News Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Permanently Closed Fall 2023

[erasure fan1]

I love you…will you marry me?

But full disclosure: I think I have standing proposals to the Mom and CastleCupcake…so they get priority

Better to be 3rd on the list than not at all.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

As an avid Starcruiser defender (as you’ve seen in my posts), the biggest problem (aside from the price) was Disneys marketing (or lack thereof) for this. Once the first 3 months of sailings sold out almost immediately, they packed up their bags and didn’t do anything for marketing for this.

I saw someone mention it above but the moment someone called it a “hotel”, the whole thing was lost. I’ve also mentioned that I worked there, we were never allowed to use the H word.

 

[dreamfinder912]

Don’t blame the fans of Star Wars for the failure of the dumpster parked next to world drive. DON’T. It’s not valid for a second.

A minor point of order…but “nahtazu” was a rushed marketing campaign when the DAK attendance fell after its first year and a half of operation…it’s costly and they were bleeding. It’s not so much “people didn’t get it…” as much as it was budget cut/rushed and wasn’t anywhere close to a full park.

Whenever a Disney project fails or struggles…they want the customers to be blamed. And their unpaid agents in such echo chambers willingly do it…

But this Econ 002:
They are the supplier…if the customers reject it, the supplier is 101% to blame.

I swear…only Disney gets this nonsense

I don't blame star wars fans for coming to a logical conclusion based on what Disney gave them. I blame Disney for allowing anyone to equate what Starcruiser is to a hotel. I wouldn't pay 6k for something if I believed it to be just a small hotel with some extra kiddie activities. Disney did a garbage job showing people exactly what Starcruiser is and how it functions. It isn't a hotel. Sure you have a room to sleep in but in now way is this your hotel for two nights while you go to theme parks all day like normal.

The biggest alert for me across my times onboard was in the lounge. March 22 it was a PARTY both nights. Got a no sleep til Batuu chant going. Parties merged and friendships were forged. We were all there 100% for Starcruiser and going to Batuu to do what the captain/the director/the scoundrel/the first order/the sajas asked us to do. March 23 we were the only party there after 11pm. Because people were all getting up early for their DHS day. They didn't see day 2 as a visit to a planet to go do things for the characters onboard. They were planning their full vacation day at a theme park, just with a different hotel to go back to.

That's why I compare it to the "please come visit animal kingdom, it's not just a zoo and things are open now" ads. Not because I blame star wars fans, but because Disney failed telling people what this is.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Can we get Robert Smigel to attend one of these last cruises?

Outstanding!! I forgot how good that bit was…

 

[some other guy]

Well, it's certainly not hardcore LARPing - nobody's going "OOC, where can I find an ST to sign off on these item cards?", hitting each other with foam weapons or Nerf guns, or doing rock-paper-scissors to resolve ability checks - and it's optional for the guests (CM's, I assume, won't break character regardless). It's definitely a LARP, though, from a certain point of view and that's the biggest appeal of the Starcruiser to everyone I know who went or wanted to go. Marketing failing to get that message out ahead of all the lazy reporters and "Disney lifestyle bloggers" who didn't bother to read enough of the press release to get the "not a hotel" part was inexcusable, and the booking agents should have been told (assuming they weren't) to fully explain what to expect when people called to book. What you get out of the experience depends on what you're willing to put into it, so of course you're going to feel like it wasn't worth it if you showed up expecting a Star Wars themed Contemporary Resort and didn't at least roll with it anyway.

if they promised that I could clobber Mouse Wars characters with a nerf sword I would have sold a car for it lol

 

[Incomudro]

Agreed. Disney and Lucasfilm basically said to the original fans, go pound sand, we don't need you. They said, we're making these for a new generation. And the sad thing is all the people here who supported them and still try to justify their stupidity. And now they play the fool like we just don't know what happened.

They had 4 movies to actually go to black spire outpost. There was opportunities in force awakens and it would have made complete sense for solo. It could have easily been worked into rogue one as well. But all they could muster was a droid name dropping it. Force awakens did extremely well. If Rey was from Batuu and you spent the first quarter of the movie in and around black spire, problem solved. Instead they went with the lets just mostly parallel a new hope strategy.

Here's the deal. The films should be the catalyst for the overall story. When you need to rely on a one off comic or novel for people to understand something, that's a big fat L. I've said it before. Black spire, and the fact that it's a new location isn't the issue. It's the fact that Lucasfilm, especially Kennedy, has zero clue how to handle star wars.

I can't believe none of the films featured Black Spire.
Madolorin hasn't shown it either.
Tremendous miss on Disney's part.

 

[Mike S]

I can't believe none of the films featured Black Spire.
Madolorin hasn't shown it either.
Tremendous miss on Disney's part.

They could’ve easily filmed live on location while the parks were closed lol

 

[MagicHappens1971]

I can't believe none of the films featured Black Spire.
Madolorin hasn't shown it either.
Tremendous miss on Disney's part.

Maybe they’ll feature Batuu in the new Rey movie. They need to do something to bring it together. It baffles me that they haven’t done it already

 

[erasure fan1]

I can't believe none of the films featured Black Spire.
Madolorin hasn't shown it either.
Tremendous miss on Disney's part.

It's par for the Disney course for sure. I've said it before, but for a company that can't stop talking about synergy, they sure are bad it.

Maybe they’ll feature Batuu in the new Rey movie. They need to do something to bring it together. It baffles me that they haven’t done it already

This would be classic Disney. Finally use the planet that you developed for your billion dollar land nearly 10yrs after it opened. But hey, better late than never I always say!

 

[TP2000]

And that just seems crazy to me that people would spend that kind of money and not know what they are getting into .... Even some minimal research would explain how this is structured and basics of what it is, etc

And that immersion is the whole point - I also don't understand why someone would do this/pay this money if that isn't what they want

Because many affluent travelers don't make their travel reservations themselves. They have personal assistants do that with their long-time travel agents. This is not new, and Disney has to know this is a booking process that happens. Especially when affluent people have kids and tell their assistant "For spring break for us, get us into that Star Wars thing at Disney World that the boys were going on about."

I've known a couple people like that myself, and they had to be told by front desk clerks what their options were for stuff upon check-in at major resorts. They'd done almost no research, and someone else handled all the reservations and arrangements for them from beginning to end.

There are also people who buy cars without actually going to the dealership, or listening to the salesman's pitch. Their assistant does that for them. Which is exactly why they pay an assistant; to do mundane chores and tasks that they don't want to be bothered with. Like booking hotels for family vacations.

 

[Ravenclaw78]

Because many affluent travelers don't make their travel reservations themselves. They have personal assistants do that with their long-time travel agents. This is not new, and Disney has to know this is a booking process that happens. Especially when affluent people have kids and tell their assistant "For spring break for us, book that Star Wars thing at Disney World that the boys were going on about."

I've known a couple people like that myself, and they had to be told by front desk clerks what their options were for stuff upon check-in at major resorts. They'd done almost no research, and someone else handled all the reservations and arrangements for them from beginning to end.

There are also people who buy cars without actually going to the dealership, or listening to the salesman's pitch. Their assistant does that for them. Which is exactly why they pay an assistant; to do mundane chores and tasks that they don't want to be bothered with. Like booking hotels for family vacations.

Or even just use plain old travel agents themselves, which is probably the case for a lot of people who aren't "personal assistant level" rich but can still afford the Starcruiser. You're absolutely right about this (hell, I've had acquaintances a lot wealthier than I am who paid their PAs to grind XP and gold for their characters in MMOs and mobile games). Better marketing is still probably best answer to that problem, and definitely an area where Disney straight-up failed.

 

[Ravenclaw78]

I can't believe none of the films featured Black Spire.
Madolorin hasn't shown it either.
Tremendous miss on Disney's part.

But Jedi: Fallen Order had lightsaber parts from Savi's!

Yeah, definite miss. There have been quite a few bits of merchandise that have appeared or been referenced in Bad Batch (the kettle corn. Yes, that's right, kettle corn.) and Mandalorian, but the closest they've come to showing the actual outpost on-screen is a Sims 4 expansion and a VR game for the Meta Quest and PlayStation.

 

[Mike S]

I’m now imagining Michael Eisner as Thanos saying to Iger “I never taught you how to synergize, that’s why you’re so BAD at it.”

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This would be classic Disney. Finally use the planet that you developed for your billion dollar land nearly 10yrs after it opened. But hey, better late than never I always say!

Well that sure would be a way to complete KK’s “complete ball of suck…”

I still gotta believe this Rey movie stuff has to be an episode of punk’d

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

Any Good Park News coming???

Disney having to close their ridiculously priced experience, and having to realize how massively wrong they were in thinking that ppl would continuously pony up the big bucks for this,
is the good news.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

And yet it was a thing in the middle of the lobby. That got approved by senior management.

And they trained a perky young lady to teach it to people paying $2,500 per night, because as everyone knows, Line Dancing = Star Wars.

AMAAAAZING!

Wow...

I'm a veteran of the Barbie in EPCOT Wars, I thought that in forty-five years of following WDW I had seen it all...

But this is the most cringe, most out-of-touch, most Disney being the completely uncool old aunt trying to hang out with the teenagers thing I've ever seen.

$5000 for this.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Disney having to close their ridiculously priced experience, and having to realize how massively wrong they were in thinking that ppl would continuously pony up the big bucks for this,
is the good news.

Not all of that should be something to be happy about. The problem is Disney spent around 250 Million dollars on building Galactic Starcuiser and around a billion dollars on the concept of it. That type of money wasted should be something people be irked at. The fact is that type of money could've been used on Epcot, new land at Magic Kingdom, new stuff at Animal Kingdom, or a new do more changes to Disney Hollywood Studios.

 

[dreamfinder912]

And that just seems crazy to me that people would spend that kind of money and not know what they are getting into .... Even some minimal research would explain how this is structured and basics of what it is, etc

And that immersion is the whole point - I also don't understand why someone would do this/pay this money if that isn't what they want

Agree. It seems crazy to me that anyone goes to Disney without research though. The days of strolling up to a park and seeing/doing as you walked by are done. Too many systems to navigate for someone to come without doing research. Yet they always do. Theres always that family looking for Harry Potter at DHS, or looking for space mountain in Epcot. That baffles me too, like even "regular" Disney is expensive and complicated. How anyone can come in with no knowledge of what they're doing is insane to me. It seems like such a waste to be so unprepared. I don't mean have a step by step plan for every minute but...like a rough idea of what's in what park and how to navigate the app.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I get what you're saying, but I think it's important to distinguish that the line dancing was not something invented by hourly CM's, or even the front-line hotel management running the daily operation of the Starcruiser.

The perky-yet-tacky line dancing started during the media previews pre-opening, and continued on with paying guests to this day.
And it was choreographed to work with the big dinner show in the dining room, which shows that it was written into the story by Imagineering show writers, choreographed with Imagineering entertainment executive approval, and thus had to have been approved by at least mid-level WDI executives. I would have to imagine the most senior TDO and WDI executives on the Starcruiser project also knew this was happening, as it was an integral part of the dinner show plotline as a major element of the entire Starcruiser.

It wasn't just something hourly hostesses Mackenzie and Tiffanie came up with on their own one night in their College Program dorm room during Starcruiser training.
"OMG! You know what would be super cute Mackenzie?!? If we came up with an amazing line dance to teach in the lobby! "

WDI and TDO senior leadership gave this advance approval and funded its development and incorporation into the story. They thought it was acceptable and that it was "Star Wars".

Didn't know that, thanks for sharing.

I don't think decisions were made based on line dancing, but yeah that's not exactly something I would be expecting on a $6K a night experience.

 

[CaptinEO]

Wow...

I'm a veteran of the Barbie in EPCOT Wars, I thought that in forty-five years of following WDW I had seen it all...

But this is the most cringe, most out-of-touch, most Disney being the completely uncool old aunt trying to hang out with the teenagers thing I've ever seen.

JFC, $5000 for this.

Just remember too that they bought Star Wars and Marvel to appeal to young and teen men, and this is the result.

I'm glad this thing failed. It is insulting to anyone who likes entertainment, immersion, or Star Wars.