News Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser coming to Walt Disney World 2021

[Movielover]

One of the official releases from Disney said costumes would be an option for guests. They will probably have something that identifies who is a cast member so there is no confusion.

I mean it is a cruise right? Cruise CM's wear uniforms don't they?

 

[danlb_2000]

I was curious about the room size so I did some measurements on the blue prints in the permits and came up with the following:

Normal cabin: 22.5' x 10' = 225 sq ft
1st Class cabin: 22.5' x 20' = 450 sq ft

by comparison a standard value resort room is 260 sq ft and a family suite is 565 sq ft

Please ignore, I am stupid.

 

[GlacierGlacier]

I was curious about the room size so I did some measurements on the blue prints in the permits and came up with the following:

Normal cabin: 22.5' x 10' = 225 sq ft
1st Class cabin: 22.5' x 20' = 450 sq ft

by comparison a standard value resort room is 260 sq ft and a family suite is 565 sq ft

What's this compared to a DCL cabin?

 

[danlb_2000]

What's this compared to a DCL cabin?

According to this site, https://www.icruise.com/ships/disney-cruises-disney-dream-staterooms.html, most of the room categories on the Dream are between 169 and 256 sq ft.

 

[MrHorse]

you really don't want to turn off families since that's where the big money is.

Families are the bulk of the business, but I doubt they're the real 'whales'. I could certainly be wrong, though.
I imagine the childless dual-income couples are probably the biggest per-capita spenders. My usual Disney-trip group is three couples, no kids. We've got six heads and six incomes. If we do this thing we're going to do it right. We'll buy the costumes, we'll probably buy most of whatever add-ons are available and we'll do it all while we're steadily tossing back $15 cocktails. Admittedly we're getting pretty anecdotal here, but I'm sure we're not THAT unique.

A place like this is small enough to cater to those demographics without worrying about keeping the rooms full. Orlando isn't Vegas, and I'm sure Disney doesn't want to tarnish their image by catering to oversized children too much. But I'd be surprised if they're not considering these demographics a lot more than they would for a traditional resort/park.

To my eye, this thing has shades of the old original version of Disney Springs before it was Downtown Disney. Lots of 'classy' stuff to appeal to adult travelers with lots of disposable income. Kind of 'family-friendly, but adult-first', not unlike most cruise ships.

I could be bending the facts to suit the narrative a bit here, but look how small the rooms are. Tight for a family of four, but just fine for a couple.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

What's this compared to a DCL cabin?

Our "Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom" a couple of years ago was 241 sq ft... we survived for a week-long cruise, but I would like more space...

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Kind of 'family-friendly, but adult-first', not unlike most cruise ships.

This isn't how I'd describe a Disney cruise, and I don't think this experience will be marketed that way either. While I agree that a big market may well be couples/singles, Disney will not aim this at them MORE than at families.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Families are the bulk of the business, but I doubt they're the real 'whales'. I could certainly be wrong, though.

The cost of staying at the monorail resorts is all you need to know that there are thousands of pods out there.

 

[nickys]

This isn't how I'd describe a Disney cruise, and I don't think this experience will be marketed that way either. While I agree that a big market may well be couples/singles, Disney will not aim this at them MORE than at families.

I disagree here. They will, for sure, market this at their usual family demographic.

But they will also have a marketing campaign to attract a whole new section of the population - the adult Star Wars fans. Those who spend a couple of hours a day, at least, playing the online multi-player SW games. Many of them may never have set foot in a Disney park before, but they are drooling over this, and have been since D23 last year when it was announced.

DH loves WDW. But he also spends a lot of time either playing these games, or on SW fan forums. The people he is interacting with are mostly not Disney-philes. But they have decent disposable incomes and will pay anything to do this. They are probably hoping for much more of a LARPing experience than this will end up being, but none-the-less will be clamouring to book. And will likely be following closely as to when booking opens. Much more so than the majority of regular Disney vacationers.

I would not be surprised if the first few months of the resort operation are filled with these new Disney guests. There are already groups of the online SW gamers forming with the intention of booking at the same time. Your average Disney families hoping to give it a try may well find themselves locked out of booking for the first fe months, by the online gamers and followers of the various forums out there!

 

[MrHorse]

This isn't how I'd describe a Disney cruise, and I don't think this experience will be marketed that way either. While I agree that a big market may well be couples/singles, Disney will not aim this at them MORE than at families.

I agree.
I don't think they're going to primarily target . [EDIT: Apparently 'Dual Income No Kids' is a filtered term.]But I think they're certainly planning to accommodate a much higher percentage of them than any of their other resorts. They likely won't market at these people heavily, if at all. It's the same reason Disney's not going to spend much money marketing to hardcore Star Wars fans. They simply don't need to. These groups are already proactively looking for this type of content and don't need any convincing. This is the 'Shut up and take my money!' crowd.

I imagine the demographics are going to look more like a normal, non-Disney cruise and I suspect that is exactly what Disney is expecting.

 

[chiefs11]

Looks like complimentary valet parking.

This made me chuckle........as I see Darth Vader saying "I am altering the deal....pray I don't alter it any further"

 

[EOD K9]

This made me chuckle........as I see Darth Vader saying "I am altering the deal....pray I don't alter it any further"

 

[MisterPenguin]

DH loves WDW. But he also spends a lot of time either playing these games, or on SW fan forums. The people he is interacting with are mostly not Disney-philes. But they have decent disposable incomes and will pay anything to do this. They are probably hoping for much more of a LARPing experience than this will end up being, but none-the-less will be clamouring to book.

Ya know... if a large group of hard core LARPers, or a SW Fan group wants to flood the zone with their people for an extra special experience, and they have the dough, I'm sure WDW would be happy to accommodate a convention-like exclusive experience for that group. They just need to get organized and be ready. In fact, they should call Disney Groups and Events right now to plan a date or volunteer to be beta testers (for both off-site and in the new resort once built).

See: https://www.disneymeetings.com/

 

[flynnibus]

I was curious about the room size so I did some measurements on the blue prints in the permits and came up with the following:

Normal cabin: 22.5' x 10' = 225 sq ft
1st Class cabin: 22.5' x 20' = 450 sq ft

by comparison a standard value resort room is 260 sq ft and a family suite is 565 sq ft

I measured this Thursday and got significantly larger numbers (measuring based on the 1"-10' scale of the drawings). Rounding to roughly the 6" to account for lack of precision. From Thursday...

Other random observations from the drawing.
[...]
4) The cabins have 3 different sizes... standard, the 'first class' cabins, and some that are slightly smaller adjacent to the FC cabins. It looks like the rooms are roughly 12'x28' for the smaller rooms.. and the middle size being roughly 11'6 x28'. That puts the most common room at roughly 334sqft - That's the average Deluxe Room size on property... and significantly bigger than the cruise ship rooms.
[...]

 

[danlb_2000]

I measured this Thursday and got significantly larger numbers (measuring based on the 1"-10' scale of the drawings). Rounding to roughly the 6" to account for lack of precision. From Thursday...

Ignore my numbers, I am stupid.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I disagree here. They will, for sure, market this at their usual family demographic.

But they will also have a marketing campaign to attract a whole new section of the population - the adult Star Wars fans. Those who spend a couple of hours a day, at least, playing the online multi-player SW games. Many of them may never have set foot in a Disney park before, but they are drooling over this, and have been since D23 last year when it was announced.

DH loves WDW. But he also spends a lot of time either playing these games, or on SW fan forums. The people he is interacting with are mostly not Disney-philes. But they have decent disposable incomes and will pay anything to do this. They are probably hoping for much more of a LARPing experience than this will end up being, but none-the-less will be clamouring to book. And will likely be following closely as to when booking opens. Much more so than the majority of regular Disney vacationers.

I would not be surprised if the first few months of the resort operation are filled with these new Disney guests. There are already groups of the online SW gamers forming with the intention of booking at the same time. Your average Disney families hoping to give it a try may well find themselves locked out of booking for the first fe months, by the online gamers and followers of the various forums out there!

We’re not actually disagreeing. I said they would not market MORE to couples/singles than to families. They’ll market DIFFERENTLY to them, and might market more to couples/singles than the standard Disney fare. But they will not — in my estimation — market any LESS to families than to couples/singles. But honestly, I’m not sure they need to market much to the adult group early on... maybe not any group! Just enough to explain the offering and communicate who they’re targeting.

I do disagree that families might find themselves locked out of early bookings. For PR reasons I doubt Disney would allow that to happen. They could have room blocks, or handle in a variety of ways to ensure that not 100% of early reports and word of mouth are exclusively from the SW adult geek market (and I say that lovingly, as someone who has one foot in that world). One could imagine how that might have a deleterious impact on their ability to effectively target families afterwards if they don’t see it as an offering for them.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I agree.
I don't think they're going to primarily target *****. [EDIT: Apparently 'Dual Income No Kids' is a filtered term.]But I think they're certainly planning to accommodate a much higher percentage of them than any of their other resorts. They likely won't market at these people heavily, if at all. It's the same reason Disney's not going to spend much money marketing to hardcore Star Wars fans. They simply don't need to. These groups are already proactively looking for this type of content and don't need any convincing. This is the 'Shut up and take my money!' crowd.

I imagine the demographics are going to look more like a normal, non-Disney cruise and I suspect that is exactly what Disney is expecting.

It will be really interesting to see how the demographic shapes up. I suspect it’ll look different initially than in steady state. I’m really curious. I know we will be there with a family of four at minimum... maybe 6... maybe 8...

 

[CanadianGordon]

I'm 38 years old and I'm one of those d i n ks. Double income no kids... We're both eyeing this with anticipation.

 

[nickys]

We’re not actually disagreeing. I said they would not market MORE to couples/singles than to families. They’ll market DIFFERENTLY to them, and might market more to couples/singles than the standard Disney fare. But they will not — in my estimation — market any LESS to families than to couples/singles. But honestly, I’m not sure they need to market much to the adult group early on... maybe not any group! Just enough to explain the offering and communicate who they’re targeting.

I do disagree that families might find themselves locked out of early bookings. For PR reasons I doubt Disney would allow that to happen. They could have room blocks, or handle in a variety of ways to ensure that not 100% of early reports and word of mouth are exclusively from the SW adult geek market (and I say that lovingly, as someone who has one foot in that world). One could imagine how that might have a deleterious impact on their ability to effectively target families afterwards if they don’t see it as an offering for them.

I can see we’re kind of agreeing on the marketing. I also think @MrHorse has a good point about the marketing. They won’t necessarily need to spend a lot marketing it to the adults, because that group are already aware of it.

I don’t really see how Disney could hold rooms for families though. What if it really is too expensive for family groups? We’ll be going as 4 adults since our “boys” are no longer children. Whether we can stay in one room or not I don’t know - those pods look small and both ours are over 6ft. Do you see Disney holding back a proportion of the rooms for people booking for groups of 3 or 4 with under 18s, under 12s, under 7s? And at what point do they release the unbooked rooms?

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I don’t really see how Disney could hold rooms for families though. What if it really is too expensive for family groups? We’ll be going as 4 adults since our “boys” are no longer children. Whether we can stay in one room or not I don’t know - those pods look small and both ours are over 6ft. Do you see Disney holding back a proportion of the rooms for people booking for groups of 3 or 4 with under 18s, under 12s, under 7s? And at what point do they release the unbooked rooms?

I think that’ll be a non-issue, honestly. I think there will be interested parties — both families and couples/singles — who can afford this and will jump at it. They won’t be holding rooms BACK — at least not early on.

ETA: By blocks I was thinking in the really early days of booking — like when rD opens registration to pass holders only or the like — within days it opens to everyone else. I could imagine different registration links for different groups that have been marketed to and are interested in booking. It probably won’t be this way, but SOME way of ensuring the first X months aren’t ALL adult SW uber-fans would be in their long term interests.