News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[Disney Analyst]

So TimTracker ended up doing a Father and Son cruise, with the AP discount, gives a good sense of how... quiet the ship is.

Timestamped where he shows the dining hall, which is running only 1 dinner service:

 

[TP2000]

So TimTracker ended up doing a Father and Son cruise, with the AP discount, gives a good sense of how... quiet the ship is.

Timestamped where he shows the dining hall, which is running only 1 dinner service:

Wow. So they're down to just one dinner service per night, and the dining room is still not full.

"Everyone that is here right now, is everyone that is on the ship." -TimTracker

What they've obviously done is move everyone down into the lower level and seated them all together, which makes perfect sense both operationally and for creating some semblance of community and festivity with a smaller crowd.

They've left all fourteen (14) different 4-person booths on the upper level, 7 along each side of the dining room, completely empty. That's 56 seats across 14 booths that are empty on TimTracker's cruise.

Eyeballing it from many online photos of the dining room, there appears to be about 200 seats total in the Crown of Corellia Dining Room. (Someone correct me if I'm too far off there.)

One dinner seating only, minus 14 empty booths, leaves you with about 150 passengers total on the ship.

Or roughly 45% of cruise capacity. Ouch.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Wow. So they're down to just one dinner service per night, and the dining room is still not full.

"Everyone that is here right now, is everyone that is on the ship." -TimTracker

View attachment 715747

What they've obviously done is move everyone down into the lower level and seated them all together, which makes perfect sense both operationally and for creating some semblance of community and festivity with a smaller crowd.

They've left all fourteen (14) different 4-person booths on the upper level, 7 along each side of the dining room, completely empty. That's 56 seats across 14 booths that are empty on TimTracker's cruise.

View attachment 715750

Eyeballing it from many online photos of the dining room, there appears to be about 200 seats total in the Crown of Corellia Dining Room. (Someone correct me if I'm too far off there.) One dinner seating only, minus 14 empty booths, leaves you with about 150 passengers total on the ship.

Or roughly 45% of cruise capacity. Ouch.

200 is about correct. It’s the max amount of seats though. Starcruisers approximate passenger capacity sits around 391

 

[TP2000]

200 is about correct. It’s the max amount of seats though. Starcruisers approximate passenger capacity sits around 391

Thanks! I used a capacity of 350, which I knew was low-balling it a bit, to come up with a 45% capacity figure for TimTracker's cruise.

If we want to get super technical and accurate, which is obviously how the business plan for Galactic Starcruiser was created instead of just eyballing and rounding down by 10%...

If there are 150 people on a cruise with a capacity of 391, the cruise TimTracker went on was at 38% capacity, or a 62% vacancy rate.

Double Ouch!

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Thanks! I used a capacity of 350, which I knew was low-balling it a bit, to come up with a 45% capacity figure for TimTracker's cruise.

If we want to get super technical and accurate, which is obviously how the business plan for Galactic Starcruiser was created instead of just eyballing and rounding down by 10%...

If there are 150 people on a cruise with a capacity of 391, the cruise TimTracker went on was at 38% capacity, or a 62% vacancy rate.

Double Ouch!

I could be off between 3-5 people, but 391 is about the capacity. The sell off dining capacity not rooms, because the amount of people in a room varies

 

[TP2000]

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

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.

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.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

I also didn't see any cringey line-dancing lessons by former All-Stars pool lifeguards

The "Ryloth Slide" dance lessons still occur on Night 1 at around 7pm. Not super important but just figured I'd point it out. It's taught by Passenger Services crew members who go through a 10+ week training process.

 

[TP2000]

The "Ryloth Slide" dance lessons still occur on Night 1 at around 7pm. Not super important but just figured I'd point it out. It's taught by Passenger Services crew members who go through a 10+ week training process.

How many people do you need to do the Ryloth Slide? Is it one of those that gets better with more than one line of dancers?

Technically, we could do the Slauson Shuffle with just two couples, but it was one of those dances that were really designed for at least two strong lines of 20 or 30 people.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

How many people do you need to do the Ryloth Slide? Is it one of those that gets better with more than one line of dancers?

Technically, we could do the Slauson Shuffle with just two couples, but it was one of those dances that were really designed for at least two strong lines of 20 or 30 people.

It's just a simple dance, it can be done by one person, it's not really a "line dance". Those activities don't look as "appealing", if you will, with a smaller occupancy cruise.

 

[networkpro]

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


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.

You missed where he stated that the whole experience was a miss for someone as young as his son, he said that it would have made a good experience if he was able to read. pulling levers, pushing buttons and throwing switches was as much as he got out of it.

 

[TP2000]

It's just a simple dance, it can be done by one person, it's not really a "line dance". Those activities don't look as "appealing", if you will, with a smaller occupancy cruise.

Well, I've been known to Twist a little by myself when I'm making dinner and a good song comes on. But really, any good party needs to have a crowd. And if it's a line dance, or structured dance of any kind, you need at least a dozen people. Get two dozen of your party guests all doing the Slauson Shuffle, with occasional bursts of The Swim, and people will remember your party, or your Galactic Cruise, for years!



At some level though, I don't envy the CM's working this concept, or the execs who are in charge of it.

95% occupancy is probably too crowded and the big show elements and Entertainment CM"s get lost in the crowd. This 38% occupancy cruise looked almost sad and lonely. It seems around 60% to 70% occupancy would be the right balance, but they obviously didn't build this expensive facility to only run at 70% of capacity. They need it at 90% or higher to keep the Sharp Pencil Boys at bay.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Well, I've been known to Twist a little by myself when I'm making dinner and a good song comes on. But really, any good party needs to have a crowd. And if it's a line dance, or structured dance of any kind, you need at least a dozen people. Get two dozen of your party guests all doing the Slauson Shuffle, with occasional bursts of The Swim, and people will remember your party, or your Galactic Cruise, for years!



At some level though, I don't envy them. 95% occupancy is probably too crowded and the big show elements and Entertainment CM"s get lost in the crowd a bit. This 38% occupancy cruise looked almost sad and lonely. It seems around 60% to 70% occupancy would be the right balance, but they obviously didn't build this expensive facility to only run at 70% of capacity. They need it at 90% or higher to keep the Sharp Pencil Boys at bay.

As a former Starcruiser CP, I would say the 60-70% occupancy cruises were my favorite.

 

[TP2000]

You missed where he stated that the whole experience was a miss for someone as young as his son, he said that it would have made a good experience if
he was able to read. pulling levers, pushing buttons and throwing switches was as much as he got out of it.

I caught that line from TimTracker.

But I also kept seeing the huge smile on that cute little kids face, and he seemed to be totally buying it.

 

[corran horn]

As a former Starcruiser CP, I would say the 60-70% occupancy cruises were my favorite.

Ours felt like 160% to be honest last May. It'd be interesting to do it with a smaller crowd. We've talked about it. At the finale I felt like the Atrium was unhealthily full.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Ours felt like 160% to be honest last May. It'd be interesting to do it with a smaller crowd. We've talked about it. At the finale I felt like the Atrium was unhealthily full.

The finale can be overwhelming. I worked at Starcruiser from last May until this January and it was crazy crowded for some of those cruises.

 

[corran horn]

The finale can be overwhelming. I worked at Starcruiser from last May until this January and it was crazy crowded for some of those cruises.

Nice! Where'd you normally work? What was your backstory? We had such a great time - the staff and characters *made* the experience so special.

 

[HoustonHorn]

We went on the 4th sailing. Of course, it was packed full. It was a ton of fun, and my buddy and I want to do it again, but I think if it was just over half the number of people it would have been better. We were up for all of the cosplaying aspect, but we didn't have the most elaborate costumes, nor did we have cute kids with us, so we sometimes felt overlooked. Fewer people reduces the likelihood of that. As for kids, I think for them to get the most out of it, they should have their own phones. My daughter is 8 - I would take her when she's 10-12ish.

I know a lot here enjoy how this is failing, but it honestly makes me sad. Disney took a big swing at a new concept, and it was honestly a ton of fun if you really got into it. It is expensive as hell, but I haven't felt that young and free in a long, long time, and it really did stay with me.

 

[TP2000]

We went on the 4th sailing. Of course, it was packed full. It was a ton of fun, and my buddy and I want to do it again, but I think if it was just over half the number of people it would have been better. We were up for all of the cosplaying aspect, but we didn't have the most elaborate costumes, nor did we have cute kids with us, so we sometimes felt overlooked. Fewer people reduces the likelihood of that. As for kids, I think for them to get the most out of it, they should have their own phones. My daughter is 8 - I would take her when she's 10-12ish.

Good to know, and good insight. I've gotten uncharacteristically sentimental in my old age, so the shots of TimTracker's adorable little boy grinning and going wide-eyed at Chewbacca got me. Apparently, I do still have a heart!

But I believe you if you say that using a phone and interacting fully makes it complete, so probably a 10-12ish age is a better investment for most families. I'm betting two churros that TimTracker got that cruise with his son comped fully due to his subscriber count.

I know a lot here enjoy how this is failing, but it honestly makes me sad. Disney took a big swing at a new concept, and it was honestly a ton of fun if you really got into it. It is expensive as hell, but I haven't felt that young and free in a long, long time, and it really did stay with me.

There's definitely an element of enjoying watching this concept flounder so embarrassingly. Especially because it is tied so closely with Bob Chapek announcing it as the widely disliked Parks Chairman in 2017, and then Bob Chapek cutting the ribbon on it as the widely hated Company Chairman in 2022.

Galactic Starcruiser is still closely associated with Bob Chapek and his endless failures and charmlessly scripted persona.

But even setting Bob Chapek aside, since he's now been fired and his office fumigated, there's a lot still wrong with Galactic Starcruiser. The interior design, the weird obsession to ignore all the most popular characters except Chewbacca, those hideous dental assistant uniforms the Ops CM's have to wear, the many cringey offerings, the downsized and downgraded scale and scope to the entire facility, etc.

Remembering the breathless hype and "amazing!" words that Disney used to describe this concept back in 2017, I'm still floored that they make arriving guests drive around the entirely undisguised warehouse building for the thing in order to get to check-in. Seriously? You're just gonna wait 15 years for the trees to grow on this one?

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.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Nice! Where'd you normally work? What was your backstory? We had such a great time - the staff and characters *made* the experience so special.

I'll PM you. I hope to eventually make it back to Disney and I do post some not so "kosher" things on here. Don't want anyone to find out who I am lol

 

[corran horn]

We went on the 4th sailing. Of course, it was packed full. It was a ton of fun, and my buddy and I want to do it again, but I think if it was just over half the number of people it would have been better. We were up for all of the cosplaying aspect, but we didn't have the most elaborate costumes, nor did we have cute kids with us, so we sometimes felt overlooked. Fewer people reduces the likelihood of that. As for kids, I think for them to get the most out of it, they should have their own phones. My daughter is 8 - I would take her when she's 10-12ish.

I know a lot here enjoy how this is failing, but it honestly makes me sad. Disney took a big swing at a new concept, and it was honestly a ton of fun if you really got into it. It is expensive as hell, but I haven't felt that young and free in a long, long time, and it really did stay with me.

My son was 12 and my daughter 15 and they both loved it. Like you I think about it all the time. One of the most impactful things I've done and very freeing.