News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Thanks for the warning. I’ll leave you to whatever strange self-gratification you get out of declaring over and over again that thing you’ve never done is an abject failure.
You’re constantly making excuses for a public traded, international corporation with bad management that doesn’t give a rat’s anything about you. Not for one second.

That’s your “lane”…here’s mine:

It’s a product bought for a price. Good product increases the price and the customer base…and they are rewarded.

This is not it. They are drowning on it. It’s a mistake…as is being revealed by a market.

Everyone wants to be an “economist” with Disney…until something fails. Then they forget the textbook.

Because it’s not about the brain…it’s about the “void” the loyalty to them fills. That’s the driver…it ain’t magic or “freedom of choice”

I can be loyal AND keep the blood flowing upward at the same time. And indeed I do…I have receipts.

I’ll be on this hill 🤪
 

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
for people who actually pay to go, I see two groups:

1) Ultra fans
2) People with lots of disposable income

Obviously there is crossover between 1 and 2.

Makes me wonder how many people Disney estimated would fall into that crossover area.

100 rooms x 100 cruises a year is 10,000 rooms to sell a year, not a ton but still seems optimistic at $5000+ a room. Unless their plan is to slowly lower rates and cash in at different price points every year (to expand the potential guest pool) I don’t see how it’s sustainable.

I also wonder what the break even point is/was. They may have pulled in enough already in the first year of cruises to pay off construction costs and be in profit territory.
 

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
The prosecution would like to present exhibit A, your honor:


You know, I get that this is part of the "experience" and that there's supposed to be an "activation" happening behind all of this but it strikes me how poorly this was planned when you see the space doesn't even fit the activity with people trying to do the line dancing in between the furniture. :rolleyes:
 

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
Makes me wonder how many people Disney estimated would fall into that crossover area.

100 rooms x 100 cruises a year is 10,000 rooms to sell a year, not a ton but still seems optimistic at $5000+ a room. Unless their plan is to slowly lower rates and cash in at different price points every year (to expand the potential guest pool) I don’t see how it’s sustainable.

I also wonder what the break even point is/was. They may have pulled in enough already in the first year of cruises to pay off construction costs and be in profit territory.
I think Disney management has shown major hubris ever since getting their hands on this property.

First with the total s_!t-show of how the big three movies were put together, then with Iger bragging about how the marketing for SWL was going to be him tweeting that it was open, to this resort.

I don't think it was their intent to cheap out and I don't think they did, exactly but... at the same time, where under normal circumstances, I'd imagine there would be a feeling of immense pressure to work extra hard to get things right, instead, they seemed to have taken a "too big to fail" mindset, like they had total freedom to do whatever because no matter what they did, there would be a segment of the audience who wouldn't like it and regardless, it was Star Wars so of course they were going to make butt-loads of money.

In a nutshell: No Vader? No Problem.

Well yes, actually, there is a problem.
 
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celluloid

Well-Known Member
You know, I get that this is part of the "experience" and that there's supposed to be an "activation" happening behind all of this but it strikes me how poorly this was planned when you see the space doesn't even fit the activity with people trying to do the line dancing in between the furniture. :rolleyes:

Or the CM having to give the spiel on a seemingly unthemed handheld microphone.
 

_caleb

Well-Known Member
You’re constantly making excuses for a public traded, international corporation with bad management that doesn’t give a rat’s anything about you.
What excuses am I making? All I'm saying is "If you haven't experienced it, maybe temper your opinion a bit."

I understand how economics work. So I understand Disney offering a product that doesn't appeal to me (for cost, theme, or whatever reason), does not necessarily make that product (or Disney itself) an unmitigated disaster.

This is a discussion board, and everyone is entitled to their opinions and perspectives. But I find wading through dozens of uninformed hot takes boring and tiresome. This goes for the Starcruiser, but also in so many other threads here: people declaring a movie they've never seen is terrible, a ride they've never been on is a disaster, a resort they've never visited to be "not worth it," and food they've never eaten to be disgusting and a waste of money.

I don't understand what anyone gets out of repeatedly criticizing something they've not tried.
 

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
I don't see how turning it into a deluxe hotel would ever even be considered an option. It's just not set up for that and I can't imagine it happens.

It'd be easier to cut the price significantly and also cut the overall experience if they wanted to keep the profit margins the same. A lesser experience would still sell if it cost 1/3 as much.

This post got me wondering if it would make more sense as a DVC property.

Rather than needing 10,000 Star Wars mega fans every year who are able and willing to spend $5,000 they’d just need to find 10,000 mega fans once who are willing to spend $25k for a contract and then a couple hundred a month in fees.

The Star cruiser would be a lot easier to keep full that way.
 

_caleb

Well-Known Member
I remember the media reviews after their preview stays were all glowing.

Of course, they all got free stays with comped alcohol to boot.

Beyond that for people who actually pay to go, I see two groups:

1) Ultra fans
2) People with lots of disposable income

Obviously there is crossover between 1 and 2.

The ultra fans who save up or go into debt to go are likely to never admit if they feel the price was not worth it. Such a thing admits a certain level of folly on their part and there is a strong psychological factor at play.

None of us want to admit we did something dumb with our money when it's an amount that matters to us.

For the ultra fans higher up the chain that have the crossover into group two, I'm sure they've loved it.

As for the group squarely in number two, I'm sure their reviews are pretty honest about how they've enjoyed it, too.

That, along with the media reviews tells me that in the case of people for which money is no object, this is an enjoyable experience.

That's the thing: Once you hit an audience like this, it often doesn't come down to value because these are people who are already fine with paying ridiculously high prices for things if it's something they want.

The cost doesn't have to be justified because the question isn't one of "is it worth it?" but "am I worth it?" and the answer there is always going to be yes.*

For those of us who have been critical, I think we find ourselves to fall in the "is it worth it?" camp which isn't who this was even intended for.

The problem, it seems, is in Disney not being able to convince enough of the "I am worth it" crowd that this is an experience they'll enjoy relative to other ways they can spend their leisure time.

I think Disney could have taken approaches that would have allowed them to have their cake and eat it, too but that would have required a bigger project - something like a "planet" resort with a sort of club level that could have amounted to the Star Cruiser experience at it's core, maybe with excursions back to the planet for certain shared amenities (like a pool among other things) that wouldn't make sense in space but would make the family members forced along who weren't interested in the larp a little more willing to put up with it all.

This would have given them a lot more opportunity to play with price and spread costs so that high occupancy in the club level would not have been required to keep the premium experience afloat - at least in my mind. It would have offered a way to continue the Star War experience beyond just the two nights for the people doing that part* and maybe even worked to market that experience to people who came this time for the regular resort but might be enticed to spend on that once they get a better taste of what it is.

They'd have had no problems filling the regular resort part if pricing was competitive to their other moderate/deluxe resorts with a slight up-charge for the unique theme.

Of course, that starcruiser has sailed. 🤷‍♂️

*There is of course, also a third group for which status is very important. They like to pretend they fall into group two and are desperate to believe it and to make others believe it which can drive a lot of wacky behavior and ludicrous attempts at justification, sometimes. To a degree, we all have a little of that in us about certain things but this semi-delusional behavior isn't grounded in rational thought so trying to consider this group in rational discussion is difficult, especially when we don't always recognize when we ourselves can fall into it.

**You know, like a land and space experience similar to the way they bundle WDW and Disney Cruise.
I found this to be a very thoughtful and insightful post. Thanks for sharing.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
You know, I get that this is part of the "experience" and that there's supposed to be an "activation" happening behind all of this but it strikes me how poorly this was planned when you see the space doesn't even fit the activity with people trying to do the line dancing in between the furniture. :rolleyes:
Nothing about that is even the slightest whiff of the IP That they’re trying to spin/exploit…

Nothing
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
What excuses am I making? All I'm saying is "If you haven't experienced it, maybe temper your opinion a bit."

I understand how economics work. So I understand Disney offering a product that doesn't appeal to me (for cost, theme, or whatever reason), does not necessarily make that product (or Disney itself) an unmitigated disaster.

This is a discussion board, and everyone is entitled to their opinions and perspectives. But I find wading through dozens of uninformed hot takes boring and tiresome. This goes for the Starcruiser, but also in so many other threads here: people declaring a movie they've never seen is terrible, a ride they've never been on is a disaster, a resort they've never visited to be "not worth it," and food they've never eaten to be disgusting and a waste of money.

I don't understand what anyone gets out of repeatedly criticizing something they've not tried.
Even suggesting for ONE nanosecond that you can’t evaluate something failing without jumping off the cliff to get to it first.

It’s either the price…or the product…

And let’s not 🐴💩around…it’s both.
 

Smiley/OCD

Well-Known Member
What excuses am I making? All I'm saying is "If you haven't experienced it, maybe temper your opinion a bit."

I understand how economics work. So I understand Disney offering a product that doesn't appeal to me (for cost, theme, or whatever reason), does not necessarily make that product (or Disney itself) an unmitigated disaster.

This is a discussion board, and everyone is entitled to their opinions and perspectives. But I find wading through dozens of uninformed hot takes boring and tiresome. This goes for the Starcruiser, but also in so many other threads here: people declaring a movie they've never seen is terrible, a ride they've never been on is a disaster, a resort they've never visited to be "not worth it," and food they've never eaten to be disgusting and a waste of money.

I don't understand what anyone gets out of repeatedly criticizing something they've not tried.
Or a park they haven’t been in in years is filthy and disgusting…
 

_caleb

Well-Known Member
So I need to spend $5000+ first to know that something looks asinine and is ridiculously overpriced and then I can have an opinion? But the fact that they are discounting this hard isn’t a signal that they screwed up. Gotcha.

This is yet another misstep with the franchise under the Bob’s.
Nobody is saying that you can't judge for yourself if you like something or if it'd be worth your money.
I'm saying that if you haven't done it, your opinion is uninformed by the experience itself. It makes sense that the opinion of someone who's been in the Starcruiser is more valuable than that of some guy who's never done it but posts over and over how dumb it is. How is this controversial (or worthy of snark)?

CM discounts are likely to be motivated by a variety of objectives, don't you think? It doesn't seem like that offer is going to reliably fill rooms, so I don't think that was the only goal of the discount.

I think most of us figured from the beginning that the Starcruiser was expensive and expected that they'd lower the price eventually. I suppose that indicates to you that the whole thing was a "screw-up?"
 

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