Halcyon Daze: The Final Voyages of Disney’s Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser

The Halcyon Phenomenon

I've been documenting my life since girlhood. Often this is how I come to understand the world and my place in it, through writing and reflecting about my experiences. So, after spending thousands of dollars “traveling” on a simulated Star Wars spaceship (Disneyworld’s Galactic Starcruiser) multiple times, I had questions. For example:not being a Star Wars fangirl, why did I become fixated on the Galactic Starcruiser experience? How was the attraction designed to have such a powerful impact? And, finally, what did my new obsession say about who I am? The answers to these questions lay with the hundreds of fellow “passengers” who also became superfans. We became a community, and we called ourselves Starcruisers.

Let me attempt what the film does a much better job of, explaining what the Galactic Starcruiser actually was: by definition, it was a two-day, two-night, fully immersive theatrical experience. It involved live action role play, improvised and scripted performance, interactive gaming, escape room elements, musical dinner theater, a cocktail lounge, a gift shop, and an integrated smartphone app, all within a massive, seamless high tech set. It was A LOT. Nothing else exists like it.

Galactic Starcruiser is now closed permanently, so the insider story that our film captures is a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. Halcyon Daze includes footage shot inside the cruise during the final week of its run. The Starcruiser superfans, myself included, were profoundly changed by their time aboard an ersatz spaceship called the “Halcyon”. Family estrangements were repaired, grieving parents embraced joy again, and people with cancer put aside illness for a time. I bonded with strangers who are now my found family.

Over the course of making Halcyon Daze, I interviewed over 50 “passengers.” The film team also talked with Galactic Starcruiser’s cast members, crew, and designers. Experts in psychology, media, gaming, and immersive experiences weighed in about the Starcruiser phenomenon. All of these perspectives helped me take my obsession apart, and connect it to a larger cultural meaning. In the end, did I figure the Galactic Starcruiser out? I hope my film allows viewers to judge for themselves, while we share this uniquely powerful work of art with a larger audience.

Documentary filmmaking brings many of my artistic impulses together: long form investigations, experiential evidence, purposeful themes, and stories that unapologetically disrupt cultural norms. The process of making this film has provided me with reflections that I hope are infused within Halcyon Daze. Questions such as: who am I within this community’s context? Who am I as a friend, professional, creator, leader? What does community mean? How does art change lives, and culture?