News Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Permanently Closed Fall 2023

[LittleBuford]

THIS is what everyone is using as a metric to claim these magnificent ratings? A bunch of literally paid surveys from super fans?

A much more valuable metric from my perspective is what some of our fellow forumites who actually experienced the Starcruiser have to say about it. I may be wrong, but I don’t recall a single one of them saying anything less than very, very positive about it. That’s extremely unusual for this forum, where reactions to Disney’s offerings—by those who experienced them, I should add—are typically quite varied.

 

[LittleBuford]

To those who have taken the cruise; please let us know how you feel this video does not accurately capture this experience.

Had we actually been there, how exactly would this be better than it appears?

Wouldn’t this be like asking fans of WDW to justify their passion for the resort on the basis of a ride-through video of Journey into Imagination? How on earth do you expect a few minutes of footage to capture an immersive multifaceted experience spanning two days?

 

[Incomudro]

Disney would be better off finding and surveying people who were originally interested in going, but lost interest and didn't go - and finding out why?
Than to survey the comparatively small number of people - many of who'm are content creators - who loved this thing.

 

[Dranth]

That's rather reductive, considering that the entire experience - from the minute to minute schedule, pictures of every inch of the place, and every single activity was well-documented on video. There are more data points and documentation to observe about this offering than anything in recent Disney memory, arguably the most quickly and widely distributed ever, given how many people were intensely interested in this experience making those videos extremely popular for a period of time.

Mocking yes, reductive no.

I know, because I was one of them - I watched it all. I was desperately looking for something that as a life-long Star Wars fan would make me say, "Oh, well that is cool enough that I have to see it for myself!"

See, watching something and saying this may not be for me is different than claiming other people can't possible have liked this thing I never experienced.

The select folks who are trying to make it out that somehow this was some esoteric experience that we couldn't imagine don't do any favors for convincing people that it was somehow this elevated, misunderstood masterpiece when the best things they seem to be saying are "I made a bunch of new friends" or "it was worth six grand to see my kid hug a stormtrooper".

I don't think anyone is making it out to be that, they are just saying they all enjoyed it which gets met with suspicion and derision from a group of people who think they know better based on nothing but the image of the experience they have built up in their head.

Frankly, "you had to be there" is a cop out on a discussion board when people who claim to have this knowledge can't tell us what it is we are missing and did not see that was so impressive.

I disagree. You had to be there is a hard truth of life. Seeing and hearing something with your own eyes and ears is more powerful than through a screen and speakers. Smelling, tasting, feeling, interaction with your environment, cast (if you are at Disney) and even other guests all add nuance and texture to an experience or in many cases can outright define it.

That, I think, is what you are missing. People keep trying to tell those of us who didn’t go that the whole was much greater than the sum of its parts while those that can't understand this keep picking at very specific parts as if that was all there was to the whole experience.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

I disagree. You had to be there is a hard truth of life. Seeing and hearing something with your own eyes and ears is more powerful than through a screen and speakers. Smelling, tasting, feeling, interaction with your environment, cast (if you are at Disney) and even other guests all add nuance and texture to an experience or in many cases can outright define it.

Curious, when you were there, did it make this better?

 

[erasure fan1]

Despite what you keep saying, Disney took a huge risk with the Starcruiser. Because we know Disney to be somewhat risk-averse, I’m wondering what their contingency plan was/is for it.

Yes Disney is not big on risks. And I bet they didn't think this was all that much of a risk. Just based on how Disney has handled star wars, makes me think they thought this was going to be a surefire hit. We saw it with galaxy's edge and Igers comments about lines to the border with just an email. That's one of the big issues I've had with Disneys handling of the ip. It always feels like their thought process is, well as long as we slap the star wars logo on it, we're golden!

This ”wanted to, but didn’t” demographic is extremely hard to find/survey because it isn’t really a defined group that Disney has access to.

Not necessarily. You stand at the entrance of galaxy's edge and ask people one question. "Did you participate in the galactic star cruiser experience this trip?" And if the answer is no, you ask do you have time for a brief survey? It's the exact demographic you want for the product you are offering. And it's also a very large base to survey from. A few weeks of surveys and you would most likely have a very large sample size.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

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.

View attachment 750580

According to Disney internal intelligence gathering…every single person who paid or where gifted it thought it was incredible.

So that proves you wrong 100%.

…or something?

 

[Epcot81Fan]

I disagree. You had to be there is a hard truth of life. Seeing and hearing something with your own eyes and ears is more powerful than through a screen and speakers. Smelling, tasting, feeling, interaction with your environment, cast (if you are at Disney) and even other guests all add nuance and texture to an experience or in many cases can outright define it.

Fair enough, for those of us who have not been on board, please tell us how this video does not truly capture the experience and passengers.

 

[LittleBuford]

Disney would be better off finding and surveying people who were originally interested in going, but lost interest and didn't go - and finding out why?
Than to survey the comparatively small number of people - many of who'm are content creators - who loved this thing.

The inordinate expense is, I think, an obvious and widely applicable answer.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

A much more valuable metric from my perspective is what some of our fellow forumites who actually experienced the Starcruiser have to say about it. I may be wrong, but I don’t recall a single one of them saying anything less than very, very positive about it. That’s extremely unusual for this forum, where reactions to Disney’s offerings—by those who experienced them, I should add—are typically quite varied.

I think there is a grand total of 2? On this thread that fit that polling sample?

It’s just not a large enough sample to judge.

There was an idea upthread of asking those that did not show interest in buying it why they won’t in the Star Wars land?

That’s the data mine…one they should have hit hard before they ever drew this up? Oh right…had to wait for it to open first…so if they had delayed it 2 more years…maybe they don’t do it and something useful is constructed?

All roads lead back to rome. We have a five year “attraction” glut that just started.

 

[LittleBuford]

I think there is a grand total of 2? On this thread that fit that polling sample?

I'm not keeping count, but we both know it's quite a few more than two.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The inordinate expense is, I think, an obvious and widely applicable answer.

So that’s it?

It’s one for sure…
…I bet a couple here can do a pretty good job of nailing the other big one? (Not me…I need to start drinking )

 

[Disstevefan1]

“Who needs to visit the Grand Canyon? I’ve seen countless videos of it, and it’s just a hole in the ground!”

 

[LittleBuford]

It’s one for sure…
…I bet a couple here can do a pretty good job of nailing the other big one? (Not me…I need to start drinking )

I don't understand, but that's OK!

 

[_caleb]

Except the Grand Canyon looks breathtaking, vast, and amazing from every photo and video and makes me want to visit.

This does not:

View attachment 750617

Yeah, good time to trot out that same photo of the dining room you never visited.

My point is that I wouldn't dismiss the perspectives of people who've actually visited a thing because I've seen pictures of it on the internet.

 

[AEfx]

So before we pass judgment, since you were there, how do you feel this video does not accurately represent this experience and passengers?

That's what I'm waiting for, too.

I totally accept that there is this small group of dozens, perhaps even a hundred or two people, who thought this was just the most amazing thing ever and think it was worth paying the price of a used car - many more than once! Genuinely glad for them, that's great.

Really, though, the best it is boiling down to "I've never roleplayed before and it was fun". Literally every inch of this stuff is documented, and I didn't need to be there to learn that roleplaying can be fun. Or that the cast members were great.

But the sets, the activities, everything else? We aren't missing it, because it's all been so fully documented. Which is why it failed so spectacularly once that curtain was pulled back and everyone else saw what it all is.

 

[MrPromey]

You would not expect to make back the development costs in one year. $173.4 million works out to be $600,000 per cruise and I can't imaging it's operating costs were anywhere near that.

Well, that's probably a big part of the problem, right there.

They can easily pull in more than that per day (not every two) just in parking fees a WDW. In talking about operating costs, remember how they slow-walked the return of full tram service on that little goldmine?

Hard to see them being happy about having to pay equity actors for this kind of return, not to mention all the other costs to keeping the lights on with this when they were apparently reluctant to pay tram operators.

There may have been some idea of high-end prestige around offering something more unique and specific at a higher price point to bring people to the resort/brand who are attracted to the idea of exclusivity, even as a loss-leader or break-even product but obviously, running non-stop burned through that crowd pretty quickly and once it got to be where bookings were not hard to get, those folks would have moved on as would any value this provided to the company/brand in that regard.

Maybe their mistake was building this with more than 50 rooms and designing it to be scaled and staffed for that level, if that's the case.

I could very easily see current management not being interested in trying to find a way to make this work after the reality of the headaches of maintaining it became apparent.

Why bother?

What I have to wonder is, with that math, how did this ever get beyond the concept stage at a company like Disney?

 

[dreamfinder912]

To those who have taken the cruise, please let us know how you feel this video does not accurately capture this experience.

Had we actually been there, how exactly would this be better than it appears?

The thing is we have answered this question before. In this very thread. I caught pieces of this portion on one or two of my cruises but I was always involved in something else and couldn't stop. So I was a step behind on my first cruise when everyone ELSE at dinner knew what dance to do to distract the first order while we tried to sneak chewie out. It's meant to be easy and goofy and fun because everyone is supposed to be able to pop up and do it together.

It's a background activity. Like the recreation team at your resort. Are you really judging your entire stay at wilderness lodge over the arts and crafts they do in the afternoons?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don't understand, but that's OK!

I don’t believe you can assign “cost” as the overwhelming reason. It’s a huge one…but I bet is probably neck and neck with another.

 

[_caleb]

I don't understand, but that's OK!

He's referring to the ST vs. OT timeline