News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[TP2000]

And I know people disagree with this, as there are always exceptions, but even your most intense LARP people are going to not be the same enthused for multiple days. There is an rest and relaxation angle that the hotel should still operate at, and it seems like it is not going to function much of that unless you are in the room. There is a reason Disney's hotels are well inspired and themed, but not immersive like a brief theme park interaction breaking the fourth wall.

Great point.

I confess I have no experience with this LARP angle, and no real interest in it. I didn't even know what LARP meant until this thread (I had to Google it). I'm open to being told that the customers interested in LARP are really excited for this and that's where it will find its success.

But so far, the folks interested in LARP'ing at the Galactic Starcruiser seem to range from mildly-underwhelmed-yet-hopeful to outright angry, not too far off from the rest of us. But maybe I missed the excited-for-this! demographic? Again, this is not my expertise and I'm open to being told this is a big hit for LARP customers.

 

[Incomudro]

Unfortunately, no.

This keeps coming up.
Notice, this is ground transport. A bus on the ground, remaining a vehicle on the ground - just riding on Mars instead of Earth.
It isn't mimicking flight.
Now... Disney certainly could build in systems to mimic flight.
But did they?
I don't think so.

 

[Cesar R M]

There’s video windows in the rooms looking into space, a half decent CGI artist could probably do the art for this in a few days.

It would be a very easy (and cheap) solution to mask the fireworks noise.

Or just do the fight simulation on all the screens as fireworks fly by.
Throw some PEW PEW laser beams, and explosions.. the fireworks noise would be part of the background fight noise.

 

[Cesar R M]

What if you want the whole body or just the horn?

just the tip?

 

[Hawg G]

I’m interested to see if people need to stand in the first place. However, the concept art looks like they have the loops like the buses. If nobody is walking around, shouldn’t be any different from a regular bus or monorail, just the box is on a different frame.

Wrong. Your eyes, even subconsciously, are taking in tons of cues to help steady your body. Standing in this thing would be VERY odd. I went to a haunted house in a Texas where you were transported in a bus that was all blacked out. It’s an odd feeling.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Wrong. Your eyes, even subconsciously, are taking in tons of cues to help steady your body. Standing in this thing would be VERY odd. I went to a haunted house in a Texas where you were transported in a bus that was all blacked out. It’s an odd feeling.

The kind of feeling you get when you close your eyes on a ground transport?

 

[fryoj]

Wrong. Your eyes, even subconsciously, are taking in tons of cues to help steady your body. Standing in this thing would be VERY odd. I went to a haunted house in a Texas where you were transported in a bus that was all blacked out. It’s an odd feeling.

Millions of people go on cruises or on other ocean traveling boats every year, stay in rooms with no windows, and walk down hallways with no outside views. While there are plenty of cases of seasickness, the vast majority do just fine.

 

[Cesar R M]

I don't think anyone here is suggesting this should be an expensively themed train anymore than someone might call the Many Adventures of Whinnie the Pooh an expensively themed train but I think a lot of us were imaging something with an "outside view" the way the starcruiser itself is supposed to have that, the way the Falcon in Smuggler's run has it, the way Star Tours has it (likely without a motion base) and yes, the way they do it on the HWE.

Were they bothering to put that much effort in, some form of "vehicle" riding on some form of a basic track not in-universe and seen but in reality would have made sense because that's the easiest and most reliable way to sync up video for something like this which is where the HWE comparison comes in because what you see from the inside is easy for them to sync when the vehicle does the exact same thing every single time.

Looks like this whole discussion may be moot based on the concept are we've just been reminded of, though.

I hope we have some fun action like the green dot and red dots.

Imagine standing in the back of. U-Haul with the door down that is then driven down the road, around a few 90s and a hairpin turn. While holding a drink in one hand And a bag of overpriced tchotchkes in the other.

Imagine Darth Vader outside the boxtruck dancing like this as the CM transports them to Baatu.
Fits the speed limit

 

[MrPromey]

I’m interested to see if people need to stand in the first place. However, the concept art looks like they have the loops like the buses. If nobody is walking around, shouldn’t be any different from a regular bus or monorail, just the box is on a different frame.

I think the difference that Hawg was concerned with was not seeing what's going on so when there's a turn, you don't know it's coming which, if it were moving at a decent speed, could be problematic for the people in back if they're standing.

That's why I'd imagine it'll move slow, though.

 

[EeyoreFan#24]

I think the difference that HAWG was concerned with was not seeing what's going on so when there's a turn, you don't know it's coming which, if it were moving at a decent speed, could be problematic for the people in back.

That's why I'd imagine it'll move slow, though.

I agree it will probably move slow. There’s not much space to get any good speed going it looks like, but as long as everybody is stationary and holding on, I think it will be a smoother ride than leaving the park after dark on a resort bus.

 

[EeyoreFan#24]

Wrong. Your eyes, even subconsciously, are taking in tons of cues to help steady your body. Standing in this thing would be VERY odd. I went to a haunted house in a Texas where you were transported in a bus that was all blacked out. It’s an odd feeling.

I don’t think it would be any more odd than a resort bus after dark, I don’t think most people know what’s coming there either. Hold on to the grips and everyone will be ok. With the nature of this, I think it will be nice and smooth.

 

[Artful_Dodger]

Imagine Darth Vader outside the boxtruck dancing like this as the CM transports them to Baatu.

Bad idea! During test cruises recently, they actually tried having Vader greeting people as they checked-in.
Unfortunately, when his overly-obsessed grandson found out, things got strange.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Great point.

I confess I have no experience with this LARP angle, and no real interest in it. I didn't even know what LARP meant until this thread (I had to Google it). I'm open to being told that the customers interested in LARP are really excited for this and that's where it will find its success.

But so far, the folks interested in LARP'ing at the Galactic Starcruiser seem to range from mildly-underwhelmed-yet-hopeful to outright angry, not too far off from the rest of us. But maybe I missed the excited-for-this! demographic? Again, this is not my expertise and I'm open to being told this is a big hit for LARP customers.

Yes, this is how I feel. It's hard for me to judge the experience because I am just not into LARPing. So far, though, I'm not seeing much evidence that what they've revealed so far is hitting the spot for those who are. I do also have to wonder how many cashed up Star Wars LARPers are out there to keep even a small hotel like this in business, but I guess we'll see.

On another note, there was a very perceptive post by @yensidtlaw1969 in a Disneyland Paris thread lamenting Disney's recent obsession with immersion often at the expense of the fun and excitement that were traditionally the point of lands such as Fantasyland. There is certainly room for both highly immersive lands that attempt to recreate a specific place and looser lands around a general theme. However, I wonder whether this is an example of Disney taking this contemporary emphasis on immersion to its ultimate extreme to the point of losing sight of why the parks and resorts were appealing in the first place. In other words, instead of a believable environment being created so people can suspend disbelief and play at being in the Wild West or the future in order to have fun, the emphasis is now on everybody in this hotel working hard to make the environment believable.

 

[Married5Times]

rooms with no windows, and walk down hallways with no outside views.

sounds like a chilling challenge

 

[GimpYancIent]

Yes, this is how I feel. It's hard for me to judge the experience because I am just not into LARPing. So far, though, I'm not seeing much evidence that what they've revealed so far is hitting the spot for those who are. I do also have to wonder how many cashed up Star Wars LARPers are out there to keep even a small hotel like this in business, but I guess we'll see.

On another note, there was a very perceptive post by @yensidtlaw1969 in a Disneyland Paris thread lamenting Disney's recent obsession with immersion often at the expense of the fun and excitement that were traditionally the point of lands such as Fantasyland. There is certainly room for both highly immersive lands that attempt to recreate a specific place and looser lands around a general theme. However, I wonder whether this is an example of Disney taking this contemporary emphasis on immersion to its ultimate extreme to the point of losing sight of why the parks and resorts were appealing in the first place. In other words, instead of a believable environment being created so people can suspend disbelief and play at being in the Wild West or the future in order to have fun, the emphasis is now on everybody in this hotel working hard to make the environment believable.

Some exec's saw reruns of West World or the series or both. The problem is the current concept is pretty much a MEH! this immersive involvement will not be that deep.

 

[FettFan]

Yes, agree. The Star Cruiser thing / experience could be a fun, expensive, but different, unique and exclusive (only possible at Walt Disney World). The sort of ride, experience or amusement that would be interesting once to particularly an S.W. fan. The guests will really have to get into the proper S.W. mind set to get the most out of the experience. Yep, don't pay attention / ignore the surrounding reality and focus on the S.W. experience. The commentary from the first couple of iterations of non-Disney affiliated, paying guests will be interesting to hear.

Maybe.

But I will say…maybe SWGS is not *the* worst thing that Disney has done to Star Wars over the years.

Yeah its cringeworthy, nonsensical, and feels like watered down generic science fiction attempting to appeal to people who aren’t hardcore Star Wars fans, despite ironically creating an artificial scarcity with beaucoup price point that otherwise target hardcore Star Wars fans. (Seriously is anybody else understanding the economic logic of all this?)

But at least….

at the VERY least….

Dead-rat-in-the-bottom-of-a-whiskey barrel least….

it’s not Darth Michael Jackson.

 

[FettFan]

Yes, this is how I feel. It's hard for me to judge the experience because I am just not into LARPing. So far, though, I'm not seeing much evidence that what they've revealed so far is hitting the spot for those who are. I do also have to wonder how many cashed up Star Wars LARPers are out there to keep even a small hotel like this in business, but I guess we'll see.

On another note, there was a very perceptive post by @yensidtlaw1969 in a Disneyland Paris thread lamenting Disney's recent obsession with immersion often at the expense of the fun and excitement that were traditionally the point of lands such as Fantasyland. There is certainly room for both highly immersive lands that attempt to recreate a specific place and looser lands around a general theme. However, I wonder whether this is an example of Disney taking this contemporary emphasis on immersion to its ultimate extreme to the point of losing sight of why the parks and resorts were appealing in the first place. In other words, instead of a believable environment being created so people can suspend disbelief and play at being in the Wild West or the future in order to have fun, the emphasis is now on everybody in this hotel working hard to make the environment believable.

Between SWGS and D+’s Hawkeye show, it seems as if Disney is leaning WAY hard into LARPer territory.



The cynical side of me wonders if this is Disney’s way to cut down CM payroll.
Just encourage vacationers to pay extra for the privilege of acting as costumed performers for a few days.

 

[sedati]

Isn't visiting a theme park at least a mild form of larping? Doesn't every land, ride, and meet and greet involve some amount of playing along?

Or do you all just walk beneath the sign, "HERE YOU LEAVE TODAY AND ENTER THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY, TOMORROW, AND FANTASY," cross your arms and say, "NOPE- it's all just a paved over swamp!"

 

[JoeCamel]

Isn't visiting a theme park at least a mild form of larping? Doesn't every land, ride, and meet and greet involve some amount of playing along?

Or do you all just walk beneath the sign, "HERE YOU LEAVE TODAY AND ENTER THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY, TOMORROW, AND FANTASY," cross your arms and say, "NOPE- it's all just a paved over swamp!"

If anyone has played SotMK they have LARP'ed

 

[mightynine]

Isn't visiting a theme park at least a mild form of larping? Doesn't every land, ride, and meet and greet involve some amount of playing along?

So I’m roleplaying myself when I go to a theme park?

My goodness, then my costume could use some work then. Preferably with less in the middle and more in the wallet?