The mirror itself isn't the problem. That's actually clever. It's the stretch of emptiness rationalized as a "backstage theme." The mirror merely explains it.
I can't tell... Is this area larger than the unloading area of Star Tours? I always wondered why that hallway was so long. It's theming was simply travel posters. But, I never gave it much thought.
Long depending where you exit…you have to go past up to 5 other starspeeder cabins when exiting Star Tours (less in California).
The issue with the gift shop seems to me to be the same as with the queue and preshow - Xander doesn't have a recognizable, distinct aesthetic, so anything built in that "style" comes off as exceedingly generic. Look at the Broker scene in GotG on which the gift shop is based - the shop looks like an upscale, vaguely modernist mall jewelry shop. Mission: Breakout demonstrates what a much more recognizable GotG aesthetic would look like.
You have to walk past the other simulators. Did Star Tours cost nearly half a billion dollars?
I actually don't think anything that canonically takes place in the pavilion is supposed to be terribly "Xandar-themed". It feels to me that it's supposed to be consistent with the general look and feel of World Discovery to emphasize the dramatic shift in style, color, and lighting design after being teleported to the Xandarian ship. Even though Xandarian artifacts are on display throughout, both ends of the queue are more or less aligned with the aesthetic of Space 220 and Test Track, for instance.
Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you - I just think that the boring store is a manifestation of a much deeper, more profound design issue with the entire attraction.
I disagree, but you might be right - the problem is that the Xandarian aesthetic is virtually indistinguishable from the modern Future World aesthetic. They're both generic, sleek, slightly Apple-y sci fi. So any given room could be one or it could be the other. I disagree that the aesthetic becomes more distinct on board the ship - the color scheme adds more red, but nothing in the design reads as Marvel-y, let alone GotG-y.
I think there must be an initiative at Disney to purposely make the retail spaces bland so the merch is the star; so the merch is what folks look at. At the same time it’s cheap to build and maintain.
Correct. They bought into a study that showed that spieler stores layouts generated more sales. Disney was inspired by things like Apple, Uniqlo, and then rolled it out at World of Disney. They have set record sales there, so perhaps it does work.
