Walt Disney Co. is opening a hotel that it insists isn\u2019t a hotel, part of its latest push to wring more money with the Star Wars franchise.<\/p>\n
The entertainment giant unveiled plans for the \u201cStar Wars: Galactic Starcruiser,\u201d a multiday experience at Walt Disney World that will let guests feel like they\u2019re staying inside a spaceship.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a hotel or a ride, but a \u201cspace cruise,\u201d the company said this week at its biennial D23 Expo, a fan convention. Disney showed off a model of the ship, called the Halcyon, designed for the Orlando, Florida, resort.<\/p>\n
The company also announced plans for a new Star Wars show based on the Obi-Wan Kenobi character. Ewan McGregor will reprise his role from the movies, appearing in a program for the new Disney+ streaming service.<\/p>\n
And Disney released a trailer for its already-announced Star Wars show \u201cThe Mandalorian,\u201d which also is airing on Disney+.<\/p>\n
Disney is betting heavily on Star Wars, even as the brand shows signs of strain. The last feature film, \u201cSolo: A Star Wars Story,\u201d fizzled, renewing concerns that younger viewers haven\u2019t warmed to the franchise.<\/p>\n
The \u201cnot-a-hotel\u201d concept promises to be one of the most immersive experiences yet for the company, with costumed characters assuming the role of housekeeping staff and room windows projecting scenes of outer space.<\/p>\n
It will be connected to a Star Wars land that\u2019s opening at Disney World on Aug. 29, following the debut of a similar attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The $1 billion lands are among the largest investments Disney has made in its resorts.<\/p>\n
At the D23 conference, Disney also announced more plans to revamp Disney World\u2019s Epcot. It will include a new attraction based on its animated hit \u201cMoana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Disney has been adding more attractions tied to the company\u2019s hit films to the park, the company\u2019s second-oldest in Florida.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Epcot has featured events for adults, such as a food-and-wine festival. The changes \u201cwill make the park more Disney, more family, more timeless and more relevant to the millions of guests who visit each year,\u201d the company said in a blog post.<\/p>\n
Disney also said that two previously announced superhero lands at Disneyland Paris and California Adventure in Anaheim would be called Avengers Campus. More news about attractions is coming on Sunday, the company said.<\/p>\n
Disney aims to stoke Star Wars fever with Starcruiser and new shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":309595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[12857,11439],"class_list":["post-317425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-disney","tag-star-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317425"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}