Hoping to make a titanic splash in the luxury cruise market and make thirsty "Star Wars" fans eager to jump aboard, Disney's upcoming ocean liner named the Disney Wish comes fully equipped with a stunning adults-only "Star Wars"-themed bar called the "Hyperspace Lounge."
Disney Cruise Lines released the first concept art images of their sparkling new ship and high-end bar last week and the enticing promotional images have admirers of that galaxy far, far away excited for the big boat’s maiden voyage in the summer of 2022.
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In an interview with StarWars.com, Danny Handke, Senior Creative Director of Disney Imagineering, explained their goals in creating an immersive “Star Wars” experience for adults.
"We always talked about the fact that kids get to immerse themselves in Star Wars," said Handke. "But as a grownup, and a parent, I’m jealous that I don't have my own space on the ship where I can immerse myself in 'Star Wars,' since 'Star Wars' is multi-generational. So we pitched the idea, 'What if we did a lounge that's for grownups only at night? It becomes an adult playground for the world of 'Star Wars.'' And everyone just loved that idea."
As guests sip an assortment of sci-fi cocktails from Tatooine, Mustafar, Endor, and Batuu inside a fictional "Star Wars" party spaceship, they'll blast through space and time courtesy of a special seven-panel viewport offering widescreen cosmic scenes.
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"The visual effects are all-new for the Disney Wish," Handke adds. "We worked with ILM. Each sequence is almost like a mini-storyline that plays out. You'll see iconic ships, you'll see really cool things happen. ILM adds so much eye candy and they take it to a whole other level for us, which is so awesome. They work in all sorts of Easter eggs and little details."
Handke admitted that Endor was his favorite destination in the space yacht simulation.
"You see the forest moon from 'Return of the Jedi' and Kef Bir, the water moon from 'The Rise of Skywalker,'" he said. "When we designed this scene, we were talking about, 'What should it be? Do we see Death Star debris? Let's do the First Order era for that.' So I asked the Story Group and ILM, 'Could we do like, a little bit of 'Star Wars?' What happens if we have some Resistance cruisers, and the First Order shows up? Can we do a little battle?' They said, 'You can do a little skirmish. Not a full-on battle, but a skirmish.' And so we staged this really cool skirmish scene, where the Resistance and the First Order are fighting each other. You get the laser fire, you get the TIE fighter explosion, and then at the very end we have these three X-wings that come down in front of our screen and protect us. I am so stoked about it."
The Disney Wish and its gold-accented "Star Wars: Hyperspace Lounge" set sail in 2022.
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