News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[WowFactor]

That's assuming it's a Hogwarts Express or better level of transportation.

Given that it's in bus form and not a controlled experience with timing and movement on a track, we've yet to see how well they pull that off.

We already have a pretty good Star Wars transportation simulation that's been in place for over 20 years just a little outside of Galaxy's Edge so it'll be interesting to see what they do or don't do with this.

Yes, I've had serious reservations about how well converted buses (no tracks or rails, diesel engines) will pull off this illusion.

Maybe using this technology

.

 

[erasure fan1]

Disney will be working hard to provide the best experience to get the word out then (as Disney always does) start cutting costs, reducing the experience and quality.

You forgot, all while raising the prices.

 

[nickys]

This is a real opportunity for Uni, though I know they aren’t going to take it. They should open a heavily-themed but not cruise-like Potter themed hotel, charge prices that are absurd but not as absurd as Disney’s, and come out looking like the good guys.

I mean, I love theme parks, theme hotels, Disney, and Star Wars. And I’m willing to spend unwisely. And yet this just holds no appeal.

JK Rowling said “No” to that early on, so unless she changes her mind then it’ll never happen.

 

[nickys]

I believe there's no itinerary for guests during the designated Batuu visit... meaning the actual price per hour is much higher.

Except that you will probably have a timed window for both rides, and the sample itinerary suggests one “unexpected event” happening in Batuu.

Again, comes down to personal preference, but it would be a very dis-interested participant who chose to wander off to ride Slinky.

 

[GimpYancIent]

This whole Star Wars Star Cruiser experience thing is very similar to art! People look at a Picasso and either come away thinking of it as a master work of expressionism or some childish mostly indiscernible images / colors. As a master work it could be priceless as an image off a scratch pad worthless. It's all how it is seen by the beholder. Some folks see 5+ large for the experience (maybe just once) as worth it while others see such an expenditure as a waste on a G rated experience. I want to see the numbers and reviews after 1 year of operation.

 

[nickys]

Do they state they won't? We'll see, but I wouldn't be surprised if something basic like a "jedi robe" might be included for everyone (think like a free bathrobe coming with a room), but more extravagant or different apparel would need to be purchased.

I’m sure that’s what the initial information releases said, or at least very strongly suggested. I need to try and find them, unless someone with an encyclopaedic memory or Incredible archivist skills can get there first (looking at you, @MisterPenguin ).

 

[nickys]

I assume this is the main reason VIP Tours still don’t get access to RoR (which has always seemed strange to me)…keep guaranteed access a Halcyon exclusive…

VIP tours do get access to RotR. They said yes, then no and then yes again - all within a week. Someone jumped the gun but they were correct.

Now whether any of the regular tours, whether original or new, get access will be interesting when they return. They may well introduce a Star Wars tour that will get you on.

 

[nickys]

I am looking at the daily schedule where on Day 2, you are to go to Galaxy's Edge from 8 am to 12 pm, so all morning. I just got to thinking, if I were to stay there for 3K/night, I will refuse to go to GE and stay in the hotel and look out the window and stare at the universe, or hang out at the alien lobby and play SW with family. That's what I'm paying for, isn't it? I mean, you can go to GE any time, and even riding RotR isn't that special, it's not worth 3K per day. Anybody who's going to do this must have been on RotR many times already. But being in that space hotel, in your space room, is something that isn't going to happen every day, not even if you can afford to go all the time: it might be difficult to book when there are so few rooms.

I'm just saying, for 3K/night, I would so staying in the hotel from the earliest checkin second to the latest checkout second, and nobody is making me budge.

That would be an option and up to you.

However, not everyone who does this will necessarily have ridden RotR many times. Many people visit WDW maybe once every few years. And there will be some who do this who have never set foot in any Disney park at all.

 

[Incomudro]

Maybe using this technology

.

Yes.
I have serious reservations as to how well this technology can mask the fact that the mode of transport is a bus.
The kids in this video are supposed to be on the surface of Mars so the idea of being on ground transport doesn't break the illusion.
Unless...
I've just thought of this.
Maybe there's another simulator at the Halcyon that brings guests "down" to Batu, then the bus is the ground transport that takes them to Black Spire.
That would certainly work!

 

[nickys]

What's the value of getting a family on ROTR? For a much reduced cost, I can offer my services and save you several thousand!

I’ll PM you when we’re going.

 

[durangojim]

Maybe using this technology

.

This has already been used! Have you not rode Fast and Furious at Unuversal?

 

[nickys]

You're really going to make me do this, aren't you?

Fine:


Umm... right - which is why I said it wasn't a good comparison when you - not me - tried to make one there.

Did you get good sleep last night?

And no, my argument about building resorts/dvc over park expansion (which again has nothing to do with the starcruiser or anything else in this thread) is NOT about them doing x when I think they should be doing y.

Quit trying to reword what I say to match what you're trying to make me say.

What I am saying is that I'm grumpy about them doing just x when I think they should be doing y to accommodate x.

I'm saying they want x but don't have enough y to support more x but they're going for more x anyway.

I hate algebra so let me make my point with a long and winding story:

Lets say you live in a small town that has a two lane highway passing through it that is the only way in or out. It works fine but when there's an accident which is seldom, there are always problems since there is only one lane going in each direction.

It works but there are already some minor problems with this arrangement. (head's up - this is foreshadowing)

One day, a developer comes in and starts knocking down single-family homes to build 6 story tall condos and apartments and those start filling up.

Suddenly, your sleepy little town of 6,000 residents climbs to 12,000 and all of those people are trying to use that two lane highway to commute to their jobs every day at just about the exact same time.

Incidents of road rage go up.

There are a few notable deaths as some people attempt to swerve into the oncoming traffic lane to pass unsafely even though the divider lines are solid, resulting in head-on collisions and fiery balls of carnage.

People start using drugs to compensate for their stress.

As a result of the drug use, people start losing their jobs and have to resort to prostitution to support their addictions.

For a very short period, this solves the traffic problem as many people are now "working from home".

.. BUT, this once sleepy little town soon becomes known as prostitution-central of the heartland.

Suddenly even more people are driving down that two lane road than ever before to get to that town because, you know, in modern life, the world is a lonely place.

(I'm not judging and neither should you.)

All those extra people coming to this town that don't even live there results in cars backed up for hours on that two lane road with people just looking for some lovin'. This causes extra emissions to enter the atmosphere which accelerates global warming.

Penguins and polar bears start dying.

You should care about the penguins but not the polar bears.

Polar bears are jerks.

They had it coming.

Anyway, ice caps start shrinking, Florida goes underwater and Walt Disney World closes forever - all because those towers went up in a place that couldn't handle that much traffic.

Now look, I'm not trying to say they should have expanded that road instead of building the condos and apartments.

People need places to sleep and poop and it isn't like the global population is shrinking.

I mean, it might have been nice to have the extra roadway without other development but the existing people were making do, for the most part.

I'm just saying that if they were going to build those condos and apartments, they should have thought about expanding that road before ruining the lives of everyone in the town, damming all life on earth to a literal inferno of hell and worst of all, making WDW close.

~ fin ~

Afterword:
Just to be clear, in my fable, the road represents attraction capacity and the extra buildings going up represent the extra resort buildings at WDW.

I know that might seem a little confusing because Disney's never had an issue with using tax exempt bonds to pay for road infrastructure but I think the comparison is about as clear as the starcruiser (only 100 rooms) is to DVC so it feels fitting.

Also, humanity was ultimately doomed, anyway. We were never going to master interstellar space travel before our sun expanded to absorb all the planets flying around it in this solar system.

Focusing on the fate of one small town or one theme park on a tiny speck of dust zipping through the cosmos was probably pointless to begin with.

The universe, after all, is indifferent.

... You know, on reflection, maybe I'm actually the one who needs sleep.

But does adding more rooms onsite at Disney actually increase the number of guests? I don’t think it does, it just means more guests end up staying onsite.

15-20 years ago, when my kids were little, it was possible in the U.K. to pick up brochures for holidays in Florida. Many were “fly drive” holidays, others were hotels along International Drive. And most brochures had maybe 2 or 3 Disney resorts included at the most.

When we came to take our first stay onsite, we had slightly more choice. But I still couldn’t book to stay at the Contemporary or Port Orleans, for example, through any of the main U.K. based TAs. This was maybe 12 years ago. And now, even though brochures are as scare as a dodo, we can book most onsite resorts on the U.K. website. And far more U.K. families now stay onsite on 2 week packages instead of renting a private home.

 

[Disstevefan1]

As far as Covid is concerned, we're just reaching halftime if we're lucky, so it's too early to assume victory or defeat.

I am guaranteeing victory! Even if the parks must close again. Just like taking drugs from an addict, when they reopen, folks will flood back. The parks can’t be hurt. The parks are invincible.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I don’t know that the parks are necessarily invincible - but the pricing sure seems to be.

They parks are invincible, Disney knows it, and that’s why we see the continuing price increases on everything..

 

[GimpYancIent]

I am guaranteeing victory! Even if the parks must close again. Just like taking drugs from an addict, when they reopen, folks will flood back. The parks can’t be hurt. The parks are invincible.

Can mentally visualize the masses of fan's surging towards the parks entrances with Summon The Heroes playing in the background.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

They parks are invincible, Disney knows it, and that’s why we see the continuing price increases on everything..

Goliath likely thought the same thing.

Disney just hasn't burned through enough of the good will of their guests. That good will isn't limitless.

 

[danlb_2000]

They parks are invincible, Disney knows it, and that’s why we see the continuing price increases on everything..

I wouldn't use the word invincible, we clearly haven't hit a breaking point yet, but there is eventually going to be a breaking point.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I wouldn't use the word invincible, we clearly haven't hit a breaking point yet, but there is eventually going to be a breaking point.

Respectfully disagree. I used to think there could be a breaking point for the Disney Parks. The last two years have permanently changed my mind. There is no breaking point. TWDC and the Disney Parks are invincible..

 

[danlb_2000]

Respectfully disagree. I used to think there could be a breaking point for the Disney Parks. The last two years have permanently changed my mind. There is no breaking point. TWDC and the Disney Parks are invincible..

Said many companies that no longer exist.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Goliath likely thought the same thing.

Disney just hasn't burned through enough of the good will of their guests. That good will isn't limitless.

Even the microscopic COVID virus can't kill the Goliath we call TWDC. TWDC and the Disney Parks are invincible. For the many folks they lost there are far, far more folks flocking to their parks, movies, merch. There is no end.