News Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Permanently Closed Fall 2023

[Lilofan]

It could be used for incoming talent accommodations...Corporate retreat accomodations for the Disney company...I think if they made the big executives from Glendale stay there, they might be able to come up with better plans...

Corporate retreat hotel with shareholder meetings with Chapek last year was at Four Seasons.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It could be used for incoming talent accommodations...Corporate retreat accomodations for the Disney company...I think if they made the big executives from Glendale stay there, they might be able to come up with better plans...

Does reusing it impact how much they can take the depreciation credit for? I assume they would have to reduce that by any benefit the replacement has be not having to start from scratch

 

[maui2k7]

I have no idea, maybe there are tax reasons it's better for them to tear it down?

I am sure it is no coincidence that they are writing it off during their fiscal Q3/Q4 2023 (ending Sept 30th) and ending all "cruises" on Sept 30th. I am sure that is meant to help from a tax side off during this fiscal year. They want as much tax credit in this year as they can get as this was a losing money pit. The land is more useful as a pile of dirt than the cost was was incurring.

I say use the plot of land to expand GE to something based on the original Lucas films for all to enjoy. I sure hope they do not let it sit and rot like they did for River Country for nearly 2 decades. However, that is just a pile of dirt now since they cancelled that hotel which was meant to sit in that same spot.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I do think the line dancing got a little overblown but I do get the larger point and also very much how the Starcruiser didn't feel very Star Wars, at least from the outside looking in

Or, at a minimum, it seemed like for the people from Canto Bight or in the senate - the ones that had money and could recuse themselves from the affairs of the galaxy - not the parts of the stories fans really want to be a part of

…I’ll totally give you a pass for bringing up that utter stupidity

 

[monothingie]

It’s even worse than riviera…so I don’t think that scans.

Might be better than the Ft W trailers though?

Guys this isn’t hard. DVC studios. (DVC members will buy anything…)

Open the resort to the general public and have a TS dinner show. Throw in OT characters and Problem solved.

It may hurt KKs feelings but who cares. Her days are numbered anyway.

 

[DubyooDeeDubyoo]

I really feel for the cast members who put their heart and soul into making the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser a one of a kind experience If the powers to be had not made this a money grab we would've all been able to enjoy this however they priced it so the majority of guests had to make a financial decision to book a 2 day voyage ...

While I agree about the amount of work the cast put into this, I think the belief here was that for people of more modest means the Starcruiser would be an "alternate vacation". You fly into Orlando, you do your three day Starcruiser adventure, you go home. You don't do the rest of WDW because you can't afford to now.

Ultimately access is limited and the experience is intended to include personal interactions with actors, which just can't be done with 5,000 people. The only way to keep that level of close contact and pay for it is to make it prohibitively expensive to everyone who isn't dying to experience one of these. Then they needed to explain what "one of these" is, but they didn't and instead spent their marketing time talking about group lightsaber training and the new technologies used throughout, and then the memes took over with the space yoga and line dancing stuff.

Ultimately, when you're showing guys from Arkansas in Nike tees playing lightsaber training, it's kind of a red flag to any SW fan who was not invested into project before over what it's truly about. After all, in the most popular Star Wars canon Jedis are supposed to be kind of rare. It doesn't look very canon when a bunch of tourists with toy lightsabers are trying to live an illusion all at once. They should have instead played up the story, choosing a side, making alliance with a character, that sort of thing.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

I remember reading something a while back.

This whole thing (SWGE and Galactic Failure..in short the entire Disney SW strategy) was reinforced by TFA. $2 Billion and Disney thought it was all because of a new cast of characters and "fresh" new story JJ created. Although everyone knew it was a reboot, (I'm convinced early on that Disney knew as well) somewhere down the line the Kool-Aid got stronger for the Disney execs. And they drank more of it.

I think they had convinced themselves that the success of TFA was due to Abrams and the "fresh new characters" that were introduced. And that those characters were fleshed out enough to carry the entire thing forward.

The fact that most people (and nearly all who returned for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th viewings, as is the hallmark for the die-hard fans) went there to see Solo, Chewie, Leia, and the hopes of Luke was completely missed, or at least grossly ignored.

So based on Disney's Kool-Aid moment, they went full-bore ahead. I'm not going to get into a debate about TLJ, but let's say everybody can agree that it divided the fan base. Disney should have realized at that point that there could be a problem. They didn't. They doubled down.

And here we are.

 

[DubyooDeeDubyoo]

I think they had convinced themselves that the success of TFA was due to Abrams and the "fresh new characters" that were introduced. And that those characters were fleshed out enough to carry the entire thing forward.

I have problems with the movies, but it wasn't with the characters. It was with Abrams tendencies as a writer. It was with the news that a collective of Imperial true believers from off the edge of known space somehow built a 2000x scale Death Star, even though the old Empire controlled most of the resources of the entire galaxy, and still building the Death Star was an expensive and difficult operation.

I'm fine with the new characters, some of them were the highlight even. What bothers me more is that it's not well explained how the First Order managed to assemble technology beyond the OT Empire's wildest dreams, or that Abrams invented Snoke with no real idea who that was, and tossed it into someone else's lap, and then wanted to forget about it by IX. Most of these problems aren't an issue for Galaxy's Edge or Starcruiser.

But I didn't really have a character problem.And the prequels already showed us that overexposing old characters was always dangerous.

 

[King Panda 77]

Wait…they get FNC in Kent?

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

I have problems with the movies, but it wasn't with the characters. It was with Abrams tendencies as a writer. It was with the news that a collective of Imperial true believers from off the edge of known space somehow built a 2000x scale Death Star, even though the old Empire controlled most of the resources of the entire galaxy, and still building the Death Star was an expensive and difficult operation.

I'm fine with the new characters, some of them were the highlight even. What bothers me more is that it's not well explained how the First Order managed to assemble technology beyond the OT Empire's wildest dreams, or that Abrams invented Snoke with no real idea who that was, and tossed it into someone else's lap, and then wanted to forget about it by IX.

What I'm referencing more is that many characters regressed or weren't fully developed. Some did have potential. Poe had a great start. So did Finn. But IMO they were weaker than they should have been by the time the Trilogy ended. I also think Ren shouldn't have had any face time until the very end (sorry Adam Driver). These are my opinions of course.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Dead people voting has become a bit of a favorite of the the “tin foil hat society” in Los Estados unidos of late…

 

[some other guy]

Or, at a minimum, it seemed like for the people from Canto Bight or in the senate - the ones that had money and could recuse themselves from the affairs of the galaxy - not the parts of the stories fans really want to be a part of

there's probably a way to juxtapose that with management types within Disney

It’s useless…what exactly is hard to track here?

It’s also a symbol of failure along world drive…and what about this 20 year management of obvious falsehood spin makes you believe they can tolerate that?

I dunno, the rotting corpse of Xanadu: Home Of The Future was pretty cool in its own way.

 

[Monkee Girl]

Fans want the George Lucas Start Wars experience, not the Star Wars trilogy created by Kathleen Kennedy. If they give the fans what they want, they will come in droves and willingly spend plenty of money. Just look at Harry Potter at Universal - straight out of the movies and fans of all ages love it. You do not get that kind of praise from Galaxy's Edge. The original trilogy (even prequels) is a printing press for money.

Exactly this. as I said in my post, there needs to be a balance of the franchises. I am not a fan of the prequels at all BUT, many are and they should feel just as included as the OT people. Just like the newer fans who enjoy Disney's Star Wars should feel included. But we're not getting that. Though I can appreciate an attempt to try and make Star Wars 'serious' and 'immersive' it's just not what most fans or casual disney park goers want. They want familiarity and as much as Disney wants to deny it, that familiarity is Darth Vader, Luke, Han, Leia, Obi Wan, Yoda (not baby Yoda...though we love him) but regular Yoda and Darth Mall, Padme and so on.

Just like we can meet different eras of Princesses in one room/land, the same needs to be the same with Star Wars now. You can have shows catered to certain movies, sure, but there's nothing wrong with seeing Luke in one corner and Darth Maul in another and Ray or Fin in another. The constant digging their feet in and bashing fans not happy with their work is really tedious and not a way to secure customer satisfaction and ticket sales. It was sooooo easy....sooo friggin easy...I just can't even begin to try and understand what the mindset of Disney was when they chose to go all in in the Sequel trilogy. It took a good 20 years for people finally to really appreciate the prequels themselves. it's going to take just as long for people to appreciate the new trilogy and forcing it on them while denying what people actually want isn't helping.

 

[Monkee Girl]

They took a risk to try and create something new for a particular segment of their audience.
Agree it was a pricey one and they overestimated what their audience would spend and how many there were for it, but I don't fault them for at least trying. I just think they missed the mark on the demographics for it.

try not...do...or do not...there is no try

Just kidding and agree. As I said before, of course they are going to want to market 'their' trilogy and trying something new is not a bad thing. An all weekend interactive experience is cool sounding. But I think once reviews started coming in and the profits weren't hitting what they wanted, they should have sucked it up and started figuring out how to fix it. And it was an easy fix, they just didn't want to admit it and it's sad.

 

[erasure fan1]

What I'm referencing more is that many characters regressed or weren't fully developed. Some did have potential. Poe had a great start. So did Finn. But IMO they were weaker than they should have been by the time the Trilogy ended.

Yup, it's what happens when you let directors play choose your own adventure with one of the most valuable franchises in history. It's a big reflection of leadership from disney and Lucasfilm.

 

[Monkee Girl]

I remember reading something a while back.

This whole thing (SWGE and Galactic Failure..in short the entire Disney SW strategy) was reinforced by TFA. $2 Billion and Disney thought it was all because of a new cast of characters and "fresh" new story JJ created. Although everyone knew it was a reboot, (I'm convinced early on that Disney knew as well) somewhere down the line the Kool-Aid got stronger for the Disney execs. And they drank more of it.

I think they had convinced themselves that the success of TFA was due to Abrams and the "fresh new characters" that were introduced. And that those characters were fleshed out enough to carry the entire thing forward.

The fact that most people (and nearly all who returned for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th viewings, as is the hallmark for the die-hard fans) went there to see Solo, Chewie, Leia, and the hopes of Luke was completely missed, or at least grossly ignored.

So based on Disney's Kool-Aid moment, they went full-bore ahead. I'm not going to get into a debate about TLJ, but let's say everybody can agree that it divided the fan base. Disney should have realized at that point that there could be a problem. They didn't. They doubled down.

And here we are.

I read/heard about that. It's such a shame.

The whole Disney Star Wars thing is just soooooo disappointing because what is funny is it is almost the SAME thing that happened with the prequels and Disney blindly fell for it. Maybe it's us old school star wars fans fault, I dunno. We want new but we want what's familiar too. It's great to have all these new characters and stories but in the end, we want the OT...it ALWAYS comes back to the OT. Anyway, Phantom Menace comes out, it does great because it's the FIRST new Star Wars movie in 16 years. However, once the smoke and glitz died down, people started questioning plot points and the debates began. It has taken about 20 years for people to relook at it and say 'these actors weren't THAT bad' but it took a heck of a lot of work between cartoons and whatnot. The fact Disney thought one good opening movie was enough to make fans forget the OT and now the PT and automatically latch on to the new trilogy without it 'paying it's dues' is pretty laughable. At least the PT didn't try and kill off or replace OT characters, the ST made it the theme to do so and then everyone was 'shocked Pikachu face' when fans pushed back. it's really sad.

There will be a time where the majority of fans will look at the ST with kinder eyes but the forcing it on fans and digging heels into the grown on it from Disney is just making it worse for themselves. Just give us what we want! lol

 

[Kingoglow]

It took a good 20 years for people finally to really appreciate the prequels themselves.

I don't know... I feel like the only real appreciation for the prequels comes from the memeing community; much like Toby McGuire's Spiderman. The fan base is really just a meme community. The movies, if you watch them, are just no good, badly paced, and cringy to watch.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I'm the "regular folk" who think it was a "super waste of money". Who wants to spend $5,200 to be cooped up for two days and only to be let out for one of them to wander around GE? No thanks. Doesn't matter to me what happens to it afterward. If they end up saving money to demolish it, I don't care. What else are they going to use it for? Storage?

Agreed, my post was just about while it makes no sense to build this just to tear it down rather than try to re-use it or try to fix it, it may be its better for the company to tear it down and do whatever tax write off or whatever they do on the books.

Time will tell, but I suspect we will see it torn down like the Harmonious barges.

 

[Monkee Girl]

I don't know... I feel like the only real appreciation for the prequels comes from the memeing community; much like Toby McGuire's Spiderman. The fan base is really just a meme community. The movies, if you watch them, are just no good, badly paced, and cringy to watch.

Oh, believe me, I am NOT a fan of the PT. I liked the production aspects of it such as the planets like Naboo and Coruscant or the costumes, Amidala's costumes in PM are still exquisite, and, of course, the music. But the plot is just awful and how everything progressed; I just can't watch them....I'm still not over 'Midichlorians'. However, I enjoyed a majority of the cast and when Disney started making things like the Kenobi series, I was very excited to hear Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen were coming back for it and that people were pretty positive on seeing them return. I didn't care but I know there are people who do and have a right to enjoy them. I mean...I still refuse to watch the new special editions for the PT additions they made but I don't 'HATE' them like I did back in the early 2000s....they just exist and I work around them.

when I went to Star Wars weekend, I thought it was cool they both trilogies were pretty equally represented. If I had gone and the only thing they focused on were PT like Disney does now with the ST, I would have been ticked off. But, instead, it actually gave me a LITTLE better appreciation for the films and I was happy to 'share the space'. What Disney is doing with the ST by pretty much shoving it in our faces is just making me not receptive to the franchise or the characters and I stay pretty far away from it. They need to back off and let the fans come to it in their own time and in the meantime, give us our OT characters.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I dunno, the rotting corpse of Xanadu: Home Of The Future was pretty cool in its own way.

Yeah…but it only got awesome AFTER it started to rot…

At least that’s what I remember semi-coherent from Big Bamboo