I am curious about this. The second time we went we did not add any days to spend at any WDW parks. We went only for the Starcruiser. That would seem to me no different than if it were somewhere else. Is it just the temptation of wanting to spend time at the parks too so having it somewhere else avoids that temptation? The first time we went we did spend several days at the parks with starcruiser in the middle. We liked having both approaches available to us.
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News Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Permanently Closed Fall 2023
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
Yes. The idea of spending what I do in a week in 3 days when the parks are right there made it unappealing to me.
SplashJacket
Well-Known Member
I think the main point that people are missing is value.
There’s a huge difference of what people can afford, and what people are willing to spend money on.
Could I afford this experience? Would I like go go on this experience? Yes and yes.
But in no world would I pay the price tag for two days. I also would never consider sailing concierge, because instead of the 13 cruises I’ve been on, I would only have been able to afford 6? Or less cruises. I’d rather do more.
I don’t doubt the experience was fantastic (and it’s silly to be to discredit the people who went and said it was fantastic), but the cost/day was just far too great.
Even though I’m a huge Star Wars fan, parks fan, have the ability to go, I’m still not the target demographic, because even though I might stay at the Yacht, go on cruises, stay at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, etc, etc, I’m also not staying concierge at Yacht or the cruises.
That subset of guests is extremely small. The type of guests needed are concierge guest vacationers, not deluxe hotels or any other category. I think they hoped to go beyond their existing customer base that spends that money/day and offer an experience that enticed the lower tier(s) of spenders to jump up a spending bracket. Clearly, they overestimated how much that would happen, but regardless.
The issue was always the price. I thought it was just an introductory price with a huge margin to recoup the cost of investment ASAP, but since they closed it without dramatic price cuts, clearly its margins weren’t as great as I initially assumed.
There’s a huge difference of what people can afford, and what people are willing to spend money on.
Could I afford this experience? Would I like go go on this experience? Yes and yes.
But in no world would I pay the price tag for two days. I also would never consider sailing concierge, because instead of the 13 cruises I’ve been on, I would only have been able to afford 6? Or less cruises. I’d rather do more.
I don’t doubt the experience was fantastic (and it’s silly to be to discredit the people who went and said it was fantastic), but the cost/day was just far too great.
Even though I’m a huge Star Wars fan, parks fan, have the ability to go, I’m still not the target demographic, because even though I might stay at the Yacht, go on cruises, stay at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, etc, etc, I’m also not staying concierge at Yacht or the cruises.
That subset of guests is extremely small. The type of guests needed are concierge guest vacationers, not deluxe hotels or any other category. I think they hoped to go beyond their existing customer base that spends that money/day and offer an experience that enticed the lower tier(s) of spenders to jump up a spending bracket. Clearly, they overestimated how much that would happen, but regardless.
The issue was always the price. I thought it was just an introductory price with a huge margin to recoup the cost of investment ASAP, but since they closed it without dramatic price cuts, clearly its margins weren’t as great as I initially assumed.
I can comprehend that. It's a tough call for Disney because they probably wanted the extra dollars from those of us who combined days in the parks with Starcruiser. But it is just my wife and I (kids all grown) and we typically have an annual pass so we are only spending the extra nights, generally on our DVC points. For non-DVC and non-annual pass the math would be very different.
Thank you for that. So many use price as a reason to bash what it was like without having gone.
Probably true that they were expecting to drive higher spend. Although most people who went were not concierge. Surely those could go but a lot of us just wanted to go enough to bite the bullet, and after the first experience it was even easier to justify because of how much we loved it. I do think Disney got way too far out over their skis starting with the premium experience. I am hoping they find lower cost ways to start to introduce individual interactive immersion either through lower cost shorter offerings priced like Savi's or even in some of the attractions. They have pretty strong passive immersion in Rise of the Resistance. I dont think it would be that hard to make it more interactive if they manage the queue such that smaller groups that are of vehicle capacity were enticed/given obvious opportunity to interact with the cast once they reached the first room. They proved on Starcruiser than even CP cast (many of the "blue shirt" crew members) can do interaction really well if trained and expected to do it. Slight modification of the latter aspects of the queue for Smugglers Run could enable it as well. But whether through the rides themselves or in specific paid experiences of 2-3 hours duration, if they build up the appetite for interactive immersion, then I think they could drive more demand for the pricier premium longer experiences for those who enjoy it and want to spend the money.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
The design was not to get you to fly in for that and not do an add on…
It was the same Disney cruiseline concept in the 90s and 00s
I bet a shocking number of polled said the same thing as you.
But I bet they burned the tapes
_caleb
Well-Known Member
What about the fact that a significant portion of the Starcruiser experience was spent in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge?
Build something else and make it unique
_caleb
Well-Known Member
So more of a regional, theme-park-lite sort of thing? I know they've considered/explored this. I'd be afraid it would turn out more like DisneyQuest or those LegoLand Discovery Centers.
Imagine building this in Northern CA, and imagine visiting Endor complete with the real redwood walking trails.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
I can’t see anyway they do actual Star Wars investment now.
Which was always the deal and why making it suck is such a mistake
They won’t even retheme the lands to reflect the popular or semi-popular material…
It’s still that reboot crap and take on solo…
New meet and greets are likely all you’ll ever get.
Some mistakes can never be made
Which was always the deal and why making it suck is such a mistake
They won’t even retheme the lands to reflect the popular or semi-popular material…
It’s still that reboot crap and take on solo…
New meet and greets are likely all you’ll ever get.
Some mistakes can never be made
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LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
These are my sentiments exactly. I was waiting for the price to come down so that I could go with my partner, who's a big Star Wars fan. But it seems they didn't have the ability (or inclination) to make the cost less prohibitive, and that, from my perspective, was their only real miscalculation.
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_caleb
Well-Known Member
Yes, it looks to me like Disney wasn't willing to make any adjustments–
What I hope they learn from this experiment:
- Dropping the price- even just offering limited time discounts. I think this would have brought in a lot of fans who hadn't previously booked
- Changing the story- test all those who say they would come out for an OT storyline/characters, or even just increase repeatability by changing up the story a bit
- Promoting it differently- I didn't see a lot of marketing for this, but it seems they could have done more
- Fixing some of the things critics panned- minor plussing to the dining room
What I hope they learn from this experiment:
- Fans love immersive experiences if they feel authentic
- Pricing was way too high
- They need to do a better job of explaining innovative things
- Immersive experiences are overplayed
- Star Wars is overplayed
- We really need to build a Star Wars hotel with a pool
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Yes, the notion Disney should have built this elsewhere doesn't make much sense to me. For a start, their record of standalone venues away from the parks is almost entirely one of failure. Secondly, building it at WDW meant putting it in a place that not only has a transportation infrastructure geared toward bringing tourists from far and wide to the venue but also saves Disney several hundred million dollars having to build something to replace the Galaxy's Edge excursion.
I think this would have dead on arrival if it was built as a standalone venue somewhere like Northern California.
_caleb
Well-Known Member
I still want to see the overall immersive concept explored more.
At Universal, two nights at Hogwarts that start with sorting hat and wand ceremonies, with inter-house competitions, excursions to the two (soon to be three) WWHP lands in the parks, connected by an extension of the Hogwarts Express sounds really fun.
At WDW, similar, but in the styles of Pirates, HM, SFR Treehouse, a Toontown-style environment, etc.
At Universal, two nights at Hogwarts that start with sorting hat and wand ceremonies, with inter-house competitions, excursions to the two (soon to be three) WWHP lands in the parks, connected by an extension of the Hogwarts Express sounds really fun.
At WDW, similar, but in the styles of Pirates, HM, SFR Treehouse, a Toontown-style environment, etc.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
the.dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
That’ll never happen
George Lucas in planning row over Skywalker Ranch
George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, is embroiled in a bitter planning row over plans to sell off land near his "Skywalker Ranch" for low income housing.
www.telegraph.co.uk
some other guy
Well-Known Member
so did they do anything specific to the last run?
as much as people dump on this and the Holiday Special, doing that song Bea Arthur had at the Cantina would have been pretty neat to send this out on
as much as people dump on this and the Holiday Special, doing that song Bea Arthur had at the Cantina would have been pretty neat to send this out on