TV Recap/Review: The Simpsons Takes Aim at the Star Wars Hotel in “The Kosmic Kruiser,” With Jenny Nicholson Along for the Ride

The Simpsons gets meta with Disney Parks in “The Kosmic Kruiser,” an episode that jabs at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, better known as the shuttered Star Wars hotel at Walt Disney World. Adding another layer of meta, video essayist Jenny Nicholson interviews stars after her viral four-hour assessment of the experience. Let’s recap!

Season 38, Episode 6: “The Kosmic Kruiser” — Written by Brian Kelley

Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) wins a statewide essay-writing competition, and Marge (Julie Kavner) declares that Lisa gets to pick the next family outing. Bart (Nancy Cartwright) campaigns for Krustyland, which Lisa vetoes because the last time they went, Homer (Dan Castellaneta) hurt his hand punching animatronic Ulysses S. Grant in The Hall of Presidents. But Bart guilt-trips Lisa with a happy memory of youthful visits where they called themselves “Super Explorers.”

The next thing we know, the Simpsons are at the entrance to Krustyland. Looking at the map, Homer realizes that all of the rides make him motion sick. He and Marge take pills before Lisa points out that there’s an adult area of the park that serves alcohol. They agree to split up, under the condition that the kids check in by text every hour.

Outside of a drop tower ride called “Burj Krustifa,” Lisa looks nervous as Bart brags about all the times he rode it. They then walk through some shrubs and see a chain-link fence around the Kosmic Kruiser Hotel. “We stand before the most expensive, most embarrassing failure in theme park history,” Bart declares, as he and Lisa question what the theme park’s executives were thinking.

In a flashback, we see Krusty the Clown (Castellaneta) on the stage at Krusty-Kon announcing the hotel and introducing theme park CEO Don Jeffries (Jimmi Simpson), who announces “the most immersive” hotel ever. The two-night stay puts guests in a role-playing sci-fi adventure with characters from the Itchy and Scratchy universe. Guests join either C.A.T. (Control And Tyranny) or M.O.U.S.E. (Mice Opposed to Unfair Space Empires) during their adventure, and at some point, they will get to punch the ship into hyperspace. It was set to open a year after the announcement.

Five years later, an influencer named Courtney (Tress MacNeille) feigned enthusiasm for the preview she got as Don Jeffries walked her through the hotel and introduced her to the first robot cruise director, KIT-10 (Jenny Nicholson), who coughed up hairball towels. When Courtney went to punch the ship into hyperspace, the screen gave an error symbol. Don Jeffries reminded her followers that the experience cost $5,000 for an all-inclusive package, excluding water and alcohol.

In news coverage, Kent Brockman (Harry Shearer) announced that Krustyland had temporarily closed the hotel and planned to retool the experience. Meanwhile, Don Jeffries was fired with a reportedly small severance package of just $110 million.

As Bart and Lisa stand outside the chain-link fence, the gate lock suddenly falls off. Bart reminds Lisa that they’re Super Explorers, so they must explore.

Inside the dark lobby, they see a nonsensical timeline with 1,000 years of Itchy & Scratchy lore. Lisa wants to leave, but Bart insists on ten minutes of urban exploring to tell friends about at recess. Just then, a shadowy trio of humanoid cats emerges from the darkness, actors in character waiting for the hiatus to be over. Sideshow Mel (Castellaneta) is “Captain Ragamuffin Tigaro”, Kirk Van Houten (Hank Azaria)  is “First Officer Puffykins Starclaw,” and an unknown as Lieutenant Commander Chuck Meowski (uncredited, but sounds like Azaria). Playing along, Bart announces himself as a new C.A.T. recruit, and Lisa, although hesitant, decides to play along. She’s Loriana Nebula, a junior senator from Valedictoria, worried that her mother, Queen Calico, is secretly plotting her demise. Starclaw installs the Kosmic Kruiser app on their phones, which immediately glitches and floods them with insurance pop-up ads they’re warned not to click.

In the dining hall, Lisa and Bart are entertained by the galaxy's number-one singing star, Qu’ee-tar (Kara Talve), and her blue, elephant-like alien on an unrecognizable instrument while they eat hyperdrive pretzels with trans-dimensional cheese dip. When Lisa points out that cheese is mouse food, she reveals she's in league with M.O.U.S.E. and is escorted to the brig. On the way, she tries to text Homer and Marge and discovers that the hotel’s app made it impossible to text or call.

Meanwhile, Homer and Marge enjoy Krustyland’s Coconut Cocktail Cabana, a tiki-bar with busted animatronic birds (a parody of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room). Their cocktails don’t mix well with the motion sickness meds they took, and they both pass out, not realizing their kids haven’t checked in.

Lisa discovers some college students who worked at Krustyland over the summer have been squatting in the Kosmic Kruiser since the park didn’t pay them enough to afford rent. She finds Bart in the spa and discovers his true intentions for the Krustyland trip: He wants to steal KIT-10, the ultimate Krustyland souvenir, which is worth a lot of money. He snuck in a pillowcase to disguise it from security, and Lisa realizes this was the real reason Bart pressured her into choosing Krustyland for her family outing choice, a truth solidified when wire cutters fall out of Bart’s pocket, which is how the lock fell off the fence. “You ruined the one good memory I have of you,” Lisa declares, running away upset.

Back in the lobby, Captain Ragamuffin Tigaro says the ship is under attack and must prepare to punch to hyperspace. Lisa refuses to play along, criticizing the immersion, but then the entire ship lurches. As Lisa questions what’s happening, Bart tries to text their parents and finds he can’t.

We see Homer and Marge stumble out of the Coconut Cocktail Cabana, wondering where the kids are. They don’t notice the shadow moving above their heads: The Kosmic Kruiser appears to be flying!

A carbonite Scratchy swings open in the lobby, a secret door. Don Jeffries has been haunting the hallways of his greatest failure and announces that Krusty plans to dispose of the hotel in the ocean as a tax write-off. Sure enough, the flying ship is revealed to be carried by a team of helicopters flying over the ocean.

Lisa wants to get to the roof to signal that there are people inside. Just then, KIT-10 appears and says she knows a way, leading them to a door to an emergency ladder outside. KIT-10 offers to climb up and fire her confetti cannon, saying the kids can contact her through the app. Just then, her screen flashes an insurance ad, which KIT-10 clicks. It fries her insides in a poof of confetti as the valuable droid falls into the ocean.

Bart reveals that he’s too afraid to climb the ladder. He’d never been on Burj Krustifa because he was scared, just like Lisa. But Bart thinks he and Lisa can get up if they work together and sing their old Super Explorer theme song. Lisa is touched that he remembered it; a happy memory is restored. On the roof, they signal to the pilots, to Krusty’s dismay as he loses his tax write-off.

The episode ends with Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa exiting Krustyland. They ask how the kids enjoyed the park. “It was very uplifting,” Lisa says, making Bart laugh and confusing their parents. Even more confusing: Homer doesn’t remember parking underneath the Kosmic Kruiser Hotel.

“The Kosmic Kruiser” Review

This episode of The Simpsons was made for die-hard Disney Parks fans, and as a result, it holds a special place in my fandom. For those out of the know, the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel ran for less than two years (March 2022 to September 2023), a project greenlit when Bob Chapek headed Disney Parks & Resorts and opened during his short time as CEO. Krusty Land CEO Don Jeffries bears a resemblance.

As with the Kosmic Kruiser, the Galactic Starcruiser featured an atrium off the bridge. Guests could choose to be with the Resistance or the First Order (parodied here as C.A.T. and M.O.U.S.E.), and the galaxy’s most Lady Gaga-esque pop star (a Twi'lek named Gaya instead of Qu’ee-tar) was on board as a performer, although she was secretly there to help smuggle a message for the Resistance. The real ship had its own droids (the real SK-62O and the digital concierge D3-O9), and yes, plenty of improv actors were on board playing characters guests could interact with.

In 2024, YouTuber Jenny Nicholson shared a viral four-hour assessment of the Galactic Starcruiser’s failures. While some on the episode’s production team experienced the Galactic Starcruiser firsthand, much of the humor comes directly from her video, including how often Don Jeffries says “immersive.” It’s particularly meta that Nicholson was cast as the Kosmic Kruiser’s original droid character, KIT-10.

Bart's plot to steal KIT-10 also feels rooted in recent Disney Parks lore. The star of EPCOT’s defunct animatronic show Cranium Command, Buzzy, was reportedly stolen from the attraction. The story itself is the center of the recent documentary Stolen Kingdom.

Krustyland has always served as a way for The Simpsons to parody theme parks in general (except for LEGOLAND, which has its own unique version, BLOCKOLAND), and Disney Parks in particular. While elements of it are very Six Flags, this episode references the park's own version of Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents, and the Coconut Cocktail Cabana is inspired by both the Enchanted Tiki Room (originally designed to be a restaurant with an animatronic dinner show) and the more recent Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel and its sister Trader Sam's Grog Grotto at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. As for the amusement park-esque “Burj Krustifa,” the drop tower gets its name from the United Arab Emirates’ Burj Khalifa skyscraper. It’s unclear if this was intended as a reference to Disney’s in-development Abu Dhabi theme park venture.

For Simpsons fans who aren’t as steeped in Disney Parks lore, “The Kosmic Kruiser” is likely underwhelming. It’s so meta that most jokes likely go over viewers’ heads. But it's a real treat for Disney fans in the know.

Season 38 continues next Sunday, November 15th, at 8:30/7:30c on FOX, with “Dream Scenari-Moe.”

When Moe has trouble sleeping, he enrolls in a brand new sleep study that gives him the greatest romantic comedy dreams of his life. But unbeknownst to him, his beautiful fantasy comes at a nightmarish price.