News Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Permanently Closed Fall 2023

[Mickey's Pal]

You are the king of obfuscation

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You really don't think that people liking things and its popularity are the same, do you?

In my opinion, some of the best parts of the parks are not very popular (and sometimes because they're not very popular). Epcot is what it is today becasue some of the best attractions ever made weren't popular enough. Does that make them bad?

Disney parks operate on the premise everything they build will be/enhance the popularity.

To have anything be this much of disaster is pretty significant.

 

[Tha Realest]

Whether it’s a film or a thematic experience it’s always easy to just blame “marketing.” It’s not disprovable on its face and is a convenient scapegoat.

 

[flynnibus]

The problem in that scenario is it’s Disney competing for Disney fans against Disney, but at 50% more.

I don’t agree - once they put it at wdw it clearly was setup for a bumper option.

People do DCL combined with WDW plenty. They aren’t forced to choose.

These whales are a plenty in the disney customer base.

 

[flynnibus]

Whether it’s a film or a thematic experience it’s always easy to just blame “marketing.” It’s not disprovable on its face and is a convenient scapegoat.

Well we all said its marketing was abysmal from bedore it even opened… no one said it as a cover up for the attraction’s success or not

 

[adam.adbe]

Ah yes, the multimedia conglomerate that makes multiple billions a year in profits at its parks and practically invented the “must do” destination for tens of millions of middle class, four quadrant families suddenly forgot how to market.

It can’t be that it was tied to the most unpopular era of films, or the exorbitant price.

Are you really saying the marketing for the cruiser was good? From where I'm standing I'm not seeing much sign of good marketing from Disney on pretty much anything of late. They've forgotten how to create buzz for movies (possibly because for close to a decade they didn't need to try), they've put out ads and bill boards with typos and errors, and they managed to open Galaxies Edge and actually empty out Disney Land.

But to the cruise specifically, the marketing was so bad, Disney pulled their own promo after just a day because it became an internet joke.

I can't speak to "suddenly", but yeah, they've forgotten how to market.

 

[James Alucobond]

I’m looking for the point of this whole thread, really?

Indeed. It is a mystery who could possibly be constantly buoying it to the top of the thread pile.

So it’s “good”…and yet nobody wanted it?
And before we parse that - in terms of travel and specifically disney parks…nobody wanted it.

So beyond that…I’m struggling to see the point.

But I’m sure I’m missing something. If we are saying it’s a management mistake…that’s good enough. Bad idea…bad failure. Leave the execution out of it. Didn’t work.
But the execution would have kept it going if it was THAT good. It’s a 24/7 digital world. Word get out.

But still.

What are you even arguing? That decent to good execution can overcome a completely flawed business model and horrendous marketing? Most would disagree. Why do you find a narrative of high GSAT scores so threatening? It's like you're determined to be negative about every last aspect of this experience; you can't tolerate an ounce of positivity even when everyone acknowledges that the ounce is weighed against pounds of problems.

The reason I get squirley…other than bad lunch…is the random nonsense. Like “me thinks doth not have a grip on reality?”

The “realty” is the thing was yanked before the asphalt in the service area dried…and now it’s a party for mold colonies.

A solid 60% of the sentences in your post were also random nonsense.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

But to the cruise specifically, the marketing was so bad, Disney pulled their own promo after just a day because it became an internet joke.

Personally, I found all of the promos incredibly helpful to instantly confirm that I had absolutely no interest in neither the incredibly juvenile experience nor spending two days on vacation trapped in a room with adults playing dress up with made up names and “backstories”.

In fact, I had both a colonoscopy and back surgery in the past couple of years and both of those sound better right now than enduring that experience.

The lack of customers and abrupt closure in less than a year would imply I’m not alone in that opinion.

 

[MisterPenguin]

If they are talking about YouTube reviews, then yeah - they either are paid shills or wannabe paid shills. The ones I watched didn't pay for it, and at the end were like "but it still would be worth 6K!", you know, lying through their teeth so Disney gives them (more) free stuff.

Textbook conspiracy theory.

When presented with contrafactual evidence, you immediately claim, without any evidence, that the people presenting the evidence are liars.

So, what's left that can convince you? Nothing. People who say they didn't like it, you accept them as truthful. People who say they liked it, you immediately claim they are liars.

It is impossible to have a good faith discussion with you about this.

 

[MisterPenguin]

These people aren't saying their baby isn't ugly... the money was already spent. They have nothing to cover up or regain from pretending something. They actually take MORE flack from people for liking it then saying they didn't... so explain again how they must be lying to save face?

Indeed, the ad hominem argument being made against those who said they liked it assumes that those people are self-delusional, by way of the sunk-cost fallacy, that they convince themselves they really really did like it and to save face, tell others it was a good experience.

Even tho... we have videos of these same people immensely enjoying themselves while on the cruise. And not only them, but their children are shown having a great time.

So, I guess these people -- and their children -- were all pretending to have a great time. Were the children coached, "Now, honey, Mommy and Daddy realize we spent way to much on this event. So, in order to save face with Mommy and Daddy's friends, we're going to video you and you have to pretend you're having fun. OK, sweetie?"?

 

[mysto]

To have anything be this much of disaster is pretty significant.

I don't think it was a disaster, just too niche for the corporate culture. They want to sell a little to everybody, the Starcruiser sold a lot to a few. I think it was a success for the few, the many said 'too much'.

 

[_caleb]

Ah yes, the multimedia conglomerate that makes multiple billions a year in profits at its parks and practically invented the “must do” destination for tens of millions of middle class, four quadrant families suddenly forgot how to market.

It can’t be that it was tied to the most unpopular era of films, or the exorbitant price.

So you think it's absurd to say that Disney "suddenly forgot how to market," but not that Disney suddenly forgot how to do market research? Or how to create a themed environment? Or how to price an experience? Or how to make a Star War?

 

[_caleb]

Whether it’s a film or a thematic experience it’s always easy to just blame “marketing.” It’s not disprovable on its face and is a convenient scapegoat.

The examples of Disney's marketing of the Starcruiser speak for themselves.



It's the theories that "if Disney had just themed the Starcrusier (or SW:GE, or the films, or whatever) to the Original Trilogy they would've been smashing successes" that cannot be disproven and serve as convenient scapegoats.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

Except the countless videos subsequently posted by those taking the cruise only reinforced exactly what we saw on the marketing promos.

Blue captain, Playskool light sabers, kindergarten bridge video games, line dancing, barebones theming, LARP’ers, and community college actors having a “climatic” 8 year old birthday party “battle”.

The reality was much worse than the official marketing could ever makes us believe.

If you believe this is Star Wars, well, good luck with that.

 

[_caleb]

Some people like the movie Cats but that doesn't make it a good movie. This awful Star Wars Hotel was not popular. Did not make money. Was not creative. And not what people and especially what Star Wars fans wanted. My evidence: It is CLOSED. That is the only argument I need to prove I am correct.

Yes, congratulations, the thing you never experienced but still didn't like is closed!

By the way, it wasn't a hotel, and you have no idea how much money it made. Creativity is subjective, and Star Wars fans don't all want the same thing. There can be several they closed the Starcruiser: maybe people didn't know about it. Maybe folks, like yourself, thought it was a hotel!

We're talking about why it closed– what went wrong, what may have gone right, and what Disney might do next with any lessons learned. Because none of us have all the information, there isn't really a "correct" answer, just opinions.

 

[_caleb]

Disney parks operate on the premise everything they build will be/enhance the popularity.

You don't actually believe this.

 

[Mickey's Pal]

Yes, congratulations, the thing you never experienced but still didn't like is closed!

By the way, it wasn't a hotel, and you have no idea how much money it made. Creativity is subjective, and Star Wars fans don't all want the same thing. There can be several they closed the Starcruiser: maybe people didn't know about it. Maybe folks, like yourself, thought it was a hotel!

We're talking about why it closed– what went wrong, what may have gone right, and what Disney might do next with any lessons learned. Because none of us have all the information, there isn't really a "correct" answer, just opinions.

Thank you. I have been popping bottles until the break of dawn ever since it closed yo! Been celebrating this hotel's demise as if my team won the Super Bowl in a blowout.

There is a report from The Wrap that it did not make any money and I don't think Disney closes hotels making money hand over fist.

Don't kid yourself. This was a hotel. Minus a pool with bad cosplaying and a Chewie costume that looked awful and terrible dinner theatre improv actors.

It closed because it didn't have what actual Star Wars fans wanted- Actual Star Wars.
The fact it is closed proves I am right. Star Wars fans have money. No one wants sequel trilogy Star Wars.

 

[LittleBuford]

And by just about all quantifiable aspects, it was severely underwhelming.

Except, it seems, the reviews of those who actually experienced it. That would seem a pretty important aspect to me.

 

[Mickey's Pal]

Except, it seems, the reviews of those who actually experienced it. That would seem a pretty important aspect to me.

Not really since those reviews did not stop it from closing.

 

[LittleBuford]

Not really since those reviews did not stop it from closing.

Again, there is no no contradiction in acknowledging that it failed as an enterprise even as it proved a big hit with those who actually experienced it. They certainly didn’t find it underwhelming, even if—and again, no-one is denying this—the experience did not attract a large enough customer base.