News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[Horizons '83]

Ageed. A super-fancy, long trip for my family runs about $8500 on the high end including airfare.

I was pricing out trips to Italy today and realized for just 2 adults for what we want to do, it will be around that figure. Trips are so expensive if you want to do it right but $20K is just aggressive.

 

[Lets Respect]

Good lord, $20K? That is insane.

Yep. I see it constantly. Airfare, rental car, two rooms or a suite at the Grand Flo or another Deluxe, tickets, lots of dining including lots of Signatures and a few days of VIP Tours and other add-ons. This is normal around where I live.

 

[mmascari]

Spa and pool? I highly doubt that.

For a while we were all throwing around "300 rooms", but the footprint of that two-story building suggests it will be less. With the resort having space issues (pardon the pun), I don't see how they can fit in all the deluxe amenities: pool, spa, gym, several 4/5 star restaurants, upscale shopping, business center, etc...

The deluxe-ness of the resort it seems will be based on the theming and the experience. Not in traditional upscale hotel accommodations.

Again, just my guess based on the size of the building.

It's all proportional. With 300 rooms, you' don't need a pool the size of the Boardwalks. Something more like a lap pool in a themed room. Massive wall of screens showing space outside and views consistent with what the rooms are looking at too.

Not sure about a Spa, but I would tend to agree that you don't need one. Then again, maybe some small facility. I'm not a spa person, so no good frame of reference for scaling it down.

For restaurants, size dictates again. I'm going to guess 1 or 2. You can probably get away with just 1. But, they might figure out how to stuff 2 in to allow for regular and premium dining. The premium one could be much much smaller, a boutique size within a boutique size. Could even do a single kitchen and just separate dining rooms and a different menu. High prices at the exclusive premium room that only seats 30 people.

I agree that I wouldn't expect grandiose shopping and business center. But, a gift shop of some sort is a guarantee. If nothing else, I've never been in a hotel that didn't have at least a wall of sundries standing in as the gift shop. A room's worth of space to buy your space souvenir seems expected. Along with a closet sized room that's the business center, basically a computer and a printer.

It's size again, at 300 rooms there's no need for extensive facilities.

 

[Incomudro]

The rich people I know think nothing of dropping 20K+ on a regular Disney trip. A 5K add-on for the SW fans in the family will be nothing and they won't be doing equations in their head to see if they are getting their value out of it because Mom sat around reading and drinking instead.

Unless they put in an age limit (which I am actually in favor of now that I think about it), this resort will roughly look like every other resort. It might skew slightly older in terms of kids. But it certainly won't be kid- or Straw-Grandma-free

You should see the money my brother in law spends when he goes out to eat.
There is no concept of value.
Paying over $100.00 each for bottles of wine that go for $20.00 in a store means nothing.
And he'll buy several.
Appetizers, and full entrees for the kids that will only be picked at...
I once saw this guy spend $20.00 for a shot of some scotch which he simply downed.
You talk about value - I could have gotten a shirt for work for that price if I hit the right sale rack.
I have no love for this guys style, or the man himself.
But, people that have money like him will certainly represent some of the guests at this hotel - especially given its estimated price tag.

 

[MrHappy]

totally agree on them treating it like a cruise ship (ive been thinking the same thing, basically everything you want/need will be there), I disagree that you will be able to leave at any time. Now there might be shuttles that only leave at certain times, but there will be an exit to the parking lot/buses.
If that's what you meant and I'm taking it too literally, then I apologize.

Thanks for your reply, you read it correctly. I think they have to, 100%, go completely all in with this. You're on a spaceship, you can't leave. Just like you're on a cruise ship, you can't leave....until you reach a port - in this case multiple stops at Batuu, which I'd imagine the walk/ride to the special SWGE entrance would be a rather special event as well. I'd even imagine early hours or late hours for guests with the land stocked with extra cast members to complete the immersion. Maybe Disney will upsell right upfront a deep discounted rate to stay at other properties to enjoy WDW (when you get back from space), but whoever is booking this SW resort, they got to understand that this is X days of Star Wars.

 

[Bocabear]

It's all proportional. With 300 rooms, you' don't need a pool the size of the Boardwalks. Something more like a lap pool in a themed room. Massive wall of screens showing space outside and views consistent with what the rooms are looking at too.

Not sure about a Spa, but I would tend to agree that you don't need one. Then again, maybe some small facility. I'm not a spa person, so no good frame of reference for scaling it down.

For restaurants, size dictates again. I'm going to guess 1 or 2. You can probably get away with just 1. But, they might figure out how to stuff 2 in to allow for regular and premium dining. The premium one could be much much smaller, a boutique size within a boutique size. Could even do a single kitchen and just separate dining rooms and a different menu. High prices at the exclusive premium room that only seats 30 people.

I agree that I wouldn't expect grandiose shopping and business center. But, a gift shop of some sort is a guarantee. If nothing else, I've never been in a hotel that didn't have at least a wall of sundries standing in as the gift shop. A room's worth of space to buy your space souvenir seems expected. Along with a closet sized room that's the business center, basically a computer and a printer.

It's size again, at 300 rooms there's no need for extensive facilities.

I am thinking the whole project will be experience oriented, not hotel-centric. There will be rooms for sleeping with standard facilities, but I think the experience will be kept short, and because it is all about the experience, there will not be hours and hours a day for spa and pool and such... I bet is will be tailored down to hotel and spaces that relate to the storyline... a quick serve location, they will probably have a theatrical banquet type dinner restaurant and probably something similar for breakfast...If there is a pool, it would probaby be an indoor themed pool area and the storyline will not give you enougfh time to worry about it... If the storyline is 24 hours, they can keep you busy enough to not need all the standard amenities of a Disney Resort Hotel... It will be more about the experience than a themed hotel with an experience available... i think...

 

[Incomudro]

Thanks for your reply, you read it correctly. I think they have to, 100%, go completely all in with this. You're on a spaceship, you can't leave. Just like you're on a cruise ship, you can't leave....until you reach a port - in this case multiple stops at Batuu, which I'd imagine the walk/ride to the special SWGE entrance would be a rather special event as well. I'd even imagine early hours or late hours for guests with the land stocked with extra cast members to complete the immersion. Maybe Disney will upsell right upfront a deep discounted rate to stay at other properties to enjoy WDW (when you get back from space), but whoever is booking this SW resort, they got to understand that this is X days of Star Wars.

A guest at the Star Wars Hotel can walk right out of Star Wars Land and into Toy Story Land.
They'll even be able to leave Hollywood Studios.

 

[Kamikaze]

How would I know?

I'm giving up on the full immersion. Don't see it happening. Fancy hotel with some video games and special effects.

Because they aren't going to make a discount rate when they are going to have zero issue selling it at full price.

 

[Incomudro]

Because they aren't going to make a discount rate when they are going to have zero issue selling it at full price.

I don't know...
Many things nowadays are tiered.

 

[Kamikaze]

I don't know...
Many things nowadays are tiered.

Tiered for upgrades/addons. Not to discount for no reason.

 

[nickys]

It's all proportional. With 300 rooms, you' don't need a pool the size of the Boardwalks. Something more like a lap pool in a themed room. Massive wall of screens showing space outside and views consistent with what the rooms are looking at too.

Not sure about a Spa, but I would tend to agree that you don't need one. Then again, maybe some small facility. I'm not a spa person, so no good frame of reference for scaling it down.

For restaurants, size dictates again. I'm going to guess 1 or 2. You can probably get away with just 1. But, they might figure out how to stuff 2 in to allow for regular and premium dining. The premium one could be much much smaller, a boutique size within a boutique size. Could even do a single kitchen and just separate dining rooms and a different menu. High prices at the exclusive premium room that only seats 30 people.

I agree that I wouldn't expect grandiose shopping and business center. But, a gift shop of some sort is a guarantee. If nothing else, I've never been in a hotel that didn't have at least a wall of sundries standing in as the gift shop. A room's worth of space to buy your space souvenir seems expected. Along with a closet sized room that's the business center, basically a computer and a printer.

It's size again, at 300 rooms there's no need for extensive facilities.

Riviera will have 300 rooms, and that’s what 9 storeys high?

I’d say this might be 100-150 rooms. That would be anything from 200 to 600 people at a time. Any more than that and you’ll struggle to include everyone in the story arc.

 

[MrHappy]

A guest at the Star Wars Hotel can walk right out of Star Wars Land and into Toy Story Land.
They'll even be able to leave Hollywood Studios.

Hey, yeah, thanks for that.
This is where the guest takes it upon themselves to leave the experience. But still, maybe the doors to SWGE would only be "open" before/after hours, and the other parts of the park aren't accessible. I dunno, that's just how I would like to see it.

 

[mmascari]

And that is where you are wrong. The whole point of the cruise parallel is that they manage to figure out something for everyone IN THE SAME CONSTRAINED SPACE and everyone bought the same thing.

Except, in this instance, it's not really a cruise. This all in, no transportation, cannot see the rest of 7,000+ acres of WDW even though you just drove through it to get to the constrained space of the Star Wars Experience is all artificial.

By putting the experience smack in the middle of all the rest of WDW, the perception is that you are SMAK IN THE MIDDLE OF WDW.

On a real cruise ship, the perception is that you are in a constrained space with nothing else.

Trying to change the perception of the first to be the second is a huge burden to overcome.

If you want to leave... ok, but you aren't getting a discount, you aren't getting bus service just for you, nor should you expect "I paid 2000 dollars the parks should be free to me!!!".

You paid for a SW Experience... if you want to pay for it, and not use it. That's on you. The SW Experience won't be a WDW Vacation package.. it's going to be... wait for it... a boutique SW experience!

Have you not read anything else I've written today?

If this was a party of 1, I would agree with all those things. Why would a party of 1 go on a trip they didn't want to go on. But, that's not the point at all.

If it's a party of 4, or more, the party paid for a trip. Not everyone in the party may want the same things or get the same enjoyment out of it. As long as enough people get enough enjoyment out of the Star Wars experience to cover the cost to the party, it's a win-win.

Why make it difficult by being the only destination in WDW that's not accessible by free Disney transportation.

If all someone can think about is stuff that is NOT around... while being dunked in greatness right there in front of them... nothing will ever satisfy that person.

Seriously... it's not that hard of a concept. If you are busy doing X... you aren't concerned with missing out on Y. Because you are being entertained with X.

This is like the people that say "oh I'd do a disney cruise, but I'd miss all the rides!" - If that's your thought process, you'll never give yourself the chance to realize how wrong you are.

Again, go back and read what I've written today. This isn't about 1 person. This is about a group going on a vacation. Where not everyone wants to do everything the same. And some of them get huge enjoyment out of the Star Wars experience. Enough enjoyment to make up for the cost of the part that doesn't doing something else for parts of the day, leveraging the entire suite of entertainment provided by the entire WDW complex. Without also forcing them to NOT be a party and be on separate trips without seeing each other for 2 nights out of the trip.

 

[Incomudro]

Hey, yeah, thanks for that.
This is where the guest takes it upon themselves to leave the experience. But still, maybe the doors to SWGE would only be "open" before/after hours, and the other parts of the park aren't accessible. I dunno, that's just how I would like to see it.

Well, I don't believe that there will be a view out to a parking lot or bus ramp or anything of the sort.

 

[ppete1975]

Thanks for your reply, you read it correctly. I think they have to, 100%, go completely all in with this. You're on a spaceship, you can't leave. Just like you're on a cruise ship, you can't leave....until you reach a port - in this case multiple stops at Batuu, which I'd imagine the walk/ride to the special SWGE entrance would be a rather special event as well. I'd even imagine early hours or late hours for guests with the land stocked with extra cast members to complete the immersion. Maybe Disney will upsell right upfront a deep discounted rate to stay at other properties to enjoy WDW (when you get back from space), but whoever is booking this SW resort, they got to understand that this is X days of Star Wars.

The difference is there no logistical reason. On a cruise ship you cant just jump off. Here you are inches away from the outside world... maybe youd have to enter a few doors or something so you didn't break the immersion for the other guests. But youd have lawsuits regardless of what you had them signed if someone wanted to leave and wasn't permitted to. This is way to of a lawsuit country for it to ever fly. Cruise ship on the other hand you logistically cant leave.
But it will be partly like a cruise ship, I figure all windows will be screens, thinking glass windows with screens a few feet away to give it a bigger feel. Everything you need will be at this hotel, maybe even a small drugstore, a few restaurant's, gym (how do you theme that), pool (passengers), a canteena (prob 2 one a true bar one kid friendly), if you don't want to leave the entire trip you don't have to, and you wont see the outside world (there might be overlooking windows to galaxys edge though) or balconies.
And a transport to the park.

My opinion only... I have no real idea

 

[mmascari]

Let's put some numbers to this as an example. Let's make it worse and say mom doesn't like it and never leaves the bar.

The trip for the 4 of them costs $8,000. Say that Dad and the boys each get $3,000 worth of enjoyment out of it. That's an $8,000 cost for $9,000 of enjoyment. As long as mom's bar tab is under $1,000 they're still getting more enjoyment than the cost they paid.

We could be nice to mom and say she goes on a $1,000 shopping spree in Disney Springs instead of drinking herself into a coma.

Realized I made mom look super bad here, and it was grandma before that.

Let's reverse it. Mom is the super Star Wars geek, even more so since the recent movies came out with more women heroes. She would pay $6,000 to do Star Wars all by herself and is already making her costume before construction begins, and that's before even including the kids. Dad on the other hand, we're not sure how mom found him. While he enjoys time with the family, catching up every night with them, and even a few space adventures. The thought of 12+ continuous hours of being "in space" just drives him crazy. The thought of hearing "pew pew" again and again is already giving him a migraine. Lucky for him, he's the only golfer in the family and can use it as an excuse to step out for a round of 18 by himself that's definitely not "in space". Maybe even a round before and after having lunch in space and checking on the family's adventure progress (helping with just a puzzle or two).

Or, he could just ditch the family for 2 nights completely and not see them at all. Makes dad sad to not hear about their day, and drives him to the bar.

Or, he could tell them that they cannot do the Star Wars experience at all, since it's a waste to pay the portion of the price based on him being in the party. This leads to other problems, and the divorce costs far exceed what he would have spent for his portion of the trip even not using it.

 

[MrHappy]

The difference is there no logistical reason. On a cruise ship you cant just jump off. Here you are inches away from the outside world... maybe youd have to enter a few doors or something so you didn't break the immersion for the other guests. But youd have lawsuits regardless of what you had them signed if someone wanted to leave and wasn't permitted to. This is way to of a lawsuit country for it to ever fly. Cruise ship on the other hand you logistically cant leave.
But it will be partly like a cruise ship, I figure all windows will be screens, thinking glass windows with screens a few feet away to give it a bigger feel. Everything you need will be at this hotel, maybe even a small drugstore, a few restaurant's, gym (how do you theme that), pool (passengers), a canteena (prob 2 one a true bar one kid friendly), if you don't want to leave the entire trip you don't have to, and you wont see the outside world (there might be overlooking windows to galaxys edge though) or balconies.
And a transport to the park.

My opinion only... I have no real idea

Right, sorry. My intention was not to lock the doors to the outside, I like your multiple door idea to leave. But the packaging of it will be to play-make-believe for the entire stay and the more you go with the program (not saying role playing is a requirement, I wouldn't want to do that) but stay within the story, the more value you'll get out of it. I'd worry about getting the park hopper passes for after this stay.

 

[Bocabear]

Right, sorry. My intention was not to lock the doors to the outside, I like your multiple door idea to leave. But the packaging of it will be to play-make-believe for the entire stay and the more you go with the program (not saying role playing is a requirement, I wouldn't want to do that) but stay within the story, the more value you'll get out of it. I'd worry about getting the park hopper passes for after this stay.

See....it's all those logistics that makes me think it is going to be a 1 night experience... Live in the Star Wars Galaxy for 24 hours...then resume your vacation...

 

[MrHappy]

See....it's all those logistics that makes me think it is going to be a 1 night experience... Live in the Star Wars Galaxy for 24 hours...then resume your vacation...

I'm thinking an "experience" will be 6 nights max (for a full 7 days of make believe) but stays can be the first 3, last 3 or all 6. And the story will be written so that either stay will have a bit of an arch and finale.

 

[nickys]

See....it's all those logistics that makes me think it is going to be a 1 night experience... Live in the Star Wars Galaxy for 24 hours...then resume your vacation...

I think 2 nights, maybe 3.

If you start off with a dinner that basically explains your “scenario” and the aims of the experience, or at least provides a major plot line, then you have a full day of role playing and so on. The second night’s dinner then reveals the “outcome”and possibly the presentation of some kind of awards. Any activities that follow are then kind of incidental to the main plot line, 3rd day is pack up and head off to SW:GE for your interactive stuff based on the resort experience.

Plus a chance sometime for some kind of intra-game access to SW:GE. Otherwise how else are you going to get to wander around wearing your costume?!