News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[Morkey Moose]

Thanks, guys! Alcohol is NOT included, but I was given the blessing by phone man to bring a 6-pack or two.

Will definitely not be missing the final shuttle, as I barely want to go over to GE to begin with (we're regulars), but I will field the question.

 

[keyframe]

Flying out today to splash around Cabana Bay a bit before check-in on Monday. May the Force be with me.

If you have any weirdly specific questions, feel free to hit me up, otherwise I'll be back with a report next weekend.

Have a great trip!

I’m curious to see how open the ship itself is after hours. How much exploring can you do once the character interactions and story events stop for the night? What rooms or areas are accessible to free roam? Are any of the lounge, dining, bridge, shop, etc open?

 

[_caleb]

I came across them in the Galaxy's Edge backlash and they're absolutely terrible. I heard them spouting things that had already been debunked and a lot of bad faith arguments. The one that sticks out the most was them listening to the stockholder call around that time and jumping out of their seats screaming things as... a Bob (I can't remember which) said rather innocuous things, her screaming "HE'S LYING!!! HE'S LYING TO US ALL!!!"

I watched Tim's video and Ordinary Adventures. Then I watched DIS because I've watched their dining reviews and know they never shy away from saying anything negative. Their positive impression was what really took me aback. I'd early on seen videos talking about the Starcruiser's failure, but upon watching them realized they were all people streaming from home and watching other people's footage, goin in with a view to poking fun. Not an ounce of good faith. Trolls looking for clicks and looking to either create enough outrage to draw people or be the king or queen of the cynics.

But jeez, it really feels like the most critical out there and in here are just digging on the people who would find this interesting. It's like they've never been to a Renn Faire in their life. It feels like nerds who want to bolster their ego by talking down on those nerds for being nerds. The entire Disney buy-in is to just let loose and lose yourself in an immersive world. And so many people who are fine doing that are deriding wanting to do this at all as childish with no sense of self-awareness.

And then there's the goalpost movers. And then there's the people who can't understand anything good, so they assume it must be bad. There's a middle-ground between believing the company can do no wrong and shouting down those who step out of line and believing the company can do no right and thus nothing is to be believed until you can hold it in your hand. I wish the latter didn't believe anyone with a positive opinion or even just says "Can we wait and see?" is one of the former. We get that enough in the world. Do we need it in our escape?



I scanned over your message and for a moment swore that you attributed one character's race to "tikibird".



Watching the DIS vlog, I'm actually more intrigued by their friend taking another path and constantly slipping off rather than what I see.



I'd read that alcoholic were also included. Was that misinformation? I know there's a lot of that going around.

It really does come down to this: hate gets attention.

When people come back from the experience (see @lentesta ‘s trip reports and podcast), the vast majority are saying, “Oh, NOW I get what they’re trying to do—and they really nailed it!”

 

[lentesta]

Ok super nerdy question that was brought up on a YouTube channel I saw. If Galaxy’s Edge and the Halcyon take place between episode 8&9 why does Kylo have his helmet when he didn’t get it repaired until episode 9.

Less nerdy question, I’d love to know if for those who experienced this so far, did they feel this would have been just as compelling if it was a generic space theme with the same type of characters or did the Star Wars aspect of it really contribute a lot to it? Maybe Hank, I mean @lentesta could weigh in.

There are a few basic things in the Star Wars canon that are absolutely essential to the Starcruiser's story and emotional appeal:

• The Force is real, has two halves (or, you know, a spectrum), and binds us all together.
• The Resistance are the underdogs and the First Order are the oppressors.
• The Jedi (especially Yoda) are the ancient teachers of how to wield The Force for good.

Those were pretty easy for me to get behind - I mean, the Jedi are a recognized religious entity in several countries, after all. And that really helps with the mental part of the experience. If you think the stakes are real (or "real"), the story beats are more significant.

 

[lentesta]

Flying out today to splash around Cabana Bay a bit before check-in on Monday. May the Force be with me.

If you have any weirdly specific questions, feel free to hit me up, otherwise I'll be back with a report next weekend.

If you don't mind, can you ask the cruise director whether they'll be showing the 9-part space epic "Space Robots in Outer Space" on board? I'm trying to make it a running joke within the story.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Why did they add the plastic frame in the middle of the window? The window is already much smaller than it should be (and smaller than what was showed in the concept art). But that frame makes it seem even smaller than it is...

The difference between a screen and window. As an optical illusion of sorts it's supposed to be doing the opposite of what you're describing. The smaller inner frame is designed to suggest to the viewer a concave surface and acts as an additional visual barrier between the video itself and the larger frame of the window to suggest depth and a greater field of view. To that the room utilizes color theory to also aid in this perception. Black is the recesssed void area (of Space) while the White of the walls stand out in the foreground. The lighting around the window frame was also done to draw the outside "into" the room thus making the window appear larger and more expansive. As as bonus, the additional ambient lighting around the window's frame makes the blacks of "space" appear richer and of greater contrast.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Thanks, guys! Alcohol is NOT included, but I was given the blessing by phone man to bring a 6-pack or two.

Will definitely not be missing the final shuttle, as I barely want to go over to GE to begin with (we're regulars), but I will field the question.

If you do every mission on Batuu stuff unlocks for you on the ship. Just an FYI.

Some cool stuff only happens for those who do specific missions on Batuu - it might involve a holocron.

 

[_caleb]

The difference between a screen and window. As an optical illusion of sorts it's supposed to be doing the opposite of what you're describing. The smaller inner frame is designed to suggest to the viewer a concave surface and acts as an additional visual barrier between the video itself and the larger frame of the window to suggest depth and a greater field of view. To that the room utilizes color theory to also aid in this perception. Black is the recesssed void area (of Space) while the White of the walls stand out in the foreground. The lighting around the window frame was also done to draw the outside "into" the room thus making the window appear larger and more expansive. As as bonus, the additional ambient lighting around the window's frame makes the blacks of "space" appear richer and of greater contrast.

Yeah, I get the attempt to trick the eye—like all the cladding automakers use to make us think their cars aren’t so bulky.

Obviously, I’d have to see the windows in person to really judge the effect. I’m just interested in understanding the design and construction.

I’m assuming the wide-angle lens effect of the glass (which seems to produce a lot of glare) is also designed to add depth/dimension. But because it IS, in fact, a screen, they have to be careful not to obscure the view.

So it’s a large-ish screen, with a gap, then a smaller window (concaved a bit to obscure the edges of the screen?), then the plastic frame against that and dark-colored surround with lighting?

 

[flynnibus]

Yeah, I get the attempt to trick the eye—like all the cladding automakers use to make us think their cars aren’t so bulky.

Obviously, I’d have to see the windows in person to really judge the effect. I’m just interested in understanding the design and construction.

I’m assuming the wide-angle lens effect of the glass (which seems to produce a lot of glare) is also designed to add depth/dimension. But because it IS, in fact, a screen, they have to be careful not to obscure the view.

So it’s a large-ish screen, with a gap, then a smaller window (concaved a bit to obscure the edges of the screen?), then the plastic frame against that and dark-colored surround with lighting?

Have you not ridden the hogsmeade express at UNI? it's basically the same application.

 

[_caleb]

Have you not ridden the hogsmeade express at UNI? it's basically the same application.

I have. I was just wondering if there was any innovation beyond that.
Having all the screens in sync (to the extent that they actually are) across all the cabins on each side of the ship seems like something new, but that’s software, not hardware.

 

[disney.medium.format]

Took this the other day...

 

[Incomudro]

It really does come down to this: hate gets attention.

When people come back from the experience (see @lentesta ‘s trip reports and podcast), the vast majority are saying, “Oh, NOW I get what they’re trying to do—and they really nailed it!”

It amazes me how much energy people will spend on hating things.
They'll hate something, and rather than avoid it - they'll out right invest themselves into spending inordinate amounts of their time and energy hating it.

 

[disney.medium.format]

A new sign as you exit DHS. Similar in style to the one as you go around the bend up to MK from Osceola.

 

[_caleb]

A new sign as you exit DHS. Similar in style to the one as you go around the bend up to MK from Osceola.

Is “directional arrow on the Mickey ear” a recurring convention for signage? I hadn’t noticed this.

 

[Communicora]

Took this the other day...

Welcome to the site!

 

[ChrisFL]

I decided one thing that would have possibly made this more interesting....if this was a re-purposed, captured imperial ship of some kind...so the aesthetic would be what people are familiar with, but you can see the obvious re-purposing of it to be this improved ship.

That would help explain the cabin sizes, mess hall...erm, I mean lunch area, etc. better.

All too late for that, but thought it would have worked to tie things into familiar territory

 

[_caleb]

A new sign as you exit DHS. Similar in style to the one as you go around the bend up to MK from Osceola.

Welcome to the site!

Yes, sorry, @disney.medium.format- I didn’t see that you were a new member. Welcome!

 

[disney.medium.format]

Is “directional arrow on the Mickey ear” a recurring convention for signage? I hadn’t noticed this.

For these two new smaller signs with the new aesthetic, for sure, the right ear with the arrow on it is for right turns. Looking over old pictures of the traditional signage that holds true. But for the U.S. I would imagine most signs are going to be for right turn lanes and so the arrow would be on the right?

 

[_caleb]

I decided one thing that would have possibly made this more interesting....if this was a re-purposed, captured imperial ship of some kind...so the aesthetic would be what people are familiar with, but you can see the obvious re-purposing of it to be this improved ship.

That would help explain the cabin sizes, mess hall...erm, I mean lunch area, etc. better.

All too late for that, but thought it would have worked to tie things into familiar territory

That’s what I’m thinking. In the Star Wars universe, everything has a lived-in look/feel. The Starcruiser does not seem to have this.

But a lot of the reviews I’m seeing (from inside the Starcruiser) are saying that in person, the Halcyon does, in fact, fell starwarsy.

WDI has developed this layered approach to storytelling. Sometimes, it hits the mark. Sometimes it’s debatable (Chester and Hesters Dino-Rama). Sometimes, it’s the backstory of Disney Springs.

 

[disney.medium.format]

I'm on a signage roll here! Zoom in and you see a crumpling on the container near the bottom of it. That's deliberate I believe...not 100% sure though.