News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[Lensman]

Doesn't need to be. People have been wanting to live in the SW Galaxy for 40+ years. It will sell out to those people for a long time. Disney doesn't need the normal WDW guest to make this work.

Yep, and some of them may not have vacationed at WDW before this, and may do so after they experience this. Who knows, they may even buy DVC at Riviera.

 

[jakeman]

It's not the pool itself that's the issue with an outdoor pool. It's all the stuff around the pool. The pool at the poly is surrounded by a village. At the beach club, it's like going to a beach. At boardwalk, it looks like you're at a boardwalk resort. How would you make the area surrounding the pool look at a spaceship hotel? Like the void of space? Would you need to theme the outside structure of the building to look like the outside of a spaceship that's on the ground? Would you just create a pool with a concrete boarder next to a warehouse sized structure, like an outdoor municipal pool?

If only we had the technology to put a pool indoors...

 

[mmascari]

If only we had the technology to put a pool indoors...

Uh, isn't that exactly what I said right after the part you cut out of the comment? And, in an earlier post, and one before that too.

Perhaps you missed that this was a reply to someone else about outdoor recreation....

 

[larryz]

Very true.

But equally I think there are also a lot of people who get the concept, or can if it is explained carefully, but are in a family where perhaps 3 out of the 4 are all totally psyched for it and 1 is maybe not.

Now where that 4th person is an adult, and they have at least some interest, they will likely be quite happy to stay and participate to some degree, and observe for the rest. If however, that 4th person is a child, then they are going to need some other distraction. And so the adults will need to split their time to entertain them, and that may entail leaving the ship for a ground reconnaissance mission.

Now Disney is all for making memories together. So a family that is willing to pay for the experience, even if not everyone is 100% enthusiastic, will almost certainly still be welcomed by Disney.

And be honest, which would you rather have? A little "princess" running between Mum and Dad demanding to watch Disney Jnr on her iPad in the middle of the flight deck of a mission, or Mum taking her out of the resort for a few hours to watch Disney Jnr on stage or similar?

The more I hear about this, the more enthusiastic I'm getting. But only when I understood properly what it's about. Which was not by people being snarky, or arguing over semantics, but by actual suggestions as to how it would work.

We still don't know how much they'll charge per person, and whether or not there's a price break for wee ones.

 

[flynnibus]

First, Google defines trapped as "preventing (someone) from escaping from a place." It has nothing to do with how busy or occupied you are.

But everything to do with DESIRE! And that's the part you just keep missing. "not leaving" is not a negative to people WHO DONT WANT TO because they are being entertained already.

The whole unspoken assumption in this "I better be able to leave..." tangent is people will want to do something ELSE rather than what they just paid to do. Why not consider the possibility the thing you just paid a metric #$%%-ton of money for is so interesting that you WONT WANT TO LEAVE. As such, the idea of leaving is moot..

And if Disney charges thousands of dollars and people just don't want to be there but would rather be somewhere else... the 'coming and going' will be the least of their problems. It will be no one will want to pay what they are charging.

Second, the little information we have indicates that guests will be free to participate as much or as little as they'd like with the storyline of the resort. If I'm paying money for a resort experience like this then yeah, you're right, I'm going to want to take advantage of it. But if my 5 year old boy just wants to go ride the Millennium Falcon or buy a creature at the Black Spire pet shop then yeah, I'm gonna take him to do that. Guests have to be free to leave the ship and head to Batuu.

Funny... when I was growing up if you didn't like what the family was doing.. the answer was tough @$%, sit down, shut up, and deal with it. Not, "oh sure, lets walk away from all this, burn a few grand, and bow to your fleeting attention"

Now everyone is acting as if their kids 30sec attention span should be the one driving the ship.

Is people's expectation of Disney so bad now, they don't even think Disney can entertain their kids?

You know.. most kids don't think they'll like the kids clubs on the cruise ships either... until they do it, and then don't want to leave.

 

[flynnibus]

Proximity to other stuff matters here with the perception.

Only if the 'other thing' is more interesting than the thing you are engaged with now. That was my point... If Disney wows you, why would you want to leave? The whole 'trapped' or not is irrelevant to someone who is doing something they want to do. If your 5yr old is thinking about 'what is near by' rather than what is right in front of them... then Disney has failed already.

But, the location and distance have an impact on perception. Fair or not, logical or not, it's still there. Someone is physically still located right in the middle of the entire WDW world. Beyond that, they're practically on top of DHS and SWGE, so close they can almost touch it.

A sea day on a typical cruise is a day with no other options beyond shipboard activities. Nothing else to compete with it. Different than staying on the ship for shipboard activities and skipping shore excursions when the boat is in port.

I guess you didn't understand why I said we actually want more sea days. The ship activities are what we like.. along with the pace of things... that's why we like more sea days, not because "we settled for it because there was nothing else near by".

Proximity only matters if you are yearning for the 'other thing'.

It would actually be an easier sell if it wasn't located in the middle of WDW.

Then I doubt this type of experience is for you.. and you'll probably run away moaning about the price when you see it anyways.

 

[drod1985]

But everything to do with DESIRE! And that's the part you just keep missing. "not leaving" is not a negative to people WHO DONT WANT TO because they are being entertained already.

The whole unspoken assumption in this "I better be able to leave..." tangent is people will want to do something ELSE rather than what they just paid to do. Why not consider the possibility the thing you just paid a metric #$%%-ton of money for is so interesting that you WONT WANT TO LEAVE. As such, the idea of leaving is moot..

And if Disney charges thousands of dollars and people just don't want to be there but would rather be somewhere else... the 'coming and going' will be the least of their problems. It will be no one will want to pay what they are charging.



Funny... when I was growing up if you didn't like what the family was doing.. the answer was tough @$%, sit down, shut up, and deal with it. Not, "oh sure, lets walk away from all this, burn a few grand, and bow to your fleeting attention"

Now everyone is acting as if their kids 30sec attention span should be the one driving the ship.

Is people's expectation of Disney so bad now, they don't even think Disney can entertain their kids?

You know.. most kids don't think they'll like the kids clubs on the cruise ships either... until they do it, and don't want to leave.

You jump to a lot of conclusions, buddy. Including, but not limited to, everybody wanting the same experience as you and critiques of people's parenting styles.

It's been real.

 

[flynnibus]

Seriously... if figuring out how to let people leave is the thing everyone is thinking about... this project will be dead in 6 months and Disney would have failed entirely.

If all you can think about is the theme parks... then I think you are missing out on the best things Disney does.

 

[GoofGoof]

The "disposable" part of the phrase is what less and less people have. Plenty are willing to spend it though. Johnny's college fund will just stay at zero for one more year.

True statement.

I will agree to disagree here. My 6 year old (at the time) waited patiently for over an hour while in line for JTA. Not one complaint. The JTA experience was the highlight of his trip. The resort is JTA on steriods.
Kiddo’s friends come over and they play “Star Wars” running around the house with their lightsabers and blasters and all of the sounds effects, they go on missions. They know the characters and the story lines.. this resort would be their imagination coming true.
I won’t call my family and friends ‘Disney Addicts’, but pretty much everyone we know goes annually.. the kids have all talked about this resort since first hearing about it, it’s a topic of conversation between the adults at family parties and baseball games.
We’re all very excited for it, and for our children.

Have you looked at the average age of those doing things like Jedi Academy?

JTA is 2 hours not 2 days. It’s not the SW content that doesn’t appeal to young kids so how much they know the characters or play with the toys is irrelevant. Kids have imaginations but they like to do their own thing not have a multi-day structured experience. People bring young kids on a cruise ship, but they do age appropriate things like play in the pool or go to a kids club with toys and activities.

I will say it one last time, it’s the time commitment not the content that makes me feel this won’t be for small children. I’m sure people will bring them anyway and I’m sure there will be threads complaining about strollers and kids crying and having tantrums and all the other stuff people love to complain about.

 

[GoofGoof]

It's not the pool itself that's the issue with an outdoor pool. It's all the stuff around the pool. The pool at the poly is surrounded by a village. At the beach club, it's like going to a beach. At boardwalk, it looks like you're at a boardwalk resort. How would you make the area surrounding the pool look at a spaceship hotel? Like the void of space? Would you need to theme the outside structure of the building to look like the outside of a spaceship that's on the ground? Would you just create a pool with a concrete boarder next to a warehouse sized structure, like an outdoor municipal pool?.

Can’t they just have an outdoor pool themed to look similar to the inside of the space ship? I would think guests would use the pool to take a break from the role playing anyway so just step out, have a quick swim and relax and then when you are done put your Jedi robe back on and step back inside to continue the game. People know they aren’t really in space.

 

[GoofGoof]

The initial pitch was that you'd top your stay off with a visit to SW:GE - not that you'd come/go to SW:GE all the time. We'll see what they do.. but remember the story is you are on a space transport/voyage. To have free movement to/from the parks kind of defeats that.

It seems like maybe that has changed a little.

From the front page:
According to a post on the official Disney Parks Blog, "This location will allow the experience to be seamlessly connected to the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, enabling guests to fully immerse themselves in the story of Star Wars."

If they are already marketing it as being seamlessly connected to Galaxy’s Edge that seems like quite a bit more than stopping by at the end of the trip. Maybe it’s just me, but this is a complete waste of Prime real estate if they don’t make it a big part.

 

[21stamps]

True statement.


JTA is 2 hours not 2 days. It’s not the SW content that doesn’t appeal to young kids so how much they know the characters or play with the toys is irrelevant. Kids have imaginations but they like to do their own thing not have a multi-day structured experience. People bring young kids on a cruise ship, but they do age appropriate things like play in the pool or go to a kids club with toys and activities.

I will say it one last time, it’s the time commitment not the content that makes me feel this won’t be for small children. I’m sure people will bring them anyway and I’m sure there will be threads complaining about strollers and kids crying and having tantrums and all the other stuff people love to complain about.

Seriously though, how many kids have you seen, ages 6+, throw a tantrum in public?

My kid spent a grand total of 2 hours in the kids club on a cruise ship, in 7.5 days.
The rest of the time.. the 7 year old was zip lining, rock climbing, on a ropes course, and walking out on a plank- 18 stories above the ocean.

He woke up at 6am every Sunday all winter long.. to get ready and drive 45 minutes to his soccer technical training. Not running around on a field, but doing repetitive drill after drill to improve his foot skills.

He spent his entire Spring doing homework the second he came home from school, and then heading to two hour sports practices, 4 days per week.. 2 of which were a minimum 45min drive away- each way.. and several weeks where he had a 5th agility or technical training soccer on the same day that he had to head straight to baseball.
On weekends his time was consumed with baseball and soccer, most weekends more than 1 game in a day.

That was all at age 7 and the past 6 weeks as an 8 year old.

None of the above includes tantrums or getting bored when doing something.

There’s millions of kids like him.. Adventurous, structured schedule...and not throwing tantrums.

I think you are confusing toddlers with grade schoolers. They aren’t the same, and many lower-gradeschool kids will be there.

 

[GoofGoof]

Seriously though, how many kids have you seen, ages 6+, throw a tantrum in public?

My kid spent a grand total of 2 hours in the kids club on a cruise ship, in 7.5 days.
The rest of the time.. the 7 year old was zip lining, rock climbing, on a ropes course, and walking out on a plank- 18 stories above the ocean.

He woke up at 6am every Sunday all winter long.. to get ready and drive 45 minutes to his soccer technical training. Not running around on a field, but doing repetitive drill after drill to improve his foot skills.

He spent his entire Spring doing homework the second he came home from school, and then heading to two hour sports practices, 4 days per week.. 2 of which were a minimum 45min drive away- each way.. and several weeks where he had a 5th agility or technical training soccer on the same day that he had to head straight to baseball.
On weekends his time was consumed with baseball and soccer, most weekends more than 1 game in a day.

That was all at age 7 and the past 6 weeks as an 8 year old.

None of the above includes tantrums or getting bored when doing something.

There’s millions of kids like him.. Adventurous, structured schedule...and not throwing tantrums.

I think you are confusing toddlers with grade schoolers. They aren’t the same, and many lower-gradeschool kids will be there.

We can split hairs on age (which I have no interest in doing) and every kid is going to be different anyway. In my mind there’s a huge difference between soccer, rock climbing, zip lining, swimming and the rest of the physical activities you are describing and spending 2 to 3 days in the same limited space searching for clues and doing roll playing. I just don’t think it will hold a lot of kid’s interest. Just my opinion and no amount of anecdotal stories will change it. I’m not saying there won’t be kids there and if you choose to bring a 7 year old there’s nothing wrong with that. I stand by my original statement that the target demo is not young children (even if people choose to bring young kids anyway).

 

[21stamps]

We can split hairs on age (which I have no interest in doing) and every kid is going to be different anyway. In my mind there’s a huge difference between soccer, rock climbing, zip lining, swimming and the rest of the physical activities you are describing and spending 2 to 3 days in the same limited space searching for clues and doing roll playing. I just don’t think it will hold a lot of kid’s interest. Just my opinion and no amount of anecdotal stories will change it. I’m not saying there won’t be kids there and if you choose to bring a 7 year old there’s nothing wrong with that. I stand by my original statement that the target demo is not young children (even if people choose to bring young kids anyway).

I agree with you that they won’t want to stay completely inside for 2-3 days, I don’t either!
That’s why I think it won’t be consecutive indoor days as being described, or even an indoor pool. People want fresh air..kids and adults.

 

[DisneyDaver]

Seriously... if figuring out how to let people leave is the thing everyone is thinking about... this project will be dead in 6 months and Disney would have failed entirely.

I don't agree. I think the opposite is true. A key to the mid term and long term survival of this project is having a way for people to leave.

I wouldn't want to leave myself, but If there is a way for my wife to come and go, then this experience is a much easier sell for part of our vacation. I'm sure there are many other families where part of the family would never want to leave while other family members would want to come and go.

If I say to my wife, "Hey, let's spend big money on an immersive two day Star Wars experience." The first thing my wife says is "If you want to stay all day for a couple days, it ok with me as long as I can leave." If I say "Sorry honey, no one can leave", then the Star Wars hotel is likely not happening for me.

 

[bclane]

I think that multiple people have expressed that you can leave if you want to. It’s not jail. I also think Disney’s plan is to pack so much entertainment into those couple days that you won’t want to leave. I know I won’t.

 

[Kamikaze]

They need more than the Super-Geek SW fans. They need the families too.. if not, they could have built this in Idaho.

SW:GE is not steps away in Idaho for when you disembark the starship at the end of your stay. And part of the pitch of this idea was split stays between the starship and a 'normal' resort.

And this is the testing ground for doing more of these in other places that are not attached to WDW. So while Idaho is far fetched, a Marvel hotel in NY isn't.

 

[Kamikaze]

I really don't understand the difficulty with the concept. They're not going to stop you from leaving, but they're also not going to make it easy. Meaning, most importantly, no transport. Maybe there will be a walking path around DHS to get to its bus stops, but thats going to be about it. The outside is going to be simply a parking lot. No normal Disney theming and nothing for you to do around the grounds. Just parking and backstage stuff.

Personally, I would either need a gym or to go outside in the morning each day to run, but you aren't going to be 'locked' inside the starship like some of you seem to be implying.

 

[Fizban257]

We can split hairs on age (which I have no interest in doing) and every kid is going to be different anyway. In my mind there’s a huge difference between soccer, rock climbing, zip lining, swimming and the rest of the physical activities you are describing and spending 2 to 3 days in the same limited space searching for clues and doing roll playing. I just don’t think it will hold a lot of kid’s interest. Just my opinion and no amount of anecdotal stories will change it. I’m not saying there won’t be kids there and if you choose to bring a 7 year old there’s nothing wrong with that. I stand by my original statement that the target demo is not young children (even if people choose to bring young kids anyway).

From the original survey:

• Engage in the story with programs such as flight training, ship exploration, lightsaber training, and personalized secret missions (both on the starship and throughout the Star Wars themed planet).

Flight training! Lightsaber training! Concept art shows guests interacting on the bridge during an attack. There will be more to do than just scavenger hunts.

I personally think that 2 days is going to fly by and leave most guests wishing it was longer.

 

[po1998]

From the original survey:

• Engage in the story with programs such as flight training, ship exploration, lightsaber training, and personalized secret missions (both on the starship and throughout the Star Wars themed planet).

Flight training! Lightsaber training! Concept art shows guests interacting on the bridge during an attack. There will be more to do than just scavenger hunts.

I personally think that 2 days is going to fly by and leave most guests wishing it was longer.

You really believe everything that was in a survey or concept art, will come to fruition?