Option 2 pretty much looks like a bay for a transport that can be themed to be a docking bay for the full immersion experience.
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News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
DVCakaCarlF
Well-Known Member
Will the entertainment increase in Batuu once the hotel is open?
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Yup. And what is most telling is that the two construction office trailers for this project are abandoned and empty.
This photo is taken late morning to mid-day, judging by the shadows, and taken Wednesday, May 20th.
Middle of the work week, middle of the work day. And the two trailers used for Imagineers and outside contractors working on this project are surrounded by an empty parking lot. In fact, no regular cars are visible anywhere on site.
There are two construction 'golf' carts visible near the office trailers, once used for the project. And there's one single car on the entire site; a white late model Chevrolet Traverse that WDW Security CM's drive.
This is quite clearly a project that has been put into mothballs and is not currently active in any meaningful way.
My gut tells me this will not be like the post 9/11 situation at Pop Century - The Legendary Years, and this Starcruiser hotel will eventually open later this decade.
But it's not opening anytime soon, and it's a project that has clearly been shut down for now.
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JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Did you notice the vehicle parked across the road to the trailers? No one expected here for a while
DVCakaCarlF
Well-Known Member
You all do realize that all of those pieces of equipment (man lift, lull, etc) are there on rental? I agree it is paused, but not shuttered.
Rob562
Well-Known Member
I hadn't really looked too closely at the geography of where the shuttle might go until now. After looking at the backstage gate between Rise and the Market I can see why that wouldn't be a good location. I didn't realize there was such a distinct left-right-left alleyway back there between the two buildings.
I then wondered whether the back landing of the handicap ramp from Docking Bay 7 down to MFSR might offer access. (It connects to the same alley that the Rise/marketplace gate goes to and would have less turns in its navigation) Plus, nestled between a "docking bay" and the landing pad/docking bay/spaceport/whatever that the Falcon uses would be totally in-theme.
As for the end of the land down by the Tie-Echelon, I figured labeling some landmarks might help in the discussion.
Red is the First Order Cargo store.
Yellow is the backstage gate.
Blue is an empty archway that I assume was where the entrance to the restaurant was/is supposed to be. (The archway architecture is almost the same as the Cantina's entrance)
There's two other landmarks I marked with arrows.
The orange arrow marks an outcropping of a backstage building. What is that building? CM breakrooms, etc? Stockroom? Kitchen facilities? Google Earth doesn't show what that item is, though in the same place in Disneyland it *might* be an air-handler, so I may be going off-track.
The purple arrow is an oddity. There is an odd amount of space behind the shop. The ground appears to be cement pads rather than just pavement, similar to what you'd have in a location you know a lot of vehicles or heavy items would frequently be moving around. And I just can't get over that stairway to the roof that's oddly set away from the back of the store.
Could the First Order store become the shuttle docking location? Could that be re-worked to be dual-purpose shuttle dock and shop? (Perhaps with a convenient "Starcruiser Vacation Info Counter"?) Do the cement pads indicate that the shuttles will be pulling up next to/behind that building? One thing that stood out to me when I was there in December was how plain and temporary the interior of that store seemed vs. the rest of the land. Maybe they were going for a clean/sterile aesthetic that matches the First Order, but it definitely seemed out of place.
-Rob
It's not going to just be a gate to a back stage road, that would expose to much back stage. This isn't just some bus stop on the side of the road where you get out. It's a space shuttle that left from a proper loading dock and access where you never saw the outside of the vehicle. Likely you were never outside but transitioned directly from inside the building onto the vehicle similar to an airport jet boarding.
I would expect the other end to have all the same restrictions. Which means the land access will be via a building. Something where the vehicle pulls up, a docking ramp connects just like at the start, you transfer without ever seeing the outside and then exit a building into the park.
As construction progresses at the hotel end, a mirror of the same layout and structure or close to it, is the thing to look for. A transition point from a vehicle into a building that can be exited into the park.
Rob562
Well-Known Member
I'm aware of all that. I was just idly wondering if such a setup could work in that general area, with the buses pulling up to a docking location behind that, with the hotel guest access being back that ramp and through the building (presumably that corner of the MFSR building).
-Rob
I'm of the opinion that the bay we're pointing to is the likeliest option... among what's already built.
It could be that they'll build some other bay with all the immersion bells and whistles some other place with a corridor that leads to Batuu.
It could be that they'll build some other bay with all the immersion bells and whistles some other place with a corridor that leads to Batuu.
sedati
Well-Known Member
My original post from July 2019 showing the difference:
Rob562
Well-Known Member
Perhaps the shuttle will park there, the "jetway" will be in the space behind the shop building to connect to the side of the shuttle and they'll exit out through the shop? Fire access may allow it if the shuttle is never parked there without a driver, and the fact that the road appears to be two lanes wide.
-Rob
rowrbazzle
Well-Known Member
Regardless of where it drops, it's still a bus gussied up to not look like a bus. I'm curious what immersion bells and whistles they add to make it feel like you're not riding on a bus.
Space cupcakes.
WDW Pro
Well-Known Member
That's the expansion gate. IF the project is still greenlit, and IF nothing has changed, that is the drop/off pickup until/if they ever do an expansion now. All of this is messy because SW:GE at DHS was moved from its original planned location which would have seen Streets of America still standing and SW:GE in direct proximity to the hotel.
wedenterprises
Well-Known Member
What's the story reason for the shuttle to Batuu? If you're taken prisoner, then I vote near Tie fighter. If you're on a nice day out on Batuu then it would be the X-wing/marketplace areas.
Maybe both stories are possible?
Maybe both stories are possible?
The SW Hotel, being the equivalent of a cruise has the story that you're on a space cruise!!
Going to Batuu is like a cruise ship excursion to a Caribbean island port.
flynnibus
Premium Member
If that were true to the extent you mentioned... you would not have equipment like basket lifts just left out and about.. material dumpsters full.. and other building supplies spewed about and unsecured.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Do you think the entire Imagineering and contractor team assigned to get Galactic Starcruiser finished had an off-site picnic that day? And that's why the site was entirely empty in the middle of a Wednesday?
I don't think bioreconstruct just happened to fly over the site on Team Picnic Day at Little Lake Bryan.
I think it is exactly what it looks like; a half-finished hotel that has been put in mothballs and is in a holding pattern for an indefinite period of time.
DVCakaCarlF
Well-Known Member
The dumpsters not being full means either there are people working or the service has been paused.
I agree about the material...it should be organized and covered, if unattended.
Another thing no one has mentioned - the general contractor could have “quit” the job if Disney said they weren’t going to fund the “shutdown” period. It wouldn't surprise me.
flynnibus
Premium Member
People don't leave their expensive and portable basket lifts just sitting around outside if they are walking off a job.
I can't say what state the place is in... but I wouldn't call something 'in mothballs' or indefinately on hold with all that stuff still out in about. They could have went to retrieved their gear or secured the site.. but haven't as of that image.