News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[pdude81]

They aren't spending huge sums of money to market a niche product. Pandora and SWGE were huge additions meant to draw interest and hopefully draw thousands more visitors per day. These are not like scenarios. They also can't ruin all the surprises by showing you all the coolest parts up front. Then nobody will spend the big bucks to go check them out.

And what little marketing they've done so far has sucked. So in this instance, less is more.

 

[Morkey Moose]

I hope I'm totally off base here and you have an amazing experience! On the bright side, with all the negativity here on the boards, you're sure to have a great time as I am convinced it will be much better than the dumpster fire many of us fear it will be!

Even if we have to Statler and Waldorf our way through it, we'll still have fun. And at least have lunch at Ché Farts and a Margaritaville cottage waiting for us upon disembarkation.

 

[TikibirdLand]

Yes, lol.
Bloggers are not journalists, they're superfans who feel special because Disney has anointed them the chosen ones to get to see everything early and experience things that the public doesn't. They are addicted to their status and for some it's their livelihood and they are smart enough to know not to bite the hand that feeds them. So yes, I take what that group has to say about something with a giant salt mine sized grain of salt.
Let's put it this way, what experience, ride, etc that Disney has made in the past 25 years that is supposed to be so incredible has Disney either put out hardly any press/info about or the things they did put out made it look like crap? I can't think of any. RotR had amazing pre opening media and it looked incredible. Expedition everest had a whole Discovery channel special about it with Joe Rhode. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck. It's a duck, or in this case a major failure.

In this day-and-age, the vloggers need to boldly disclose their relationship with the experience. So far, I'm not too impressed with the vloggers that are out first with their lead-up stories.

 

[Morkey Moose]

They aren't spending huge sums of money to market a niche product. Pandora and SWGE were huge additions meant to draw interest and hopefully draw thousands more visitors per day. These are not like scenarios. They also can't ruin all the surprises by showing you all the coolest parts up front. Then nobody will spend the big bucks to go check them out.

And what little marketing they've done so far has sucked. So in this instance, less is more.

That's fair. But even its omission from the Christmas Day Parade, unarguably the best moment of "free" advertising they could have had, filled me more with "oh noes" than intrigue.

 

[durangojim]

They also can't ruin all the surprises by showing you all the coolest parts up front. Then nobody will spend the big bucks to go check them out.

I have to respectfully disagree. There are no more surprises when it comes to attractions specifically because of the internet. If Disney doesn't show something in the absolute best perspective there is, then vloggers will show it much more poorly. If something is cool and amazing everyone will know and no one will be surprised. If Disney hasn't shown it, it's because it's not amazing and not worth showing.

 

[pdude81]

That's fair. But even its omission from the Christmas Day Parade, unarguably the best moment of "free" advertising they could have had, filled me more with "oh noes" than intrigue.

My guess on this is that they are just trying to get to the opening excursions and media previews before doing any further marketing. A little blurb on the Christmas Parade would send people looking for more information.... and be met with a wall of negative videos and opinions on the entire experience and it's perceived value. They didn't even have an official video up on youtube at the time since the other one was so terrible that it got pulled.

It seems they quietly added an official video back to youtube without any promotion other than a parks blog post. Now this thing has to live or die based on media previews and early guest reviews. We can pretty well expect media previews to go well because it should be a pretty cool experience and they are not likely to comment on the cost factor of something they didn't pay for. At that point it's net zero for the mouse in terms of opinions online. Mid march is when we really get a sense of how this will be viewed long term.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Maybe they can repurporpose the hotel as a high end intergalactic midday meltdown napping stations for the super wealthy. They are after that super wealthy dollar, no?

Check your little ones in and then go check out the star trek thing or whatever this place is... Say is there a bar here?

…already tried that…space mountain smoking cabanas

 

[pdude81]

I have to respectfully disagree. There are no more surprises when it comes to attractions specifically because of the internet. If Disney doesn't show something in the absolute best perspective there is, then vloggers will show it much more poorly. If something is cool and amazing everyone will know and no one will be surprised. If Disney hasn't shown it, it's because it's not amazing and not worth showing.

I think there are certain experiences that you can't really put on a screen and you have to experience first hand. For example, concert videos are never shot from the pit even though that's a unique experience. The video would look like garbage and sound worse.

I'm not saying you're wrong. We really just don't know how this is going to go. I believe that for the cost of this thing and the limited details that we've heard, they are going to deliver a great experience. I'm voting for it with my money sight unseen, because I don't trust them to not screw it up after taking too many surveys and change the offerings over time.

It's my opinion that they just don't know how to market something like this as opposed to having nothing to show. We'll soon see though which is true.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

I'm very fair

So let me get this straight. A vlogger says something's good at Disney it's because they don't want to upset Disney and are lying. If they say anything bad about Disney then it must be true and 100 times worse than anything else because it made them break rule number one of always saying everything is great even if it's not?

. . . Your posting history speaks for itself.

 

[larryz]

View attachment 622612

 

[MrPromey]

…already tried that…space mountain smoking cabanas

Wait, you mean Tomorrowland Tent City?

They proved with that one that even Disney fans have their limits.

 

[mergatroid]

. . . Your posting history speaks for itself.

Not really, that's pretty much what he was saying. Find me posting that this is a great experience or that I know anything to justify the price etc and quote it? You won't and you'll also see I've said as much in the post you quoted but conveniently edited. I'm holding judgement on this good or bad till the place opens and paying guests have decided what they think rather than judging it before then or saying that somebody who's been comped can't be relied on. I've already conceded that some vloggers may well lie whilst some may be honest, I've no secret agenda (nor am I accusing you of having one) but just think a minority on here are judging it unfairly. We can agree to disagree on many things or on our expectations of this offering, however I still think I'm judging it fairly by waiting to see how it goes. If you disagree that's fine, I'll continue to have my views and allow you to have yours. I'm not sure why you think that's unfair as by nature I try to look at the positives of things. Have a good one.

 

[flynnibus]

They spent some money on the interior, but from what they've shown us in the alarmingly unerwhelming pre-opening media they didn't spend near enough.

The exterior is exactly what it looks like; a lightly landscaped warehouse with only 100 small hotel rooms and a restaurant inside, with a cheap concrete entrance.

The Walt Disney Company in the Covid Disaster Year of Fiscal 2021 made just over $2 Billion in net profit. In Fiscal 2019 they made $11 Billion in net profit. This warehouse hotel project maybe cost them $150 Million, including the polyester dental hygienist uniforms they bought for the CM's. Turning Kathleen Kennedy into shamelessly blueface Captain Karen only cost them an afternoon in the makeup chair. The actress who plays Gaya was just thrilled to get the gig after she didn't get the call back on the Dr. Pepper commercial.

When this thing flops and stops booking reservations by 2023, it's going to be a tiny blip on the road to the next shareholders meeting. They've tried to talk a big game, but as their own pre-opening PR has showed, it's small ball.

By this logic…. 99% of everything they do is cheap because it doesn’t move the annual numbers on it’s own. Genius logic there… a universal argument.

 

[UNCgolf]

Anyone who is gets an experience for free is going to struggle to review it objectively. That's a psychological phenomenon. There's inherent unconscious bias towards being less critical simply because you didn't have to pay for it; one of the usual mental factors involved (value analysis) is completely removed from the equation. It doesn't have to be anything insidious, and it's also only one factor -- it doesn't automatically guarantee that a review will be positive.

On the other hand, there can also be unconscious bias when you pay a lot of money for something, because you want to justify the cost to yourself. So you really can't just automatically assume anything about any review, barring more information (like a paid review or something similar).

Basically, I can't believe there are literal pages arguing about whether to trust anything a blogger/vlogger says. Does it really matter? There will be a lot more reviews in a few weeks.

 

[flynnibus]

As TP2000 pointed out, it also a box that is cheap and an easy write off down the line compared to a fully constructed resort.

So? This is like arguing every ride needs to be an e-ticket or they went cheap.

There is room for different concepts in the world and it’s not just based on risk.

 

[CaptinEO]

For anyone who's interested what type of 'experience' this is, you may find this video quite interesting. It's from an enthusiastic vlogger who was comped a stay as an invited guest by Disney. Obviously there's many who have no interest in how much he enjoyed the experience, he may be lying and hated it really but doesn't want to lose his Disney access. He may also being telling the truth and loved it apart from him saying the negative stuff about the light sabers.

But ignoring his motives for enjoying it, there's no reason for him to lie about the events to expect to give people an idea, as many posts on this thread are asking that very question. Again, perhaps his motives for enjoying it are to stay in Disney's good books. If that's the case shame on him, but you can watch this for other reasons such as what it entails. courtesy of IGN

IGN is a large media company, not a vlogger.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Is there replay-ability with this Star Wars hotel?

I would think to a degree, yes. But you have variables like CM script training and production costs that limit what Disney can do storywise. I think the experience's high cost is, in part to curb guest repeatability.

 

[lewisc]

They repurpose the star cruiser and make it a high end dining experience. That could work. You are shuttled out of Batu or you valet your car at front door for an immersive dining experience. Keep the hotel aspect for those who want to stay but open up restaurant reservations with 2-3 hour windows on ship.

I doubt the restaurant has the capacity to accommodate starcruiser passengers and extra dining guests.

I already suggested reducing number of cruises to 2 a week and offering dinner packages with an overnight stay and breakfast might make be doable

 

[CaptinEO]

True. They've hidden away Ann Morrow and the C List sitcom stars, at least for now.

But they're still doing that stupid thing where they spend a huge chunk of time showing the product in unflattering light and droning on about how clever they were for building this fake Star Wars hotel behind a Florida theme park.

Instead of pretending this is real and only communicating to potential customers as representatives of Chandrila Star Lines living within their own universe, they are standing there as hipster 2020's Imagineers bragging about how fake it is.
That's the dumbest and most narcissistic marketing strategy for an "immersive adventure" I've ever seen.

Great idea about in universe advertising. This makes way more sense.

It'd still be a made up place that isn't even part of the also made up Star Wars films, but at least it'd be committed to its idea of immersion.

It's like imagineering thinks trailers for their products need to just be videos of them talking about how amazing and creative they are.

How is this supposed to attract an audience or bring excitement?

Now look at this advertisement. There's action, movement, fog, explosions, music. This makes me want to go to Disneyland, this also represents what people like about Star Wars.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

By this logic…. 99% of everything they do is cheap because it doesn’t move the annual numbers on it’s own. Genius logic there… a universal argument.

It’s recency bias because of overpromising and underdelivering since the Bobs showed up.