News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[Casper Gutman]

Different people have different opinions about the quality of the movies. Regardless, the movies didn't have to affect the quality of the park itself. Yet somehow Disney managed to

- made a park without any of the most popular characters
- made a park without ANY characters or interaction, really (you're expecting to see aliens in the Star Wars land, right? Or talk to droids? Not gonna happen!)
- made a park without much to do for children (the lightsaber experience at the hotel is obviously an attraction for kids and maybe some adults who didn't want to go to Savi's, not something really immersive)
- made a park in which these theme park experiences that are basic to every other Disney park were gatekept within a hotel that costs $2.5k a night!

Oh, and don't forget that lots of the good experiences (Savi's, Oga's, Rise until a few months ago) involve upcharges, have to be scheduled months in advance, or are part of a reservation system that involves referencing the ATOMIC CLOCK.

People are mad because they're going through all the stress and expense of a boutique experience to get a final product that's Six Flags quality. And that's not Kennedy, that's all Bob Chapek.

This is dead on.

And Rise still involves two of the impediments you describe - you need to use a very accurate clock AND pay an upcharge.

If Disney was so intent on canonical integrity, instead of having one side of the land be First Order and the other Resistance, one could have been OT and one ST. Or they could have done the even more logical thing and built multiple lands, ala Uni and Potter - how about Endor in the AK, with a big emphasis on all the great creatures in Star Wars, which are almost totally absent from Batuu? Naboo in the MK? I’d pay.

 

[TikibirdLand]

Different people have different opinions about the quality of the movies. Regardless, the movies didn't have to affect the quality of the park itself. Yet somehow Disney managed to

- made a park without any of the most popular characters
- made a park without ANY characters or interaction, really (you're expecting to see aliens in the Star Wars land, right? Or talk to droids? Not gonna happen!)
- made a park without much to do for children (the lightsaber experience at the hotel is obviously an attraction for kids and maybe some adults who didn't want to go to Savi's, not something really immersive)
- made a park in which these theme park experiences that are basic to every other Disney park were gatekept within a hotel that costs $2.5k a night!

Oh, and don't forget that lots of the good experiences (Savi's, Oga's, Rise until a few months ago) involve upcharges, have to be scheduled months in advance, or are part of a reservation system that involves referencing the ATOMIC CLOCK.

People are mad because they're going through all the stress and expense of a boutique experience to get a final product that's Six Flags quality. And that's not Kennedy, that's all Bob Chapek.

couldn't we say the same thing about Pandora? Where are the Avatars walking around? We see foot prints. We see ONE in some kind of amniotic liquid in the queue of FOP but none outside. If you remember anything about the movie, there's really nothing to tie it to the movie. At the end of the day, it shares an example of an excellent ride and a meh ride. The only thing it misses is an Avatar hotel. I shouldn't be giving them ideas!

 

[matt9112]

Misogynist comments about Kennedy aren't going to do anything to dispel the stereotype of sci-fi fans being social outcasts who live in their parents' basement.

I love how Kennedy is somehow to blame for anything Star Wars, but not, the males who are the ones who actually write and direct the movies.

Plus, she of course gets no credit for things people do like.

Didn't like Rise of Skywalker? It's Kennedy's fault, not JJ Abrams. Love the Mandalorian? That's all Dave Filoni, not Kennedy.

If my boss tells me to do something and it sucks....why is it my fault? Accountability...its a thing.

 

[GimpYancIent]

This is dead on.

And Rise still involves two of the impediments you describe - you need to use a very accurate clock AND pay an upcharge.

If Disney was so intent on canonical integrity, instead of having one side of the land be First Order and the other Resistance, one could have been OT and one ST. Or they could have done the even more logical thing and built multiple lands, ala Uni and Potter - how about Endor in the AK, with a big emphasis on all the great creatures in Star Wars, which are almost totally absent from Batuu? Naboo in the MK? I’d pay.

Yes, an ENDOR themed area / experience would fit very nicely adjacent to AK.

 

[GimpYancIent]

If my boss tells me to do something and it sucks....why is it my fault? Accountability...its a thing.

I do not believe anyone is putting any blame or anything else on the shoulders of the worker bees, rather it is being focused on the decision makers lack of vision, creativity and judgement. The name folks at the top.

 

[Hawg G]

View attachment 605108
Gosh willy geez this is amazing!

How do you think Disney will handle the people demanding refunds?

Free genie plus for the day?

This does look particularly bad. It looks more Trek than Wars. 1990s Trek. I want to be on a bridge with a CGI Admiral Akbar barking out orders, and a screen accurate control panel. Not some horrible joystick and button control panel torn from an old Taito arcade machine in front of a CRT.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Because of the team (story group) she spearheaded and put in place to do just this.. and were the architects of the new Disney Star Wars.. not the film directors.

And Jon and Dave F have been big enough to drive their own ship.

Is she not also the one who decided to just get rid of the hundreds of books, etc. that were written as non-canon?

The films made by Disney have also been plagued by issues with directors, writers, etc. I'd love to know why. (Good leadership, IMO, would have ensured that these problems didn't occur.)

 

[Incomudro]

couldn't we say the same thing about Pandora? Where are the Avatars walking around? We see foot prints. We see ONE in some kind of amniotic liquid in the queue of FOP but none outside. If you remember anything about the movie, there's really nothing to tie it to the movie. At the end of the day, it shares an example of an excellent ride and a meh ride. The only thing it misses is an Avatar hotel. I shouldn't be giving them ideas!

Yes, we can say much the same about Pandora.
Except that Disney made promises about GE being a living experience beyond what they implied about Pandora.
Well, they did say Pandora would be more interactive and it could be.
But I think Pandora suffers less from it because it is a natural environment.
Often in nature, we don't see much large animal life at all. I'll include Navi in that.
But GE is urban.
It's supposed to be a bustling urban environment.

 

[Ldno]

This post is quite ironic given the prediction that only the first one would sell out

it was sold out until April. I got curious two weeks ago just looking into pricing and looked into their reservations and could not find an opening until April. Seriously they even made news a while about how it was sold out for weeks.

 

[flynnibus]

I have a question. Does Disney OWN the rights to classic Star Wars characters for the parks? Is this like Universal? When they purchase Star Wars is it in their contract there not allowed to use Princess Leia, Han Solo, etc within the parks? Because that's the vibe I'm getting with the new land and hotels.

those people are old and boxed in inside the star wars universe. They want new characters and new stories so they have space to do new stuff

 

[ChrisFL]

couldn't we say the same thing about Pandora? Where are the Avatars walking around? We see foot prints. We see ONE in some kind of amniotic liquid in the queue of FOP but none outside. If you remember anything about the movie, there's really nothing to tie it to the movie. At the end of the day, it shares an example of an excellent ride and a meh ride. The only thing it misses is an Avatar hotel. I shouldn't be giving them ideas!

Yeah but nobody cares about walk-around Avatars

 

[kingdead]

Yes, we can say much the same about Pandora.
Except that Disney made promises about GE being a living experience beyond what they implied about Pandora.
Well, they did say Pandora would be more interactive and it could be.
But I think Pandora suffers less from it because it is a natural environment.
Often in nature, we don't see much large animal life. at all. I'll include Navi in that.
But GE is urban.
It's supposed to be a bustling urban environment.

Yup. Also, people aren't attached to the Navi as characters--can you remember the specific ones outside of Blue Man and Blue Woman? The beautiful alien nature was the star of the movie.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Star Wars Weekends worked. It was a ton of fun. Once Disney bought Star Wars, they tried to take the joy out of it, and increase the diversity.

Theme park/hotel Star Wars just needs to be fun again!

This is also why you don't see the Disney Characters in SW outfits or any merchandise with them anymore..

 

[Skywise]

I have a question. Does Disney OWN the rights to classic Star Wars characters for the parks? Is this like Universal? When they purchase Star Wars is it in their contract there not allowed to use Princess Leia, Han Solo, etc within the parks? Because that's the vibe I'm getting with the new land and hotels.

My personal understanding (which may be wrong) is that Lucas still gets royalties when HIS characters are used which was supposedly the impetus for killing the characters from the original movies and whacking the EU (which they did NOT do with Marvel!)

 

[UNCgolf]

My personal understanding (which may be wrong) is that Lucas still gets royalties when HIS characters are used which was supposedly the impetus for killing the characters from the original movies and whacking the EU (which they did NOT do with Marvel!)

Whacking the EU was basically required if they wanted to include OT characters. There was some good stuff in the EU (the best of it was a lot better than the three sequel films) but there was also tremendous amounts of horrendous garbage.

I also don't think that other thing is true. They likely had to kill Solo to get Harrison Ford to agree to return at all; he always wanted the character to die. I'm not sure they had any plans to kill Leia but didn't have an option once Carrie Fisher died.

 

[Skywise]

This is also why you don't see the Disney Characters in SW outfits or any merchandise with them anymore..

That was some weird corporate-wide strategy to "not pollute the brands with Disney". Supposedly that was one of Kathleen Kennedy's first edicts but I don't think so. This was something they had already started with the Marvel franshise. (EG - You never saw Mickey with Captain America's shield, Donald as Thor or Goofy as the Hulk...). I'm not sure if that was a lawyer call (to keep the IP from mixing - although it already HAD with Star Wars but was under strict contract about how it was used) or Iger's call as a way of positioning the different brands (Notice that when you begin watching a particular marvel, star wars or disney show/movie on Disney+ there's a distinct franchise opening. Star Wars isn't a 20th century Fox movie, or a "Disney" movie (or a Buena Vista one!)... it's a "Star Wars" "Star Wars movie".
Or maybe it was a way of saying all the brands were "equal" because Mickey Mouse as the characters makes them "sub" to Disney... (that's just a wild guess though) Or that linking Mickey Mouse with Star Wars or Marvel might taint the family image with violent movies (But then they already HAD done that with Star Wars)
Regardless - I think it's short sighted and silly when they're already mixing these IPs into the parks!

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

You will be waiting a long time. My response was about your wanting a value star bores hotel.

No, I want a quality Star Wars hotel which is not what Disney built. What's the point of good plate with nothing on it?

 

[Skywise]

Whacking the EU was basically required if they wanted to include OT characters. There was some good stuff in the EU (the best of it was a lot better than the three sequel films) but there was also tremendous amounts of horrendous garbage.

I also don't think that other thing is true. They likely had to kill Solo to get Harrison Ford to agree to return at all; he always wanted the character to die. I'm not sure they had any plans to kill Leia but didn't have an option once Carrie Fisher died.

I agree there was horrendous stuff there - just like all the Star Trek "Harlequin romance" books. But they could've just picked and chosen what to keep canon and what not - not just issue a blanket ultimatum that it's all non-canon then go back and retell the exact same stories with minor differences. That's not world building - that's cutting royalties out and locking down copyrights.

They absolutely had to kill off Solo to get Harrison Ford back, I agree but that's not my point. Where's Vader in the parks? Where's Boba Fett in the parks? Artoo? Threepio? Yoda? Mace Windu?! Although Luke and Leia are "old" I get that nobody wants to see them in character (Evil Stepmother *cough* *cough*) that's... odd...

The entirety of the original series was expunged. Sure KK says "going in a bold new direction". I say any good businesswoman is going to milk the working farm while building the new.. unless the working farm is costing too much to begin with.

 

[peter11435]

This was something they had already started with the Marvel franshise. (EG - You never saw Mickey with Captain America's shield, Donald as Thor or Goofy as the Hulk...).

 

[Indy_UK]

This is also why you don't see the Disney Characters in SW outfits or any merchandise with them anymore..

They weren’t allowed anymore under Disney buying Lucasfilm alongside any meet and greet had to be very controlled with a minimum of 3 surrounded walls when outside of a particular themed land for example