.

I did look up spoilers before we left. Spoilers as a whole don’t bother me, but especially in this case, I didn’t want to find out I missed something really cool just because I didn’t know about it. I also went in knowing I really, really wanted to go on the Force path, and I had heard it can be difficult. I didn’t go in knowing everything, but enough to get by, and I do not regret this.

Again, I will be including spoilers in this report.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 1: BOARDING THE HALCYON

We had driven down to Orlando the night before our voyage. Check-out from our hotel was at 11 am. Check-in for the Starcruiser wasn’t until 1 pm, but I had read that they would start allowing people to line up before. We arrived to the Starcruiser around 11:30 am. Our bags were unloaded, the valet took our car, and we joined the line with three groups ahead of us.

The roleplaying started right away. As in, the minute I stepped out of the car. One of the cast members asked what planet we came from, and I said I didn’t know if they needed our actual Earth address or a Star Wars planet. She said she was from the Wheel- so yes, Star Wars planet. I’m glad we showed up in costume, ready to go.

Also, remember how I said that my character ran a porg sanctuary and I was always carrying a porg? I immediately got lots of attention from the cast members about keeping the porgs from the Engineering Room and making sure they were well behaved. If you’re looking for an easy talking about, pick up a shoulder porg and give it a name. Surprisingly, I didn’t see many porgs on our trip, other than mine- it was mostly those on Batuu, and one kid who picked up a porg from Batuu.

Anyways, so we were handed our Magic Bands (exclusive, personalized, and included in the price) and waited in line outside the building. They offered water, and it was in shade with fans going so it wasn’t too hot. Right at 1 pm, they started letting us in.

Pro-tip. If you keep a bag with you, keep the contents to a minimum. I did not. You will go through security, and it will take so much longer for them to empty and check your bag if it’s packed with all your accessories. I was worried I would need access to that stuff sooner than the bags would be delivered (I did not). This was a mistake. I felt bad for holding up the line.

Once we got through security, we lined up again and waited for our intro video. In this time period, we started receiving questions form Lenka Mok, the cruise director. These questions start to set your path. Unfortunately, I didn’t screenshot these questions, but the answers are pretty obvious on how you want to lean (Resistance, First Order, Smuggler, Force).

This is just a first step- you can still change your path based on your interactions during the trip. But it’s certainly a good boost in whatever you may want to do.

Right after this, I was contacted by a Saja, one of the lightsaber trainers. I offered to help them and was told to recite the Guardian’s Mantra (“I am one with the Force and the Force is with me”) to a Saja to let them know that I was serious about studying the ways of the Jedi.



We were brought into a room to watch a pre-boarding welcome video. Dear reader, my eyes welled with tears. Anyways, the welcome video was mainly meant to provide info on emergency alarms. One type of alarm is a story “emergency,” the other is a real emergency. It’s important info to have before you board the lift to take you to the Halcyon.

After stepping off the lift, we were introduced to a cast member who then gave us a brief tour of the atrium and took us to our room. Where our bags were already placed. (Again, try not to bring much through the line.) We chatted with D3-09, a droid who ran logistics on the ship. We would periodically check in with her throughout our trip.

Then- it was off to explore.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 1: EXPLORING THE HALCYON

Our first stop was the Climate Simulator, where we scanned some of the plants that were brought in from planets throughout the galaxy. The Climate Simulator is small, but it’s certainly enough to provide a breath of fresh air for those who needed it. (I personally think the complaints over lack of windows or an outside area or a pool are overblown. We were much too busy to care, and it’s not like we didn’t spend time outside before arriving on day 1, exploring Batuu on day 2, or after we left on day 3.)



We then tried the Engineering Room, which we did not have access to. I knew this from the limited tips and spoilers I had looked into. If you try to enter the Engineering Room, you’ll get a notification from Raithe Kole, Gaya’s manager and certified scoundrel. He’ll direct you to one of the panels throughout the ship so you could hack in to gain access. While doing this, my husband and I were separated. He ended up in the Engineering Room incredibly quickly, to the point that when he entered there were three cast members there and he believes they were genuinely surprised to see someone in there so quickly. He found me and helped me gain access, but not before a hilarious interaction with a blue crew member who made us think we were going to get in trouble for using the console.

The Engineering Room is filled with different “games” with matching switches and lights and unplugging and plugging in parts. We didn’t stay too long, just enough to try out some of the different games- which we were glad we did, because the Engineering Room was generally crowded during every return visit.

I also got a lot of attention in the Engineering Room for bringing a porg in, as they, according to the cast members, like to chew on wires. I assured them it wasn’t a problem though, as my porgs were well fed and had no interest in anything that didn’t contain sugar.

We then grabbed some lunch. Lunch was served cafeteria style. I was thrilled that the portions were small so I could try a lot. Highlights were the grilled cheese (which had some kind of bubble texture) and the Blue Bantha Milk Fruit Whop, which was similar to the blueberry cream cheese mousse at Satu’li in Animal Kingdom. (There were a few desserts with this type of texture, and I for one was a big fan.) The food may have unique presentations, but it was very accessible.

We stopped by the Bridge to check out the view of space. Pictures really don’t do the view justice.



We hit up the gift shop and basically cleared it out. I kid, but also not really. We bought… a lot of stuff. The Halcyon lightsaber, the SK remote controlled droid, the “public” pins, a Gaya poster, a keychain, models of the ship, some other knick-knacks.

A note on the pins. There is a set of Resistance pins that is only available on the ship if you ask for them on the sly. Again, I knew this going in. The general idea is to ask the shop attendant that you’re looking for some special, unique, or rare artifacts. Maybe something to help signal your allegiance without tipping off those not in the know. Something to “Ignite the spark- light the fire” (a code phrase in the Resistance). This request has to be done without anyone else in the store. Our first request was a failure though- they apparently hadn’t restocked, but we were told they were expecting another shipment from Batuu the next day.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 1: MEET THE CAST

After a quick stop to our room, we headed back to the atrium where SK-620 was driving around. Another pro tip: there is a story thread involving SK-620, and the best way to get on it appears to interact with SK. This has to be done relatively early when SK appears on day 1. SK had a panel with the Magic Band symbol- tap there to become “friends” with SK, and you may be asked to help out later.

Ouannii and Sandro seem to pop up around this time in the atrium. Ouannii is a Rodian keyboardist who works with galactic superstar Gaya. Sandro is a Mirialan and aspiring performer who just happens to be on board for some reason.

We then had the muster drill at 4 pm. There are four areas- effectively A, B, C, and D. We hung out around C and tried to stick close to the Saja there. The general set-up had A, B, and C covered by a Saja. D was supposed to be covered by the new ship mechanic, Sammie, however he had to run off to deal with something… So for some reason the Saja handed the sign for D to me to lead their cheers. I also liked C because it gave us a broad look at the action on the main “stage” at the front and got us close to some of the, um, action in the back.

The muster drill introduces us to some other Halcyon characters. Captain Keevan is, of course, the Captain of the ship. Keevan is Pantoran and her main goal is to keep her passengers safe. Lenka Mok is the Cruise Director who works closely with SK and very clearly stands against the First Order. Lieutenant Croy of the First Order boards to probe into association with Resistance activity. (I also think he has a crush on Gaya, so maybe this is just coincidental.)



We also finally meet Raithe, who commandeers a stand in the back between muster stations C and D in order to introduce Ouannii and hype up Gaya’s upcoming performance… and let us know that we have to pick up Gaya because she’s not there yet. My porg bit him. (I have an animatronic one.) He was not a fan.

We hung around the atrium to participate in the Ways of the Saja, a small introduction to a way to show respect throughout the ship. This was another opportunity to meet with the Saja and grow that bond.

There was also the Captain’s Reception, during which we got some kind of drink passed around and grabbed some snacks from what I’ll call the customer service counter. We, uh, would continue to smuggle these snacks to our room to eat later (and take off the ship when we left).

 

[Kestryl]

Day 1: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

We received some messages from Lenka asking us to keep SK safe and to recruit us for a mission… more on that later.

My husband went to go make friends with Lt. Croy. At some point I was brought into this. Croy called my porgs disease-riddled creatures (rude), but still had me scan into a panel since my husband trusted me so much. The Saja who was at our muster station saw us and asked if we needed assistance- I kept making faces at her to indicate that I wasn’t really for Croy, and later when I ran into her she asked my allegiance and I said that he may trust me but I did not trust him.

I think this triggered something with the First Order, because I started receiving message from Croy asking for help. I answered those as neutrally as possible.

I attempted to get into the Cargo Hold, but received a message from Captain Keevan that we were restricted from accessing the area. I also explored the Engineering Room some more.

Up to this point, I had interacted with a number of kids who really liked my porgs. (Actually, at one point a parent had asked me for help with something… and it was at that point that I realized that some of them thought I was a cast member. I made sure to be clear with future interactions that I was not real crew, just a passenger, but yes, I could help them out if needed!) Some of the kids joked that they were part of the porg fan club.

Which was great for me, because one of the porg fan club members pointed out a scan that could be made from a crate near the Climate Simulator. And that scan led to a message from the Saja to invite me on a special message for Batuu. Score. I was in.

I called my husband to come down so he could scan the crate as well, and we hung out in the Climate Simulator for a bit and ran into Captain Keevan. I volunteered for any porg capturing that needed to be done, and she let me know I should attend the training drill the next day.

We had our CSL Portrait Session scheduled 5:30 to 6. For this package, you get half an hour with a photographer and light master. They help to pose you and just all in all make you look good. I recommend going into this with a few locations you want your photos taken. Unfortunately for us, the Bridge had a training session. We were offered to reschedule if we wanted the Bridge, but we didn’t want to interrupt the flow of anything else. We ended up taking pictures in the Sublight Lounge, Engineering Room, and Climate Simulator. The photos turned out fantastic, and we had a great time with the porgs popping up in the shots. We also had lightsabers and holocrons, so don’t feel shy about bringing props. The price is STEEP. It’s $400. We sprung for it anyways, and at least for use it was worth it. (I have a family member who is a photographer, so I’ve gotten away with lots of free photoshoots over the years, which is maybe why we were ok with this price. It was a one-time thing.)

Our Lightsaber Training ran from 6:15-6:40 pm. During this training, we worked with “training” lightsabers and shields to block laser-based attacks. Let’s say that I am not good with any kind of physical coordination, so this was a struggle for me. Still, this felt amazing. Again, with me wanting to get on the Jedi/Saja path, I knew I really had to connect with the Saja, so I hung back afterwards to talk to her and thank her for the lesson and that I just felt that I was one with the Force, and the Force was with me. She looked around and pulled me and my husband to the side and mentioned how she and the other Saja were pooling their money together to try to buy something from Savi while we were docked at Batuu the next day. She wanted to know if we would be willing to go get the artifact for them, as Lt. Croy would be watching the Saja closely and they didn’t want to alert suspicion. So, obviously, we agreed. I believe we had already triggered this path during our previous exploration, but still, this felt more organically earned.

We then took on the mission from Lenka Mok to visit the Engineering Room… where just so happened to have Chewie hanging about. The mission was to download and send her the schematics for the ship. This was a crowded time, which was kind of annoying. Having to line up to perform a mission kind of broke the immersion, in my opinion. That said, we were able to help smuggle Chewie up to the Bridge before we had to run to dinner.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 1: AN EVENING WITH GAYA

Our first night’s dinner was billed as “An Evening with Gaya.” So yes, this is the Gaya concert. Raithe Kole and Lenka Mok took to the stage to banter and introduce Gaya and Ouannii. There is a lot of subtext going on in the performance, as well as some major plot lines. She has a song “Hayananeya,” which is about a Twi’lek singing stone, which is a major part of the Scoundrel storyline. There was some heated discussion between Lt. Croy and Gaya which basically broke down to the oppression of the Twi’lek people. (Somewhat related: I believe that Lt. Croy has a crush on Gaya, with comments made on him having attended both of her performances.) Captain Keevan slipped on stage to say something to Gaya while Raithe and Lt. Croy took more of an attention-drawing spot, with Raithe saying he would convince Croy to join in on the dance this time around. During “Rockstar Queen,” basically everyone works to distract Croy from sneaking Chewbacca through the dining room…



Which appeared to not work, as Sammie captured him. Lt. Croy commended Sammie, saying he misjudged Sammie and seemingly increasing in trust of the mechanic. Chewbacca was then sent to the brig, and Gaya performed her last song of the evening, “Oola Shuka” (which is part of the Oga’s Cantina setlist).

Meanwhile, of course, we ate. Dinner is served family-style for your group. Course one was a set of three large dumplings and different dipping sauces, as well as a noodle salad. Course two included beef tenderloin, shrimp, tip yip chicken, rice, and a vegetable blend. Course three was dessert and included a Jogan fruit serving that was similar to the blueberry cream cheese mousse at Satu’li in Animal Kingdom, but with a different flavor profile. We also got some chocolates at the very end of the dinner- along with part of a note.

The note requested our presence in the atrium at 9:40 pm, as SK was going to provide a distraction and allow Chewie to escape. It turns out the entire capture was a ruse to provide Sammie a cover and Captain Keevan is on the Resistance’s side.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 1: AFTER DINNER ADVENTURES

At 9:50, the Cruise Director held an evening toast. As Lenka tried to lead the toast, Croy and the stormtroopers took capture of SK and ordered Sammie to add a restraining bolt. He suspected that SK contained important Resistance data.

The toast, led by Lenka with some support from Raithe and Sammie, was obviously pro-Resistance coded.

Around 10 pm, I received more messages from Lt. Croy… and burned that bridge. Whoops.

With the scheduled night’s activities complete, we headed to the Sublight Lounge. There was hardly anyone in the Sublight Lounge. The vibe was very chill. We ordered the Fiery Mustafarian and the Dagobah Vimlet, mainly because they come with souvenir glasses. The Fiery Mustafarian is like a spicy margarita, where you control the spice level with the “lava extract.” The glass is a two-parter, as a round bottom glass with a metal base. The Dagobah Vimlet is a vodka drink with a bit of a kick (peppercorn), and the glass is something from the Solo film. You can get a version of this glass in the gift shop as well, but it is slightly different. We also ordered the crispy-dried green beans and some flatbread. The food items were included in our package price, and we paid for the drinks.

While there, we took some time to break out our new sabaac set and learn how to play, in case we were able to play tomorrow. There is a virtual sabaac table in the Sublight Lounge, but it was always full, even if the rest of the bar was empty.

We took our leave around midnight. The atrium was nearly empty, the ship very quiet. It’s a great time for pictures if you’re interested in that.



Before heading to bed, we checked into our data pads and answered some messages to help us continue our storylines. We also listened to a bedtime story from D3-09.

Actually, speaking of D3-09, whenever we were in our room we would try to interact with her. Sometimes she would ask us if we had been to certain activities or saw something, other times she would get interrupted by someone working for the First Order. We don’t think it had an effect on our overall paths, but it was a fun extra boost.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 2: DOWN TO BATUU

Breakfast was, of course, in theme. I really liked the blue milk style yogurt in the tiny jar with fruit, as well as the crispy tuber waffle, which was like a hashbrown with an egg and bacon on top. I didn’t really like the whipped eggs, which seemed to have a weird texture.

We then boarded the shuttle to Batuu. I know people jokingly complain about getting in the back of a box truck to get shipped to Batuu. We never saw the outside of the truck. The inside of the shuttle was very well themed. The “pilot” was an RX series droid, like DJ R-3X. This was just a voice, not an animatronic, but she does make comments about how you should go visit her friend who used to work for Star Tours. We didn’t have any motion sickness issues.

They take you to a back entrance directly to Batuu. This entrance is heavily themed, much like the rest of Batuu, and only Starcruiser guests have access. We were given our Halcyon pins to indicate that we were visiting for the day- I think these helped to signal to cast members that we were more likely to be roleplaying than the average guest.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 2: BATUU MISSIONS

I had five missions to complete on Batuu. My husband also had five missions (some the same as me), so we think there is a limit of five total. We were not assigned more as we completed them.

Here is a list of my tasks and roughly where they were:

• Locate Jedi Artifacts for Saja (Savi’s)
• Help Lenka Mok Rescue SK-620 (Droid Depot)
• Find Local Forger for Lenka Mok (Oga’s Cantina)
• Deliver Resistance Data for Cpt. Keevan (Rise of the Resistance)
• Steal Coaxium for Cpt. Keevan (Smuggler’s Run)

And my husband’s tasks:

• Locate Jedi Artifacts for Saja (Savi’s)
• Find Local Forger for Lenka Mok (Oga’s Cantina)
• Spy on Resistance Camp for Lt. Croy (Rise of the Resistance)
• Send Message to First Order for Lt. Croy (Kylo Ren’s Ship)
• Steal Coaxium for Raithe Kole (Smuggler’s Run)

An important note: while I could do multiple missions simultaneously (or at least bounce back and forth), I could only do one at a time for each individual character. As in, I had to decide which order for the Captain Keevan and Lenka Mok missions. So, for example, I told Captain Keevan I would deliver the resistance data first. While I could complete that in any order with the Saja mission or one of the missions from Lenka, I couldn’t do the coaxium mission until I finished the resistance data. Otherwise, the order didn’t matter.



Oga’s was crowded, though I suppose that’s typical. We were sat at an actual booth table with two other parties, which was odd for us. In every other time we’ve gone, we’ve ended up at the bar or one of the standing tables. To be honest, I wasn’t much of a fan of that, and would the standing arrangements. Still, I had wanted to get one of the new Yub Nub glasses, and I genuinely enjoy the music at Oga’s.

We also had our Oga’s mission. For the record, you don’t need a reservation or to even enter Oga’s to complete this mission. You can check in with the booth out front and they’ll help you complete it. However, since we did have a reservation, we leaned into it. We mentioned to the server that we were sent to speak with Oga, and she played along and brought back a coaster with a QR code so we could continue on with the mission.

We had lunch at Docking Bay, which was included in our stay. We were able to order an alcoholic drink as part of our voucher, so I took them up on that offer and got the Takodana Quencher. We actually ended up sitting next to another family that was on the cruise, so we got to chat with them more and talk about everything they had been involved with.

With our missions completed, we were ready to head back to the ship. The last shuttle is advertised as 4 pm. We wanted to get back to the Halcyon sooner- I could (hypothetically) visit Batuu whenever, but the Halcyon is only accessible to cruisers as of right now.

While we waited for our transport, we were given the themed Dasani water. But the wait wasn’t too long- maybe 10 minutes. Our shuttle on the way back was emptier, and the Halcyon didn’t seem particularly crowded.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 2: BACK TO THE HALCYON

We took a quick trip to the room to swap out some stuff. They had taken my porgs and placed them around the room- very old-school Disney style with Mousekeeping.

We also stopped off at the dining room for some snacks and more blue milk. Lunch is served until 4 pm. In retrospect, I wish we had just gone back to the ship for lunch, but I also really enjoy Docking Bay, so it’s a tough call.

My husband participated in one of the Sabaac Tournaments, which ran 2:30-3:30 in the dining room. I didn’t hang around for most of it, but apparently, he got pretty far- he just missed out on the final match. While you can show up to this without knowing the rules, I suggest going in with at least a little bit of knowledge. My husband’s first group involved someone who hadn’t played at all and it really slowed the tempo down and caused them all to run over time.

I ran down to the Cargo Room to check it out, since somehow I had not been in it yet. Nothing happened while I was there.

I also got the secret Resistance pins from the gift shop. I said I was looking for something special, something to light the spark, something to help signal to those that I could help. There was a panel in the center display that popped out, and I selected one of each of the pins. As the shop keeper was ringing it up, someone came in, and she handed my bag to me and told me to enjoy my jewelry purchase.

Because of my prolific knowledge of porgs (ha), several of the cast members had suggested that I go to the Loth-Cat Crew Porg Detection Drill (2:45-3 pm). This is really an activity meant for kids, probably best suited for those 8 and under. The premise is that they need to practice looking for porgs in the Engineering Room, because the porgs like to chew on wires. The crew members hid something like 15 of the toy-style porgs (from Toydarian Toymaker) throughout the Engineering Room and had the kids find them. They then did a second round and asked me to help hide them. The twist to this round was the crew members would take some of the found porgs and “re-hide” them. So the kids would get to 10… and then oh no, it looks like two more ran away, there are only 8 found! It was hysterical.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 2: BRIDGE TRAINING

Our Bridge Ops Training was our biggest frustration of the trip. We were originally scheduled for 3:30-4:15 pm, but it was clear that they were having issues with the tech running the Bridge. They ended up cancelling our Bridge session and merging us with a later session at 4:30 pm. My husband was a little peeved as he had to drop out of the sabaac tournament to make the Bridge training. We also just missed out on joining in the Know Your Co-Pilot game, which we totally would have won. We were told we would get an extra experience to make up for the change, but that didn’t work well for us (more on that later)

Our new Bridge Ops Training ran from 4:30-5:15. We had been combined with that original training, so it was crowded and we had to split consoles. I’m not entirely sure about whether every single Bridge experience is different, but there is variety based on where the ship is in its journey. It sounds like everyone gets the basic training, where you train on each of the different systems on the bridge. As part of our plotline for after the training, Captain Keevan entered the Bridge to and received a transmission from a First Order officer, accusing the Halcyon and its crew of supplying assistance to the Resistance. We were then told we would be placed under a blockade, preventing passengers from returning to the Halcyon from Batuu. Sammie came in to report on Lt. Croy’s actions to interrogate the passengers. Keevan directed Sammie to take over and send a message to the Resistance, which involved having us use what we learned at Bridge training.

At this point, Lt. Croy announced that the First Order was taking command of the ship. Banners with the First Order were hung in the atrium.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 2: SPECIAL EVENTS

I then had one of my invited events for the Resistance, which involved reporting to Captain Keevan for a Secret Debrief, as scheduled for 5:30-5:45. This is where Captain Keevan came fully clean, saying she was working with the Resistance, and she needed our help. Specifically, we needed to clear a path and help smuggle Rey onboard.

With Rey docked, the Captain walked with a small group of us from the debrief down to make sure that Rey made it. We pretended we were on a tour of the ship, working our way down to near the elevators, where a Saja took us down to the transport hallway… and there was Rey.

Rey asked questions to our group, trying to figure out the situation on the Halcyon. She had a piece of an activator that she needed to get to Sammie to help protect the ship. But she didn’t want to attract attention, so she decided to entrust me with the activator to take up to Sammie in the Bridge. The rest of the group formed a protective barrier around me, and we headed through the atrium.

Keep in mind that I was holding a porg at all times. At this point, I had my puppet porg, which is rather large. My porg and I must have done a good job of hiding the actuator. My husband, who was chatting with stormtroopers in the atrium at the time, spotted us walking through the atrium, saw that I was in the middle of the pack, and had absolutely no idea that I was carrying anything but the porg.

We got up to entrance of the Bridge, and got Sammie’s attention, basically miming to Sammie through the window that we had something for him as he waved for us to go away. It was pretty comedic, and this is what I wish I had on video, but of course I was wrapped up in the story.

So we were sent back down to the Climate Simulator, where Rey took the activator piece back as we explained what happened. Eventually she rushed out to her next event, and most of us dispersed.

I had a few minutes, so I ran up to the atrium to check in on my husband, but he was already on the Bridge with Lt. Croy to do one of his events. My husband says that his event involved accidentally breaking the blockage, getting Croy in trouble with his superiors.

My invited event for the Saja path- the thing I was really gaming for- was scheduled for 6:45-6:55. And when I say “invited event,” they were legitimately making sure that you were actually invited. There was someone at the door only allowing in people on the list. This is the payoff for helping the Saja get the artifact from Batuu. Rey was in there, as well as SK. The Saja explained to Rey that they had brought up this artifact- a Jedi holocron. Together- as one- we opened the holocron, revealing a message from Yoda. The Saja said that we can’t let the holocron fall into the hands of the first Order, or all hope will be lost. And furthermore, Kylo Ren would be on his way. Rey picked me out from the group, asking me if there was still hope. And I replied that I believe there’s always hope.

Things got a little weird at this point. I headed up to the custoemr’s service deck about a missed call I had while running around with Rey. Apparently, because of the Bridge issue, my husband and I had been assigned to extra missions. However, our data pads weren’t updated. According to the cast member, I was supposed to attend a Lt. Croy mission; he was supposed to get something with Captain Keevan. Except I had the missed call at 6:14, and the missions were at 6:15. We obviously missed them. They tried to find us something else, but there wasn’t enough time. (I could have repeated the Saja, but that was it.) We were assigned to a second Keevan mission, but it was during dinner, and we just didn’t have the time to do it. The dinner was timed, and we would have had to leave right after the main course was served.

My husband was doing his Jedi Artifact reveal at this time. After his, he followed Rey, where he actually witnessed an interaction between Rey and Lt. Croy, with Rey using the Jedi mind trick to convince Croy he had never seen her.

I was scheduled to receive the coaxium shipment from 7:15-7:45 in the atrium, but I must have missed how to actually do that. It was scheduled at the same time as the Acoustically Gaya event, also in the atrium. During that, Gaya and Sandro (and Ouannii) acted as a distraction while I assume the actual smuggling was happening. Lt. Croy interrupted to reveal that he discovered a crate of coaxium in the cargo hold. Gaya and Sandro continued their performance, keeping Croy distracted as Raithe went into the crate and took the coaxium and made his way to Gaya’s luggage. Gaya then took her leave to disembark- with all her luggage, including the hidden coaxium.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Thanks, interesting feedback and a bit poignant, knowing it will all soon be shut down. It seems that Disney has done an excellent job in designing this experience, with their customary creativity and attention to detail, and I'm glad you and your husband got to enjoy it as it seems to be perfect for you. The only problem, of course, is that it turned out (as many predicted) that there are not enough people like the two of you to make it viable long term.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 2: TASTE AROUND THE GALAXY

Our second night at dinner (once again at 8 pm) was themed as a “Taste Around the Galaxy,” in which each course is themed to a planet. The first course was the Mustafarian spreads and breads. The second course was the infamous blue shrimp (from Felucia). Then it was “Bantha” beef and Kashyyyk fish. Dessert was a Chandrilan chocolate cake in the shape of the Starcruiser logo. I also ordered a glass of toniray, the infamous blue wine. Everything was excellent- including, yes, the blue shrimp.

Oh, and small note- we had the same server as the first night, much like a regular cruise, and she was awesome- she already had Coke for us the second we sat down on night two. Shout out to Siobhan, I really needed that caffeine boost.

There was a loud argument between Keevan and Croy, with Keevan telling Croy he could leave the First Order as he will not be valued there. He turned her down.

The downside of the second dinner was that you basically have to rush to eat through dessert once the ship’s alarms go off for the big finale.

Which brings us to the big finale.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 2: FINALE

I won’t write too much here, because I think this has been videoed and documented more than anything else. There are videos all over YouTube. One fun thing is that Lt. Croy calls out some of those who helped him- it’s hilarious. My husband was hoping he would get called out so he could shout “I’M THE SPY,” but alas. Anyways, a quick summary. Sammie gets arrested, Kylo Ren shows up, Rey shows up, they battle, Rey takes off and Kylo Ren chases her telling Croy to destroy everyone, Croy starts to order the stormtroopers to take everyone out, Sammie is revealed to be disguised as a stormtrooper, Croy is forced to leave, Rey comes back with the holocron, Rey and Chewie disembark with SK, there was a grand fireworks scene.

We hung around the atrium to get pictures with some of the remaining cast and just kind of hang out. This is actually really important, because the characters will disappear soon after the finale and do not come back on disembark day. (And, of course, Gaya and Lt. Croy have already left by now, so if you want pictures with them you need to take them early- another regret we have.) We went to the dessert party quite late, so I believe we missed a performance between Ouannii and Sandro. On the plus side, we ate a lot of treats (and stashed away some in our bag for later).

And, once again, we ended up back in the Sublight Lounge, this time at the bar. There were even fewer people this night than there were the last night. This time I got a Hoth Icebreaker, which is a vodka lemon drink. My husband got the Yerdua Poison Spitter Drop, which is a limeade-based non-alcoholic drink. As the bartender was pouring this, he was explaining that the drink contained something that was poisonous to humans, but not to worry, because there was an antidote added that usually worked. The bartender was fantastic- he had this whole fleshed out backstory about how he had worked at Oga’s, and he warned us that some of those drinks contained ingredients that were illegal in four systems. He also made lots of quips about the drinks he made and people he’s met. At one point I joked that I wished I had a second stomach so I could eat more of the snacks, and he said he could arrange that.

We took some pictures in the completely empty atrium and headed to bed. Specifically, the bunks. I mean, come on, we had to try them out once. They aren’t the most comfortable, but they are much larger than you would think. D3-09 sang us a lullaby.

 

[Kestryl]

Day 3: DEPARTURE

In the morning, we finished packing up our stuff and headed down to breakfast. I had the Halcyon version of the Mickey waffle (which is just a circle with the Halcyon logo), some avocado toast, a meteor egg (soft boiled egg with sausage and some kind of batter), and as much milk as I could handle.

One of the crew members asked us if we wanted anything to go- I’m not sure what the limits are here. We had already snuck a bunch of snacks from the two days before and were already satisfied with our haul, so we declined.

We went back to the room and put all our bags in the hallway for the cast members to take down to the exit.

We actually dressed up for departure day. Most people did not, which is understandable- you have to leave by 10 am. In our case, we weren’t in a rush, because we drove and we didn’t really have anything planned for the day but to check into our next hotel.

This gave us plenty of time to just hang around the ship. We had the chance to play the virtual sabacc in the Sublight Lounge; took some photos in the Bridge and Atrium; and just kind of lounged about, drinking blue milk. There were crew members on hand in the atrium to help people call for taxis or make arrangements to leave. It seemed like most people left by 9 am, and it felt pretty empty.

We disembarked at 9:45 am. There’s an exit gift shop outside with Star Wars/Starcruiser branded merchandise, but it closes at 10 am. We picked up some t-shirts, magnets, and more pins. The special “password” pins we picked up the day before were also available for purchase. I don’t know if that’s a newer thing or permanent- afterwards, I couldn’t find much mention of this. But if you miss out on the Resistance pins, you might have luck here.

The valet brought our car (and left us some cookies), some crew members hauled over our luggage, and then we drove off…

To Disney Springs. Where we sat in our car in the Orange Garage for an hour. Because we had zero interest in moving.

 

[Kestryl]

PLOT POINTS WE MISSED

So that was our story. Based on reading reviews and watching videos from others, here are a few things we missed.

Sandro is a stowaway and writes an anti-First Order song, which somehow leads to him getting arrested and thrown in the brig on day 1. Guests can help him escape.

Ouannii and Sandro have a romance story throughout the voyage, which is why they end up performing at the end with the dessert party.

Raithe steals the Hayananeya, the Twi’lek singing stone, from the atrium and gives it to Gaya.

Sammie seems to have his own separate Resistance plot with Chewie.

Chewie gets smuggled throughout the ship from one area to the next.

The coaxium deal is a bit confusing, and I haven’t quite figured it out. The coaxium may be headed to the Resistance or Ryloth. My mission seems to suggest that it’s for the Resistance, but Keevan mentioned striking a “deal” and Gaya made some allusions about securing power for her people through coaxium.

Basically, we missed out a lot on the Smuggler/Scoundrel/Romance plotlines. I’m hoping someone can put together a more comprehensive timeline for this, especially with it closing and not really needing to worry about spoilers after September. (Also, if you’re interested in this, I’m willing to help, too!)

 

[Kestryl]

A FINAL THOUGHT

When I first started writing this, I was going to say that I would hope to visit again in another year so we could hit up some of the story we had missed. That won’t be the case now.

Honestly, I am crushed that they are closing the Halcyon. I don’t know how the logistics would work for turning this into a “day event” (such as a dinner show) or just a plain hotel. The Halcyon is small, with only 100 rooms, and there is no real parking lot to speak of. It is not directly connected to Hollywood Studios. It’s basically in a backstage area with no great access.

Yes, it was expensive. I fully understand that. There are many things at Disney I wouldn’t pay for because I don’t see the value in them. I do see value in this. It was worth it.

Part of me hopes it won’t completely go away. Another part of me hopes it never comes back, because it would just be a reminder of what it used to be.

As the days go by, it seems less likely that it will become anything but a memory. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

May the stars light your way.