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Day 1: Jeff Levkulich’s voyage on Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser

ORLANDO, Fla. — As someone who grew up on Star Wars, the chance to be one of the first to venture onboard the Halcyon, Disney’s Newest hotel, I jumped at the chance to go onboard and experience it firsthand. This journal of mine is not to tell you if you should or shouldn’t book a trip to the Starcruiser hotel, but to just explain what I experienced and what you will experience should you decide to go one day.

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When I first arrived at the hotel, a greeter handed me a bag containing a magic band and an iPhone that they call a data pad. The data pad works with your personal MyDisney Experience App login and is your guide through the adventure on the Galactic Starcruiser.

At 2 p.m., I stepped on the launch pod and headed to the Halcyon. As we “blasted off,” I could see out of the windows our journey to the Halcyon as we left the planet and docked with the Galactic Starcruiser. The doors on the pod opened up to reveal the Atrium of the Halcyon. It is reminiscent of something you would see on Coruscant from the

Read: Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser: What you need to know

prequel movies. There is a deck above the atrium with turbo lifts below it. To the left is the bridge of the ship and directly across the way is the Sublight lounge. To the Right of the launch pod dock is the Chandrila collection, where you can buy clothing and other items to look the part while you are on board the Halcyon.

Read: Day 1: Jeff Levkulich’s voyage on Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

A castmember greeted us and took us down a short flight of stairs to our room on Deck five. The hallways are a mix of black, grey and beige with a touch of orange. My magic band unlocked the door to our cabin, which slides when you open it. Inside our room, there is a queen size bed and a pair of bunk beds that remind me of something you would see on the Millenium Falcon.

The bathroom is stocked with everything you need. All doors in the room slide including the shower door.

Read: Day 2: Jeff Levkulich’s voyage on Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser

Directly in front of the beds is a window screen that gives you a look outside the ship. It is constantly moving so you can sees planets, stars and other ships that you come into contact with as you journey to Batuu. Under the window is a pull out desk and roll out chairs.

There is a travel monitor that doubles as a tv screen in front of the queen size bed and the remote is orange and white like BB-8.

Photos: Take a tour of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

Next to the television/travel monitor is the droid station, where you use your magic band to activate your personal droid. She interacts with you and will react to what you say. There is also a phone and the room climate control systems on this panel.

After I got settled, the room droid helped us start our adventure on our data pad. I went up to the Chandrila collection and decided to try on some of the costumes in the shop. I ended up buying a blue and grey top for about 80 bucks to blend in with everyone else playing the part. I then toured the ship and checked out the different common areas. I tried using my magic band on doors labeled restricted. Some doors opened including a door to the engineering room where you can turn different knobs and levers to help repair parts of the ships system.

Photos: Take a look at the out-of-this-world food options on the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

At 3pm I ate lunch in the Crown of Corellia dining room. The food was different looking for as it is supposed to be from a galaxy far far away but sure but I tried a little of everything and the taste was familiar. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese and tomato soup and fried chicken and fettucine alfredo. There is plenty of blue and green milk on board. And the deserts were out of this world as you would normally expect from Disney.

After dinner, I changed into my costume and received my first messages asking me to pick a side. I decided to work with the First Order, so I walked to a communication panel and completed a task for Lt. Croy. The missions continued through the rest of the day and the evening.

Dinner was served at 5:30pm and I was still kind of stuffed from lunch. I was treated to three courses, but the main course was filling as we were served Bantha Beef Tenderloin along with four side dishes containing chicken, shrimp vegetables and rice.

Photos: Tour a room aboard the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

In between the main course and desert, we were treated to a performance by Gaya, a Twi’lek female singer. The story unfolding on the ship between The Resistance and The First Order continued through dinner as Gaya and Lt. Croy exchanged banter. First Order troopers walk the corridors throughout the journey as well as during the dinner and a show.

After dinner at 7:45pm, I ventured over to the lightsaber training room where I was taught basic movements to deflect blasts from a training remote. The pace of the blasts picked up as we rotated with the rest of the class and felt nostalgic toward the last two rotations as the voice of Yoda come over the loudspeaker.

Photos: Character sightings aboard the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

After the Captain’s toast at 9:45pm, I decided to head over to the Sublight Lounge where I ordered a couple of drinks to wind down the night. I ordered some flatbread pizza and vegetarian meatballs and ended up playing a virtual card game similar to Poker called Sabaac which involves both cards and dice. I played about an hour of Sabaac until it was time to head to bed for the night.

There were three choices to go to sleep, but I gave up the queen bed to my photographer Kenny and ended up sleeping in the bunkbed. I chose the top bunk because if I was a kid, that is what I would have taken. We watched some television and then called it a night. I can’t wait to see what day 2 brings.

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Jeff Levkulich

Jeff Levkulich, WFTV.com

Jeff Levkulich joined the Eyewitness News team as a reporter in June 2015.