A new permit filed for the Star Wars Resort that’s coming to Disney World has revealed some exciting new details. The resort promises to be a fully immersive experience that brings guests straight into an interactive Star Wars story. Previously, it was unclear how that might be accomplished. Now, thanks to new drawings, we have a better idea of what guests should expect.
Credit to CaliforniaCoasterKings.com on piecing the following details together. Note that the following designs are subject to change.
Overview
The photo at the top of this page provides an overhead view of the resort’s first floor. This includes an arrival area, a dining area and a section of “cabins” (hotel rooms) for guests.
Remember that the experience promised by the Star Wars Resort resembles that of a cruise mixed with a murder mystery. Guests will be apart of the story during a fixed stay. They won’t be coming and going as you would at a normal resort as that would ruin the fully immersive experience.
Arrival
Here’s where things get interesting. The document indicates that guests will all go through security (bag scanners/X-Ray) before “boarding” the ship. Guests will then enter into what’s believed to be some pre-show rooms before they enter an “elevator” that travels up to the spaceship.
In other words, think of the arrival space as the port before your adventure begins. With Disney selling this as a seamless experience, the security measures at the front of the resort may eliminate the need for any security checks when traveling into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios.
Dining & Main Areas
The main floor has a large area for dining (seen in yellow) that appears to be a table-service restaurant. There’s also a section on the side labeled as a buffet.
What’s the most interesting here are the rooms labeled Dojo, Brig and Engineering Room. Remember that this is supposed to be as if you’re on an actual spaceship. It’s likely that the story or narrative will take guests through these themed areas.
Transportation
Disney has said that the resort will seamlessly connect to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios. Note that they never said it would be literally connected. The drawings above indicate that guests will use a bus to travel to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. We could easily see Disney using screens to make the ride seem like a shuttle traveling down to the planet below.
The early security screenings prior to “boarding” could eliminate any need to send guests through security at Hollywood Studios. It’s possible guests may be dropped off at a special back door for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, keeping the story intact.
Cabins / Rooms
The cabins in the drawings look fairly standard. Details such as the fact every window will have a view into space aren’t represented in these specific plans. It’s safe to imagine the rooms will be highly themed with the latest technology.
We have already seen concept art for the rooms themselves, but we don’t know just how many rooms the resort will have. The first floor only has 34 total cabins based on the drawings.
Assuming the second floor is made up of just cabins, the resort could have under 100 total rooms. That’s assuming the upper floor doesn’t have any areas for dining or themed experiences. Fewer than 100 rooms would certainly classify this as a specialized boutique hotel.
What We Don’t Know
As insightful as all of the plans and photos are, there’s still a lot we don’t know. For instance, we don’t know how long stays will be (we’re guessing three days, two nights) and we don’t know just how involved guests will be in the story. Will there be different degrees of how involved you can be in the story? We could see some guests wanting the full experience and others wanting to watch from the sidelines.
This will be a fascinating project to watch unfold. Should it prove successful, we could see Disney and other competitors rolling out similar concepts with different themes for years to come.
