News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

RoadiJeff

Well-Known Member
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

Well-Known Member
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EPCOT-O.G.

Well-Known Member
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.
Oops
 

cjkeating

Well-Known Member
Does anyone feel like this decision was made top down very recently?

Only last month Scott Trowbridge, Ann Morrow Johnson and others did a huge panel Galactic Starcruiser at Star Wars Celebration. Whilst they spoke about 'modifications' I didn't get the feeling that they had any idea it was about to close down.

I wonder if there will be any fall guys within WDI for this or if anyone leaves in spite/anger for now allowing them to spend some money to try and fix the problem? I'm not a huge fan of Scott but at least he puts his all into projects to make them immersive and authentic unlike most of the current faces of Imagineering.
 

Hawg G

Well-Known Member
Never forget this infamous promo for Galactic Starcruiser that Disney Parks uploaded to their Youtube Channel from January 2022. It was mocked so hard that they later removed the video from their Youtube and Twitter Accounts.

It's odd, I mean, they created a VERY diverse, brand new character in the Star Wars universe. And she sang an original song!

And the captain was also very diverse, and sassy.

How did that not fill this hotel for many years alone?
 

Hawg G

Well-Known Member
I still don’t thnk they will raze the place. Add a pool , convert half the dining room to a quick service, get rid of the actors, adjust a few other things, and they could charge $300 a night easy. Plenty of Star Wars fans would pay $3000 to stay their for an entire VACATION.

Bussing would be a challenge, but I can’t imagine it won’t reopen.
 

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
I hope I am wrong. But I think this place willl never reopen.

If they don’t keep the air conditioning running this space will become unusable in 6 to 8 months. So an easy indicator would be if someone could know if the air conditioning is still running after it’s officially closed.

It’s also possible they could use it for office space or storage.

Let’s see what happens.
 

Incomudro

Well-Known Member
I hope I am wrong. But I think this place willl never reopen.

If they don’t keep the air conditioning running this space will become unusable in 6 to 8 months. So an easy indicator would be if someone could know if the air conditioning is still running after it’s officially closed.

It’s also possible they could use it for office space or storage.

Let’s see what happens.
I think it gets demoed.
It's not usable as a "regular" hotel for a variety of reasons.
The only chance I would give it for staying would be if they kept it as is but essentially dropped the whole show.
Shuttle you up, but you just stay there with regular staff, but no theater aspect.
Virtually no paid actors outside of maybe one singer.
But that's likely not cost effective either.
 

DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
I think it gets demoed.
It's not usable as a "regular" hotel for a variety of reasons.
The only chance I would give it for staying would be if they kept it as is but essentially dropped the whole show.
Shuttle you up, but you just stay there with regular staff, but no theater aspect.
Virtually no paid actors outside of maybe one singer.
But that's likely not cost effective either.
Why couldn't it be a hotel? Just use normal cast members instead of actors.
 

Incomudro

Well-Known Member
Why couldn't it be a hotel? Just use normal cast members instead of actors.
There's so little draw to be there.
"There's no pool" has become a bit of a joke, but the place is lacking in basic hotel amenities.
As I said though - perhaps there would be enough people willing to stay on the ship with no real live theater aspect to it?
Shuttle you up, stay on board, and transport you to Black Spire.
They'd have to keep the shuttle running to.
I just don't know if that would be cost effective.
 

DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
There's so little draw to be there.
"There's no pool" has become a bit of a joke, but the place is lacking in basic hotel amenities.
As I said though - perhaps there would be enough people willing to stay on the ship with no real live theater aspect to it?
Shuttle you up, stay on board, and transport you to Black Spire.
They'd have to keep the shuttle running to.
I just don't know if that would be cost effective.
Besides the pool, it's just like any other resort (without windows). What amenities do you need besides beds and maybe dining/bar? I could see it being very popular to stay in orbit around Batuu, with direct access to DHS.
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
Besides the pool, it's just like any other resort (without windows). What amenities do you need besides beds and maybe dining/bar? I could see it being very popular to stay in orbit around Batuu, with direct access to DHS.
Rooms are smaller than normal
Lacks basic amenities like parking
Lacks scale to reduce overhead costs

Would be expensive to run and would be an inferior hotel room
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
Besides the pool, it's just like any other resort (without windows).
Not directed at your post personally, but this idea made me chuckle: "I don't see the problem. It's like any other resort, just without windows."

At any rate, I assume it's not cost-effective to keep such a small hotel running without the show unless they continued to charge an exorbitant price. Not sure also how you would integrate such a small, boutique hotel into the WDW transportation network. All I can think of is a dedicated shuttle to the DHS transportation hub.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
At a JP Morgan Q&A (in which the questions were softballs and the questioner didn't do any follow-ups), Josh mentioned that the Starcruiser was closing because it wasn't performing as they would like.

He also mentioned it got high guest satisfaction.

And here's the interesting part. Josh added without any prompting that the cost of the starcruiser's depreciation would be accelerated so that it falls in Q3 and Q4 of this year.

That may explain why they didn't want to try a lower price point, they need to make up millions in this year's financials.

Pretty much the same reason a few dozen pieces of content is being removed from streaming.
 

kingdead

Well-Known Member
At a JP Morgan Q&A (in which the questions were softballs and the questioner didn't do any follow-ups), Josh mentioned that the Starcruiser was closing because it wasn't performing as they would like.

He also mentioned it got high guest satisfaction.

And here's the interesting part. Josh added without any prompting that the cost of the starcruiser's depreciation would be accelerated so that it falls in Q3 and Q4 of this year.

That may explain why they didn't want to try a lower price point, they need to make up millions in this year's financials.

Pretty much the same reason a few dozen pieces of content is being removed from streaming.
So it's a tax write-off?
 

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