News Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - Historical Construction/Impressions

[TP2000]

They had a cash cow and great ideas on how to milk it, but then decided to just barely feed the animal and put its malnourished milk behind a paywall.

Well, there's an analogy I haven't heard before, but it seems quite apt for Star Wars Land.

In addition to the Adventureland game, remember they did that much larger Legends of Frontierland interactive game. I just Googled when that was, and it was a decade ago now! Summer of '14. They were clearly researching things for Star Wars Land, and that went nowhere for them ultimately.

It's yet another example of how out of touch both the WDI creatives, and the Parks executives are on how their own parks operate daily for paying customers with 19 year old minimum wage CM's who get treated rather poorly.

 

[TP2000]

On a related note- A friend of mine recently had a job interview for attractions that from what he told me was quite weird. When I have a chance I'll do a write up and share it on here, but one of the questions was "We tell many stories at the Disneyland Resort, from Fantasy to Tomorrow to the Frontier or even a Galaxy Far, Far away where the Cast Members are canonically part of the story. With this in mind, if you're working in Fantasyland and a guest asks you for directions to the bathroom, how do you respond?"

My friend said they'd be polite and courteous and direct them to the closest restroom, which is likely the one by the Beauty and the Beast restaurant that used to be Pinocchio. The recruiter said they're more worried about the story of the answer- my friend stumbled around for a bit trying to figure out what the heck the recruiter wanted since directions to the bathroom should be concise and professional. After telling my friend they weren't getting the job, he said that he wanted them to play more into the story of Fantasyland. Something like "Oh you fly on past there with Peter Pan and Wendy or go on a wild ride with Mr. Toad past Dumbo Soaring to get to the bathroom" Like something WEIRD. Or if it was outside Pirates he told them "Take your ship over there quickly but move quickly so Jack doesn't steal your plunder!"

My friend called me after to tell me since he was dumbfounded, as he had never heard a CM talk like that (and I haven't either except for that one off Galaxy's Edge interaction that was more infuriating then helpful).

Oh my Gawd. That's ridiculous. And yet hilariously funny because it's so insanely inaccurate on how the parks work.

If I got that type of instructions on how to get to the bathrooms, especially on a hot crowded day with children who need to pee, I think I'd be headed to Guest Relations to complain after I had made that pit stop at the bathrooms.

I've been to every Disney theme park in the world at least once except the ones in Communist China (and won't be heading there ever) for decades and decades, and I have NEVER received that type of weirdo, awkward, borderline insane type of CM interaction on bathroom directions in my life. Aside from the themed scripted spiels at E Tickets like Haunted Mansion, or the occasional themed word or phrase in hyper themed areas like Cars Land or Frontierland, American CM's are generally silent until spoken to. And then they give you basic directions in the fewest words it takes them. And if you are lucky nowadays, they might smile at you and/or respond at the end of the interaction with a "You're welcome".

"Move quickly so Jack doesn't steal your plunder!"....

Thank God I read that after 6:30pm, because I need a drink now.


.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Well, there's an analogy I haven't heard before, but it seems quite apt for Star Wars Land.

In addition to the Adventureland game, remember they did that much larger Legends of Frontierland interactive game. I just Googled when that was, and it was a decade ago now! Summer of '14. They were clearly researching things for Star Wars Land, and that went nowhere for them ultimately.

It's yet another example of how out of touch both the WDI creatives, and the Parks executives are on how their own parks operate daily for paying customers with 19 year old minimum wage CM's who get treated rather poorly.

Legends of Frontierland became the R&D framework for the Galactic Starcruiser.

 

[𝕴𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖊𝖗97]

Instructions unclear. Pooping in Pan.

Dumping on Dumbo.

 

[TP2000]

Legends of Frontierland became the R&D framework for the Galactic Starcruiser.

How's that going, by the way?

 

[CaptinEO]

Well, there's an analogy I haven't heard before, but it seems quite apt for Star Wars Land.

In addition to the Adventureland game, remember they did that much larger Legends of Frontierland interactive game. I just Googled when that was, and it was a decade ago now! Summer of '14. They were clearly researching things for Star Wars Land, and that went nowhere for them ultimately.

It's yet another example of how out of touch both the WDI creatives, and the Parks executives are on how their own parks operate daily for paying customers with 19 year old minimum wage CM's who get treated rather poorly.

The very long but very good Jenny Nichols video touches on this at the end too, the tests for Star Wars Land and how they moved all the interactive parts into Starcruiser. I'm sure people on this board were already aware of this but good to see this information get an audience of 6 million and counting.

Love when she roasts the embarrassing executives doing cringy PR.

It's very obvious they had amazing plans for Galaxy's Edge and took most the elements to the starcruiser as an expensive paid experience.

Sad how we were promised an interactive land full of characters and droids and got none of it.

 

[CaptinEO]

Here's a fun Pop Quiz....

How many of us here have had a Galaxy's Edge CM actually do the "I'm Tanya from the planet Endor" thing? Has anyone had an in-theme conversation with a CM where they "pulled you into their story" and relayed their own backstory to you?

I haven't. I made several visits to Star Wars Land in the summer and fall of 2019, and I never got any of that. Plus a trip in January, 2020 to go on Rise Before Dawn. I remember my first visit in an uncrowded land in June, 2019 being the most glaringly unimpressive; CM's huddled in small groups ignoring what few 'guests' that were there, talking amongst themselves about current day woes and gossip. And in the shopping arcade, the CM's were talking about being mad at scheduling for giving them shifts on July 4th because there was a big party they were going to on a planet called Fullerton.

I did have a good level of service at both E Tickets in the land, with efficient and reasonably courteous CM's using a few themed phrases as we were loaded and processed, etc. But it was mild and nothing different than what the CM's have been doing for decades at Haunted Mansion or Tower of Terror or Jungle Cruise, etc.

Maybe the CM's in Galaxy's Edge got better at that since they reopened in 2021 after Covid?

Has anyone here had a themed conversation with a Galaxy's Edge CM who "pulled you into their story"???

Week one 2019 the CMs I saw all made an effort with this, when I went a few weeks later it was 90% gone. It's still dumb they made people in non acting roles have to also act, what a bad idea. I don't need the cash register person to have to perform two roles.

What always got me was all the talk of not showing Coca-Cola and Visa/MC wording throughout the land, and the money they reportedly paid to do that, and then you purchase things in various shops and they hand you the generic Disney parks plastic bags...how expensive would it be to have land-specific merchandise bags?

Wizarding World in Hollywood even got their own bags.

It amazes me how they went so out of their way to make a point on this realism but then left a giant empty themepark land.

Like Star Tours was a smash success since the 80s and it didnt have to pretend you were actually in outer space. You can take "immersion" too far, and for me a themepark should always be self aware it's a theme park. The second it's poorly thought out role play I stop caring.

I remember a guest asking what time the fireworks were in 2019 and an employee saying "i have heard legends that a great battle may take place in the sky
at 930". It's just too much.

I'm even a big fan of Star Wars and the weird phrases and tones people talked in felt nothing like anything in the Star Wars universe. What is "bright suns?", how about "may the force be with you"?

What's going to happen if someone has a medical emergency? "Call an ambulance!" "what is this ambulance you speak of? Legends have spoken of Sbarro the healer".

 

[Parteecia]

I think I shared this on here years ago in more detail but I had a CM try this nonsense once. Back in 2019, I was at the droid shop looking for a figure of the original Star Tours Rex.

I couldn't find it, so I asked a CM outside the store if they had Pilot Rex from Star Tours. "What's a Star Tours?" We went back and forth a little bit but the CM never actually answered my question and it was more frustrating than anything.

What's even more frustrating on top of that is Pilot Rex/Star Tours is in an episode of Rebels, and you can see the Starspeeder on the Millenium Falcon ride so it is canon as an airline and the CM wasn't even right in acting confused about 'What's a Star Tours?'

On a related note- A friend of mine recently had a job interview for attractions that from what he told me was quite weird. When I have a chance I'll do a write up and share it on here, but one of the questions was "We tell many stories at the Disneyland Resort, from Fantasy to Tomorrow to the Frontier or even a Galaxy Far, Far away where the Cast Members are canonically part of the story. With this in mind, if you're working in Fantasyland and a guest asks you for directions to the bathroom, how do you respond?"

My friend said they'd be polite and courteous and direct them to the closest restroom, which is likely the one by the Beauty and the Beast restaurant that used to be Pinocchio. The recruiter said they're more worried about the story of the answer- my friend stumbled around for a bit trying to figure out what the heck the recruiter wanted since directions to the bathroom should be concise and professional. After telling my friend they weren't getting the job, he said that he wanted them to play more into the story of Fantasyland. Something like "Oh you fly on past there with Peter Pan and Wendy or go on a wild ride with Mr. Toad past Dumbo Soaring to get to the bathroom" Like something WEIRD. Or if it was outside Pirates he told them "Take your ship over there quickly but move quickly so Jack doesn't steal your plunder!"

My friend called me after to tell me since he was dumbfounded, as he had never heard a CM talk like that (and I haven't either except for that one off Galaxy's Edge interaction that was more infuriating then helpful).

Yeah, NO. Good thing we weren't doing total immersion in my day because I can't speak Spanish.

The right amount of cosplay is mentioning Voldemort to Wizarding World TMs for their reactions.

In Batuu, I did get one of their catch phrases from a very nice CM who helped me find one of the scavenger hunt canisters. Caught me off guard, then I laughed.

 

[CaptinEO]

I think I shared this on here years ago in more detail but I had a CM try this nonsense once. Back in 2019, I was at the droid shop looking for a figure of the original Star Tours Rex.

I couldn't find it, so I asked a CM outside the store if they had Pilot Rex from Star Tours. "What's a Star Tours?" We went back and forth a little bit but the CM never actually answered my question and it was more frustrating than anything.

What's even more frustrating on top of that is Pilot Rex/Star Tours is in an episode of Rebels, and you can see the Starspeeder on the Millenium Falcon ride so it is canon as an airline and the CM wasn't even right in acting confused about 'What's a Star Tours?'

On a related note- A friend of mine recently had a job interview for attractions that from what he told me was quite weird. When I have a chance I'll do a write up and share it on here, but one of the questions was "We tell many stories at the Disneyland Resort, from Fantasy to Tomorrow to the Frontier or even a Galaxy Far, Far away where the Cast Members are canonically part of the story. With this in mind, if you're working in Fantasyland and a guest asks you for directions to the bathroom, how do you respond?"

My friend said they'd be polite and courteous and direct them to the closest restroom, which is likely the one by the Beauty and the Beast restaurant that used to be Pinocchio. The recruiter said they're more worried about the story of the answer- my friend stumbled around for a bit trying to figure out what the heck the recruiter wanted since directions to the bathroom should be concise and professional. After telling my friend they weren't getting the job, he said that he wanted them to play more into the story of Fantasyland. Something like "Oh you fly on past there with Peter Pan and Wendy or go on a wild ride with Mr. Toad past Dumbo Soaring to get to the bathroom" Like something WEIRD. Or if it was outside Pirates he told them "Take your ship over there quickly but move quickly so Jack doesn't steal your plunder!"

My friend called me after to tell me since he was dumbfounded, as he had never heard a CM talk like that (and I haven't either except for that one off Galaxy's Edge interaction that was more infuriating then helpful).

Holy cow, this story.

There's no way this interviewer has ever worked a customer facing job. Their training manual may mention all these magical "flourishes" to add in, but if they tried this one time they'd never do it again.

Not only is that talk embarrassing for the CM but it's also disrespectful to the customer who is asking a straightforward ordinary question and getting a riddle as an answer.

Has the interviewer even been in Disneyland? I've never had a weird interaction like that before.

 

[TP2000]

Week one 2019 the CMs I saw all made an effort with this, when I went a few weeks later it was 90% gone.

Well, that makes sense. I didn't go until later in June. I remember it rather vividly; the reports were the land was empty by lunchtime, Disneyland was slow, no one showed up. So I got in an Uber and went to see it for myself a few weeks after it opened in late June, 2019.

No one spoke any Star Wars gibberish to me. All the CM's seemed bored and disinterested, particularly in the stores and restaurants, and they were all talking to themselves about how much they hated the scheduling department and whose party was better, etc., etc.

It's still dumb they made people in non acting roles have to also act, what a bad idea. I don't need the cash register person to have to perform two roles.

Especially if you aren't going to pay the cashier AGVA rates, and instead just give them an 8 hour training and tell them to come up with their own backstory. Seriously? I don't blame them one bit for thinking "I don't get paid enough for that kinda crap..."

Hot Tip for TDA: You want actors? Recruit real actors and pay actor wages. You want cashiers and fry cooks? Recruit 18 year old kids wandering in off Ball Road and pay cashier and fry cook wages, but don't expect them to become actors for you just because you asked.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Holy cow, this story.

There's no way this interviewer has ever worked a customer facing job. Their training manual may mention all these magical "flourishes" to add in, but if they tried this one time they'd never do it again.

Not only is that talk embarrassing for the CM but it's also disrespectful to the customer who is asking a straightforward ordinary question and getting a riddle as an answer.

Has the interviewer even been in Disneyland? I've never had a weird interaction like that before.

From what he said, the interview was weird and the recruiter was strange. I'll have to share the rest of what he told me when I have time.

 

[SSG]

I think I've told this story before, but a Disney vlogger a few years ago said back when DCA first opened, the execs made the Paradise Pier CM’s talk to guests in an exaggerated, old-timey, carnival barker style. This didn’t last long as the CMs hated it and managers didn’t like enforcing it. She said she heard the story from a few CMs and couldn’t independently confirm it was really a thing, but it sounds dumb enough to be true.

 

[Rich Brownn]

I think I shared this on here years ago in more detail but I had a CM try this nonsense once. Back in 2019, I was at the droid shop looking for a figure of the original Star Tours Rex.

I couldn't find it, so I asked a CM outside the store if they had Pilot Rex from Star Tours. "What's a Star Tours?" We went back and forth a little bit but the CM never actually answered my question and it was more frustrating than anything.

What's even more frustrating on top of that is Pilot Rex/Star Tours is in an episode of Rebels, and you can see the Starspeeder on the Millenium Falcon ride so it is canon as an airline and the CM wasn't even right in acting confused about 'What's a Star Tours?'

On a related note- A friend of mine recently had a job interview for attractions that from what he told me was quite weird. When I have a chance I'll do a write up and share it on here, but one of the questions was "We tell many stories at the Disneyland Resort, from Fantasy to Tomorrow to the Frontier or even a Galaxy Far, Far away where the Cast Members are canonically part of the story. With this in mind, if you're working in Fantasyland and a guest asks you for directions to the bathroom, how do you respond?"

My friend said they'd be polite and courteous and direct them to the closest restroom, which is likely the one by the Beauty and the Beast restaurant that used to be Pinocchio. The recruiter said they're more worried about the story of the answer- my friend stumbled around for a bit trying to figure out what the heck the recruiter wanted since directions to the bathroom should be concise and professional. After telling my friend they weren't getting the job, he said that he wanted them to play more into the story of Fantasyland. Something like "Oh you fly on past there with Peter Pan and Wendy or go on a wild ride with Mr. Toad past Dumbo Soaring to get to the bathroom" Like something WEIRD. Or if it was outside Pirates he told them "Take your ship over there quickly but move quickly so Jack doesn't steal your plunder!"

My friend called me after to tell me since he was dumbfounded, as he had never heard a CM talk like that (and I haven't either except for that one off Galaxy's Edge interaction that was more infuriating then helpful).

When I worked at Universal we went out of our way to not break theme as much as possible, usually by just renaming things (It's not en ECV, it's an "enchanted chariot". Not an elevator or lift but an "Apperator" for those who haven't passed yet, etc). But if someone asked an outside world question ("Where's Transformers") it got a bit tricky. "Hmmm, well I've heard rumors its located ..."

 

[Communicora]

I think I've told this story before, but a Disney vlogger a few years ago said back when DCA first opened, the execs made the Paradise Pier CM’s talk to guests in an exaggerated, old-timey, carnival barker style. This didn’t last long as the CMs hated it and managers didn’t like enforcing it. She said she heard the story from a few CMs and couldn’t independently confirm it was really a thing, but it sounds dumb enough to be true.

Maybe I'm a dork, but that actually sounds like it would have worked well in that context.

I did talk in theme to a Galaxy's Edge CM outside of Oga. It was because I bit it on Main Street and sprained my ankle very badly and I wanted to get in their good graces so I could be assured of a table instead of a spot at the bar. It worked!

 

[BrianLo]

Well, there's an analogy I haven't heard before, but it seems quite apt for Star Wars Land.

In addition to the Adventureland game, remember they did that much larger Legends of Frontierland interactive game. I just Googled when that was, and it was a decade ago now! Summer of '14. They were clearly researching things for Star Wars Land, and that went nowhere for them ultimately.

It's yet another example of how out of touch both the WDI creatives, and the Parks executives are on how their own parks operate daily for paying customers with 19 year old minimum wage CM's who get treated rather poorly.

This is actually a case of blaming WDW. There's quite a few things that were blatantly cut out of the land that are placed in the star cruiser. Which really shouldn't have been stripped out of Disneyland.

Including a more built out table service restaurant and bar, walk around equity actors and aliens, a stunt show and the game. In fact the things that were clearly stolen from Galaxies' Edge were often the pieces that were reasonably well reviewed about Star Cruiser.

The trouble is lots of stuff in Star Cruiser was actually 'good', just nowhere near 6000 dollars good. If it was mostly free in Galaxies' Edge like it was originally supposed to be, I think it would largely be considered quite excellent.

So I for one blame WDW. It contributed nothing to the final product (which was all modelled on Disneyland anyways) and stole a lot of the ancillary stuff to paywall.