News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[MagicHappens1971]

P.S. Because there's always a few folks who will be upset for criticizing a poorly trained and badly managed hourly Cast Member, the perky lobby hostess is not to blame.

She was set up to fail at this by her executive leadership who created this concept so badly. Then she was set up to fail a second time by her on-site training teams at TDO's Disney University who taught her how to behave as an employee of Chandrila Star Line. Then she was set up to fail a third and final time by her on-site management who are so badly trained themselves in the art of luxury hospitality that they think this behavior is entirely appropriate both within the Star Wars theme universe and the lobby of a luxury space hotel.

So, this poor CM dear, as perky as she is and as hard as she's trying to make it all work, was purposely set up to fail by multiple levels of Disney Company leadership on multiple key occasions for years prior to this one unfortunate line dancing class in the lobby. Almost all of this failure is really not her fault.

That said... I cringe at how she thinks the word "AMAAAAZING" is appropriate here. A little bit of self-awareness is needed by even front line CM's.

I’m unsure what’s inappropriate about this. This is how this activity is supposed to be hosted. The training for Starcruiser cast is VERY long and intensive. She wasn’t set up for failure and hosted this very well

 

[TP2000]

She's doing perfectly fine, but whoever thought that that was appropriate promotional material for an immersive experience should be taken out behind the space barn and shot.

Exactly!

Add that as another level of her management that failed her; those in Disney's Marketing department who thought that would be great B Roll to release to the media.

 

[TP2000]

I’m unsure what’s inappropriate about this. This is how this activity is supposed to be hosted. The training for Starcruiser cast is VERY long and intensive. She wasn’t set up for failure and hosted this very well

It's worthy of a summer camp. Or a community rec center. My heart goes out to this poor CM trying very hard with very little professional support behind her from multiple levels of her management.

It is not worthy of luxury hospitality of any kind, much less luxury hospitality allegedly "immersive" and themed to the Star Wars stories.

Nothing about this is Star Wars. Nothing about this is luxury. Nothing about this works for the environment.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I’m unsure what’s inappropriate about this. This is how this activity is supposed to be hosted. The training for Starcruiser cast is VERY long and intensive. She wasn’t set up for failure and hosted this very well

It’s not Star Wars at all.

It’s time to fix what wasn’t broke before they fixed it.

Sweep the decks. Is Iger smart enough to get the credit for a mea culpa on this? If he corrects…he’ll be revered by one of the largest, most loyal fanbases on earth. He’d be their legend…

Nah…tooooo…dumb

 

[MagicHappens1971]

It's worthy of a summer camp. Or a community rec center.

It is not worthy of luxury hospitality of any kind, much less luxury hospitality allegedly "immersive" and themed to the Star Wars stories.

Nothing about this is Star Wars. Nothing about this is luxury. Nothing about this works for the environment.

I totally understand how you feel about this. This activity being hosted doesn’t change the service provided to the guests, which is impeccable. The dance lessons are hosted because Gaya, the musician has a song where this dance goes with it. So the guests can learn it before she performs the song at dinner, etc. All the activities are also held as distractions for story moments, so Chewbacca is being smuggled through the ship at some point during this activity. It may not scream Star Wars but I don’t think it’s necessarily inappropriate

 

[TP2000]

I totally understand how you feel about this. This activity being hosted doesn’t change the service provided to the guests, which is impeccable. The dance lessons are hosted because Gaya, the musician has a song where this dance goes with it. So the guests can learn it before she performs the song at dinner, etc. All the activities are also held as distractions for story moments, so Chewbacca is being smuggled through the ship at some point during this activity. It may not scream Star Wars but I don’t think it’s necessarily inappropriate.

Setting aside the behavior employees of truly luxurious hospitality locations should have, as that's a skillset that was budgeteered out of the WDW experience over a decade ago and will probably be impossible to get back with TDO's current low standards...

I get that it's a dance that people can do later in the lounge as part of the show. But this is not the way to teach it or introduce it as a storyline concept.

Imagine you are in a movie theater watching a scene from a Star Wars movie about a luxury hotel glamorous spaceliner where a dance is taught to the swanky and wealthy passengers. Would the hostess really wear a dental hygienists uniform and screech "You guys are AAAMAAAAZING!" at Rey? Nope.

So if it doesn't work or fit for a Star Wars movie, it doesn't work or fit for the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser.

The training for Starcruiser cast is VERY long and intensive.

If that's true, it doesn't seem to be very effective.

Imagine going to the Haunted Mansion and the hostess greets you in the foyer with a perky smile and then chirped out loudly "Hi guys, fill up the whole room, pretty please! Great, that's aamaaazing! Thanks, you guys! " She's perky and polite and she filled up the pre-show lobby like the attraction needs her to operationally, but she just utterly failed at her job as a Haunted Mansion CM.

That badly themed Haunted Mansion analogy is three times worse here on the Galactic Starcruiser because of the much higher price point of the Galactic Starcruiser compared to a ride on the Haunted Mansion. Multiple levels of management set up the CM's of the Galactic Starcruiser to fail at their jobs and in their themed roles, so it's not necessarily the fault of those CM's who are failing.

 

[kingdead]

I totally understand how you feel about this. This activity being hosted doesn’t change the service provided to the guests, which is impeccable. The dance lessons are hosted because Gaya, the musician has a song where this dance goes with it. So the guests can learn it before she performs the song at dinner, etc. All the activities are also held as distractions for story moments, so Chewbacca is being smuggled through the ship at some point during this activity. It may not scream Star Wars but I don’t think it’s necessarily inappropriate

If you're in the middle of the experience and you're doing the dance because your new best friend the singing alien has told you that you're protecting the known galaxy, and this happens right after you met a real deal Chewbacca, it's probably amazing.

If you're seeing that dance on TV as your introduction to the concept, you come away with the idea that this is actually a cheesy Star Wars-themed cruise. Like I said, there aren't a ton of people with the money and fan obsession for the actual concept but if you're one of them and this was what you saw, you wouldn't even know it's something you'd like.

 

[celluloid]

Disney begins canceling some Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser voyages this summer​

Disney begins canceling some 'Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser' voyages this summer

Disney begins canceling some 'Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser' voyages this summer

www.wdwmagic.com

Just wait until October.

 

[TP2000]

Just wait until October.

Great point!

They are painting baseboards in July and sending the drapes out to the dry cleaners in August.

In October and Fiscal '24, all bets are off.

 

[celluloid]

Makes Star Trek Experience look like Disney Sea.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Just wait until October.

…right

The fish took that “maintenance” bait hook line and sinker

…so what happens when it happens 15 days every month?
They “really want to paint”?

Any chance the bookings are flat now and they are gonna run them “at loss” because the heat is in the kitchen and they don’t need more bad PR when this thing should be mothballed BEFORE the annual meeting?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

 

[TP2000]

Speaking of the CM's... it was reported that passenger levels were quite low this winter (only one cabin left!) and that they had gone to just one seating for dinner per night on many nights, instead of the double seatings the concept was planned for and launched with.

That reduction down to one dinner service per night was slashing the tips and the scheduled hours many of the CM's depend on to live, and were lured with to apply for Galactic Starcruiser jobs in the first place.

Now they are eliminating 20 full days of operation week after week during the peak summer months? That's gonna leave the tip jar empty, for sure.

I would hope WDW management can move these tip-dependent CM's over to other high-gratuity locations on property on all the days this summer that the Galactic Starcruiser will now be closed. Not sure if that's possible with union contracts or training for lucrative high-profile gigs at places like California Grill or Narcoosee's, or if they'll just be lucky to get a mid shift at the Ale & Compass?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Speaking of the CM's... it was reported that passenger levels were quite low this winter (only one cabin left!) and that they had gone to just one seating for dinner per night on many nights, instead of the double seatings the concept was planned for and launched with.

That reduction down to one dinner service per night was slashing the tips and the scheduled hours many of the CM's depend on to live, and were lured with to apply for Galactic Starcruiser jobs in the first place.

Now they are eliminating 20 full days of operation week after week during the peak summer months? That's gonna leave the tip jar empty, for sure.

I would hope WDW management can move these tip-dependent CM's over to other high-gratuity locations on property on all the days this summer that the Galactic Starcruiser will now be closed. Not sure if that's possible with union contracts or training for lucrative high-profile gigs at places like California Grill or Narcoosee's, or if they'll just be lucky to get a mid shift at the Ale & Compass?

Wait…I’ve been assured that no one working for Disney can lie due to SEC regulations…

And tanking box office receipts on mojo means NOTHING!!

 

[celluloid]

…right

The fish took that “maintenance” bait hook line and sinker

…so what happens when it happens 15 days every month?
They “really want to paint”?

Any chance the bookings are flat now and they are gonna run them “at loss” because the heat is in the kitchen and they don’t need more bad PR when this thing should be mothballed BEFORE the annual meeting?

What is idiotic is it his shooting themselves in the long run. People willing to pay that much and see that value are not the type to often care about 50 percent lower rate if it changes their travel plans for them and family.

For those that do not take it, their trip will be canceled on them and that does not exactly leave a good taste in your premium paying customer's memory.

They would have been better off cutting profits for a few nights to keep positive trust with the brand, the thing they really suck at these last few years.

 

[Tha Realest]

I was wrong about Disney and LFL this whole time…

I blamed Kathy kennedy for at least half of the gross mismanagement and embarrassing missteps. But I was wrong. Research and events over the years definitely says that the reason they have mismanaged Lucasfilm…particularly Star Wars…for 10 years, 75 days is 100% due to this recently identified suspect:

Spoiler: Culprit

View attachment 693540

“We were so wildly successful the ONLY way we could stop people from coming was to forcibly close it during our peak travel season”

 

[Tha Realest]

It looks like Superstar Limo’s 11 month record will remain intact. But, does this make it as long as Rocket Rods? (2.5 years)

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It looks like Superstar Limo’s 11 month record will remain intact. But, does this make it as long as Rocket Rods? (2.5 years)

The discovery river thing in DAK would like to have a word too?


As far as where this is going? Listen…there is no BS that they are in pre-recession mode for rooms. Bookings are way down…in line with every economic indicator on earth…

So I don’t know what you do with bad concept that was completely miscast/mispriced from the start? And it has zero adaptability…you can’t build dvc on top for this like DI…

They’ll blame chapek…for sure…but the new/old emperor is a tad of a fool right now

 

[gorillaball]

I’d love to see it…

But my hunch is we’ll never see it

Oh I don’t think we’ll ever see it either. My point was building a 100 room hotel in no way limited any expansion of the park.

 

[Tha Realest]

The discovery river thing in DAK would like to have a word too?


As far as where this is going? Listen…there is no BS that they are in pre-recession mode for rooms. Bookings are way down…in line with every economic indicator on earth…

So I don’t know what you do with bad concept that was completely miscast/mispriced from the start? And it has zero adaptability…you can’t build dvc on top for this like DI…

They’ll blame chapek…for sure…but the new/old emperor is a tad of a fool right now

Yeah, they didn’t really leave themselves with much leeway for future adaptability.

I don’t know how much this cost to build, but the daily operations have to be off the charts (in terms of performers and food services and the like). And at some point there is only so much cutting of that (like reducing down to one showing) where the whole thing starts to fall apart (given the overlapping and integrated stories and plot lines) and really not meeting the high standards guests would expect for the costs involved.

I also don’t think this makes much sense as an infrequently run thing, again, given the talent it requires.

I doubt this makes it much into 2024.