News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[ppete1975]

A passenger load of only 38% also explains some of these wide-open or nearly deserted shots from the video...

Checking in... "Wow, look at this, there's no one here. Last time we were stopped way out here. There's no wait at all!" -TimTracker

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The CM's were trying to keep people together as much as possible during his cruise, but there were so many shots where the lack of passengers was obvious. Like the big show segment on the bridge, where half the bridge consoles were empty (Halcyon must have downloaded the latest Autopilot software from Tesla) and each childless adult had their own multi-user console to play with.

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TimTracker, who is obviously a Disney lifestyle blogger based in Orlando, had some very sly commentary on this video. He likely got this cruise at a discount, or perhaps comped, because he has 900K followers on YouTube. So he knows he needs to self-edit a bit, but the point was made quite clear at several points in his video; the ship was nearly empty.

That said, the CM's seen in his video were doing a great job! And there appeared to be the full complement of real Entertainment CM's as Characters or Halcyon employees advancing the story. So no noticeable cutbacks on Entertainment staffing yet.

I also didn't see any cringey line-dancing lessons by former All-Stars pool lifeguards, and the Non-Entertainment CM's seemed to be doing well with the very light passenger load. Also, that young son of TimTracker's is adorable! Polite and respectful and the perfect age to finally be up to the task of interacting with the Starcruiser, yet young enough to be fully buying into it 100%. Sort of that magic age, that last Christmas before they figure out that Santa Claus might not be real.

But at only 38% full? Even Santa Claus can't make those financials look good.

I kept thinking, how much more fun he would have had if so much wasnt phone based. Even Tim mentions that this was a drawback for Jackson. Just like the parks, I really wish they would do more to put away phones and be able to truly live in the moment. While I understand the star wars=technology pov and that a data pad feels starwars, it would be cooler if they would interact personally with the missions more so that kids or people that dont want to use phones (or cant read) can get as much enjoyment.

 

[BagOfGroceries]

 

[milordsloth]

I don't know how you save it, to be honest. Reducing the operation to 5 days a week in summer and running a 60% vacancy rate the rest of the year is not something that is sustainable. I give it until Christmas at the latest, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see an "announcement" about Galactic Starcruiser this August.

Seems like you were a bit generous considering today's announcement

 

[flynnibus]

Well starcruiser... we barely knew you...

Very turbulent times in the Disney universe these last 6 months.

I will say I am sad I never got to do the cruise... but also not sad I never overspent for said activity.

Well... I guess onto speculation if they just turn it all into a warehouse or something :/

 

[UNCgolf]

I'm shocked by this.

I always thought the price was completely unsustainable, but I assumed they'd just cut the price (and potentially cut the experience a bit) and keep it running.

Not sure what they can do with it now. It's not feasible to operate as a regular hotel, and it won't really work as a daily experience because most of the building is the guest rooms, which would be wasted space.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

I... Nah... Nope. No sympathy. It was a bad idea from incompetent and unimaginative people. It was bad from the beginning, bad in execution, and anyone involved with its creation and execution deserves the same fate as the hotel itself.

Wow.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Hmmm...I do recall posting on this message board, while the hotel was being constructed, this comment: "Are they still building this stupid thing?"

Well, well, well.

Sometimes, it's just obvious.

 

[TP2000]

Seems like you were a bit generous considering today's announcement

Why didn't I put some churros down on that easy bet I made?!? I forgot to bet some churros!

Sometimes I can be so dumb and forgetful.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Seems dumb to not try a more affordable price point first.

Wonder what they'll do with it?

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Will the worst thing about this closure be the insufferable gloating from people who predicted the failure?

Personally, I hope they learn some good lessons from this in terms of creating unique themed experiences but not putting those experiences behind a prohibitively expensive paywall.

 

[TP2000]

Wonder what they'll do with it?

There are some elements that could be saved, or repurposed somewhere, kitchen equipment and computers and back of house supplies. But most of the actual building and facility is just pure waste at this point.

There are a few things they could sell and make a tidy profit. Here's an easy suggestion for the uniform department folks this October, place this ad in the back of a few targeted dental industry magazines...

Dental Today - The Magazine For American Dental Professionals
Hygienist & Office Staff Uniforms On Sale! E-Z Wear Synthetics with a Friendly Futuristic Look!
We have hundreds of uniforms in stock and ready to ship TODAY! Sizes from XS to XXXL, all with a genderless cut.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Will the worst thing about this closure be the insufferable gloating from people who predicted the failure?

Personally, I hope they learn some good lessons from this in terms of creating unique themed experiences but not putting those experiences behind a prohibitively expensive paywall.

I'd like to see a quote from a post that predicted it would only last 18 months.

 

[RobWDW1971]

There is a positive side to this, at least we have learned that there is a (thankfully) incredibly small amount of adults who actually want to play dress up in public, create their own inane "backstories", and spend the night in a hotel with other adults playing dress up. They couldn't even fill a tiny hotel for year with these people.

This makes me feel better about our society as a whole.

 

[Mireille]

I was a huge Star Wars fan as a kid, saw the original trilogy in the theaters. And I think making an immersive experience like this was pretty gutsy, it really could have been something, but even at the height of my Star Wars love, damn, I'd have a hard time trying to justify that price for 2 nights when I can spend less than that on an entire week at a value resort and have a hell of a good time. I think they saw people cosplaying at cons and the fervent Star Wars fan base and thought that would be enough to keep this place running, but cons are dirt cheap compared to $5k-$6k for a two night stay. I guess there was just no way to get the math to work out to lower the prices enough to make it reasonable while still paying for the cast members necessary to keep the experience up to snuff.

I think it's truly unfortunate it failed. People rag on Disney for not doing new things, and this was something new. But yeah, the minute they released the prices, everyone knew it was doomed. For a company, and the parks division in particular, that has gotten so conservative in its decision making, it's mind boggling that they couldn't see it coming once they calculated the costs, and they had to have done that before even breaking ground.

 

[flynnibus]

Seems dumb to not try a more affordable price point first.

Wonder what they'll do with it?

Seems like top-down axing instead of operational changes.

Don't bother changing/adapting - just turn it off. That reeks of lack of buy in... and given all the top level leader changes.. I'd expect less desire to try to find a soft landing. Just nuke it.

That said.. all this comes from Iger's time. But Chapek was P&R boss when this was being finalized.

 

[TP2000]

Will the worst thing about this closure be the insufferable gloating from people who predicted the failure?

Yes, of course, that's the fun part of this announcement. Gloating is where the action is!

I haven't giggled like this in several days.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That said.. all this comes from Iger's time. But Chapek was P&R boss when this was being finalized.

But Iger is also a master at selling himself as the hero fixer no matter his role in creating the situation int he first place. He saved Disney for a second time now, he doesn’t need his vanity projects at Walt Disney World.

 

[kingdead]

Well, well, well.

There is a positive side to this, at least we have learned that there is a (thankfully) incredibly small amount of adults who actually want to play dress up in public, create their own inane "backstories", and spend the night in a hotel with other adults playing dress up. They couldn't even fill a tiny hotel for year with these people.

This makes me feel better about our society as a whole.

There's going to be a lot of talk about the price of this thing, but even at half the price it would have failed, because the premise itself attracts people who get way too into it.

If you're a normie who decided to do some Star Wars fun with the family and suddenly you're competing with cruise veterans to get the attention of the character that you absolutely NEED to talk to or else you're going to spend the entire vacation looking at your phone? That's not fun! But it's the situation that was starting to develop.

I think I mentioned Jenny Nicholson's Evermore video in here before, but it's the same concept: a little group of diehards gets super into a park participation concept while everyone else is left wandering around puzzled because they either aren't interested in heavy personal interaction or just can't do it because there are so many more guests than actors. It's not sustainable.

I will say that I have never heard anything bad about the staff and they must have the temperament of angels. I suspect that some of them are sad and more of them are relieved at this news.

 

[RoadiJeff]

There is a positive side to this, at least we have learned that there is a (thankfully) incredibly small amount of adults who actually want to play dress up in public, create their own inane "backstories", and spend the night in a hotel with other adults playing dress up. They couldn't even fill a tiny hotel for year with these people.

This makes me feel better about our society as a whole.

I would have enjoyed dressing for the part of whatever role I was going to play. However, at $3,000 per day that was never going to happen with me.

We will be spending a week in the WDW area on the last week of September when the final voyage occurs. Unless they drop the price by at least 50% I guess I will never experience the adventure.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]