News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[ChrisFL]

I agree, it just looks like a standard hotel with weird 1960s military computers that don't look like Star Wars.

Lucasfilm is ran so poorly these days, as is Disney Parks. I don't know who's at fault but it's probably both. Neither of them understand the source material or fan base.

If you want to make your own scifi characters and story go ahead, but don't name it after another series it has little to do with.

A blue alien space captain that looks like a character out of Playhouse Disney from the early 2000s does nothing for me. She looks like a Super Star Limo Cast Member.

Stop labelling space fantasy as Star Wars. You can't make your own crap up and add a lightsaber and tell me its Star Wars now and that suddenly I'm supposed to care about it.

100%

Unfortunately when creating a realistic Star Wars "stay" experience you really have two main choices IMO: Imperial Star Destroyer type of setup or a rag-tag Rebel ship.

As I think I mentioned before, the very idea of a relaxing space cruise is kind of the antithesis of something labeled and surrounding something literally called "WARS"

 

[durangojim]

What? "Premium luxury Disney experience"? Where? Even Disney emphasizes "immersive" not "Premium luxury Disney experience". A bit of a descriptive reach, NO?

Except in Chapek’s own words when introducing the concept at D23 he said “luxury starliner”. He definitely used the work luxury. I think that’s like saying Ponderosa is a luxury steakhouse.

 

[TP2000]

It will be interesting to read the food and beverage reviews once sufficiently sampled. I remember the reviews of the Green Milk (Blue milk was not bad), but the Green! Though with a little rum it was actually drinkable in small quantities.

The food was one of the few things that actually looked impressive. Sufficiently alien and exotic, yet upscale.

How it tastes is yet to be seen. But so long as it actually looks like this every day at the actual hotel, whomever led the food program for this project appears to have done a great job with it.

The cocktails they showed looked too syrupy sweet and kiddy for my tastes, but that's a problem with all Disney cocktails now; they seem to be aimed at sorority girls instead of adults.

 

[jpinkc]

Cava Del Tequila might want a word about drinks

 

[TP2000]

This hotel is never selling out at the current price point. The first few months represent die-hards. Fast forward the calendar a bit and it's wide open from June on. It doesn't matter how great this turns out to be (and it doesn't look that great), Disney has vastly misestimated what price point the market will bear.

I think March, 2022 is already mostly full of company comps and YouTube bloggers and PR trips for Make-A-Wish and Good Morning America and other media, etc., etc.

Not until you get into April does the hotel turn into a legitimate business relying on paying customers to fill rooms.

 

[mergatroid]

I think March, 2022 is already mostly full of company comps and YouTube bloggers and PR trips for Make-A-Wish and Good Morning America and other media, etc., etc.

Not until you get into April does the hotel turn into a legitimate business relying on paying customers to fill rooms.

I believe some those groups start in the next few days?

Test stays at Walt Disney World's 'Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser' begin very soon

The 2 night, 2 day Star Wars experience will make its maiden voyage on March 1, and test stays will begin imminently.

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[Joel]

I'm not the target for the Starcruiser

Is this the new euphemism for "I'm not a sucker"?

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

So for those who stated that the cancellations were not really a thing, did anyone check out the blogmickey site today? They had some pretty clear evidence there are plenty of cancellations.

The availability on December 14th, as their cringey pre-opening videos were ciculating around the Internet...

And then here is the availability for those months as of January 6th...

Now, I think that one other blogger who apparently flunked high school statistics who claimed that this proves that "50%" of reservations had been cancelled is still very wrong. We don't know if these dates are now open because 15% of people cancelled and there's a few new reservations open, or if 50% of people cancelled and the hotel is only half full this year for Easter vacation.

But what is readily apparent is that there have been noticeable cancellations. That's not a good sign.

Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Availability Nearly Wide Open One Month After Opening

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

This is all very true.

What’s even more significant for me is the WIDE OPEN availability later this summer. For many months not a single sellout is showing. The normal reaction by Disney would be to do what it had been (and was planning on) doing: promote the heck out of this thing. Instead, they appear to have shelved and canned their entire promotional efforts, months leading up to its opening. That would suggest they realized what they were advertising was not only NOT selling the product, but it was actively dissuading those who had already made reservations.

We can only make inferences based on the evidence we have. The evidence we have shows increasing availability for previously sold out months, apparent wide open availability for the mid to late summer, and no public effort by Disney to sell people on this experience as presently offered.

 

[JoeCamel]

This is all very true.

What’s even more significant for me is the WIDE OPEN availability later this summer. For many months not a single sellout is showing. The normal reaction by Disney would be to do what it had been (and was planning on) doing: promote the heck out of this thing. Instead, they appear to have shelved and canned their entire promotional efforts, months leading up to its opening. That would suggest they realized what they were advertising was not only NOT selling the product, but it was actively dissuading those who had already made reservations.

We can only make inferences based on the evidence we have. The evidence we have shows increasing availability for previously sold out months, apparent wide open availability for the mid to late summer, and no public effort by Disney to sell people on this experience as presently offered.

What you can't know is how many cabins are available on which dates. If they have 10 available they are running 90% occupancy which in hotel world is very good. Yeah it hasn't sold out to hordes of rabid pew pew fans but we have no idea if it is sold enough.

 

[mdcpr]

Is this the new euphemism for "I'm not a sucker"?

No. I would never call the people buying into this 'suckers'. Some of them are using their hard-earned money to live a life-long fantasy. Others just want Insta moments.

 

[techgeek]

What you can't know is how many cabins are available on which dates. If they have 10 available they are running 90% occupancy which in hotel world is very good. Yeah it hasn't sold out to hordes of rabid pew pew fans but we have no idea if it is sold enough.

90% occupancy might be good for a hotel, but for a cruise line it’s a financial disaster. Prior to the pandemic, it was routine and expected for cruises to be at +100% occupancy.

 

[GimpYancIent]

Disney Co. developed, over time, a reputation, a standard of performance and quality of experience where people enjoyed the entertainment / experience as children (by extension also the parents) then over each generation it grew. Some folks had the disposable income to cover costs others had to save over extended periods of time, yet others borrowed money all to be able to go to and enjoy this ICON of entertainment at least once in their lives. A lofty position for an entertainment conglomerate to be in where the name Disney = a "Magical" experience that people crave to have at their lives. Now, actually developing over the last decade, the aura, the reputation, the quality of experience has steadily been eroded and allowed to deteriorate. Management in the pursuit of harvesting, gleaning and plain skimming as much money as possible from the guests (that are now seen simply as a monetary resource) has steadily up priced everything, added frees, charges and gimmicks to charge more. Simultaneously cheapening products and services. The logic is simple slap the name Disney on it and people will want it and buy it regardless of what is it. The Galactic Star Cruiser is now the epitome, Pinaccle of arrogance promising, teasing (through concept art and word) a Galactic experience. The schedule of events for the experience is underwhelming, the glimpses of the experience facilities are underwhelming, the advertising / presentation has been amateurish. Yet! The pricing is however of Galactic proportions because not only is the name Disney slapped on it but also Star Wars. The original concept was exiting and had a lot of promise however it has been botched terribly ever since.

 

[matt9112]

90% occupancy might be good for a hotel, but for a cruise line it’s a financial disaster. Prior to the pandemic, it was routine and expected for cruises to be at +100% occupancy.

Valid...plus much of the ROI is based on occupancy. In a regular hotel you can just close the wing and keep it from falling apart. This experience has the shows and extra actors etc etc the finale costs the same either way.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I believe some those groups start in the next few days?

Test stays at Walt Disney World's 'Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser' begin very soon

The 2 night, 2 day Star Wars experience will make its maiden voyage on March 1, and test stays will begin imminently.

www.wdwmagic.com

I am looking forward to the vloggers (even if they are compensated influencers) to do their best and try to stray from the prepared scripts Disney gave them and give us an honest look.

Who knows, maybe there is one brave YouTuber out there who would sacrifice their future access and give an honest review……. Naaaaa. Nevermind.. Free stuff rules..

 

[CaptinEO]

100%

Unfortunately when creating a realistic Star Wars "stay" experience you really have two main choices IMO: Imperial Star Destroyer type of setup or a rag-tag Rebel ship.

As I think I mentioned before, the very idea of a relaxing space cruise is kind of the antithesis of something labeled and surrounding something literally called "WARS"

I absolutely agree.

Maybe, just maybe if the Galactic Star Cruise experience had been developed as a Disney experience rather than serious Star Wars LARP this whole thing would be more palatable. At least the littles would get some enjoyment if the cast / crew were .........
View attachment 612575

This is actually entertaining and fun. Now Disney takes Star Wars "immersion" so seriously they wouldn't do things like this anymore.

Not that this is a highlight of themed entertainment or Star Wars, but at least its not trying to commit death by immersion.

 

[CaptinEO]

If it's two different markets, then the Star Wars market doesn't exist and never has. That's the real reason there are a bunch of cancellations now that the full payment is coming due. You are talking about people who has to use their kids' college funds for this. How nerve wrecking is that? That makes you want to cancel when you see the least bit of imperfection, knowing how much you are sacrificing. People who stay at presidential suites do so because cost means the same to them as Pop Century means to others -- that's how much money they have.

For example, I read about this one guy, a blogger, who is booked at the Starcruiser in March, so he is paid up and locked in. As a result, when he reviews the California Grill's new menu, he does not bother ordering the new Tomahawk steak to review, which costs roughly $200 each, because he CAN'T AFFORD IT! And he loves steak!

I mean, how often can Disney ask a man to give up his steaks for a year or two to be able to go to the Starcruiser? That's not a real market. People say that the cancellations are happening because the promos are not good enough. Yeah, well, if such people think the promos are bad, wait till they get there and noticed that the bathrooms are ugly, or the bridge has technical problems, or the blue captain is not exciting, or the pillow isn't properly fluffed. They are going to have a financial panic attack.

Growing up, my son wanted to stay at the presidential suite because it looked big and fancy and he wanted to experience it. We could afford it for a couple of nights, but I told him no, we are not that rich, it's not for us. Though I would do it if he makes it into Harvard.

Son is nowhere near Harvard, so my money is safe. In the mean time, we'll buy the steak if we ever catch a reservation at the California Grill.

The Starcruiser is just a hotel simulating a space cruise. No matter how exciting it is, it can never be as as exciting as Epcot or MK, where just one of the rides costs as much to build as the entire Starcruiser. So anybody who doesn't have the money should never stay there because they will almost always be disappointed: their opportunity cost is too high. They have to give up a year's worth of fancy steak when the rich guy is just giving up his pocket change.

The interesting thing to me is that 6 thousand dollars needs to be an actual luxury experience on par with other hotels that would cost close to this much. You need a massive suite, amazing customer service and dining.

Disney does not offer any of it. So the 6 thousand is for a few actors in a bar and a videogame where you pull a lever?

My money is that Disney knew from the start this wasn't a 6 thousand dollar experience but that they could sucker a few "die hards"/FOMO type people into paying some huge sum of money to be the first people to experience it.

When that market dries up they will lower it.

The kind of people who can actually throw 6k on a hotel stay and not worry about it are not gonna go to this hotel.

 

[KrzyKtty]

Where in the timeline of this Star Wars story that they have created does this even take place? I genuinely want to know why they think a luxury star liner would be cruising around a Galaxy that just had add 4 or 5 planets explode..... and has now erupted into all out war between the 1st order and the resistance? Lusitania in space?

 

[UNCgolf]

What you can't know is how many cabins are available on which dates. If they have 10 available they are running 90% occupancy which in hotel world is very good. Yeah it hasn't sold out to hordes of rabid pew pew fans but we have no idea if it is sold enough.

This isn't a hotel, though, and it's only 100 rooms.

There is no way Disney would be okay with this being even at 90% occupancy. They designed and planned this to be sold out; that's part of the reason it's the size it is.

I don't think it's a big leap to say that if it's not sold out, then it hasn't sold enough -- especially in the first year or so of operations. Even as someone who's been down on the whole concept (mainly due to the price/value), I expected it to be completely sold out for at least the first 6-12 months.

 

[danv3]

This isn't a hotel, though, and it's only 100 rooms.

There is no way Disney would be okay with this being even at 90% occupancy. They designed and planned this to be sold out; that's part of the reason it's the size it is.

I don't think it's a big leap to say that if it's not sold out, then it hasn't sold enough -- especially in the first year or so of operations. Even as someone who's been down on the whole concept (mainly due to the price/value), I expected it to be completely sold out for at least the first 6-12 months.

This. There is no way Disney is okay with anything less than 100% occupancy in the first six months.

 

[Cesar R M]

100%

Unfortunately when creating a realistic Star Wars "stay" experience you really have two main choices IMO: Imperial Star Destroyer type of setup or a rag-tag Rebel ship.

As I think I mentioned before, the very idea of a relaxing space cruise is kind of the antithesis of something labeled and surrounding something literally called "WARS"

The irony is that they could have used the first.. by claiming you're going inside either a Imperial training ship (in which a famous Jedi will invade and overtake later on). The "prison" spartan rooms fit this theme (and not of a luxury cruise ship)
You end being "rescued" and you join the rebels.

OR...

Imagine a smuggler "high luxury" ship like Lando's before Han ruined it... but bigger... something you'd see filled with casino stuff... which was invaded by imperials.. and the rebels come to the rescue.