Galactic Starcruiser: DLR Opinions

[el_super]

I've said a lot on the WDW side, but to sum it up here after sitting with all the videos and recaps: I am glad this experience exists, I don't know if I'll ever experience it myself, but I worry for the direction of themed entertainment if this (waving my hands at the paywalling and lack of scalability) becomes the norm.

I absolutely think that there is potential here for this to become the norm. If not the Starcruiser itself, then something very similar to it.

The world is changing and themed entertainment itself has to change along with it. In the 1960s, it might have seemed perfectly reasonable to build a facsimile of New Orleans and let people dream of being in a distant exotic locale. In 2022, the real New Orleans is just a cheap Spirit Air flight away. The world is getting smaller and people are expecting far more interaction.

Todd Marten's LA Times review, actually did a fantastic job of not just summing up the importance of play and interaction in future concepts, but also linking them back to prior products Disney had offered (all the way back to the Adventurer's Club). So it's not as if these concepts are really coming out of nowhere... they have been around for awhile and Disney will keep working on it until they get it right.

 

[DavidDL]

I don't hate the idea of this experience. In a vacuum or on it's own (at a cheaper price), it sounds like something I'd consider fun. Like a two night, Star Wars escape room where you get to dress up. I've heard and seen pretty much all great things from the Cast involved and regarding the food. That's about all I can say for what I've seen for far on the positive side.

Areas I have issue with; the location feels improper for this type of experience. It feels like something that would definitely be better at drawing me in if it were anywhere but Disney World. Because for all the money spent, you don't really get to experience anything outside of the cruiser and Galaxy's Edge, which is just a non starter for someone like me. If I'm in Disney World, I want to see everything it has to offer without needing to book a second hotel for the duration of my stay. -and of course, there's that outrageous price tag. While I actually do think the experience looks like fun, there's just no way I can justify that kind of money on a two-night roleplay adventure. I don't care if it's prequel, OT or sequel, no Star Wars experience is worth that kind of money to me when I remember everywhere else in the world I could go for much cheaper.

For reference, I will be in Disney World for a week this April. I spent $3,400 to book everything for my wife and I. For that $3,400 I got: roundtrip, nonstop airfare, 7 nights in a hotel, a rental car, 2 sets of 4 day park-hopper tickets (with Genie+) and two one day, park-to-park tickets to Universal/Islands of Adventure (Unlimited Express Pass included).

So.. yeah, if you put those two adventures in front of me, the choice is clear. I understand "different folks, different strokes" but it just feels odd to me. I'm curious to see how long they can keep bookings up for/how long the target audience for this type of experience keeps coming back. Because as a Star Wars fan, I could probably get VIP tickets and travel to Star Wars Celebration for much cheaper than this. I'd still get to dress up, spend arguably longer at the event and even get the chance to meet the actual actors or individuals who help bring this franchise to life.

 

[ParkPeeker]

I've said a lot on the WDW side, but to sum it up here after sitting with all the videos and recaps: I am glad this experience exists, I don't know if I'll ever experience it myself, but I worry for the direction of themed entertainment if this (waving my hands at the paywalling and lack of scalability) becomes the norm.

I'm thrilled the Starcruiser exists as a sort of proof of concept for all of the interesting HCI research Disney's R&D has put out over the years concerning Live Interactive Narratives (LINs) and the systems used to manage them (some examples include here for the interactions between data pads and real-life characters, and here for scheduling story beats given resource/time/social limitations). I wish I were in the Game Master's room for this experience just to listen and observe.

Same here! I’ve been reading user reviews on the wdw side and also saw someone post this a couple days ago. This research paper (and also user reviews) made me appreciate the whole experience a lot more. So, not thinking about the price point, this live game idea itself is a lot more interesting to me than just another themed hotel/new live show/new E ticket, etc.

Edit :crap I just realized my link was just a more direct link of one of the links you provided!

 

[Parteecia]

DL LARP precursors to the Starcruiser. Did anyone here play Legends of Frontierland? The Tomorrowland game? Ghost Post? Knott's Ghost Town Alive? What did you think of it?

The Disneyland experiments that influenced Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

Imagineers reveal lessons from Legends of Frontierland, one of Disneyland's playtests that led to the gamelike live-in theme park Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.

www.latimes.com

 

[Robbiem]

I love the original Star Tours, but if timeline stuff concerns you, it features the "death star 3" and tie fighters even though vader and the empire is gone.

Moff Gideon had a Tie so the they still used post empire. Maybe mando could find the third death star and make star tours v1 cannon

 

[el_super]

DL LARP precursors to the Starcruiser. Did anyone here play Legends of Frontierland? The Tomorrowland game? Ghost Post? Knott's Ghost Town Alive? What did you think of it?

The Disneyland experiments that influenced Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

Imagineers reveal lessons from Legends of Frontierland, one of Disneyland's playtests that led to the gamelike live-in theme park Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.

www.latimes.com

I spent some time playing the Frontierland game, and it was confusing and weird, but the real thrill was the excitement of the crowd around me. The performers and entertainers they had working that event really got into the show, and lots of people would dedicate time to getting involved ... which made it great. I never bothered with the Knott's version, but it's been insanely popular from what I can tell.


Thanks for posting that article. I think the end really demonstrates how this is meant to be a different experience than what Disney has typically produced:

“I will say that all of these experiences gave us the confidence of how much structure was necessary,” Thacher says. “We looked at each other throughout the development process and said, ‘How? We’re making a 45-hour experience! How much story is that?’ And we were making a 45-hour experience in which not everybody experiences the same thing. So having things in our back pocket, whether it’s Frontierland or the Ghost Post, was about starting to understand how much stuff we needed to build to have enough to do.”​

​

It’s all further evidence that no matter what theme park experience is created, it will likely have roots that can be traced back to Disneyland.​

 

[Mickey's Pal]

I am looking forward to checking out their Utah location about six months from now. This thread has reminded me of how much I loved the Tokyo visit, so I might even add a night onto the Utah stay this fall. Admittedly, I will temper my expections to an American level of service, even for Aman.

Aman has hotels all around the world, but only a handful here in the USA. None in California. But my Tokyo stay there a few years ago was beyond belief, and I've stayed in some nice places before. It's on the top floors of a skyscraper near Tokyo Station, but it might as well have been on a different planet. A Japanese planet, but a different planet.

The Aman staff lady who called me to confirm my emailed selections ahead of my short stay in one of their lesser rooms was incredibly gracious, treated me like I was a Kardashian arriving with an entourage, and in under 5 minutes she got exactly the info she needed to make my stay perfection; from Nutella on my morning toast, to the preferred temp of the lava rocks for my massage, to my preferred sushi flavor profile, to the exact brand of gin I prefer in a martini at the moment of sundown, to a selection of the right pillows placed in my room for my weirdo American sleeping habits.

Then when I got there the Aman staff took that info and sent it into orbit. Beyond incredible. I wasn't a Kardashian or Russian Oligarch arriving with an entourage, I was just an American tourist arriving in a Toyota taxi from the train station, but that didn't matter. The service was the same.

When I had only checked in a few hours prior, but the lobby bartender (a perfect stranger 6,000 miles from home) greeted me by name and offered me "an extra dry martini made with The Botanist?" my mouth dropped open and I was sold.

Everything at Aman was perfection. It really makes you realize how far behind Disney has fallen, while they have the gall and the idiotic nerve to claim they offer "World Class Guest Service!" at their expensive theme park hotels that have only devolved and degraded into an average Airport Sheraton in recent years.

Meanwhile, at the Aman in Tokyo, 50 stories up...

Luxury Hotel in Tokyo, Japan - Aman Tokyo

Discover Aman Tokyo, a luxury urban hotel inspired by Japanese design tradition and situated near the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo, Japan. Enquire today.

www.aman.com

Omg you make me want to stay there soo bad.