News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[MisterPenguin]

Heard the lines crashed again yesterday......doesn't seem to be any news today if the site did crash

A quick glance at the calendar shows all dates for March and April are now sold out, and they are not taking calls at this time...

Yeah, it won't even show March anymore since it's sold out. Which is not a good user experience since if one wanted to check to see if there was a March date, then mysteriously not showing March isn't the right way to indicated that March is booked.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Yeah, it won't even show March anymore since it's sold out. Which is not a good user experience since if one wanted to check to see if there was a March date, then mysteriously not showing March isn't the right way to indicated that March is booked.

View attachment 596663

I hate to admit I've been keeping an eye on this.....there are several published numbers to call, and none seem to be working this A.M.

*1800 and *5209 both have the same message sorry not taking calls at this point, try again later

Really wonder if it is techno issues, demand driven, or if it i demand related, they're working on more attractive packages.....

 

[larryz]

Now Boarding Marvel's Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy - Exclusive Reveal

The new miniseries invites you to voyage on the legendary cruise ship in an era-spanning story from the High Republic to the days of the First Order.

www.starwars.com

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Yeah, it won't even show March anymore since it's sold out. Which is not a good user experience since if one wanted to check to see if there was a March date, then mysteriously not showing March isn't the right way to indicated that March is booked.

View attachment 596663

I just took a closer look at the calendar you posted.....earlier this A.M. observed two additional calendars:

- one had no availability in April
- another showed April 6th - April 8th availability - the 6th - 8th availability keeps pooping back on from time to time

How much of this is the Early Innovator factor, and if so, how long does it last/is it sustained?

 

[mergatroid]

If SWGS flops it's not a big deal. Disney can just write it off like a movie flop, which happens and normally costs about that much: $240 million. And unlike a movie, the hotel will continue to make money by charging less so that the rooms are filled, just not as much as it was expected to do.

Personally, I'm not expecting it to ever be sold out past the first month, March 2022. I believe Disney's marketing research on this is flawed; they mostly went by the "Build it and they will come" model. For various reasons, that model didn't work for Galaxy's Edge, and it won't work for this the hotel either. The main reason is the oversupply of luxury rooms. The total number of rooms/suites at Disney World that costs more than $2000 a night is perhaps 200, and this hotel increased that suddenly by 50%. There are simply not enough market to support it. Disney was hoping to entice a new market - the vast number of rich SW fans who don't normally come to WDW, or even the non-rich fans to cash in their retirement savings for this once in a life time experience. But given that those fans didn't swarm Galaxy's Edge as they were expected to do, they most likely aren't impressed by the hotel either, which is far more expensive.

The average 5 star hotel with 100 rooms costs $60 million to build and costs about $800 a night, without being all inclusive. The SWGS's construction cost 4 times that much, so it's not unreasonable that they want to charge $3000 a night. There are other all inclusive hotels that cost that much, such as The Point in NY. But the rooms there are much bigger and more comfortable:

View attachment 594010

In comparison, the rooms at SWGS are way too small for the price. And The Point has only 11 rooms, despite being located near a densely populated and affluent region of the East Coast.

If by next March SWGS doesn't become as fully booked as expected, Disney can simply lower the price until demand meets supply. Because the demand is there, it's just that most people can't jump over that high of a price hurdle. I would think that if the standard room comes down to $1000 a night (from the current $3000), all inclusive for a family of 4, it will be fully booked all the time like every other Disney hotel. Disney won't make the money back as fast as planned, but it will make money nonetheless.

Looks like they've nearly achieved that already.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I guess the calendar keeps changing? Here is April, viewed, Fri. Oct. 29, 9:30 AM eastern

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Looks like they've nearly achieved that already.

And April is about to fall..

 

[durangojim]

Looks like they've achieved that already.

For me it’s showing that some of April is still available. As a self professed SW Uber nerd fan with enough disposable income to do this, I’m just not feeling it. And if I’m not feeling it, many others like me (including my cardiology buddy in Clearwater who has similar thoughts to me) won’t be doing this either unless the reviews from non bloggers are absolutely stellar. I hate to say it but I don’t see this being successful for the long run. Maybe they will change it to make it a hotel and then you pay a la carte for experiences.

 

[MrPromey]

Yeah, it won't even show March anymore since it's sold out. Which is not a good user experience since if one wanted to check to see if there was a March date, then mysteriously not showing March isn't the right way to indicated that March is booked.

From a marketing perspective, one would think they'd want it to be known - like a big red SOLD OUT diagonally across the month or something.

When people are spending this much money on something nobody's ever experienced, it helps to make it super-obvious that everyone is wanting in... and also that for that much money your company can afford to hire competent web folks.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

I guess the calendar keeps changing? Here is April, viewed, Fri. Oct. 29, 9:30 AM eastern
View attachment 596667

I guess so...pic below the Top half is @MisterPenguin from earlier, bottom half is a screenshot just taken....now 1st Week of May is booked. I get the slots are filling, but every now and again, dates that were booked pop back up as available

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

From a marketing perspective, one would think they'd want it to be known - like a big red SOLD OUT diagonally across the month or something.

When people are spending this much money on something nobody's ever experienced, it helps to make it super-obvious that everyone is wanting in... and also that for that much money your company can afford to hire competent web folks.

Why adjust the staffing, or fix any issues? Supply is finite and the Quantity Demanded is not going down.....and to your Marketing point (well done), the Quantity Demanded will only go up with the "Presentation" of scarcity....

While the lines are "down", maybe they're adjusting the attractive package.....

 

[mergatroid]

For me it’s showing that some of April is still available. As a self professed SW Uber nerd fan with enough disposable income to do this, I’m just not feeling it. And if I’m not feeling it, many others like me (including my cardiology buddy in Clearwater who has similar thoughts to me) won’t be doing this either unless the reviews from non bloggers are absolutely stellar. I hate to say it but I don’t see this being successful for the long run. Maybe they will change it to make it a hotel and then you pay a la carte for experiences.

I'll probably never go mainly because of the price and also I see the role play part a bit odd. It's difficult to judge whether the feelings of two people means this will fail at this stage. I mean there's several posts on here by people who've booked. I'm guessing at those prices they're Star Wars fans too who do 'feel it'. Now I'm not using that as proof that this will be a long term success, similarly I'm not using you and your buddy's view as an indication of a long term failure. Time will tell of course but the way it seems to be booking up it would appear that the claim it will never be fully booked beyond it's first month is appearing to be pretty off the mark at this stage.

 

[mergatroid]

I guess so...pic below the Top half is @MisterPenguin from earlier, bottom half is a screenshot just taken....now 1st Week of May is booked. I get the slots are filling, but every now and again, dates that were booked pop back up as available

View attachment 596668

Perhaps agents are 'reserving' the rooms for guests on the phones who then back out for some reason during the call? This is a complete guess by the way but a possibility?

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

I don’t see this being successful for the long run. Maybe they will change it to make it a hotel and then you pay a la carte for experiences.

Doc,

Could go from B2C to B2B.....one could easily imagine this being an Executive Team Building Destination...

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

I'll probably never go mainly because of the price and also I see the role play part a bit odd. It's difficult to judge whether the feelings of two people means this will fail at this stage. I mean there's several posts on here by people who've booked. I'm guessing at those prices they're Star Wars fans too who do 'feel it'. Now I'm not using that as proof that this will be a long term success, similarly I'm not using you and your buddy's view as an indication of a long term failure. Time will tell of course but the way it seems to be booking up it would appear that the claim it will never be fully booked beyond it's first month is appearing to be pretty off the mark at this stage.

The role play is a bit creepy.....

- never be fully booked beyond it's first month......Yes, the Bell Curve Early Innovator crowd is much larger in size than anticipated. Clearly the price could have been much higher...

Perhaps agents are 'reserving' the rooms for guests on the phones who then back out for some reason during the call? This is a complete guess by the way but a possibility?

Or peeps already bailing? Maybe peeps already changing dates of Launch?

 

[mergatroid]

The role play is a bit creepy.....

- never be fully booked beyond it's first month......Yes, the Bell Curve Early Innovator crowd is much larger in size than anticipated. Clearly the price could have been much higher...

Or peeps already bailing? Maybe peeps already changing dates of Launch?

Another possibility yes? Seems a bit odd though if it takes 7 hours on the phone to book that you'd change your mind but yes, who knows.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Another possibility yes? Seems a bit odd though if it takes 7 hours on the phone to book that you'd change your mind but yes, who knows.

Just looking at the numbers....Really only 100 rooms?

How could they have an entire day of full phone lines, with little hope of getting through, and NOT sell out more than they have? It appears only 11 additional dates sold out yesterday.

While I understand that is greatly oversimplified as we don't know how accurate the calendar is, nor the amount of dates that are partially sold, the numbers don't seem to jive.....they CAN'T be that UNDERSTAFFED

 

[bubbles1812]

Just looking at the numbers....Really only 100 rooms?

How could they have an entire day of full phone lines, with little hope of getting through, and NOT sell out more than they have? It appears only 11 additional dates sold out yesterday.

While I understand that is greatly oversimplified as we don't know how accurate the calendar is, nor the amount of dates that are partially sold, the numbers don't seem to jive.....they CAN'T be that UNDERSTAFFED

It took us cycling two phones every 5-20 seconds (for the most part, we did take a break, as we are ironically at Universal today and start a Disney week Sunday) from 7 am to approx 1030 just to get us into the queue… to then wait 20 minutes for the middle tier person (she took our preferences for dates and basic info) … and then still waited 90 minutes from there to get to the actual booking person.

Think we got into the queue by sheer dumb luck. Nearly dropped the phone when I realized I was hearing the Disney hold music rather than the recorded voice telling me to try again later. My mom, who was also still attempting, continued to get the rejection music.

They were already full when we called in at 7. We talked to a regular Disney phone line rep who typed to the manager of the Halycon phone line to confirm it wasn’t closed and nope, just full. They had 500+ calls at once. And we were told to just keep trying. Probably took us 300-400 attempts in total (that does not count the tries yesterday). I’d have to go back to count.

Based on my experience, I think they ARE just that understaffed. I’m sure people cycling like we did are part of the problem, can admit that, but that’s literally what it took to get through.

I don’t know if they underestimated the demand but for example, for our dates (Sept 9th) Captain’s Table was already booked. So despite them not being completely sold out, there are definitely people booking in.

But I am going to have an ecstatic father at Christmas so all worth it in the end.

 

[MisterPenguin]

And April is about to fall..

April is the cruelest month.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Of course there are some things that this won't tell us...

For example, when they started with the big bucks people, for all we know the highest tier suites could be filled up to the end of June, but if the regular staterooms aren't all booked, all we see is that the date is available.

Conversely, if all the regular staterooms are all booked to the end of June, but the even more expensive suites are still available, all we see is that the date is available.

What we're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg.